Author Archives: Bob K0NR

Update: Results of The Free Software Experiment

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Back in October of 2006, I wrote about my attempt to use only free software on my newly acquired notebook computer. At the time, I gave out these grades:

OpenOffice: B- [Works well but not completely compatible with MS Word, I have pretty much stopped using it]

Firefox: A [Seemed to work very reliably ]

Thunderbird: A [Works great ]

Since then, I have become very disillusioned with Firefox. First, my bookmarks disappeared without warning. OK, this might be caused by my harddrive. Then the download manager (which I thought worked really sweetly) started acting up such that it didn’t tell me when the download was complete. Then there was the funky blank menu bar across the top…probably due to some option I had set or a software plug-in. But I tried for days to get it to go away and it never did. I even did a fresh install of Firefox to get things back to normal…didn’t work. The final straw was when I kept running into web pages that didn’t display properly on Firefox. OK, you are going to say that this is the webmaster’s problem in that they didn’t check compatiblity with all major web browsers.

Well, I give up. I switched back to (ack) Internet Explorer and everything works much better. My life just got simpler, which is the ultimate test. (I am starting to sound like a Mac user 🙂

I am still using Thunderbird as it gets the job done. OK, its spam filter could be better but I doubt that Outlook Express is any better.

My conclusion: the standard Microsoft stuff works, and, well, it is the standard on the PC, whether we like it or not.

73, Bob K0NR

QRP Power Levels Redefined

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After decades of QRP power levels being defined by a simple “RF output” standard, the QRP Amateur Radio Club International adopted a new QRP power level standard. This new standard takes into account the total power consumed in the ham shack at the time of the QRP contact. This is thought to provide a “purer” approach to the ethics of low power operating.

It is not clear if other QRP organizations or the ARRL will adopt this new method. I expect this approach to be hotly debated on QRZ.com and eham.net…unless they check the date on the QRPARCI announcement.

73, Bob K0NR

Announcing the 2010 (56th Annual) Poisson d’Avril Contest

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56th Annual Poisson d’Avril Contest
0000 – 2359Z April 1, 2010

I. DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVE:

Since K1DG has won this contest every year since its inception, and is expected to win for at least the next three years, we are announcing the 2010 rules in 2007 to give everyone a chance to install the necessary hardware and software to compete.

II. BANDS/MODES:

All bands, all modes. If we get new bands or modes between now and 2010, they will count. There will be two types of competition in the 2010 event: Traditional and Modern. Detailed descriptions are included below. Please note that the Modern category does not require the actual transmission of a radio signal (it is permitted, but optional).

See complete rules at http://www.freewebs.com/poissondavril/2010rules.htm

73, Bob K0NR

Colorado QSO Party Announced

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The Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association has announced the date and rules for the Colorado QSO Party. The contest runs from 1200 UTC 15 July, 2007 until 0400 UTC 16 July 2007. For Colorado, this is 6AM to 10PM MDT on Sunday July 15th.

This should be a fun event on the ham bands from 160 Meters to 10 Meters (excluding WARC bands) and the VHF bands of 6 Meters, 2 Meters, and 70 cm. Operating categories include Single Operator, Multioperator, Mobile and Schools. The contest exchange is Signal Report and County (3-letter abbreviation). Stations outside of Colorado send Signal Report and State, Province or DXCC prefix.
Complete rules are available here.
73, Bob K0NR

ARRL: Always Getting Bashed

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Jeff, KE9V, had a great post on his blog “Gutless ARRL Bashers“. Jeff basically says it is easy to criticize a large organization such as the ARRL but it takes real work to contribute and make it better. I agree completely.

I see the ARRL in the same way I see the US government….I don’t like everything it does but it is the only one we have, so we better try to make it work.

I don’t see any other amateur radio organization that has a credible voice with the FCC.

73, Bob K0NR

Donate for Microwave Antennas for ISS

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The ARISS-Europe team is working to establish L-band and S-band antennas on the Columbus module, which will be added to the International Space Station.

From the ARISS-Europe web site:

With the Columbus module being located at some considerable distance from the other two ARISS stations, this will permit parallel operations on the new bands at the same time as the existing operations. The availability of these new frequencies will enable us to establish wideband and video operations for the first time. This facility will provide ATV facilities for School contacts and, additionally, continuous transponder operation.

The only problem is that ARISS-Europe still needs additional funds to pay for the antennas. They are asking for donations from radio amateurs worldwide. See http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus.htm Time is running out, so if you can donate to this cause, do it now.

