Ham Hum December 2015
The official newsletter of The Hamilton Amateur Radio Club (Inc.) Branch 12 of NZART - ZL1UX Active in Hamilton since 1923
Hamilton Amateur Radio Club Inc. Serving the Hamilton Community for over 90 Years
ZL1UX
Next Meeting 5th December Annual BBQ Disclaimer: The Hamilton Amateur Radio Club (Inc) accepts no responsibility for opinions expressed in this publication. Where possible, the articles source details will be published. Copyright remains with the author or HARC. All rights reserved.
Contact Details Patron: Russell Richardson ZL1RWR President: “Jono” Jonassen ZL1UPJ zl1ux@nzart.org.nz Vice Presidents: Gary Lodge ZL1GA Gavin Petrie ZL1GWP 843 0326 zl1gwp@nzart.org.nz Secretary: Phil King ZL1PK 847 1320 zl1pk@nzart.org.nz AREC Section Leader: “Jono” Jonassen ZL1UPJ zl1upj@nzart.org.nz Deputy Section Leader: Phil King ZL1PK 847 1320 zl1pk@nzart.org.nz Treasurer: Tom Powell ZL1TJA zl1tja@nzart.org.nz Committee: Brett Pascoe ZL1FPG Mike Sanders ZL2MGS 855 1612 zl2mgs@nzart.org.nz Robin Holdsworth ZL1IC 855 4786 Sam Birch ZL1OBI Terry O’Loan ZL1TNO Ham Hum Editor: David King ZL1DGK 579 9930 zl1dgk@nzart.org.nz Ham Hum Printer: John Nicholson ZL1AUB 855 5435 ATV Co-ordinators: Phil King ZL1PK 847 1320 zl1pk@nzart.org.nz Robin Holdsworth ZL1IC 855 4786 Market Day Co-ordinator: harcmday@nzart.org.nz Robin Holdsworth ZL1IC 855 4786 Webmaster: Gavin Petrie ZL1GWP 843 0326 zl1gwp@nzart.org.nz Club Custodian: Currently vacant QSL Manager: Gary Lodge ZL1GA Net Controllers: 80m net—Phil King ZL1PK 847 1320 zl1pk@nzart.org.nz 2m net—Phil King ZL1PK 847 1320 zl1pk@nzart.org.nz NZART Examiners: ZL1IC, ZL1PK & ZL1TJA
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From the Editor This is the last issue for 2015. There may not be a issue in January, or it may be a smaller issue. We shall see. Apologies for the late arrival of this issue. I’ve been busy with moving house and finding out exactly how much stuff has accumulated over time. I suspect some boxes will never get unpacked and thus should be disposed of as no longer needed HI HI.
Enjoy your summer. The next club meeting will be 20th Jan as a combined Exec/General social get together.
Next Committee Meetings 2 September and 7th October nd
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SB PROP ARL ARLP049 ARLP049 Propagation de K7RA Solar indicators dropped this week, with average daily sunspot numbers at 41.6 from November 26 through December 2, down from 62.7 in the previous seven days. Average daily solar flux dropped 18 points, from 115.2 to 97.2. A week ago the predicted average daily solar flux for the same period was 111.4, more than 14 points above the actual outcome. Average daily planetary A index was 9.9, while average daily mid-latitude A index was 6.6, more than double the two figures for the previous week, 4.1 and 3.1 respectively. But there were no days with high geomagnetic activity. The most was on Monday and Tuesday, with planetary A index at 19 and 14 indicating moderately unsettled conditions. Predicted solar flux is 95 on December 4, 90 on December 5-8, 95 on December 910, 105 on December 11, 115 on December 12-13, then 110, 105 and 100 on December 14-16, 105 on December 17-18, 110 on December 19-20, 105 on December 21, and 100 on December 22-26. Following this coming week the lowest predicted solar flux is on just one day, at 95 on December 27, five days after the Winter Solstice. Predicted planetary A index is 8 on December 4-5, then 18, 25, 20 and 15 on December 6-9, then 8 on December 10-15, then 10 and 8 on December 16-17, 5 on December 18-23 and 8 on December 24-26. The next period of unsettled to active geomagnetic conditions is December 28, with a predicted planetary A index of 25. The planetary A index doesn't settle down to 5 again until mid-January. OK1HH predicts geomagnetic activity will be quiet to unsettled December 4-5, active to disturbed December 6-8, quiet on December 9, quiet to active December 10, mostly quiet December 11, quiet to unsettled December 12-14, quiet to active December 15, mostly quiet December 16, quiet on December 17-23, mostly quiet December 24-25, quiet to active December 26-27, mostly quiet December 28, active to disturbed December 29, and back to quiet again on December 30. He expects an increase in solar wind on December (5-7), 8-10, (11-12, 16-20,) 2627, and (28-29). He is less certain about heightened activity on the dates in parenthesis. Unfortunately, we received no reports on conditions during last weekend's CQ World-Wide CW DX contest. This weekend is the ARRL 160 Meter contest. This is a CW only event, and lasts 42 hours with no time limit from 2200 UTC Friday (today) to 1600 UTC on Sunday, December 4-6.
