p u l a u s a t a n g b e s a r 2 0 0 4
Send your DX info, expedition news, software/equip reviews to
iz1crr(at)tin(dot)it
venerdì, febbraio 29, 2008
Would you like to visit Ducie island, the site of the famous VP6DX expedition ? And also tour Pitcairn and Henderson island. All for $4,400. Well reserve your ticket for the 2009 Ducie expedition (10th-31st March) at Pacific Expeditions Ltd but it will be hard to mount a DX station to run the pileup as the boat stops for few hours/days. Anyway it's a great opportunity to visit other islands such as Baker & Howland, Swains and Tuvalu, Tokelau, Cook, Suwarrow and Palmerston. No time for a DXpedition ? Take a vacation in the remotest uninhabited islands in the Central Pacific.
Photo: Sunrise over Palmerston Lagoon
giovedì, febbraio 28, 2008
Thanko's USB AM/FM Radio can receive and record AM and FM radio ! Simply connect USB AM/FM Radio to USB port, and your computer turns into AM and FM radio ! Radio programs can be recorded to your hard disk of your computer while you listen, or you can setup time recording for later programs. Radio channels can be scanned automatically. You can preset radio channels and kept with short keys up to 100 channels. All these controls can be done in your computer simply and easily! More here.
"This is the story of six years which I spent alone, in two spells on an uninhabited coral atoll (Suwarrow OC-080) half a mile long and three hundred yards wide in the South Pacific. It was two hundred miles from the nearest inhabited island, and I first arrived there on October 7, 1952 and remained alone (with only two yachts calling) until June 24, 1954, when I was taken off ill after a dramatic rescue. I was unable to return to the atoll until April 23, 1960 and this time I remained alone until December 27, 1963..." (Tom Neale)
A number of years ago Robert Dean Frisbie (1895-1948) set up a trading station on Danger Island (aka Pukapuka OC-062), a lonely paradise four hundred miles northeast of Samoa. This autobiographical story relates how the author fell in love with a charming Polynesian girl, how he became part of the life of the island, how he eventually survived a man-sized South Sea hurricane.
"Chapter I : In a past inconceivably remote it must have been the peak of a volcano, jutting from the midst of a sea whose solitude was broken only by flocks of migrating birds, a pod of sperm whales lumbering down from the Austral ice fields, or the intangible things of the mythic world; the spirits of Storm, Fair Weather, Night, Day, and Dawn. Coral polyps attached themselves to the steep walls of the volcano to build their submarine gardens a mile or more to sea, surrounding the island with a reef and shallow lagoon; then erosion, the battering of the Pacific combers, and subsidence, until finally the volcano had disappeared, leaving a blue lagoon shimmering in the sunlight, a barrier reef threaded with islets and
sand cays; Danger Island, or Puka-Puka--Land of Little Hills...."
Photo: Pukapuka from the air (http://www.cookislands.org.uk)
mercoledì, febbraio 27, 2008
The Adventures of Zack and Max
Volume 5 of The Adventures of Zack and Max, Max in Space,explores new radio technologies, both digital and satellite. The writers are again the students from the Lake Washington Ham Club (KC7OIO) at Ben Franklin Elementary School in Kirkland, Washington. Under the leadership of Mr. Dave Condon (KI7YP), the students set out to learn about amateur radio in space, specifically digital radio, satellites, and satellite orbits. A local aerospace facility, Aerojet, invited the writers of our comic book to take a field trip and see first hand everything from propulsion systems for satellites to how radios are used in space to help position equipment.
martedì, febbraio 26, 2008
venerdì, febbraio 22, 2008
The DXCC List
The ARRLs DXCC list is not static. There is a long list of rules that apply to define a "country". A quick coup d' etat or minor revolution does not a country make to the ARRL. A government must have some means to issue a radio license in accordance with the International Telecommunications Union for a country to be recognized. That means the United Nations must recognize its existence, which makes things difficult for hams contacting Taiwan.