73, Bob K0NR

FCC Fines CB Shop for Selling "10 Meter Ham Rigs"

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From the ARRL web site:

FCC fines shop selling non-certified CB transceivers as ham gear (Mar 6, 2007) — In a Forfeiture Order released March 2, the FCC has affirmed a $7000 fine it levied on Ben Metzger of Titusville, Florida, doing business as 1 Stop Communications / 1 Stop CB Shop, for marketing non-certified Citizens Band transceivers.

The 1 Stop CB Shop is just one of many companies selling radios on the internet that are 10-Meter ham transceivers that just happen to be set up for 40-channels of operation. A quick snip of a wire or component and these rigs just happen to land right on the Citizen Band channels. Oh, did I mention that these radios run a lot more output power than the 4W that is legal on CB?

Well, the FCC apparently takes a dim view of this. The FCC’s Forfeiture Order makes for interesting reading. It seems than a FCC agents bought a Connex CX 3300HP amateur transceiver that Mr. Metzger modified for them (in less than 15 minutes) to operate on CB frequencies. This sort of messed up his argument that he was just selling a ham transceiver, which does not require FCC certification.

It is good to see the FCC go after these guys. On the other hand, it seems that the manufacturers (Cobra, Connex, Galaxy, etc.) are just as blameworthy. Take a look at any of these 10-meter mobile radios on the The 1 Stop CB Shop web site. They are clearly not intended for the ham market. How do I know? The roger beep and echo control are the main tipoffs!!!!

73, Bob K0NR

2006 ARRL September VHF Contest Results

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The ARRL has published the results for the 2006 September VHF QSO Party. I didn’t really pay any attention because I didn’t remember working the contest. However, it turns out that I once again dominated the QRP category in the Rocky Mountain region. Well, “dominated” means that I was the highest score (65) of two entries.

I went back and checked my log book….it seems that I must have pulled out the FT-817 and went out on the back deck and worked a few stations.

Single Operator Portable Scores for Colorado:
Call Score QSOs Mult
K0NR 65 11 5
K0JJW 6 2 2

K0JJW is my wife, who also made a couple of contacts that weekend. Thanks, hon, for the competition 🙂

The September contest generally has very light activity in my area, so looking forward to the June contest and some good 50 MHz conditions.

73, Bob K0NR

ARRL Launches Emergency Radio Campaign

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From the ARRL Web Site:

NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 30, 2007 — “Ham Radio . . . Getting the message through for your family and community” is the theme of the League’s 2007 public relations campaign. The “Emergency Radio” Web site debuted this week. ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, says the 2007 emergency communications initiative pick up the momentum ARRL public information officers started during the just-ended “Hello” campaign.

I think the Hello Radio campaign was well done from the point of view of having a simple, on-target message and decent media content to back it up. Unfortunately, the only place I heard about Hello Radio was via the amateur radio community. Did it ever make it into the mainstream media? I don’t know. This is a practical challenge of any advertising campaign…getting enough exposure to reach the target audience.

Now we have the Emergency Radio campaign. It also appears to be well done, based on the initial web site. It is a good message that should appeal to a segment of potential hams. But will it have the reach?

73, Bob K0NR

K0NR – ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes

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For the last four years, I have operated a backpack portable QRP station in the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes. I am not sure how I got hooked on this but the basic idea is to hike up to the summit of Mt Herman (~9000 feet in elevation, grid locator DM79mb) and operate for the afternoon. The contest goes all weekend but I am not signed up for a mountaintop camp out in January. So for me this contest becomes a hike-the-mountain-then-make-some-contacts event.

The first three years, the weather was amazingly good. It was so sunny and warm that I worried about sunscreen more than about having sufficient clothing. Last year, we had serious snow on the trail but it was still a reasonable hike. See my ARRL Soapbox comments here.

But Colorado has experienced record snow fall this year….and it is not melting any time soon. When I woke up on the morning of the contest, it was once again snowing at my house. My good sense said “Bob, you are not going up the mountain today.” The other part of my brain (the one that likes a good challenge), said “This has now reached the status of Official Challenge to be Overcome.”

My wife Joyce (K0JJW) and I loaded up The Big SUV and headed to the trailhead. A US Forest Service road that is not maintained (read: not plowed) in the winter is the only way to get to the trailhead. We carefully drove up the road and got within 1/4 mile of the trailhead. The road was blocked by various vehicles that had gotten stuck. We found a place to park that did not block the road, grabbed the snowshoes and started our climb.

