Podcasts about n0ax

Ward Silver, N0AX is herer to talk about the 4th edition of his book, "Ham Radio for Dummies" which was just released. We'll talk about it's purpose, what's new, and the style of the book.https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Ham+Radio+For+Dummies%2C+4th+Edition-p-9781119695615

A discussion of the importance of grounding with Ward Silver, N0AX

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 19th of July 2020 The news headlines: Over 1000 online exams passed Ofcom publishes EMF consultation responses Covid-19 cancels National Hamfest The RSGB is delighted to announce that recently the 1,000th person has passed the Foundation exam via remote invigilation. Congratulations to them and everyone else who has joined amateur radio via this exam process. To celebrate, the Society has launched a new web page to share the stories of just some of these successful candidates. Go to www.rsgb.org/gota2c-licensee-stories to read what attracted them to amateur radio and what they are hoping to do next. Ofcom has published the responses to the EMF consultation on their website. A link can be found on the RSGB’s EMF webpage at http://rsgb.org/emf. The RSGB would like to thank the 255 of you who took the time to respond either individually or on behalf of your organisation. The majority of all responders were against the proposals. Now that ICNIRP guidelines 2020 have been published, the RSGB is preparing updated guidelines and advice as to how to operate your stations within these guidelines. These will be published on the EMC pages of the website later this year. This guidance is being prepared by a group of experts from the amateur community including the editors of the IEEE Standard for Safety Levels for Human Exposure to EMF fields. It is with much regret that the organisers of the National Hamfest have cancelled the 2020 event. This was due to be held on Friday the 25th and Saturday the 26th of September. In consideration of their primary responsibilities to the health and welfare of volunteers, traders and visitors they have decided that this cancellation is the right decision. The environment in which the event is held presents unique and very difficult challenges in protecting social distancing, preventing handling of equipment and controlling numbers in a confined area. Arrangements are in hand for returning to the Newark Showground on the 24th and the 25th of September 2021 and they look forward to seeing you there. Registrations for this year’s popular International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend appear to have been largely unaffected by the current Covid-19 pandemic. The event will take place this year on the 22nd and 23rd of August. By mid-July, more than 200 entries had been received. New this year is Corsica, registered as lighthouse FR0030, and two lighthouses in Ghana will be on the air for the first time. All participants are urged to observe local COVID-19 safety guidelines. Find out more at https://illw.net. The Reverse Beacon Network will gain 15 new nodes, thanks to the Yasme Foundation. These will be added in regions where there is a need for reception reports to support amateur radio operation and where those reports will also have scientific value for geophysical research. The Yasme Foundation was assisted in this effort by supporting grants from Amateur Radio Digital Communications and by scientific advice from HamSCI researchers. Node locations will be available after a final list of hosts is available.  Despite the closure of many amateur radio events, you can still visit the online QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo on the 8th and 9th of August. Attendance is free and registration is now open. There will be around 70 speakers over the weekend including Ward Silver, N0AX speaking on Grounding and Bonding; Glen Johnson, W0GJ talking DXpeditions and John Portune, W6NBC on building slot antennas. Go to www.qsotodayhamexpo.com to learn more and register. Now the special event news Since the change of regulations applying to special event stations in the UK, many activations are now able to go ahead. UK amateurs would like to thank Ofcom for their help in making this happen. To commemorate the 3rd anniversary of the FT8 Digital Mode Club, special event stations will be on air during the FT8DMC Activity Days until the 31st of July. All stations will bear the FTDMC or FTDM suffix. An FTDMC Anniversary Award can be earned by working the FTDMC and FTDM stations and collecting points applicable for various award classes. See www.ft8dmc.eu for more details. And now the DX news Joe, K5KUA will participate in the IOTA Contest next weekend from his home QTH on Galveston Island, NA-143. He will operate mainly CW with some SSB. QSL direct or bureau and Logbook of The World. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the events for new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your own government’s advice first and foremost. Today, the 19th, the Low Power Contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. This is CW only on the 3.5 to 14MHz contest bands, with an exchange of signal report, serial number and power. This is the only RSGB contest with a lunch break, so please check the rules. The 70MHz Trophy contest also takes place today, the 19th. It runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. It’s all mode and the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode. On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday it is the data leg of the 80m Club Championships between 1900 and 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. Next weekend, the UK Microwave Group contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes in the 5.7 and 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The RSGB’s Islands On The Air contest takes place over the weekend of the 25th and 26th of July. The exchange is signal report, serial number and your IOTA reference. Mainland Britain is EU-005, mainland Ireland is