WEBVTT 00:00:09.740 --> 00:00:12.539 Thanks for tuning in. Hamtalk Live will be on 00:00:12.539 --> 00:00:30.480 the air shortly. Please stand by. Thanks for 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:33.240 tuning in. Hamtalk Live will be on the air shortly. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:39.549 Please stand by. This episode of HamTalk Live 00:00:39.549 --> 00:00:43.070 is brought to you by Tower Electronics. For cables, 00:00:43.149 --> 00:00:48.630 connectors, and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or 00:00:48.630 --> 00:00:53.929 visit pl -259 .com and by the HamStation. Get 00:00:53.929 --> 00:00:58.070 your new radio or antenna by calling 800 -729 00:00:58.070 --> 00:01:34.519 -4373 or go to hamstation .com. Hey, good evening, 00:01:34.579 --> 00:01:38.739 everyone. It's HamTalk Live. This is episode 00:01:38.739 --> 00:01:43.700 number 74, The Solar Eclipse QSO Party, recorded 00:01:43.700 --> 00:01:49.540 live on Thursday, July 27th, 2017. I'm your host, 00:01:49.719 --> 00:01:54.760 Neil Rapp, WB9 VPG. Thanks for tuning in to this 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:57.480 episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight, we're joined 00:01:57.480 --> 00:02:02.540 by Sam Rose, KC2LRC. And we'll be talking about 00:02:02.540 --> 00:02:06.180 the Solar Eclipse QSO party and we'll fill you 00:02:06.180 --> 00:02:08.180 in a little more here in a minute. But we'll 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:11.979 also have another guest with us this evening. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:17.680 W2NAF will be here to take your questions in 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:21.520 just a little bit. And last week was an abbreviated 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:25.300 show. My father passed away and did a little 00:02:25.300 --> 00:02:29.069 tribute to him and didn't schedule anybody to 00:02:29.069 --> 00:02:31.689 be on the show last week. But if you ever miss 00:02:31.689 --> 00:02:34.629 a show, all you have to do is go to HamTalkLive 00:02:34.629 --> 00:02:37.210 .com. They're all there. You can play them anytime 00:02:37.210 --> 00:02:41.370 you want. You can also catch our podcast edition 00:02:41.370 --> 00:02:45.530 over on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, 00:02:45.650 --> 00:02:48.729 Google Play, TuneIn, SoundCloud, and a bunch 00:02:48.729 --> 00:02:54.360 of others. And also on YouTube. So We're going 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:57.300 to be talking about this QSO party for the solar 00:02:57.300 --> 00:03:02.039 eclipse tonight. And eclipse mania is here. So 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:04.879 we'll be talking about that. So get your questions 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:08.280 ready to go for that. And we're going to have 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:13.439 a recorded interview tonight due to some time 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:17.300 constraints. But we will take your questions 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:22.080 after that and that telephone number. for calling 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:29.419 in once we get to that point will be 812 -NET 00:03:29.419 --> 00:03:35.419 -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. You can also 00:03:35.419 --> 00:03:39.659 Skype us. Just search for HamTalk Live on Skype 00:03:39.659 --> 00:03:42.539 and you will find us there. And if you're too 00:03:42.539 --> 00:03:46.599 shy to call us... First of all don't be so shy, 00:03:46.659 --> 00:03:51.719 but you can tweet us at ham talk live as well 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:56.360 So as I was mentioning Sam was supposed to be 00:03:56.360 --> 00:04:00.599 home yesterday From a trip to Europe, but he 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:05.020 ended up in England for an extra week So we recorded 00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:09.080 the interview yesterday But we'll play that for 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:13.409 you and then after the interview The guy who's 00:04:13.409 --> 00:04:17.550 doing all this scientific study, Dr. Nathaniel 00:04:17.550 --> 00:04:22.389 Frizzle, W2NAF, will be here to take your questions 00:04:22.389 --> 00:04:26.189 in Sam's place. So I'll be back with Sam right 00:04:26.189 --> 00:04:29.129 after this word from the ham station right here 00:04:29.129 --> 00:04:33.259 on HamTalk Live. This episode of Ham Talk Live 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:36.720 is brought to you by The Ham Station. For over 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:39.779 37 years, The Ham Station has sold new and used 00:04:39.779 --> 00:04:42.680 radios, antennas, accessories, and equipment 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:46.439 to hams everywhere. Give Dan or Jeff a call at 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:53.000 800 -729 -4373 or order online at hamstation 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.579 .com. Ham Station carries all the major brands 00:04:56.579 --> 00:05:00.360 like Icom, Yezu, and Kenwood, and they have a 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:02.660 wide selection collection of radio scanners, 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.500 MFJ accessories, Heil sound products, amplifiers 00:05:06.500 --> 00:05:10.060 by Mirage and Ameritron, Cushcraft antennas and 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:13.779 more. Easy online ordering is at hamstation .com 00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:19.920 or call 1 -800 -729 -4373 to place an order and 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:22.699 talk it over with the experts. The Ham Station, 00:05:23.019 --> 00:05:26.420 proud to sponsor this episode of Ham Talk Live. 00:05:26.810 --> 00:05:29.670 The grass may be greener on the other side, but 00:05:29.670 --> 00:05:31.930 at least we don't have to mow it. You're listening 00:05:31.930 --> 00:05:50.470 to HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. That phone number 00:05:50.470 --> 00:05:55.910 is 800 -729 -4373 or they're online just go to 00:05:55.910 --> 00:05:59.949 hamstation .com. Tell them I sent you from HamTalk 00:05:59.949 --> 00:06:02.949 Live and be sure to listen to the show every 00:06:02.949 --> 00:06:05.389 Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time right 00:06:05.389 --> 00:06:08.829 here hamtalklive .com and again if you missed 00:06:08.829 --> 00:06:12.209 the show you can catch it over on our website 00:06:12.209 --> 00:06:18.490 or on the podcast feed. So again tonight Sam 00:06:18.490 --> 00:06:23.600 is is sleeping right now or at least we hope 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.839 he is because of the time difference so we recorded 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:30.220 this and so we'll play that pre -recorded part 00:06:30.220 --> 00:06:35.079 and I will talk with Nathaniel while you're listening 00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:38.040 to that and then we'll take a break and come 00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:42.360 back and then we'll take your questions so here's 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:47.370 the interview with Sam Rose KC2 LRC Sam Rose 00:06:47.370 --> 00:06:51.970 KC2 LRC is from Syracuse, New York and Sam was 00:06:51.970 --> 00:06:55.230 first licensed in June 2003 at the age of 13. 