As countries fracture or are conquered, the list must change to reflect this. For instance, Czechoslovakia had been a single DXCC entity before its dissolution to the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. People who had Czechoslovakia as one of their confirmed contacts suddenly found themselves with an invalid country in their QSL deck. Now they had to go contact two countries to make up for the hole in their honor roll list caused by the fall of the communist empire. This caused some people to fall off the honor roll. Falling off the honor roll is cause for several suicide attempts per year.
E nemmeno a farlo apposta ecco uno spezzone dal paragrafo DXpeditions:
The world's most famous DXpeditioner must be the Finn, Martti Laine, whose call sign OH2BH is virtually a prayer to DXers. Martti activated some of the most difficult and dangerous ARRL countries in the 1980's and '90s. His work with Nokia as a sales rep brought him to many exotic locales, and he never traveled without a radio.
But in his spare time, Martti activated such terrible places as the South Sandwich Islands, Bouvet Island, Albania before the Yugoslavian split, and actually operated radio out of a hotel in North Korea for a few days before his equipment was confiscated by the military. Accomplishing some of these feats required cold-weather mountaineering skills, chartering ice breakers and helicopters, riding out hurricanes in Scott Tents pitched on solid rock, and negotiating for his life with paranoidal dictators.
His exploits are detailed in his self-published book, "Where Will You Go Next?"
Seguono altri paragrafi quali The equipment, The Mania and Death of DXing, The Radio Dream and DX Clubs. "iceowl" è anche autore di due articoli su QST. Ripeto il link dove leggere l'articolo.
Source
giovedì, febbraio 21, 2008
mercoledì, febbraio 20, 2008
martedì, febbraio 19, 2008
the fastest way to search 
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with just one click ? Give it a try:
free on your Explorer or Firefox browser.
lunedì, febbraio 18, 2008
cocoaModem 2.0 currently supports the following modulation modes and interfaces
basic RTTY interface
narrowband two-receiver RTTY interface
wideband two-receiver RTTY interface
BPSK31
QPSK31
BPSK63
QPSK63
MFSK16
Feld Hell
FM Hell 105
FM Hell 245
wideband two-receiver CW interface
There is also a basic contest interface in cocoaModem for the RTTY and PSK modes. The contest interface is not meant for serious contesting; it provides a simple interface for casual exchanges in a contest and provides Cabrillo export for a few digital mode contests.
The cocoaModem application is free and can be downloaded here.
Source here.
Disappoitment with the 9X0 operation
Team members of the multinational dxpedition to Rwanda, 9X0R, express their disagreement and disappointment to the three German operators who are operating from Rwanda now, because the only important thing for those three hams, it seems, is to be the first regardless of anything else.
As everyone knows, it was almost impossible to get a license in Rwanda. After 6 months of hard work, I reached an in-person interview with the Head of RURA, the department of Rwanda’s Government that deals with affairs of radio, and, risking my previous work and the full cost of this trip, I went to talk to the head of the RURA .
Before my trip to Kigali everything related with amateur radio (licensing included) was frozen . RURA Officials were fearful of amateur radio activities and they had not much interest in this matter. They didn’t know how to make a license, or conditions or standards to apply or protocols to follow, problems which were solved thanks to the work done by Peter Stabusch and myself in those frenetic days of the beginning of this year. So they start to establish the Rules to follow for obtaining the amateur license and at the same time they prepared my 9X0R license.
I am a member of the German DX Foundation and since my appointment with the head of RURA was confirmed past December, I sent an email to GDXF Secretary informing him about my plans and told him that I would like to have another GDXF member in my team. I was communicating this way to my friends in the GDXF, including its President,DJ9ZB, telling them about my plans without hiding anything because I was thinking that all GDXF members we are gentlemen.
Today, thanks to the work others have done, DJ6SI, DK2WV and DJ9ZB have been able to get their 9X0 licenses so quickly, at the same time counting us for nothing, although simple domestic education means, at least, informing us about their intentions… I suppose that their only aim was to go there and get on the air before us regardless of anything else.
