Who said kids are not into Amateur Radio

We just graduated this mom and her two kids from our recent on-line course. The kids are age 11 and 13 and passed the written exam AND a CW endorsement with neighbour Guy VA7GI coaching them. 

Congratulations and see you on the bands. 

~

SARC-SEPAR Winter Field Day

Winter FD was pretty good! 

Five of us set up in three sites at Derby reach including Paul VE7VP and 3 newer hams (Carl, Barbara, and Elaine from the last class).  John VE7TI and Summer School graduate Grace VA7LZT came out and Grace was able to work 20m for a while which was great.  We only made around 60 or 70 contacts, but we were operating more casually.  We had a fair number of visitors, both Ham and non-Ham.

A full report will follow in the next Communicator.

~ Andrew VE7LGN

 

 

The March - April 2023 SARC Communicator

 Another BIG issue!

'The Communicator' digital periodical of Surrey Amateur Radio Communications is now available for viewing or download.

Read in over 145 countries now, with almost 10,000 downloads for the November-December issue, we bring you 124 pages of Amateur Radio news from the South West corner of Canada and elsewhere. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

You can view or download it as a .PDF file:  

The Communicator March-April 2023

Previous Communicator issues are at:

https://ve7sar.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Communicator

and a full index is HERE.  

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is April 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at communicator@ve7sar.net

73,

John VE7TI

'The Communicator' Editor

Field Day 2022 (Sunday) Update

 

It's a wrap!

Well, its all over for another year. A solar storm just before the weekend significantly affected propagation but we did make a substantial number of contacts, including on VHF.

It struck me how much Field Day has changed over the years. Despite the poor early 1985 photos, here are some of the comparisons...

No more paper logging and SDR transceivers

Antennas for every purpose and mode
Here Moon-Bounce, our 'BigFoot' and Satellites

That sense of accomplishment and
pride in the hobby remains the same

If you would like to see video of  SARC Field Days of the 1980's, and those more recent, visit our YouTube Channel.

So that's it for another Field Day. The RAC Canada Day contest is just around the corner though. This year SARC-SEPAR is operating as VE7RAC. See you on the bands.

There will be additional coverage and photos in the next Communicator e-Zine on July 1st.

Field Day 2022 (Saturday) Update

Here are a few photos of today's activities at VE7SAR and VE7HME

Our SEPAR - SARC Field Day 24-hour emergency communications exercise. Moon-bounce, satellites, Morse code and voice. Thank you to all our visitors, but especially to City of Surrey Councillors Brenda Locke & Linda Annis for recognizing that what we do as Amateur Radio operators and Surrey volunteers is more than just a hobby.

Left to right: City of Surrey Councillor Linda Annis,
Former Surrey Councillor and MLA Marvin Hunt,
and City of Surrey Councillor Brenda Locke

Councillor Brenda Locke checks out the SEPAR trailer
while Manvir Judge VA7BKI logs a contact.

Manvir VA7BKI one of our recent course graduates,

attempting a satellite contact 

Kevin VE7ZD/KN7Q at his EME (Moon-bounce) station

World Amateur Radio Day - April 18

The IARU

April 18 has been declared World Amateur Radio Day. It was on that day in 1925 that the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) was founded, during the International Radiotelegraph Conference in Paris. That is why radio radio amateurs worldwide celebrate this day with special activities every year.

The advocates of an International Amateur Radio Union were of the opinion that the shortwave spectrum that radio amateurs use to  transmit and to receive, could unite people all over the world, something that was assumed impossible. Therefore, this unifying action was undertaken.  In addition to protecting  and preserving frequency spectrum for the radio amateur, the IARU also strives to protect the  frequency spectrum of importance to other services. For radio amateurs, protection of our bands is of utmost importance, as shown through amateur response in countless emergencies and disasters worldwide.

Interest in  amateur radio has  only grown since those early days, with more than 3 million radio amateurs worldwide. Through this medium people from different countries and cultures could interact  with each other and  exchange ideas, long before there were facilities such as (mobile) phones, e-mail or social media.

