VK Logger Ham Radio Forum Archive

LIPD? No thanks. Those parameters don't even look slightly appealing to me. One can't even compensate for the extremely low power with antenna gain. I could raise my voice slightly and communicate further... I'm firmly in the "let's make more use the bands we already have" camp. Definitel...

LIPDs and the LIPD class licence have been around for years. If you can I'd suggest avoiding exactly 40.66 - as it seems to be quite a noisy frequency in suburban locations. But a bit above it should be OK. I'm not sure if your military rigs are synthesised, VFO or crystal controlled, but another go...

I am sure all this complexity is one of the reasons why AR is no longer attractive to most people as a hobby, especially the young (or their parents) and older people who can't afford the hassle and expense of setting up a station in today's world. I'm more on the glass half full side. Licence cond...

Ignoring Godwin for a moment, the metric version, length = 143/f, is as easy to remember as 468/f It also relates better to the half wavelength formula - ie 150/f It can readily be mentally calculated that 143 is close to 5% less than 150 This gives satisfaction knowing that it's close to the altern...

It puzzles me why so many use and tolerate antenna measurements in feet and inches while wavelengths are universally expressed in metres. Using both units introduces an unneeded complication and obscures the relationship between an antenna's physical length and the wavelength of the band it covers. ...

I know that the band plans are "gentle-person agreements" but it does seem a bit selfish when there is a lot of other places on the band that are empty. Maybe it's because the JT65 segment is in the middle of phone segment of the band whereas on other bands it is in a segment between the ...

A portable 7 MHz 2 watt VXO SSB transceiver. Covers 7.050 - 7.130 MHz with 16 MHz super VXO local oscillator & 8.867 MHz IF & ladder crystal filter. Built last year but not happy with its performance until changes made last night. JMSL5KH42m4 Hill40 000.JPG Hill40 008.JPG Hill40 004.JPG

Sounds like a plan, Murray. The walk to Coal Valley Motor Inn, although not far, is a bit of a strain if your suitcase is heavy-ish. There's a taxi rank at the station. The stationmaster can call you a cab, too. Or, for no extra cost (included in train ticket) you can catch bus route #1 (towards Mo...

An interesting article on spectrum trading and possible implications Amtrak and the FCC What bad wireless spectrum policy has to do with the recent, deadly train derailment. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/05/amtrak_train_derailment_positive_train_control_and_wireless_spec...

An interesting portrait of the future. Just two excerpts, if acted on, will present huge opportunties for the jaded stockbroker, banker or lawyer who wants a new lucrative challenge. Some of all of the following may come to pass, and where it already happens, occur a lot more. provide for greater ma...

2015 section winners are now listed at http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/johnmoyle/

Augh, Seven minutes was about all I could handle. Why can't they just make it a docco, without the stupid commentary and narration from irrelevant comedians and social commentators? That type of thing comes off as uneducated bogans making a film for other bogans. It just insults the audience as if ...

Getting an Arduino based VFO going

I am trying to find myself a decent CW Memory Keyer (or kit that I could build) that I can use with my IC-7200. It doesn't have to be super duper fancy, but at least do the basics and have at least four memorys. Have you considered an Arduino-based keyer? Eg http://blog.radioartisan.com/arduino-cw-...

The world certainly was a different place way back then. The world might have been different, but was amateur radio? Let's go back even further, to the Key Section notes in Amateur Radio October 1933 http://www.armag.vk6uu.id.au/1933-october-AR.html A few quotes: "DX has its bad points. Have y...

Best times are the VHF/UHF Field Day weekends - extensive activity on 144.15 there.

Otherwise not being able to get to 144.2 is a big handicap as it's an active frequency on weekend mornings (at least in VK1-3)

And if DXing is more your thing than contesting, TI9/3Z9DX has written a similar article

http://www.qrz.com/db/TI9/3Z9DX

VK3MIX wrote:Could you use a foot of RG58 to get the capacitance? A bit like how some traps for trapped dipoles are made.

Yes. Maybe with the ends frayed then soldered so you could move them and get a few pf variation.

Or bits of circuit board material slid over one another.

Was that a John Moyle FD? It was indeed. Rules at http://armag.vk6uu.id.au/1964-december-AR.html Some things remain the same (nearly everyone was 59) while others have changed (use of now obscure Q-codes even by non-Morse operators) Then there was the 7 month wait for the results - but in your case...

Of more recent history, and unrelated to Novices, is when the first VK#O## got issued (as unrestricted/advanced). I suspect fairly recently - well into the 2000s. I'm guessing the O suffix was quarantined because of a risk of confusion with the number 0. Although that didn't stop its use elsewhere. ...