Updated March 31st 2014 2015z

 

HOMEPAGE OF VE3FAL

QRP IS NOT FOR SISSIES

YOU CAN DO SO MUCH WITH SO LITTLE

 

Hello and welcome to my homepage, thanks for stopping in. My name is Fred Lesnick, my amateur radio call sign is VE3FAL, and I live in Thunder Bay, Ontario. My grid square is EN58hh.

Radio has been a hobby of mine for many years, and every hour that I spend playing radio is rewarding. My favorite digital mode is C.W. (Morse code) , yes, C.W.. Some of the other modes I enjoy are:

Slow Scan TV (S.S.T.V) , Radio Teletype (R.T.T.Y) , PSK , Satellites , APRS , Moon Bounce and Meteor Scatter.

Here are some of my favorite links:

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

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

NA6E Website: http://www.qsl.net/na6e/  (God Bless you Mary, you were a great friend)

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.ec.gc.ca/ouraganshurricanes/default.asp?lang=En&n=DA74FE64-1

H.A.R.C. QRP Swap Shop: http://www.halifax-arc.org

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

QRP ARCI:  http://www.qrparci.org/

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

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

CFARS-Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System:  http://www.cfars.ca/

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

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

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

VE3ONN Web Site (ARES): http://www.thunderbay.emergencyradio.ca/

Railroad Caboose Cars On The Air (R.R.C.C.O.T.A.): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rrccota/

Railroad Depots On The Air: (R.R.D.O.T.A.): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rrdota/

Radio Club 72: http://www.club72.su/

RU QRP Club: http://translate.google.ru/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=qrp.ru

HB-1A radio Users Group: http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/hb1a_radio_users/

Boundary waters Amateur Radio Club (B.W.A.R.C.): http://www.boreal.org/bwarc/

PODXS 070 PSK Club: http://www.podxs070.com/

How To Use an Antenna Tuner: http://www.hamuniverse.com/tuner.html

Ultra DX Home: http://ultradx.com/Home/tabid/83/Default.aspx

 

 

 

Little Thunder QRP Club - VE3LTQ

I hold the callsign for the Little Thunder QRP Club here in Thunder Bay. A few fellow amateurs who enjoy the art of QRP and homebrewing created the club. We are a no bylaws or dues collecting club, we simply meet to talk about various aspects of the QRP hobby. So listen for the club call on the air, and hope to work you soon. The Little Thunder QRP Club now holds the FISTS # 10325, so will be using that from time time in the contests.

You can visit the club website:

Little Thunder QRP Club: http://my.tbaytel.net/flesnick/LittleThunderQRPClub.htm

 

VA3SBB 10 Meter Propagation Beacon (No longer in service)

However the new call sign of VE3SEC is now being used by myself for my 10 meter propagation testing from Thunder Bay Ontario EN58hh. If you hear VE3SEC on 28.241 please do not hesitate to send your report to.

Fred Lesnick

2060 Hwy 61

Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada

P7J1B9

or email to : [email protected] or [email protected]

 

SOME OF THE CLUBS I BELONG TO (VE3FAL)
QRP CANADA #11			MQFD #17			NORTHWEST QRP #493
ALASKA QRP #382			AMSAT #33629			N.J. QRP #140
MI QRP #M1610			070 CLUB #355			GQRP #7560
FISTS #2337			SIX CLUB #176			YLISSB # 15214
TEN-TEN #58940			SPAR #79			SOC #107
FP QRP #101			RAC #13958			NAQCC #23
SKCC #50

 

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

 

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…

Tx Call	Tx Grid	Rx Call	Rx Grid	Distance	band	offset	imd	Time Heard (UTC)
K4RKM	EM85vf	N0OBG	EM48ro	515.5	HG	-0005	-26	04/08/2008 20:16:29
VE3FAL	EN58hh	W3GXT	FM19ol	872.2	HG	-0148	D60	04/08/2008 20:16:25
N0OBG	EM48ro	N0RQ	EM13rg	498.0	HG	+0003	D99	04/08/2008 20:16
N0OBG	EM48ro	W3GXT	FM19ol	739.4	HG	-0154	D80	04/08/2008 20:16
N0OBG	EM48ro	W3ABW	FN20ot	849.5	HG	-0007	D80	04/08/2008 20:16
N0OBG	EM48ro	WA6MTZ	DM14pw	1464.6	HG	-0011	D50	04/08/2008 20:15:59
N0OBG	EM48ro	K4RKM	EM85vf	515.5	HG	+0004	-25	04/08/2008 20:15:58
K5OK	EM13kf	WA6MTZ	DM14pw	1124.6	HG	-0072	D80	04/08/2008 20:15:21
K5OK	EM13kf	N0OBG	EM48ro	522.5	HG	-0062	-25	04/08/2008 20:15:21
K5OK	EM13kf	W3ABW	FN20ot	1333.4	HG	-0068	D60	04/08/2008 20:15:20
W3GXT	FM19ol	EN64db	EN64db	644.6	HG	+0197	D99	04/08/2008 20:14:41
W3GXT	FM19ol	VE3FAL	EN58hh	872.2	HG	+0148	D70	04/08/2008 20:14:41
W3GXT	FM19ol	WE2M	EL99lc	756.1	HG	+0029	-24	04/08/2008 20:14:40
W3GXT	FM19ol	WE2M	EL99lc	756.1	HG	+0029	-20	04/08/2008 20:14:40

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:

 

Code>	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Note
Power	0	1	4	9	16	25	36	49	64	81	1
Height	10	20	40	80	160	320	640	1280	2560	5120	2
Gain	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	3
Az	Omni	NE	E	SE	S	SW	W	NW	N		4
Rate	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	5
ASL	10	20	40	80	160	320	640	1280	2560	5120	6

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.

S.K.C.C.  (W.E.S) Weekend Sprint Junk Box Key

 

 

 

http://www.nativesuntours.com/contact-us.html

Native Sun Tours

5300 S. Cherokee Way, Homosassa, FL 34448

Directions: From US 19, turn west on Halls River Road. Turn left on Fishbowl going past the Homosassa Wildlife Park. Stay on Fishbowl, which curves by the water tower and becomes Yulee Drive. Continue past the Sugar Mill ruins on your right for approx. 1 mile. Native Sun Tours is located at MacRae's on the Homosassa River.

 

This is the power plant that makes this thing hum across the water

 

Visit Capt. Russ Holliday and have him take you on a most enjoyable and thrilling ride through the everglades and out to The Gulf Of Mexico. He will show you and explain to you about the wonderful aquatic and marine life that you see as you meander through the everglades.

 

Thanks Capt. Russ for a great tour

Fred and Teresa

http://radar-america.blogspot.ca/