And  amateur radio is still popular because you don't need a mobile network or internet  to  communicate. This is especially important to those in remote areas, those with outdoor interests such as hikers, off-roaders and hunters, emergency preparedness, as a hobby, or as an entry to a new career path such as electronics and communications. The service is, and always has been completely infrastructure independent. Radio amateurs are especially important  to maintain connections during disasters, in the event that regular communication channels  are no longer available. For example, the Amateur Radio Service kept agencies in New York City in contact with each other after their command center was destroyed during the tragedy of 9/11.

Radio amateurs were the first to discover that the HF spectrum  was not the wasteland that experts from those days branded it, but a tool that could support global communication. When the industry discovered that amateurs could successfully communicate worldwide on these shorter wavelengths, amateur radio was again in great danger of  being pushed aside. This led to the creation of the IARU. At the International Radio Telegraph Convention of 1927, amateur radio assignments were made that are  still  recognized today: 160, 80, 40, 20 and 10 meters. In the course of the years,  the IARU  has also worked to give radio amateurs new bands at 136 kHz, 472 kHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 18 MHz, 24 MHz and 50 MHz, and a regional European allocation at 70 MHz.

The 25  countries that formed the IARU in 1925 have now grown to more than 160 affiliated associations in three regions. IARU Region 1 includes Europe, Africa, the Middle East and North Asia. Region 2 includes North and South   America and Region 3 includes Australia, New Zealand, the  Pacific Islands and most of Asia. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has recognized the IARU as the representative of the interests of radio amateurs.

IARU has member societies in countries shown in yellow

All radio amateurs are invited to go on the air on World Amateur Radio Day to explore our hobby, to promote it to family and friends, and within their interests.

Do you want to get involved? 

We offer our on-line courses about every 12-weeks. Further information is available at: https://bit.ly/SARCcourses

RAC “Get on the Air on World Amateur Radio Day” Special Event

On Monday, April 18, 2022, Radio Amateurs of Canada is once again organizing a special on-air event to celebrate World Amateur Radio Day.

Every year on April 18, Radio Amateurs worldwide take to the airwaves in celebration of Amateur Radio and to commemorate the formation of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) on April 18, 1925. Radio Amateurs of Canada is once again holding a “Get on the Air on World Amateur Radio Day” special event in which we encourage as many Amateurs as possible to get on the air and contact as many RAC stations as possible.

• RAC official stations will operate across Canada from 0000Z to 2359Z on April 18. The RAC official station call signs are VA2RAC, VA3RAC, VE1RAC, VE4RAC, VE5RAC, VE6RAC, VE7RAC, VE8RAC, VE9RAC, VO1RAC, VO2RAC, VY0RAC, VY1RAC and VY2RAC. 
• Those contacting one or more of these stations will be eligible for a special commemorative certificate noting their participation in RAC’s Get on the Air on World Amateur Radio Day Event.
• Participants simply need to complete one or more contacts, on any band and mode, with RAC official stations to earn their certificates.
• No logs need to be submitted; simply check back on the RAC website when instructed and enter your call sign to download your certificate.

Sources: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/international-amateur-radio-day-april-18/,   https://1drv.ms/b/s!ApeN-l7qi2UFk3OAFuk8KTSq4Rti?e=LOohoE, and RAC “Get on the Air on World Amateur Radio Day” Special Event

~

Canadian Basic Amateur Radio Course

 

We are about to start our September course

On-line, learn from your armchair at home

More information needed? Click: https://bit.ly/SARCcourses
or use the QR code above

 

Surrey Celebrates Amateur Radio Week

Surrey City Council Recognizes
The Contribution Of Amateur Radio

Again this year Surrey City Council has proclaimed June 21 to 28th, the week leading up to Field Day, as 'Amateur Radio Week".

The Mayor and council have historically been strong supporters of our role in the emergency program and several VIPs from all levels of government and our served agencies  have visited our Field Day site in past years. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, this year will be an exception but several members of Surrey Amateur Radio Communications (SARC) and the Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio (SEPAR) will be participating from individual home or field stations.

Since 1933, ham radio operators throughout North America and beyond have established temporary ham radio stations in public locations during an annual exercise called Field Day to showcase the science and skill of amateur radio. 

