Ways and Means

For fun and myriad suggestions, Gary, ZL2IFB, wrote The FOC Guide to Morse Code Proficiency. I noticed Gary has his paddle on an anti-slip pad.

A much older, not necessarily moldy, treatise on CW is worth a look. Half psychological (take that as you like), the other half is filled with history and practical stuff. I particularly liked Chapter 6.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Frustrated by that fast CW all over? Try Slow Speed CW "Testing," (SST), sponsored by K1USN Radio Club.

Feeling faster but not quite CWops? Try Medium Speed 20-25 WPM CW Testing (MST), sponsored by ICWC.

Feeling fast? Ride into Dodge City at 25 WPM and up, CWT and the world of fast draw CW by CWops.

No radio? There's at least one Morse code "live QSO" app on the web. Maybe for the adventurous. I've not tried it.

Quick and dirty receive practice, but no radio? Just dial into a CW signal on a webSDR and start copying. Nothing's easier.

Watering Holes

For QRP'ers, there are traditional CW watering holes on all HF bands. Love that maxim, "QRP - When you care to send the very least!"

Additional CW spots on HF through 2m bands might lead to DX, even QRP DX.

Yet more spots, HF through 2m, including QRS (slow speed) and some UK spots.

 

 

Antenna Theory

The original, go-to text was John Kraus's Antennas. The 2nd Edition (1988) of this classic is online, for free in its totality, on the Internet Archive. Just go here, where you can dive in at page 54 on an illustration of a "closed field line" EM wave "pulse" breaking away and departing a half wave dipole. This is a magical moment in the life of a radio wave, which will then go on to propagate outward to the end (if there is one) of the universe. Just after the stress of energy breaks the field "lines" free of the current-bearing surface (there is no EM wave in the conductor), the wave is then in the "near field," of highest field strength and almost infinite geometric complexity. But, at 20m for example, only 60 nanoseconds later the wave is essentially "free" of that surface, the E and H field lines closing on themselves into continuous contours in the medium (be that gases, plasmas or vacuum), as Maxwell's equations mandate, and begins to propagate at c in the "far field," beyond any influence of the electron current that created it. Yes, a wavefront is a 2D "object," but the wave itself is a 3D object, conserving its total energy (in a vacuum) as it expands in volume without limit! It's an astonishing Aha! breakout moment to visualize, repeating as each new wavelength of energy emerges from the gazillions of accelerating and decelerating electrons on the antenna surface. Navigate anywhere in this superb textbook from this amazing point!

Practical Antennas

Get blown away by practical antenna advice in the archives of L. B. Cebik (SK, W4RNL in olden times), hosted nowadays by ON5AU (also SK, where will the archives go next?). Anyway, to think Cebik was a philosophy professor!

End-Fed Antennas

Mystified by counterpoises? Check out the practical end-fed antenna design info at AA5TB's pages. You may still not totally understand counterpoises, join the club, but you will understand them better!

 

 

 

Here, HF propagation is the focus. It is just as, if not more than as complicated as propagation in higher bands.

Ionospheric Science

In 1985, your tax dollars created the definitive AFRL Handbook of Geophysics. Not too much has changed. Get your money's worth in Chapters 9 and 10 on the ionosphere and radio propagation. Very readable, but thick. You could spend months in here. For fearless hams doing HF, I'd suggest starting in Section 10.4 and working your way outward.

No time for that Handbook? In a nutshell, how many variations on ionospheric skywave are there? If new to the subject, there are simple notes for a short class at NPGS in Monterey CA. Beyond that, a better, much extended read is Chapter 19 of recent (at least back to 2017) ARRL Handbooks. Alas, neither of these digs in much to the physics and math of electromagnetic "refraction." That would be at:

Ah, to be added, a math riff on EM wave "refraction" in a plasma. That word sums up more than most folks think.

Ionospherics in Practice

Want to find best bands and times of day for HF DX? You can't beat VOACAP for Hams. But be forewarned, this is a complex program with a User's Manual to digest, only then becoming really useful. VOACAP itself was created for Voice of America broadcasts, and is still maintained by ITS in Boulder CO.

Want a dynamite wizbang graphic worldwide calculator for DX propagation? Based on VOACAP for Hams, some gifted Deutschlanders have brewed up a simply amazing web app for 24 hour video predictions by bands.

