Ranger 3: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

Ranger 3: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

Above link is for a 60's spacecraft program called Ranger. Ranger missions crashed into the moon while making live television transmissions toward the end. Idea being that even "standard definition" TV (I don't have frame rates and resolutions for this yet) was superior to the earth-based telescopic observations of the day.

Now, Ranger 3 carried a "hard lander" built of -- get this -- ordinary balsa wood.

I am going to have to check this out.

10m net

10m Fred's Memorial Net, Wed 8:pm 28.446 MHz USB K5JVS Jack

I saw this net listing on the OK Section ARRL website.

Anyone worked it ?

New Posts

If anyone is interested, I put some new stuff on my blog, kd5njr.blogspot.com

Leave a comment if you like. I'm always looking for stuff (blogs, web links, etc.)

a) topics for nets.
b) space, astronomy, aviation stuff
c) ham stuff

73
Scott

Propagation Alert

This from Radio Cuba's resident Ham Radio / SWL expert... 73 Scott

Special Sporadic E layer openings alert !!!

The Earth's transit right trough the debris left by Halley Comet will very likely enhance the possibilities of highly ionized clouds forming at altitudes between 90 and 150 kilometers during late May 5 , the whole day May 6 and part of May 7.
The "cometary dust origin theory of sporadic E clouds" , may see a great chance
of been confirmed, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, where the number of expected visual meteor sightings will be up to 30 an hour during the peak times on May 6, but , I must add that the chances of enhaced ionization at E layer altitudes are much higher than what can be expected from the optical observations, because small size meteors, are much more likely to create ionized patches that may combine blown by the high altitude ionospheric winds and turn into compact highly ionized clouds capable of returning back to Earth radio waves on frequencies as high as the 2 meters of 144 to 148 megaHertz amateur band.

Ham Radio Breakfast

Still on for tomorrow (Saturday May 2) morning ?

The Benton Harbor Lunch Box

Heathkit used to make these portable units for 10, 6 and 2m AM back when.
Link: http://home.frognet.net/~mcfadden/wd8rif/hw29.htm

I've seen them from time to time at Hamfests, and typically (not always) they look pretty rough with either frayed or incomplete wiring harness, no mic, so on and so forth.

Anyone have a 'complete' unit ? Anyone have one on the air ?

Scott's Blog

Doesn't look like Stan has added much of late, so I'll let you guys know that I posted a bit of stuff at my blog, http://kd5njr.blogspot.com/

Gene has some good stuff over at his site as well. Check it out, http://ae5ft.blogspot.com .
Shortwave listening, some new modes for FM rigs, and vertical antennas.

Hamfest Day 1

Saw a lot of good friends and tons of old junk at Hamfest this afternoon.

Leave a reply if you saw or brought something that you thought was particularly interesting.

So far, I picked up a Comet SMA24 whip antenna for HTs. Hoping to pick up the repeater better on my walks. Pack tomorrow for more trash and treasures.

73
Scott
KD5NJR

Poster for Green Country Hamfest

Guys,

Tiffany made us a tri-fold poster to use at the Hamfest. Has the club name, meetings, nets, other pertinent information, etc. Should complement the banner. We can put it next, above, whatever.

If you have some photos of recent (or not) BAARC activities, please bring them and a bit of scotch tape. If we have too many photos, we can set them along the edge of the table.

I was going to print up some flyers to give away, but I'm running out of steam for this evening. If someone wants to run some off, that would be a great way to keep things fresh in one's memory after the hustle and bustle of Hamfest is gone.

See everyone tomorrow afternoon / evening, Saturday, etc.

Thanks, Scott
KD5NJR

proposed text for flyers I didn't finish...


BAARC / W5BBS

MEETINGS

Club Meetings are the first Monday of the Month.
7 pm at the Community Center. 1500 S. Main in Broken Arrow.
Details: www.w5bbs.org

The Saturday Morning Breakfast is held first Saturday morning of the Month.
8 am at the Golden Corral.
71st & Mingo in Tulsa.
Details: ke5lep.blogspot.com

FOXHUNTS are back!
About monthly. Saturday mornings. Details on nets.