For more than 100 years, amateur radio — also called ham radio — has allowed people from all walks to experiment with electronics and communications techniques and provide a free public service to their communities during a disaster or emergency, all without needing a cellphone or the internet. Field Day demonstrates ham radio’s ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location and create an independent communications network. More than 35,000 people from thousands of locations participated last year in Field Day 2019 activities.

It’s easy for anyone to pick up a computer or smartphone, connect to the internet and communicate, with no knowledge of how the devices function or connect to each other, but if there’s an interruption of service or you’re out of range of a cell tower, you have no way to communicate. Ham radio functions completely independent of the internet or cellphone infrastructure, can send messages by voice, Morse code or digital mode, even email via radio. It can interface with tablets or smartphones, and can be set up almost anywhere in minutes. That’s the beauty of amateur radio during a communications outage.

The Surrey team placed first in their Canadian category for Field Day 2019 and have consistently placed in the top three stations in Canada, even achieving an all-time high score for using low power (less power than it takes to light a Christmas tree bulb) to contact other stations. In 2014 we even spoke to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station!

Field Day

In today’s electronic do-it-yourself environment, ham radio remains one of the best ways for people to learn about electronics, physics, meteorology and numerous other scientific disciplines. In addition, amateur radio is a huge asset to any community during disasters or emergencies if the standard communication infrastructure goes down. They also provide communications for relief agencies that do not have radio communications systems of their own and offer free communications services for non-profit events to practice these skills.

Surrey Fire Service Deputy Fire Chief Mark Griffioen, who coordinates emergency response for the City of Surrey adds: “Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio plays a supporting role in emergency communications during any major event for the city.  They train extensively and operate a communications room out of Fire Hall 1. During a major event, they provide enhanced life safety for the citizens of Surrey by providing a communication link with the Emergency Operations Centre.”

Stan Williams, President of Surrey Amateur Radio Communications, highlighted the value of Amateur Radio in its flexibility. “Amateur Radio is not centralized. There is no single point of failure; it does not rely on the Internet, a power utility or a communications company, cell towers or other infrastructure to provide service. It works when nothing else is available. We need nothing between us but air.” 

Anyone may become a licensed amateur radio operator. Worldwide there are more than 3 million licensed amateur radio licensees, as young as 9 and as old as 100. And with groups such as SEPAR and SARC, it’s easy for anybody to get involved right here in Surrey.  We offer regular amateur radio courses, classroom or on-line, see https://ve7sar.blogspot.com/2020/03/our-basic-amateur-radio-course.html 

To learn more about Amateur Radio in the Surrey Emergency program, watch the video at http://tinyurl.com/SeparsInfo.

For a look at our previous Field Day efforts visit our YouTube channel at https://tinyurl.com/SARC-Video

When All Else Fails, Ham Radio Works

Disaster Preparedness for Amateur Radio

Save yourself! 

In any emergency, before you can even think about contributing your skills as an Amateur Radio Operator, you need to save yourself and your family first. You can’t possibly consider turning on the radio if you haven’t got what you need personally to survive. So in order of importance, you come first, then family, pets and only after those are taken care of can you consider making your way to a radio. If you are well prepared, this process can be very quick, since it will already be completed as part of your emergency plan.

There are a lot of places on the internet that can give you ideas for personal Grab & Go kits and other personal preparedness kits.  I’m not going to try to put together a list of items, for your personal kit, because it’s been done over and over and over. The thing with all those lists is that they all vary in some way. They all vary because everyone has different needs. Some people have medications. Some have pets and quite a few it seems, have guns! Most of the USA kit recommendations that I have seen talk about personal security preparedness as part of the necessities of a kit. I agree completely that personal security can be a consideration for people and it should be part of your thought process. In Canada you’ll just have to replace the words “pointy stick” any time you read the word “gun”. All joking aside though, as you look through some of the results you’ll find when you do a Google search on “Grab and Go” kits or “Preparedness Kits”, you will certainly find things on those lists that don’t seem to apply to you. Don’t discount any of the ideas too quickly. Give them a little thought. You might be surprised at the sense that some of them make. Every persons situation is different and that’s why I’m not itemizing a list for you. Just make sure you are prepared! QSL?!