00:06:55.490 --> 00:06:57.889 He studied electrical engineering at Clarkson 00:06:57.889 --> 00:07:00.470 University where he was president of Clarkson's 00:07:00.470 --> 00:07:05.310 radio club K2 Charlie Charlie from 2010 through 00:07:05.310 --> 00:07:10.370 2012 and he now works with C -Speed in Liverpool, 00:07:10.610 --> 00:07:13.610 New York doing engineering and data performance 00:07:13.610 --> 00:07:17.310 analysis work on the C -Speed LightWave Radar, 00:07:17.509 --> 00:07:21.009 a next generation S -band air traffic surveillance 00:07:21.009 --> 00:07:24.610 radar. Sam is an avid contestor, works satellites, 00:07:24.930 --> 00:07:28.589 public service events, works IRLP, restores radios 00:07:28.589 --> 00:07:31.709 and enjoys special events such as balloon launches, 00:07:32.129 --> 00:07:36.009 ISS retransmissions and weird contests. And since 00:07:36.009 --> 00:07:38.709 he started ham radio at a young age, he's particularly 00:07:38.709 --> 00:07:41.610 interested in introducing ham radio to youth 00:07:41.610 --> 00:07:44.990 and young adults. But tonight, he's here to talk. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.379 about the upcoming solar eclipse, QSO party. 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:53.399 So Sam, welcome to ham talk live all the way 00:07:53.399 --> 00:07:56.660 from England. Hey, good evening, Neil. And I 00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:59.519 really mean evening here in England. Good to 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:03.879 be back. Yeah, we or I mentioned earlier, we 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:07.279 pre recorded this because you We're supposed 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:11.620 to be home and it didn't quite work that way, 00:08:11.620 --> 00:08:16.199 I guess. You're still over across the pond. Yeah, 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:18.519 I'm across the pond because I didn't quite figure 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:21.660 out my way through London in time to get to Gatwick 00:08:21.660 --> 00:08:24.879 back for a flight. So here I am still touring 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:29.360 Europe. Well, I would say I feel sorry for you, 00:08:29.420 --> 00:08:35.259 but I'm not so sure that I do, but not enjoying 00:08:35.259 --> 00:08:39.000 it. What's the worst that can happen? Go up and 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:46.039 drink scotch in Edinburgh? In Scotland? Yeah, 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:51.779 there you go. You talk to me about the, uh, the 00:08:51.779 --> 00:08:55.120 solar eclipse QSO party and, and eclipse mania 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:59.320 I've noticed has been in full force lately. I 00:08:59.320 --> 00:09:01.919 was listening to broadcast radio on Monday and 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:05.440 the guy on there was talking about, uh, Oh yeah. 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:08.419 The solar eclipse is coming up soon. I just now 00:09:08.419 --> 00:09:11.259 heard about this and I'm just like, Okay. I've 00:09:11.259 --> 00:09:13.620 been hearing about it for months. I've heard 00:09:13.620 --> 00:09:17.080 friends saying, okay, I talked to this, this 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:20.000 church down in, in Kentucky and they've got this 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:22.620 parking lot and we've got a spot reserved in 00:09:22.620 --> 00:09:25.419 this parking lot. You know, all making all these 00:09:25.419 --> 00:09:29.039 trips and stuff, you know, people coming in, 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:32.059 uh, to get the best look at this. And I've been 00:09:32.059 --> 00:09:35.220 hearing about it for months and the rest of the 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:38.379 world is now just kind of finding out about it. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:41.779 So. Uh, so you've got this QSO party coming up 00:09:41.779 --> 00:09:44.759 that's taking place for the eclipse. So tell 00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:48.679 us about what's going to take place and what's 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:53.419 going on with the QSO party. Well, so a little 00:09:53.419 --> 00:09:57.120 background on this, uh, Nathaniel W2NAF, uh, 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:01.860 who has a PhD in, uh, some things relating to 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:06.299 ionospheric research. He has been using HF radar 00:10:06.299 --> 00:10:10.889 systems usually called super darn. to gather 00:10:10.889 --> 00:10:14.750 data to study the scientific phenomena that cause 00:10:14.750 --> 00:10:18.009 HF propagation that we all love as ham radio 00:10:18.009 --> 00:10:21.210 operators. Well, in the midst of his research, 00:10:21.490 --> 00:10:25.870 he noticed that crowdsourced data is particularly 00:10:25.870 --> 00:10:28.590 valuable. And what we mean by crowdsourced data 00:10:28.590 --> 00:10:32.110 here is that particularly the reverse beacon 00:10:32.110 --> 00:10:35.450 network, but maybe some other things like Spotting 00:10:35.450 --> 00:10:38.529 clusters and stuff you can get good ideas based 00:10:38.529 --> 00:10:42.549 on reverse call sign lookups and stuff like this 00:10:42.549 --> 00:10:46.330 on Where the bands are open to at a given moment? 