Emergency Amateur Radio Support Across Canada

How well is amateur radio for emergencies supported by governments across Canada?
While looking online for inspiration for this months Communicator, I began to notice that there weren't many results when I googled certain word groups regarding governments, amateur radio, and emergencies. So that got me wondering what type of support different Provinces give to their Amateur Radio ARES groups and where British Columbia fits in. Yes, I know SEPAR isn’t a typical ARES group, because we serve the City of Surrey first and foremost, to provide a communications link between the City and services within the City whose communications has failed. But that, in my view, is just an ARES group with a twist. 

The results I discuss below are based on my Google search parameter of “amateur radio emergency [Province name or City name]”. As I discuss this please remember, I’m talking about the support shown for amateur radio on government websites and not Radio Amateurs of Canada websites. There is no shortage of RAC and local club support for emergency communications in Canada.

BC, as you may know, has PERCS (Provincial Emergency Radio Communications Service) which is strongly integrated with the BC Government. The Emergency Radio Communications webpage of the BC government also lists Amateur Radio as a source of emergency communications. Several municipalities in BC actively support their Amateur Radio, for example - SEPAR in Surrey, and VECTOR in Vancouver. In the other jurisdictions, outside BC, there does not seem to be this support from government. 

In Ontario, it seems more of a passing thought (at least when looking through the government websites). EmComm (Emergency Communications Ontario Association) lists Emergency Management Ontario as a support site, but Emergency Management Ontario, which is the governments site, does not reciprocated to EmComm. The City of Toronto in their emergency plan does include amateur radio, but it’s hidden in a PDF document and not referred to on their City website like SEPAR is in Surrey.

In Alberta, Edmonton mentions Amateur Radio briefly on their City website. Calgary also mentions amateur radio on their City website but only to recognize that antenna structures need to have controls put on them. Nothing is said about the benefits amateur radio can provide in a disaster.

The province of Quebec has 4 words (3 words when translated to English) as a mention on the government website -“réseaux de radio-amateur” [Amateur Radio Networks]. This is under the heading of “Les partenaires de la municipalité” [The Partners of the Municipality] on their webpage discussing the role of municipal partners during an emergency. 

I couldn’t find any reference on provincial websites in Nunavut, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan or Manitoba.

Nova Scotia makes no mention of the role amateur radio would play in the provincial plan, but as a slight aside, there is a very good article on one of their journalism pages. It explains the benefits of Amateur Radio and how it was used during the crash of flight 111 in Peggy’s Cove.

The Northwest territories like the City of Toronto only speaks of Amateur Radio in their Emergency Plan, which is again a PDF document. The discussion in the NWT plan only suggests that Amateur Radio should be part of the plan. 

The Yukon Territory does mention amateur radio, and if their is integration with the government, I couldn’t find it on their web pages. 

It’s a stark difference to BC where the Province links to PERCS and municipalities link to their Emergency Amateur Radio providers like SEPAR, VECTOR, Coquitlam, North Shore Emergency Management, etc.

It seems to me that it is important for the public to be aware of the inclusion of Amateur Radio in their emergency plans. While it’s important to be written into the Emergency plan, most residents will never read that document. Many will read about it however, if it’s published on the government websites, with a brief explanation of the benefits. Ideally, neighbourhoods should even be aware of the location of a neighbourhood ham operator so that they know they have a communicator at their disposal in an emergency. As it stand right now, at least in BC and Surrey especially, we are prominently integrated in emergency plans. Something I can’t say for the majority of the country. 

~ Roger VA7VH

Harmonic Radiation

Back To Basics

From the Canadian Basic Question Bank

Back To Basics is a regular column in the SARC Communicator Newsletter, available on this blogsite.

B-003-001-003

In designing an HF station, which component would you use to reduce the effects of harmonic radiation?