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See http://www.arrl.org/160-meter for complete details and rules. With low predicted geomagnetic activity over the weekend, 160 meters should be in good shape for the contest. Average daily sunspot number for the month of November was 61.9. For August, September and October the monthly averages were 61.7, 72.5, and 59.6. Our three month moving average of daily sunspot numbers, (September 1 through November 30) was 64.6. For the 3 month periods ending in June through October the averages were 77.7, 76.3, 69.1, 67.5 and 64.5. At the cycle's peak, for periods ending in March and April of 2014, the 3 month moving averages were 146.4 and 148.2. It's been a pretty steady decrease since then, with the averages dropping below 100 at the beginning of this year. Don Anderson, N7EF of Kent, Washington sends this video about a 2018 space mission all the way to the Sun: http://on.wsj.com/1l5FZHr Andrew Gudas, N7TP of Amargosa Valley, Nevada sends along this story about scary superflares: http://bit.ly/21AsfVJ> If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at, k7ra@arrl.net. For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service web page at http://arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals. For an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earththe-ionosphere. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://arrl.org/w1awbulletins-archive-propagation. More good information and tutorials on propagation are at http://k9la.us/. Archives of the NOAA/USAF daily 45 day forecast for solar flux and planetary A index are in downloadable spreadsheet format at http://bit.ly/1VOqf9B and http:// bit.ly/1DcpaC5. Click on "Download this file" to download the archive, and ignore the security warning about file format. Pop-up blockers may suppress the download. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at http://www.arrl.org/propagation. Sunspot numbers for November 26 through December 2 were 56, 48, 36, 47, 51, 27, and 26, with a mean of 41.6. 10.7 cm flux was 103.9, 98.9, 96.6, 95.5, 95.7, 94.6, and 95.3, with a mean of 97.2. Estimated planetary A indices were 3, 7, 8, 9, 19, 14, and 9, with a mean of 9.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, and 7, with a mean of 6.6.
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New Raspberry Pi Zero - $5 Computer! Today (26 Nov 2015), I’m pleased to be able to announce the immediate availability of Raspberry Pi Zero, made in Wales and priced at just $5. Zero is a full-fledged member of the Raspberry Pi family, featuring: A Broadcom BCM2835 application processor 1GHz ARM11 core (40% faster than Raspberry Pi 1) 512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM A micro-SD card slot A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output Micro-USB sockets for data and power An unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B An unpopulated composite video header Our smallest ever form factor, at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm
Raspberry Pi Zero runs Raspbian and all your favourite applications, including Scratch, Minecraft and Sonic Pi. It is available today in the UK from our friends at element14, The Pi Hut and Pimoroni, and in the US from Adafruit and in-store at your local branch of Micro Center. We’ve built several tens of thousands of units so far, and are building more, but we expect demand to outstrip supply for the next little while.
