PrePared Ham Forum is Back.

March 10, 2020 By ad 3 Comments

Sorry folks the PH forum has been down since Oct 2019 and just today got it back up and running no thanks to GoDaddy.

To Celebrate the resurrection, I plan on giving away some radios.

I have 2 Baofeng UV-5RTP radios I will be giving away in a contest, details to follow soon. https://amzn.to/38YfoF3

I will program these to be ready to go in your AO(Area of Operations) for all of the local repeaters.

To win you will need an Amature Radio License and a few other things to be able to enter, like liking and sharing the PH face page post on this contest ….

So stay tuned for more details.

North American SSB Sprint 9/22/2018

September 21, 2018 By ad 2 Comments

Dear Fellow Ham,

Just a quick note to let you know about a very fun, short (4 hour) contest happening this weekend. It is the North American SSB Sprint contest, which takes place this Saturday evening, September 22nd, 2018 (UTC: Sun Sept 23, 0000Z – 0359Z)

Door Prizes!

One unique feature of the NA SSB Sprint is the door prizes! Anyone with a submitted score of 1,500 points or greater is put into a drawing for a number of door prizes that have been provided by sponsors of the event! Making 50 contacts with 30 multipliers is all it would take to generate 1,500 points to qualify!

W.A.S. T-Shirt Award!

Also, there is an NA SSB Sprint Worked All States T-Shirt awarded to everyone who manages to work all 50 states during the event. That feat has actually been accomplished by several operators in the past! Imagine WAS in just 4 hours!!

Certificates and Trophies!

There are certificates and trophies in ALL of the power classes for ALL of the states and provinces. There is even a Team Competition with awards. Persons can form, name and register a 2 to 5-person team, such that the final scores from each of the 5 team members are added to generate a “Team Score”. Team members can be located anywhere. Register your team at https://ssbsprint.com/team-registration/

Unique QSY Rule:

This contest, as with other NA Sprints, has a unique QSY rule. If you call CQ, and someone answers your CQ, after that QSO has completed the person that called you gets that frequency and will then work the next caller, who will then get the frequency following that QSO. This has a couple of nice outcomes. If you want to call CQ, you can find a spot to do so because you don’t have the band full of stations just calling CQ, since frequencies get vacated. Also, after you call someone who is already on a frequency, when you complete that QSO, YOU GET THE FREQUENCY! Many times there will already be stations ready to work the next station, which in this case will be YOU! So you make two QSOs on that frequency.

For more information regarding this event, go to https://www.ssbsprint.comWe hope that you will be able to participate in and enjoy the NA SSB Sprint this weekend. Even part-time participation can put you in the running to receive a door prize and having your state on the air may just make it possible for someone to get WAS during the event.

73, Bob KW8N & NA SSB Sprint Contest Committee
https://www.ssbsprint.com

P.S. If you get a chance, please enter your planned activity at https://ssbsprint.com/planned-activity/my-planned-activity/ so that we can be sure that all States and Provinces will be on the air.

Amateur Radio Patiry Act- Send a automatically generated letter to your Reps

July 26, 2017 By ad Leave a Comment

Here is a link to send an automatic email to your representatives to allow amateur radio ops to erect a functional antennas in places like a HOA or restricted municipalities.

This was almost all the way through Congress last year until a Florida rep killed it

https://arrl.rallycongress.net/ctas/urge-us-senate-to-support-amateur-radio-parity-act

US House to Act on Amateur Radio Parity Act Bill, H.R. 1301

September 11, 2016 By ad 2 Comments

The next major step in the Amatuer Radio Parity Act

From our friends at ARRL

http://www.arrl.org/news/view/us-house-to-act-on-amateur-radio-parity-act-bill-h-r-1301?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

09/11/2016

The US House of Representatives will consider the Amateur Radio Parity Act, H.R. 1301, under a suspension of the rules on Monday, September 12. A suspension of the rules is a legislative procedure used to quickly pass non-controversial bills.

Speaking at the New England Division Convention on September 10 in Massachusetts, ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, expressed confidence that the bill would pass the House, but said the legislation would face additional hurdles in the US Senate.

In July, an amended version of the bill received a unanimous favorable report from members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. Before reporting the bill out of committee, the panel first voted to accept the amended language “in the nature of a substitute.” Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR), who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, said the substitute bill represented “a good balance” following months of meetings, hard work, and compromise, and he recommended the measure to his colleagues.

“The amendment guarantees that even in deed-restricted communities, Amateur Radio operators are able to use an effective outdoor antenna,” Walden said. “Without an effective antenna Amateur Radio operators are severely limited, so this amendment ensures that amateurs are free to pursue their passion wherever they live.”

The US Air Force reveals radical plan to ‘bomb the sky’ to improve radio reception

August 22, 2016 By ad 5 Comments

Maybe there is hope for Solar Minimum and HF propagation?
Shall we take up a donation for CubeSats ;)
CubeSats carrying ionized gas could create radio-reflecting plasma. This would occur in the ionosphere, which becomes denser at night.
Bouncing signals between ground and ionosphere can improve range

A fleet of tiny satellites could one day be used to detonate plasma bombs in Earth’s upper atmosphere to improve the range of radio communications.
The US Air Force has granted contracts to three research teams to develop the technology needed to do this, with hopes that CubeSats could carry massive amounts of ionized gas to the ionosphere to create radio-reflecting plasma.
The ionosphere begins roughly 40 miles above the surface and becomes denser with charged particles at night, allowing signals to travel much farther.

Survival/Disaster Preparedness, Emergency Communications, CERT, Ham Radio