EU-115, while smaller islands have differing references. A full list can be found at www.qrz.com/i/iota.html. The IOTA contest has been scaled back this year, with no portable entries being accepted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Running from 1200UTC on the 25th to 1200UTC on the 25th, it is CW and SSB only on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands. The UK Six Metre Group’s Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 17th of July. Last week a coronal mass ejection caught space weather experts by surprise, sending the Kp index up to four for around nine hours on Tuesday. The stream had a strong southward component in its Bz field, which meant it could more easily couple with the Earth’s magnetic field. The weak CME passage was enough to generate aurora at higher latitudes. Otherwise, the Sun was relatively quiet with zero sunspots and a solar flux index of 68-69 all week. Ten metre Sporadic-E has become less prevalent this week, with Thursday showing mostly weak openings to Mauritania, Spain, Sicily and Corsica. Next week NOAA still predicts more of the same with a solar flux index of 68 and zero sunspots. There are signs of coronal holes on the Sun’s surface, which could result in unsettled geomagnetic conditions at times due to high-speed solar wind streams. The STEREO Ahead spacecraft’s extreme ultraviolet view shows signs of a hot spot on the Sun, which will rotate into view over the next week. This could be the precursor of a sunspot, but only time will tell. Meanwhile, daytime F2-layer maximum usable frequencies are still exceeding 20m, with occasional openings on 17m. Sporadic E openings still occur virtually daily with openings up to 10m. Night-time F-layer MUFs occasionally exceed 20m, especially up to around midnight. And now the VHF and up propagation news. This weekend we have developing high pressure over southern Britain, and it should provide some good Tropo opportunities, especially across the Channel and over Biscay into Spain and down the west coast of Africa. It’s also worth noting that the Mediterranean is in full-on summer mode with strong ducts over the sea from most of the usual holiday destinations, for example EA6 to IS0. These Tropo conditions should last into the middle of the week. After that, the models seem to suggest a return to more unsettled conditions as a front moves south bringing rain and heavy showers, some thundery, particularly in the south, and this weather type will last into the following weekend. So, there should be some strong rain scatter conditions on the GHz bands in the second half of the week. There have been some very strong Sporadic-E events all the way up to 2m during the last week. The traditional components like jet streams make a strong showing on the upper air charts, so I would expect to see further Sporadic-E popping up next week, so check the bands mid morning and early evening. With the Moon at peak declination today and path losses falling as we approach perigee next weekend, it’s a good week for EME. Although 144MHz sky noise is low all week, the exception is Monday afternoon when the Sun and Moon are close in the sky. There are no major meteor showers this week, so keep looking around local dawn for the best random contacts. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 12th of July 2020 The news headlines: RSGB online Convention streams announced Latest news on ‘Get on the air to care’ RSGB expands Remote Invigilation to Intermediate exams The RSGB online Convention will consist of two streams. The first is called “An introduction to…” and will include a wide range of topics to support new and returning radio amateurs as well as existing amateurs who’d like to try something new. The second is “Learn more about…”, where speakers will dig deeper into the details of the subjects. We’re also pleased to announce that Eric Swartz, WA6HHQ, who is the co-founder of Elecraft, will be our keynote speaker. We’ll be releasing more details of the presentations over the next few weeks. The RSGB and NHS ‘Get on the air to care’ campaign continues to gain coverage in the national and amateur radio media as well as being supported by clubs and radio amateurs. There are some great stories to read on the Society’s website that feature clubs like Denby Dale ARS, individuals such as remote exam invigilator Donna, M7DON and publications ranging from the Emergency Services Times to ‘Third Age Matters’, which is the magazine of U3A. Go to www.rsgb.org/gota2c to find out more. Following on from the success of remote invigilation of Foundation exams, the RSGB is pleased to expand that to include Intermediate exams. From this Monday, the 13th of July, the automated exam booking system will accept bookings for both Foundation and Intermediate level exams. Please note that the earliest available bookings for exams at either level are during the second week in August. The requirement for Intermediate practical assessments is waived until further notice, but this will be reviewed at a later stage. An article has just been published in Nature about the first amateur radio communication system in lunar orbit, Longjiang-2, also known as Lunar-OSCAR 94 or LO-94. It was built by students at the Harbin Institute of Technology. Read the Nature article at www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17272-8. Thanks to the Spectrum Forum for this information. Despite the closure of many amateur radio events, you can still visit the online QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo on the 8th and 9th of August. Attendance is free and registration is now open. There will be around 70 speakers over the weekend including Ward Silver, N0AX speaking on Grounding and Bonding; Glen Johnson, W0GJ talking DXpeditions and John Portune, W6NBC on building slot antennas. Go to www.qsotodayhamexpo.com to learn more and register. John Armstrong, GW3EJR will be celebrating his 100th birthday on the 18th of July. He told us that, “It has been a long journey since 