Field Day. 4th full weekend in June.

NETS

MON: 146.910 MHz (-) 88.5 PL
8 pm. Info, Swap, Trade

WED: 146.910 MHz (-) 88.5 PL
7 pm. Youth at Heart*

FRI: 146.910 MHz (-) 88.5 PL
7 pm. Youth at Heart*

SAT: 28.355 MHz SSB simplex
7 pm. (Techs & Generals)

Also: Tulsa Tech Net
Details: tulsatechnet.blogspot.com

* for ages 8 to 80.


REPEATERS

BA:
TIGER HILL 71st & Lynn Lane
146.910 MHz (- .6 MHz) 88.5 PL

TIGER HILL 71st & Lynn Lane
444.000 MHz (+5 MHz) 88.5 PL

BIXBY:
Leonard Mountain
145.450 MHz (- .6 MHz)

Leonard Mountain
443.600 MHz (+5 MHz)

See website for repeater status

Simplex NET on 146.550

Everyone is invited to join the fun on the Simplex Net

Go to 146.55o 2M FM Saturday Night at 9:00 PM

The net doing great!

HDTV Antenna

Here is a technical link from Butch(KD5RSS)

http://wa5vjb.com/references/CheapYagi4HDTV.pdf

It might be helpful for your TV.

General Class CW Transmitter

click to enlarge

http://www.sparkbangbuzz.com/easy-ten/easy-ten.htm





Visit this web site

All About Coax Cable

Tom(KE5NCP) reminded me about this great site for coax cable information.

Thank you Tom.

http://www.ocarc.ca/coax.htm

View Blog in other languages

To view the blog in another language

http://translate.google.com/

then type: ke5lep.blogspot.com

... we support English as our language ...this is for "DX QSO's"

Local Area Networks

Above: Some common LAN designs. Cick sketch to enlarge.

So, I found myself doodling around a bit with the pencil and grid pad...

If you're reading this blog, then of course, you computer is connected to the Internet.
And, if you're not using an internal modem or an external modem with a serial cable, then you're using a Local Area Network (LAN.)

A popular format for these networks is the Ethernet (IEEE 802.11) using CAT-5 cable. That is what I'm showing at the top of the sketch in Figure (a). You've got a PC, a modem (cable or DSL for phone) and a small Ethernet hub to connect them together. Sometimes, the hub (or a small IP switch) is built into the DSL or cable modem. From their you go across the cable or phone company until you get onto the Internet.

A more complicated (and cooler because it uses RF) solution let's you access the Internet without running a network cable from the PC to the modem. In these "wi-fi" or wireless networks, a popular format is IEEE 802.11g. Many folks have those small blue Linksys WRT54G boxes and wireless cards installed in their computers. Did you know that these units share spectrum with the 2.4 GHz ham band ? The "wireless access point" (aka wireless router) typically contains antennas (1 or 2) an IP router (more about that later) TX and RX equipment and a few Ethernet ports. Being microwaves, you're mileage may vary, but you can get around 100' of range or so. Compare that with 300 ft. for the CAT-5 cables. Not bad.

Figure 'C' shows a DeLuxe setup. Long story short, you can use hubs and switches to segment your network by location or by task. Note I put in a dedicated AP for the Ham Internet (Hinternet) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_speed_multimedia

I've been reading up on what can be done with the Hinternet. I mentioned one club's experiments in a previous post. I'll report back with more later.

In the meanwhile, how advanced of a wifi setup do you have now ?
My setup strongly resembles Figure B.
I know a couple Hams that work from home that have setups more like C.
If you're back at Figure A and have questions, please let me know.