Now it’s the radio’s turn!

If you plan on making yourself available for Amateur Radio Communications if a disaster strikes then you will need to prepare a few things in addition to the personal preparedness kit you have developed.
Don’t move onto this preparedness list until you and your family are personally prepared.  You can’t help someone else, if your own life is in turmoil. Once you are personally ready then, and only then, do the following:

1. Train regularly with SEPAR.  While it’s true that presently most of our training has been on the 2 metre Nets, it is still important.  Those of you that never check-in and then believe you will be an asset during a real disaster will surely find yourself in a confusing situation. The adage YOU PLAY LIKE YOU PRACTICE, may be sports oriented, but it applies to much of life. Those of you that have listened to the Nets over the past few weeks have heard a few good situations come up - people checking in and interrupting to get their personal message out, net control having technical troubles and disappearing for a time, and scrambling to amend a simplex frequency when one becomes busy just after it’s announced to be used, and the QSY has already started. 
2. Don't depend on computers, cellphones, iPads and the internet to store and acquire the informalion you might need in a disaster (Such as the location of City assets- Fire Halls, Recreation Centres). The important stuff should be on paper.
3. Use paper to do Net Control and not computer software like Excel. If you prefer the computer normally then use paper on occasion to make it easier to switch to paper when it is needed.
4. While the City of Surrey provides us with Grab & Go Kits, It wouldn’t hurt to have your own Amateur Radio G&G Kit to supplement your personal G&G Kit. Amateur Radio works well in disasters because so many operators have their own equipment. There is excellent redundancy in the system.  Some items to include:

• Portable radio, antenna and power supply or batteries.
• If you use HF then you’ll need (or highly recommended) a headset or earphones (Also useful in case you are in a noisy are)
• Cables and Extension cords.
• Pencils and Paper (Net Control sheets are handy to have)
• Clipboard (Once in the field, there is no guarantee you’ll have a counter to work on.)
• Radiogram forms (not required, but easier than writing on a blank page)
• Instructions that you feel you might need such as the list of ARRL numbered radiograms and your list of City of Surrey buildings (Rec Centres and Fire Halls.)
• Small tools (multi-tip screwdriver, multitools, etc.)
• EMBC (Emergency Management BC Card).
• If you have a SEPAR Vest then keep it with your radio G&G kit.
• Important phone numbers and frequencies. (There is a list of assigned frequencies on separs.net)
• A Surrey map. Remember Google maps needs a cellar connection.  A paper is a good backup.
• Flashlight
• A way to stay dry in wet weather. We have no shortage of rain in Metro Vancouver (Ponchos are very small to store, and cheap to buy.).

5. Let SEPAR know what you are good at. Not everyone will be needed on a radio. Some of you are antenna specialists. Others are good at fixing minor radio issues in a pinch or organizing a group? What are you good at? Some people are better at one job than another person. Volunteer that information.
6. Depending on the situation the help you are needed to give could change. 

For instance:

• If you don’t need to evacuate your home; Can you deploy at a shelter or EOC for a few hours? Operate from home?
• If you must evacuate. Can you deploy from where you have evacuated to, such as a shelter?

7. Somethings that you could add to your Radio G&G kit, that should also be in your personal G&G kit, are the following items:

• Bottled water plus something to eat no like an energy bar.
• Medications.
• A small first aid kit. Just a couple bandages couple make a big difference in your comfort if you accidentally cut yourself.
• Toilet paper - small packets from MRE kits are very handy and don't take up much room.
• Moist towelettes (a quick way to clean your hands).

This list is just a few suggestions to get you thinking about what you might need. It’s certainly not an exhaustive list but it should give you some ideas of where to start.


~ Roger VA7VH

Our Antenna Workshop

An opportunity to practice what we preach

We’re now between Basic courses and we constantly tune-up our methods, learning from feedback. Like other licensing courses, we cover the Introduction to Amateur Radio, Ohms Law, basic components, propagation, transmission lines, antennas and block diagrams of receivers and transmitters. The big section toward the end is Rules and regulations. It’s big because it typically counts for 25 to 30% of the exam questions and we leave it so students have enough material to relate those rules to the technical part of the course. 

