VA3KOT John Owen Sound VHF NCS
VY2NX Bob PEI
KO4DXQ Bob Tennessee
VE3OZW Richard Mildmay
VA3TS Tom Shallow Lake
VE3WI Dave Port Elgin
VE3RQY Greg Owen Sound
VE3DGY Doug Annan
VE3BQM Bernie Owen Sound
9Z4DX Bertrand Trinidad

VA3KOT John Owen Sound HF NCS 3784
VE3BQM Bernie Owen Sound
VE3RQY Greg Owen Sound

If you are looking for something to waste time on:

http://radio.garden/visit/

You get a Google Earth - like globe.  Click on any green dot on the planet & you get a radio broadcast station at that location.  Click the play icon to hear the broadcast.  (When I start it, CFOS is automatically selected -very clever).

Thanks to Dave, W7UUU for posting this on QRZ.  He says "The Radio Garden project was developed beginning 2013 by the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, with a primary goal to "narrow boundaries for radio". You can read the Wiki article on the project here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Garden . [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Garden][/url]

73
Dave, VE3WI

From G4JHT and G5VJ via SKCC forum:

Most folk do not know that the Zulu comes from the lettering of the time zones and zone Z runs right through Greenwich England the site of the original Naval Observatory and original master clocks. While UTC came about because atomic clocks get out of step with the Sun. So GMT needs to be fiddled to get them back in sync every so often.

Each zone extends seven and a half degrees on either side of the zone lines. The zone lines are spaced at 15 degree intervals, and  lettered A,B,C.. going East from Greenwich, and Y,X,W...  going West. This puts NY just  in zone -4 "V" , Victor (centered on 90E);  Chicago just in zone -5  , "U", Uniform (centered on 105E?); and San Francisco to the West of the zone line, in zone -8 (centered on 120E) "R",  Romeo.

This stuff is still used at sea world wide and it was a standard procedure to "flog the clocks" back by 30 minutes a night on the run from the UK to NY. the object being to make ships noon correspond to solar noon for sun sights - still required in the age of GPS as GPS is classes a mere aid to navigation!

Hope the above is of interest and not too long winded.

73, OldBlueBear-G4JHT-Dave EI0DB.

You may be interested that there is no Juliet category - it skips from Hotel, India to Kilo, Lima. Which is why 'spending J time' was (still is?) a euphemism for slacking off or spending 'no-time.'  Doing nothing.

de G5VZ ..

US Army researchers have developed a quantum receiver good from 0 Hz to 20 GHz.

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-quantum-en...ctrum.html

Not sure what antenna it uses, but reading ads in QST, there are several already on the market that would do the trick - if you believe their advertising hype :-)

73
Dave, VE3WI

This an ideal program for Net Control Station. Keeps track of your contacts and can add new ones if needed.  I have updated couple of files with current club members info and should be current at this time.
The program is two part PRNet v2.1 and v2.51 can be download from https://qsl.net/w3km/PRNet.htm. Install in a Folder of your choice by doing Advance Installation. You need to create a new Folder for a different net, copy all the files to it so to keep original folder intact. I created GBARC_2m and GBARC_80m folders for my net logging.

Unzip "GBARCnet.zip and overwrite RATSNEST.dat and vhf4k.adi. These are the current net check-ins and should be up to date. 
Note: if you don't care to show Grid Square data for each contact, rename the vhf4k.adi to something like _vhf4k.adi.

Have fun running the net. 

Attached Files

  GbarcNet.zip (Size: 31.61 KB / Downloads: 0)

Tomorrow (Saturday 6th Feb) is the date of the first FISTS Saturday sprint of the year. FISTS seems to be struggling to stay active (while other online CW groups are growing strongly) so I am going to take part as I hope many others will too. It is a 2-hour event running from 16:00 to 18:00 Icelandic time zone (Iceland always uses UTC so if your device clock doesn't have UTC, set your city to Reykjavik).

John, VA3KOT FISTS nr 19777

I came across a professionally made (Rohde & Schwartz) extremely well narrated 20-minute video called "Understanding HF Propagation". It is well worth watching even if you are an experienced HF operator. We all learned about ionospheric refraction during our Basic licensing course (for many of us that was a little while ago). This video also gives a clear explanation of Solar Flux Index, Sunspot Number, regional and planetary A & K indices and how they are measured. There's even a little bit of math for those of us who enjoy formulas.

Here is the video link: https://youtu.be/7Y_RTdPs3NI

This file will work with LibreOffice or MS Excel.

Perfect for use on GBARC or Ontars Nets
Look down this post for the file, added by Tom.

73
Bernie
ve3bqm.ca

Dr. Scott McIntosh is the Deputy Director of NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research.  He does a presentation to the Front Range 6 Meter Group on this upcoming Solar Cycle 25.  It's a fascinating look at how using 22 year Hale Cycles and their terminators, we can better predict an upcoming solar cycle intensity like cycle 25 which could be in the top 5 since records began. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRNJPkQP...e=youtu.be

From Blackburn News:

"Saugeen Shores Police are planning a traffic safety blitz starting Friday, January 29th targeting distracted driving.  They are looking for drivers using hand held devices like a phone, gaming console, or GPS, or drivers using their vehicles display screens for something unrelated to driving like watching a movie.  The fines for a first conviction range from $615 to $1,000, three demerit points and a three-day suspension.  The fines for a second conviction are up to $2,000, six demerit points, and a seven-day suspension.  Get convicted a third time and you could pay up to $3,000 dollars and lose your license for 30-days.  The blitz will run until February 12th."

Suggestion: if you haven't already, print Ontario Regulation 366/09 & put it in your glovebox along with a copy of your ham licence.  Section 13 is our exemption.  You still might get a ticket but it should get thrown out in court.

https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/090366

73
Dave, VE3WI