73
Scott
KD5NJR

Hams do wi-fi to/from airplane and other places

Take a look at this webpage:
http://www.yars.org/wifi/
and for some more background
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/high-speed-digital/
and of course, a wiki entry on the "Hinternet" "Ham" + "Internet"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_Multimedia

I've got some thoughts on using this technology in amateur radio locally. I'm mulling over how to compress and summarize them into bite-sized 'blog-ready' format. Some of you guys have a 'preview' version in your email in-box.

Out of curiosity, have any of our number worked with wireless LANs (802.11 b/g) much ?
I suspect a lot of folks have the popular Linksys WRT54G plugged in right next to the cable modem...

I will make the assumption most everyone reading the blog does so over DSL or cable connections... any folks using Starband, rural wireless (ex: Atlas Broadband) or other alternatives to dial-up ?

73
Scott
KD5NJR

The BIS Lunar Lander

Above: BIS Lunar Lander Capsule
(Another drawing from Air & Space Smithsonian )

Mark Wade's drawing of the BIS Lunar Lander seems to come and go from the previous blog posting intermittently. Stan has reported it too, so click on the previous link and you'll see the drawings.
Click here: for a similar article from Air & Space Smithsonian, which is a favorite magazine of mine.
http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/moon.html

The Lunar Lander wasn't the end of the BIS. ( They are still around and produce the detailed magazine Spaceflight, which used to be available at Barnes and Nobles. ) Additional work was put into maps of the Moon. Theoretical work was also laid down for a journey to a star, Project Daedalus. Someday....

73
KD5NJR
Scott

Dreaming is Good

As an engineer, most of the questions I have (at work) get answered clearly.
Yes, this is a good idea, or
No, that isn't a good idea.

And those statements get backed up by my boss or myself with clear justifications, such as:
This solution costs too much, or
This solution takes too much time, or
That standards drawing says to do it "this way", or
The equations say otherwise...

And that's okay, but sometimes you have to dream.
Like these guys did:
LINK:
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/bisander.htm

WAY BEFORE Apollo 11 went to the moon, these Brits were making the arguments, drawings, plans, anticipating problems and all that good stuff about flying the moon with over 2,000 solid fuel rocket engines.

You might know one guy, Arthur C. Clarke. He went to a club called "The British Interplanetary Society". They didn't have a repeater, but I bet they were neat guys. Later on, he wrote "2001" the Stanley Kubrick movie. He worked with radar and smoke screens in WWII.

I'm not saying to run out and catch yourself on fire, but sometimes it's okay to dream.

You don't have to own the best gear, just be safe. The QRP guys know this. They don't spend a fortune on stuff. Nor are the rigs necessarily of the 'latest and greatest' design (is there DSP in QRP rigs?.... well even if there is, you get my point.)

Volkswagen owners would sum up my point as "it's not pretty, but it gets you there."

Nike would say, "Just Do It."

Report From Mars - Storm

Thanks to Paul(AE5PB) for this look at storm tracking - from inside the storm...isn't that not one of our goals. Never mind that. The inside guy was Brad(KE5EMF).


Wade Norris
Okla Army Mars
Voice of the Army
AAA6OK/K5WPN
Grid Bandit #82


I managed to avoid any hail damage (that I can tell at this writing). But the pea size quickly graduated to near quarter size hail just this side of the Wilson turn off. I hit the middle and made a quick u-turn and raced out of the cell. I stopped just inside the Lone Grove city limits and told two officers there that a severe hail cell was not far behind me. They advised they knew, because they were listening. I decided to make it back to Ardmore. As I was enroute, further traffic indicated the tornado to cross Hwy 70 between Lone Grove and Ardmore. I decided to stand-by at the intersection of Hwy 70 and Brock Road at the Talliferros. Reception was terrible under their awning, but the rain mixed with hail became severe (0 visibility). AND, some other officer or fireman became hysterical on the Lone Grove frequency regarding the position of the tornado. Dispatchers tried to calm the fellow to get an accurate report, when I heard him quite clearly say "It's crossing Hwy 70!"

