PA3CLQ's Leuke Linken Nr. 502
For the users of the N1MMLogger+ there is a new SKCC.udc for all SKCC's sprints & K3Y events in january.
It replaces the 3 old UDCs
Apart from the bonuspoints the score for WES, SKS and SKSE is the same so only one UDC is needed.
You find SKCC.zip at:
http://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-list_file_gallery.php?galleryId=18&offset=150
SKCC.zip include:
SKCC.udc for all SKCC sprints and K3Y Anniversary events in january
SKCC.txt explanatory text for the use of the SKCC.udc module
SKCC.sec a copy of the SKCC's SPC codes see:
http://www.skccgroup.com/display_spc_list.php
& the SKCC's spclist.xls file.
SKCC_CallHist_EVENT_WES_SKS_SKSE.txt and
SKCC_CallHist.txt both up to 18938
Under
SKCC.zip the text must be: SKCC.udc exchange is in the order RST-S RST-R
Name SPC SKCC#
Creator
of this files : Jan Pieter Oelp PA3CLQ SKCC #2765
NIGHT
OF NIGHTS XIX
What
- On 12 July 1999 a ceremony was held at the receive site for coast station KFS
at which the last commercial Morse message in the US was sent.
Or so it was thought.
But
that was also the date on which the Maritime Radio Historical Society (MRHS)
was founded, with the mission to assure that commercial Morse would not perish
from the Earth.
Why - Morse code is clearly obsolete, nobody uses it, it's
just beeps in the air.
So who cares if it perishes?
The people at that ceremony at KFS cared.
They cared deeply.
Hard bitten grizzled old buzzards who had spent their life at sea as radio officers were weeping.
They were seeing their profession, their passion and, in a way, their life passing away before their eyes.
So
it became the mission of the MRHS to make sure that the skills, the culture and
the traditions of these men and women would be remembered and preserved through
the restoration and operation of one of the greatest of all coast stations:
KPH.
Where - Join us at the RCA receiving station, 17400 Sir
Francis Drake Blvd. in the Point Reyes National Seashore at the foot of the
Cypress tree tunnel.
When - 12 July 2018.
Each year on the anniversary of that supposed last message, plus one minute, KPH comes roaring back to the air with all the full throated majesty that mariners around the world heard for decades.
Station KFS will also be on the air as well as amateur station K6KPH which will be standing by for your comments and signal reports.
Doors open at 3:00pm PDT.
The
opening message will be broadcast at 5:01pm PDT (0001gmt).
Join us for a complete tour of the station.
Enjoy complimentary radio sandwiches and all the trimmings.
Photograph everything.
Whisper
the magic words "True Believer" and be granted access to the fabled
Treasure Room where the gems of maritime radio history are kept.
For those of you around the world who will be listening for
KPH and KFS or calling K6KPH, here are our frequencies along with the
transmitters and antennas that will be used.
The RCA transmitters are 1950s vintage.
The Press Wireless PW15 is from 1942.
The
Henry transmitters are 1990s vintage.
Key: EDZ = Extended Double Zepp. H/2 = H over 2 KPH (5kW):
426 Henry MF5000D Marconi T
500 Henry MF5000D Marconi T
4247.0 RCA 252K EDZ
6477.5 RCA 251K EDZ
8642.0 RCA 303L EDZ
12808.5 RCA 304L H/2
17016.8 RCA 305L H/2
22477.5 RCA 298H H/2
KFS (5kW):
12695.5 PW-15 H/2
17026.0 Henry HF5000D H/2
KPH and KFS operators will listen for calls from ships on 500kc MF and ITU Ch 3
HF.
Listen
on these frequencies if you want to hear the ship side of the QSO.
4184.0
6276.0
8368.0
12552.0
16736.0
22280.5
K6KPH (1.5kW):
3550.0 Henry HF5000D End-fed wire
7050.0 Henry HF5000D EDZ
14050.0 Henry HF5000D H/2
21050.0 Henry HF5000D H/2
Reception reports and QSLs may be sent to:
Maritime Radio Historical Society
PO Box 392
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
Can you help us keep Night of Nights on the air?
As lovers of heavy radio iron and big antennas know, it's a lot of work to keep the old beasts running and the antennas aloft.
Our current situation is that we have more available transmitters and frequencies than we have antennas to support them.
We carried out emergency repairs earlier this year to get us back on the air after deferred maintenance finally caught up with us.
But there's much more to do.
If you can provide a bit of financial support it will be deeply appreciated.
It's easy.
Just click on the yellow button.
And thanks! 73, Marty N9SE
Thanks,
Marty.
This annual event presents an opportunity to any interested party who has never
heard professional brass pounders play their distinctive, meaningful music.
It is rich in nostalgia for old former Novices like me, who surfed the shortwave bands for pre-licensing practice.
I
urge all who are able to QSX.
Steve N8CPA
What is wrong with the time below?
The hour 24:00 don't exist.