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https://youtu.be/NFFQmdUc5Vg Read more at: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/
Raspberry Pi Ham Radio Kits Jenny List G7CKF has made available an RF Breakout kit and a Pi-HF direct conversion radio kit for the Raspberry Pi The breakout kit provides a breakout board to use the Raspberry Pi clock generator as an RF source or simple amateur radio transmitter. The Raspberry Pi has a built-in clock generator, a powerful frequency synthesiser which can generate frequencies up to 250MHz. This is enough to provide a useful RF signal source for experimentation, or given suitable filtering and antennas to allow the Pi to be used as a low-power amateur radio transmitter. The Pi-HF is primarily for frequencies between 130 kHz and 30 MHz, however it has a bandwidth over 100 MHz and so will also perform at higher frequencies including the 50 MHz (6m) and 70 MHz (4m) amateur bands with reduced performance. It is not a software-defined radio, instead it is a traditional direct conversion radio receiver with software control. Raspberry Pi RF Breakout Kit (video) http://www.geekygadgets.com/raspberry-pi-rfbreakout-kit-video/ Language Spy - Amateur Radio and Raspberry Pi kits http://shop.languagespy.com/products/rf-breakout-kit-for-the-raspberry-pi
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A new 5 MHz International Allocation NZART Members who have been monitoring the various Amateur Reflectors will know that the allocation of a 5 MHz band to amateurs passed its final hurdle on Wednesday. The Plenary approved the global allocation to amateurs of a 15 kHz band from 5351.5-5366.5 kHz on a secondary basis from January 2017. In most parts of the world, the international regulations will show a power limit of 15 watts EIRP but for Mexico the power limit will be 20 watts and South and Central America it will be 25 watts EIRP. What will this mean to NZ Amateurs? The answer is that we will need to work with RSM (as we did regarding the 630 m band) to agree the conditions that will apply in New Zealand. In particular, we will need to discuss the frequencies and power that will apply in NZ. Frequency: In the HF area the NZ administration needs to coordinate any allocations with Australia to ensure that we do not interfere with their fixed and mobile services and vice versa. I am aware that there are some services in Australia in this band so it may affect how much of the band we receive. Don Wallace ZL2TLL Administration Liaison Officer. “Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP) is the product of transmitter power and the antenna gain in a given direction relative to an isotropic antenna of a radio transmitter. Normally the EIRP is given in dBi, or decibels over isotropic.”
American satellite started transmitting 46 years after being abandoned in 1967 An American satellite, abandoned in 1967 as a piece of Space Junk has begun transmitting again after 46 years. Lincoln Experimental Satellite refers to a series of satellites designed and built by Lincoln Laboratory at MIT between 1965 and 1976, under USAF sponsorship, for testing devices and techniques for satellite communication. The series had satellites named LES1 through LES9. They suffered a number of launch problems – LES1 and LES2 were supposed to be delivered to the same 2800 x 15000 km orbit, though a failure of a boost stage left LES1 in a 2800 km cir-
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cular orbit. LES3 and LES4 were intended to be delivered to geostationary orbit, but a launch problem left them in their transfer orbit. All these satellites returned useful results despite the incorrect orbits. LES 5, 6, 8 and 9 ended up successfully in geostationary orbit; the project that would have been LES-7 ran out of funding and was cancelled. An Amateur Radio Astronomer in North Cornwall accidentally picked up the signal in 2013 and after cross checking with various lists, has identified it as LES1 built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and launched in 1965. The satellite failed to reach its intended orbit owing to a wiring error and has been drifting out of control ever since. Phil Williams G3YPQ from near Bude noticed its peculiar signal drift caused by its tumbling end over end every 4 seconds as the solar panels become shadowed by the engine. ‘This gives the signal a particularly ghostly sound as the voltage from the solar panels fluctuates’ Phil says. It is likely that the on board batteries have now disintegrated and some other component failure has caused the transmitter on 237Mhz, to start up when its in sunlight. LES1 is about the size of a small car, It is not likely to re-enter the atmosphere for a long time as the orbit is still relatively high. It poses no threat other than that caused by the thousands of other pieces of space junk in orbit. Phil says its remarkable to think that electronics built nearly 50 years ago, 12 years before Voyager 1, and long before microprocessors and integrated circuits, is still capable of working in the hostile environs of space. Listening to the signal you can easily imagine the craft tumbling over and over every 4 seconds and the transmitter starting up as the sun rises. He refers to the hobby as ‘Radio-Archeology’! LES 1 and 2 (Lincoln Experimental Satellite 1 and 2) were essentially identical experimental communication satellites. Both featured a single X-band transponder and an 8 -horn electronically switched antenna. Additionally, attitude control and sensing experiments were conducted.
