From jldhjr at verizon.net Sat Sep 2 00:08:37 2006
From: jldhjr at verizon.net (Jim Harrington)
Date: Sat Sep 2 00:10:07 2006
Subject: [HCRA] Sept meeting
Message-ID: <44F903C5.80407@verizon.net>
Good Evening All:
Well despite a few glitches the meeting seemed to be a success! I
counted 66 people, all seemed to be happy. Speaker was interesting
(sorry I couldn't hear everything he said). Now we only have to get
better.. a goal for October :-)
Jim KB1JVF
From mdechristopher at boston-redsox.net Mon Sep 4 09:23:33 2006
From: mdechristopher at boston-redsox.net (Mike DeChristopher)
Date: Mon Sep 4 09:25:14 2006
Subject: [HCRA] DX Operations, Sept.
Message-ID: <20060904132513.9642C859C1C@mailman.qth.net>
Hi everyone,
Was tuning down the bands yesterday and heard a few interesting prefixes. Checked what I had written down at the beginning of the month, and saw there are quite a few DXpeditions still out there (the big ones should be popping up around CQWW).
S79RC, Seychelles, is still on the air - all bands, I don't know if it is CW or SSB or both.
OJ0LA, Market Reef, is 160-10, SSB, CW, and RTTY.
SV5/GM3YOR, Dodecanese, is all bands, CW only.
7Q7CE, Malawi, is 80-10, SSB only.
CU8/F8AYU, Azores, on 40 and 20 CW and SSB.
V5/G3RWF, Namibia, didn't list any information, but keep an eye on the cluster.
SV9/G8VHB, Crete, 20-10m, says only running 100W, but you should hear him.
Also, for you RTTY guys, Sept. 23-24 is the CQWW RTTY contest. Tajikistan will be on the air, as will the Galapagos, Aland Island (five stations from there) and the Canary Islands. I think I also saw a J7R (Dominica) in there as well.
I'll have my eye to the cluster, especially now that we are getting closer to CQWW, the DXpeditions should be getting to their prefixes and setting up their stations. If anyone works something interesting, give me a shout...I need a few of those!
-------------------------------------------------
Mike DeChristopher, K1KAA
http://mdechristopher.googlepages.com
From sandmanofcs at earthlink.net Tue Sep 5 17:41:00 2006
From: sandmanofcs at earthlink.net (Eric Richardson)
Date: Tue Sep 5 17:42:23 2006
Subject: [HCRA] Zerobeat Articles
Message-ID: <380-2200692521410781@earthlink.net>
Greetings all!
Just a reminder that ANYBODY can submit articles for ZB. Right now, it's
pretty lean for articles. Rest assured that just about all articles will be
used. If I can't use it one month, and it's not date specific, I will use
it another month.
It doesn't have to be a huge article, it can only be a few paragraphs. I
know there are a few good writers out there, so let us see who you are!
73's
KB1JVI
Eric Richardson
From computercare at comcast.net Mon Sep 11 19:36:32 2006
From: computercare at comcast.net (Larry Krainson)
Date: Mon Sep 11 19:38:33 2006
Subject: [HCRA] Ham Shack Pictures
Message-ID: <00c201c6d5fb$1daafad0$8500a8c0@Larry>
The HCRA Newsletter; Zero Beat; would like to showcase two ham shacks per
month. If you are interested in sharing your shack pictures (we'd all like
to see), please take a digital picture and give a description with make and
model numbers of all rigs and visible accessories. Any other comments are
welcome too.
Please email them to: wb1dby@comcast.net
The ZB deadline for October publication is coming soon, so please hurry.
Thank you & 73,
Larry - WB1DBY
From djs13 at hotmail.com Fri Sep 22 18:11:58 2006
From: djs13 at hotmail.com (Daniel Sullivan)
Date: Fri Sep 22 18:15:10 2006
Subject: [HCRA] FW: India Day 1 Pics
Message-ID:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ko1d/sets/72157594295454463/
Ok the much awaiting organization of pictures has begun. A couple of the
ones I had meant to dump got left in but oh well. This is a photographic
sample of what I saw traveling from Chennai, Tamil Nadu on the Southeast
Coast of India to just east of the Tamil Nadu / Kerala border. I did not
take pictures overnight on this day. Later one I do have some sunrise shots.
