A Ham’s Guide to RFI, Ferrites, Baluns, and Audio Interfacing

Just printed a copy (6o some pages) and reading – looks very good:

A Ham’s Guide to RFI, Ferrites, Baluns, and Audio Interfacing

Revision 5a 5 Jun 2010 by Jim Brown K9YC

Audio Systems Group, Inc. http://audiosystemsgroup.com

The basis of this tutorial is a combination of my engineering education, 55 years in ham radio, my work as vice-chair of the AES Standards Committee working group on EMC, and extensive re- search on RFI in the pro audio world where I’ve made my living. That work is documented in tech- nical papers and tutorials that can be downloaded from the publications section of my website.

http://audiosystemsgroup.com/RFI-Ham.pdf

73

Steve
K9ZW

Radio Free Redoubt: AmRRON & The American Redoubt Network

A very interesting Freecom-style emergency network:

WHAT IS AmRRON?

AmRRON is a network of Redoubters who have volunteered take their American Redoubt Network involvement to another level. These are patriots (men and women) who have volunteered to use their communications equipment to keep the American Redoubt connected when other means of communications (aka. “Comms” or “Commo” are unavailable or unreliable.
There are two types of AmRRON volunteers (Radio Operators):
1. HAM OPERATORS (or licensed Amateur Radio Operators)
2. RELAYS

HAM OPERATORS: Use their equipment and skills to keep the American Redoubt connected and informed, to coordinate the efforts of Redoubters, and to promote the American Redoubt movement. Many of them have capabilities that allow them to stay connected across the entire American Redoubt, as well as with other Redoubters and patriots (and other redoubts that will emerge in the future) across the country and even in other countries. They may also relay relevant information, alerts, coordination of efforts, and promotion of the American Redoubt movement to Redoubters in their local area using the CH3 Project frequencies. The frequency bands that are covered by many Ham Operators include HF (shortwave), 2m, 72cm, CB, FRS/GMRS, and MURS. The AmRRON frequencies are outlined in the AmRRON Frequency Plan on a separate site set up for those joining the American Redoubt Network.

RELAYS: A Ham Operator can also volunteer to be a “Relay,” which is encouraged. But Relays are typically Redoubters who have volunteered to monitor for radio traffic from other Redoubters, and then Relay that information across their local area, or to a Ham Operator, who can then pass the information on to others in the network. Most Relays have at LEAST one type of CH3 Project communications, such as a CB (Citizens Band radio), FRS (Family Radio Service), or MURS (Multi-Use Radio System). But they generally SHOULD have some type of communications that can monitor for radio traffic from Ham Operators, such as a high quality shortwave radio or a police scanner (typically from 30mhz to 800mhz). This way they can hear traffic from many, many miles away and relay that to Redoubters in their local area using CH3. The AmRRON frequencies are outlined in the AmRRON Frequency Plan on a separate site set up for those joining the American Redoubt Network.

http://radiofreeredoubt.blogspot.com/p/amrron-network.html

73

Steve
K9ZW

Hamvention Alternatives (2012)

As I have remained concerned over the quality at Dayton here is a list I put together for my research:

Alternatives to Dayton Hamvention:

http://www.hamcation.com Orlando FL 10/11/12 February
http://www.ham-ex.ca/ Toronto 24 March
http://www.dxconvention.org/ Visalia, CA 20/21/22 April
http://www.hamvention.org/ Dayton 18/19/20 May
http://www.hamcom.org/ Texas 8/9 June
http://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.de/ham-en/index.php Friedrichshafen 22/23/24 June
http://www.w9dxcc.com/ W9DXCC Chicago 14/15 September
http://bit.ly/sbE9Yo RSGB Newark UK 28/29 September

http://www.southgatearc.org/rallies/index.htm List of UK Rallies

73

Steve
K9ZW

The Art of QSLing – New Tab

Have created a new tab on the menu above – “The Art of QSLing” which offers links to articles on the QSL process.

Later additions will include some direct on-line QSL resources.

Thank you – 73

Steve
K9ZW

Just a Little Bit Longer – June 2012 to Add a Second

A neat thing happens this leap year – we’re getting a “Leap Second” in June! Brought to my attention by QRZ.com I wanted to see what this all was about.

The actual announcement:

INTERNATIONAL EARTH ROTATION AND REFERENCE SYSTEMS SERVICE (IERS)

SERVICE INTERNATIONAL DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE ET DES SYSTEMES DE REFERENCE

SERVICE DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE
OBSERVATOIRE DE PARIS
61, Av. de l’Observatoire 75014 PARIS (France)
Tel. : 33 (0) 1 40 51 22 26
FAX : 33 (0) 1 40 51 22 91
e-mail : services.iers
http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc

Paris, 5 January 2012

Bulletin C 43

To authorities responsible
for the measurement and
distribution of time

UTC TIME STEP
on the 1st of July 2012

A positive leap second will be introduced at the end of June 2012.
The sequence of dates of the UTC second markers will be:

2012 June 30, 23h 59m 59s
2012 June 30, 23h 59m 60s
2012 July 1, 0h 0m 0s

The difference between UTC and the International Atomic Time TAI is:

from 2009 January 1, 0h UTC, to 2012 July 1 0h UTC : UTC-TAI = – 34s
from 2012 July 1, 0h UTC, until further notice : UTC-TAI = – 35s

Leap seconds can be introduced in UTC at the end of the months of December
or June, depending on the evolution of UT1-TAI. Bulletin C is mailed every
six months, either to announce a time step in UTC or to confirm that there
will be no time step at the next possible date.

Daniel GAMBIS
Head
Earth Orientation Center of IERS

 Observatoire de Paris, France

Any place with a neat name – “SERVICE INTERNATIONAL DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE ET DES SYSTEMES DE REFERENCE” – just has to be doing something cool!

As they describe:

Measuring the irregularities of the Earth’s rotation

The variability of the earth-rotation vector relative to the body of the planet or in inertial space is caused by the gravitational torque exerted by the Moon, Sun and planets, displacements of matter in different parts of the planet and other excitation mechanisms. The observed oscillations can be interpreted in terms of mantle elasticity, earth flattening, structure and properties of the core-mantle boundary, rheology of the core, underground water, oceanic variability, and atmospheric variability on time scales of weather or climate. The understanding of the coupling between the various layers of our planet is also a key aspect of this research.

The science surrounding their work must be interesting indeed! Space, Fluids, Gravity, Drag Aerodynamics, and more all rolled into one.

Their website is: http://www.iers.org/

For Amateur Radio about the only glitch may be a one time difficulty syncing JT65 (and similar time synced) protocols briefly. Would expect the rest of us won’t notice the difference.

Wonder how you log a 61 second long transmission in that one minute??!!

73

Steve
K9ZW

With Varying Frequency – past 1200 Posts!

I missed marking the occassion, as a few posts ago this blog passed 1200 entries.

Very much thanking all readers for hanging in with me.

I’m also looking for a volunteer(s) to “data mine” the entries for some sort of eBook to share.

Afraid we’re likely to have no fame or fortune for the effort, but I know we can help a lot of starting (and not so new) radio amateurs with a better format for the educational/sharing entries in some other format.

Please post a comment or email me (I’m good at QRZ) if you are interested in sharing the byline!

73
Steve

K9ZW