Ham Radio VE Exams in Liverpool NY - 10/18/14

note from the SYRACUSE VE EXAM TEAM

Ham Radio VE Exams will be held October 18, 2014  at the Liverpool Public Library, 310 Tulip
Street, Liverpool, with registration noon to 1p.m. in  the Sargent Room.
Open to all working for their new Ham ticket or a license upgrade.
Bring two forms of ID, one with your picture and $14 fee (cash or M.O.)
   
>  >  >  NEW from the FCC:
Hams  holding  a  license  in the past  which has expired,  can now  submit a copy of   your past license, take the current Technician Exam    -- upon passing,   the FCC will return you to your Amateur Radio License.

Questions? e-mail us at :VEexams@hotmail.com     / from the SYRACUSE VE EXAM TEAM

Echolink added to the WN8Z 149.39 repeater in Fulton

149.39 update from Pat; WN8Z:

I've installed Echolink on the WN8Z (147.39 pl 103.5) repeater located in Fulton, NY. This gives excellent handheld coverage especially to the cities of Oswego and Fulton and covers Oswego County. Node # 7390.

Also on 10/2 we got the signal back to its previous performance with a fix to a recent feed line problem with the top mounted 2M antenna. The next project before winter is to side mount a DB-224 antenna at the top - hopefully before the first snow flies...

A big thanks to Volney Multiplex, Inc. of Fulton, NY for the donated tower space and for providing emergency generator and internet service directly to the repeater shack. - Pat

Elmira Hamfest -next Saturday September 27th

Don't forget the 39th Annual Elmira Hamfest next Saturday September 27th ...............

This is one of my favorites. If you have never gone, give it a try. Always lots of flea marketers and usually two or three dealers set up inside. Its always a nice ride down to the southern tier with the fall colors beginning to appear. My wife even likes this one!

Get the details here: http://www.arast.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=6

This Sunday's Rochester Marathon needs Amateur Radio operators

WE NEED ADDITIONAL VOLUNTEERS FOR THIS SUNDAY'S ROCHESTER MARATHON!  Please consider signing up, first come first served (and include your t-shirt size) http://bit.ly/raramarathon2014

from:
Jim, W2COP
Rochester Amateur Radio Assn.
Public Service Coordinator

SPECIFICS:
Timeline:
7:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Plan:
A minimum of twenty (20) ham operators are needed for this full day event consisting of a half and full marathon run. This event starts and ends at Frontier Field in downtown Rochester. Radio operator volunteers will be stationed at water stops along the course.  Provide safety communications for participants by summoning EMT’s, as necessary, via Net Control.  Specific tasks include; safety communications on footpaths, staff communications, relay team safety, and transport communications.  Since some portions of the course are often below grade, an antenna with some gain is highly recommended.

Radios:
Portables on 2-meters using local repeater
Additional gain antenna for low elevation canal path
Talk-in:
146.61/ 444.45  PL 110.9
Secondary
145.29  PL 110.9

IF YOU CAN’T HELP THIS SUNDAY, PLEASE CONSIDER THESE UPCOMING EVENTS TO SHARPEN YOUR DISASTER RESPONSE SKILLS:

http://rochesterham.org/public_service.htm

ABC television series "Last Man Standing" - K6H Special Event

K6H Special Radio Event:

from John Amodeo on September 10, 2014

Hi Everyone,

The Southern California based PAPA Repeater System in association with BEARS (Broadcast Employees Amateur Radio Society) and DEARS (Disney Emergency Amateur Radio Service ), will be holding a special event radio station K6H "Hamnado" - Hollywood Celebrates Ham Radio. The operators will be hosted by the licensed amateur radio operators on the crew of the hit ABC television series "Last Man Standing".

K6H will take place on Sunday, September 28 from 7 AM to 3 PM Pacific time and will operate on 10, 20 & 40 Meters on HF and D-STAR on reflector 12A. The event will also use DARI (Disney Amateur Radio Interconnect) to link the WB6AJE repeater in Los Angeles to Disney/ABC sponsored repeaters in Manhattan - Bristol Connecticut, Washington DC and Orlando Florida. Various IRLP and ECHLOLINK nodes will be available. The event will be coming from the legendary Stage 9 (aka The Seinfeld Stage) on the CBS Studio Center lot in Studio City California. Contacts will receive the limited edition QSL card, attached.

Tom Medlin -W5KUB will be on Stage 9 to interview the participants and bring you the action live. http://w5kub.com/

The PAPA website will also stream video directly from the operating stations, so that you can see yourself contacting the K6H operators.
Check the WWW.PAPASYS.com website for updates.

