Monday, March 18, 2019

United States hams operating outside of US... what to do?

Operating Overseas Operating Overseas FAQ
1) Does the country you will be visiting participate in a multilateral reciprocal operating
authority--CEPT or IARP? If so, operate under CEPT or IARP.
2) If it does not, can I obtain a Reciprocal Operating Permit even if the country does not share a Reciprocal Operating Agreement (bilateral) with the US? Yes
3) Are you traveling to Canada? The US and Canada share an automatic reciprocal operating agreement. How can I operate outside the US?

You can find a complete listing of the requirement for a country or countries at Operating Information by Country. This includes most countries, including CEPT and IARP participating countries.

How can I operate when CEPT or IARP isn't possible?
Yes. It is possible to obtain a permit a permit for almost every country in the world. Although ARRL maintains paper files at HQ, the most up-to-date information on obtaining permission to operate in a country can be found online at the ARRL Web site or on the Web site of Veikko Komppa, OH2MCN. ARRL HQ and Veke, OH2MCN, work together to make sure that up-to-date information appears.

This can include information on the national Amateur Radio society, repeaters and local clubs. Information on travel warnings in a particular country can be obtained from the US Department of State with the primary purpose of alerting the public to adverse conditions in specific countries.


Are there guidelines for obtaining a permit? The most complete information appears on the ARRL Web page. If specific application information for a country on this page is unavailable or unclear, write a letter of request or send an e-mail to the countries telecommunications authority for a permit. Include information on the purpose of your trip, the dates and place(s) of your stay, your passport and the equipment you intend to use. Attach to it a photocopy of your amateur radio license issued by FCC. In some cases where Amateur Radio is not widespread, a letter attesting to your character signed by the chief of police (or equivalent) of your hometown might help if attached.

Submit your application as much in advance of your trip as possible. It may take 30 to 90 days or more to be processed. Do not forget to keep a photocopy of everything you send for future reference. This does not guarantee that you will get operating permission, but it is a start. In many cases, it is important to have contacts in a country and the IARU society of that country may be helpful. What are my privileges are in the country I will visit? When operating under CEPT or IARP, there are two classes: Class 1 licensees are those who have demonstrated proficiency in Morse code to the licensing agency. They may operate with the same privileges they are authorized in their home country provided that they do not exceed those privileges granted to the highest class license available in the country. Class 2 licensees have not demonstrated proficiency in Morse code to their national telecommunications agency and are limited to privileges above 50 MHz. If the country does not participate in CEPT or IARP, the privileges are whatever the telecommunications agency granting the reciprocal operating authority says that they are. If not specified, the ITU Regional provisions apply generally, but there may be exceptions. How can I operate my station in Canada? When a US amateur operates in Canada, simply bring your FCC license, proof of your US citizenship (a birth certificate or other proof) and identify as call / Canadian identifier, like N1KB/VE3. At least once during the communication, you must state your geographical location, like "30 km north of Toronto."

http://www.arrl.org/us-amateurs-operating-overseas


Friday, March 15, 2019

Ladder Line - LOW LOSS - LOW LOSS


this Information is specifically about ladder line.



here is an example of a dipole with ladder line


REMEMBER LADDER LINE HAS LOWER LOSS THAN COAX.


here is a typical dipole design

Spacing of the wires in ladder line (and their relative diameter) sets the impedance of the line.



advantages of ladder line
LOW LOSS, less expensive, easy to make, perfect for dipole or loop


disadvantages of ladder line
should not touch almost anything, (house, leaves, metal, trees, etc)


if you know of more tips to help other hams please forward your information to
KA1ULN@MAIL.COM

THANX SO MUCH

33/73

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

NEAR-FEST Deerfield New Hampshire May 3 and 4 2019



NEAR-Fest http://near-fest.com/
New England Amateur Radio Festival
OUR TENTH YEAR!
NEAR-Fest XX
May 3 and 4 2019
Deerfield, New Hampshire
Admission Tickets
Tickets
Open Now
Get your NEAR-Ly Free Ticket!
Vendor and Exhibitors
Vendors
Vendors and Exhibitors
Open Now!
Door Prizes (NEAR-Fest XX)
There will be TWO Grand Prize Drawings at NEAR-Fest XX
That’s right, TWO KX3 Radios will be given away, one on Friday – One on Saturday
More Details: How to Win
Elecraft KX3
Be sure to get your NEAR-Ly free ticket stubs into the barrel in the relaxation area





