RADIO HABANA CUBA Hi amigos around the world... here we are again, on the air and on the WEB with your favorite radio hobby program. I am Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK, your friend here in Havana, and host of this twice weekly program devoted to the promotion of this wonderful way of using your spare time... RADIO !!!
DXERS UNLIMITED
WRITTEN BY ARNIE CORO
WEEKEND EDITION
SATURDAY, 17 JANUARY, 1998
SEND YOUR COMMENTS, QUESTIONS AND IDEAS DIRECTLY TO ME AT: arnie@radiohc.org
And when I say useful, I mean it... once again amateur radio was at the forefront of a big emergency involving millions of persons that went without electricity due to the ICE STORM that wiped out power lines in Eastern Canada and the Northeast United States... YES... ham radio operators' skills and ingenuity did what professional communications systems could not... COMMUNICATE !!!
Once again, and now for those who are back at home after the storm, CONGRATULATIONS for a job well done...
Item two... solar flux moving UP again: we are going to see daily solar flux reaching the 100 units very soon indeed... the daily effective sunspot number, used for HF circuit forecasts is between 35 and 40... Nice enough to keep the segment from 15 to 22 megahertz quite live during local daylight hours...
In a few seconds more radio hobby related information coming to you from Radio Havana Cuba Dxers Unlimited.
QSL on the air, QSL on the air...
From Dxers Unlimited to listener David Gillespie, who monitored our last mid-week edition on a 1936 Philco receiver using an indoor antenna, David and his lovely wife Ervena are both radio amateur operators, and they enjoy SSTV very much -- slow scan television sent and received using standard HF shortwave amateur radio equipment. David promises to give me a tutorial about amateur SSTV soon, so maybe in the not-too-distant future I'll be able to send and receive pictures from my ham station CO2KK. QSL on the air to the many newcomers to the radio listening hobby that sent e-mail reports with the SIO reporting system ... WELL DONE !!! And amigos, the QSL cards are now on their way.
By the way, we are now starting to work on the electronic QSL card to be sent to those reporting via e-mail inmediately.... the hard copy QSL will follow via air mail too, but the thing is that once you send a report, I'll be able to e-mail you a nice electronic QSL just by clicking the mouse here !!!
QSL on the air to VE3SRE, Bob Chandler of the Ontario Dx Association now organizing their annual joint shortwave listeners and amateur radio contest... I'll post the complete set of contest rules at our website... and will tell you about them over the air too.
QSL on the air to our good friend Erik Koei in Denmark, now picking up our 6000 kilohertz North America broadcast once again... Erik is doing it using the timer feature of his receiver and a tape recorder, as he is well asleep when 6000 kilohertz to North America is on the air.
Your radio receiver is tuned to Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show is Dxers Unlimited, this is a radio hobby program for both beginners and experts alike.... you can send your signal reports and comments directly to me via INTERNET to arnie@radiohc.org. You can also visit our WEBSITE; our URL is www.radiohc.org ... very easy... www.radiohc.org.... and while there, take a look at Dxers Unlimited webpage, too...
Now, Dxers Unlimited Technical Topics section
Today dealing with a very important listening post or amateur radio station accessory: Your station's clock... Often forgotten, but vitally important, a good high quality, accurate, reliable, and battery-powered clock is one of the most important accesories that you must have right next to your radio receiver or transmitter or transceiver. Never trust your wristwatch for this job. Spend some time, and a little extra money, in buying yourself a nice clock that has the following features:
1. Large numbers: Whether it's an analog or a digital clock, look for one with large numbers
2. Independent power: That is, either clockwork or battery... but never AC power line. By that I mean that the clock that you are going to use at your receiving post or ham radio station should not rely on the AC power line to operate.
3. It's a MUST that it shows the SECONDS.... so that you can really tell time !!!
4. It must be easy to set and above all SYNCHRONIZE with a TIME STANDARD.
5. Don't buy yourself a clock with anything but the numbers on its face... forget about clocks with maps, drawings, etc. The last thing you want in a station clock is something that might confuse you.
6. Be SURE it is a really accurate clock, that need not be set every so often.
OK, with the above 6 specifications, it won't be cheap... but it's a once in a long time investment.
My suggestion is a nice DIGITAL CLOCK, with numbers large enough to be seen at a distance, and which needs no external light in order to be seen. But, you may also use a nice retired or new SHIP or AIRCRAFT analog clock too.
