Antenna Bandwidth | Band Pass Filter | Conductance | Decibel

We're getting ready for a weekend packed with fun. Tomorrow, we are leaving for Long Beach and the Orange County fair, my first ever. I'm looking forward to seeing B.B. King after chow hounding my way through the fair later that evening.

Then Saturday mid-morning, we're off to Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) in Burbank, for a look-n-see the latest ham radio gear. Will HRO have the IC-7200 on display? I checked Icom and there is zero sign of the new transceiver. Interesting. Or is the IC-7200 not due roll out in the North American market for another few months?

We hit the 101 North mid-afternoon Saturday and Radio Dawg will Ms. Wiggles her tail off when the door opens. She likes hanging out in the shackadelic. Why disappoint when the IARU HF World Championship is going full-bore by Saturday evening?

I'll deploy my doublet about an hour before sunset and operate 40-Meter Single Operator, Single Band until 1200UTC Sunday. The low-bands will pump given that Cycle 24 is somewhere on the other side of the sun.

Here are a few definitions to think about through the weekend.

Antenna Bandwidth.

• "A range of frequencies over which the antenna standing wave ratio (SWR) will be below some specified value." (Wolfgang, Reed, & Carman 2007, p C-2)

Band Pass Filter.

• "A circuit that allows signals to go through it only if they are within a certain range of frequencies. It attenuates signals above and below this range." (Wolfgang et al. 2007, C-2)

Conductance.

• "The reciprocal of resistance." (Wolfgang et al. 2007, C-4)

Decibel (dB).

• "One tenth of a bel, denoting a logarithm of the ratio of two power levels--dB = 10 log (p2/p1). Power gains and losses are expressed in decibels." (Wolfgang et al. 2007, C-5)

Will I find ham radio at the Orange County Fair this weekend? 73 from the shackadelic and Radio Dawg of course.

Reference: Wolfgang L, Reed D, and Carman J (2007). [8th ed.] Extra Class License Manual. ARRL-The national association for amateur radio. Newington, Ct. 06111. (C-2, 4, 5)

Jerry, KD0BIK asked "So what happened to the site of ke9v.net?"

Read his comment here.

Jeff is taking a needed vacation for awhile and redirected his traffic here. He is recharging his creative batteries while giving the muse a rest as well. One can think of this as co-host blogging until The Return of KE9V. I'm honored that his traffic arrived in one piece and will continue delivering ham radio related content while KE9V takes his vacation.

On the other hand, regarding your comment about the fairness of grouping ARRL, eHam, and QRZ in a velocity comparison?

• "Compete estimates site traffic and engagement metrics based on the daily browsing activity of over 2,000,000 U.S. Internet users."
• "Compete's site profiles estimate how many people visit your site based on a sample of the Compete community that is normalized to the size and demographic composition of the active U.S. Internet population."
• "We balance multiple data sources, including ISPs, ASPs, Opt-In Panels and the Compete Toolbar. Our multiple data source strategy and its ability to detect and correct for bias across diverse data sources is part of what makes us industry leaders."

The purpose of my comparison is velocity or attention span. The metrics involved are different for each task i.e. traffic or velocity. Field Day is not a variable in the data because I'm looking at time, that is date A to date B. And velocity measurement reports a change in attention or time. For example, I can quantify at FeedBurner, the amount of time on average a reader spends at KA3DRR, that's velocity.

Field Day did not skew the data when looking at velocity or attention span at the ARRL. However, Field Day when viewed from a marketing standpoint, should bump velocity or attention span. And the analysis suggested otherwise.

The new game in town is velocity or keeping your attention for as long as possible. Traffic counters are dead widgets.

Jeff isn't in Tahiti but he's on vacation and will return in the near future. Thanks for asking and 73 from the shackadelic.

ARRL vs. eHam vs. QRZ | The Velocity Factor

I was curious and measured the velocity of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), eHam, and QRZ websites. Compete [Web2.0] defined velocity as, "Velocity is an effective way to measure the impact of planned (or unplanned) events, such as new advertising campaigns, product/service launches or general site growth. Simply choose an event date as the starting point to see how it has affected a site's attention over time." Time is currency and holding attention is value. Field Day 2008 produced a neglible velocity bump. In contrast, QRZ is effectively holding attention when compared to the ARRL and eHam, overall with Field Day included. The QTH for ham radio operators is QRZ?