— FAQs —
There seems to be some confusion with some people about logging in/registering on this web site:
You do NOT need to log in/register to view this web site. The only reason to do so is if you are going to make a purchase.
If you are a registered user on the Forum at forum.near-fest.com, this is a SEPARATE registration process, your login and password may be different.
Only Vendors are required to register per the expectations of the Commercial Operations Staff of NEAR-Fest. Most have done so years ago and return year after year.
Admission tickets (which include an opportunity for winning a Door Prize) and inside parking passes CAN be purchased at this site, and users are required to register at this site if you want to complete an online purchase.. HOWEVER, purchasing admission tickets online is NOT REQUIRED, tickets and inside parking passes can also be purchased at the Gate. If tickets are purchased at this site please bring your receipt with you and produce it at the gate. You will be given the number of tickets purchased. NO TICKETS WILL BE MAILED.
If you are making a purchase and are unregistered, you register by following the links which take you to the appropriate pages to make your purchase. READ THE DIRECTIONS AND EXPLANATIONS SPECIFIC TO EACH TYPE OF PURCHASE, then select the items you wish to purchase and fill out the contact form at the bottom of the purchase page so we will have a record of your purchase. Admission Tickets and Inside Parking Passes MUST be paid for at the time of your purchase. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IS ENTERED CORRECTLY. Admission ticket transactions entered but not paid for will be deleted. Once your purchase is complete you will receive an emailed purchase confirmation (bring this with you to NEAR-Fest) and a system-generated password for logging in to the web site.
Use your email address as the username and system generated password to log on to the site in the future. Once logged in go to “My Bookings” under the Home tab to look at your purchases. Now that you are registered you can simply log in to the web site to make purchases for the next NEAR-Fest.
You can change your password by clicking on the “Forgot your password?” link and following the instructions.
All financial transactions are processed by Paypal. We only store contact information necessary to record successful purchases so you can get what you paid for. We do not process or store any bank account or credit card information at this site.

Saturday, January 5, 2019

Technicians on HF and more (GO FOR IT) CHALLENGE

Technician Class Amateur Radio Operator you can do it all

here it is spelled out very clear Technician Bands
here is  what  you can  do  (Technician bands)

HF:   10(cw,data,rtty,SSB), 15(cw), 40(cw), 80(cw)

VHF:   6, 2, 1.2 (220)

UHF:  70(440), 33(900)   23:(1.2)

so Fire up your HF radio and lets make some contacts
I challenge all Technicians to make:
1 qso with 1 person from each of the 50 United States


on 10 meters (28 mhz - 28.000 to 28.500 - lots of bandwidth)
and with 10 meter WIDE OPEN every day

How fast can you do this?
then can I challenge you to another degree.... how about 1 YL (young lady in each state)
if you do this contact me right away i will personally get your certificate to you!

Niece KA1ULN@arrl.net


ps: I challenge all EXTRA class operators to Elmira/Elmer 1 person in 2018!

help me develop this.... please add your comments below

Thursday, January 3, 2019

HOW TO START LOGGING/CONFIRMING QSO's ONLINE


GOAL: MAKE IT A POINT TO GET ALL HAM TO CONFIRM ALL QSO'S (yes even if you ragchew)

so remember there are hams who have been in this hobby for many many years
(that have been logging with paper and pen)
also remember there are brand new hams (we need a lot more of them
(kids/children/teenagers\yl's) who will not like
keep track of the qso's they have >>>>> so we must show them how to log online.
logging qso's are done so that some ham can achieve certificate,
meet new friends and lots more.



there are many ways of logging qso's (a contact between 2 or more ham radio operators.

one way (easy and free) QRZ.COM

here are the steps to start loggins qso's free and easy and
who knows achieve a certificate quickly.

Log into to QRZ.com
Look for the LOGBOOK Button in the right along side your CALL Button.
Click on the Logbook Button to enter your logbook.
If you agree with a QSO Record click on the green check to confirm it.


if you need more help KA1ULN@ARRL.NET


On-Line Qsling (arrl.net/LOTW & EQSL.cc) and QRZ.COM





More recently the ability to send/receive QSL confirmations has now become available via the Internet. To do this you only need to go to eQSL.cc at http://www.eqsl.cc/qslcard/ and register for this free service. lotw Using your web browser you will be able to design your own QSL card, send cards to contacts you have made and receive cards. The service also provides features for organizing cards received and creating summaries of them. Currently eQSLs are acceptable for CQ Awards.

LOTW (Logbook Of The World) is also very popular. This system IS valid for DXCC & WAS Award claims so it is widely used. It is understood that at sometime in the future IOTA MAY also be available by this system. If you need advice on LOTW then please email me.


QSL Managers
Active DX stations often use a QSL manager especially when mail to the DX country is difficult at best and non-existent at worst. You will be aware of the QSL manager when looking up the address of the DX call on Qrz.com or by lists published in some of the amateur literature. You must know whether the station of who's QSL card you need uses a manager. it is imperitive that this information is added to your outgoing card.