On a Saturday after the transmission lines and antennas have been covered, around Week 4, we host the class at an antenna building workshop. It is one of those sessions that is hands-on and sets aside our course from the many others that are offered. In this session the students build a dual band roll-up J-pole antenna that they cut, solder and tune, then take home as their first antenna. It is a fun session and brings home many of the points that are discussed in the classroom sessions and offers many their first exposure to solder smoke.

All course attendees receive a complimentary membership to SARC for the current year, and hopefully we will end up with some new permanent members and hams who will embrace our hobby.

Re-instated in the course is an extra week. We have been teaching for 7 weeks with the exam on the 8th. We will now add a week after the formal teaching but before the exam. That will give the students an extra week to study and allow us to add a week to include the 'how to get started' session that we trialed at our January 2020 general meeting. It was a success, see https://ve7sar.blogspot.com/2020/01/get-on-air.html

A SARC Basic Course Retrospective

A Message From A Successful Teen Ham

Hello, readers. I’m Samantha, I’m sixteen years old, and this May I got my amateur radio basic license - with honours, too. Finally entering the world of amateur radio came with a lot of passion, learning, and a bit of studying, and having a gate wide open to another enormous world of learning is perhaps one of the things about having a license I’m most excited about. Though I’m proud about my achievement, I have to thank Surrey Amateur Radio Communications Basic radio course for my success.

Sammi and Member of Parliament Sukh Dhaliwal
at Field Day 2016

SARC sets up a course so amateurs-to-be can prepare for their license test. It went through all the topics we needed, through on-air etiquette and the long list of laws, among more interesting things like electric theory and propagation (man, those are fascinating topics). However, what I appreciated most in the course was the caring environment, where asking questions, talking with others, and even joking around a little is perfectly normal. 

I felt very welcome in the class – though being the only girl in the class was a little disappointing – and I especially want to thank John VE7TI, Stan VA7NF, and John VA7XB for all being incredibly knowledgeable, kind, and personable. It helps when a learning environment is friendly; I don’t think I could learn if it isn’t. In fact, it’s wonderful that amateur radio in general is so friendly to everyone.

Noah, age 13, a graduate of our Fall 2019 course,
at 27 students, our largest class ever.
His dad [right] who also graduated from this class,
and one of the instructors John VE7TI

See, the thing about the world of amateur radio is that it’s just so big. If you don’t like one aspect of it, there’s going to be another that piques your interest. Plus, it’s not just a hobby for one type of person or one type of community. Anyone, and yes, I mean anyone, can get a license. Doesn’t matter if you’re old or young, male, female, neither, or both; what matters is that amateur radio is interesting to you, even if it’s just digital radio or only using a phone mode. My hope is that other teens like me discover this community and, like me, fall in love with it and all it has to offer, because this world isn’t dying. As long as we’re around, we’ll make sure to let it thrive.

~ Samantha VA7HBE

Our next course starts February 25, 2020 at 6:30pm

For more information email: course@ve7sar.net

Our Field Day Success!

Another First For The SARC-SEPAR Team

We just got the results from 2019 ARRL Field Day, VE7SAR achieved top score in Canada (again) for 3A. Great work and congratulations to the SARC & SEPAR team members.

How did we accomplish this again?

Our planning this year followed the Incident Command System (ICS), a structured means of planning and staffing a large event. Our ICS approach to planning was described in detail in a previous post.

Morse (CW) Teaching Software

A Variety Of Apps To Help You Learn Morse Code

We are offering a Morse Code class starting January 20, 2020

In the meantime, there are now a wide variety of apps and programs to assist you in learning CW.

Morse Toad  is an app that teaches Morse code through a series of simple lessons and exercises. Based on the proven Koch method, letters are learned one at a time, at full speed, and when the player demonstrates their mastery of the new letter, another is added until the full alphabet is learned. The Apple iOS version is shown but Android is also available. This is the one I’ve had the most success with refreshing my rusty CW, though the interface looks a bit old school.

WinMorse My choice for Windows computers. Convert text into Morse code. It does this by reading text from one of three sources: the Windows clipboard, a file, or you may directly type the text. WinMorse outputs the Morse code as a standard windows wav file.