A. Dummy load 

B. Antenna switch 

C. SWR bridge

D. Low pass filter

The term harmonic is employed in various disciplines, including music and acoustics, electronic power transmission, radio technology, etc. It is typically applied to repeating signals, such as sinusoidal waves. A harmonic of such a wave is a wave with a frequency that is a multiple of the frequency of the original wave, known as the fundamental frequency. The original wave is also called the 1st harmonic, the following harmonics are known as higher harmonics. For example, if the fundamental frequency is 60 Hz, a common AC power supply frequency, the frequencies of the first three higher harmonics are 120 Hz (2nd harmonic), 180 Hz (3rd harmonic), 240 Hz (4th harmonic) and any addition of waves with these frequencies is periodic at 60 Hz.

Spurious emissions

Early in the development of radio technology it was recognized that the signals emitted by transmitters had to be 'pure'. Spark-gap transmitters were outlawed once better technology was available as they give an output which is very wide in terms of frequency. The term spurious emissions refers to any signal which comes out of a transmitter other than the wanted signal. In modern equipment there are three main types of spurious emissions: harmonics, out of band mixer products which are not fully suppressed and leakage from the local oscillator and other systems within the transmitter.

Harmonics

These are multiples of the operation frequency of the transmitter, they can be generated in any stage of the transmitter which is not perfectly linear and must be removed by filtering.

Avoiding harmonic generation

The difficulty of removing harmonics from an amplifier will depend on the design. A push-pull amplifier will have fewer harmonics than a single ended circuit. A class A amplifier will have very few harmonics, class AB or B more, and class C the most. In the typical class C amplifier, the resonant tank circuit will remove most of the harmonics, but in either of these examples, a low pass filter will likely be needed following the amplifier.

Removal of harmonics with filters

In addition to the good design of the amplifier stages, the transmitter's output should be filtered with a low pass filter to reduce the level of the harmonics. Typically the input and output are interchangeable and match to 50 ohms. Inductance and capacity values will vary with frequency. Many transmitters switch in a suitable filter for the frequency band being used. The filter will pass the desired frequency and reduce all harmonics to acceptable levels.

The harmonic output of a transmitter is best checked using an RF spectrum analyzer or by tuning a second receiver to the various harmonics. If a harmonic falls on a frequency being used by another communications service then this spurious emission can prevent an important signal from being received. Sometimes additional filtering is used to protect a sensitive range of frequencies, for example, frequencies used by aircraft or services involved with protection of life and property. Even if a harmonic is within the legally allowed limits, the harmonic should be further reduced.

Oscillators and mix products

When mixing signals to produce a desired output frequency, the choice of Intermediate frequency and local oscillator is important. If poorly chosen, a spurious output can be generated. For example if 50 MHz is mixed with 94 MHz to produce an output on 144 MHz, the third harmonic of the 50 MHz may appear in the output. This problem is similar to the Image response problem which exists in receivers.

Looking at the possible answers above, A. a dummy load is not applicable as it takes the place of an antenna for tuning and servicing a transmitter. B. An Antenna switch merely switches antennas… and has nothing to do with harmonics. C. An SWR bridge measures reflected power, not harmonics, so D. A low pass filter remains.

A low-pass filter is a filter that passes signals with a frequency lower than a certain cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The exact frequency response of the filter depends on the filter design. The filter is sometimes called a high-cut filter, or treble cut filter in audio applications. By attenuating (reducing) signals above the fundamental frequency we can effectively reduce harmonics.

The correct answer to our question therefore is D. Low pass filter.

~ John VE7TI

The November/December Communicator

Here is the Latest SARC Communicator

Projects, News, Views and Reviews... 

Here is the November/December SARC Communicator newsletter: 

http://bit.ly/SARC19NovDec 

This month 60 pages of projects, news, views, and reviews from the SW corner of Canada. 

Past articles and issues are available on our blog at https://ve7sar.blogspot.ca

We always welcome contributions of news, stories and your Amateur Radio experiences. The deadline for the next issue is December 15th.

73,

John VE7TI
Communicator Editor

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!