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The initial program objective was to build, launch, and field a system to demonstrate practical military satellite communications. The availability of Project West Ford’s advanced superhigh-frequency (SHF) technology (at seven to eight gigahertz) contributed to the decision to design the system for that band. The Department of Defense’s concurrent procurement of a series of SHF satellites and terminals, commencing with the Initial Defense Communications Satellite Program (IDCSP), meant that lessons learned from the experiments would find an additional application. LES-1, launched from Cape Canaveral on 11 February 1965, accomplished only a few of its objectives. Apparently because of miswiring of the ordnance circuitry, the satellite never left circular orbit and ceased transmitting in 1967. LES-2, the twin of LES-1 fared much better; it achieved its planned final orbit on 6 May 1965. https://youtu.be/UxqwZ42NyLw -Vintage News
SOTA New Zealand SOTA has landed in New Zealand and its shaping up to be big amongst the Ham Community with a lot of interest to date. The North Island summits have been mapped, checked, and are now active. South Island Summits will follow in the not too distant future. They have been mapped and are currently being checked before going live. SOTA is a world wide activity. Hams can make contacts from hill tops and collect points in an almost competition like activity among the Ham community. To quote www.sota.org.uk Summits on the Air (SOTA) is an award scheme for radio amateurs and shortwave listeners that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas. SOTA has been carefully designed to make participation possible for everyone - this is not just for mountaineers! There are awards for activators (those who ascend to the summits) and chasers (who either operate from home, a local hilltop or are even Activators on other summits). As the Association manager for SOTA New Zealand, I am keen to encourage SOTA activity. I am available to give some branches a talk, and to provide advice and encouragement to fellow hams. Feel free to email me warren@zl2aj.com. There is lots of material on the internet to research SOTA.
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Many activators run blogs. There is a facebook group I manage and can be found by searching “ zl-sota”. There are several reflectors. The New Zealand reflector is zl -sota@zl-sota.org. Send a message with "subscribe" in the subject line to join. The website www.zl-sota.org should also be active soon. SOTA_Australia is a yahoo group that welcomes ZL hams. VK is extremely active with SOTA and if you let them know they will be keen to work you as a contact. More info can also be found at www.sota.org.uk. Rules, FAQ and links to sotawatch and the database are available. Other than that - get outdoors and enjoy the wonderful scenery New Zealand has to offer, involve your family, involve your friends - SOTA is a great excuse to combine the outdoors and amateur radio. You may even recruit a few new hams in the process. I look forward to working you from your mountain or from mine or just learning of your achievements involving SOTA. Thanks to those that helped make ZL SOTA a reality Andrew Ryan VK3ARR Don McDonald ZL3DMC Richard Smart ZL4FZ Warren Harris ZL2AJ Association Manager for ZL SOTA.
Calling ZL CW operators! You are invited to join us in many new CW activities and to join the site VKCW.net here are a few of the activities that may be of interest to ZL CW operators: • A CW News Bulletin (QST) is broadcast on 7022.5/14022.5/21022.5 each Saturday afternoon 0400 UTC with a repeat Sunday morning at 2200 UTC lasting half an hour at 17 WPM. A second repeat is on Monday evenings at 1000UTC on 3522.5/7022.5/14022.5. We'd love to have call backs from ZL stations after any of these QST with your reception reports. • Due to low levels of CW activity we have a functioning CW Calling Frequency on 7050 which works very much like how 500kc/s used to work in the olden days of maritime radio. After establishing contact stations QSY off for QSO. Especially Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday evenings is popular as there is also "CW Bash" hour
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around 0900-1000UTC. Be great to have ZL participate. Many other activities including CW Nets can be found along the top menu at www.vkcw.net and we hope CW operators in ZL will join the site and various activities of possible interest. 77 "Best Wishes and Long Live CW" de Lou VK5EEE
Hobby Electronics {An interesting look at electronic hobby stores such as Dick Smith and Jaycar, from an Australian perspective—editor} A look at the departure of Dick Smith VK2DIK from DSE and the ascent of Gary Johnston's Jaycar Electronics. Also discussed, the new threat to local component suppliers, the internet. On the one hand the internet offers quick and free information but on the other, it may proliferate search results with questionable information. To the hobbyist, the internet offers cheap components from global suppliers to anywhere in Australia but may also herald the downfall of local brick and mortar stores. See "The Retail Revolution" https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=XUdN9soWHOQ To look at "The Changing Face of Hobby Electronics," go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT0aG3SRpRY
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{from Rotorua Br 33 newsletter}
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Upcoming Happenings & Events Date
Happenings & Events
1st December
VHF Net, 146.525 MHz, 20:00
4th December
NZART HQ-Infoline
5th December
Annual club end-of-year BBQ
5-6 December
NZART Field Day Contest
7th December
HF Net, 3.575 MHz, 19:30
8th December
VHF Net, 146.525 MHz, 20:00
14th December
HF Net, 3.575 MHz, 19:30
15th December
VHF Net, 146.525 MHz, 20:00
16th December
No meeting, replaced by BBQ on 5th
20th December
NZART Official Broadcast
21st December
HF Net, 3.575 MHz, 19:30
22nd December
VHF Net, 146.525 MHz, 20:00
28th December
HF Net, 3.575 MHz, 19:30
29th December
VHF Net, 146.525 MHz, 20:00
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20th January—Combined Executive/General meeting. Social Meeting. 31st January 2016—NO Official Broadcast in January 5th February 2016– NZART HQ Infoline 6-7 February 2016—NZART DX Weekend Contest 19th February 2016—NZART HQ Infoline 27-28 February 2016—NZART Jock White Memorial Field Days Contest 28th February—NZART Official Broadcast 2-3 April 2016—NZART Low Band Contest 21-22 May 2016—NZART Sangster Shield Contest 4-5 June 2016—NZART AGM/Conference 11-12 June 2016—NZART Hibernation Contest 2-3 July 2016—NZART Memorial Contest 16th July 2016—WIA VK/ZL Trans-Tasman Low-Band Contest 6-7 August 2016—NZART Brass Monkey Contest 1-2 October 2016—NZART Microwave Contest 5th November 2016—NZART Straight Key Night 3-4 December 2016—NZART Field Day Contest
For more information on any of the above please contact myself or any committee member.
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Club Information Contacts :Business Meeting:
1930 First Wednesday of each month except January 88 Seddon Road, Hamilton
General Meeting:
1930 Third Wednesday of each month (except Jan) 88 Seddon Road, Hamilton
Homepage: eMail:
http://www.zl1ux.org.nz branch.12@nzart.org.nz
HF Net: VHF Net:
3.575MHz LSB 1930 Mondays 146.525MHz simplex 2000 Tuesdays
2m Repeater: STSP Repeaters: ATV Repeater:
145.325MHz -600kHz split 146.675MHz -600kHz split 438.725MHz -5 MHz split Off air pending channel changes
Cover Photo: Humour窶馬ot be used in your fusebox, or any fusebox :)
Sender
Hamilton Amateur Radio Club (Inc) PO Box 606 Hamilton 3240