Buddipole Homepage: http://www.buddipole.com/

Solar Weather Website: http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/

NA6E Website: http://www.qsl.net/na6e/

K6DF Website: http://www.qsl.net/k6df/index.html

DX Summit:  http://www.dxsummit.fi/DxSpots.aspx

Radio World: http://www.radioworld.ca

Durham Radio Sales: http://www.durhamradio.com

Radio Amateurs Of Canada: http://www.rac.ca/

Northern Lights Radio Society: http://www.nlrs.org

Central States VHF Society: http://www.csvhfs.org/

QRP ARCI Webpage: http://www.qrparci.org/

Eastern Pennsylvania QRP Club: http://www.n3epa.org/

How Far Is It (Distance Calculator): http://www.indo.com/distance/

6 Metres: http://www.6mt.com/

Numbers Stations: http://www.spynumbers.com/

Small Wonder Labs: http://www.smallwonderlabs.com/

QRP Homebuilders Page: http://www.qrp.pops.net/

Canadian Hurricane Centre: http://www.ns.ec.gc.ca/weather/hurricane/index_e.html

QRP Swap Shop: http://qrp_swapshop.tripod.com/

PSK Site: http://aintel.bi.ehu.es/psk31.html

IOWA QRP Club: http://www.geocities.com/iaqrpjrnl/

QRP ARCI:  http://www.qrparci.org/

AMSAT: http://www.amsat.org/

Radio Habana Cuba: http://www.radiohc.org/

Alpha Tango Group Canada: http://www.geocities.com/at_canada_site// 

CFARS-Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System:  http://users.xplornet.com/~scrouse/cfars.htm

S.O.C Radio Club: http://www.qsl.net/soc/

Canadian DX Group: http://www.geocities.com/tcdx_group/

Lakehead Amateur Radio Club (L.A.R.C): http://www.larclub.net/

Salvation Army Team Emergency Network (SATERN): http://www.satern.org/

VE3SEC 10 meter beacon: http://www.qsl.net/ve3fal/ve3sec

Little Thunder QRP Club - VE3LTQ

Society For The Preservation of Amateur Radio- http://www.spar-hams.org/

Special thanks to Mike Roche at Hart and Huntington studio in Las Vegas for this great tattoo.

PropNET: If the band is open and nobody is transmitting, can anybody hear it?

Welcome to the next level of Amateur wireless innovation. PropNET is an ad-hoc wireless digital network established by experimenters who are excited to explore new frontiers in the invisible world around us.

Participants known as Probes will periodically transmit on an Anchor frequency (see list to the left). Any station that receives that transmission forwards the 'catch' to an Internet server that plots the event on a map hosted by findu (see Map Menu section to the left).

While an Amateur Radio license is required in order to be a transmitting participant (probes), unlicensed individuals are encouraged to participate as receive-only stations (lurkers), reporting what they capture. Click on the hyperlinks above to view real-time maps of participating stations.

Participation requires the use of a Windows-based computer with an available sound-card, a sound-card cable to connect your transceiver to your computer and the PropNetPSK client for your Windows-based computer. See the hyperlinks in the 'Quick Links' section to the left.

Additionally, you may wish to join the PropNET-Online mailing list that is found on YahooGroups.com. By doing so, you will be kept up to date on the project as a whole.

http://www.propnet.org/

This map was from September 24, 2008 and shows all the paths on 30 meters. I am running 25 watts into a dipole, as you can see I am heard by many stations, and I am hearing these stations as well.

This chart shows the stations hearing each other and reports signal and things like offset etc…

What is encoded in the PHG value?

Keyboard PSK31 operators will often exchange information about their stations. Exchanges are often encoded in repetitive “brag files” that include their location, power output, antenna type, etc. PropNET operation encodes much of this same information in the payload, some of it is in the PHG.APRS users will recognize the PHG code concept. In PropNET, however, the code has been expanded to include the number of ID transmissions per hour. PropNET PHG code is actually a PHGDRA/ code (appearing, in order: Power,Height,Gain,Directivity,Rate,Altitude).  The encoding of this information allows PropNET network participants to exchange station-information quickly and efficiently.  The encoding table is shown below:

In a typical PSK31 contact, an operator may pack their brag file with information that looks like this: "I am running 25 watts to a 4 element beam at 40 feet here in the high desert of Arizona"  A PropNET participant's station can convey the same information by exchanging "PHG526649" along with a 6-character Maidenhead Grid locator.

Notes:

1: Square root of the TX power.

2: Log2 (H/10), where H is the antenna height above the local average terrain.

3: Antenna gain dBi. If more than 9dBi, use A=10, B=11, C=12 etc.

4: Azimuth of main antenna lobe.

5: Transmissions per hour. If more than 9 per hour, use A=10, B=11, C=12 etc.

6: Log2(h/10), where h is the height of the antenna above sea level.

To "manually" decode the PropNET PHG code, enter it in the webform here: http://www.pearhead.org/PropNET_PHGRA_decoder

Well there is a small primer to PropNet and propagation studies, a techie level up from 10 meter cw beacons for sure.

Thanks to Jeff Steinkamp N7YG for letting me use some of his material for this article and thanks to the PropNet website.

Fred VE3FAL