Solar activity at a record low

In my 45 years as an Amateur Radio Operator (ham) I have not seen propagation this low. On June 25th, 2016 the Solar flux was at 77 and there were zero sun spots. To make the best of a very bad situation I did manage to contact two stations in Austrialia (VK) on the 40 meter band (7Mhz.) Solar activity cycles every eleven years and the perditions were; the low was one year ago. I think the low must be now in 2016. For all Amateur Radio operators lets hope for better conditions with Mr. Sun in the future. ..... Jack WB9OTX

Amateur radio (also called ham radio)

My Radio Station WB9OTX

Today (July 6,2014) was a date to remember in the Ham Radio world. The solar flux peaked at 201 and communications was reachable around the world. This was a Sunday so most operators were off work and playing with the radios in everry part of the world. I worked several stations on the 6 meter band (50 Mhz.) and I think several state side stations worked Europe, this is a rare feat. I used a digital mode called JT9 to work all over Europe, North America, and Japan using just 5 watts of power. This solar cycle has been slow to peak but it has finally done so. The propagation for radio waves is determined by the sun's solar cycle that peaks every eleven years or so.
Read more at wikipedia.org

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X1M Platinum

X1M SSB CW 4 watt xceiver

The postman dropped off this little QRP rig today about noon. I had to solder the power connector on witch took about 15 minutes, I put an adapter on the BNC antenna receptacle so I could use a PL259. I flipped the power on and the internal speaker came to life. I got a stiff neck bobbing  my head to focus my bifocals in on the very small LED menu. Its going to take a few days to remember all the menu ajustments. The first contact was to a station in So. Dakota on the 20 meter SSB band, my report was 44. The second contact was on 75 meters and the guys couldn't get over how good I sounded with only 4 watts of power. I was running S8 to 9 with good audio. I called CQ on the 20 meter QRP frequency but received no replies. Tomorrow is another day and I can't wait for 15 & 10 to open up. I'm going to build a portable antenna for 40 and 20, also a small nicad battery pack to operate portable back packing. I can run 1500 watts with other radios I have but I get a bigger kick out of the flea power this little radio puts out..... Jack WB9OTX
Flash: 10/20/13 Ten meters was open today. I worked about 12 or 15 stations all over Europe. I am getting more proficient with the menu commands now. A great fun radio, I love it !!

The Warsaw radio mast collapse

The Warsaw radio mast was the world's tallest structure ( 2,120.67 ft) until its collapse on 8 August 1991. It is the second tallest land-based structure ever built, being surpassed as tallest by the Burj Khalifa, completed in 2010.

Ham Radio operators love towers as we use these structures to transmit our signals. The rule of thumb states, "If it doesn't fall down it's not high enough". This one did in 1991.
read what happened

Solar radio flux

Emission from the Sun at centimetric (radio) wavelength is due primarily to coronal plasma trapped in the magnetic fields overlying active regions.^[15] The F10.7 index is a measure of the solar radio flux per unit frequency at a wavelength of 10.7 cm, near the peak of the observed solar radio emission. It represents a measure of diffuse, nonradiative heating of the coronal plasma trapped by magnetic fields over active regions, and is an excellent indicator of overall solar activity levels. The solar F10.7 cm record extends back to 1947, and is the longest direct record of solar activity available, other than sunspot-related quantities. Sunspot activity has a major effect on long distance radio communications particularly on the shortwave bands although medium wave and low VHF frequencies are also affected. High levels of sunspot activity lead to improved signal propagation on higher frequency bands, although they also increase the levels of solar noise and ionospheric disturbances. These effects are caused by impact of the increased level of solar radiation on the ionosphere. It has been proposed that 10.7 cm solar flux can interfere with point-to-point terrestrial communications.^[16]

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WIBC goes F.M. - what a shame

As an almost 64 year old teenager who remembers the good times of the late 50's and early 60's before heading into the army, I can attest to the fact that WIBC (1070 Khz) was the in station then with "Easy" Gwin during the afternoon, WSAI (1360 Khz) with Dusty Roads, and WLS (890 Khz) with Dick Biondi at night. It was fun cruising the drive-ins like The Dog n' Sudds and Frisch's. Those were the days for listening to Rock and Roll with your car's A.M. radio, There was no F.M. yet in cars. A.M. radios in cars or home now have very poor receivers and the mighty clear channel stations have cut their power to conserve electric. Yes A.M. is about a thing of the past, What a shame.

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla's birthday is coming up on the 10th, so I thought I'd read a bit about the man that received little credit for his work......Jack

After his demonstration of wireless communication (radio) in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but due to his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Never having put much focus on his finances, Tesla died impoverished at the age of 86.
Read much more


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Versailles Live online scanner

I upgraded to a new computer and it has Vista for the operating system. I like to listen to your online scanner but with Medea Player 11 that came with Vista I can't understand how to connect. Can you help. Thank you, Tom


Versailles online scanner (not always online)
Go here for instructions on Versions 7 - 10
http://scanner.wb9otx.com

Open/Run Medea Player

(1) On (Vista) Medea Player 11 Right Click to the Right of the two arrows
at the top. Mouse Over "File", Then Left Click "Open URL"

(2) Type in or copy & Paste: http://68.46.218.228:8080
Click "OK"
Look at the bottom left and you should see "buffering"
playing xx K Bits / seconds
Now just wait a few seconds to hear the audio.
It is not always online, (when I go to bed it goes off) if you can't connect try again later.
Thanks for your question Tom.
Happy listening,
Jack