00:10:46.710 --> 00:10:49.529 Just based on who's on the air and who the reverse 00:10:49.529 --> 00:10:53.909 beacon network is currently detecting so Reverse 00:10:53.909 --> 00:10:55.950 beacon network if you haven't heard of this is 00:10:55.950 --> 00:10:59.750 a system that uses wideband software to find 00:10:59.750 --> 00:11:05.909 radio skimmers to actively receive whoever's 00:11:05.909 --> 00:11:08.830 on the air and automatically send reports to 00:11:08.830 --> 00:11:11.809 a network server where they're collected. Well, 00:11:12.090 --> 00:11:15.330 Reverse Beacon Network also allows you to download 00:11:15.330 --> 00:11:18.769 the data throughout I think its entire operational 00:11:18.769 --> 00:11:22.649 history, and he's been using this as a tool to 00:11:22.649 --> 00:11:27.750 study ionospheric phenomena. Not often though 00:11:27.750 --> 00:11:31.429 does the ionospheric researcher get to have God 00:11:31.429 --> 00:11:34.809 put his thumb between the Earth and the Sun by 00:11:34.809 --> 00:11:38.649 having a solar eclipse. So when this happens, 00:11:38.730 --> 00:11:40.769 we've got to take full advantage of it and really 00:11:40.769 --> 00:11:43.289 try to collect the most thorough data that we 00:11:43.289 --> 00:11:47.389 can using whatever methods are available. So 00:11:47.389 --> 00:11:50.590 to get a lot of people on the air during this, 00:11:50.870 --> 00:11:55.129 we've called a contest. And the details of this 00:11:55.129 --> 00:12:00.169 are on hamsci .org. But the whole idea is to 00:12:00.169 --> 00:12:03.649 get more people on the air, to put a lot of signals 00:12:03.649 --> 00:12:07.590 out there, to create more points of data, and 00:12:07.590 --> 00:12:12.169 to create a more thorough view of what happens 00:12:12.169 --> 00:12:15.350 during a solar eclipse, when maybe we're going 00:12:15.350 --> 00:12:20.629 to expect some strange phenomena. You know, maybe 00:12:20.629 --> 00:12:23.750 80 meters is going to open during the day. Will 00:12:23.750 --> 00:12:26.330 this happen? We don't know. But during a solar 00:12:26.330 --> 00:12:29.710 eclipse a few years ago in Europe, some stations 00:12:29.710 --> 00:12:33.529 using SDR receivers observed an AM opening at 00:12:33.529 --> 00:12:36.990 a time that you normally wouldn't expect during 00:12:36.990 --> 00:12:40.500 the day. So that's what we're going to be keeping 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:43.759 an eye on. But in order to do this, we need to 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:45.840 have a lot of participants so that we get a lot 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:48.960 of signals on the air, operate a lot of reverse 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:52.159 beacon network skimmers and collect the best 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:56.340 data that we can. Okay. So what's the, if you're 00:12:56.340 --> 00:12:58.519 just going to get on the air and we'll talk a 00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:01.610 little bit more about maybe. doing some of the 00:13:01.610 --> 00:13:04.549 reverse beacon network stuff and all that here 00:13:04.549 --> 00:13:06.529 in a minute. But if you're just going to get 00:13:06.529 --> 00:13:10.509 on the air and just work the QSO party, what's 00:13:10.509 --> 00:13:15.429 the exchange and what do people need to know 00:13:15.429 --> 00:13:18.250 just if they just decide to just jump on the 00:13:18.250 --> 00:13:24.799 air and talk? So this is a Q so party that's 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:27.120 gonna have some things that are a bit unusual 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.580 to it You know most contests you you can only 00:13:30.580 --> 00:13:34.940 work people once but in this contest Within the 00:13:34.940 --> 00:13:38.639 rules and then I don't know them perfectly off 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:40.779 the top of my head but there is an allowance 00:13:40.779 --> 00:13:44.080 to work people more than once and The reason 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:48.600 is because we want to see the same propagation 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:51.980 paths over time as the solar eclipse progresses. 00:13:52.759 --> 00:13:56.820 So there are provisions for that. I believe it's 00:13:56.820 --> 00:14:00.059 going to involve some things like you're going 00:14:00.059 --> 00:14:04.679 to be asked to send actual signal reports. Let's 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:07.120 not let's not give everybody five nine. Let's 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:10.460 wait a minute. You're five. Everybody's five 00:14:10.460 --> 00:14:14.129 nine. What are you talking about? Again, again. 00:14:14.549 --> 00:14:17.110 Okay. Uh, your prefix again, again, again, your 00:14:17.110 --> 00:14:23.690 five nine. Exactly. Exactly. So you get a five 00:14:23.690 --> 00:14:26.470 nine, you get a five nine. Everybody gets a five 00:14:26.470 --> 00:14:31.269 nine. No. Okay. So, so real reports. So I forget 00:14:31.269 --> 00:14:34.190 if this is a requirement or a, we're asking for 00:14:34.190 --> 00:14:37.330 this, but, um, because there's w we've had a 00:14:37.330 --> 00:14:39.470 lot of discussions over how to write the rules 00:14:39.470 --> 00:14:44.149 for this contest to try to. Get the type of information 00:14:44.149 --> 00:14:48.990 scientifically that we want but That might I 00:14:48.990 --> 00:14:52.429 think that's a requirement of it Being in England. 00:14:52.429 --> 00:14:56.450 I don't have the rules in front of me here But 00:14:56.450 --> 00:14:59.570 there's there's also we're gonna exchange grid 00:14:59.570 --> 00:15:02.350 squares so that we have some idea where we are 00:15:02.350 --> 00:15:06.250 That's gonna involve. I think both stations grid 00:15:06.250 --> 00:15:10.929 squares So that we record that And the idea behind 00:15:10.929 --> 00:15:15.190 that is that not only are we going to put a lot 00:15:15.190 --> 00:15:17.570 of value on CW operators, but we're going to 00:15:17.570 --> 00:15:20.169 put a lot of value on phone operators too, even 00:15:20.169 --> 00:15:22.570 though those signals are not computer decodable. 