Posts from — April 2008

The 4D Ionosphere is something that will give you hours of fun:

Today, NASA-funded researchers released to the general public a new "4D" live model of Earth’s ionosphere. Without leaving home, anyone can fly through the layer of ionized gas that encircles Earth at the edge of space itself. All that’s required is a connection to the Internet.

"This is an exciting development," says solar physicist Lika Guhathakurta of NASA headquarters in Washington, DC. "The ionosphere is important to pilots, ham radio operators, earth scientists and even soldiers. Using this new 4D tool, they can monitor and study the ionosphere as if they’re actually inside it."

When I first read this, I checked to make sure it wasn’t April 1st and some foolery. But, it’s real. Here’s a screen shot:

The key is that this information is updated every 10 minutes:

"Colors represent electron content," Tobiska explains. "Bright red is high density; that’s where radio communications are restricted to few or no frequencies. Blue denotes low density; no problem there."

Using the intuitive Google Earth interface, users can fly above, around and through these regions getting a true 3D view of the situation. Make that 4D. "The fourth dimension is time. This is a real-time system updated every 10 minutes," he says.

Undoubtedly, this technology will be banned from CW contesting as well…

Scot, K9JY

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A petition is now out on the Internet that requests banning the CW Skimmer program and Related Enhancements for CW contests in any operating category.

The petition says, in part:

We love CW Contesting because it is CW Contesting. CW Contesting is enjoyed by Amateur Radio Operators worldwide who use their skills and stations to compete with other stations and the other stations’ operator(s) skills.

Although certain technological advancements have been developed and generally accepted by the contest community, Skimmer technology is one we feel should be banned from use in CW Contesting in all categories.

Banning new technology for all categories is drastic, to say the least. And requested before there is any real data out on how contesters would use the program in a real contest and describe what would help or hurt them about the program.

I don’t disagree the technology should be available in all contesting categories, but banning the technology from any contesting category flies in the face of human behavior.

Banning the program from use sounds easy, but fails a key contest criteria: there is no reliable metric that tells us whether the program is used by an operator or not. Without the capacity to log check and know, the program will be used, or not, by the operator. Allowing the program in one/some categories would provide the operator a clear category to use the program in the contest.

Instead of petitions recommending banning the program from contesting, I think it would be much smarter to use the program in some contests. Let’s figure out how it changes the operator behavior and then work on putting the technology in the right category for the operator.

Also, KA3DRR’s article on this.

Scot, K9JY

Sooner than you think, Field Day will be here in the United States. That great weekend filled with signals on the air, setting up the stations, having the barbeques and breakfast — all shared with mosquitoes.

If you’re going to be working Field Day as a club, a lot of the planning should already be done and much already executed. Location determined, permits acquired, stations planned, station captains chosen, and an equipment list all drawn up.

But, is Field Day a contest? Or a social event? A public service demonstration? Or none of the above?

When I was back in Wisconsin, the Four Lakes Amateur Radio Club went big-time on Field Day putting ourselves in the category of 9A. Yup, nine stations on the air, fully manned, generators humming, and grills cooking. Assignments to maximize extra credit Field Day points from satellite, publicity, and old-time Novice tents assigned. It was a lot of work.

But a lot of people and clubs don’t do something that big (it really is a tremendous number of stations…). Instead, they focus on 1A or 2A where the number of stations is more manageable, but the competition more fierce.

What are you and/or your club going to be doing this year for Field Day? Let us know in the comments and see if we can finally resolve if Field Day is a contest or a social gathering…!

Scot, K9JY

SteppIR is introducing the “the first (DB36) of a line of antennas that will cover 6M through 40M with good gain on all bands” at Visalia this weekend.

You can see quite a few pictures of the beam in the Holiday Inn parking lot from K6RIX. It is a very different looking beam antenna.

There is also a brief review from N9ADG, a beta tester of the beam. His review and pictures: SteppIR Dream Beam Prototype.

Right now it looks like delivery times of about eight weeks. You’ll need more than your tax return to buy it as well…

Scot, K9JY

From the ARRL Web site:

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today released its decision on the ARRL’s Petition for Review of the FCC’s Orders adopting rules governing broadband over power line (BPL) systems. The Court agreed with the ARRL on two major points and remanded the rules to the Commission.

The full story from the ARRL.

This is good news because the FCC ignored ham radio arguments and went with what power companies wanted to do regardless of the impact on services to others. Then the FCC didn’t allow anyone else to see the studies upon which they made the decision.

So we will ignore the will of the people, do what companies want, keep the studies secret that we used to make the decision, and implement it over your objections.

That approach sounds so familiar to me….hmmmm.

At least the Appeals Court can see this logic and send it back.

Scot, K9JY