December
2023
HO HO HO - By Michael K2SHF
Hello boys and girls. Didn't November just fly by? Over here, the Christmas tree is up, the lights are hung, and I'm ready for Santa's annual visit. As I type this, I have Christmas music on in the background as well as the Morning Brew where everyone is sharing their favorite Christmas movies and specials. Tis the season!
If you haven't yet had a chance, head over to http://www.eastcoastreflector.com and have a look around. The launch of the new site has been very successful, and we are still looking for feedback. We are trying to streamline the site as best as we can for the easiest navigation. Joe KO4FRR is the webmaster and the site was built mostly by Rome KY4ATF. Many others assisted as well, and we now have a website that we can be proud of.
Hamcation will be here before we know it. It takes place in Orlando, FL on February 9-11. The ECR will have a table in the indoor flea market. So if you happen to be there, stop by and say hello. Information can be found at hamcation.com.
Yes, it's cold and the leaves are off the trees. But it's never too early to start planning on attending the ECR Western NY Meet & Greet. This will take place on June 8 next summer. We will start accepting reservations after the 1st of the year.
In the mean time, stop by the ECR Zoom Room. It is open 24/7, but the best time to find activity is around 3:30PM ET for afternoon coffee. You can access the ECR Zoom Room at http://bit.ly/ecrdaily.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! And Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends!
73 de K2SHF
ECR BIRTHDAY GREETINGS
Below is the list of our December birthdays. Happy Birthday to you all!
| N8ISS |
Brian |
Oregon, OH |
12/4 |
| KM4BGF |
Billy |
Owens Cross Roads, AL |
12/7 |
| W2BLT |
Scott |
Buffalo, NY |
12/8 |
| KO4NSK |
Tyson |
Meridianville, AL |
12/8 |
| KO4TSS |
Jon |
Florence, AL |
12/8 |
| N2VPJ |
Bob |
Tonawanda, NY |
12/16 |
| N2DYT |
Gregory |
Amherst, NY |
12/18 |
| W2DLL |
Dana |
Buffalo, NY |
12/20 |
| AE4BT |
Curtis |
Johnson City, TN |
12/28 |
| N2ZDU |
Joe |
North Tonawanda, NY |
12/29 |
Would you like your birthday recognized in the Newsletter and on the air during the Tech Net? Just send an email to Michael, K2SHF, with your callsign and birthdate. Your birthday will then be added to our spreadsheet.
MORNING BREW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Below are a few of the questions we asked on the Morning Brew over the past month along with the number of people that gave each answer. Only answers with a quantity of 2 or more were counted.
Q: What moves your car? Regular, Premium, Diesel, or Electricity?
A: Regular 57 | Diesel 5 | None 3 | Premium 2
Q: What is your preferred brand of hot dogs?
A: Ballpark 7 | Nathans 5 | Sabrett 4 | Oscar Meyer 4 | Hebrew National 4 | Salem 3 | Sahlens 2
Q: What GPS Mapping app do you use the most?
A: Google 20 | Waze 9 | Apple 9 | Garmin 6
Join us for the Morning Brew Monday-Friday (except holidays) at 7-9AM ET on the ECR.
Do you have a question for the Brew you'd like to submit to us? Send an email to k2shf (at) yahoo (dot) com and we can add your question to the pool.
40 METER NET ON SATURDAY MORNINGS - By Michael K2SHF
The ECR 40 Meter net is still going strong every Saturday morning at 9AM ET on 7.245. Please join us and say hello. And to further enhance the experience, join the ECR Zoom Room just before joining the net. This helps us to put a face with the callsign, and we use Zoom to help relay messages from stations that might be out of range for some. http://bit.ly/ecrdaily.
ZOOM ROOM PRESENTATION
The East Coast Reflector will be hosting a Zoom Room presentation presented by the LARA club (Lake Amateur Radio Association). Otis NP4G will stop by to discuss his Bouvet Island DXpedition. All are welcome to attend. The presentation will be on December 9th at 10:30AM ET. The link to the Zoom Room is http://bit.ly/ecrdaily.
MY FAVORITE THINGS - By Matt K2EAG
Yaesu and Kenwood and Icom and Xiegu
East Coast Reflector and nets to check into
Tri-band antennas or wire with string
These are a few of my favorite things
Moonbounce and slow-scan, and old-fashioned rag chew.
RTTY and Morse code, there's nothing hams can't do.
Building, and learning, and having great fun.
Hams are the best you will find when you're one!
Estate sales and club meets and hamfests aplenty.
Soon you will see how one rig becomes twenty.
Satellites, Field Day, QRP's cool
Maritime mobile from rafts in the pool!
When the wind blows
Down antenna goes,
And you're feeling blue
Just reach out for help from your favorite hams
and soon you'll be sayin' CQ!
NEW FULL-TIME REPEATER ON THE ECR - By Dick WB2JPQ
K8BWK 442.550 (+) PL 107.2 located in downtown Toledo, Ohio. Here are some pictures.