00:15:23.710 --> 00:15:26.529 So the logs that people send in, they're going 00:15:26.529 --> 00:15:30.350 to be a point of data. And we want to open the 00:15:30.350 --> 00:15:34.070 contest to as many people as we can, not just 00:15:34.070 --> 00:15:37.470 CW or digital operators. And that's why we're 00:15:37.470 --> 00:15:39.909 doing it like this. So it's going to be a little 00:15:39.909 --> 00:15:44.190 bit different. But the point is, this is not 00:15:44.190 --> 00:15:48.929 a contest where the goal is to make necessarily 00:15:48.929 --> 00:15:53.470 for the operators to win or make as many contacts 00:15:53.470 --> 00:15:55.769 as they can, which, well, that will be a goal. 00:15:56.129 --> 00:15:59.309 But the design of this contest is designed to 00:15:59.549 --> 00:16:02.950 do something which will give us the best possible 00:16:02.950 --> 00:16:05.350 scientific data. And that's why it's going to 00:16:05.350 --> 00:16:09.409 be a little bit different. Okay. Now let's talk 00:16:09.409 --> 00:16:14.049 a little bit about what people can do to contribute 00:16:14.049 --> 00:16:18.389 to the event besides just getting on the air 00:16:18.389 --> 00:16:22.049 and make a bunch of contacts. Mode is going to 00:16:22.049 --> 00:16:28.320 matter. And then possibly some extra hardware. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:33.580 So tell us how people can contribute in other 00:16:33.580 --> 00:16:39.039 ways than just making some contacts. Well, I 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:41.860 mean, making some contacts is certainly the easiest 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:46.259 way to do it. We want as many people on the air 00:16:46.259 --> 00:16:48.659 as we can get so that we can get a lot of points 00:16:48.659 --> 00:16:50.620 of data. But there's some other ways that you 00:16:50.620 --> 00:16:54.080 can as well. I had mentioned Reverse Beacon Network. 00:16:54.820 --> 00:16:57.779 Well, one thing that we need for this contest 00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:00.679 is we need as many Reverse Beacon Network nodes 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:03.919 as possible. Now, our Reverse Beacon Network 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:10.220 node is an SDR -based radio that scans a good 00:17:10.220 --> 00:17:14.700 chunk of bandwidth, maybe 192 kilohertz per band. 00:17:15.610 --> 00:17:19.450 between two to six bands or maybe just one, but 00:17:19.450 --> 00:17:23.130 most stations run between two and six bands. 00:17:24.390 --> 00:17:29.150 And they decode all of the signals in the CW 00:17:29.150 --> 00:17:34.170 and digital regions or both and send back reports 00:17:34.170 --> 00:17:38.349 when they see stations calling CQ. And they also 00:17:38.349 --> 00:17:40.710 report things like the amplitude of the signals 00:17:40.710 --> 00:17:46.000 and stuff like this. So the... receiver that's 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:49.079 most common with reverse beacon network operators 00:17:49.079 --> 00:17:53.460 is not made anymore. It's the Quicksilver QS1R 00:17:53.460 --> 00:17:57.220 and anybody who has one of those can use it as 00:17:57.220 --> 00:18:00.160 a reverse beacon network receiver up to seven 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:05.500 bands at once and 192 kilohertz slices. Also 00:18:05.500 --> 00:18:09.000 if you've got a if you have a flex 6000 series 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.500 radio and since this contest is going to be on 00:18:11.500 --> 00:18:13.880 a Monday Well, maybe maybe you've got that radio 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:16.420 already, but you're not going to be at home to 00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:18.640 operate the contest Well, you can set that up 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.480 as a skimmer for either two or four bands depending 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:26.079 on the model or you can buy this This board called 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.500 the red bataya Which you can kind of think of 00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:33.759 as an electrical engineers Raspberry Pi and there's 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:37.519 instructions on HamSci .org to set this board 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:40.339 up as a six -band reverse beacon network skimmer. 00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:45.700 Now, not only that, but one of the things that 00:18:45.700 --> 00:18:49.480 we desire to do in this contest is to record 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:54.759 the wideband raw SDR data from these receivers. 00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:59.240 What I've been particularly involved in is writing 00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:04.140 guides for people with QS1Rs and flex radios 00:19:04.140 --> 00:19:08.059 to run their radios as skimmers and recorders. 00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:11.460 So I don't think they're published as of yet, 00:19:12.200 --> 00:19:14.960 but we're hoping to do that very soon so that 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:17.420 everybody listening has some time to get these 00:19:17.420 --> 00:19:19.640 things set up. This is going to generally be 00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:26.400 available at. At hamsi .org. That's H -A -M -S 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:30.900 -C -I H -A -M -S -C -I dot O -R -G That's where 00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:33.859 we're posting all the all the guides for everybody 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:37.420 who wants to be involved and So this is gonna 00:19:37.420 --> 00:19:41.299 generate a decent amount of data For the tests 00:19:41.299 --> 00:19:46.440 I ran on my flex which is a 6300 This allows 00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:53.859 up to 296 kilohertz wide IQ outputs and they 00:19:53.859 --> 00:19:58.240 were about 550 kilobytes per second each. So 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:02.259 that was about two gigs of data per hour times 00:20:02.259 --> 00:20:08.160 two. If you have the 6500 up, you can run four 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:13.019 192 kilohertz slices at the same time. And so 00:20:13.019 --> 00:20:17.519 that's I think a total of 16 gigs of data per 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:21.140 hour. The idea behind this is that the project 00:20:21.140 --> 00:20:25.529 wants to be able to actually analyze the received 00:20:25.529 --> 00:20:28.609 data from these stations to look at fine trends 00:20:28.609 --> 00:20:31.049 in the signals that were picked up. And you get 00:20:31.049 --> 00:20:35.130 a lot more data out of that than just having 00:20:35.130 --> 00:20:37.970 the system say, oh, there was a station on this 00:20:37.970 --> 00:20:41.009 frequency at this time at this amplitude. You 00:20:41.009 --> 00:20:43.690 can see in much more detail, but it is