We slogged our way up the trail through heavy snow and eventually arrived at the summit. It was not that bad of a climb, but the snowshoes were essential and the deep snow slowed us down. We arrived at the summit around 1 PM, one hour after the contest started.

At the top, I had about 25 QSOs before the cold started to get to me. It was difficult to operate the radio in the snowy conditions….and it was pretty dang cold. I did not bother to assemble the 2M yagi antenna, operating just off the vertical whip antennas. At first, I thought I was going to just work my own grid (bummer). As the afternoon progressed, I picked up 4 adjacent grids on various bands, so I was feeling OK about that. (Not rare DX but at least I got outside my grid.)

More information on VHF contests can be found here: How to Work a VHF Contest

73, Bob K0NR

The PJ4/K0NR Story

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I finally got around to putting together the PJ4/K0NR DXpedition story on my web site.

My wife (Joyce K0JJW) and I were looking for a great place for an island vacation and someone recommended Bonaire as a quiet little island with world class diving and snorkeling. We checked into it further and confirmed that this was a great place to spend 2 weeks just hanging out.

See the rest of the article here.

Morse Code Testing: Irrelevant

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I promised myself that I wasn’t going to write anything else about the FCC’s decision to eliminate the Morse Code testing requirement for amateur radio licenses. The issue has been debated for decades, all of the arguments have been made and I am quite weary of the topic.

Then I came across the Long Delayed Echoes blog, where Jeff KE9V made his 2007 New Years predictions, which included this:

Having thrown the gates wide open by eliminating the Morse code requirement for all amateur testing we learn that there’s nobody out there waiting to join the party. I predict no significant increase of new licensees in 2007.

This really struck me as likely and it made me realize something important: eliminating the Morse Code testing requirement is not good or bad….it is irrelevant. I seriously doubt there are thousands of potential hams just waiting to get their license, if and only if the FCC removes this hurdle. At the same time, this 5 Word Per Minute requirement is not much of a barrier to keeping out the undesirables. (There are plenty of LIDs that have their Extra Class license, even when the requirement was 20 WPM.) This change is not going to add significant numbers of radio amateurs, nor will it ruin the amateur radio service. It just doesn’t matter.

The fact that much of the ham community is vehemently in favor of or against this change is an indication that we are focused on the wrong question. We have lost perspective on the basis and purpose of the amateur radio service and how it fits into the 21st century. Ham radio is about tinkering with new technology, exploring the magic of radio, performing public service and having a whole bunch of fun. Let’s focus on that, rather than licensing requirements.

73, Bob K0NR

P.S. In case you wonder, I received my Extra class license when it required 20 wpm code. Big deal.

Counterfeit ICOM Handheld Radios

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ICOM has issued a notice on its web site that counterfeit versions of their basic VHF handheld radio, the IC-V8, are showing up at various locations on the internet. ICOM says that “Some of them look almost identical to genuine ICOM products. It has been reported recently that these products are also being sold through internet shopping sites at very low price.”

Apparently, these radios are showing up on eBay and a product review has been published warning potential buyers of these radios. This product review describes how to tell whether the radio is a fake. (I am not able to verify the accuracy of this information.)

I don’t recall a “knock off” of a popular ham rig before. Certainly, many items in the mainstream consumer electronics market have had cheap copies made, but the ham market is relatively small and doesn’t usually attract this kind of attention. Also, this radio can probably be used for land mobile applications (not necessarily legally, see your local government radio law.)

Buyer beware.

73, Bob K0NR

FCC Drops Morse Code

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Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration (Order) that modifies the rules for the Amateur Radio Service by revising the examination requirements for obtaining a General Class or Amateur Extra Class amateur radio operator license and revising the operating privileges for Technician Class licensees. In addition, the Order resolves a petition filed by the American Radio Relay League, Inc. (ARRL) for partial reconsideration of an FCC Order on amateur service rules released on October 10, 2006.

The current amateur service operator license structure contains three classes of amateur radio operator licenses: Technician Class, General Class, and Amateur Extra Class. General Class and Amateur Extra Class licensees are permitted to operate in Amateur bands below 30 MHz, while the introductory Technician Class licensees are only permitted to operate in bands above 30 MHz. Prior to today’s action, the FCC, in accordance with international radio regulations, required applicants for General Class and Amateur Extra Class operator licenses to pass a five words-per-minute Morse code examination. Today’s Order eliminates that requirement for General and Amateur Extra licensees. This change reflects revisions to international radio regulations made at the International Telecommunication Union’s 2003 World Radio Conference (WRC-03), which authorized each country to determine whether to require that individuals demonstrate Morse code proficiency in order to qualify for an amateur radio license with transmitting privileges on frequencies below 30 MHz. This change eliminates an unnecessary regulatory burden that may discourage current amateur radio operators from advancing their skills and participating more fully in the benefits of amateur radio.