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/tamilnadu/tamilnaduroads.htm This is a map
of Tamil Nadu and if you look at the map on the right is Chennai (Madras).
Follow the highway to the middle of the Map where it says Salem. We got
there just after Midnight. Naturally those are the pics that will appear in
Day 2.
Give me feedback and I hope you enjoy.
Dan
From djs13 at hotmail.com Sat Sep 23 08:00:13 2006
From: djs13 at hotmail.com (Daniel Sullivan)
Date: Sat Sep 23 08:03:27 2006
Subject: [HCRA] India Day 2
Message-ID:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ko1d/sets/72157594296059645/
Well here are pictures of Day 2 in India. Amazing what can be done for a few
hours in the morning when you suffer from jet lag!
We arrived in Ernakulam in Kerala at about 4 am and slept a few hours before
taking in the sights. The sights being Ft Kochin, a 16th century
Portuguese/Dutch/English fort used by the local royals and the colonial
administrators to run the region; the Backwaters, a scenic web of waterways
long the coast of India just north of Ernakulam and Ft Kochin; and then the
Onam Festival in Ernakulam, which is explained here:
http://www.malayalifestivals.dgreetings.com/malayalifestivals/onam/ . We
left about 8 or 9 pm for a long ride to Madurai back in Tamil Nadu.
For a map go here: http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/kerala/keralaroads.htm
Look in the middle of the map for Hwy 47 and follow that west and then
south. You will find Ernakulam and Kochin and that is where we were. Then I
believe we took Hwy 49 back towards Tamil Nadu which is a different set of
pictures.
Dan S
From djs13 at hotmail.com Sun Sep 24 09:55:19 2006
From: djs13 at hotmail.com (Daniel Sullivan)
Date: Sun Sep 24 09:58:40 2006
Subject: [HCRA] India Continues
Message-ID:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ko1d/sets/72157594297425598/
Well here is Day 3 in India. We did not mess around and left from Ernakulam,
Kerala for the 10+ hour trek back over the mountains to Madurai in Tamil
Nadu. Our Eventual goal would be the small village of Rangiem in Southern
Tamil Nadu another couple hours from Madurai. There were some astounding
sights, and some rather hair raising experiences, zipping through the
mountains at night. We got lost once, just in case our kidneys had missed
any of the potholes the first time we got to explore them again; we awoke to
what is one of the most amazing sunrises I have ever seen, and we arrived at
a bustling city mid-morning for a break. Here I decided to take some time to
rest and jet lag was seriously starting to hit home and I hadn't slept much
in the minivan. That explains why there are so few pictures in this batch.
Well that and most of the pictures I have were shot from a moving vehicle so
a lot of the pictures were blurred.
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/tamilnadu/tamilnaduroads.htm The map du
jour. If you look at the map, on the right side near the coast you will see
Pudukkottai northeast of Madurai. The village of Rangiem where we ended the
day is around there. We would have started the day along Hwy 49 I guess or
some of the back roads around there to get from Ernakulam to Madurai.
Some pictures are tilted because, well, the moving vehicle was tilted. Some
are noisy but that seems to be a quirk of the Canon S3IS. It gets some noise
at the higher ISO settings (400 and 800) and apparently a lot of digital
cameras have this issue (unless you want to spend more than 1000USD for high
end stuff.) The next set will be the village, some scenes around the village
and the much awaited start of the wedding preparations!
Dan S
From djs13 at hotmail.com Sun Sep 24 19:40:54 2006
From: djs13 at hotmail.com (Daniel Sullivan)
Date: Sun Sep 24 19:44:20 2006
Subject: [HCRA] India the saga continues
Message-ID:
As I am out of town tomorrow for work I decided to put a second set up
tonight. Here are the pictures from Day 4 of our trip in India.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ko1d/sets/72157594298234479/
The day began in Ragiem, Tamil Nadu, India and from there we went exploring.
