The Joys Of HF

It seems that contesting clubs in Manitoba and New England want to show non-hams, new hams and all hams, the 'joys of HF radio'. In a beta test of their idea, called 'Discover the HF Experience', participants in Manitoba will have the opportunity to get on HF by operating K1K, in Massachusetts, remotely, from the Garden City Canada Inn located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Saturday, April 2nd.

Future events will take place in Massachusetts from the Yankee Clipper Contest Club's venue on April 10th and a much larger operation, featuring four operating positions at Dayton in May, at the ARRL's Expo site. Full details of all operations can be found here.

The idea was the brainchild of Gerry Hull, W1VE who, along with Cary Rubenfeld, VE4EA, has brought his idea to life.

“Our amateur population is at an all-time high, but most new hams are getting a Technician ticket, getting on VHF and UHF, and hanging out with like-minded friends,” Hull said. The limitations on what Technician licensees can do often leads to boredom, Hull said, “and they drop out of the hobby. They never get the exposure to HF ham radio, and as any veteran radio amateur can tell you, that’s a lifelong exploration.”

Now I fully concur that far too many of our newest amateurs land on VHF or UHF and never move, almost totally unaware of what HF radio is all about. Being exposed to HF radio is a great idea, yet ... and maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I'm not sure that this 'first experience' is best done via remote operation. From my own initial exposure to ham radio, seeing the magic happen in a basement or attic radio shack, complete with glowing dials and a wall full of QSL's from all over the world, was enough to hook me for life. I'm pretty sure that same feeling can't be conveyed by sitting in front of a laptop and pushing a few keys.

I am not a fan of 'remotes' but from what I have seen, this may be one of the better examples and if it grabs and convinces even a few to explore HF on their own, that would be a good thing ... then all we'd have to do is get them on CW !

Local Lightwave Activity / A New 630m Resource Site

Toby, VE7CNF, has sent me some mail indicating that his new lightwave system is ready for a two-way test!






His system is very similar to the ones built and deployed by myself and Markus, VE7CA, in late 2013. The culmination of that activity is described here, in 'On Making Nanowaves - Part 6'. Our lightwave QSO and homebrew gear were later described in a 'how to' article in the 'The Canadian Amateur' as well as in the newest edition of  'The Radio Amateur's Handbook' (2016).

Toby describes his most recent pre-QSO backyard testing:

The lightwave gear appears to be working well. Focus looks good and the
finder scopes are doing their job. There's a reflective sign high up on a
hydro tower 170 meters away that's handy for testing. It lights up bright
when the transmitter's on it.

Back scatter off the clouds above my house worked too. I heard my CW beacon, audible 339, off a patch on the clouds about 1 degree wide. I don't really know if it was clear air scatter from closer by, or scatter off the clouds, but the spot was small. That's with the tx on the front deck, and rx in the back.

I used Spectran to check the noise from city lights in my area. At QRSS10
speed there are spectral lines at 540, 600, and 660 Hz. They aren't too
strong, but those are some frequencies we should avoid.

VE7CNF's lightwave system - TX (L) & RX (R)

As well, Mark, VA7MM, is also putting together a similar system to join the fun ... it's great to see new local activity!

Hopefully the weather will co-operate enough to allow us to make a two-way QSO later this week. Plans call for Toby to set up near the same location in West Vancouver used by VE7CA as it offers a clear LOS path to Mayne Island, 54km to the southwest.

54km Georgia Strait crossing (courtesy: https://www.google.ca/maps)

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Rik, ON7YD, has set up a new website devoted to information specific to 630m. His 472kHz.org site looks as if it will be a valuable resource for those looking to get information and a start on our new band. At present, there is some really great information regarding transmitters, antenna systems and calculating E(I)RP levels. Have a look!

ARRL Working For LF / MF Future

As the rollout of new LF and MF ham bands grows closer for U.S. amateurs, earlier this month, the ARRL requested the FCC to carefully consider the procedural requirements governing the advance notification of local electric authorities of their intended 630m / 2200m operation. The FCC had suggested that under certain circumstances (mainly the distance to the nearest PLC signal-carrying power lines), amateurs would be required to notify and co-operate with power authorities ... but it was all very vague and seemed to place the conditions under which operating authority would be granted into the hands of the power companies.

