2008 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference

The Digital Communications Conference (DCC) is scheduled for later this month. For me, DCC is cutting edge ham radio, and if only I were a fly on the wall. The conference is scheduled to begin September 26th and concludes on the 28th of September.

DCC Menu.

• Software defined radio (SDR).
  
• Digital voice (D-Star, P25, WinDRM, FDMDV, G4GUO).
• Automatic Position Reporting System® (APRS).
• Short messaging (a mode of APRS).
• Digital Signal Processing (DSP).

Given the emphasis on digital and Internet interoperability, why not, consider the following suggestions for the thousands of bona fide ham radio geeks that cannot attend.

Help the Fly on the Wall.

• Live, interactive video streaming via Ustream.
  
• Live blogging.
  
• Twitter and/or FriendFeed the conference.
  
• Post real-time pictures on Flickr.

This DCC conference is most likely one of our defining moments. There is history being made in those rooms.

73 from the shackadelic.

Don, VK4FNQA commented "All efforts to locate an E-mail address for 'ISOTRON'in the USA have failed."

Read comment here.

I spoke with Ralph Bilal, WD0EJA CEO of Isotron Antennas regarding your situation. He is going to contact you via email in the very near future. Probably as early as this evening or tomorrow morning. I was quite surprised when Mr. Bilal answered his company phone at 7 pm Mountain Standard Time. No answering machine. No voice menu.

He is ready to help and his comment was, "I'm all about the personal touch."

I enjoyed our 45-minute discussion that also covered the Isotron concept and Mr. Bilal explained the basic electrical principles behind the antenna as well. He is quite a good teacher. Likewise, he has helped many ham radio operators and said, "Let's get this antenna to sing."

Mr. Bilal and I will stay in communication as I'm interested in learning more about the Isotron antenna. And, in this age of depersonalized customer service, Mr. Bilal delivered in a big positive way.

Don, thank you for the pictures from far North Queensland Australia. I hope this helps and one day, sunspots willing, I'll see you in the log.

73 from the shackadelic.

ARRL Southwestern Division Convention Sept 12 - 14th, 2008

Scorpion Antennas? You got my attention with, "Meet the Next Generation of Screwdriver Antennas."

Who is in the speaker line-up? Cornell Drentea, KW7CD on Designing High Performance, Fully-Synthesized Transceivers, The Star-10 Transceiver. Mike Gelski, KB0PBD on SATERN and Mark Spencer, WA8SME on DSP Fundamentals.

What about the Star-10 Transceiver?

For additional convention information click here.

Mac, KE5QDA on TAK-tenna, "I used the 30" 40 meter formula and interpolated for 2 meters...seems to work great! "

Read comment here.

TAK-tenna URLs from Google [1,770 Hits].

• TAK-tenna.
• TAK-tenna Product Reviews on eHam.
• TAK-tenna review on Hamuniverse.
  
• [Antennaware] building a TAK-tenna click here, here, and here.
• Reviews at QRZ.

Quotes from eHam Elmer's Forum.

• "1000 feet or 10 feet of wire coiled or bundled in a two foot length radiates exactly like a two foot long antenna. You may move the resonant point around, but you STILL have a two foot antenna."
• "If your options are "small antenna" or "no antenna", opt for the small antenna. If however your options are "small antenna" or "full sized antenna" then opt for the full sized antenna."
• "...[T]hat this antenna seems to perform well at very low distances to ground much like a NVIS antenna, and 99% of his reviews are from folks who installed the Tak-Tenna anywhere from 10 ft. - 25 ft. from ground having the best performance at those heights."
• "Feeding this antenna with open wire or twin lead would improve tuning in other bands, if opt for coax, a 1:1 balun is a must."

What I'm beginning to understand, the TAK-tenna is a compromise antenna, and if one cannot deploy a full-sized dipole then a TAK-tenna concept maybe considered. And living in an HOA and/or CC&R defined community typically weighs toward a compromise situation.

Mac, thanks for your comment, and lets keep pushing the envelope until that next, next HOA and/or CC&R antenna is discovered. 73 OM.

QST Gets Portable Document Format

I'm stoked as the QST knowledge base from 1915 till December 2004 is now available in portable document format (PDF).

• "This new benefit -- a service of the ARRL Technical Information Service -- provides PDF copies of all QST articles from December 1915 through December 2004, enabling members to view and print their favorite article, project and more."

Now if I can remember the year I operated my first Novice Round-Up? Thanks ARRL for adding this membership benefit!

73 from the shackadelic.

2008 North American Sprint CW (Fall) | The Cabrillo Log

Submitting one's contest log is an important piece of the post-contest procedure. The process tends to vary from sponsor to sponsor but the fundamentals remain the same. That is, the preferred post-contest log is Cabrillo and generally speaking, most sponsors provide a Cabrillo log entry page for uploading ease.

Interesting Facts About Cabrillo Log.

• Cabrillo is the logging interface between logging program authors and contest sponsors.
  
• Cabrillo is low-tech because it is easy to generate and easy to read.
  
• 98% of all logs received are written by programs capable of generating the Cabrillo format.
• There is room for an all inclusive, state-of-the-art ADIF- or XML-based contest log in the future.
  
• Sponsors hope that all logs will be submitted in a common format 1.) For greater degree of automation, 2.) Greater log checking accuracy and, 3.) Timely publication of results.

What will your confirmation look like after successfully submitting your Cabrillo log? I removed my home address.