We checked out the family temple about 40 minutes away from Rangiem. Then we
headed out towards Madurai to see an ancient Jainna Temple built into the
side of a mountain. They carved out the temple from solid rock with such
precision that humming in a certain tone as part of their chanting will
cause the temple to resonate and amplify the note. From there we had lunch
in Pudokkotai and headed back to the village.
Back in the village people were setting up for the wedding. They built a
podium for the ceremony to occur on. Underneath they placed some mud and
used a rice paste to put a decoration under the bride and groom to bless
their union. Blessings from the gods and ancestors were prayed for over the
various articles of clothing and jewelry to be worn by the bride and groom
at the engagement ceremony and wedding.
I'll post more when I get back from my business trip.
Dan Sullivan
From jmullen at rockys.com Sun Sep 24 20:39:58 2006
From: jmullen at rockys.com (Jim Mullen)
Date: Sun Sep 24 20:43:30 2006
Subject: [HCRA] October Zero Beat is on the web!
Message-ID: <001b01c6e03b$21488190$0202a8c0@internal.rockys.com>
Hi everyone,
The October issue of Zero Beat is on the web and in the mail. Can't wait for
your USPS copy? Click this link: http://www.hcra.org/zerobeat/oct06.pdf and
download and read it right now.
Let's say hello to our new editor, Larry - WB1DBY. Larry volunteered to
rejoin the HCRA board as editor allowing Eric - KB1JVI to move over into the
vacant membership position. Larry brings along a new layout for ZB also. I'm
sure you will see even more changes in the coming months. If you have any
articles at all please send them off to Larry for inclusion in future
editions.
We wish the best of luck to both Larry and Eric in their new positions.
This month's guest speaker is none other than Chuck Wyrick, N1UC. Chuck is
the manager of HRO (the candy store) in Salem, NH and is also an active ham
extraordinaire. Join N1UC for an interesting evening of what's new, what's
good, and what's happening in the world of ham radio.
Next month (November) brings up the annual HCRA auction. The auction is
HCRA's fun event of the year, usually attended by well over 100 folks
bringing or looking for a bargain. We are also looking for donations to the
auction, these donations allow us to keep providing great events for the
membership. We have already had two very nice donations to date. Gary, AA1UE
gave me an entire SUV full of stuff at the last meeting and Rocky's gave me
a couple of boxes of old radios found in a house that was being cleaned out.
Do you have anything you would like to donate? We will even pick it up! Call
Jim (that's me!) at 413-245-3228 and arrange for relief from your junque.
The raffle prize at the auction will be an Icom IC-718, HF base station. For
as little as a $1 ticket (a book of 6 for $5) you could be the winner.
Tickets will be on sale at the October meeting as well as on auction night.
There is a limited number so get yours early.
Enjoy your hobby - see you at the next meeting,
Jim, KK1W
From djs13 at hotmail.com Mon Sep 25 07:31:08 2006
From: djs13 at hotmail.com (Daniel Sullivan)
Date: Mon Sep 25 07:34:32 2006
Subject: [HCRA] FW: Fwd: the disappearance of short wave broadcasting
Message-ID:
----Original Message Follows----
From: Richard Rucker
To: Ch91 outreach
Subject: Fwd: the disappearance of short wave broadcasting
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 07:22:29 -0400
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Norm Gertz"
Date: September 24, 2006
SWLing on way out?
By Doreen Carvajal
International Herald Tribune
September 24, 2006
Paris
Perhaps it is fitting that a 50-second video clip of an ear-shattering
explosion of 13 shortwave radio antenna towers on the Spanish Costa Brava
is
getting viewers on the Web site YouTube.
It took 32 pounds, or 14.5 kilograms, of dynamite to fell the massive
antennas, which long relayed news from the United States to the former
Soviet Union. But the most powerful force behind the demolition was the
rapidly shifting landscape of radio, where listeners are migrating toward
MP3 players, Internet radio and podcasting.
The felling of the towers was the latest noisy outburst of a cost- cutting
trend that is silencing the familiar and crackly shortwave voices that leap
across the globe through the clear night sky in times of crisis and Cold
War, tsunami and Thai coup.