going 00:20:43.690 --> 00:20:47.410 to take up a lot of hard drive space. So be aware 00:20:47.410 --> 00:20:50.809 of that. The red bataya is the other option to 00:20:50.809 --> 00:20:53.529 do this. That's a board. Kind of like in, we 00:20:53.529 --> 00:20:55.750 call it an engineer's raspberry, an electrical 00:20:55.750 --> 00:20:59.789 engineer's raspberry pie, which is about, I think 00:20:59.789 --> 00:21:03.430 it was about $350. And that can be set up as 00:21:03.430 --> 00:21:07.750 a six band skimmer and recorder. So there's going 00:21:07.750 --> 00:21:10.910 to be guides for all of this on hamsci .org. 00:21:11.069 --> 00:21:14.170 And I hope that lots of you listening will go 00:21:14.170 --> 00:21:17.920 and. fire up reverse beacon network skimmers 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:21.160 or operate the radio and get involved because 00:21:21.160 --> 00:21:23.140 the more points of data we get out of this, the 00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:28.119 better. All right. Well, some cool stuff there 00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:32.059 and some great data gathering for those people 00:21:32.059 --> 00:21:36.980 who... are new to the grid square idea. Of course, 00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:39.319 we know all the satellite guys, they know the 00:21:39.319 --> 00:21:43.500 grid squares and there's a few grid square chasers 00:21:43.500 --> 00:21:46.440 out there. So they know all about the grid square 00:21:46.440 --> 00:21:50.220 thing. But a lot of people aren't always familiar 00:21:50.220 --> 00:21:54.619 with a grid square. So how can they figure out 00:21:54.619 --> 00:21:59.980 what grid square that they should report? There's 00:21:59.980 --> 00:22:02.519 a couple easy ways to do that. You mentioned 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:06.440 the satellite guys. Well, AMSAT offers an online 00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:10.539 converter on their website, which if you punch 00:22:10.539 --> 00:22:14.579 in your latitude and longitude, it will bring 00:22:14.579 --> 00:22:18.559 up your grid square. Most amateurs in the US 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:23.799 who have their information on QRZ .com could 00:22:23.799 --> 00:22:27.789 look it up there. based on their current home 00:22:27.789 --> 00:22:32.170 address that's in QRZ. I think ARRL has a converter 00:22:32.170 --> 00:22:36.710 online as does the FCC. So there's plenty of 00:22:36.710 --> 00:22:39.509 ways to convert your latitude and longitude that 00:22:39.509 --> 00:22:42.509 you can go look up on Google Earth with your 00:22:42.509 --> 00:22:46.390 address into your Maidenhead grid square. And 00:22:46.390 --> 00:22:49.390 then you'll use that in the exchange for the 00:22:49.390 --> 00:22:52.299 contest. Yeah. So basically what's happening 00:22:52.299 --> 00:22:54.680 is we're taking the whole globe and chopping 00:22:54.680 --> 00:22:58.460 it up into little squares and, and they're numbered 00:22:58.460 --> 00:23:02.980 and lettered, um, in order. And, um, yeah, I 00:23:02.980 --> 00:23:05.400 was going to say that probably the easiest way 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:09.220 to do that is just go to qrz .com, look up your 00:23:09.220 --> 00:23:12.240 yourself. And then, uh, I think you have to go 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:16.170 on detail. I think it is, and it'll give you 00:23:16.170 --> 00:23:19.450 your grid square for your home address. And then 00:23:19.450 --> 00:23:23.529 if you operate portable, then you may have to 00:23:23.529 --> 00:23:27.990 go to one of the converters to figure that out. 00:23:29.250 --> 00:23:31.190 But it would be a good thing that you need to 00:23:31.190 --> 00:23:33.470 look up ahead of time so you know what grid square 00:23:33.470 --> 00:23:37.119 you're operating from. Right. So maybe you're 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:39.359 hauling yourself down to the desert where, you 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:41.200 know, there's not going to be any clouds that 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.440 you can actually go view the eclipse and you've 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:45.880 got a radio in your backpack. Well, you can figure 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:50.440 it out this way too. Very good. And we've talked 00:23:50.440 --> 00:23:53.940 a little bit about how that's going to be used 00:23:53.940 --> 00:23:57.480 to study propagation, but anything else that 00:23:57.480 --> 00:24:00.200 you can think of that, you know, was going to 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:04.450 come out of this data. Well, we don't know and 00:24:04.450 --> 00:24:07.930 that's that's why we're excited but the in the 00:24:07.930 --> 00:24:12.130 past We've seen some really interesting things 00:24:12.130 --> 00:24:17.009 come out of reverse beacon network and in spotting 00:24:17.009 --> 00:24:20.609 clusters and in just a just a couple months ago 00:24:20.609 --> 00:24:24.630 There were some things presented by dr. Phil 00:24:24.630 --> 00:24:29.720 Erickson at hamvention I believe it was his presentation, 00:24:30.279 --> 00:24:32.420 where they were talking about the use of this 00:24:32.420 --> 00:24:35.480 network in tracking 6 -meter activity during 00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:40.359 this unusually active sporadic e -season, and 00:24:40.359 --> 00:24:45.539 they were using the tool because it gave quite 00:24:45.539 --> 00:24:49.640 a lot of coverage over where the 6 -meter openings 00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:52.359 were occurring, and they were correlating this 00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:56.309 with meteorological phenomena. We have some new 00:24:56.309 --> 00:24:59.890 hypotheses we're looking at right now in terms 00:24:59.890 --> 00:25:04.009 of how meteorological events affect six meter 00:25:04.009 --> 00:25:08.089 propagation. But the whole point is we don't 00:25:08.089 --> 00:25:11.289 really know what we're going to get out of this. 00:25:11.789 --> 00:25:14.190 We had some discussions before I left for Europe 00:25:14.190 --> 00:25:18.109 about potentially designing SDR receivers that 00:25:18.109 --> 00:25:22.990 could be useful both for ham purposes and also 00:25:22.990 --> 00:25:26.299 for scientific purposes. And one of the biggest 00:25:26.299 --> 00:25:29.599 things we ran into is, well, how do we design 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:32.539 these receivers to satisfy requirements that 00:25:32.539 --> 00:25:37.119 we don't know what they are yet? So we were trying 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:40.460 to set this up in a way that gives us information 00:25:40.460 --> 00:25:43.500 that answers some of those questions and hopefully 00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:47.460 is useful to learn a bit about ionospheric phenomena. 