On Last Man Standing, Tim Allen plays Mike Baxter, a licensed ham- KA0XTT. "Last Man Standing" is responsible for inspiring 26 of their crew members to get their licenses, which range from technician to extra class.
Season 4 of "Last Man Standing" premiers on Friday, October 3rd, 8 PM / 7 PM Central.

For mor information contact
Rob Antonacci - AA6RA - sideshowbob0374@yahoo.com

Solar Storm

A strong solar flare is making its way to Earth, but the worst of its power looks like it will barely skim above the planet. A "strong" solar flare that launched off the sun Wednesday afternoon could cause some fluctuations in Earth's power grid and slight disturbances in satellites and radio transmissions on Friday and Saturday.

Major disruptions are not expected, even though the flare was classified as an "X-class" flare, which is at the high end of the solar flare scale. Wednesday's flare followed a weaker flare late Monday.

It has been several years since Earth has had a solar storm of this size coming from sunspots smack in the middle of the sun, said Tom Berger, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. The flare on the sun barely hits the "extreme" on forecasters' scale, but with its worst effects missing Earth it is only looking "potentially strong" at most when it arrives at Earth as a solar storm, he said.

New calculations from satellite data show that the worst of the energetic particles streaming from the sun likely will go north or above Earth this time, Berger said late Wednesday.

So while the power grid may see fluctuations because the storm will cause changes in Earth's magnetic field, it won't knock power systems off line, Berger said. It may cause slight disturbances in satellites and radio transmissions but nothing major.

more details at SolarHam.com
:
Updated 09/11/2014 @ 11:50 UTC
Solar Update


Info from ABC, USA Today, SolarHam.com

High altitude balloon launch Friday Sept. 5th

The balloon launched on Friday night around 8pm.

9/7/14 UPDATE from N2NXZ:

Tony,

You probably see the last position on the map.

Bill,VA3XCD came home just in time to grab the signal and gatherthe GPS positions before signal was lost.

The tracker was set to sleep after the first 7 hours,it will resume @ 7:00 pm this evening (9/7) and run another 15-20 hours straight.

Where it ended up is anyone's guess. I think due to the low altitudes,it may have survived the first evening. Should this have occurred, it would have soared double or more of that altitude at sunrise and throughout the following day. So that would mean it very well could be well over the Atlantic ocean and still flying.

The launch went exactly as planned except for the tree incicdents and the GPS glitches.

The 10.135 mhz RTTY beacon should still operate for many more hours,every hour on the hour for 15 minutes. I have been listening every chance possible,nothing heard yet.

Here is the only info left using prediction charts. This will have a Hysplit option where you can see projected flight path.

I would not give up on it yet and still need to notify other operators in the Azores and Europe this morning.

http://spacenear.us/tracker/hysplit_cache/140906-02_184415_N2NXZ7.gif

Feel free to share this information Tony and thanks for the email.

Jim,N2NXZ

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

(message from N2NXZ)   - NOTE - MOVED TO 8pm Tonight 9/5/14

Hello,

My name is Jim, N2NXZ - located in grid fn13ch / Hilton, N.Y. This is a request to assist for tracking a high altitude balloon scheduled to launch on September 5,2014 @ 5:00pm EST / 21:00 UTC.(May change due to weather or equipment issues) Payload will consist of (2) two separate transmitters in the bands of 70cm and 30m.

The main GPS tracking will be on the frequency of 434.651 mhz (70cm) USB using RTTY 50. Decoding software (below) will automatically select this mode once configured. This data when received will place the balloon`s location on the map specifically for the callsign N2NXZ-7 indicating your callsign as the RX station. http://spacenear.us/tracker/

Decoding software is also specific for tracking and can be found here.

http://ukhas.org.uk/projects:dl-fldigi

This balloon will be designed to "float" and the goal is to cover many miles if everything goes as planned. But this is never guaranteed and the need for ground tracking stations is important. Your help would be greatly appreciated especially in the flight projection between my location,Hilton,NY to the East (downwind). The tracking transmitter will be timed to operate for 7 hours from launch to conserve battery power should it stay aloft in this period. A second transmitter on the frequency of 10.135 mhz (30m) will be used for RTTY beaconing. It will operate once every 15 minutes every hour. Timing could change as it will begin at any given time. We are going to try starting on the hour at launch.

The HF beacon will aid only in locations that tracking may not be available and is of course propagation dependant for certain locations. Due to temperature changes at altitude,frequencies listed can drift dramatically +/-.

My contact information - email: n2nxz@cmsdigital.net.