In what appears to be a preemptive move to head-off the (possibly) overly onerous and impossible roadblocks suggested by power company representatives, the ARRL filing states:

“ARRL does not object to such a notification requirement, provided that it is appropriately circumscribed, not overbroad in its applicability, and not overly burdensome for radio amateurs to comply with,” the League’s statement asserted.

In addition, the power authority Utility Telecom Council (UTC) has been notably silent on the issue ... slowing the process even further.

"The ARRL noted that comments filed by the Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) called for a system of “quasi-coordination” by radio amateurs before commencing operation on 2200 meters (135.7-137.8 kHz). In its remarks to the FCC, the ARRL pointed out, however, that the UTC has not volunteered any information with respect to how a notification process might work nor offered any PLC database information to the ARRL or to the amateur community so prospective users of the band could determine if their operation might be problematic."

The League took the opportunity to remind the FCC, once again, that the low ERP levels generated by amateurs operating on the new bands would have a low probability of creating any interference and further pointed out that PLC systems operating between 9 and 490 kHz are not subject to protection from licensed services.

The ARRL also indicated that any sort of blanket notification requirement prior to transmitting on 2200 or 630 meters “would be clear regulatory overkill,” and that utility companies should clearly be required to demonstrate how amateur operations would cause harmful interference to their PLC (unlicenced) operations.

It's good to see the ARRL still being proactive with regards to procuring these new frequency allotments on behalf of U.S. amateurs ... hopefully making implementation sooner rather than later. The entire ex parte filing can be read here as well as the ARRL's own news posting of the procedure here.

In the meantime, I'll make yet another call-to-arms to fellow Canadian amateurs, who already have these two new bands but aren't using them ... new activity from the western provinces would be especially welcome as there are a now a number of well-equipped stations in VE7 who would like to work you.

March's QRP EME Window

This past week provided the month's best moonrises for my location, when the moon's position traversed its most northerly declinations. The afternoon moonrises directly in front of the house and over the ocean, provided about 90 minutes of 'moontime' for several days in a row.

Lunar declination track for March courtesy: http://www.moontracks.com/moon-declinations.html

My minimal system (single 9el Yagi and 140w) makes it very easy to see the day to day changes in EME conditions due to various causes such as local geomagnetic conditions, Faraday rotation and libration fading ... or combinations of each! One of the days was particularly good, with numerous signals heard throughout the session while the next day was just the opposite, with only a few very weak signals and no contacts. On that particular day, I was being heard well by several European stations but was unable to hear any of them ... a true 'one-way' path and not uncommon on EME.

My small EME station. Note old microwave oven blower on the 'brick' amplifier.

Several smaller 4-Yagi stations were worked during the week, re-enforcing the benefits of having a moonrise over the ocean. As mentioned previously, the extra 6db of horizon gain allows my single 9el Yagi to perform more like a stack of four 9el Yagis. One of the fellows that I worked, DK5EW in Germany, asked if there was anything 'special' about my location that would make my very small station sound so strong at his end ... the ocean is clearly doing its job!

Altogether, 12 new stations were worked during March's window, bringing my total to 70 "initials". From the looks of the amount of activity, there are still many stations yet to work, that should be within range of my system.

Stations worked this week were:

I2FAK, UA3PTW, RZ3BA/1, SK5AA, PA2CHR, ES3RF, YO3JR, PA5Y, DK5EW, SM7GVF, EA4CYQ and W5ZN.

Three of these stations were using relatively compact antenna systems, consisting of 4x8el or 4x9el arrays, while the rest were larger. I have yet to tally up my DXCC or states total on 2m, but I know that W5ZN, in Arkansas, was a new state.

Up until this past week, the highest moon elevation that I have completed a QSO was with the moon at 18 degrees above the horizon. This week it was extended, at what is probably the limit of my fixed antenna, to 19.6 degrees when working ES3RF. At the other end of the scale, IK2FAK was worked with the moon at only .87 degrees high!

