[BARC-List] Dxers Unlimited's script weekend edition 25-26 February 2006

[Dan Malloy]

Dxers Unlimited 
Dxers Unlimited's weekend edition 25-26 Feb 2006 
By Arnie Coro 
Radio amateur CO2KK 

Hi amigos radioaficionados worldwide ! I am Arnie Coro,radio amateur CO2KK,
host of this twice weekly program, entirely devoted to the promotion and
development of this wonderful hobby : RADIO. Here is item one: Another row
of ZEROS, yes, one after the other, for the past SIX DAYS the optical
sunspot count has been ZERO, indicating that not a single sunspot was
detected by any observers at all the optical astronomical observatories
where daily routine observations of the solar disk are done. This is the
second period of extremely low solar activity during the past few weeks, the
previous one lasted for nine days in a row. Very low solar activity with a
totally spotless SUN is an indication , a very clear one indeed, that
SUNSPOT CYCLE 23 is coming to an end. By the way, 160 meter band radio
amateur Dxers are enjoying a period of extremely low ionospheric absorption,
so I expect rather high scores during the CW and SSB 160 meter contests that
are taking place during the end of February and beginning of March. Now that
I talk about March, its time to remember that the spring equinox is now less
than a month away, so get ready for the equinoctial DX season amigos, due to
start in about two weeks from today. 
More radio hobby related information coming to you from Havana in just a few
seconds amigos. stay tuned. 
... 

This is Radio Havana Cuba, a 100 percent QSL station.. yes you will always
receive a reply to a QSL request, and in case it does not match with our
broadcasts, we also send you a letter explaining why. We do not, and I
repeat, we do not send out a QSL card until our correspondence department
checks that the report sent is accurate. For example, recently I was asked
by our correspondence department to check about a report coming from Japan.
The frequency was 5965 kiloHertz, and the Japanese short wave listener was
reporting that frequency at a time that we are not using it. So, sure, we
sent him a polite reply saying, NO amigo, no, that was not Radio Havana
Cuba.and of course, we didn't send him a QSL card. But I am sure that this
Japanese listener will be able to pick up our 5965 kiloHertz broadcasts a
little earlier UTC day, and that he will be sending a report with program
content that corresponds to our station's schedule.  now Item three: Cuban
radio amateurs celebrated the 24th of February, the Dia del Radioaficionado,
that is Radio Amateurs Day. a tradition that now is more than 40 years old.
The Cuban Federation of Radio Amateurs, Federacion de Radioaficionados de
Cuba , was founded 40 years ago, in 1966, on the 24th of February to pay
homage to Radio Rebelde, the station that was founded by Che Guevara in the
Sierra Maestra mountains during the revolutionary war against the Batista US
backed dictatorship in 1958. Talking about Cuban radio amateurs, here is
some news. amateur radio continues to grow in Cuba at a surprisingly high
rate, and now that the new rules and regulations are not demanding that the
CW Morse Code test be an excluding element, a lot of people that were afraid
of the Morse Code have passed the radio amateur examinations with flying
colors, and even doing very well during the five words per minute Morse
radiotelegraphy test. 
Let me explain. the new rules and regulations assign a certain number of
points to each of the test elements, and now, as I just said a while ago,
the Morse Code element is just another element, with a value of a certain
number of points and not excluding, that meaning that if you don't pass the
Morse Code test and do well on the other elements of the exams, you do pass,
and thus can obtain your amateur radio operators certificate, that leads the
way to having your own licensed amateur radio station at home !!! 
The many hundreds of Cubans that have recently passed the ham radio exams
are now going on the air, and that has led to a tremendous enthusiasm for
Radio Club activities, like the celebrations that are taking place this
weekend all along the Cuban archipelago. Many Radio Club stations have gone
on the air giving a special QSL card for a two way contact with them during
this weekend. The Cuban Federation of Radio Amateurs now has more than 4000
members, of which a significant numbers own their own amateur stations at
home, while others operate at the Radio Club stations, especially during
late afternoon and early evening hours on weekdays, and all along the
weekends. 
... 
Now, our technical topics section, with tips to regenerative receivers
builders. No doubt that regenerative receivers have generated a revival of
the homebrewing of radios, according to the e-mail messages , postcards, and
letters that I receive here in Havana. Anyone that builds even the ultra
simple designs of regenerative receivers is usually amazed with the
performance of such a simple and easy to assemble circuit. There are many
different designs from where to choose, but when asked in a recent e-mail
which are the  easiest ones to homebrew, I was really faced with a tough
job. For solid state regeneratives, my three favorite circuits are my amigo
Paul Harden's NA5N "Desert Rat", Charles Kitchin's N1TEV design, and the
much simpler, but rather nice performer on the AM broadcast band Australian
MOORABIN, also know as the "Australian Fun radio" . By the way the three
radios circuit diagrams are available absolutely free of charge, via e-mail
from the Dxers Unlimited's radio hobby library. SO, if you want to take a
look at those three regenerative radios circuit diagrams, just send me an
e-mail to arnie at rhc.cu, again arnie at rhc.cu, and sorry amigos, not able to
provide them yet in printed form for sending VIA AIR MAIL, but they will
soon be also available in printed form. The three regenerative radio
circuits are not copyrighted, in the public domain, something made possible
by the kindness of their designers who not only spent a lot of time
designing the circuits and testing them, but also writing the articles that
were later published in amateur radio magazines. 
For vacuum tube regeneratives, I also have a selection of three circuits.the
cascade detector regenerative is my favorite, closely followed by the ZL2JJ
New Zealand WONDER receiver, but this one is a too complex project for a
beginner, Anyway, as I have a beautiful collection of electronic files with
diagrams and photos of the ZL2JJ regenerative receiver, you can send for
them, just to take a look at this masterpiece and draw some practical
experiences from the unique superb construction method used by ZL2JJ in his
masterpiece radio. The third circuit that I have sent to many Dxers
Unlimited listeners asking for a practical , easier to homebrew receiver, is
also a classic design, that provides excellent performance from the AM
broadcast band up to around 15 megaHertz. 
By the way, today's vacuum tube regenerative receivers benefit from
extremely well regulated solid state filament, plate and screen power
supplies, that amateurs of the early days of radio didn't had. The typical
early radio years regeneratives used a SIX VOLTS car battery for the tubes
filaments, and one or two 45 volts B batteries. 
My UNIVERSAL DC workshop power supply is ideal for powering a vacuum tube
regenerative, because it provides 
Regulated 6 volts DC, also Regulated 12 volts DC, for the filaments of the
tubes, and very will filtered 150 volts non regulated DC for the plate and
screen electrodes PLUS, a special regulator that can be set between 15 and
60 volts for powering the regenerative detector. 
If you ever thought about assembling your first radio receiver, go ahead
right now , write down my e-mail address and send a request for the
REGENERATIVE RECEIVERS INFO PACKAGE,,, send mail request to arnie at rhc.cu,
again arnie at rhc.cu, and be ready to start gathering the parts for whatever
design you choose to start building !!! 

