19. April 2010 by admin.

Good Monday Morning everyone…

Since this is a Marine Telecom Blog,  back to Marine and Maritime… The Titanic was built just Northeast of the two Ham Radio DX Contacts in Northeastern Ireland:

http://www.onlinetitanicmuseum.com/unsinkable1.html

by Harland and Wolff - Queens Island, Belfast in Northern Ireland, somewhere abouts:

 54°36′22.33″N by   5°54′15.29″W

which is around 20 miles northeast of my MI0SMK amateur radio contact, and 30 miles northeast of my MI0SAI amateur radio contact.

There - the Arrol Gantry was used to construct the Olympic-Class liners:

http://www.onlinetitanicmuseum.com/harlandcard2.html

* The Titanic sinking ushered in a lot of changes to Marine (Maritime) Communications and Safety Practices in the industry worldwide. From “CQ D” (CQ Distress) to the first use of the distress signal “S.O.S” in Morse Code … to the current day Satellite, Cellular, GPS, and WiFi used for communications and navigation.

So here we are -

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

along with this blog on: http://blog.marinetelecom.net

Email: communications (at) marinetelecom.net (change “(at)” to “@” and remove the spaces)

+1 954-683-3426

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19. April 2010 by admin.

http://www.qrz.com/db/mi0smk 

My 2nd Ireland contact occurred today. Actually I tried to work this one the other day when I worked the MI0SAI station but he was asking for West Coast US Stations only to call him. Today I found a spot, a time, when he just did a general “QRZ”. He remarked on good clear “DX Quality Audio” from my station (attributed to Heil Microphone HM-10 in “DX Dream Machine: Wide - mode.)

MI0SMK - Northern Ireland, Amateur Radio

Contact time 23:46 UTC - 14.256 Mhz. Some info from QRZ.Com:

Hi there, my name is Rich and I am 39 years young - thanks for looking me up and also for the QSO if we have worked recently.

Enjoying this great hobby immensely although family life and the “joys” of self-employment means play-time on the radio takes a poor 3rd place.

QTH is a small village approx 20 miles SW of Belfast - grid locator IO64UL. 

Working conditions are simple & straight forward (like the operator lol) -
FOR HF: Yaesu FT1000MP MkV using Heil Proset Plus Headset.
FOR 6m/VHF: ICOM IC-7400 with SM-20 Microphone.
FOR PORTABLE: Yaesu FT-857D

MI0SMK - His Antenna from QRZ.com page

MI0SMK His Radio Shack from QRZ.com

—

73 de KA4UDX,

Alan Spicer

http://www.marinetelecom.net

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

+1 954-683-3426

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19. April 2010 by admin.

* Lot’s of RF (Radio Frequency) energy in the air this weekend. Several contests going on, some ”QSO Party” contests and an ARRL Rookie Roundup which is for newly-licensed operators in North America: http://www.arrl.org/rookie-roundup. So maybe there’s  enough Ham Radio “Radio Energy” in the air to knock the Volcano Ash out and let the planes fly.  That’s right - Let The People Go! Let the planes Fly!!!!

On 20 meters, frequency 14.287 Mhz at 21:22 UTC time contact was made with EH1ARD

Google Earth plot of EH1ARD Location in Spain

* His QRZ.COM web page contains the following:

World Amateur Radio Day 2010

Each year on 18 April, radio amateurs celebrate World Amateur Radio Day. On that day in 1925 the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) was founded. In 2010, the theme of the event is “Amateur Radio: Combining communication experience with modern digital techniques.”

Amateur radio has truly entered the 21st Century. In less than 100 years amateur radio communications has evolved from crude spark-gap technology to digital signal processing and software-defined radios. The amateur’s HF choice between voice and CW has been expanded to a broad range of communication choices from television to spread spectrum.

Amateur digital communications has evolved. At the end of World War II until the early 1980’s, radioteletype, also known as RTTY, was the only HF digital mode available to amateurs. In the 1980’s, AMTOR made its debut along with the increased popularity and availability of personal computers. AMTOR was the first amateur digital communication mode to offer error-free text transmission.