Today’s Order also revises the operating privileges for Technician Class licensees by eliminating a disparity in the operating privileges for the Technician Class and Technician Plus Class licensees. Technician Class licensees are authorized operating privileges on all amateur frequencies above 30 MHz. The Technician Plus Class license, which is an operator license class that existed prior the FCC’s simplification of the amateur license structure in 1999 and was grandfathered after that time, authorized operating privileges on all amateur frequencies above 30 MHz, as well as frequency segments in four HF bands (below 30 MHz) after the successful completion of a Morse code examination. With today’s elimination of the Morse code exam requirements, the FCC concluded that the disparity between the operating privileges of Technician Class licensees and Technician Plus Class licensees should not be retained.

OK, there you have it…the waiting is over….the FCC has ruled. Is this the end of ham radio? Will the ham bands be overrun with poor operating practices? Will CW operation fade into the night, never to be heard again?

I dunno. Get over it. Turn the radio on. Work somebody (on whatever mode you prefer) and have some ham radio fun.

It is not clear when this change takes effect, so look for more information to follow.

73, Bob K0NR

Shuttle Discovery (STS-116) Scheduled to Launch Dec 7th

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The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch on December 7th with the radio amateurs on board: Sunita Williams, KD5PLB; Christer Fuglesang, KE5CGR/SA0AFS; Nicholas Patrick, KD5PKY. See the ARRL news article here. Detailed information from NASA is available on their space shuttle page.

You’ll be glad to know (?) that NASA is improving the quality of the food for the astronauts. The TV food show host, Rachael Ray, recently visited NASA’s prep kitchen. USA Today says “TV host upgrades astronaut meals.” Not only that, there is a special delivery of instant latte mix on the way to the ISS.

Let’s keep those astronauts well fed and maybe they’ll use the ARISS station to get on 145.80 MHz more often.

73, Bob K0NR

Satellite Operation from Bonaire PJ4/K0NR

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As mentioned in a previous post, I was in Bonaire on vacation, so I took along some ham radio gear and did a PJ4/K0NR Mini-DXpedition. Well, maybe it is more like a Micro-DXpedition.

Everything had to be transported via airline, so the radio gear needed to be compact, which included HF and satellite gear.

The satellite station consisted of:

The first problem I ran into was that AO-51 was configured in a rather, uh, interesting mode of SSB uplink (146 MHz) and FM downlink (435 MHz). My little HT can’t do SSB, so I was locked out of AO-51 for that week. In the second week of my trip, AO-51 was configured for 2.4 GHz uplink and 435 MHz downlink. OK, so I wouldn’t be using AO-51.

Fortunately, another VHF/UHF FM satellite, SO-50 was available. In fact, it was really available. I had not been on the satellites for quite a while and my experience was that the FM birds were usually jammed with activity. The first time SO-50 came over I didn’t hear a thing. I wondered whether I had the satellite tracking software set correctly. Daylight savings time had just changed but Bonaire does not change time, so I thought my PC might be off by an hour. I fiddled with the software until I convinced myself that I had the tracking software configured properly.

I finally figured out that the SO-50 was just not used much. Of course, Bonaire is in the southern Caribbean, near South America, so US stations were only workable for a few minutes of a pass. But still, SO-50 was very quiet. Then I realized that I normally rely on a signal on the downlink for me to adjust for doppler shift and point the antenna. Without a signal, this became more difficult. (My HT doesn’t let me tweak the downlink frequency while transmitting.)

The next thing that happened was that I transmitted on the 2M uplink and heard terrible interference on the downlink frequency. It sounded like a local broadcast station was mixing with my uplink signal and showing up on the downlink frequency. Uh, oh, this was really bad since it completely wiped out my ability to listen on the downlink. There were several broadcast stations on the island, including Radio Netherland, but I did not verify the source of the interference. Clearly, my poor little HT receiver couldn’t handle it.

The interference problem was solved by finding a good spot on the island that didn’t have the problem. Presumably, this was far enough away from the source of the interference to eliminate the problem.

