Panama Beacon Confirmation

Listening for 10m Beacons

I've started scanning the lower part of 10 meters daily (well, most days) to listen for 10m Beacons.   The stations received have been sparse, but every now and then a surprise pops up:

Date	UTC	Freq	Call	QTH	Locator	Km	RST
03/23/12	23:34	28.2133	XE3D	MEX	EL50ex		449
03/27/12	21:15	28.2028	KB1QZY	MA	FN32qc	35	449
03/27/12	21:18	28.2030	PY2WFG	BRA		6186	569
03/27/12	21:23	28.2313	NP4LW	PR	FK68mi	2666	589
04/01/12	21:43	28.1770	HP1RCP	PANAMA	FJ09fa	2301	389
04/03/12	00:45	28.2020	KB1QZY	MA	FN32qz	35	559
04/05/12	22:49	28.2020	KB1QZY	MA	FN32qz	35	559
04/06/12	18:15	28.1770	HP1RCP	PANAMA	FJ09fa	2301	119
04/06/12	18:20	28.2000	YV5B	VENEZUELA	FK60nj	3539	579
04/06/12	18:24	28.2027	KB1QZY	MA	FN32qc	35	579
04/06/12	18:40	28.2033	PY2WFG	BRAZIL		6186	339

Thanks to my neighbor, KB1QZY just up the road in Massachusetts.   Your signal is always there and serves as a  nice check that the antenna, radio, and headphones are working.

YV5B was received clearly every 3 minutes, down to the 100mw signal.   The NCDXF/IARU beacon web page lists this beacon in Venezuela as off the air.  I was pleased to receive this signal, and took care to listen for several cycles to ensure I got the call correct.

30 meter Beacon

W0ERE/B   10.1288   RST 579  UTC 0506

Tuning around 30m in the early morning, found W0ERE/B from Grid EM36.   Good signal 579 into east coast this early morning.  Allan has a nice QRZed site and interesting YouTube videos on his experimentation with mobile beacons.

Exploring VOACAP in Texas

Great morning here, as I had a chance to take a day off from work and take kids to school.   I listened on 20 meters afterwards and answered the morning call of KE5SBZ, Ed in Texas.  Most of my radio operating is done late evenings, so sending a continuous wave (CW) through the air with the sun up is not a common occurrence....especially on a weekday.   Ed and I had a nice QSO with good copy throughout.   His signal report to me was 449 (fair signal, readable with minor difficulty) and I replied with 559 (fairly good signal, readable).   As we exchanged the usual ham pleasantries (rigs, antennas, age, dogs, and so on....) his signal improved steadily to 589 by the time I signed.

I took this opportunity to plot our locations and information on VOACAP (Voice of American Coverage Analysis Program).  I'm just learning to use this great on-line tool.   It demonstrates nicely that Ed and I were communicating right along the MUF, maximum usable frequency, around 1200 UTC on 14.050 MHz.

Thanks Ed for the fine QSO, and a little education on propagation.

73 de Phil, N1DN

Conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and Cobra Dipole

47 degrees, clear skies, 30.29" and steady

As the weekend winds down this Sunday evening, another fine Straight Key Century Club Weekend Sprint comes to a close.  More on these fantastic CW sprints in another post.   This month has been notable for the conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter in the early evening sky.  Tonight, I was treated to "triple conjunction" (kind-of) as the two planets approximated the Cobra Ultralite Senior Dipole suspended up about 50 feet between two tall oak trees.

The Cobra dipole has served me extremely well since getting on the air with HF.    Most all of my contacts have been made with this ladder line fed, multi band dipole.   It's manufactured by Joe, K1JEK in neighboring New Hampshire, and I can't say enough good things about this antenna.  In its 3 years of service, this antenna has survived one Tropical Storm, multiple Nor'easters and several epic winter storms...without a hitch.  In most cases, if I can hear you, the only limiting factor in making the QSO is my operating skill, not the equipment.

The Cobra has earned it's right to stand side by side with two great planets.    73, Phil

A Study of Evaporation

Motivated by "Citizen Science" advocate Forest Mimms' and his studies of the atmosphere, I decided to run an initial experiment of water evaporation (or perhaps sublimation) during the New England winter.

Method:

1.  Place 500 ml of room temperature water in a plastic pan
2.  The pan is 10" x 6" = 0.03876 meters squared surface area
3.  Record the initial weight of water and pan in grams
4.  Place the pan in a standard location, shielded from wind, at 6:30 am daily (when I leave for work :)
5. Expose to the atmosphere for 24 hours
6. Record the final weight of water and pan in grams, obtain grams water evaporated
7. Quantify daily observation as grams water / meters squared / hour
8. Do no record results for days with measurable precipitation

Results:

Graphed above.  Note that pan size and observation time of 24 hours essentially cancels unites such that grams water evaporation is almost identical to g / m2 / h

Future Plans:

1. Continue observations
2.  Add morning dew point, ambient temperature, and presence / absence of ice

On the Air

'Good to get on the air last night.   Thanks to the many SKCC members for the contacts.   I still enjoy sending and receiving QSOs.  My current firetruck qsl is a photo I took from a past parade of our local fire company.   I hope to pay tribute to those in public service, and support the US postal service.  The card was produced by www.k4jsg.com.    Great service,  great product, great price (period)