2021 - BANDS ALIVE - O initiativa a True Blue DXer's Club

Un concurs intins pe un an; primul an al unui nou ciclu Solar in care ne asteptam ca propagarea in HF sa se imbunatateasca.

Fiecare legatura se adauga la punctajul care la final, in ianuarie 2021 te va aseza pe tabela.

Doar legaturi in CW si SSB, moduri de lucru "traditionale" in care ai ocazia sa
faci o legatura prin radio cu un ALT OM.

Se fac legaturi doar in benzile HF "clasice, 160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m.

QRP - 5W PeP

LOW POWER - 100 W PeP

HIGH POWER - Maxim din autorizatie.

Esti interesat? OK, uite, mai jos este regulamentul. Este simplu si clar. Oricine poate participa. Orice legatura conteaza. 

Fara incrancenare, este o cursa pe un an intreg, pastrati-va rasuflarea si faceti QSO-uri!

The True Blue DXers Club

anunta

“Bands Alive”

Ultra-maraton CW/SSB DX - 2021

 

Introducere

Odata cu inceperea noului ciclu solar, conditiile de propagare in benzile de unde scurte (HF) sunt asteptate sa se imbunatateasca treptat pe parcursul anului 2021; aceasta noua initiativa este destinata sa ofere vanatorilor de DX-uri motivatia de a realiza legaturi si, drept urmare, sa sustina, sa imbunatateasca si sa promoveze activitatea radioamatorilor prin utilizarea modurilor de comunicatie “traditionale” ca telegrafia (CW) si fonia (SSB). Prin aceasta initiativa inedita, pe care o numim “Ultra-maraton”, ne dorim sa motivam operatorii sa realizeze pe parcursul intregului an legaturi cu indicative unice DX.

Perioada de desfasurare

1 ianuarie 2021, 00:00 UTC  – 31 decembrie 2021, 23:59 UTC

Moduri de lucru

CW si SSB. Intrebare: De ce nu si MIXT? Raspuns: din motive de simplitate. Pot fi utilizate diverse programe pentru log. Tinerea scorului si livrarea log-urilor se poate realiza cu o plaja variata de programe de concurs; nu toate suporta modul “mixt”. Mai multe detalii despre programele ce pot fi utilizate vor fi furnizate pe site, ulterior.

Categorii

Participantii pot alege una dintre cele 3 categorii in functie de puterea utilizata, indiferent de ce sistem de antene folosesc:

HIGH POWER – Puterea maxima permisa, potrivit autorizatiei

LOW POWER – 100W maxim

QRP – 5W maxim

Benzi

10, 15, 20, 40, 80 si 160 metri.

Intrebare: De ce nu si benzile WARC? Raspuns: Din acelasi motiv pentru care nu exista si participare la “mixt”. Mai multe detalii despre programele ce pot fi utilizate vor fi furnizate pe site, ulterior.

Scopul concursului

Orice participant la un concurs CQ WW DX va intelege scopul acestei competitii, care este acumularea de punctaj maxim. Spre deosebire de concursurile clasice ce se desfasoara pe o durata de 48 de ore,  acesta se desfasoara pe intreaga durata a anului calendaristic, din acest motiv este “Ultra-maraton”. Numarul de puncte se calculeaza astfel:

SCOR

Scorul final este totalul punctelor din legaturi (QSO) inmultit cu suma zonelor si a tarilor (CQ Zones si DXCC). Ex:  1000 puncte din QSO  x (30 Zone + 70 tari DXCC) = 100,000 (scor total).

PUNCTAREA LEGATURILOR

Statiile pot fi contactate o singura data in fiecare banda pe intreaga durata a Ultra-maratonului. Punctarea legaturilor se realizeaza in functie de locatia statiei cu care s-a realizat legatura:

·         Contacte intre statii pe continente diferite – 3 puncte;

·         Contacte intre statii din tari diferite, pe acelasi continent – 1 punct; Exceptie fac legaturile intre statiile din tari aflate in limitele Continentului Nord-American.

·         Contacte intre statii aflate in aceeasi tara – 0 puncte dar conteaza pentru multiplicatorii de tara si Zona.

MULTIPLICATORI

Sunt doua tipuri de multiplicatori:

Zona – Cate un punct pentru legaturi cu fiecare Zona CQ diferita in fiecare banda. Sunt aplicabile regulile de la CQ Worked All Zones;

Tara – Cate un punct pentru legaturi cu fiecare tara diferita in fiecare banda. Lista Entitatilor DXCC, lista de multiplicatori WAE (Worked All Europe) ,  IG9/IH9 precum si limitele continentale sunt aplicabile in definirea multiplicatorilor de tara. Statiile maritim-mobil sunt punctate doar pentru multiplicatorul de zona.