In January, the Finnish public broadcaster YLE will end all of its
shortwave
broadcasts with the goal of saving money and diverting resources to online
news services.
Next month, Germany's public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, will end its
German-language shortwave broadcasts aimed at Canada and the United States.
The Japanese public broadcaster, NHK, and the Korean Broadcasting System
are
also reducing shortwave services.
The leading international broadcaster, the BBC World Service, is pursuing a
diversification strategy that regards the future in stark terms. "Audience
needs are changing and technology is moving rapidly," reads the news
service's explanation of its strategy through 2010. "Shortwave is also
declining at a fast pace and if we don't change, we will die."
Critics of the retreat warn, however, that shortwave is the most reliable
communications medium of last resort. They point out that it can allow
determined broadcasters to reach across borders even when repressive
national regimes halt FM broadcasts, block Internet sites and jam
television
programming.
"Shortwave does not respect boundaries and reaches the rich and poor," said
Graham Mytton, former head of the BBC's audience research unit and now a
media consultant. "Most international broadcasters think things are driven
by technology, but not entirely. They're driven by politics and local media
circumstances. Their mistake is they downplay shortwave because they're
living in developed societies. But they don't go to rural areas like
Nigeria, where everyone has a shortwave radio."
Smaller international broadcasters with more limited resources are phasing
out shortwave entirely. Slovak Radio silenced its shortwave programming in
July, and Swiss Radio International ended shortwave broadcasts two years
ago
to transform into an online news service, www.swissinfo.org.
In the meantime, all of the world's largest international broadcasters,
from
the United States, France, Germany, England and the Netherlands, are
cutting
back or reviewing precious resources devoted to shortwave radio.
"The future of shortwave radio is quite clear," said Guido Baumhauer,
director of strategy and distribution for Deutsche Welle, or DW, in
Germany.
"It's all going down when it comes to the consumers."
With the average age of its shortwave listeners hovering at about 50, DW
expects to save more than ?10 million, or $12.78 million, a year by
reducing
shortwave services, according to Baumhauer, who said the money would be
invested in other services like Internet radio and podcasting.
The state-subsidized broadcaster is phasing out shortwave programs for
North
America and the Balkans and reducing daily transmissions of shortwave
programs to 160 hours from 200.
"In the U.S., if people are really into German they have so many other ways
to get consumer information," Baumhauer said. "Considering the costs
related
to the transmission, there's no point in continuing."
The history of shortwave radio dates to 1927, when Philips Laboratories of
the Netherlands transmitted shortwave broadcasts from Eindhoven to the
Dutch
East Indies.
The BBC trailed behind with the founding of the BBC Empire Service in 1932.
Shortwave radio provided a vital alternative voice in wartime Europe. Radio
Oranje, for example, was set up in London after the German occupation of
the
Netherlands to broadcast uncensored news. Through the Cold War years,
international broadcasters used shortwave to shout over the Iron Curtain.
While held in his luxury villa during an attempted coup d'état, the former
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev listened to shortwave transmissions of the
BBC and Voice of America.
But after the Berlin Wall fell and new media forms flourished, there was
less need for shortwave transmissions in developed countries.
International broadcasters like RFI of France and the BBC started striking
hundreds of partnership agreements with local FM stations to rebroadcast
their programs with clearer sound.
With the advance of technology, it has also become increasingly difficult
to
say what a radio is, since it can be distributed through digital
television,
mobile phones, computers or satellite radio, according to Michael Mullane
of
the European Broadcasting Union for public broadcasters in Geneva.
The BBC eliminated its North American shortwave transmissions in 2001, when
there were still an average of more than two million listeners.
But with FM rebroadcast agreements with local stations, the BBC now has
five
million listeners in Canada and the United States, according to Michael
Gardner, a spokesman for the BBC.
The BBC is constantly reviewing its expenses in connection with shortwave
radio, he said, but in the meantime, the news service still reaches
two-thirds of its weekly 163 million radio listeners through shortwave.