From the early 1980’s, the rate of change increased dramatically. Packet Radio emerged and for a period of time was the most popular form of amateur digital communication. As microprocessor technology became more sophisticated, there was a rise in modes such as Clover, PACTOR, and G-TOR that were capable of error-free exchanges under marginal band conditions. In the late 1990’s, there was an invention that harnessed personal computer technology to create PSK31.

In the VHF-UHF frequency ranges, Packet Radio had less activity at the close of the century than it did in the 1980’s and 1990’s. However, Packet Radio was reborn as the popular Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) and traditional packet systems still exist to support public service activities with greatly enhanced functionality.

Thanks to individual amateurs, hams now enjoy digital meteor scatter contacts and even moonbounce on VHF and UHF frequencies with modest stations. An ordinary computer sound device and software that can be downloaded free from the internet is all that is needed.

The Japan Amateur Radio League developed the D-STAR digital voice and data standard and there has been significant amateur growth as amateurs establish D-STAR repeater networks on the VHF, UHF and microwave bands.

All of these development have inspired amateurs around the world to experiment in their own HF, VHF, UHF and microwave band digital communication.

Activities on the occasion of World Amateur Radio Day 2010 can be a great opportunity to spread the word about what the “hams” are doing in the 21st Century

DIA INTERNACIONAL DEL RADIOAFICIONADO 2010

El 18 de abril de cada año, los radioaficionados celebran el Día Mundial del Radioaficionado. Fue el día en que se fundó la International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) en el año 1925. En 2010, el lema del evento es: “Radioafición: combinando la experiencia de las comunicaciones con las técnicas digitales modernas”.

La radioafición ha entrado de verdad en el siglo XXI. En menos de 100 años las comunicaciones de radioaficionado han evolucionado desde la primitiva tecnología de chispas hasta el procesamiento digital de señal y las radios con software. La clásica elección entre fonía y telegrafía en HF se ha ampliado con más opciones.

Las comunicaciones digitales de aficionado han evolucionado. Desde finales de la Segunda Guerra Mundial hasta principios de los años 80, el radioteletipo, también llamado RTTY, fue el único modo digital de HF al alcance de los radioaficionados. En la década de los 80, el AMTOR hizo su debut, que incrementó su popularidad al extenderse el uso de ordenadores personales. El AMTOR fue el primer modo de comunicación digital de radioaficionados que ofrecía una transmisión de texto libre de errores.

Desde principios de los 80, el cambio se empezó a notar cada vez más. Surgió el radiopaquete y durante un tiempo fue el medio de comunicación digital más popular. A medida que la tecnología de los microprocesadores se hacía más sofisticada, surgían otros modos de comunicación como el Clover, PACTOR y G-TOR, capaces de transmitir sin errores bajo mínimas condiciones de banda. A finales de los 90, aprovechando la tecnología de los ordenadores personales, se inventó el PSK31.

En las bandas de VHF-UHF, al iniciarse el siglo XXI había menos actividad en radiopaquete que en las dos décadas precedentes (años 80 y 90), pero renació con el APRS y los sistemas tradicionales del radiopaquete aún existen como apoyo a actividades de servicio público con su funcionalidad mejorada.

Gracias al esfuerzo de algunos, los radioaficionados disfrutan ahora de contactos digitales en los modos de dispersión meteórica y rebote lunar en frecuencias de VHF y UHF con estaciones modestas.

La Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) desarrolló el sistema digital de voz y datos D-STAR, con un crecimiento significativo cuando los radioaficionados establecen redes de repetidores D-STAR en las bandas de VHF, UHF y microondas.

Todos estos desarrollos han inspirado a los radioaficionados de todo mundo a experimentar por sí mismos en las comunicaciones digitales en las bandas de HF, VHF, UHF y microondas.

Las actividades que se realicen con motivo del “Día Mundial del Radioaficionados” pueden ser una gran oportunidad para dar a conocer al mundo lo que están haciendo los radioaficionados en el siglo XXI.

P.S. See Also: http://www.iaru.org/cal189.html 

—

73 de KA4UDX,

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net

+1 954 683 3426

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