Software pentru log

Participarea la acest eveniment poate fi posibila practic prin utilizarea unuia din programele existente ce sustin concursul CW WW DX. Aceste programe pot actualiza automat scorul la fiecare legatura efectuata si vor evita legaturile duble, vor indica ce Zone si ce entitati DXCC au fost deja lucrate, lasandu-va sa va concentrati pe ceea ce este important, efectuarea de legaturi.

Participare

Pentru a putea participa la Ultra-maraton, trebuie sa va anuntati participarea prin inscrierea in sectiunea dedicata a site-ului TBDXC. Participarea este deschisa tuturor radioamatorilor, nu este necesara inregistrarea in randul membrilor Clubului!

Dupa inscriere, trebuie sa alegeti in ce categorie participati indicand clasa de putere si modul de lucru. Acestea nu mai pot fi ulterior modificate.

Veti putea apoi incarca in baza de date rezultatele oricand veti dori (punctaj, entitati DXCC, Zone WAZ precum si scorul total, astfel cum este calculat de programul de log). Pozitia voastra in clasamentul Ultra-maratonului publicat pe site va fi actualizata de fiecare data cand veti incarca datele.

Premii

In acest moment, ele consista in certificate. Acestea vor fi atribuite primelor cinci statii din clasament pentru CW, SSB si pentru clasele HIGH, LOW si QRP. Vor fi atribuite certificate si primelor trei statii clasate in ordinea punctelor pe fiecare continent, pentru CW si SSB, indiferent de clasa de putere.

Suntem in discutii preliminare cu o serie de sponsori urmand ca, in situatia in care numarul de participanti va fi considerabil (de ordinul sutelor), sa putem oferi premii in echipamente de

Arbitraj

Pentru majoritatea participantilor, legaturile din acest concurs intins pe o perioada de un an nu vor fi verificate. Cu toate acestea, competitorii care se califica in categoriile pentru care se elibereaza un certificat vor trebui sa furnizeze un log in format “adif” in cursul lunii Ianuarie 2021 care sa contina toate legaturile efectuate in cadrul Ultra-maratonului. Absenta logului va conduce automat la descalificare.

Logurile vor fi verificate de catre Comitetul de Concurs al Clubului care va solicita lamurirea ei de catre participant. In cazul in care participantul nu va putea lamuri problema sesizata de Comitet, acesta va fi descalificat.

"Soundcard I/O: Failed at 48kHz and 8kHz, giving up".

After playing with various Virtual audio "cables" and lot of tweaking I finally mess up the sound configuration. In the HamRadio Deluxe  I got this idiot error:

"Soundcard I/O: Failed at 48kHz and 8kHz, giving up".

I tried to find a solution on the internet, found a guy or two with the same problem but the answer he get was useless... Some even suggested to modify settings of the system pagefile! DOH!!!

So, i tried other applications/programs but all showed the same kind of error, that pointed to some impossibility to access the soundcard.

I will not enter in details because I now you want the easy solution...

So:

1. Click the WINDOWS key (left, down on the keyboard).

2. Write "privacy" and you will notice a selection will occur. Choose "Microphone Privacy Settings". A new window will open.

3. In the new window, under the "Allow apps to access your microphone" select "ON".

Thats it!

73 de YO3HJV

Raspberry Pi and RTL-SDR over TCP-IP

for my own reference

1. Install a Raspi image on the SD card;

2. Set up the Raspi OS "as usual";

3. sudo apt-get update

    sudo apt-get upgrade

4. sudo bash

    apt-get update

    apt-get install cmake -y

    apt-get install libusb-1.0-0.dev -y

    git clone git://git.osmocom.org/rtl-sdr.git

    cd rtl-sdr/

    mkdir build

    cd build/

    cmake ../ -DDETACH_KERNEL_DRIVER=ON -DINSTALL_UDEV_RULES=ON

    make

    make install

    ldconfig

Run it with

   rtl_tcp -a {IP Address}

Hamradio is for gentlemen

I was working on a HM radio late at night and I was listening to 20m band as it was a pretty good propagation.
At 14.194 kHz, ER4DX was calling for South America DX.
At one time, an Italian station had answer to his call but Mr. Vasile expedite the Italian very quick with "no Europe, only South America, DX only" and continues to call.
After a minute, a station from Maroc answers and Mr. Vasile, ER4DX started a pretty nice QSO. Then some SA stations and after a while, a Romanian one.

Well, in my opinion, the way he refused the call from Italian station was RUDE. Hamradio is about friendship, it's about human to human connection in a weird World of selfish people...
Maybe that Italian ham needed a new country in his log!
Maybe it was someone in distress. Maybe who knows, he just wanted to test his station!

A real ham will not refuse to answer to a call from a station... Any station! This is real HAMRADIO!
If you are hunting a continent it's OK to call that way and to specify it but, if a station from other part of a World calling you worth answering! it will not take more than a few seconds to answer and TO EXPLAIN that, you are calling for specific part of the world while there is a path in the propagation!
The QSO with Maroc and Romania (and right now, just while I am writing, a Polish station) will not take an eternity but for that Ham may be important!