00:25:47.460 --> 00:25:50.839 And that's why we we hope to have you all on 00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:55.640 board with this. All right. Well, That's a snapshot 00:25:55.640 --> 00:26:02.000 of the solar eclipse QSO party. I know QST had 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:05.859 or as I like to call it Q Street had that on 00:26:05.859 --> 00:26:08.119 the cover so there's some information there and 00:26:08.119 --> 00:26:14.319 then hamsci .org is where you can find some of 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:17.119 these guides that will be coming up soon and 00:26:17.119 --> 00:26:20.539 some more information there so be sure to check 00:26:20.539 --> 00:26:25.019 that out. And one last thing before we go because 00:26:25.019 --> 00:26:28.099 I'm a chemistry teacher and it's always safety 00:26:28.099 --> 00:26:33.240 first. Let's remind everybody quickly about if 00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:35.799 you're just going to go out and watch the eclipse 00:26:35.799 --> 00:26:40.240 How to do that safely while you're getting on 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:44.279 the Q. So party hopefully So there's one thing 00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:47.980 to keep in mind is that it's never safe To look 00:26:47.980 --> 00:26:50.740 at the Sun especially for extended periods and 00:26:50.740 --> 00:26:52.579 not only that but you're not going to see the 00:26:52.579 --> 00:26:57.559 eclipse very vividly if you're just looking at 00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:01.099 the sun. It's not something you want to do. Your 00:27:01.099 --> 00:27:03.779 vision is valuable. Don't burn it out by looking 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:08.200 at the sun. You can, however, do it through welder's 00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:12.460 goggles and stuff like this. There's some guides 00:27:12.460 --> 00:27:16.359 online as how to do that. But don't look at the 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:19.880 sun directly, and especially don't point a telescope 00:27:19.880 --> 00:27:22.990 at the sun. because that collects the light and 00:27:22.990 --> 00:27:25.289 focuses it on your eyes and you can you can burn 00:27:25.289 --> 00:27:29.029 your retina nearly instantly by using a telescope 00:27:29.029 --> 00:27:32.869 to look at the sun. Plenty of ways to do it but 00:27:32.869 --> 00:27:37.130 don't do it with your naked eyes. Yeah I remember 00:27:37.130 --> 00:27:42.750 looking at one back when I was a kid and we used 00:27:42.750 --> 00:27:45.269 the telescope but I had a sun filter and then 00:27:45.269 --> 00:27:49.119 we also kind of reflected it onto a piece of 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:51.880 paper, I think it was, or something like that. 00:27:51.980 --> 00:27:54.039 And so where we weren't looking straight into 00:27:54.039 --> 00:27:57.000 it and, and was able to watch it that way. And 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:00.579 then, then we did the welders, uh, helmet thing. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:07.079 Dad had a helmet. So, uh, through that. So, yeah, 00:28:07.079 --> 00:28:09.519 just want to make sure everybody's aware of that. 00:28:09.539 --> 00:28:11.839 We don't want anybody burning out retinas. So, 00:28:11.839 --> 00:28:15.779 uh, Gotta get the the safety tip of the week 00:28:15.779 --> 00:28:19.420 in here. So anything else we need to talk about 00:28:19.420 --> 00:28:23.160 before we take a break and take some calls? Well, 00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:25.799 I think that's pretty much it. But I mean, we're 00:28:25.799 --> 00:28:28.660 really looking forward to seeing, you know, first 00:28:28.660 --> 00:28:32.279 of all, how much how much participation can we 00:28:32.279 --> 00:28:34.759 get? And, you know, I'll just reiterate a couple 00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:39.930 of things that there's lot of ways to participate 00:28:39.930 --> 00:28:42.950 with what gear you already have if you're an 00:28:42.950 --> 00:28:47.950 HF operator. If you've got a Flex 6000 series 00:28:47.950 --> 00:28:52.549 radio you can either be on the air or if you 00:28:52.549 --> 00:28:54.930 are going to be busy at work that day or something 00:28:54.930 --> 00:28:57.809 because it's Monday August 21st is when this 00:28:57.809 --> 00:29:00.690 contest is. But if for some reason you're not 00:29:00.690 --> 00:29:02.750 going to be on the air you can run that radio 00:29:02.750 --> 00:29:06.359 as a as a reverse beacon network skimmer and 00:29:06.359 --> 00:29:11.920 recorder, as you can with the Red Bataya and 00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:17.079 QS1R and a couple other popular SDRs, whether 00:29:17.079 --> 00:29:19.440 or not we've written guides for them, there's 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:23.720 ways to get the data to go to a CW skimmer. And 00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:26.640 at that point, it's pretty easy to integrate 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:31.559 with a reverse beacon network aggregator. However 00:29:31.559 --> 00:29:34.039 much you want to contribute, however much or 00:29:34.039 --> 00:29:37.759 however little, we consider it valuable and certainly 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:41.660 in the case of a crowd -sourced effort, we're 00:29:41.660 --> 00:29:44.819 pushing to be able to accommodate people with 00:29:44.819 --> 00:29:47.660 all sorts of different equipment and all sorts 00:29:47.660 --> 00:29:53.160 of different abilities to contribute to the event 00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:56.740 because by accommodating as many people as we 00:29:56.740 --> 00:29:58.799 can. That's how we're going to get as many points 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:01.200 of data as possible. And we're really looking 00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:03.779 forward to seeing what comes out of this. So 00:30:03.779 --> 00:30:06.779 thank you everybody who's listening tonight and 00:30:06.779 --> 00:30:10.460 considering participating. All right. And we 00:30:10.460 --> 00:30:14.180 just now mentioned the date. So that happened 00:30:14.180 --> 00:30:18.500 to think, you know, let's We probably ought to 00:30:18.500 --> 00:30:23.559 mention what time, how early we want to start 00:30:23.559 --> 00:30:26.859 on this. And also, yes, it's the day after Huntsville. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:29.140 It's the day after I get home from Huntsville. 00:30:30.339 --> 00:30:36.319 So August 21st and timing. It's an eight -hour 00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:39.480 contest and to be honest, I don't remember the 00:30:39.480 --> 00:30:42.200 exact times, but they're certainly posted on 00:30:42.200 --> 00:30:46.619 HamSci .org as are going to be the guides how 00:30:46.619 --> 00:30:50.259 to operate in the contest and how to run these 00:30:50.259 --> 00:30:53.220 various receivers as reverse beacon network nodes. 00:30:53.740 --> 00:30:57.220 Okay, well, we're gonna take a break here and 00:30:57.220 --> 00:31:00.519 I will actually run over and get those times 00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:04.660 and we'll throw that in. But since Sam is across 00:31:04.660 --> 00:31:07.380 the pond tonight, we're pre -recording this, 00:31:07.380 --> 00:31:11.000 as I said, so he's not gonna be around for the 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:14.019 question and answer session, but we will have 00:31:14.019 --> 00:31:19.039 one. So we will come back and we'll do that with 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:22.819 somebody else from the solar eclipse. QSO party 00:31:22.819 --> 00:31:27.200 team right here on HamTalk Live. This episode 00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:29.500 of HamTalk Live is brought to you in part by 00:31:29.500 --> 00:31:32.470 Tower Electronics. Tower Electronics has been 00:31:32.470 --> 00:31:35.809 the Ham's Dime Store since 1978. When you need 00:31:35.809 --> 00:31:38.609 connectors, mobile and handheld antennas, cables 00:31:38.609 --> 00:31:42.109 or adapters, visit Scott or Jill at a HamFest 00:31:42.109 --> 00:31:46.509 near you. Or you can order online at PL -259 00:31:46.509 --> 00:31:53.029 .com or call 920 -435 -2973. Stock up on those 00:31:53.029 --> 00:31:56.609 supplies like PL -259 and end connectors, SMA 00:31:56.609 --> 00:31:59.930 adapters, audio cables, soldering supplies, mobile 00:31:59.930 --> 00:32:02.809 antennas, and hamsticks. Their silver plated 00:32:02.809 --> 00:32:05.369 in connectors are even used on the International 00:32:05.369 --> 00:32:08.690 Space Station. Tower Electronics carries MFJ, 00:32:08.910 --> 00:32:13.049 Comet, Daiwa, OPEC, Workman and HamPro products. 00:32:13.269 --> 00:32:16.829 And don't miss their 0 % off sale going on now. 00:32:17.069 --> 00:32:21.430 Tower Electronics online at PL -259 .com. Proud 00:32:21.430 --> 00:32:30.740 to sponsor this episode of HamTalk Live. I'd 00:32:30.740 --> 00:32:50.950 love to be in your grid square. Thanks to Scott 00:32:50.950 --> 00:32:53.109 and Jill at Tower Electronics for sponsoring 00:32:53.109 --> 00:32:55.509 the show once again tonight to help bring you 00:32:55.509 --> 00:32:58.809 ham talk live and they're getting back on the 00:32:58.809 --> 00:33:01.529 road soon. They will be in Berryville, Virginia 00:33:01.529 --> 00:33:05.880 on August 6th. Huntington, West Virginia August 00:33:05.880 --> 00:33:09.440 12th and then they'll be in Huntsville on August 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:12.599 19th and 20th and then September 1st, 2nd and 00:33:12.599 --> 00:33:16.440 3rd they'll be at Shelby, North Carolina. So 00:33:16.440 --> 00:33:19.019 give them a call if you're not at one of those 00:33:19.019 --> 00:33:25.700 it's 920 -435 -2973 or visit them at PL -259 00:33:25.700 --> 00:33:30.049 .com and tell them HamTalk Live sent you there 00:33:30.049 --> 00:33:32.630 and make sure you check out our Facebook page 00:33:32.630 --> 00:33:35.740 or Twitter feed and Instagram. Just search. for 00:33:35.740 --> 00:33:38.940 ham talk live so it's time to take your calls 00:33:38.940 --> 00:33:43.900 now and as i said sam's still in england so uh 00:33:43.900 --> 00:33:48.779 dr nathaniel forsell w2naf is here that we were 00:33:48.779 --> 00:33:51.740 talking about he's uh the one doing all this 00:33:51.740 --> 00:33:54.700 research and he's here to answer your questions 00:33:54.700 --> 00:33:58.119 so if you have a question for nathaniel the phone 00:33:58.119 --> 00:34:04.140 number to call right now is 812 net ham1 that's 00:34:04.140 --> 00:34:10.519 812 -638 -4261 or you can call us on skype with 00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:14.179 hamtalklive is the username there and or you 00:34:14.179 --> 00:34:18.199 can tweet us at hamtalklive so now's the time 00:34:18.199 --> 00:34:21.340 to call if you have a question about the solar 00:34:21.340 --> 00:34:25.920 eclipse quso party and nathaniel thanks for covering 00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:29.699 for sam tonight and uh taking with some questions 00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:33.539 You're welcome Neil. I'm glad to be here We've 00:34:33.539 --> 00:34:36.320 been talking as the recording played because 00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:40.559 we both listened to it earlier and Dr. Frisell 00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:45.079 is at NJIT the New Jersey Institute of Technology 00:34:45.079 --> 00:34:48.239 over in Newark and He's the one that's going 00:34:48.239 --> 00:34:52.199 to be Doing a lot of this stuff and one of the 00:34:52.199 --> 00:34:56.079 things that I noticed after we recorded with 00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:01.280 Sam was the logging and there is and an update 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:05.619 for N1MM Plus for that. So while we're waiting 00:35:05.619 --> 00:35:08.579 on people to call, so go ahead and call now 812 00:35:08.579 --> 00:35:12.940 -NET -HAM -1 or Skype us or tweet us. But while 00:35:12.940 --> 00:35:15.059 we're waiting on that to come in, why don't you 00:35:15.059 --> 00:35:18.360 fill us in a little bit on the logging for this 00:35:18.360 --> 00:35:23.880 QSO party? Sure, Neil. So yes, N1MM Plus does 00:35:23.880 --> 00:35:27.500 have support for the solar eclipse QSO party 00:35:27.500 --> 00:35:31.079 in it. If you download the latest version, you 00:35:31.079 --> 00:35:34.519 can choose the log type eclipse and it should 00:35:34.519 --> 00:35:37.400 have everything you need to be able to