.. 

Trans Equatorial Propagation Season is now in full swing. Radio amateurs in
Brazil are reporting ham radio stations from Barbados in the Caribbean
appearing every afternoon. and the interesting fact is that those stations
are operating not on the standard HF bands but on 6 meters.. Here in Havana,
hams from Argentina are heard every late afternoon on 6 meters with
excellent signals, even when receiving them with just a full wave dipole
just 4 meters above the roof.TEP propagation was discovered by radio
amateurs, and so far has challenged ionospheric researchers as no one has a
solid explanation about how this unique propagation mode works. The fact is
that during peaks , TEP signals on frequencies as high as 220 and even 432
megaHertz have spanned phenomenal distances, and there is no doubt that this
is a ionospheric mode.Trans Equatorial Propagation has two yearly peaks, one
close to each of the equinoctial seasons.that is starting during early
February and early September..and it is quite independent of solar activity
!!! 
.. 
You are listening to the weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited coming to you
from Havana. solar flux is at very low levels, and that's good news for long
wave and medium wave broadcast band Dxers, who are enjoying excellent
propagation conditions on those two bands. Here in Havana I have logged
several Brazilian AM stations , that are very easy to find, because they use
the Portuguese language, something that stands out when scanning the AM
broadcast band here in the Caribbean.Colombian, Venezuelan and Central
American AM stations are easy to pick up here, but the Brazilians only come
in when propagation conditions are really good. 
And now , as always at the end of the program , here is Arnie Coro's Dxers
Unlimited's HF plus low band VHF 30 to 60 megaHertz propagation update and
forecast. Solar activity continue at bottom low levels, SIX days with ZERO
sunspots in a row. solar flux running around baseline 75 units, and the
daily maximum useable frequency curve shows a very low peak, something that
is very easy to understand because of the very low solar activity. Expect
Trans Equatorial Propagation conditions to peak up to latitude 30 degrees
North during the next three weeks, and be ready also for the impact of a
high speed solar wind gust expected to hit the Earth's magnetosphere by
Monday, and possibly generating a high latitude propagation disturbance. 
Do continue to enjoy this wonderful hobby amigos, and if you have any radio hobby related questions, want to share your experience with others or want to add our QSL card to your collection, just drop me an e-mail to arnie at rhc.cu, or send a postcard VIA AIR MAIL to Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba.