Radio Habana Cuba: Dxers Unlimited Mid-Week edition for July 4, 2000
By Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK
Hi amigos! This is the midweek edition of your favorite radio hobby show... the one and only dealing with all aspects of this wonderful pasttime!!!
Here is item one: wrong forecast... beware!!! Solar activity did not, I repeat, did not started to move up, as expected, during the weekend, instead of that, it is showing a downward trend... and although I don't expect this to have a very important effect on present HF propagation conditions, what really worries me is that this may be an early, telltale, sign of a very poor solar maximum!!! So now, more than ever, the three next solar rotations are the ones to watch very, very carefully!!!
Item two: Another VHF contest this weekend, just for 6 and 2 meter enthusiasts, and it is worldwide, YES, the upcoming CQ VHF contest is open to DX stations too, and its organizer Dr. Gene Zimmerman, a well known contest operator has promised to have the contest results published soon also... So, if you have a 6 meter band transceiver, this is a nice opportunity to add lots of new grid squares and even a few new DX countries if the magic 50 megaHertz band opens up, and as always, contest activity seems to make every small band opening look like a big event!!!
Item three: Reverse polarity protection for your radio equipment explained during our last weekend show, brought a lot of feedback... Some listeners suggested using low voltage dropout diodes of the Schottky type if the series diode polarity protection circuit was your choice, and YES, that't correct, although I must add that the low forward voltage drop Schottky diodes are much more expensive and difficult to find than the standard run of the mill silicion power diodes I have always used for reverse polarity protection...
Item four: WARNING, according to tropical and sub-tropical weather gurus, we are now right at the middle of the summer thunderstorm season, so follow Arnie Coro's advice and at the slightest sound of thunder, even very far away, disconnect all your radio equipment from the antennas, the power lines, and the ground connections too...And, after you enjoy listening to the radios, or if you are already a radio amateur, a few two way contacts with other hams, disconnect EVERYTHING... the least thing you want is to see all the equipment destroyed by a lightnning bolt, and if does not take a direct hit to do it, even a so called branch or side discharge from a big bolt hitting nearby can do a lot of damage...
Item five: You have questions, and Arnie Coro, here at Dxers Unlimited has the answers...send your radio hobby related questions to arnie@radiohc.org, again, via INTERNET to arnie@radiohc.org and via Air Mail to Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba, Havana Cuba...
Now please stay tuned for more radio hobby related information coming to you from Havana with a lot of love!!! Margarita Delgado is my sound engineer and producer...I'll be back in a few seconds
You have questions, yes, every radio hobbyist, even the experts, have questions about some particular aspect of radio... for example, a long time radio amateur, with more than thirty years on the air, sent the following question regarding the upswing he notices in the use of digital communications modes...Here is what he writes:
Arnie, when packet radio started a number of years ago, I was not enthusiastic about it; I thought it was just a way of moving around messages, lacking in appeal, as packet contact seldom happened between two on-line stations... Now, I find a lot of activity using the PSK31 mode, a live keyboard to keyboard mode that opens up a lot of interesting opportunities to make nice contacts using low power radios. Now here is my question: Isn't there something in the works to make PSK31 operation possible using older computers even without a sound card???Well, amigo from California, I agree with you 100 percent!!! PSK31 keyboard to keyboard communications are fascinating, and with the computer skills developed by almost everyone, I see that typing is at a rather nice speed nowadays, something that was not the case many years ago with the radio teletype machines... PSK31 is very easy to implement with a modern fast computer and a sound card, but not everyone can afford one of those fast PENTIUMS, especially amateurs in third world countries around the world... A few days ago I learned from CO3FP about a new PSK31 software that makes reception possible using the simple HAMCOMM computer to radio interface... So, YES, now you can receive PSK31 using an older machine, perhaps a fast 386 or an older 33 mHz 486, using this software and the HAMCOMM interface circuit. For transmitting, Evelio, CO3FP, told me that he had built another little black box that linked the computer to his transceiver, allowing transmission of the PSK31 mode.