Check out my QSL Manager page at http://www.m0oxo.com/qsl-manager.html for an overview or more information on the topic.

QRZ.com
is one qsl and confirmation website used by many hams... it is easy to use, free and keeps tracks of your qso's so at some point you can can certificates (something you don't even have to keep track of QRZ does that for you.
so be my guest and create your qrz.com account and log away... oh yes please don't forget to CONFIRM my qso with you.

eQSL.cc THE ELECTRONIC QSL CARD CENTRE



How does eQSL.cc work?



Step1

Step 1 - Register
Step 2 - Design eQSL
Step 3 - Verify Identity
Step 4 - QSO
Step 5 - Upload Log to OutBox
Step 6 - Automatic Transfer
Step 7 - Details of Transfer
Step 8 - Retrieve from InBox
How?

Go to Register on the Home Page


this information on eqsl is taken from eqsl.cc


LET'S try to confirm all qso's so YL's will be More recognized. if You need more help with online confirming and logging.
send Niece and email KA1ULN@MAIL.COM
33









Saturday, December 22, 2018

A battery box customized to my needs

by Alisha - AC1EW

I have a 100w Yaesu Ft-991a radio that I use at home and portable for Parks on the Air (https://parksontheair.com/) and for travel. To use this radio, I bought a Bioenno 30ah battery. This is a wonderful Lithium Ion battery, and I found that I can operate for hours at 100w without recharching. But it becomes somewhat of a mess to deal with the battery, cables, solar connectors, etc.

I've seen a variety of power boxes at hamfests, online and at the nearby Ham Radio Outlet store. But, except for an expensive custom box from Bioenno, none of them would hold the battery I have, and they lacked the features I wanted. Here was my wish list

  • Sized right to hold my battery
  • Anderson Powerpole connectors for the radio (I love these connectors).
  • USB ports for charging Iphone and other devices.
  • Cigarette lighter adapter for my laptop or other devices.
  • Anderson Powerpole connector for the AC adapter to charge the battery.
  • Internal Solar Charge controller to connect a solar panel to charge the battery.
Those were the must-haves. I wasn't concerned about having a power inverter to generate AC power. It seemed like an unnecessary drain on the battery and I couldn't think of anything that requires it. Besides, our pickup has an inverter, as will the trailer we plan to buy in the spring.
 
The solution gave me all that, plus a nice extra as a place to hold my 30w folding flexible solar panel .

Looks larger than it is, but it's the size of a small toolbox
When shopping at the local Harbor Freight store for hard cases to hold my radio and gear, I saw their ammo boxes. One was obviously too small for my battery. The other one initially seemed to be a bit large, but turned out to be perfect. Here's the box I purchased for $10. As you can see if you click on the link, It has a compartment in the lid for small items, as well as a tray that fits inside. The expensive part of this project (beside the battery and charge controller) were the panel mount connectors from powerwerx.com (the maker of the anderson powerpole connectors). But the quality is excellent. I didn't want to be cheap on this project since it serves as the power center for my portable radio activities. The following pictures show the exterior of the box
The switch on the side selects whether the ac charge adapter or a solar panel would be used to charge the battery. I didn't want both accidentally connected at the same time.

The power connections and a switch to cut of all power to devices. I marked the bottom pair of powerpole connectors (somewhat crudely) to indicate that the ac adapter is plugged in there.

The connector for a solar panel.
The view when opening the lid. Note that the solar panel fits perfectly just inside the lid. This wasn't planned, but a nice feature

I trimmed the tray that came with the box to have openings allowing for the size of the battery, and removing the handle that was in the way, while maintaining some utility for solar power connecting cables. The power meter allows you to see the amount of battery power that has been used (Amp and Watt Hours). With a Lithium Ion battery, the level can't be judged by the voltage output, since it remains constant until the battery is dead. As a result, an amp/watt meter is the best judge of remaining capacity.

Removing the lid, you see the battery on the right, solar charge controller on the left, and the wiring for the connectors. I used Anderson Powerpole connectors throughout the project. This gives a lot of flexibility to alter the configuration if needed, in the future.


This box may not be what you need, but the beauty of building your own is that it lets you configure it to meet your needs. This turned out to be a better solution for me than I expected. All my power needs (both discharging and charging) are included in the box, reducing the clutter of wires I need to have when operating portable. If I decide to change the configuration in the future, I can just buy a new $10 box, and set it up to meet my needs.

Now I can't wait until next summer to take this on our cross-country roadtrip.

Any questions can be directed to me at ac1ew.yl@gmail.com .

33, AC1EW - Alisha

Featured Post

POTA: Sasquatch Stomp: 1900Z, Mar 29 to 0300Z, Mar 30 -- Feld Hell Sprint: 0000Z-2359Z, Mar 30

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