FLORIDA HAMS MAKE CONTACT 100 MILES APART VIA 10-METER REPEATER... IN SWITZERLAND
Taken from The ARRL Letter dated November 22, 2023
When 10 meters is open, amazing things can happen. Lu Romero, W4LT, knows that well. He said, "When 10 is open, I often venture up into the top of the band to see if there is any FM activity. I've always liked to use 10 FM, especially when conditions are marginal to observe the Faraday phase distortion on signals. Before FT8, 10 FM was always a good way to discover where the band was propagating to in addition to the beacons. If you hear FM (especially repeaters) operating, then the propagation is really good!"
At around 1500z on October 23, 2023, the band was open. Romero stated that he went to the top of the band and "found multiple signals in both simplex and via repeaters."
Tower 1 of the Tampa Amateur Radio Club, with the Force 12 C31XR antenna, second from the top. [Lu Romero, W4LT, photo.]
"Usually, I receive a repeater in New York City, KQ2H, one of the strongest signals I can get down here in Florida when 10 is open, but today there was another strong signal [of] 10 kHz above it," he said.
Using a FLEX-6400 at 75 W and the C32XR beam at 108 feet that he maintains for the Tampa Amateur Radio Club, he heard an ID through the splatter from the KQ2H repeater. "It was HB9HD in Switzerland! I set up for split and reduced power to 75 W on the Flex and gave the repeater a kerchunk." Romero was able to contact a Swiss ham, Rene, HB3XVR, on the repeater's 70-centimeter link.
Then, on October 31, again around 1500z, Romero tried the repeater once more. "I found the repeater full quieting, even stronger than it was on October 23, and with no QRM from KQ2H, so it was clean and easy to copy!
For the heck of it, I called CQ several times on the repeater. I received no callers, but finally, I received a signal that was fading up and down. I called again and that signal stopped fading for a while, and I was able to work David, WA3LXD, over the HB9HD repeater. After a little while, his signal settled down, and David asked me what my QTH was, and I told him I was in Tampa. He laughed and
said we worked each other 'the hard way,' because he was in Ocala, about 100 miles to my north," said Romero.
As Solar Cycle 25 continues to rise toward its peak, amateurs can expect to encounter more exciting propagation, especially on the 10- and 6-meter bands. In this case, the signals traveled roughly 9,800 miles round trip. Your mileage may vary.
TOPICS FOR 2ND CUP NET
The 2nd Cup, which occurs one random day each week after the Morning Brew, is a relaxed net in which ham radio related topics are discussed. These topics are used to better educate all of us by sharing our thoughts and knowledge with each other. If there is a topic you would like discussed on a future 2nd Cup, please email Dick WB2JPQ.
ARRL HAILS FCC ACTION TO REMOVE SYMBOL RATE RESTRICTIONS
Taken from The ARRL Letter dated November 16, 2023
ARRL reports that Monday, November 13, 2023, the FCC Commissioners unanimously voted to amend the Amateur Radio Service rules to replace the baud rate limit on the amateur HF bands with a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit to permit greater flexibility in data communications.
"The Federal Communications Commission today adopted to incentivize innovation and experimentation in the amateur radio bands by removing outdated restrictions and providing licensees with the flexibility to use modern digital emissions," announced the FCC.
"Specifically, we remove limitations on the symbol rate (also known as baud rate) -- the rate at which the carrier waveform amplitude, frequency, and/or phase is varied to transmit information -- applicable to data emissions in certain amateur bands," concluded the FCC Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (DA/FCC # FCC-23-93; WT Docket No. 16-239) adopted November 13, 2023. "The amateur radio community can play a vital role in emergency response communications, but is often unnecessarily hindered by the baud rate limitations in the rules."
Consistent with ARRL's request, the amended rules will replace the current HF restrictions with a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit. "We agree with ARRL that a 2.8 kilohertz bandwidth limitation will allow for additional emissions currently prohibited under the baud rate limitations while providing sufficient protections in the shared RTTY/data subbands," concluded the FCC Report and Order.
ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, hailed the FCC's action to remove the symbol rate restrictions. Roderick stated that "this action will measurably facilitate the public service communications that amateurs step up to provide, especially at times of natural disasters and other emergencies such as during the hurricane season. Digital technology continues to evolve, and removing the outmoded data restrictions restores the incentive for radio amateurs to continue to experiment and develop more spectrum-efficient protocols and methods while the 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit will help protect the shared nature of our bands. We thank Congresswoman [Debbie] Lesko (AZ-08) for her efforts on behalf of all amateurs to get these restrictions removed."
In a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM), the FCC proposes to eliminate similar restrictions where they apply in other bands. "We propose to remove the baud rate limitation in the 2200-meter band and 630-meter band... and in the very-high frequency (VHF) bands and the ultra-high frequency (UHF) bands. Additionally, we seek comment on the appropriate bandwidth limitation for the 2200-meter band, the 630-meter band, and the VHF/UHF bands." ARRL has previously expressed its support for eliminating the symbol rate limits in favor of bandwidth limits where they apply on the VHF and UHF bands but suggested that the bandwidth limits themselves be reviewed in light of today's technology and tomorrow's possibilities. Similarly, when eliminating the baud limits on the 2200- and 630-meter bands, consideration should be given to what, if any, bandwidth limits are appropriate.
The new rules will become effective 30 days after being published in the Federal Register. The FCC will announce a period for public comment on the additional proposed changes based upon publication of the FNPRM in the Federal Register. No date has been set for publication.