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Old January 12th 17, 05:01 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.dx,rec.radio.amateur.equipment,rec.radio.info
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Default This Week in Amateur Radio News for Wednesday 11 January 2017

TWIAR News Feed

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via HACKADAY: Did a Russian Physicist Invent Radio?

Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:45 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2iaxEUh

It is said that “success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.” Given
the world-changing success of radio in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, it’s no wonder that so many scientists, physicists, and
engineers have been credited with its invention. The fact that
electromagnetic radiation is a natural phenomenon that no one can
reasonably claim to have invented sometimes seems lost in the shuffle to
claim the prize.

But it was exactly through the study of natural phenomena that one of the
earliest pioneers in radio research came to have a reasonable claim to at
least be the inventor of the radio receiver, well before anyone had learned
how to reliably produce electromagnetic waves. This is the story of how a
Russian physicist harnessed the power of lightning and became one of the
many fathers of radio.

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Nevada ARES Standing Down as Flood Threat Abates

Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:35 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2ijKOhO

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) volunteers and emergency operations
centers (EOCs) in Nevada are now standing down as the threat of additional
widespread flooding damage diminishes. Over the weekend, ARES members in
Nevada stood ready to support the disaster response effort. Recent heavy
rainfall, sparked by a weather system called the Pineapple Express, caused
flooding along rivers and forced evacuations in some areas of Nevada and
neighboring California. The flooding prompted Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval to
declare a state of emergency. In Reno the Truckee River crested above 12
feet on January 9, and at 19.5 feet in Sparks. The river is now below flood
stage and, despite a forecast of more rain and snow, was expected to remain
so.

Carrying moisture-laden warm air from Hawaii, the Pineapple Express
“atmospheric river” flowing across a narrow band of the Sierra Nevadas
brought snow followed by rainfall of up to 15 inches to northern Nevada and
California. While the rainfall may have broken the back of the region’s
lengthy drought, it caused the snowpack in the Sierras to melt, initiating
avalanches and mudslides, washing out roadways, and causing heavy flooding.

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via HACKADAY: Anatomy Of A Digital Broadcast Radio System

Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:35 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2jawiqS

What does a Hackaday writer do when a couple of days after Christmas she’s
having a beer or two with a long-term friend from her university days who’s
made a career in the technical side of digital broadcasting? Pick his
brains about the transmission scheme and write it all down of course, for
behind the consumer’s shiny digital radio lies a wealth of interesting
technology to try to squeeze the most from the available resources.

In the UK, our digital broadcast radio uses a system called DAB, for
Digital Audio Broadcasting. There are a variety of standards used around
the world for digital radio, and it’s fair to say that DAB as one of the
older ones is not necessarily the best in today’s marketplace. This aside
there is still a lot to be learned from its transmission scheme, and from
how some of its shortcomings were addressed in later standards.

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New Digital Modes Gain Traction for Moonbounce, but Occasionally Show Up on
HF

Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:35 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2jfHl21

In December, Joe Taylor, K1JT, released the latest version (1.7) of his
WSJT-X software suite, designed to facilitate basic Amateur Radio
communication using very weak signals (WSJT stands for “Weak Signal
communication by K1JT”). Version 1.7 included the new modes MSK144 and
QRA64, as well as ISCAT (ionospheric scatter). MSK144 and QRA64 (and
QRA64A) are finding a home within the VHF Earth-Moon-Earth (EME, or
moonbounce) and meteor-scatter communities, but QRA64A signals also have
turned up on 160 meters, which poses its own challenges to weak signals.

“QRA64A QSOs are being made nightly on 160 meters, of all places, and QRA64
activity on 2-meter EME is becoming significant, especially on weekends,”
Taylor remarked in a January 9 update posted to the Moon-Net reflector,
pointing out that QRA64 is decoding signals down to about –28 dB
signal-to-noise.

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via HACKADAY: Pumping Up An Antenna From A Stream Of Sea Water

Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:00 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2jxArIQ

Our Hackaday readership represent a huge breadth of engineering experience
and knowledge, and we get a significant number of our story tips from you.
For instance, today we are indebted to [sonofthunderboanerges] for
delivering us a tip in the comment stream of one of our posts, detailing an
antenna created by coupling RF into a jet of sea water created with a pump.
It’s a few years old so we’re presenting it as an object of interest rather
than as a news story, but it remains a no less fascinating project for that.

The antenna relies on the conductivity of sea water to view a jet of water
as simply another conductor to which RF can be coupled. The jet is simply
adjusted by altering the flow rate until it is a quarter wavelength long at
the desired frequency, at which point it is a good analogue of a metal whip
antenna. The RF is coupled at the base by a ferrite cored transformer that
clips around the nozzle ejecting the water, and a bandwidth from 2MHz to
400MHz is claimed. If you work with RF you will probably wince at the sight
of salt water coming near the RF connector, as we did.

The advantage of the system is that it allows antennas of multiple
frequencies to be created at very short notice and using very little space
or weight when not in use. The creator of the antenna at the US Navy’s
SPAWAR technology organization points to its obvious application on Navy
warships. Whether or not the sailors are using these antennas now isn’t
clear, but one thing’s for certain, the idea hasn’t gone away. Early last
year Popular Mechanics reported on a similar project under way courtesy of
Mitsubishi, in Japan.

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UK Regulator Ofcom No Longer Listing Unassigned Amateur Radio Call Signs

Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:35 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2jfMhnE

UK Telecommunications regulator Ofcom no longer issues lists of unassigned
— or unallocated — Amateur Radio call signs. This practice ended last fall.

Replying to an inquiry, Ofcom’s Julia Snape explained, “We do not hold a
list of call signs that are available. Due to a system change, the
assignment of call signs is now done using an algorithm rather than
‘grabbing’ from a list.”

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