This is something I would never have done because of my moral principles, my ethical principles and my education.
9X0R members want to express our revulsion towards this kind of practice. We will continue with our plans of doing the Dxpedition as it was planned and helping to establish amateur radio in Rwanda as well as Rwanda Amateur Radio Union in the Republic of Rwanda and donating materials for the future Kigali's radio club station so that young people of Rwanda could get acquainted with the world of Amateur Radio and would be able to learn about international friendship through our hobby.
Therefore, I ask everyone of you that, if you spend your time on calling 9X0X-DJ6SI, 9X0W-DK2WV or 9X0Z-DJ9ZB pile-ups , just think and remember which kind of hams you are trying to contact. We, 9X0R members, still believe in the gentlemen hams and we are against those who believe that anything is valid looking to be first.
The 9X0R will return to the German DX Foundation the funds donated by it because we believe that the actions of its President, DJ9ZB, are not the proper ones to promote amateur radio, DX and dxpeditions.
Antonio Gonzalez EA5RM - 9X0R
domenica, febbraio 17, 2008
Technorati Tags: kosovo
venerdì, febbraio 15, 2008
Aether logging software for Mac
Abkhazia and South Ossetia after Kosovo ?
Ed a proposito del Kosovo la dichiarazione di indipendenza da parte del premier Hashim Thaci è slittata a domenica (avrebbe dovuto proclamarla oggi). Chi non immagina già i "soliti noti" OH2AM e OH2BH sui blocchi di partenza ? Vista la recente attività da FJ io già me liimmagino in qualche albergo di Pristina con verticali e rtx a scaldare tasti, microfoni e lineari. Ma presumo che altri OM locali siano altrettanto pronti ad infiammare le frequenze con questa nuova entità DXCC, la numero 339. E vai con i green stamps !!!
YL operation in Falkland Islands
I have joined up on this board (LadiesOnTheAir)to let you all know about a YL only operation we are organising from the Falkland Islands in Jan 2009. There are still a couple of places left if anyone would like to join in. We are set up on Echolink under my husband's call VP8LP (it comes under the UK section) or you will probably find him spotted lots on the DX cluster if you want to catch up on HF. Thanks to Victoria SV2KBS for her enthusiasm on this expedition. Hope to hear from a few of you soon.
Janet, VP8AIB
giovedì, febbraio 14, 2008
VP6DX logs: la solita competizione
Così come per 3B7C dove ci fu la corsa a collegare la stazione in ogni banda e modo, anche per VP6DX vedremo la stessa competizione. Attualmente i 100 "leaders" di questa classifica sono tutti extraeuropei ma c'è ancora tempo per risalire la china. La bella grafica dei logs online è proposta da una bella utility di 5B4WN che come detto la scrisse per 3B7C ed è la stessa che verrà usata anche da Clipperton con TX5C. Rispetto ai vecchi logs online questo è sicuramente accattivante ma prevede comunque che la DX station invii il log tramite collegamento satellitare, lento e mai stabile. Ed anche costoso. Che "sbaddu" ! La pagina di 5B4WN è anche arricchita da Live DXspots che graficamente visualizza gli ultimi 25 spots presi dal DXlite di G7VJR. Non ultima la possibilità di ottenere una QSL online se avete collegato 5B4WN homecall o in una delle sue attività. Un modo veloce per avere la conferma risparmiando carta e bureau.
AS-New activations: who's interested?
At least 1 (probably 2) groups could get activated on same trip.
Some mental "flexibility" would be needed due to typical late final confirmation (license/call/permit) there - this isn`t a country where one can plan "western style".
Decision to participate unfortunately needs to be made on the spot - paperwork must start immediately.
Who would be interested to join? 73 Frank, DL4KQ
What is Energy Saving Day
Energy Saving Day is an annual Italian communication campaign dedicated to saving energy that was launched on February 16 th , 2005. Energy Saving Day is sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment, Protection of Land and Sea, and the Ministry of Agricultural since its third edition on February 16 th , 2007.
Why on February 16 th ?
On the 16 th of February, 2005 the Kyoto Protocol, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from developed nations, came into force.
Who started the Energy Saving Day?
The initiative was first launched by Caterpillar, a popular and successful live radio program which reaches more than a million listeners per day. Caterpillar is broadcast by Radio2, the entertaining channel of RAI, the Italian Public Service Broadcaster. The program debuted on January 17 th , 1997. The program airs from 6pm to 7:30pm, Monday to Friday. Caterpillar deals with major issues and themes in the world in an informal and ironic way which aims at underlining contradictions and paradoxes in our society .
What is Energy Saving Day about?
Energy Saving Day
The day's philosophy is to convince as many people as possible to be dedicated to saving energy. It is asked that everybody reduce to the minimum of their own private energy use during the show's airtime from 6:00-7:30pm. By doing this the maximum visibility in the media and the largest participation by common people are concentrated on Energy Saving Day.
The most visible effect is created by the “energy silence” which consists in the symbolic turning-off of most important monuments and the main Italian city squares.
Institutions, general public, companies, shop-owners, schools, restaurants, gyms and any other kind of association will be participating in their own peculiar way: i.e. turning off shop window sign, computers or electronic equipment in laboratories, organizing candlelight dinners and so on.
Note: Being that February 16 th , 2008 is a Saturday the fourth Energy Saving Day will be held on Friday February 15 th , 2008. The main institutional sponsor will be the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea. In 2008 Energy Saving Day aims to be an international experience.
The education campaign
A month before the event will take place, during Caterpillar radio programme it will be explained what we can do to contribute to the initiative and moreover, how by changing our routine energy habits we may effectively reduce waste. Good practices, suggestions, hints and initiatives to emulate are described on Caterpillar by scientists and by common people. Hints explained by experts and “grandma's remedies” involve the audience in a thrilling, ethical and environmental competition of good practices.
The aim
Contrast the changing global climate.
Reach the less educated citizens on environmental issues.
Talk about energy saving through media with spectacular turn-outs.
Stimulate people to participate in order to feel important that they have also given their own personal contribution to change their energy use.
How to participate
Switching off lights and all of the non-vital electrical devices on the Energy Saving Day from 6pm to 7:30pm.
Sharing, during the show's program, one's personal contribution to improve the use of energy and resources such as electricity, heating, fuel and water.
Listening to private or administration experiences that have saved on their own budget therefore reducing wastes.
Inserting and writing on the show's website your own way to participate.
Downloading and spreading available on-line material of the program site (advertisements, posters and dialogues on saving).
Participating examples
The President of the Italian Republic, the Presidents of the Senate of Italy and the President of the Chamber of Deputies have turned off the lights of their sites in Quirinale, Palazzo Madama and Montecitorio.
These are the town administrations of the most important Italian cities joined the campaign: Rome has turned off The Colosseum, Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain; in Milan, the Cathedral, Palazzo Marino and Piazza della Scala; in Turin, the Mole (remarkable the switch-off during the Torino 2006 Olympics Games in 2006) and the Superga Basilica; in Verona, the Arena; in Florence, Palazzo Vecchio; in Bologna, Piazza Maggiore; in Venice, Piazza San Marco; in Naples, the Maschio Angioino; in Siena, Piazza del Campo; in Catania, Piazza Duomo; in Palermo, Piazza Pretoria; in Agrigento, Valle dei Templi.
The British Embassy, in Rome, joined the campaign re-enforcing their “Think Green” initiative which has looked at every aspect of the Embassy's activities to improve its environmental performance.
Thousands of restaurant owners have organized candle-light dinners and have offered menus prepared using low energy consumption, this, in 2007, was encouraged by a specific statement by the Ministry of Agriculture.City Hall meetings, association meetings, and sport team's trainings have been held in the dark.
In schools, students have been appointed in charge of energy saving. Evaluations of the use of energy by the school buildings have been made. Education meetings and lectures on energy savings have been held, according to the classes' level.
In stores and shopping centers - the reduction of shop window's illumination and the distribution of free kits on saving water and electricity.
Initiative success
The participation and the media impact of the initiative has been growing on a yearly basis.
Real savings of the day (as measured by the National Electricity Network) in 2006 was reduced by the equivalent of the daily consumption of a city the size of Turin. In 2007, it was as if 5 million lamps had been turned-off!
Strong visibility reached through the media (national and local press, news and radio news) for the message of the urgent need to change our energy policies.
Prizes and awards in environment communication have been obtained by the radio program's staff for this initiative.
martedì, febbraio 12, 2008
lunedì, febbraio 11, 2008
Questo
sito web (che da indiscrezioni pare essere costato una paccata di
soldi) è la voce telematica da/per i soci e sarebbe opportuno leggere
qualcosa di ufficiale sulla attuale tempesta in ARI, quanto meno per
conoscere la realtà dei fatti senza doverla leggere su blogs e forum
(che potrebbero essere di parte o fuorviare la realtà). Quando avremo
la possibilità di leggere qui qualcosa di concreto da parte di chi ha
preso il timone della barca piena di falle ? Mi sembrerebbe una giusta
mossa di trasparenza nei confronti di chi sostiene da anni
l'Associazione ancora illudendosi che sia un ente morale non a scopo di
lucro.
International Vintage Contest HF 2008
DATE and TIME CONTEST: Sunday 13 April 2008
Time: From 08.00 UTC to 12.00 UTC and from 17.00 UTC to 21.00 UTC
BANDS: 14 Mhz and 7 Mhz.
CALL-CONTEST: CQ VINTAGE.
ENTRY CATEGORIES:
A- Multi-operators (All bands or single band)
B- Single Operator All bands
C- Single Operator SSB
D- Single Operator CW
E- Single Operator AM
F- SWL - Single Operator – Mixed
SETUP INFO:
(check the setup info (A1-B1-C1-D1) on the software section “Info – Setup” on Menù UTILITY”)
A1- RTX Year of manufacturing from 1950 to 1959
B1- RTX Year of manufacturing from 1960 to 1969
C1- RTX Year of manufacturing from 1970 to 1980
D1- RTX Home Made
MODE : SSB-CW-AM
POWER and RESTRICTIONS:
As authorized by your license.
Packet Cluster not admitted.
PC on CW not admitted.
CONTEST EXCHANGE:
Reports RST + Complete WWLocator ( exaples: 5/9 JN64GB)
SCORING and FINAL SCORE:
1 POINT /QSO for every band and mode
MULTIPLIER is calculated by QRB between the two stations with a corrective per band:
On 20mtr.1 point multiplier every 500 Km or fraction of 500 Km
On 40mtr. 1 point multiplier every 300 Km or fraction of 300 Km
EXAMPLE.: QRB 678 Km = 2 points on 20mtr / 3 points on 40mtr
QRB: 351 Km = 1 point on 20mtr / 2 points on 40mtr
Final Score = The sum of QSO-points from all bands times the sum of multipliers from all bands.
LOG SUBMISSION ADDRESSES and TERMS: via email to iv3ehh@iv3ehh.it
before may 30th 2008. You have to use the contest vintage software and you must send in cabrillo format.
INFO: ik4gni@aririmini.it – iv3ehh@tin.it
DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE (by IV3EHH official programmer and manager vintage contest)
You can get the rules and program free on web site : http://www.iv3ehh.it/vintage.htm
CALLSIGN : Only normal callsign or club station no special callsign .
PENALTY AND DISQUALIFICATION:
The decision of Contest Committee it will be definitive and unquestionable.
AWARDS:
1-FIRST for every category –PLATE + radio accessory
2-SECOND and THIRD for every category.
The awarding will develop him to Pordenone on the occasion of the fair of November 2008.
Website: http://www.beepworld/members/contestvintage
mercoledì, febbraio 06, 2008
martedì, febbraio 05, 2008
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