------------------------------------

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

Digital Set Up And Its Ups And Downs

Hi, I am VA7FMR And I am relatively new to the Ham World. I got my licence in November 2015. You may remember my article about antennas and the problems and solutions to making a selection. I have progressed since then and have enjoyed making contacts around North America with my screwdriver Antenna installed on my patio rail.

This is the thing that I like about being a HAM operator, there are so many ways that you can have fun. For example, CAT control of your radio, or “Computer Assisted Tuning” of your radio. Now what could be more interesting than that. You just watch your frequency board in N1MM+ for example and Telnet puts up all of the new contacts that are on the air right now. Just click on one of the items listed on the board and the computer tunes your radio for you, contact made. If on the other hand, you turn your radio knob, the frequency board changes too. How neat is that? And what do you know, this leads us into the next exiting part of HAM radio, Digital Communication.

I was talking to one of our senior club members one Saturday morning and he asked me if I would like to join him at his radio shack to have a look at Digital Contesting. I came away from that morning thinking about all of the contacts we had made with just the push of a button. So again, just like my search for antennas when I first got my licence, I started searching for digital interfaces to hook up to my radio. Unfortunately, I did not learn a lesson from my antenna problems, I just went ahead looking for what I thought would be the best bang for my buck, big Mistake. Since I also have an interest in Morse Code, an advert caught my eye on a web site based in the UK. It boasted that not only did their little black box provide CAT control but it also, in one box, provided two more of what I wanted, digital and CW. I can not of course provide the Manufacturers name of this mistake but I can tell you that it took a long time to realize that this unit did not live up to its claims. I struggled for weeks trying to make this beast work. 

The instruction manual, if you could call a photocopy of 6 sheets stapled together a manual, told me that when the USB cable from the unit is plugged into the computer, 3 com ports are assigned to the unit. It is easy to find out which com ports are assigned by using Windows Settings and then Device Manager to look at the com port numbers. Mine were 3-4-5. The manual told me to run a piece of software on his web page and it would look at the interface and tell me which com port was the CAT control com port. The software told me that CAT was on COM 4. Off I go to N1MM+ logger and in the setup window I tell N1MM that CAT is com 4 and I go through the setup procedure and look to see CAT working, not on your life. My Band Map stubbornly refused to talk to my radio.

This was the start of a six week love and hate relationship between a black box and a very frustrated me. I went on the internet and found instructions that pretty much guaranteed to get you working. I had just replaced the four ink cartridges in my printer and I printed so many documents I ran out of ink in just the first two weeks. The paper and ink Manufacturers loved this black box but I disliked it with a passion. 

On a whim, I went back into the setup of N1MM+ and told it that I was sorry but could I try another com port for CAT Control and I input COM 5 and did the setup thingy again and give that man an orange, it worked. I had CAT control. How could this be? The black box manufacturer told me that CAT was com 4 but here was my black box working on com 5. well winners can't be losers can they? On I went to get started in digital communications. I downloaded MMTTY and FLDIGY. In many of the documents I had downloaded I was told to setup MMTTY as a stand alone entity first. So, that is what I did. Since I had been told by the black box provider that com 3 was digital and com 5 was CW, I started the MMTTY installation with com 3. When setting up MMTTY, there are about 15-20 things that can be changed, one of the downloads gave me a pretty good inclination of what to set and what not to set. Having done the deed I tried MMTTY and nothing happened, no digital for me. 

Now I think you can see where I am going. If CAT was wrong at the black box, could it not follow that the manufacturer was wrong with the other two com ports. Sure enough, after several more days chasing my tail, I got MMTTY to trigger the black box using COM 4 not 3 as the black box manufacturer had stated. It was now time to incorporate all of this junk into N1MM+, you guessed it, not a chance in hell. Although CAT control worked fine the black box did not want to talk about Digital to anyone but it's self. Throughout this debacle I had been in constant contact with John Brodie, now this guy has the patience of a very very patient man. He gave me lots of encouragement and when I felt like wrapping the black box around the refrigerator he came through with calm and patience. A few days into this saga, John had produced a Signalink USB device and suggested that I might like to try it. I wish that I had done as he asked day one. I was now at my Nieces house and had installed My 73' long wire antenna. 