I made a few skeds via email and finally got going on SO-50, using the callsign PJ4/K0NR. Bonaire falls under the CEPT licensing system, so I was able to operate without any special application or permission.

It was fun activating PJ4. Thanks to the radio amateurs that took the time to work me in Bonaire. QSL to my home call.

73, Bob K0NR

Use MP3 Player for Portable Logging

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In the past few weeks, I’ve refocused on portable satellite operations using a station consisting of a dualband handheld radio and the Arrow II antenna. One of the challenges with this kind of operation has been the logging. Sometimes I’d have someone jot down the information on paper as I worked the various stations. This can be fast and furious so it is easy to miss important information. Other times, I’ve used a small cassette tape recorder to record the audio from the contacts.

I recently came across a nice upgrade to the audio tape recorder. Creative Labs produces a very small MP3 player called the Zen Nano Plus that has a built-in microphone and recording feature. I just clip this device onto my shirt as I work the satellites, making comments about callsigns, grids, UTC, etc. into the microphone. Since I work the satellites full duplex, the downlink audio goes to my headphones and are not heard by the Nano Plus. I make it a point to repeat any important logging information. The Nano Plus does have a line input, so you could run the audio from the receiver into the MP3 player and capture the downlink audio. This has the disadvantage of shutting off the microphone, so I have not used this approach.

There are multiple versions of the Zen Nano. The “Plus” version has the built-in microphone, which is essential for logging. Of course, the Nano Plus can be used for listening to music or other audio programs. It also has a built-in FM tuner. The Nano Plus is a remarkable device, available for less than $50 on the web.

This type of audio logging may have other ham radio applications such as logging mobile operation.

For more information on working the FM birds, see the AMSAT web page. (Look for information on SO-50 and AO-51.)

73, Bob K0NR

PJ4/K0NR Mini-Dxpedition to Bonaire

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PJ4/K0NR NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Bob K0NR will be active as PJ4/K0NR from Bonaire (IOTA SA-006) from Oct 28 to Nov 9th, SSB and PSK31 on 30M through 6M. Also active on FM OSCAR satellites (Grid FK52). QSL to home call.

The AO-51 schedule has it configured for modes that I cannot work portable, so I will be focused on SO-50. Send me an email if you want to schedule a contact.

Those #@$%# Power Adapters

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I was getting ready for a trip. Of course, I need to take along my electronic toys, I mean, necessities. There’s the mobile phone, the iPod, the ham radio gear, the digital camera and lots of other stuff. As I gathered up the toys, I surveyed the required support gear, which includes various forms of batteries and those dang power converters. You know the ones, the so-called “wall warts” that convert the AC line voltage to the required DC level. The only problem is that each little electronic gadget seems to require a different power level. Even if the voltage is the same, the plug size or polarity is sure to be different.

Not too long ago, I was writing about the virtues of the USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard. It has really simplified the plugging in of gadgets associated with computers. Not so with the DC power converter problem. It almost seems like the manufacturers make all of their profit off the power converter, so they are motivated to keep them non-standard and hard to find.

I try to explain where all of these power converters come from. I have (literally) piles of them from different pieces of equipment that have probably already been tossed onto the scrap heap. That’s another thing….why don’t they consistently label the power converters so you know what piece of equipment that are meant to serve? I’ve got power converters for rechargeable flashlights, for (radio) scanners, for handheld ham radios, for digital cameras, for MP3 players, for notebook computers, for computer scanners, for mobile phones, ….the list just seems to never end.

OK, let me say something positive here. I’ve noticed that some power converters have adopted switching regulators which let them handle a range of line voltages from 100 to 240 VAC. This is great for people that travel outside the U.S. You may still need an adapter to get the plug to fit the wall outlet but the power converter can handle virtually any line voltage around the world. Nice!

Back to complaining —- why can’t they just standardize on two or three power adapters, with a specified DC voltage and connector size? This could be the biggest ease-of-use breakthrough for the electronics consumer since the invention of the AA battery.

— 73, Bob K0NR

Ham Radio Report on IEEE Spectrum Podcast

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As an electrical engineer, I’ve always been a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE publishes Spectrum, which is an excellent magazine for technical topics relating to electrical engineering (EE). They recently added an audio podcast called Spectrum Radio to their program, covering topics interested to EEs.

This past week they published a audio clip concerning ham radio. This includes some on-the-air audio and an interview with Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF. It is well done and worth listening to….maybe share it with some of your non-ham friends.

  • 73, Bob K0NR