MorseCat A freeware windows Morse code trainer for beginners and experts by DK5CI.

Code Quick Master Code In 30 Days it says... Maybe.

Super Morse Super Morse is the original comprehensive Morse Code training program for the PC. Super Morse permits the user to learn the Morse characters in a very orderly way using several different methods, including one unique to Super Morse; build speed with special exercises.

CWT a Morse code learning program for MSDOS by DK5LI.

CW Player Simple freeware program generates Morse characters and Q codes. It needs a sound card and Win95.

Morse99 the industry standard Morse code tutorial for pilots in the UK. Fully windows compatible with sound card support.

Ham University Ham University includes Morse Code lessons, graded exercises, and a game.

Morse Code Morse Code Training, Practice and Exam Program by Stormy Weather SoftWare Ltd.

RufzXP RufzXP is a free training software for improving code speed and CW practice, particularly (ultra) high speed memory copying of true amateur radio calls.

Morse Academy Online documentation and overview about Morse Academy, shareware CW learning software.

Codemaster V Reputation as the Morse code training package for either the newcomer to Morse code, or the experienced user who wants to improve his or her receiving skills.

Morse Pilot Morse Pilot is a popular and very comprehensive freeware Morse code tutor, trainer with decoder and encoder functions. Morse Pilot is intended for personal training, for example for radio ham or aviation examinations.

MorseRunner (Contest simulation with N1MM logger) Teaches and simulates CW contacts in a contest environment including noise, band conditions and various operating speeds.

Koch Method CW Trainer Based on the Koch Method as described by David G. Finley, N1IRZ, this software allows you to start out at the full speed you want to achieve by learning two letters and adding an additional letter once you reach 90% proficiency.

You may also want to checkout this blog post by Wayne K5UNX about learning CW https://www.amateurradio.com/cw-part-3/ 

You can get free online lessons and exercises at https://lcwo.net/ 

And, here from Norway, good reasons to learn CW

Morse code is no longer a requirement to acquire an amateur license here in Norway. The same is true for many (or most?) other countries. Still Morse code, or CW – continuous wave as it is often referred to as, has great value. Here are my top five reasons why I am learning Morse code.

1 – Excellent propagation
Voices are long gone and all you hear is static. Tune down to the lower end of the band and you will probably still hear dah-di-dah-dit dah-dah-di-dah. When “the bands are dead” as they say, the one thing you can still hear is CW. The propagation abilities are extreme.

2 – Power efficiency
Since all the radiated energy is concentrated in one single tone, morse code is an efficient form of communication with regards to power. This means that morse code is good for QRP use, or even QRPP. Also you do not need equipment that can handle large amounts of power. Thin wires and small components are enough to be heard around the globe.

3 – Easy to build kits
Small currents and simple signals do not need as advanced circuits as single sideband or FM do. There are several circuit diagrams and kits available to build, and many choose to design their own transceivers.

4 – Ultra portable transceivers
Morse code is great for SOTA and outdoor use. Small form factor kit transceivers kan fit in a small tin or plastic box, and other commercial lightweight CW only transceivers are available. When you need to bring other equipment like your tent, sleeping bag, clothing and food it is nice to bring a transceiver that does not add significant bulk and weight to the backpack.

5 – Easy way to get on the air for non-talkers
Many of us are the non-talking kind of person. I do enjoy an occasional rag-chew now and then, especially on the local 80 m net, but for now I prefer the “exchange vital information and move on” kind of style. It seems there are more of this kind of QSOs with CW.

6 – Awesome-factor

Bonus reason: Morse code has this nerdy awesome-factor to it. Morse code is something everyone recognize, but not many understand it. It truly is impressive to watch someone perform high speed CW.

~ John VE7TI

November Contests

Spend some quality time on the radio!

By the time you read this, October will be over and the California QSO party, the Oceania DX contests (both phone and CW versions), and the CQ Worldwide SSB DX contests will be part of contest history for 2019. I hope most of you gave at least a couple of these a try. We’re on the bottom of the sunspot cycle, so it could be “now or never” for DX contests for most of us.