Tracking software questions or assistance can be found here by simply logging in. No registration required,only the anti spam code and nickname (your callsign is best).

http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=highaltitude

Progress or discussions related to current balloon activity will be here also. This is much easier for participants to communicate other than individual emails. Some of you are already familiar with this process and this message is general to some who are new to tracking.

Again, your assistance is very much needed and appreciated. Please feel free to pass this information to others that could help.Looking forward to seeing you on the map!

Jim, N2NXZ

Repeater updates (to the updates)

Folks a couple of new or back on the air repeaters that you
 may want to try out:

145.150 -  Pl 123.0, Lafayette, KD2SL
  (note the PL was changed to 123.0 on 8/23/14)
146.640 -  Pl 131.8, Clay, Bear Bait Radio Club, KD2CDY
444.250+  Pl 131.8, Clay, Bear Bait Radio Club, WA2DAD

If we get any more details on their equipment or future plans, we will post them here. (The original post was on 7/2/14)

Bear Bait Radio Club - Tailgate fest on 9/27

Bear Bait Radio Club is having a tailgate fest Saturday September 27th from 7am-1pm at the Town of Clay Welcome Center on Route 31.

Full details are on the club web site at: http://www.bearbaitradioclub.com/index.html

Also: Adirondack Hams - General Exam Class in Long Lake N.Y.
October 17, 18, & 19, 2014

Prerequisite: Tech Class Amateur Radio license
Course fee: FREE
Exam Fee: $14
Learn more at the Bear Bait Club web-site: http://www.bearbaitradioclub.com/index.html
or contact Scott WA2DTN at: kb2bdb@twcny.rr.com

Info from Nick - KD2ETO

New DX cluster and propagation tool - DXHeat.com

A friend asked me the other day if I had tried using the new DX reporting web site DXHeat.com. I told him I had not heard of it but that I would give it a try.

I am not a huge DX guy, but I occasionally like to quick check conditions and see if I can make some DX contacts. Well, I have tried it now and its pretty cool. Very nice user interface and it automatically updates with the latest beacons (no refresh needed). They also have several mobile versions for smart phones and tablets.

Give it a try: https://dxheat.com/dxc/

Balloon chase today!

Be listening this morning for the Cornell Amateur radio club out on another balloon chase. Launching from Cato NY around 10am today. You can listen to the chasers on the 147.000 linked system here in CNY or watch the APRS tracking at Aprs.fi. There is also a beacon radio you can listen for on 144.310 mhz.

Learn more about their balloon projects.
http://w2cxm.org/projects/balloon/balloonmark6

Predicted path:

International Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend

Amateur Radio Activation for International Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend - August 16-17

Update 8/13/14 From Fred, W2LGA:
After digging through a HUGE pile of politics, with the help of senator Griffo of Oneida, it appears the permit for me to set up a “special event” station, W2LGA, at the Verona Beach lighthouse is finally a reality. The Verona Beach Lighthouse Association has been a tremendous supporter of this endeavor and they are really looking forward to the event. I will be operating on August 16th by 10 am and continue through August 17th until 4pm. I will try to be on as many HF bands as propagation will allow. My set up will only consist of a 10 x 10 screen tent, 746pro, Spiro D-52 dipole, logging software, ..etc. I have made up a special event QSL certificate that can be obtained by making a contact and emailing W2LGA@arrl.net. I will have giveaway ICOM band plans and Gridmaps if anyone is out and about those days also. If anyone wants to join the festivities and “work the rig” … feel free to stop by and give me a break. Please let me know if you plan on working the rig so I can be sure no 2 hams are there at the same time to work it.

Looking forward to contacting all of you as well as the other 450+ ILLW lighthouses and lightships that are registered to participate ….More information can be obtained from W2LGA -Fred Legawiec at flegawiec1@twcny.rr.com. Operators for this event are needed and welcomed.

Background on the International Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend:

Each year, amateur radio organizations across the nation sponsor several activities to increase awareness of our lighthouse heritage. One of these events includes International Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend, which will be observed in 2014 from August 16 & 17. To celebrate this international heritage event, many clubs will activate temporary radio stations at many Lighthouse’s around the world. The main reason this event has become so popular is because it is NOT a contest. Its purpose is to promote public awareness of lighthouses and their need for preservation and restoration and to promote amateur radio as well. Lighthouses are becoming an endangered species with the advent of Global Positing Systems and automation. Hopefully this event will highlight this situation and help prevent further decay of the worldwide lighthouse system. The basic idea is to set up an Amateur station in or adjacent to a lighthouse. In this way, the station makes a visible presence to the passing public who may be visiting the lighthouse.  So if you have some time, tune in that weekend and see if you can make a contact.

