Dayton Hamvention Announces DX Theme for 2013

11/15/2012

Throughout its 62 years, the Dayton Hamvention® has showcased the best that Amateur Radio has to offer. Each year, a specific theme — such as Amateur Radio clubs, global friendship or the advent of digital modes — spotlights one of the many facets of the Amateur Radio Service. And when Hamvention opens on May 17, 2013, at Hara Arena, the 2013 theme DX Hamvention will reflect an important part of ham radio: the distant contact. “Hamvention is often an important DX destination for amateurs from all over the globe, Hamvention General Chairman Charles Kaiser, KD8JZR, explained. “Working DX is often a mix of magic, conditions and the diligent application of radio theory.”

Kaiser — who served as Hamvention Assistant General Chairman in 2012 — noted that many attendees to return each year to Dayton to meet other hams whom they have talked to on the radio. “The quest for that distant contact advances Amateur Radio on many levels,” he said. “This year, the Hamvention team is honoring DX in all of its forms.”

ARRL’s large exhibit area at Hamvention, ARRL EXPO, has always included significant attention for on-air DX activities and the participation of many international visitors. “In addition to our many activities at ARRL EXPO — such as hands-on kit building, forums and membership services — we are proud to support DXers from all over the world,” said ARRL Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R. “We know hams appreciate our on-site QSL card checking services and enjoy being able to drop off their cards for the ARRL Outgoing QSL Bureau. In recent years, the ARRL exhibit area has included representatives the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and from our partner radio societies in the UK, Germany, Japan and Qatar.”

Jim Tiderman, N8IDS, will serve as the 2013 Hamvention Assistant General Chairman. “Jim has been active in Hamvention for many years, and he brings a natural leadership style to the Hamvention team,” Kaiser said. “I will be asking Jim to lead many important responsibilities to enhance the event. It is very important to note our team is all-volunteer and we continue to work in the spirit of collaboration.”

A number of key vendors have already committed to returning to Hamvention; the Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates that the annual event produces an economic impact of about $4 million for Montgomery County, and nearly $10 million regionally. Hamvention, the world’s largest Amateur Radio gathering, brings about 25,000 people to the greater Dayton area. The three-day event — scheduled for May 17-19 — includes exhibits, a flea market, forums, education sessions and license exams.

Source: ARRL

Recent Earthquakes

Haiti earthquake caught on video

Haiti Earthquake: “It’s Chaos, I’m Telling You — It’s Real Chaos”

On Tuesday, January 12 at 4:53 PM Haiti time (2153 UTC), a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince, the island nation’s capital. Communications in and out of Haiti have been disrupted. The ARRL encourages US amateurs to be aware of the emergency operations on the following frequencies: 7.045 and 3.720 MHz (IARU Region 2 nets), 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz (SATERN nets), and 14.300 MHz (Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net); the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173.

There was no firm estimate on how many people were killed by Tuesday’s quake. Haitian President Rene Preval said the toll could be in the thousands: “Let’s say that it’s too early to give a number.”

Tuesday’s quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and in Eastern Cuba, but no major damage was reported in either place. The January 13 edition of The Daily DX reported that the Rev John Henault, HH6JH, made contact late Wednesday morning with the Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net (IATN) on 14.300 MHz; this is the IARU Global Center of Activity frequency for emergency communications. He said that he was safe, but had no power and no phone service. He was operating on battery power and hoping to get a generator running later in the day. The edition also noted that Pierre Petry, HH2/HB9AMO — who was in Cap Haitien (about 140 km north of Port-au-Prince) is safe; Petry is in Haiti working for the United Nations World Food Program.

On Wednesday afternoon, Fred Moore, W3ZU, assisted Jean-Robert Gaillard, HH2JR, with a phone patch to his friend Ariel in Miami. “It’s bad, it literally is bad,” Gaillard told Ariel. “We don’t know how many people are dead. We do not know what to expect. It’s chaos, I’m telling you — it’s real chaos. We are really in a disaster area. It’s really a war zone. Many, many buildings in the downtown area are stripped from the ground with many people buried underneath them – you name it, it’s bad.” Gaillard, who lives in Port-au-Prince, was using his neighbor’s generator to make the contact. “It’s really chaotic. I’ve never been in a war, but this is what a war zone would be like. Dead bodies all over the place, dead bodies buried. All I can tell you is that I’m okay, my house is okay. We’ve had 30 aftershocks, the main one yesterday. We are expecting some more shocks, so I’m a bit nervous to be inside the house.”

According to IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Chairman Jim Linton, VK3PC, members of the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) — the Dominican Republic’s IARU Member-Society — and Union Dominicana de Radio Aficionados (UDRA) are preparing to go to Port au Prince on the morning of Friday, January 15, where they will install HI8RCD/HH, an emergency radio communications station and a mobile station.

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Solar Cycle 24 Canceled – Ham Radio Operators Furious

Written by drugtestallpoliticians
Dayton, Ohio (IPP) – The next solar cycle was assigned the number 24 but has been canceled by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Scientists were able to predict that this cycle would have been 30% to 50% stronger than the previous solar cycle and it would have started a year later than previously thought.

Scientists have been unable to accurately predict the intensity of future solar cycles until recent times. All of that changed recently when the Predictive Flux-transport Model was developed and put into effect. This new method is thought to be 98% accurate.