Incidentally for those of you who haven’t already discovered them, the ARRL Propagation bulletins can be found archived here: http://www.arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation

And while we’re on the topic, the best propagation forecasting software I’m aware of (and free, at that) can be found here:  http://www.voacap.com

Have a look at the site carefully so you don’t miss the point-to-point propagation predictions, the coverage area maps, and the Nordic-based HF propagation-monitoring cluster. Although the spots for the monitoring cluster are CW, they show where signals received at the monitoring cluster are originating from, in real-time, and the summary at the top of the page shows the number of spots per band, which gives a fair idea of which bands are open at the monitoring location.

November starts out fairly quietly as far as high-profile contests go, but

• CW: First full weekend in November (November 2-4, 2019).
• Phone: Third full weekend in November (November 16-18, 2019).

Contest Period: Begins 2100 UTC Saturday and runs through 0259 Monday. (all dates and times UTC).  This contest has a wonderfully challenging exchange that is great for testing (or proving) your skills. Full information can be found here: http://www.arrl.org/sweepstakes

Be sure you read the exchange requirements carefully!

Between the two versions of the Sweepstakes we have the RTTY version of the Worked All Europe DX Contest. This could be challenging without a good antenna and an amplifier. An interesting feature of this contest is the QTC Traffic bonus points. If you find RTTY boring, or consider yourself an RTTY expert, this is the contest for you. Figuring out how to get your contest logging program to send QTCs to other stations will get your brain cells revved up, and actually managing the process will keep you on your toes in the contest. 

If you aren’t up to sending the QTCs, note that they are optional, so you can still do the contest in a mindless, er, I mean simplified way.

And for microphone aficionados with better-equipped stations, there is a phone contest the  2nd full weekend of November  2019-11-09 0700 - 2019-11-10 1300 UTC  the JIDX Phone Contest. Even if you find yourself with an embarrassingly simple station, Japan is probably the easiest DX we can get from the west coast, and all it costs to try is some time at a radio, so you don’t have anything to lose by giving it a shot. You can find the rules here:  http://www.jidx.org/jidxrule-e.html

For CW operators, November wraps up (November 23-24) with a biggie, and well worth the wait: the CQ Worldwide DX contest. Multipliers by the dozen (CQ zones and countries, per band), and suitable for all stations, big or small. While contacts with our own county don’t count for points (just multipliers), from our location it’s easy to get contacts with the US, for two points each. Starts 00:00:00 UTC Saturday Ends 23:59:59 UTC Sunday The exchange is simple (RST plus CQ zone), so if you love to pound brass, this one is for you! You can find the rules here: https://www.cqww.com/rules.htm

As always, for regular mid-week contest practice, CW contesters have the CWops Weekly Mini-CWT test (http://www.cwops.org/cwt.html) and SSB enthusiasts have the Phone Fray (http://www.perluma.com/Phone_Fray_Contest_Rules.pdf). The SEPAR Tuesday night 2-m net is now starting at 19:15 (PT), which makes it easier to check into the SEPAR net and then jump over to the HF bands for the Phone Fray. The Phone Fray is an easy contest for anyone with HF SSB capabilities, so be sure to give it a shot. (We need some more local action, hint, hint).

As always, you can find a list of most of the latest contests from the (customizable) WA7BNM contest calendar (http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html), and by checking the monthly ARRL “Contest Corral” lists (http://www.arrl.org/contest-calendar).

73 & GL in the contests!

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Great Tips…

On a weekend where there are multiple compatible contests running at once, here's a nice way to be able participate in a bunch of them, courtesy of the PVRC Newsletter:

N1MM Logger+ Hint for Multi-Contest Weekends

On many weekends there are more than one contest I might dink around in, like simultaneous QSO parties and the SAC or JA events. In N1MM you have always been able to start up multiple contest logs and go through the "Open Log in Database" menu entry to switch between them. But in version 1.0.5176 or later, N1MM+ now has a nice short cut: · With your cursor in the Entry window, hit ALT+F - that brings up "active" contest log list · Select the number in the list of the contest you want to switch to, type in that number and hit Enter · Voila - you are logging in the other contest.

~ John K3TN