Pilots Of The Airwaves:
Friday, 03 July 2009 15:55
It"s 8:32 p.m. Saturday and the sun"s about to disappear beyond the black cloak of tree line on the west end of Winter Springs" Central Winds Park. Nine hundred and seven miles away, 60 pounds of metal are rocketing across the dome of the Earth, northeast-bound in a hurry, just as J.D. Smith awaits a date with destiny. "Any minute now, it"ll start talking," Smith says. Crouched on a park bench under an awning, Smith sits in a gray cap tracking a ghost on the horizon. Seconds later, that speeding hunk of metal wakes with a kiss from the setting sun and its haunting signal says hello once more, just as a stifled grin broadens Smith"s face. Reaching for signals in the sky, Americans by the tens of thousands took to the radio airwaves in synchronous Saturday through Sunday. For 24 hours they shook hands through the air, said hello, and a quick goodbye, all in seconds at a time as they raced to connect with as many other radio operators as their dialing fingers could get their hands on. This was all just a test, but the worst kind. For guys like Bob Mahon, cooped up and transmitting for hours inside a trailer the size of a large refrigerator, the hypothetical is dead serious. A disaster has just wiped out the electrical grid. The cell phone towers are useless. That"s when the hams take to the air and save the day, setting up disaster communications across the area. But on the last weekend of June every year, they go global, challenging amateur radio clubs worldwide to see who"s the great communicator on the airwaves.
The K7RA Solar Update
Friday, 03 July 2009 02:20
It was a perfect Field Day weekend from where I stood. The weather was warm, skies clear, the space weather was calm and there was enough propagation to make a domestic contest interesting. I had no plans, so on Saturday I went to the ARRL Field Day Station Locator to find a Field Day site. The one I landed at -- W7AUX -- listed a contact number, a cell phone at the site. I inquired if they needed a CW op, was told, "We could use any operators," so I drove up to the site north of Seattle. I had a lot of fun on 20 meter CW. Sporadic-E even helped out, and the 6 meter station made a number of contacts with other Field Day stations in the Western US.
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AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE(tm) REPORT 1664
Friday, 03 July 2009 02:22
administrator
News for the week in Amateur Radio for the week ending 3 July, 2009 Visit Amateur Radio Newsline"s only official website at http://www.arnewsline.org
Last Updated on Friday, 03 July 2009 08:57
Field Day Showcases Ham Radio Versatility:
Thursday, 02 July 2009 15:06
The ability to make contact with the outside world, in virtually any circumstance, is one of the benefits of amateur (ham) radio. Members of the Princeton Amateur Radio Club brought that point home Saturday and Sunday, when they set up their equipment at the City-County Park to participate in American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day activities. The field day included a contest element, where local clubs received points for successfully making contacts with other amateur radio stations across the country, and internationally. "I heard somebody in Denmark on there a while ago," club member Richard Blackburn said Saturday afternoon. A handful of ham operators from the area camped under tents near the park"s front entrance, with fans going full-blast against a three-digit heat index. The station was set up at about noon Saturday and scheduled to be operational into Sunday morning. The goal of the event, the climax of the ARRL-sponsored Amateur Radio Week, was to showcase the versatility and portability of an amateur radio system. "The main thing to do is testing your emergency capabilities," said Mike Taylor, president of the local club. The county"s ham operators proved valuable in the immediate aftermath of January"s ice storm, when most other forms of communication were silenced. "If there wasn"t a cell phone, as there wasn"t then, if there wasn"t a telephone, or any other way, there"s always ham radio," Taylor said.
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