I pulled back into the blinding rain with the intention to block any further vehicular traffic west bound into the Lone Grove area. As I stopped traffic, the rain began to cease and a stormtracker pulled up window to window with me, trying to ascertain the tornados position. I advised I wasn't sure but we sure should find out. It was at this point that he pulled into the lot at Taliferros. I observed a very brilliant lightning flash. I noticed that it strangely lit up the southern sky, and the northern sky...but the western sky which I was facing at the moment, remained unchanged. I leaned in and took a closer evaluation when I realised the unchanged black mass was actually moving across the highway not more than 500 feet to my west. At this very moment, a tranformer exploded very near to me, and the sparks looked close enough to reach out and grab with your fingers...and they went straight up instead of falling to the ground. The sparks were sucked into the votex many feet above me. I dove back into my vehicle just before the tornado completely crossed, and the rear flank slammed into my truck and spun me in a 360 degree spin in the middle of Highway 70. Now granted, the pavement was extremely water logged. But this did not lessen the sensationalism for me. This is the point I was advising "I'm in it! I'm in it!" Now I pride myself on my calm in an emergency situation. And for the life of me, I can not recall if I was managing to pull it off, or not. But I can tell you this, I was freaking out completely on the inside. I watched the black monster move off towards the northeast down Brock Road and I gathered my wits, turned my vehicle about ( it took me a 3 point turn) , and hit the Highway eastbound and followed the tornado as I turned north up Plainview Rd. Reaching Prairie valley, I again turned eastbound and I could see the tornado moving across I-35 heading towards Springer. I attempted to follow up I-35, but I ran into a vehicle debaucle (I found out later there was a deceased motorist in the ditch) and blinding rain once again. I aborted the attempt and tried catching it by heading north on Hwy 77. With the wall of blinding rain (0 visibility) again slowing my progress, and the bridge that I knew was nolonger there, I decided it was best to abort the northbound pursuit, and I returned to Lone Grove to assist anyway I could. I worked traffic, (blocking and redirecting) at Brock and Hwy 70 for a couple of hours. Then I was sent to Brock Road and Prairie Valley Rd by the IC, right through the disaster scene. The landscape was all to familiar, and I knew tomorrow would bring some grave news for many friends and loved ones in the area. I worked this intersection until I was advised I could stand down once the blockades were in place. They arrived shortly, and I returned to Ardmore.

Now, I have been intercepting severe cells since the 70's. And I have engaged a few tornados after dark as well. But I have NEVER turned around and been close enough to kiss the ass of an obvious EF-2 or 3. So if I sounded a bit excited and keyed up, it's because...I was.

I thought everyone did a great job. I was sad to hear the 97 had crashed, as I thought its far reaching capabilities would have lended an entirely new scope of potentiality to our efforts. But I thought the entire interception was a success, as we all went home safe, and the community was well informed. I was relaying traffic to Lone Grove Fire, Ardmore PD, the 150, EOC, the 580, and a battery of phone messages. I was impressed how our guys pursued the tornado into the hands of more trackers to pursuit it farther. Then we donned another hat and accepted first responder and aid responsibilities. A shelter was set up. And we freed up emergency personnel trapped in routine duties to manage more important issues. So, it is merely my humble opinion, but I was impressed with everyones efforts, and proud to be associated with the HAMs on the ground, and behind the base radios. It was a difficult and extremely intense emergency deployment, and it was handled as well as any expert response could be.
Brad Patrick
KE5EMF/EOC257
Ardmore Emergency
Operations Center~
Southern Oklahoma
SKYWARN
Group

What is MPEG?

http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/


Why do Ham Radio Operators care about it?

Some do and some don't.
It may be that you are one of the don't...OK...this post is not for you.

Computer storage of video and audio uses compression and decompression of the files that store audio and video. CODEC is the term used for this compression and decompression. These standards for coded representation of digital audio and video were created by the Moving Picture Experts Group - MPEG.

To learn about the standards that are used click on the link above. Enjoy!

For a simple overview go to this link.

http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20050207_mpeg_standards_explained.html