Amateur Radio News and Notes 10/18/2024
In the log this week:
Reminder: Saturday MVARC Meetings Start October 26!
JOTA/POTA Event This Weekend at Columbia Island Marina on George Washington Memorial Parkway
MVARC Nets on the Air
What's happening with DX?
Solar Activity Update
Upcoming Contests
Interesting Online Radio Content
Reminder: Saturday MVARC Meetings Start October 26!
MVARC will be having Saturday morning meetings on the 4th Saturday of the month following our monthly breakfast beginning October 26th. We will be kicking off the new meetings with a presentation about one of the most exciting operating activities to come to amateur radio in recent years, Parks on the Air (POTA). The presentation will go into what POTA is all about, how you can get involved from home or out in the field, and what it looks like to get on the air from some of the most beautiful places on earth. Make sure to save the date and join us Saturday, October 26th at 10:30 AM in the Fairfax County South Building at 8350 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, VA 22309. We look forward to seeing you there.
JOTA/POTA Event This Weekend at Columbia Island Marina on the George Washington Memorial Parkway
This Saturday, October 19 at Columbia Island Marina on the George Washington Parkway the Alexandria, Arlington, and Pentagon Radio Clubs will be co-sponsoring a Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) session from 8AM-2PM ET. The location will also be inside of several Parks on the Air parks, so will count as a POTA activation as well. There is plenty of parking at Columbia Island Marina as well as a full-service restaurant and restroom facilities. The event promises to be fun for the whole family. Club member, Sean K4KBK will be at the event and plans on monitoring the Arlington Amateur Radio Club's repeater during the event. Stop by, say hello, and get on the air.
MVARC Nets on the Air
2 Meter FM Net: Tuesdays at 7 PM [146.655/- MHz (141.3 Hz PL Tone) ]
2 Meter Digital Net: Immediately Follows 2 Meter FM Net [146.655/- MHz]
MVARC Slow Speed CW Roundtable: Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 AM [3.565 MHz CW]
MVARC Cherry Tree Net: Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 AM [3.920 MHz LSB]
What's Happening with DX
There will be a lot of DX on the air in the next week. Stations will be operating from Fernando de Norohna (PX0FF which has been VERY active on the bands and concludes operations this weekend), Saint Kitts Island, Mozambique, Rwanda, Rotuma, Montserrat Island, Malawi, Jamaica, Nosy Be Island, Guadeloupe, Niue Island, Efate Island Vanuatu, Chatham Islands, Nauru, Tanzania, Rodrigues Island, Guyana, Cape Verde, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Ogasawara, Marshall Islands, India, New Caledonia Island, and Antarctica. A calendar of DXpeditions can be found at https://dxnews.com/calendar/
Solar Activity Update
Seven new sunspot groups emerged during the last week with average sunspot numbers decreasing to 129 and solar flux index (SFI) decreasing to 194. The SFI is predicted to be 160 today and 175 tomorrow and in the 180s through mid-week. Solar activity has been moderate recently with a class M2 event yesterday. NOAA forecasts a moderate activity in the near term with a 60% chance of M class flares and a 10% chance of X class flares. When not being hit by flares and geomagnetic storms, the bands have been working well with 10m being open pretty much every day. The PX0FF and ZL7IO DXpeditions have been heard well here and have been getting significant pile-ups. Get on the air and work that DX.
Good sources of real-time solar information include
https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/
and
https://solarham.com/
. To see D-layer absorption data and associated radio blackouts, visit https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/d-region-absorption-predictions-d-rap.
Upcoming Contests
This weekend brings the ARRL EME Contest, JARTS WW RTTY Contest, YBDXPI FT8 Contest, 10-10 International Fall Contest, YLRL DX/NA YL Aniversary Contest, the New York QSO Party, the Worked All Germany Contest, the Stew Perry Topband Challenge, the Feld Hell Sprint, the Asia-Pacific Fall Sprint, the Classic Exchange contest, the Illinois QSO Party, the Run for the Bacon QRP Contest, and the School Club Roundup. As always the K1USN SSTs, MSTs, and CWTs will also be on the air.
The full contest calendar with events and exchanges can be found at https://www.contestcalendar.com/weeklycont.php
Interesting Online Radio Content
Michael KB9VBR takes a look at how to get the most out of the Chameleon SS25 vertical whip -
Josh KI6NAZ takes a look at the Dually antenna that provides both a 49:1 and 9:1 matching network -
Matt M0DQW takes a look at the 100W HF amplifier from 60dBm -
Kevin W1DED interviews avid contester and musician David WD6T -
Dugbo KD9DUG actives POTA by mountain bike -
Josh KI6NAZ takes a look at the KV4P HT that integrates with a cell phone and sends APRS messages for $35 (I will be building one of these) -
Kevin K0KLB shows his off-grid power setup for his home station -
Matt M0DQW takes a look at a portable weather receiving dish antenna -
Mark KD7DTS activates SOTA with friends and a Rockmite 10m rig -
Hayden VK7HH makes the case for getting on the "Magic Band" (6m) -
George VK2AOE takes a look at built in SWR tuning with the QMX+ QRP kit -
Linas LY2H activates an Ichthyological Reserve with an Elecraft KX2 and a Micro-PA50 amp -
'
Kevin KB9RLW takes a look at the KV4P Cell Phone 2m HT -
Mike M0MSN brings a Kenwood TH-F7 Antenna back from the dead -
That's it for this week.
Best 73,
Ed
N2EC