Follow your friend's Arnie Coro's advice... give yourself a nice new year's present. Buy a good, high quality clock for your listening post or amateur radio station if you don't have one yet, and if you operate outside your home a lot, buy a second cheaper one to take along to your Dx expeditions and emergencies too !!!
By the way... my old and very nice analog clock failed catastrophically a few days ago when it fell from the operating table! I am now looking for a replacement... that's why I reviewed the subject and came along with this piece for today's edition of Dxers Unlimited, amigos !!!
Half of January is now over... the days are slowly getting longer... and nights shorter. It is a slow process, but we will very soon start to see some nice Dx conditions that are typical of the equinoctial season. A Dxers Unlimited listener asked in an e-mail message, "Arnie Coro, when are the equinoctial conditions really starting?"
ANSWER: You should start to see them coming at the end of the month of February.... sometimes a little earlier, but for sure, equinoctial propagation is very much with us after the first week of March.
Once again, here is a mid-term forecast: 1998 spring equinox is going to bring lots of nice HF DX, so start getting ready for it. The frequency range from 15 to 30 megahertz is going to see a lot of activity during this coming spring DX season !!!
You are listening to Radio Havana Cuba, the name of this show is Dxers Unlimited... our URL for RHC's website is www.radiohc.org. Again, www.radiohc.org, and there you can just click the mouse and go to Dxers Unlimited webpage which is full of radio-related and easy-to-understand information, PLUS Dxers Unlimited's complete scripts. Yes amigos, my friends, mes amis... if you have any doubts about something said here on the radio, then go to www.radiohc.org, click the Dxers Unlimited gateway and just download the script for today's show... as easy as that.
Now item six... and it does have to do, by coincidence, with the 6-meter amateur band, one of the most interesting regions of the radio spectrum. Six meters -- spanning from 50 to 54 megahertz in some areas of the world, and maybe just covering the first 200 or 500 kilohertz of 50 megahertz in some other places -- is simply fascinating. On 6 meters you may find practically all types of ionospheric and tropospheric propagation modes known; that's one of the reasons amateurs who like to enjoy challenges go to six meters.
Sometimes you are told by a newcomer to six that all that she or he has listened to for the past ten days is just noise, and a few locals chatting, and it's true; six can be very boring at times. But when it does open for DX it's simply fantastic. Then that same person will come back to you telling the story that a station a thousand miles away was worked using just one watt output, or maybe that double hop signals from three thousand miles were so strong that the S meter needle was right to the end.
Yes, 50 megahertz is an excellent experimental ground to learn more about radio wave propagation, and now many telecommunications administrations are handing 6 meters to hams for their enjoyment. But SIX has many other uses besides propagation experiments: it is an excellent long range ground wave local band, certainly much less crowded than 2 meters, and with more range, while using the same power. Six is also a small antenna band, so you can have a lot of gain in a rather small package. And do remember that antenna gain works both ways: it boosts your transmitter's power, and at the same time it increases your receiver's ability to pick up those weak signals.
Now, several important amateur radio gear manufacturers are including 6 meters as a standard band on many of their newer transceivers, so buying a new transceiver may let you go right straight to SIX. By the way, starting today, at Dxers Unlimited's webpage you may download two files that show how to build yourself a very nice 6-meter vertical omnidirectional gain antenna. The two are very similar, but I decided to give both options, so that you may choose the one that best fits your particular abilities.
Yes, my friends, SIX meters is headed for no less than three years of excellent worldwide propagation during solar cycle 23's peak... So start getting ready RIGHT NOW !!!!
And just before going QRT here... for you, directly and from the source...
Arnie Coro's exclusive, easy-to-understand, in-the-public-domain, plain-language shortwave propagation update and forecast:
Solar activity is picking up... we may see the daily solar flux figure passing the 100 units mark once again, and staying there for the next three to four days. Expect very good daytime conditions on the 17 and 15 meter amateur bands, with some openings on 10 meters too. For daytime shortwave broadcast listening the 16 meter band is going to be GREAT, closely followed by the 19 and 22 meter bands when the SUN is below 40 degrees.
Nighttime conditions on the 4 to 10 megahertz region of the spectrum are going to be very good too... Amateur radio operators will be enjoying nice conditions on the 80 meter band for single hop contacts and good Dx to the west and northwest shortly before daybreak local time. Forty meters, the 7 megahertz ham band, is going to provide excellent worldwide Dx conditions during your local evening hours too.
Yes, amigos... the sunspots are back, and with them, many newcomers to the radio hobby are learning how nice it is around here!!!
Havana, Cuba
17 January, 1998
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