I was going to be here looking after dogs and house whilst the family were away on vacation. The antenna was working like a charm and the BARTG digital contest was due to start in two days. I removed the dreaded black box and installed the Signalink and left it like that until the next day, I had to recoup my own patience quotient and recharge overnight. The next day I had MMTTY talking nicely to the Signalink, incorporated it into N1MM+ and after a false start and a recheck of settings my Icom 7100 went into transmit and I were a digital man at long last. I worked the contest over two days, total about six hours or less and I logged 80 Qso's, including 8 Japanese stations, 1 Mexican station and a Hawaii station for good luck. The remainder were in Canada as far away as Ontario and the United States as far as Connecticut and Florida. I had a ball, I can not impress upon you how good it felt to log stations thousands of Kilometres away.

Well, was there a lesson learned here? There sure was but I should have learned it after my antenna fiasco. Do not go after the super fancy stuff and certainly never rely on a supplier off continent. I read on a public web page that the manufacturer of my unit thought that people who called for installation advice were stupid and inevitably hung up on the caller, what kind of after sale service is that? I can call anywhere in Canada for free on my Cell Phone so that is as far as I should have looked. After sale service is extremely important, particularly to newcomers to the hobby like me and some of you out there. KISS, Keep it simple stupid covers the above problem very well. 

Have I learned my lesson, I hope so.

~ Robert VA7FMR

GNU Radio

Build amazing, working Ham Radio projects on your computer!

Kevin McQuiggin VE7ZD came to a meeting to present GNUradio. 

What is GNUradio? It is an open-source free software package for all major platforms that represents common radio components as blocks, much like the block diagrams you studied for your basic exam. They are assembled and linked together to form receivers and transmitters, referred to as “flowgraphs” in GNUradio.

A filter in GNU Radio - But you do not need to know the math!

How does it work? Radio signals are always “analog” (electromagnetic waves), of course, so an analog “receiver” is still necessary. This is where a cheap $20 USB dongle comes into the picture. These receivers analyze the electro-magnetic spectrum and immediately digitize it. The “numbers” are then streamed to the digital radio processing chain. The math defines signals precisely: AM, FM, SSB, PSK, et cetera. Math can then process these digitized signals to substitute, with much greater accuracy than analog radios, the various blocks of the receiver including mixers, filters, amplifiers, et cetera, and you don’t need math skills.

As with much radio innovation in history, hams are at the forefront and your imagination can allow building general coverage all-mode receivers, Cell site emulators, Radar transceivers and Aviation applications, to name just a few.

Kevin demonstrated a basic FM broadcast receiver in class and showed a video of contacts he has made with Inmarsat, decoding that satellite's data. He followed up with a Saturday morning workshop that was well attended and everyone came away with a better understanding of the program.

An illustration of a GNUradio filter and an FM broadcast receiver

This is a remarkable program, the operation of which should be within the grasp of any ham with a Basic license.

Kevin has promised an article on GNU radio for an upcoming Communicator... stay tuned.

More On Propagation...

Back to Basics

From the Canadian Basic Question Bank

Back To Basics is a regular column in the SARC Communicator Newsletter, available on this blogsite.

B-007-003-002
What is the maximum distance along the Earth's surface that is normally covered in one hop using the F2 region?

A. 2000 km (1250 miles) 
B. 300 km (190 miles) 
C. 4000 km (2500 miles)
D. None, the F2 region does not support radio-wave propagation

There are at least a dozen questions in the Canadian Basic Question Bank that touch on propagation, this is just one of them. The science of RF propagation can take volumes to explain, let’s see if we can summarize the basics.

Radio propagation is the behavior of radio waves as they travel, or are propagated, from one point to another, or into various parts of the atmosphere. As a form of electromagnetic radiation, like light waves, radio waves are affected by the phenomena of reflection, refraction, diffraction, absorption, polarization, and scattering.

Radio propagation is affected by the daily changes of water vapor in the troposphere and ionization in the upper atmosphere influenced by the Sun. Understanding the effects of varying conditions on radio propagation has many practical applications, from choosing frequencies for Amateur Radio contacts, to designing reliable mobile telephone systems, to radio navigation, to operation of radar systems.

Several different types of propagation are used in practical radio transmission systems. Line-of-sight propagation means radio waves which travel in a straight line from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna. It does not necessarily require a cleared sight path; at lower frequencies radio waves can pass through building walls and foliage. Line of sight transmission is used in short to medium range radio transmission such as garage door openers, cell phones, cordless phones, handheld transceivers, wireless networks, FM radio and television broadcasting and radar, and satellite communication, such as satellite television. Line-of-sight transmission on the surface of the Earth is limited to the distance to the visual horizon, about 40 miles. It is the only propagation method possible at microwave frequencies and above. At microwave frequencies moisture in the atmosphere (rain fade) can degrade transmission.

At lower frequencies in the MF, LF, and VLF bands, due to diffraction radio waves, can bend over obstacles like hills, and travel beyond the horizon as surface waves which follow the contour of the Earth. These are called ground waves. AM broadcasting stations use ground waves to cover their listening areas. As the frequency gets lower the attenuation with distance decreases, so very low frequency (VLF) and extremely low frequency (ELF) ground waves can be used to communicate worldwide. VLF and ELF waves can penetrate significant distances through water and earth, and these frequencies are used for mine communication and military communication with submerged submarines.

At medium wave and shortwave frequencies (MF and HF bands) radio waves can reflect or refract from a layer of charged particles (ions) high in the atmosphere, called the ionosphere. So radio waves transmitted at an angle into the sky can be reflected back to Earth beyond the horizon, at great distances, even transcontinental distances. This is called skywave or "skip" propagation. It is used by amateur radio operators to talk to other countries, for diplomatic communications, and by international shortwave broadcasting stations. Skywave communication is variable, dependent on conditions in the upper atmosphere, and can be disrupted by events like solar flares, it is most reliable at night and in the winter. Due to its changing nature, since the advent of communication satellites in the 1960s many long range communication needs that previously used skywaves now use satellites.

Solar activity has a cycle of approximately 11 years. During this period, sunspot activity rises to a peak and gradually falls again to a low level. 

The current prediction for Sunspot Cycle 24 gave a smoothed sunspot number maximum of about 69 in the late Summer of 2013. The smoothed sunspot number reached 68.9 in August 2013, the official maximum. 

We are currently over 7.5 years into Cycle 24. The current predicted and observed size makes this the smallest sunspot cycle since Cycle 14 which had a maximum of 64.2 in February of 1906.

When sunspot activity increases, the reflecting capabilities of the F1 layer surrounding earth enable high frequency short-wave communications. The highest-reflecting layer, the F2 layer, which is approximately 200 miles (320 km) above earth, receives ultraviolet radiation from the sun, causing ionization of the gases within this layer. During the daytime when sunspot activity is at a maximum, the F2 layer can become intensely ionized due to radiation from the sun. When solar activity is sufficiently high, the MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) rises, hence the ionization density is sufficient to reflect signals well into the 30 – 50 MHz VHF spectrum. Since the MUF progressively increases, F2 reception on lower frequencies can support potential low band amateur radio paths. A rising MUF will initially affect the 27 MHz CB band, and the amateur 28 MHz 10 meter band before reaching 45-55 MHz TV and the 6 Meter amateur band. The F2 MUF generally increases at a slower rate compared to the Es MUF.

Since the height of the F2 layer is some 200 miles (320 km), it follows that single-hop F2 signals will be received at thousands rather than hundreds of miles. A single-hop F2 signal will usually be around 2,000 miles (3,200 km) minimum. A maximum F2 single-hop can reach up to approximately 2,500 miles (4,000 km). Multi-hop F2 propagation has enabled low-band VHF reception to over 11,000 miles (17,700 km).

The correct answer to our question therefore is (C) 4,000 Km (2,500 miles) 

~ John VE7TI