North American Sprint, CW

Callsign: KA3DRR
Category-Power: LOW
Category-Operator: SINGLE-OP
Name: Scot Morrison
Log Deadline: 2008-09-14 04:00:00 UTC
Received at: 2008-09-09 01:30:49 UTC
Reported QSOs: 42
Confirmation #: 1105956.na-sprint-cw

Thank you for submitting your log in Cabrillo format. Please review
the information listed above and verify that it is correct.

Thank you for entering the contest and submitting your log in Cabrillo
format. Please review the information listed above and, if necessary,
resubmit the log to make any corrections.

73.

Tree, N6TR

My primary goal is an error free Cabrillo log and a sponsor's robot will indicate any errors prior to submission. Sometimes correcting those errors is an exercise in patience but well worth the additional effort. Otherwise the robot keeps kicking back until the log is correct.

I like to keep my log confirmations for at least a year. Like an airline reservation number having one's confirmation number readily at hand is important.

Contest on.

BlogWorld & New Media Expo

Looking for adrenaline driven, thought leadership conference for bloggers? BlogWorld & New Media Expo ramps up on September 20th at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Statistics of Interest.

• Over 12 million American adults maintain a blog.
  
• More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
  
• Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
  
• 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
  
• 51% of blog readers shop online.
• Blog readers average 23 hours online each week.

Blog on.

2008 OMMA Expo Global New York | Platform Wars

OMMA Global New York September 18-19, 2008 Conference--

• All media forms are going digital.
  
• Top executives from leading content companies will discuss their vision of tomorrow regarding distributed content on the Web and other digital platforms.
  
• One will hear from leading innovators who embraced the web and how to involve people in this time of incredible change both in content and media.
  

73 from the shackadelic.

LowProfile Antennas For Today & Tomorrow? | Isotron | TAK-tenna

Unconventional? Radical design? Are Isotron or TAK-tenna LowProfile antennas for today and tomorrow? Any operator living in HOA or CC&R defined communities understands the challenge of a good antenna system. My location, as oft stated in the blog, is horizontally and vertically challenged. My location is a worst case scenario for most wire-type antennas. And I mulled over a challenge that was thrown into the ARRL Strategic Plan discussion. Who is innovating LowProfile antennas that meet or exceed the performance of a traditional dipole.

Most, if not all, HOA or CC&R ham radio operators are looking for the next, next antenna. This antenna would meet or exceed the functional performance of a dipole, be easy to deploy, minimize visual impact, increase operating enjoyment, and reduce signal-to-noise levels. A quick Google search suggested Isotron and/or TAK-tenna.

Why am I fascinated? Both antennas are unconventional and radical. And I believe the next step toward reaching the HOA and CC&R high frequency (HF) ham radio operator lays in the design concepts as exemplified by Isotron and TAK-tenna. This, for me, is the next level of antenna innovation. That is, meeting or exceeding dipole performance and the vertical/horizontal challenge of HOA and CC&R defined communities while delivering a performance grade antenna.

Is anyone operating with either the Isotron or Tak-tenna systems? If so, let us know about your experience with either antennas, because learning is fun, and operating is even more fun.

73 from the shackadelic.

RadioSport Eu | HamSphere QSO Challenge 2008

Kelly Lindman, SM7NHC announced HamSphere QSO Challenge for ham radio operators who enjoy virtualization. His event is a first for the team at HamSphere and a first for RadioSport as well. Let's take a look at the virtual contest as described in Lindman's email announcement.

HamSphere QSO Challenge.

• Contest begins at 1400UTC on September 14th and ends at 1800UTC.
  
• Contest modes are CW, SSB, and Digital.
  
• Maximum 100-watts on 40M and maximum 1-kilowatt on 80M.
  
• Exchange is RST and serial number beginning with 001.
  
• Each multiplier is counted only once regardless of band or mode.
  

Logs are submitted in Cabrillo format and certificate(s) suitable for framing will be awarded for highest score.

Lindman stated in his email, "Due to the nature of the HamSphere system based on heavy digital audio processing, you may experience lagging or gaps in audio during the contest period. This is fully normal and the system is capable of handling over 100 simultaneous users at once. But congestion may occur. The system may also be restarted during the session. Please have patience!"

If one wants to enjoy the thrill of RadioSport and gain a little more practice before this season's major contests then HamSphere QSO Challenge is a good fit. Congratulations Kelly Lindman, SM7NHC for achieving one of your goals!

Contest on.

Rich, N6RNO commented "845GL is not the processor but the chipset around the processor."

Read comment here. Rich, thank you for correcting my confusion regarding the function of one's processor and the 845GL chipset. I didn't think about consulting Google images or Intel for a diagram and a picture is perfect. Likewise, northbridge and southbridge interfaces clear right up when looking over the above screenshot. There is so much too learn! And learning is fun. I will follow up as my Dell Dimension 2350 continues teaching there is more than an ON button. 73 OM.

NA Sprint CW Fall 2008 Results

Call: KA3DRR
Operator(s): KA3DRR
Station: KA3DRR

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: CA

Operating Time (hrs): 4.0

Summary.

Band  QSOs  Op Time
---------------------
---80:--10-----1.00
---40:--28-----1.50
---20:--4------1.50
---------------------
Total:--42    
Mults = 24 
Total Score = 1,008

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Team: NCCC #3

NA Sprint CW 2008 | N1MM Screenshot Statistics

QSO Totals By Band.

Hourly Breakdown.

Multiplier Frequency Distribution.