 

 

Dropping in on You

Lightning is a hot topic! There are lots of myths. A must-see is Severe Weather 101. And anything poking up from the ground is what hams, or anyone thinking about safety, ought be concerned about! Hint: no metal required!

Dropping in on Your Radio

QRN? Want to see a lightning strike map in real-time? A US crowdsource project is inspired and driven by a clever bunch of science and math-minded hobbyists in Europe. I promise, you will be impressed.

Clear sky and noisy HF conditions? If you're not downtown and not too close to suburban solar and LED bulbs, most noise in 3-30 MHz is natural, and of that, it's mostly lightning. You might count yourself lucky to be limited by lightning!

 

 

State of the Hobby from 30,000'

IEEE Spectrum magazine ran a (free access) article on us in 2020. Here's what a seasoned journalist found.

 

 

Here are a few really great links that didn't quite "fit" other tabs.

Contesting

I don't contest, but that doesn't mean you don't! Here is an exceptional calendar of many (can't be all) contests.

And if looking for contest results, to check out some buddy's weekend effort, and be amazed at how many ops are doing this thing, it's hard to beat this ham radio contest claims reflector.

ARRL Field Day (annually in June)

Yes, it's a contest, but it's equally a demonstration of ham radio's emergency preparedness capability writ large.

Here's a really interesting wrinkle of Field Day (FD). You need not leave your comfy, grid-connected shack to take part! ARRL confirms that you can work "participating" (my quotes) FD stations (who will submit their logs for points and ranking), by simply exchanging the FD protocol (your station category, state, province or country) with them but with no need to submit your log to ARRL! Then, whilest you will not get listed in QST, the rankings will reflect your participation. That's because all contacts in FD are accepted on the honor system and are not cross-checked across submitted logs. All contacts count. This is unique to FD; all other ARRL contests are cross-checked. ARRL's FD official suggests you go right ahead and work any FD station to give them a useful contact - they will want all they can get! See FD Rules for your station's category. I'm a 1D. Of course, you can submit your log anyway, if you like, and get into the lists on QST. My lowly 1D, with its minimum points for the serious FD'er would have (I didn't submit in 2023) still represented a useful asset in the spirit of FD. In a real emergency, connectivity between off- and on-grid stations could and would play an important role.

Digital Happenings

I'm not an FTn enthusiast, but a conversational variant on FT8 called JS8 turns this digimode into something more akin to RTTY or the PSK-like modes. Except that JS8 retains the weak signal capabilities of Franke-Taylor's original waveform. DX ragchewing for QRP or disadvantaged antennas? A real possibility.

 

 

Taming the 20m Extended (43' per leg) Double Zepp*

Once a Common Mode Current Choke (apparently unneeded, so now bypassed), my box is transformed!

Into a 4:1 Transformer Balun. From RG-58X out of the Tuner into 450 ohm Window Line out to the wires.

The combination of the EDZ and the Window Line produces about 200 ohms, nearly Real, at 7200 kHz.

Almost a perfect 200:50 ohm transform for 40m (who knows what anywhere else!). Tunes great, 1:1.

Probably good for a kW (that'll never happen) ...

* Inspiration for the Zepp recognizes N2GG and several others of the morning gang on group7155.

Ahhh, what we won't do for an S unit.

 

 

And here's the Extended Double Zepp itself in the sky as the Bungee Boomer.

First up Feb 13th. Note: you really cannot even see the #22 AWG wires, which is the main point of this thing.

That tiny line you see from the end of the boom to the top rail is actually a cord for raising or lowering the wires.

You know, it's all mount, no wire, a PVC monstrosity.

Maybe the only way I can go living in these parts such as they are. Making lemonade?

Not pretty, but 4 or 5 feet higher than the fern hook, which really was a study in stealth. The boom isn't!

And so, not under the roof anymore, which is making perhaps an S unit of difference.

The transformer box is on the little table. Still trying to route the window line through plain air.

The bungee cords are blue. And yes, that's a painter's pole extended about 19' of its full 23'. Wind margin.

 

 

Caution, Potential Rabbit Holes Ahead

Most definitely off topic, a leap into the void, etc.

It's my ordinary personal home page.