Re: [HCDX] Dxers Unlimited's mid week edition for 31 July 1 August script

["Prof.Arnaldo Coro Antich" <coro@xxxxxxx>]

Radio Havana Cuba

Dxers Unlimited  radio hobby program

Dxers Unlimited's weekend edition for 31 July 1 August 2007

By Arnie Coro

Radio amateur CO2KK

 

Hi amigos radioaficionados, it's certainly nice to share with you a 
little more than a quarter of an our devoted to our wonderful hobby, 
yours and mine... RADIO... I am Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK and here 
is item one of today's show... solar activity has gone down dramatically 
during the past few days, with many days of zero sunspots count, giving 
scientists a nice opportunity of increasing their knowledge about 
complex process that take place 93 million miles away from Earth and 
that have such a dramatic influence in the way radio signals propagate 
via the ionosphere.

 

Item two: News from Norway, about the new 60 meters or 5 megaHertz 
amateur band... for those who thought this was going to be a ham band 
that will only be of interest in Tropical regions, here is a news item 
that will certainly change that perspective:

Norwegian radio clubs are now experimenting on 60 meters, during the 
long summer days way up North.
Registered  Norwegian radio club stations there have enjoyed special 
permission to test on 5 MHz .
Almost all of these club stations have  one-letter call sign
suffixes and, in some situations, they may use the LE prefix instead of 
the more common LA prefix typically used by Norwegian amateurs.

The special 60 meters authorization is restricted for use in emergency 
communication or training, and Norwegian stations may not work stations 
outside of Norway on 5 MHz.

Norway's elongated shape makes it impossible to communicate from one end 
of the country to the other on 80 meters, and 40 meters "have its 
shortcomings" during hours of darkness. "We are only allowed to use the 
two frequencies 5.410 and  5.420 MHz, all modes, 100 W," a Norwegian 
amateur league official said and he added that 60 meters can only be 
used for communication
between Norwegian club stations engaged in emergency communication or 
training for such communication, so this does not include any station  
outside of Norway."  Well, amigos, in my opinion, this is a step in the 
right direction that will eventually lead to the telecommunications 
authorities around the world realizing the importance of granting radio 
amateurs more privileges to operate on the 60 meters band, a segment of 
the radio spectrum that is particularly effective to assist during 
emergencies...because of the excellent propagation conditions that are 
possible for short range communications via sky wave on that frequency 
range.

And more news, here at Dxers Unlimited's midweek edition, this one has 
to do with  the continuing positive impact of the decision about 
removing article S25 from the International Telecommunications 
Convention..S25 was the article of the Rules and Regulations e that made 
mandatory that radio amateurs had to take a Morse Code Test if they were 
to be allowed to operate on the HF bands.

News come from Papua New Guinea where theP29Z-prefix hams, that had VHF 
only permits were granted HF access
Rick Warnett, P29KFS, reports that the principal legal officer for
PANGTEL, the telecommunications regulatory agency in Papua New 
Guinea-has already authorized HF operation by those holding a Limited 
Amateur Operator's Certificate of Proficiency (P29Z-prefix call signs). 
So from now on, don't be surprised if you copy P29Z prefix call signs on 
the HF amateur bands... More radio hobby related news and technical 
information coming up in a few seconds, after a brief musical interval...

This is Dxers Unlimited's midweek edition coming to you from Havana, I 
am Arnie Coro......

..........

Si amigos, this is Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show is Dxers 
Unlimited, and YES, SURE... we do QSL one hundred percent here, send 
your signal reports and comments about our programs via e-mail directly 
to me ... send mail to arnie@xxxxxx <mailto:arnie@xxxxxx>, again, 
arnie@xxxxxx <mailto:arnie@xxxxxx>, or VIA AIR MAIL to Arnie Coro, Radio 
Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba... Now Dxers Unlimited continues with more 
radio hobby related information: Cell phones and amateur radio!!!

Everybody knows that whenever there is a massive emergency, cell phones 
simply stop working, or in the best possible scenario, it is very 
difficult to communicate using them. BUT, simple , relatively low cost 
amateur radio two meters and seventy centimeter band equipment, that is 
not dependent on super sophisticated computerized technologies like the 
cell phone systems, continue to work nicely ,providing reliable 
communications links that are not dependent of the number of users of 
the system, the main limitation of cellular communications . That's why 
amateur radio two meters band and 70 centimeter band repeaters continue 
to be regarded as a most reliable way of communicating during 
emergencies, something that here in Cuba we have confirmed here many times!

By the way, a low cost handheld FM two meter band transceiver and a very 
simple antenna system is all you will need to stay in touch via a 
repeater, even under the worst weather conditions.