The
the last hour/min. is 23:59
23:59 plus 1 minute is 00:00 Hi Hi LoL
Editor
QRPGuys Single Lever Paddle --> Cootie key with jumper change #Cootie
Just discovered this and thought it might be interesting to the group:
if you have a QRPGuys single lever paddle, the paddle can be easily converted to/from a cootie key by simply rearranging the jumpers on the key.
73, Mike N2HTT
Hello, I am new SKCC member 18800.
I was wondering if there are any instructional videos (or articles) for proper use of straight key techniques.
Hand, wrist and arm movements.
I used to use straight key back in the 70s for a brief time but quickly moved over to bug then electronic keyer / paddles.
So...I am a bit rusty on straight key and also I am not sure I learned best ways back then.
I am a drummer, so the musical rhythm / cadence should be there at least.
OK Thanks, 73 Dan WA1QZX.
Hi Dan,
Go to youtube and search for "Morse Code Straight Key Training" and you'll have plenty to choose from.
I
prefer the military versions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjupJslRj5E
But most important to pay attention to arm and wrist position and alignment.
The
military trained operators to send code for 4 hours at a time and they figured
out how NOT to do it..
I suggest that you get one of the CW decoder programs, there are several free
ones that work well, and practice sending while watching the decoder.
When
you can see what you think you are sending print on the screen, you have the
timing correct.
GUD Luck! and tnx fer wanting to do it correctly... good CW is easy to copy
poor CW is miserable to copy...
73 Ron K3PID
On 3.55 min. you see a long arm on the tabel, in Europe not.
There
are more trees in the US than in the EU. (grapje)
Below also a nice how to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li8Hiwbc664
Editor
You might find this additional Army training film of interest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNfiWmuqvGo
Full of information and a bit of humor to boot. In my opinion, the sending quality and speed of the operator near the beginning of the film should be the standard every SKCCer aims for.
While EU and American style keys differ in their height above the table top, which lensds them toward one techniq.
This
implies the "low" one is for a technique that puts one's forearm down
on the table, while the high one expects one's hand and arm to be up in the
air.
73 Chris NW6V
Take a look at this video, this man is a master and watching this over and over has really encourged me to try and get good at this whole copying CW thing.
I was at abt 10 wpm when I first saw this vid and am now up to 18 wpm (and practice listening at 20 wpm).
I dont know what the technique he is using is called, but watching him I figure do whatever happens to work for you.
I
love this video.
https://youtu.be/i8Ed0TSp0gs
73 de Tim Kb5zcr
A
new poll has been created:
Which
technique do you prefer for sending on a straight key?
1. "Euro Style" (key is located near edge of desk; forearm is not in
contact with desk top)
2. "American Style" (key is located farther back on desk; forearm
rests on desk top)
Vote Now:
https://groups.io/g/SKCC/vote?pollid=1882
Drew AF2Z
My vote, Euro Style, my table is not deep enough.
Editor
It
should be pointed out that two different, but equally acceptable techniques
apply to different types of keys.
73, James Wades (WB8SIW)
To CQ or not to CQ... #poll
A
new poll has been created:
Which if the following best describes your operating preference in the SKCC
sprint events- SKS, WES and SKSE? (Balloting is anonymous.)
1. I mostly send CQ.
2. I mostly answer other stations' CQs.
3. I do both about equally.
You
can see results or vote here:
https://groups.io/g/SKCC/vote?pollid=2023
Drew AF2Z
Anyone have information on exactly when the left "wedge lip" on hand keys was first introduced?
I am still in the 1870s on my reading of the trade journals, and have not yet progressed to the 1900s, so have not uncovered the information myself.
-- 73 SW & (abram burnett)
I would assume the wedge lip became popular after the bug became popular?
This would place it somewhere in the teens perhaps?
Thoughts?
James Wades
Unusual Propagation and "LDE" or Long Delayed Echoes.
Notably around the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes there is a very unusual propagation of radio signals from the extreme North or South to other trans-equatorial destinations.
During
the 1970s I noticed that KC4USA and other Antarctic stations would come in with
very strong signals around midday local time.
I discussed this with Fr. Daniel Lenihan, W1HWK, noted geologist from Weston,
MA where he ran the Weston Geophysical Observatory.
He
told me he had noticed the same thing and had on several occasions made radio
contracts on 7 MHz CW from W1HWK at the South Pole and another
exposition to the North Pole, during the International Geophysical Year (IGY),
No
other signals were heard, just the station at the poles!
During the early 1980s when I was on the various Brooklyn class VLCC Very Large
Crude Carriers traveling around Cape Horn (South America's southernmost tip,),
during the Summer in early January I noticed I could repeatedly contact
stations from Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Northern New York,
Massachusetts, No signals from West of the Mississippi were ever heard, but
occasionally stations from Quebec and Ontario were heard.
No
Maine, or Maritime Provinces, were ever heard.
Some think that the signals enter the magnetosphere and are circulated.
Also at this season I was able to detect echoes of small duration by observing
radiotelegraph stations,, KPH (North peninsula of San Francisco Harbor
Entrance ), and KFS (South peninsula of San Francisco Harbor Entrance), both
stations had call signs ending with a series of dots and often the stronger of
the two stations, KFS, I could hear KFH and sometimes I would hear KP5 instead
of KPH.