Sailin, VU2SGW said "Hope to catch u on air one day too."

Read his comment here.

Field Day 2008 goes down in the memory book as stellar ham radio fun. I gained a little more experience especially in the use of N1MM contest logger. Likewise, solving technical issues on the fly, is important as well. We learned how-to breakdown N1MM into separate band categories after reading the instructions. Also, we adapted our 20-Meter CW station using a different type of paddle/keyer because of a missing interface cable.

Thanks for the comment and I'm looking forward to good reads at VU2SGW. Hope too see you in the log in the very near future.

73 from the shackadelic.

CQ World Wide WPX CW Summary

I'm teaching myself SH5 written by Dmitriy Gulyaev UA4WLI. This particular screenshot is my CQ WPX 2008 CW summary. It is broken down by band then categorized into QSOs, Time, and Moves. I can measure for the first time the efficacy of my search and pounce strategy. Furthermore, one is given several functions in order to analyze log data, absolutely fascinating. What does this mean too me? I have a visualization(s) of KA3DRR contest production broken down by band and discreetly categorized into useful data sets. Admittedly, I have not peered into the portable document file (pdf) but I just could not wait. Thanks Dmitri, UA4WLI for taking KA3DRR to the next level of RadioSport science. Contest on.

2008 Field Day

I felt like a starry eyed teenager walking on the dirt track toward W6R Paso Robles Amateur Radio Club's field day site. Memories of Field Day past flowed through the circuitry of KA3DRR's brain and the Force12 aluminum shone bright in the June sun. I did not short out from excitement but at least one capacitor bubbled.

Heat, on the other hand, is a matter of fact in Templeton, California and I welcomed the 90-degree temperature. What would Field Day be like without extreme weather conditions? Dull? Boring? I never forget weather conditions in association with Field Day.

I noted the chow hall to my left with grill, picnic tables, and lawn chairs. Given, my only contact with W6R was a phone call from a few nights ago and I did not know anyone except for Ron, W6FM. We met several years ago at W6AB Satellite Amateur Radio Club on Vandenberg Air Force Base during a VHF/UHF contest. I was thrilled when Larry, W7CB introduced himself and a friendship was kindled. And seeing Ron, W6FM brought a smile and a sense of small circles we do travel in ham radio.

Forty and 80-Meters have a place in my Field Day heart going back too W3LIF, the Mercer County Amateur Radio Club. As a young KA3DRR in the earlier 80s, I learned both bands generate lots of traffic, and unfold like a good story through the day. And this year, both bands remained true to form, and delivered a thrill a minute.

We had computer networking issues for an hour and at 1900UTC W6R opened up for traffic handling on 40-Meter CW. I operated with Larry, W7CB's Kenwood TS-930S into a dipole at 30-feet plus or minus a few. The first few hours on 40M CW pumped and I believe our N1MM 10-Minute rate meter pegged at seventy. Then I QSY'd to 40M LSB and heard the thunder of Field Day! Our rate meter hit 155 per hour and short skip into the west was absolutely wild. I was reminded of the pile-up days as KA3DRR/DV2 in the Philippines.

Later in the evening, I coached Robin as he worked 40-Meter LSB, and what a hoot. I made a script and facilitated each QSO until he operated solo with confidence on this band. He successfully executed the exchange and Robin was into high frequency (HF) big time. I stepped out of the trailer while he searched and pounced into the night. Right on.

I was reaching my threshold of wakefulness at 0700UTC when 80M fired up for the night. Again like 40M this band delivered blistering rates of traffic. I laughed because a signal occupied nearly every hertz in the CW portion of the band. I finally hit the rack around 1100UTC in the back of my Explorer. It wasn't a bed but I was too exhausted for comfort.

Between Larry, W7CB and myself over 300 CW/LSB traffic QSOs on 80M added to our overall low-band Field Day tally. For me, 40-Meters is the fast traffic lane during Field Day, and this band impressed me just like back in the day operating W3LIF in Mercer County.

For more Field Day reads check out Keith, W4KAZ's Field Day 2008 as N4PY - The Story.

Solar Cycle 24 | 90 in 2012 or 140 in 2011?

If I have a choice in this matter, please Mister Helios, Great Sol, G4 Classy Kinda of Star, how about 140 in 2011? No predicition revisions are planned according to the article.