1920, although a rather shorter one from when I got my callsign, G3EJR, in 1948. I am still active, using a very ancient Icom IC-706, with a full size G5RV on HF and a Yagi on the 2m band. When I go out and about, I go on 2m with a Baofeng UV-5R5.” Many happy returns John. Ofcom have advised the RSGB that their online portal was due to be down between 4.30am and 11.30am on Saturday the 11th of July. Mid Ulster ARC have been holding online talks during the Covid-19 pandemic. These talks are available for everyone to view on the club’s YouTube channel. Last week RSGB Region 8 representative Philip Hosey, MI0MSO made a presentation, which was followed by a Q&A session with RSGB General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB. They have also had talks by Dom, M0BLF on QO-100, George, GI4SJQ on coaxial cable and connectors and Tony, G2NF speaking about urban QRM, amongst several others. The MUARC YouTube channel is at https://tinyurl.com/GB2RS-07-12. Now the special event news Since the change of regulations applying to special event stations in the UK, many activations are now able to go ahead. UK amateurs would like to thank Ofcom for their help in making this happen. To commemorate the 3rd anniversary of the FT8 Digital Mode Club, special event stations will be on air during the FT8DMC Activity Days until the 31st of July. All stations will bear the FTDMC or FTDM suffix. An FTDMC Anniversary Award can be earned by working the FTDMC and FTDM stations and collecting points applicable for various award classes. See www.ft8dmc.eu for more details. 9A164T is the special callsign to commemorate the birth of Nikola Tesla, who was born on 10 July 1856. QSL via the bureau and eQSL. VC3STYWELL is the third Covid-19 special callsign to be operated by The Seven Thirty Social Distancing Nets in Ontario. It is on the air until the 19th of July. QSLs via VE3ES. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the events for new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your own government’s advice first and foremost. The IARU HF Championship runs for 24 hours until 1200UTC today, the 12th. Using SSB only on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and ITU Zone, which is 27 for the UK. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. Then from 1900 to 2130UTC it’s the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday it is the SSB leg of the 80m Club Championships, running from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. The 70MHz UK Activity contest takes place on Thursday from 1900 to 2130UTC. It’s all mode and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next Sunday, the 19th, the Low Power Contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. This is CW only on the 3.5 to 14MHz contest bands, with an exchange of signal report, serial number and power. This is the only RSGB contest with a lunch break, so please check the rules. The 70MHz Trophy contest also takes place on Sunday the 19th. It runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. It’s all mode and the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode. The UK Six Metre Group’s Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 10th of July. An elevated solar wind stream moved past Earth late on the 4th of July and early on the 5th, sending the Kp index to three. This was the most significant solar event of the last week as otherwise the Sun remained calm. The Kp index remained at one or zero for the rest of the week, which no doubt helped boost propagation. There were no sunspots this week after the minor group, region 2766, which pushed the sunspot number to 12, vanished on Monday. Note that the number 12 represents two sunspots (2) in one group (+10), so it wasn’t quite as exciting as it sounds. Otherwise there was little to write home about. Sporadic-E continues to be the major mode of propagation, although there were days when it was more sporadic than the previous week! We have probably seen the best of the Sporadic-E season now although it should keep running until late August, albeit at lower levels. If previous experience is anything to go by, we can expect a few bigger openings yet so please don’t write off 10 metres completely. The NOAA space weather prediction for next week doesn’t exactly inspire either. It has the solar flux index pegged at 68-69, with a maximum planetary Kp index of two. The STEREO Ahead spacecraft view shows very little in the way of forthcoming activity, other than a few bright spots in the extreme ultraviolet view that may or may not come to something as the Sun rotates. Looking for some good news, according to the Chilton ionosonde data, 20 metres is generally staying open on 3,000km paths until around midnight on most nights, although you may find 30 metres more reliable. And now the VHF and up propagation news. It’s looking like another week of changes with last week’s unsettled weather making way for a new ridge of high pressure over this weekend. This means that, after a period of potential GHz bands rain scatter, we are now heading into some Tropo prospects, especially in the south for paths into France and across Biscay to Spain. But low pressure is never far away to the north, particularly after mid-week when a low passes close to Scotland and showery fronts are driven across the country to give a few rain scatter options again. The Sporadic-E season is still out there and as usual the best advice is to check the bands and clusters for activity mid-morning and again late afternoon and early evening. Moon declination goes positive today and 144MHz sky noise is low but rising as the week progresses. Apogee is tonight so path losses will be falling throughout the week. Peak Moon declination is just a week away, meaning longer Moon windows – time to get that EME system up and running again. There are no major meteor showers this week, so continue to operate around local dawn for the best chance of random meteor scatter contacts. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