So, fellow hams, please, dont be rude and reject answers from other countries while you are hunting for specific calls!

You will be remembered as REAL HAMS, last gentlemen in this World!

G5RV

The G5RV Multiband HF Antenna Over the last 40 years G5RV dipoles have become the most widely used general purpose multi-band antennas in the world.  Good performance, modest size, low cost, simplicity, and versatility are the reasons for this popularity. Invented in 1946 by Louis Varney, whose call sign is G5RV ("Silent key" on June 28, 2000. He was 89).  The basic antenna measures only 102 feet across the top, and is fed at the center through a low loss 34 feet feed-stub. The interaction between the radiating section and the feed-stub makes the G5RV easy to match on all-bands from 80 through 10 meters with an ordinary low-cost antenna tuner. In spite of small size, it provides dipole equivalent coverage on 80 and 40 meters.   From 20 on it favors DX with four to six low angle lobes reaching out in all directions. THE ANTENNA LENGTH : The design center frequency of the full-size version (configured as a 3/2-wave dipole on 20m) is 14.150 MHz, and the dimension of 102 ft is derived from the formula for long-wire antennas which is : LENGTH ( in feet ) = ( 492 ( n - 0.05 )) / f (MHz) = ( 492 ( 3 - 0.05 )) / 14.15 = 102.57 ft ( 31.26 m ) (n = number of half wavelengths of the wire) In practice, since the whole system will be brought to resonance by the use of an antenna tuner, the antenna is cut to 102ft (31.1m). In some cases, this is still too large to fit in one's yard, and not everyone can convince their neighbors to allow one to stretch the wire across property lines. In this case, a half-size version, covering 7 to 28 MHz is useable. Conversely, some amateurs would like to have 1.8 MHz capability, and have the 204 ft ( 62.2 m ) length necessary for this array. The antenna does not need to be put up as a flat-top array, but can be installed as an inverted-V. If the antenna is raised as an inverted-V, the included angle at the apex should not be less than 120 degrees. The center of the antenna should be as high as possible, of course, and the matching section should descend at a right angle to the array. THE MATCHING SECTION : The matching section may use with several ways : Open Wire : It is recommended that the matching section be constructed of open-wire feeder for minimum loss, as it always carries a standing wave on it. Due to the standing wave on it, the actual impedance is unimportant. Ladder Line (Window-type line) : The next most-desirable matching section would be made from window-type open wire line, either 300-ohm, or 450-ohm. This is basically a ribbon line, like heavy duty TV-type twin lead, with #16 to #20 wire, and "windows" cut in the insulation every 4 to 6 inches. The advantage of the "window" line is that the conductors won't short together if the line twists in a high wind. "TV" Twin Lead : The main disadvantage of the TV-type twin lead is durability. The advantage of it is that it is readily available at electronics outlets. Do not use the "shielded" twin lead. The shield will degrade the matching section, especially on 3.5 or 7 MHz. MATCHING SECTION LENGTH : The length of the matching section is an ELECTRICAL half-wave on 14 MHz. The actual physical length is determined by the following formula : LENGTH ( in feet ) = ( 492 x VF ) / f (MHz) ( VF = the velocity factor of the matching section ) The velocity factor is determined by the type of line, and the dielectric properties of its insulation. For the three types of line discussed so far, the VF is : Open wire = 0.97 Ladder line (Window line) = 0.90 "TV" twin lead = 0.82 By substituting the VF in the formula, and calculating for a center frequency of 14.15 MHz, you come up with the following matching section lengths : Open wire = 33.7 ft ( 10.28 m ) Ladder line (Window line) = 31.3 ft ( 9.54 m ) "TV" twin lead = 28.5 ft ( 8.69 m ) This matching section is connected to the center of the array, and allowed to descend vertically at least 20 ft or more, if possible.   It can then be bent and tied off to a suitable post or line, and connected to the coaxial line, and run to the Antenna Tuner. TABLE OF FULL-SIZE, DOUBLE-SIZE and HALF-SIZE : Band Coverage 3.5 - 28 MHz 1.8 - 28 MHz 7 - 28 MHz Length of Antenna 102 ft ( 31.1 m ) 204 ft ( 62.2 m ) 51 ft ( 15.55 m ) Matching section : - Open wire 33.7 ft ( 10.28 m ) 67.5 ft ( 20.56 m ) 16.9 ft ( 5.14 m ) - Ladder line 31.3 ft ( 9.54 m ) 62.6 ft ( 19.08 m ) 15.6 ft ( 4.77 m ) - "TV" twin lead 28.5 ft ( 8.69 m ) 57 ft ( 17.38 m ) 14.3 ft ( 4.35 m )

https://www.qsl.net/yb0emj/g5rv.html