This month also provided my first glimpse of a 2m DX 'pileup', when J8/WW2DX in the Grenadine Islands showed up, calling CQ via the moon. My screen shot below shows at least 12 different stations calling him during his one-minute listening period ... some not yet 'warmed-up' as seen by their drifting oscillators.With several of the signals audible, it was an amazing thing to observe.

2m pile up on J8/WW2DX

The 4 x 8 el cross-polarized array of PA5Y

YO8JR sending his 'RR' followed by '73'

All in all, March's short sessions were very rewarding but as summer approaches, more of my well-placed moonrises will also be very close to the Sun and it's associated higher noise levels ... probably something my little system will not be able to handle so well.

Saturday Morning On Radio Row

New York City

Most likely, every large city had their own version of 'Radio Row', back in the 30's or later and for many radio fans, a Saturday morning visit was the highlight of the week.



As a young shortwave-crazed kid in the 50's, there was nothing that I looked forward to more than the weekend and being able to stay up as late as I wanted, tuning the bands on my big old GE cathedral ... high up in my third-floor attic bedroom shack. But number two on the list was my weekly Saturday morning trip, by bus, to Vancouver's north Granville Street and then on to the library. There I could read the latest radio magazines as well as look at their huge archived collection of earlier issues.

In the 50's, there was a three block strip of radio shops on the north end of Granville street, just after the bridge into downtown Vancouver.

Granville Street

I imagine that it was similar to many other 'Radio Rows' ... kind of a mix between old and new and a little on the seedy side. It was a six or seven block walk from the bus stop to the radio stores and then another dozen back again to the library. The winters in Vancouver were always wet and dreary and I'd invariably get drenched in the process (I learned very early, that for some odd reason, Vancouverites never carried umbrellas!), but hey ... I was crazy about radio and what was a little rain.

During this same time span, once or twice per year, the family would pile into Dad's old Chevrolet and we would make a road-trip to Seattle. Unlike the present, our Canadian dollar was worth more than the American dollar back then, so there were always some great shopping bargains to be found. I recall there being a number of old radio shops as well as several surplus stores just south of Pike Street, on 1st Avenue as well as a few more, one or two blocks down the hill toward the docks. Maybe these were the last vestiges of Seattle's version of 'Radio Row'.

Of course nothing compares with the original 'Radio Row', located in the lower Manhattan district of New York City. It was born along with radio itself and by the early 30's the Cortlandt Street neighbourhood was blanketed with shops selling radios to consumers and components to builders. A Saturday morning trip to the Cortlandt Street paradise was a ritual for hundreds of radio fanatics for more than four decades, as seen in this timely old film taken one typical (Saturday?) morning on New York's 'Radio Row' ... what an amazing time it must have been!



From "The Death of New York's Radio Row", by Syd Steinhardt :

"Radio Row's popularity peaked in the 1950s. Its proximity to the New Jersey ferry docks and the financial district, combined with the advent of new consumer electronics goods and postwar demand, attracted floods of shoppers to the area every day except Sunday. To service their customers, stores opened at 7:00 a.m. on weekdays and closed late on Saturdays.

Radio Row was not a neat and pretty sight. Block upon block over 300 street level stores, with over three times as many enterprises in the floors above them were jammed into 20 to 25-foot storefronts, up and down streets such as Albany, Carlisle, Greenwich and Liberty. Their shelves and floor spaces were packed with vacuum tubes, condensers, transistors and other high-tech bric-a-brac for ham radio enthusiasts and do-it-yourselfers. It was, as the New York Times called it in 1950, "a paradise for electronic tinkerers." "

By the mid sixties, only a few radio shops remained and after some very bitter court battles, the remaining merchants were 'bought out' and the Cortlandt Street area was cleared so that construction could begin on the World Trade Center's twin towers. Today, the area is now home to One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the U.S.A. and to the 9/11 Memorial ... now all sacred ground.

courtesy: New York Port Authority

I was in New York City, three years after 9/11 and recall looking with much sadness into the multi-block deep hole in the ground ... how much happier it must have been there, back on those wonderful Saturday mornings, on 'Radio Row'.