HF Noise - Plasma TVs

This morning's discussion of digital flat screen TVs included a mention of plasma TVs as a source of RF noise that can affect HF radio. An article with comments from 2002 describes this issue. Thanks to KB4XX for this link.

The ARRL hosts an RF noise page that includes audio recordings of various identified noise sources, along with waveform views. There is not one currently labeled as a plasma TV, but there are some entries for TV sets as noise sources.

If you or your neighbors buy plasma TVs and you notice an increased noise level across the HF bands, you may want to see if the noise correlates to operation of the plasma TV. Good luck!

Russian Woodpecker

Old timers on the HF bands will remember the Russian woodpecker. Go here for a web article with great photos of the antenna array. Thanks to Joe KA4ZCO for the link.

Understanding Antennas

Smitty KB4BW suggested the web page Understanding Antennas for the Non-Technical Ham. It provides access to a PDF copy of a 74-page book by Jim Abercrombie, N4JA.

Global Tuners

GlobalTuners is a web site that provides free access to radio receivers around the world. After creating a free account with log-in, you can access a receiver and listen to a frequency of your choice. Since the receivers are being shared by others, you must follow the web site's protocol of requesting permission to change a frequency, if others are listening to the current frequency. A chat window is provided to facilitate communication among concurrent listeners.

Thanks to W4BXI and W1TXT for the info about this site.

Remote Station Control

Here is a 12 minute video of how Randy K7AGE is using his laptop PC on the road to control his rig at home, operating on several modes and bands. Thanks to W4BXI and W1TXT for the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whe9nV9InnQ

Montgomery Hamfest

Date: Saturday, November 8, 2008
Time: 9:00 A.M. Until 3:00 P.M.
Location: Garrett Coliseum, 1555 Federal Drive, just West of Coliseum Blvd. in North Montgomery, AL
For more information, click here.
Bell Ringers planning to attend are invited to contact WA5MLF to share attendance plans within our group and coordinate an eyeball QSO.

Solar Cycle 24

This morning one of our members mentioned the SOLARCYCLE24 web site for a source of information about the progress of the new cycle. The appearance of sunspot #1005 seemed to bring some nice short-range propagation on 40 m yesterday, but its fading seemed to relegate us to the usual 200 mile minimum for our morning QSO today.