TA-33Jr - fixed aim towards Europe

South Africa, then Malta...

ZS6CCY in South Africa, then 9H9PA on Malta.

One right after the other...

Lightning draws sparks...

Why is the Lightning Protection industry so infested with idiots? It seems like too many have failed Grade 9 Science, let alone Physics 101. Some quite simply don't have any common sense. Many can't spell or type. It all leaves me shaking my head in disgust. Much of what they promote is pseudo-science, the 'holistic-medicine' of electrics, pure bull-crap. First there was that 'w_tom' lunatic cruising the newsgroups with his 'Whole House Protection' (sic) systems, and now the snake-oil-du-jour is the 'Lightning Prevention' (sic) industry.

Crikey. S-C-I-E-N-C-E folks - try it sometime.

Wiki has some good info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_rod

20m - Northern bound...

I worked VY0ICE (Steve in Iqaluit) and LA1CI (Aage in Northern Norway) in quick sucession the other day. Seems like many stations way up north are coming in pretty good. Conversely, the regulars in Spain are much weaker recently.

MFJ products - perfect spheres?

~OPINION - MFJ PRODUCTS REVIEW~

Over the years, I've ended up with several MJF products. In every case, there seems to be an obvious design flaw and/or disappointing build quality.

Examples:

• Noise Bridge: The 9-v battery holder simply fails to hold the 9-v battery. It never really had a chance because of the poor design - it couldn't possibly work. I had to tie the battery into the so-called holder with dental floss.
  
• Noise Bridge: The device has a cheap, hand-written paper lable pasted on the bottom to provide the calibration. 'A=15.1, B = 36.7, ...' Yeah, thanks; I didn't see that mentioned on the brochure...
• Power Bar: The panel silk screening was done upside down ('Oops'), painted over ('he he'), and done again right side up ('There ya go'). You can still clearly see the upside down version as bumps under the paint.
  
• Active Antenna: The lables on the front panel rub off because, basically, they're the rub-on type ('Wax On, Wax Off...').

There always seems to be so many cut corners that I'd have to say that their products are, in my experience, very nearly perfect spheres.

YMMV.

4U1WB

I flicked on the radio to show a neighbour how it works and after a quick twirl of the dial there was amateur radio station 4U1WB talking to someone in Italy on 20m USB. I already know that the '4U' prefix is something to do with the UN. So after waiting for my turn, I make the contact and then look up the call sign afterwards.

4U1WB is The World Bank Amateur Radio Club in Washington, DC.

Not bad for a Wednesday. Mildly interesting in a ham radio geeky sort of way. But I guess I should have asked him if he could loan me a few billion dollars...

Cool Gadget - EM100 Electronic Energy Meter

My co-worker recommended this item. The UPM Marketing, Inc. EM100 measures and accumulates the electrical energy consumption of 120VAC appliances connected through it. You can even enter your local price of electricity and it will display the total energy cost over the measurement interval.

Link to further information about the EM100.

I've discovered a few interestng energy facts since I got the EM100.

• The heat recovery ventilation system (air exchanger) draws more power in low speed mode than in high speed mode.
• The home theatre system requires about 0.75A just sitting there, turned off. This is almost certainly a function of the satellite TV receivers that are actually on when they pretend to be off. That adds up to about $90 year. In winter that wasted power would contribute heat so it isn't all really wasted.
  
• The Sony 53" CRT-based RPTV requires only a bit over 1A (not much). That's pretty good for what it does.
  
• The device confirms the obvious - duty cycle matters. Appliances that are mostly off (really off) don't amount to much. For example, the septic tank pump draws about 11 amps peak, but it only adds up to about $4 of electricity per year.
  

It doesn't accommodate 220VAC appliances. It doesn't do Time Of Day metering.

The EM100 is an interesting gadget and I recommend it.

S9SS on São Tomé

I just contacted Charles Lewis S9SS on São Tomé (an island off the west coast of Africa) using HF radio on the 20m band, 14.245 MHz Upper Sideband (USB).

Link to further information about São Tomé on Wikipedia.

Charles is a very skilled operator and he does a great job keeping the DX Pile-Up (hundreds of hams calling him at once) reasonably organized and well behaved.

"Miles per watt" (<-useless)

You might sometimes see the phrase miles per watt as relates to making amateur radio contacts over huge distances using minimal transmit power (called 'QRP').

As a concept, the ratio miles per watt is basically useless. The mathematics favours tiny power levels over incredibly short distances. If you could convince -70dBm from a signal generator to leap a one foot gap to a suitable receiver (not very difficult), then you'll have achieved about 1.9 MILLION miles per watt (without even raising a sweat).

Using 3.0 watts to reach 3,000 miles (for example) is much more difficult, but this example computes to only 1,000 miles per watt.

The ratio is about as useful as "the square-root of a pickle jar"...

Say hello to people all around the world...