This year, the BBC actually posted an increase of about five million
shortwave listeners in rural areas of Africa and Asia, but Gardner says the
increase amounted to existing listeners who were surveyed for the first
time
in Myanmar.
David Hollyer, former managing director in Spain for the U.S. government's
Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, is wistful about the long-term
consequences of mothballing and destroying shortwave transmitters.
The transmitters in Spain, he argued, could have been deployed to broadcast
to Central Asia to reach a Muslim population.
Instead, with the changing political climate, U.S. authorities closed the
station in 2003, ended its lease, and turned over the towers to Spain.
When Hollyer watches the amateur YouTube video of the familiar towers
crumbling in clouds of smoke, it reminds him of an Edwin Markham poem.
"To paraphrase," he said, "the towers went down with a great shout upon the
hills and left a lonesome place against the sky."
From djs13 at hotmail.com Wed Sep 27 20:23:51 2006
From: djs13 at hotmail.com (Daniel Sullivan)
Date: Wed Sep 27 20:27:40 2006
Subject: [HCRA] India: The engagement day
Message-ID:
Well the day of the engagement finally arrived and it was a remarkable
affair. We went from Rangiem to Madurai for the ceremony. We all piled into
a couple of vans and cars and then sped off to the restaurant/hall where the
ceremony was held. After the bride and groom and their families were
situated, the groom's family placed all the gifts and items to be used in
the following days wedding out for blessings.
Then the bride sought blessings from both families with the climax being the
groom placing the engagement ring on her finger.
That night everyone was in Rangiem so that the groom's family could fetch
the bride from her "home" to their home. Since Maha was from outside the
village they used an alternative house for this purpose. The bride would
spend the night in a room at her future in laws house awaiting the wedding
day while the groom was kept a safely away from her .
In the interregnum we took trip into Madurai to see this impressive temple.
I do not have pictures because it was raining and I did not want to ruin my
camera. Naturally the rain stopped at the right time, when I was furthest
from my camera and the best photo opportunity presented itself. Hopefully YC
has some good pictures of the temple.
That night they had a cultural night sponsored by Nara's cousins and
fireworks. It was quite the show in Rangiem.
Well here are the pictures so on with the show!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ko1d/sets/72157594302530304/
From djs13 at hotmail.com Thu Sep 28 19:43:28 2006
From: djs13 at hotmail.com (Daniel Sullivan)
Date: Thu Sep 28 19:47:19 2006
Subject: [HCRA] FW: The Wedding Day
Message-ID:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ko1d/sets/72157594303871827/
Well finally we are up to the big day. It was a lovely day with a bright sun
and wonderful surroundings with family and friends. The guys were gifted
doaties and shirts to wear, while the girls were gifted beautiful saris.
The priest from the village came and presided over the ceremony which lasted
about 4 hours. At first the groom received gifts and blessings. Then the
bride received gifts and blessings. The groom returned and prepared for the
brides return through prayers. The bride returned, the families "formally
met" and the couple was married receiving gifts and blessings. Quite the
event.
After the wedding we had a wonderful meal and then, sadly, it was off to
Trichy and the train station for an overnight ride to Chennai. That is
another story for another e-mail.
Dan Sullivan
From computercare at comcast.net Fri Sep 29 08:57:52 2006
From: computercare at comcast.net (Larry Krainson)
Date: Fri Sep 29 09:01:40 2006
Subject: [HCRA] Perfect for hamming
Message-ID: <009901c6e3c6$e03be810$8500a8c0@Larry>
I have a customer that has a laptop for sale.
Here's the web site with the specs:
http://www.epinions.com/Toshiba_Satellite_1805_S274_PIII_1100MHz___20GB___256MB___15_TFT___WinXP___Notebook_Computer__Notebooks_PS183U_00JRSX/display_~full_specs
It's in near excellent condition. It would be perfect for someone doing psk
or other modes or even using as a computer. He also is including a wireless
card, manuals, cd's etc. that came with it.
If anyone is interested, please drop me an email and I will give you his
information so that you can contact him direct.
73,
Larry - WB1DBY