Don't forget, if you are located in an area where hurricanes may hit, to 
keep at hand an emergency preparedness kit that should include enough 
batteries and a small AM-FM portable radio, as well as antennas and 
other accessories for your amateur radio equipment. Providing emergency 
communications is one of the most solid reasons why the amateur radio 
bands are still allocated to the amateur radio service amigos... Keep 
this always in mind, and help your local radio club emergency 
coordinator as much as you can...

......

 

Coming to you from Havana, this is the weekend edition of Dxers 
Unlimited amigos!

Now here is LA NUMERO UNO, our most popular section of Dxers 
Unlimited.... YOU have questions and Arnie tries to answer them...Today, 
I'll be answering not one, but three questions sent in by Dxers 
Unlimited's listeners that are certainly of a great general interest to 
radio hobby enthusiasts worldwide

 Here is today's first question... Arnie, I am already experiencing a 
lot of line noise on my radio coming from a nearby

13 kilovolts power line... what's going to happen if my utility starts 
selling INTERNET service using the so called BPL or broadband over those 
power lines...

 

ANSWER: I am afraid that if that happens you can't do anything, as the 
noise level from 1 to 250 megaHertz in your area will increase 
dramatically if BPL is brought into service... Already several European 
nations' telecommunications authorities have decided to prohibit BPL 
systems; yes they have simple banned BPL, after doing tests that 
demonstrated that such systems could become a serious menace even to 
vital safety of human life communications, including air traffic control 
systems.

My own personal opinion is that BPL is doomed to failure, but not before 
it causes a lot of problems to other users of the radio frequency 
spectrum, because no engineer in his right state of mind can assure you 
that those systems would not have radiation leaks that will interfere 
with other users.

Question number two, pregunta dos... from listener

Mary Lou in the US state of Georgia. Mary Lou wants to know why does she 
sometimes hear short wave broadcasts with a hollow sound, a sort of 
echo... Well amiga , this happens when the short wave signals travel 
from the transmitter to your radio along two different paths , and one 
signal reaches your radio first than the other...The time difference 
between the two arriving signals is what makes the audio of the station 
sound in that particular way... And this is yet another reason for short 
wave broadcast stations to limit the power of the transmitters to the 
level required for a particular propagation path...Running five hundred 
kilowatts transmitters to reach a target audience located one thousand 
five hundred miles away or even less is not only a waste of money, but 
is also frequently the cause of poor reception quality due to multi-path 
propagation!!! Question number three:

This one is bit more technical; it came from South Africa, where 
listener Mowani wants to know how he can repair a solar panel that no 
longer is generating electricity. Well amigo Mowani, according to a 
friend of mine that works for COPEXTEL the Cuban company that has 
installed thousands of solar photovoltaic systems all along our 
archipelago, sometimes solar panels stop working due to corrosion 
problems at the terminals where the solar cells are connected... My 
amigo Luis told me that you should very carefully check the connections 
of the terminals, and proceed to clean them, or in case that you find a 
broken wire to replace it with one of the same diameter... Luis also 
said that a bad solar cell can make a panel totally inoperative, and 
that he had fixed some panels by just going ahead and opening it and 
placing a wire bridge across the bad solar cell. As you may realize, 
solar cells produce about 700 millivolts each, so in order to achieve 
the typical 14 to 16 volts open circuit voltage required to charge 12 
volts storage batteries the solar panel must be assembled using many 
series connected cells... One bad cell in the series will render the 
solar panel useless, but as Luis my amigo said, with patience, care and 
some technical ability , you can in many cases, make the panel useable 
again !!! But don't forget, after you have it working again, to provide 
protection against corrosion of the electrical terminals, and also to 
give the panel's supporting structure a new coat of anti-corrosion 
paint, followed by two coatings of high quality enamel paint... Service 
life of well built solar panels is considered to be no less than ten 
years, and experts here in Cuba where more than eight thousand solar 
photovoltaic systems are already in use, believe that the life of the 
expensive panels can be extended to up to 20 years with proper maintenance.

And now amigos, as always at the end of the program when I am here in 
Havana, get ready to copy Arnie Coro's Dxers Unlimited's HF plus low 
band VHF propagation update and forecast... Solar activity very low, 
with solar flux below 71 units all the time .Several Dxers Unlimited 
listeners have reported excellent late season Sporadic E skip events 
this past week, with one especially impressive opening on July 29^th 
that extended all over North America and the Caribbean, with the maximum 
useable frequencies reaching well past the FM broadcast band and higher, 
and of course giving also 6 meters and 2 meters bands ham operators a 
chance to work some nice DX. The geomagnetic field is very quiet, but 
summer conditions continue to expand the ionosphere during the daytime, 
keeping the HF bands in rather poor shape during the local daylight 
hours. See you all at the weekend edition of the program next Saturday 
and Sunday UTC day's amigos!!!

 

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