Ward Silver, N0AX, author of the QST magazine column, ·Hands-On Radio·, editor of ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications, and author of many books on ham radio joins Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today. In the podcast, Ward describes his ham radio beginnings

Dan, KB6NU, and Tom, KB5RF, discuss the future of amateur radio with Ward Silver, N0AX.

Ward Silver, N0AX is here to talk about why some contesters and other operators don't like people saying things like "Please Copy" and looking at other ways that hams can be more efficient communicators on CW, phone, digital, and all modes when it's necessary. Satellite ops and public service nets are also examples of times when time may be limited that we discuss. And also, we talk about when it's not as critical... lighten up and don't worry about it! YOU can join in on the conversation!Be sure to CALL in with your questions and comments by calling 812-NET-HAM-1 live during the call-in segment of the show, or by Skype. Our username is hamtalklive. You can also tweet your questions before or during the show to @HamTalkLive.

Ward Silver, N0AX will take your questions about the new 2018 ARRL Handbook. Ward is the editor of this major revision, and will be here to tell us all about it.Be sure to CALL in with your questions and comments by calling 812-NET-HAM-1 live during the show, or by Skype. Our username is hamtalklive. You can also tweet your questions before or during the show to @HamTalkLive.

Ward Silver, N0AX, the President of the YASME Foundation and member of the Spurious Emissions Band is our guest tonight. Ward talks about what the foundation is doing for ham radio, and gives you a chance to listen to and ask questions about the Spurious Emissions Band! Pull up a chair, relax, enjoy a lovely beverage, and listen to the smooth sounds of Ward! And be sure to call in with your questions (and not necessarily your requests and dedications) at 812-NET-HAM-1 or on Skype at HamTalkLive. You can also join the chat room on hamtalklive.com, or Tweet @HamTalkLive.

 Ward Silver, N0AX, author of the QST magazine column, “Hands-On Radio”, editor of ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications, and author of many books on ham radio joins Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today.  In the podcast, Ward describes his ham radio beginnings and his amateur radio journey that includes his authoring many books and articles on ham radio. He also offers practical advice to new and returning hams.