Here are some of the locations that I've contacted recently by way of Amateur Radio:

Sao Tome; Annapolis MD USA; Italy; Spain; 50 mile south of York UK; Slovenija (club station);
Special Events Station Germany; Poland; 25km N Belfast N Ireland; near Moscow Russia;
Bristol, UK; Barcelona, Spain; Crete, Greece; Modena, Italy; Slovakia;
Indianapolis 500 Special Event Station; Atlanta, GA; Point Comfort Lighthouse, VA;
Bulgaria; SW France 25km from Atlantic; Farm 60km N of NYC; Oxford, UK;
Pori, Finland; Bath, UK; Switzerland; Sicily, Italy; Bulgaria; Ukraine; mobile in Iowa;
Slovakia; France; Modena, Italy; Moldova Republic; South Nederland; Yck, SE Wales;
Nr Manchester; Canary Islands; Bulgaria; N. Greece; Albuquerque, NM; Guadeloupe, West Indies;
Georgia; Tlemcen, Algeria; Northern Spain; Reutlingen, Germany; SW France; Tel Aviv, Israel;
Slovak Republic; Berlin, Germany; Brunssum, SE Nederland; N Slovenia; Sweden; Italy;
Orkney Islands, Scotland; Germany; Spain; Hanover, Germany; NE Czech (near poland);
Napoli, Italy; Czech; Slovenia; Frankfurt, Germany; Antigua; near Moscow; Medeira Africa;
near Bremen, Germany; Milano, Italy; Genoa, Italy; Czech; Williamsport, PA; near Oslo, Norway;
Poland; near Frankfurt, Germany; UK; Barcelona, Spain; Italy; near Munich, Germany; Slovakia;
‘Wave 8’ ship, 3 miles off Tunisia; France; Tichino, Switzerland; Czech; Hungary; Warrington, UK;
Spain; Sveio, SW Norway; near Lisbon, Portugal; Leon, Spain; Honduras; France; Germany;
near Zurich, Switzerland; Roodt, Luxemburg; NW Italy; Spain; near Munich; near Frankfurt;
Malaga, Spain; Naples, Italy; Atlanta, GA; Portugal; Slovenia; Germany; near Hanover;
near Falun, central Sweden; Cardiff Wales; Switzerland; Young Is., Nanavut; St. John, US Virgin Islands;
Czech; S Netherlands; Czech; Moscow; Iceland; Switzerland; Italy; Genoa, Italy; Romania;
near Manchester/Liverpool; Fairway Island; Caldy Island Lighthouse; Croatia; Morroco;
Greek Islands; Italy; Portugal; Valentia, Spain; Austria; Michelon; near Osaka, Japan; Switzerland;
NW Argentina; Slovak Rep.; Azores; Spain; Avignon, S France; Spain; Birmingham, UK; Shetland Is;
Cabot Tower, NF; near Kingston, ON; Hearts Delight, NF; near Rome; Lifford, NW Ireland;
Indiana State Fair; near Basil, NW Switzerland; S Ukraine; Elsegem, SW Belgium; Belgium;
Urk, Netherlands; Cape Race Lighthouse, NF; NW Sicily; Canary Is; Venezuala; Guatemala;
Mexico; Honduras; Rydultovy, S Poland; Slovenia; near Milano; Parma, N Italy; Luxemburg;
Grand Canary; Portugal; near Tours, France; Jefferson, TX; Tiblisi, Georgia; Moscow; Catania, Sicily;
Bulgaria; San Marino; Faro, S Portugal; NW Germany; Russia; Detroit; Philidelphia; Switzerland;
Talin, Estonia W Slovenia; Bergan, Norway; Bulgatia; Malta; Belgium; Hungary...

Cost of Amateur Radio equipment

FYI - in case you're wondering how much it costs to be a Ham:

One well-used Yaesu FT-77 HF Amateur Radio transceiver (circa mid-1980s). It required a replacement microphone, a repaired power cable, a major cleaning (many hours) and a fresh coat of 'hammer tone' paint on the cabinet. Cdn $125. Great deal!

One Icom HM-35 microphone and some mic connectors. Probably Cdn$10.

One well-used Mosley TA-33 Jr tri-band (20m, 15m, 10m) HF antenna. Cdn $150. Probably a little bit over-priced considering its condition (one element slightly bent). I also had to purchase some conductive anti-corrosion paste for the joints.

Several 12-volt sealed lead acid batteries (used with trickle charger). Free, surplus from UPS service.

Some lengths of RG-8 and RG-213 coaxial cables and mating connectors. Probably about Cdn$50 for what's being used right now.

So for just over Cdn$300, I'm back on the HF bands again.

Yaesu FT-77

Yaesu FT-77 HF radio from the mid-1980s, bought cheap at the local ham radio flea market in May 2006.

I wired up an Icom HM-35 mic because the Yaesu mic was in rough shape.


On the left is a Radio Shack DSP unit and an external speaker.

TA-33 Jr sitting in a tree...

This antenna is a Mosley TA-33 Jr.

I bought it used (well used).

It is stuck up in a tree about 7 or 8m
above the ground, and is aimed towards
Europe.

It covers the 20m, 15m, and 10m
amateur radio bands.

A Druid ?

VE1BLL portable Stonehenge

If you look closely, you can see a Druid.

New Blog for VE1BLL

Well, time to start a blog for Amateur Radio Station VE1BLL.