ROC City Net picnic

The 1st annual ROC City Net Picnic will be September 20th at Mendon Ponds Park, south of Rochester, N.Y. Mendon Ponds is a beautiful Monroe County Park located just west of Victor. 

(Update on 8/12/14) Joe, K2QZR reports that they have rented the west lodge at Mendon Ponds Park. "We will be there all day. I am going to have burgers Italian sausage with peppers and onions and salads etc.We also will furnish beverages. (Please bring your own adult beverages.) I won't be having a specific time to eat we will be serving food mostly all day long. Also, we will have a hf  setup as well as a 2m setup with 145.110 as the talk in freq".

"There is no charge to attend or eat. We do ask however for early sign up for food.We are doing this to make sure there is enough for all who sign up. Even if you don't sign up you can still stop bye and enjoy the social activity and get on the air. We can't guarantee there will be food available if you don't get on the list.So far we have 20 sign ups and hope to get at least 40".

 Sign-up or questions - please contact Joe K2QZR, by e-mail at K2QZRatAOL.com 


.......and if you haven't stopped by yet, try the NET on either Sunday or Wednesday!

ROC City 2M net on the 145.110 repeater in Rochester - Sunday at 7:30pm - same great group!

ROC City HF net on 3.826 Mhz - Wednesday at 8pm - great group and interesting topics!


73 - Tony

RARA "Thrill before the Chill"

(from the July 2014 RARA Rag newsletter)

The Rochester Amateur Radio Association (RARA) has once again joined with the Damascus Shriners to produce their fourth annual Fall Fest and Tailgate Party. The Shriners will provide a first class location with ample parking, indoor bathroom facilities, a separate area for larger vehicles and RVs, a large covered picnic area to eat in, and a large deck to rest after all that shopping.

This event will be on Saturday, September 13, 2014 and will open at 7 AM for vendors and 8 AM for all others. It will go to around Noon. It is conveniently located off Rt.104 at 979 Bay Rd., Webster, N.Y. 14580.

Upon entering, the staff will ask for a $5 donation that will all go to help fund the Shriners Hospital for Children. Please spread the word and don‘t miss your last local flea market for buying and selling ham radio supplies in 2014.

Come have fun and Help the Kids!!!

Hope to see you all there! 73.

Monitoring Aircraft frequencies

Monitoring air traffic can be pretty interesting. The Air bands are available on many radios today. You will find its not just scanners but many Amateur radio transceivers have these bands available as well. You can monitor commercial airliners, private aircraft, as well as military aircraft. The closer you are to major commercial airport, the better your chances are. You can also listen to private aircraft around CNY on their UNICOM frequency of 122.800 MHz (AM). You can also see live aircraft tracking info on-line at http://flightaware.com/live/airport/KSYR . It is pretty cool to listen and watch the movements from on-line radar tracking.

Some basic guidance for Aircraft Monitoring

One-Sided Conversations:  Because aircraft fly high above the ground, their transmissions have much more range than the ground stations with whom they're talking. This means that only the airborne side of most conversations will be heard. Is this a problem? You miss very little in these conversations because pilots are required to repeat back to controllers any instructions or frequencies that they are given. In fact, hearing only the aircraft has tremendous advantages. It helps the listener to avoid mix ups among simulcast ground stations, and is a terrific help in isolating military aircraft from other traffic.

Frequency Bands Used:  Although the air band is 108-137 MHz, almost all civilian voice communications are above 118 MHz. In addition, the military has 138-150 MHz and 225-400 MHz. (remember AM)

Sources of Information:  The best place for you to get information is the same place where the pilots go. Web sites like fltpln.com, airnav.com and OurAirports.com give you frequencies and all kinds of other airport information.Other resources that will get you up to speed quickly:

Link to FlightPlan.com - Syracuse Hancock listing:  http://www.fltplan.com/airportinformation/SYR.htm

Link to a great overview of Air Traffic frequencies on Radio Reference.com: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Finding_Air_Traffic_Frequencies

Link to Military Communications web page: http://www.milaircomms.com/

…and if you don’t have a radio that is capable of receiving these frequencies there is always the Internet! 

….…start here: http://www.liveatc.net/

Syracuse Airport frequencies (from flightPlan.com):

ATIS Frequencies (repeating weather and airport notices):

124.225

Tower Frequencies:  

120.3

239.0

Ground Operations Frequencies:

121.7

348.6

Clearance Delivery Frequencies:

125.05

257.775

Emergency Frequencies:

121.5

SYRACUSE Primary Approach Frequencies:  

126.125

Thanks to the following sources of reference information: N4JRI's Scanner Pages, Radio Reference.com, and the various flight planning web sites.