Southgate Amateur Radio News

Foundations of Amateur Radio #139
Antenna gain and polar chart magic
If you’ve ever been on the hunt for an antenna, and let’s face it, in amateur radio that’s pretty likely, you’ll get information about the gain of an antenna. Often someone will tell you that this one has 12 dB gain, versus that one which only has 9 dB

Free Radio Programming at Canvey Rally
For the 4th year running, M0PZT’s ‘Ham Goodies’ will be at the Canvey Rally this Sunday offering free programming of DMR and FM handhelds

Special Event Station – 250th Anniversary of Captain Cook’s 1st voyage
2018 marks the 250th anniversary of one of the greatest voyages of exploration in history. It has been likened to the 18th century’s equivalent of NASA’s Apollo missions. However, unlike the NASA missions, this voyage was going into the unknown, with no possible hope of help if disaster struck

The Cold War bunkers still in use
A BBC news story from 2012 reports that bunkers from the Cold War are still in use

This weekend: Trophy F9AA CW and TM50URC
Starting at 12:00 UTC on Saturday February 3, 2018, the first round (24h) of this Trophy is devoted to CW

The CWops Award for Advancing the Art of CW
CWops is pleased to announce that it is now accepting nominations for this prestigious award for the year 2018

Emergency Communications Meeting at HamRadio 2018
June 1-3 will see the largest gathering of Radio Amateurs in Europe and also the largest gathering of Emergency Communicators at HAMRADIO 2018 in Friedrichshafen

ARRL again calls for action on symbol rate limits
Commenting in response to an FCC Public Notice (DA 17-1180) the ARRL have reiterated their call to eliminate the archaic symbol rate restriction on amateur radio data modes

Forget cyber crims, it’s time to start worrying about GPS jammers – UK.gov report
The UK must reduce the dependency of its critical infrastructure and emergency services on GPS technology to mitigate against the potentially disastrous impact of signal jamming, a government report has warned

Ham radio in the digital age
Erik Bilstad from broadcaster WTMJ interviewed Tom Pachner W9TJP manager of Milwaukee’s Ham Radio Outlet (HRO)

Raspberry-Pi DVB transmitter: The benefits of open-source hardware
I was first alerted to the benefits of open-source some years ago while talking to a couple of very experienced engineers. These guys, who worked for a multi-billion-dollar company with a global footprint, had been asked by their manager to complete a project in a ridiculously short time frame

RSM website: creating a user friendly experience
The team at New Zealand’s regulator RSM, have begun a process to improve the website

DX News from the ARRL
The American Radio Relay League’s round-up of the forthcoming week’s DX activity on the amateur radio bands

Upcoming events for Hawaii Amateur Radio Operators:

HPP Radio Day

Source:  BIARC February 2018 News Letter

Everyone is welcome to the HPP Radio Day on 28 April 2018, 0900-1600 HST, at the Hawaiian Paradise Park Community Center at 17th and Maku’u.  According to event coordinator Mike Stratton, “Our plan is to have several different radios set up…there will be lots of activities and demonstrations.”  Participants in the event include the HPP Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), the HPP Emergency Radio Team, ARES staff, and the Puna Emergency Radio Club (PERC).  Mike added that “K0BAD…will do a digital radio setup, KH6SF will do packet, WH6LU will do DX.”  For more details, contact Mike at jefffan@hotmail.com.

Sign up for the QTH.NET Email Listserve

Source:  BIARC February 2018 News Letter

According to Les Hittner, “The Big Island Amateur Radio Club continues to build and streamline its email listserve.” Hittner adds that “The main advantage of using such a listserve is that you do not have to individually maintain a list of club-member email addresses in order to enter into important conversations related to club operations.” If you want to join the new BIARC Listserve, please send an email to Les–lhittner@hbci.com.

New series of Technician License Prep Classes to be offered around the island.

Source:  BIARC February 2018 News Letter

Here are the scheduled classes for the Technician Class Amateur Radio License:

Hilo (Aupuni Conference Room)–classes begin on 15 February 2018, with the exam set for 22 March 2018.

Kona (West Hawaii Civic Center)–classes begin on 22 March 2018, with the exam set for 26 April 2018.

Ocean View (HOVE Community Center)–classes begin on 03 May 2018, with the exam set for 07 June 2018.

Kea’au (Kea’au Community Center), classes begin on 01 November 2018, with the exam set for 13 December 2018.

For the latest Amateur Radio news and information, please check the blog sidebars and links.  These news feeds are updated daily and weekly.

Please send your Hawaii Island Amateur Radio News to kh6jrm@arrl.net at least two weeks prior to your event so I can notify our local print and broadcast media in a timely manner.

Views expressed in this blog are those of the reporters and correspondents unless otherwise stated.

Thanks for joining us today.

Aloha es 73

Russell Roberts (KH6JRM)

Public Information Coordinator

Hawaii County, ARRL Pacific Section