Both stations had excellent operators, but some time around 1975, Charles Darlapelian (???), KPH manager made what many of the KPH RCA operators thought was a misstep, the removal of many directive arrays and replacing them with dipoles.
A broadside array aimed at the middle of the distant shipping channel to the Far East as was reportedly used during the Vietnam War was what was needed once you were a week West bound out of Honolulu as by Honolulu, WCC just faded from reception as did the amateur stations with less than 4 element yagis, it always surprised me 1 dB of gain at that distance resulted in 1 to 1.5 S Units, while my beloved KPH was not there in 16 and 22 MHz while KFS could hear better than AT&T's KMI radiotelephone station and I had to resort to a telegram to KMI via KFS to get KMI to come up on 16 or 22 MHz and put one of their rhombics on me.
(KMI
had transmitter rhombics spaced every 30 degrees around the compass as well as
a separate set of rhombics at receiver site right near KPH and USCG San
Francisco station, NMC as all three were neighbors.
I attach an interesting story about another polar anomaly written by a radio
amateur and former maritime section director, Hugh Clark, VE9HC of his
experience with 500 kHz from a station in Canada's Northern Labrador coast.
HC writes a nice story.
Enjoy.
73, David Ring N1EA old - radio officer, US Merchant Marine and Coast
Station Operator at WSC, Tuckerton, NJ.
I
was wondering if there ever had been HF communication between the North and
South poles?
Wes
W1LIC
Spark sounds like a electric buzzer on your AM Broadcast receiver.
I also heard a ship using spark in 1983 (still legal but emergency ONLY) from a Swedish Emergency Spark transmitter.
The RCMA (RCA) 3U Main SOLAS (Safety of Life At Sea) radio console had a 500 kHz (Kc/s) crystal diode receiver which received Spark and Modulated Continuous Wave (A2 or MCW).
That's why ships continued to have MCW / CW on 410 to 512 kHz Medium Frequency band for emergency compatibility with Spark signals!
I was several hundred miles from where I guessed the Spark sending ship was, but the signal spread from 475 to 525 kHz.
It faded out quickly after 25 kHz on either side.
I told the USCG in New Orleans about it, but they didn't send any Morse just long 20 to 30 seconds or more "dashes."
Never heard it again, only at museums,
73, David N1EA
Hello Friends
Latest
from Dr. Tamitha Skov's Space Weather report
Two Storms and A Flare: Solar Storm Forecast 07-08-2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0pPPDrQ3Oo&feature=em-uploademail
... two weak solar storms en route to Earth. NASA models predict they will hit starting July 9 and they could easily bring aurora to high latitudes, if not mid-latitudes.
Amateur radio operators are also in for some fun as a new region rotates into view and brings with it a boost in solar flux, ...
Solar Storm Forecast 06-09-2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-Qo4aqldDc&feature=em-uploademail
.. solar flux has taken a nose-dive and amateur radio propagation has dropped to poor conditions.
A Pause in Storming : Solar Storm Forecast 06-14-2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUSd2293p_I&feature=em-uploademail
"... Amateur radio operators are smiling this week as a new region rotates into Earth view, boosting the solar flux back into marginal levels for radio propagation. ... "
from
Dr. Tamitha Skov's Space Weather report 06-21-2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfIJ6ygBfwE&feature=em-uploademail
...
solar flux has increased to levels we havent seen since last year! This is
great news for amateur radio operators ...
Cheers, Darrel, aa7fv
New idea for a cootie.
Different
than just the left/right movement.
Also, check out the rest of this guy's vids, all sorts of cw keys.
https://youtu.be/caz-l-551to
Tim
A warm welcome to our pal Edy - YC1JCD who just joined this reflector.
Welcome aboard dear Edy, hope you receive all messages from the list, LMK
if any problem.
Edy, you were doing great with Yo San on June 17, first time I ever heard you,
UFB.
FYI, recording of June 17 Reg 3 SSN 20m session via KFS webSDR temporarily
uploaded here:
http://www.sideswipernet.org/temp/websdr_recording_2018-06-17T09_39_25Z_14055.0kHz.mp3
Have a nice day / week(end) gents, BCNU.
73, Yann, F5LAW
By OM Yann F5LAW SideSwiperNetGroup
73, from the town at the rivers "De Bergsche Maas" and "De Dongen" Geertruidenberg (800+ years city rights) at: 51.702211N 4.853854E
Editor Jan Pieter Oelp PA3CLQ
Dr. Sunit Malaat is responsible for the delay between this PLL and Nr. 501. It was not me! Oh no.
-30-
My simple website about Gigantic DF-Antennas
Part 1 "DF-Antenna Wullenweber Array"
Part 2 "DF-Antenna USSR Variants"
Part 3 "DF-Antenna USA Variant"
Next Part 4 "USSR OTHRA DUGA 1,2 & 3" at: