Does Anyone Actually Read Propagation Forecasts?

I'm a busy guy. I have a job, a family, a house, and about five other hobbies that take up my time. When I'm ready to get on the air, I turn on the rig and see what bands are open and I work some stations.

I'm the same way with hunting or fishing. If I'm going out to do either of these, I'm going out no matter what, unless the weather gets really bad. If that happens, it's poker time back at the cabin....


Propagation reports have always puzzled me. Do people actually read these and figure out when they're going to operate? I haven't had that luxury to pick out the times I will operate based on what bands will be open.

ARRL's propagation reports from K7RA are often interesting to read, even if you're not a propagation or sunspot hound. He often mixes some prose or interesting facts in. Admittedly, talking about just sunspots gets pretty boring after awhile.

KN4LF was running a regular propagation report until earlier this year. (His website mentions that the reports are suspended due to personal illness.) KN4LF processes scads of NOAA data to produce a volumous detailed report that is to the ARRL's propagation report what War and Peace is to the Little Prince. It seems like you need to throughly analyze the KN4LF propagation reports to figure out just what they're saying. But if you have the time to analyze the reports, you're probably one of those who can pick the times you will operate based on propagation predictions.

What we need is a propagation report that has perhaps four or five color graphs of the bands over time with red, yellow, and green colors to show what will be open and what won't. Or we can just turn on our rigs and see what's open....

Driving that Train, High on Cocaine

Apparently Casey Jones is working at the FCC. ARRL has petioned against this little gem of an experimental license for 100kW transmissions in several bands, including 7.1 to 7.6 MHz which includes part of the amateur radio 40 meter band. The ARRL wants the FCC to exclude the amateur portion from 7.1 to 7.3 MHz. The licensee, Digital Aurora Radio Technologies, is working on a shortwave broadcast network in Alaska using HF frequencies and Digital Radio Mondial, a digital modulation standard for shortwave broadcasting. The idea sounds reasonable and I hope DART has success and can provide Alaskans with shortwave programming other than pay-to-pray stations. But shame on the FCC for letting this error get out the door. Perhaps they thought Alaska was in ITU Region 1 instead of 2 where it's legal to broadcast in the amateur radio 40 meter band... though I do know you can see Region 1 from Alaska.

RTTY Contest on 40m! Can ya tell?

This past weekend was one of those weekends were there was another RTTY contest going on. I could actually make this statement over half the weeks of the year because there are at least 29 RTTY contests a year...

I don't do RTTY, however I do find it interesting. It's one of those old modes that still stays sexy somehow, even when a more efficient mode like PSK31 exists. In general I don't mind the contests, but the blanketing QRM on 40 meters has been an ongoing issue that everyone complains about afterwards, but no one does anything about it. It seems to be wall-to-wall RTTY, often down to 7.025 Mhz.

In this RTTY contester survey it's asked if operation below 7.025 Mhz is a problem. Of course that's not the problem; I've rarely heard a RTTY station below 7.025. The problem is the stations from 7.025 to perhaps 7.050. 7.000 to 7.025 is often considered the DX window. People tend to avoid ragchews down there when there's DX around. People who run QRP tend to hang out between 7.040 and 7.045. FISTS people trade FISTS numbers and pleasantries around 7.038. The European QRP frequency is 7.030.

If you start a CW QSO above 7.025 during a full bore RTTY contest, you can bet that during the QSO you will experience RTTY QRM at some point, and often it's a station that starts right up on top of you. I hate to paint a group with a broad brush or sound like a crusty old fart CW op, but it just seems like no one listens before hopping on a frequency and calling CQ in RTTY. Would it be too much to ask for RTTY ops to send a CW QRL? if they are below 7.050?

Above 7.070 where the PSK folks stay it can be a RTTY free-for-all as far as I'm concerned. Let's just show a little compassion for the CW operators down lower in the band.

What will Amateur Radio Look Like in 2028?

What will amateur radio look like twenty years from now? Here are my predictions...




- Administration of licensing and on-the-air monitoring for enforcement will be given to a private organization outside the FCC (ARRL?)
- There will be approximately 500,000 amateurs in the US. The passing of many baby boomers will have a large impact on our numbers.
- HF radio spectrum will be deregulated to the point where amateurs can operate on a secondary basis on most of the HF spectrum outside of the current bands
- Multiple license classes will have been eliminated as any remaining benefits of incentive licensing will be gone.
- CW and AM will still be popular modes. Digital voice protocols will be popular but will not replace SSB. People will complain about DV interference.
- Due to local interference at many locations and continued issues with CC&Rs, remotely controlled HF stations will become rather popular
- Kenwood will have been divested by JVC and acquired by another amateur radio company
- Full blown operating systems such as Linux, BSD, and Windows will be commonplace in rigs. Computing hardware will handle all DSP functions directly on frequency from 1 to 30 MHz and perhaps beyond.
- Most of the interest groups within amateur radio today will remain, with the exception of perhaps slow scan TV. I also predict a general decline in RTTY, although it remains a niche interest like AM is today.

What do you think amateur radio will look like in 20 years?

Homebrew Balanced Antenna Tuner, Part I

I started up a project to build a balanced line tuner, mainly to replace my venerable Johnson Viking Matchbox. The tuner I built is quite ghetto at the moment, being totally build out of junkbox components.

My inspiration for this project is N4EKV's balanced tuner which is a work of art. I doubt my finished product will be that pretty as I'm going for the most cost-effective and utilitarian construction. I'm also using L. B. Cebik's (W4RNL, SK) balanced tuner notes. (The site appears to be broken at the moment)

I will post updates in the coming days on how this project progresses and provide construction plans when completed.