Dr. Povenmire Finootch of the Mount Palomar Astronomical Campus and the senior legal representative of the IAU takes full responsibility for canceling the next solar cycle and has a black eye to show for it. He recently got into a scrap with the head of the North American Ham Radio League, Brent Brookski over the canceling of solar cycle 24. Dr. Finootch claims that the IAU has complete authority over anything related to the visible as well as the invisible portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Family electrocuted putting up ham radio antenna

Updated: Tuesday, 13 Oct 2009, 9:25 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 12 Oct 2009, 11:03 PM EDT

PALM BAY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) – Three people are dead after being electrocuted while trying to erect a ham radio antenna. It happened off of Alaska Avenue near Interstate 95 in Palm Bay.

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Authorities say rescue crews responded to a 911 call about the electrocution Monday evening when they found the three on the ground not breathing.

Authorities have identified the victims as 55-year-old Melville Braham, 49-year-old Ana Braham and 15-year-old Anthony Braham.

Authorities say the family was attempting to raise the antenna when they lost control of the pole and it struck an overhead power line. The impact sent 13,000 volts of electricity through the pole the three were holding.

The mother was pronounced dead at the scene. The father and son were taken to a hospital where they were pronounced dead.

The Palm Bay Police Department Victim Services unit is working closely with the surviving family members.

What’s Wrong with the Sun? (Nothing)

Science@NASA (July 11, 2008) Stop the presses! The sun is behaving normally.  So says NASA solar physicist David Hathaway. “There have been some reports lately that Solar Minimum is lasting longer than it should. That’s not true. The ongoing lull in sunspot number is well within historic norms for the solar cycle.”  This report, that there’s nothing to report, is newsworthy because of a growing buzz in lay and academic circles that something is wrong with the sun. Sun Goes Longer Than Normal Without Producing Sunspots declared one recent press release. A careful look at the data, however, suggests otherwise.  But first, a status report: “The sun is now near the low point of its 11-year activity cycle,” says Hathaway. “We call this ‘Solar Minimum.’ It is the period of quiet that separates one Solar Max from another.”

Above: The solar cycle, 1995-2015. The “noisy” curve traces measured sunspot numbers; the smoothed curves are predictions. Credit: D. Hathaway/NASA/MSFC. [more]

The Day The Sun Brought Darkness

ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2009) — On March 13, 1989 the entire province of Quebec, Canada suffered an electrical power blackout. Hundreds of blackouts occur in some part of North America every year. The Quebec Blackout was different, because this one was caused by a solar storm.  Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), associated giant clouds of plasma in space, are the largest explosions in the solar system. They are caused by the buildup and sudden release of magnetic stress in the solar atmosphere above the giant magnetic poles we see as sunspots. CMEs can cause magnetic storms affecting communication systems, power grids and astronauts in space. On Friday March 10, 1989 astronomers witnessed a powerful explosion on the sun. Within minutes, tangled magnetic forces on the sun had released a billion-ton cloud of gas. It was like the energy of thousands of nuclear bombs exploding at the same time. The storm cloud rushed out from the sun, straight towards Earth, at a million miles an hour. The solar flare that accompanied the outburst immediately caused short-wave radio interference, including the jamming of radio signals from Radio Free Europe into Russia. It was thought that the signals had been jammed by the Kremlin, but it was only the sun acting up. On the evening of Monday, March 12 the vast cloud of solar plasma (a gas of electrically charged particles) finally struck Earth’s magnetic field. The violence of this ‘geomagnetic storm’ caused spectacular ‘northern lights’ that could be seen as far south as Florida and Cuba. The magnetic disturbance was incredibly intense. It actually created electrical currents in the ground beneath much of North America.

Yaesu FT-450 Hidden Menu

I just bought a new rig Yaesu FT-450AT. It’s an inexpensive rig but is full of nice features. I’ve been researching about the features of this radio as well as hidden menus and I found this interesting video from YouTube.

CQ CQ

Amateur radio or ham radio has been around for ages, long before computer and internet. It’s still here, alive and kicking. It’s more than a just hobby, it’s passion and to many, life. It’s a mix of fun, science, public service, etc. With it, we meet new friends, cross cultural barriers, discover places we’ve never been to before. In ham radio it doesn’t matter where one is from,  political affiliation or religious belief. Hams are men and women from different walks of life. Some are rocket scientists, engineers, monarchies, lawyers, doctors, clergies, military personnel, entrepeneurs, broadcasters, employees.  Young and old alike are in this high-tech hobby. We speak one language of understanding and camaraderie.

We learn and apply the arts and science of communication. Hams are always at the  frontier of new technology. The hobby is accessible to all. One doesn’t have to have the most expensive gears to begin with. A simple and handy portable radio can already “work the world”. A ham radio license is not difficult to earn. There are several printed and online helps for an individual to prepare for a ham radio license exam. For more info about amateur radio, visit http://www.arrl.org

The Amateur’s Code

The Radio Amateur is

CONSIDERATE…never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others.

LOYAL…offers loyalty, encouragement and support to other amateurs, local clubs, and the American Radio Relay League, through which Amateur Radio in the United States is represented nationally and internationally.

PROGRESSIVE…with knowledge abreast of science, a well-built and efficient station and operation above reproach.

FRIENDLY…slow and patient operating when requested; friendly advice and counsel to the beginner; kindly assistance, cooperation and consideration for the interests of others. These are the hallmarks of the amateur spirit.

BALANCED…radio is an avocation, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school or community.

PATRIOTIC…station and skill always ready for service to country and community.

—The original Amateur’s Code was written by Paul M. Segal, W9EEA, in 1928.