So, now,as soon as I learn more about this interesting achievement, that is receiving and transmitting PSK31 without a sound card or a fast computer, I'll e-mail it directly to you, and make the information available at our website. So once again, the answer to your question: YES... it is possible to receive and send PSK31 without a sound card, and I can assure you that it works, because I had a nice two way QSO with CO3FP using the PSK31 mode on 2 meters FM, getting, as the old timers in RTTY say, perfect print, although the copy, of course, was on my computer screen!!!
You are listening to Radio Havana Cuba,the name of the show is Dxers Unlimited, our twice-weekly contribution to the development of this wonderful hobby spanning from monitoring natural radio signals on frequencies as low as 3 kiloHertz with homebrew equipment, to experimenting on the new 136 kiloHertz LF band, or getting ready the equipment to enjoy the soon to be launched super amateur satellite, YES amigos around the world, we will all soon enjoy the most powerful amateur satellite ever launched, with wide bandwidth transponders and a very special elliptical orbit that will keep the satellite on sight for really long periods of time, but NO, this is not yet a geosynchronous or geostationary satellite, the new PHASE IV amateur satellite will still be moving out of sync with the Earth, although, as stated earlier, the orbit has been carefully planned to provide many hours of enjoyment to the world's growing amateur radio hobby enthusiasts.
And now that I talk about growing, ham radio in Cuba continues to grow at a very healthy rate, the most recent exams that took place three weeks ago, brought many more newcomers to the hobby, and allowed others to upgrade their licenses to higher categories.
QSL, in the Q code used by CW Morse Code operators since the early days of radio communications, had a very significant meaning... QSL sent with a question mark meant, "do you acknowledge reception?? And in case this was true, the other operator will just send QSL... Today QSL has the same meaning when you are operating an amateur radio station, but QSL is also used to describe the cards or letters that stations send out when someone sends them a signal report... Amateur radio operators collect QSL cards for awards, while Short Wave Listeners collect them too...You can request a QSL from this station, Radio Havana Cuba, just by sending a signal report and comments about the programs you have just heard... Send your QSL request via AIR MAIL to me: mail to: Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba. and I'll be very glad to check if the report is accurate, and if so, then send you our QSL cards and letter. You can also request our QSL card via INTERNET -- just send e-mail to: arnie@radiohc.org.
And now, as always, at the end of the show, before going QRT, which in the cw Morse Code operators' shorthand, means ending the transmission, here is Arnie Coro's exclusive and not copyrighted HF plus 6 meters propagation update and forecast:
Visual, optical, observations of the solar disk made Tuesday morning my local time, show a rather quiet SUN... the several active sunspot regions that I could clearly identify are in a rather stable state.... and no new active regions were seen, nor signs of new ones coming from the behind the solar disk registered. Solar flux is moving DOWN, with the 2750 megaHertz solar flux now around 155 units and moving down, and that is some 30 points less than what was expected for this phase of the present solar rotation!!!. We may see a small, but nevertheless detectable geomagnetic bump by next Thursday, but this will be only noticeable at higher latitudes. By the way, Wednesday and Thursday show up as days of highly probable 50 megaHertz F2 layer propagation, as the geomagnetic disturbance may do some re-alignment of field patterns that in turn may result in very high Maximum Useable Frequencies for brief periods of time on some paths. For easy listening of short wave radio, and enjoying relaxed two way ham radio contacts, my advice is for you to monitor from 14 megaHertz up, starting around 4 pm your local time, when you will find conditions getting better and better as the sun sets... Nighttime reception is going to be excellent on frequencies from 10 to 22 megaHertz, with the higher bands closing slowly as sunrise approaches...
Amigos, my friends, mes amis, don't forget to send your signal reports and comments about the show, it is that essential feedback from you all that keeps this show on the air!!! Send your e-mail to arnie@radiohc.org, and via AirMail, send to Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba, Havana,Cuba
prepared 4 July; Sent 6 July 2000, Received 7 July 2000
Arnie Coro CO2KK
Havana, Cuba
4 July, 2000Postal address:
Arnie Coro, "Dxers Unlimited"
Radio Havana Cuba
PO Box 6240, Havana, CUBA 10600
phone: 53-7-814243
phone res: 53-7-301794
e-mail: arnie@radiohc.org
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