Longest line of sight paths

This came as a real surprise to me. I was expecting the longest line of sight paths on the planet to be around 120km, whereas they are over 500km, which I find almost incredible. 

This was a link on the Amateur radio Weekly email that came yesterday.

See https://alltheviews.world/

See https://daily.hamweekly.com/

Very clever people

Thanks to Amateur Radio Weekly, I have been watching a video showing how someone uses a microcontroller as a TX and RX just by writing code. These chips are not intended to do this at all. To me this is magic! 

I would not know where to start, HI.

Detecting life in outer space - NOT amateur radio

As far as I know SETI, the search for intelligent life in outer space, has been going for about 60 years without success. 

According to a link in Amateur Radio Weekly there may be another technique. If we find intelligent life "out there" it could/should have a profound effect on life on Earth. 

Excuse the journalism in the link!

IC-705 start-up screen

Amateur Radio Weekly has a piece by G7UFO showing how to use your QSL card as the IC-705 start-up screen. 

Basically you have to save the file at the right size as a BMP file on an SD card.

Amateur Radio Weekly newsletter

This comes as a free email newsletter. It is a good source of amateur radio data.

See https://hamweekly.com/ . 

ICOM future plans

On Amateur Radio Weekly there was a bit about the future plans of ICOM.

Amateur Radio Weekly comes to me each Saturday as a free email newsletter.

See https://www.icomjapan.com/api/download.php?post_id=3823&fl=JTJGdXBsb2FkcyUyRmNvbXBhbnklMkZJY29tJTIwSW5jJTIwTWVkaXVtJTIwVGVybSUyMEJ1c2luZXNzJTIwUGxhbiUyMDIwMjZfRU5HX01heTIwMjMucGRm. 

Amateur Radio Weekly

Thus comes to me as an email on Saturdays. It is a precis of amateur radio news and very good it is. There are links to the originating articles.

See https://hamweekly.com/ .

Online radio magazines

Amateur Radio Weekly has reminded us that several radio magazines (some very old) are available online.

Although this is an American website, quite a few magazines are from other countries.

See https://www.americanradiohistory.com/

Transformative effect of FT8

There is an ongoing debate about FT8, some saying it is great and some hating it. In this country (the UK) some liken it to Marmite, the yeast extract in a jar that some love and others hate.

Yes, there is a danger that real chats will become a thing of the past and casual listeners will not chance upon amateur radio as many of us did years ago. On the other hand all FT8 operation is concentrated with a few kilohertz on each band and it is widely monitored, so the chances of receiving a station are far greater than on SSB and CW. Also, FT8 works with weaker signals than those on SSB or CW. I like it. It is hard to believe I was copying VK on 10m FT8 earlier at sunspot minimum with a very much compromised antenna. In the past most would have given up the band as "dead" and moved more LF.

See https://www.flexradio.com/ft8-tipping-point-for-ham-radio/?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Amateur Radio Weekly

Most weeks I read Amateur Radio Weekly to see what is happening in the world of amateur radio. There are usually news items of interest.

WWWB shutdown?

Amateur Radio Weekly reports that President Trump has announced the possible shutdown of WWWB next year. Perhaps he doesn't realise that about 50 million devices in the USA use this to synchronise time.

Another decision by a genius?

See https://swling.com/blog/2018/08/synchronizing-atomic-clocks-final-tock-time-may-no-longer-be-synchronous/?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

10W moonbounce

Amateur Radio Weekly relays that a UK Foundation Licence holder using 10W has had a successful QSO "off the moon".

See https://www.essexham.co.uk/news/essex-eme-success.html?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

New portable SDR transceiver

Amateur Radio Weekly reports on a new portable SDR transceiver due out in August this year. Price is expected to be less than $500.

See http://www.qrpblog.com/2016/04/esdr-new-portable-sdr-hf-transceiver.html?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Amateur Radio Weekly

Yesterday I subscribed to this online newsletter. It is also available every Saturday on www.amateurradio.com

One of the items was about Deutche Welle (German broadcaster) vacating a slot in the 49m band. A group of radio amateurs have obtained permission to use a 10kW commercial station there. This is their website http://www.channel292.de/ . Best of luck to them!