log the 00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:41.960 QSO party. But I did see you have to get the 00:35:41.960 --> 00:35:44.519 latest version because I guess there was a bug. 00:35:45.219 --> 00:35:47.860 There was a bug, but I saw that they posted the 00:35:47.860 --> 00:35:50.539 latest version and they said that the bug has 00:35:50.539 --> 00:35:53.849 been corrected. I just saw they posted it. I 00:35:53.849 --> 00:35:56.710 saw that about 20 minutes before the show, so 00:35:56.710 --> 00:35:59.389 I haven't tested it out yet myself, but hopefully 00:35:59.389 --> 00:36:02.050 tomorrow or early next week I'll get that downloaded 00:36:02.050 --> 00:36:04.769 and I will test that out and post a new sample 00:36:04.769 --> 00:36:08.480 log file on HamSci .org. Okay, so be watching 00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:11.920 HamSci .org for the details. And we mentioned 00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:14.639 the times that we were going to give you those. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.900 So that's 1400 Zulu to 2200 Zulu. Those are the 00:36:19.900 --> 00:36:27.780 times again, August 21st, 1400 UTC to 2200 UTC 00:36:27.780 --> 00:36:30.760 is when you need everybody out there on the air. 00:36:31.300 --> 00:36:34.960 That's right. We're looking forward to it. All 00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:38.329 right. So What are you going to be doing while 00:36:38.329 --> 00:36:41.710 this is going on? Well, I certainly hope to be 00:36:41.710 --> 00:36:45.889 participating in the SEQP. So I'm planning on 00:36:45.889 --> 00:36:50.150 driving down to a place in Kentucky underneath 00:36:50.150 --> 00:36:53.789 the path of totality and I'll be bringing my 00:36:53.789 --> 00:36:56.250 ham radio and a bunch of friends and we're going 00:36:56.250 --> 00:36:59.710 to set up and I'm planning on participating along 00:36:59.710 --> 00:37:04.250 with everybody else. All right, very good. So 00:37:04.250 --> 00:37:10.329 give us a call 812 -NAT -TAM -1, 812 -638 -4261 00:37:10.329 --> 00:37:14.050 or Skype or Tweet. If you have some questions 00:37:14.050 --> 00:37:17.070 here, we have a few minutes with Dr. Frisell, 00:37:17.150 --> 00:37:20.309 so let's get him some questions here if we can. 00:37:22.050 --> 00:37:25.480 So tell us a little bit about this. organization 00:37:25.480 --> 00:37:30.900 HamSci and what that's trying to do with ham 00:37:30.900 --> 00:37:37.099 radio and science. So HamSci is a ham radio science 00:37:37.099 --> 00:37:40.059 citizen investigation and this is an organization 00:37:40.059 --> 00:37:43.380 I started with a few friends when I was still 00:37:43.380 --> 00:37:48.019 in graduate school and basically I came into 00:37:48.019 --> 00:37:51.219 research into space physics research because 00:37:51.219 --> 00:37:55.250 I was a ham radio operator and as a researcher 00:37:55.250 --> 00:37:59.889 I saw wow the hams have a number of really interesting 00:37:59.889 --> 00:38:02.070 data sets like they have a reverse speaking network 00:38:02.070 --> 00:38:06.269 PSK reporter whispernet they have all this data 00:38:06.269 --> 00:38:08.429 that's not really being tapped for scientific 00:38:08.429 --> 00:38:12.130 use I said well I wonder if these two communities 00:38:12.130 --> 00:38:14.630 that I'm both fully a part of you know could 00:38:14.630 --> 00:38:17.420 work together Can we bring the ham radio community 00:38:17.420 --> 00:38:19.980 to help the research community and have the research 00:38:19.980 --> 00:38:23.019 community help the ham radio community? And so 00:38:23.019 --> 00:38:25.920 HamSci looks to do three things. We look to advance 00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:28.079 scientific research and understanding through 00:38:28.079 --> 00:38:30.760 amateur radio activities. We look to encourage 00:38:30.760 --> 00:38:32.840 the development of new technologies to support 00:38:32.840 --> 00:38:35.760 this research. And we look to provide educational 00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:38.659 opportunities for the amateur community and the 00:38:38.659 --> 00:38:41.639 general public. So it's really a two -way collaborative 00:38:41.639 --> 00:38:46.349 citizen science ham radio organization. Alright, 00:38:46.409 --> 00:38:51.849 pretty cool and I tie science and ham radio together 00:38:51.849 --> 00:38:56.710 with the chemistry that I teach and we talk about 00:38:56.710 --> 00:38:59.110 electromagnetic radiation and those kinds of 00:38:59.110 --> 00:39:02.349 things but this sounds like it's an even better 00:39:02.349 --> 00:39:06.269 connection between the two because you're studying 00:39:06.269 --> 00:39:12.110 the propagation of things with the ham radio. 00:39:12.690 --> 00:39:15.670 That's right. And not only a propagation, but 00:39:15.670 --> 00:39:18.570 we're also hoping that we can use the things 00:39:18.570 --> 00:39:22.170 we learned from Ham Radio to maybe help us better 00:39:22.170 --> 00:39:25.250 understand the ionosphere or the upper atmosphere 00:39:25.250 --> 00:39:28.570 and its connection to space and those sorts of 00:39:28.570 --> 00:39:33.550 things. All right, very good 812 Nat Ham one 00:39:33.550 --> 00:39:36.269 is the phone number eight one two six three eight 00:39:36.269 --> 00:39:39.809 four two six one or Tweet us at ham talk live 00:39:39.809 --> 00:39:42.889 or Skype us at ham talk live. We've got time 00:39:42.889 --> 00:39:46.769 for a question. So if you want to jump in here, 00:39:46.809 --> 00:39:50.670 let us know and and maybe even if you're just 00:39:50.670 --> 00:39:54.920 planning on Joining in on the QSO party, if you 00:39:54.920 --> 00:39:58.320 have some comments about that, jump in and let 00:39:58.320 --> 00:40:02.340 us know. And maybe your plans for the eclipse. 00:40:03.159 --> 00:40:06.480 I haven't figured mine out yet. I got to work, 00:40:06.659 --> 00:40:09.139 I got to teach, and then I'm coming back from 00:40:09.139 --> 00:40:11.320 Huntsville, so it's going to be a tight squeeze. 00:40:12.199 --> 00:40:16.760 I haven't got an exotic location to go to or 00:40:16.760 --> 00:40:20.699 anything, but I'm sure we'll get some time to 00:40:20.699 --> 00:40:25.619 take a look at it. Yeah. I hope, I hope so. It 00:40:25.619 --> 00:40:28.840 should be a very interesting event. Now I've 00:40:28.840 --> 00:40:32.579 heard, um, a lot of people say some places down 00:40:32.579 --> 00:40:35.579 in Kentucky. Um, and then I've heard some out 00:40:35.579 --> 00:40:41.019 in, in Nebraska. So where's the best belt of 00:40:41.019 --> 00:40:45.840 viewing for this? Uh, well, um, I guess, uh, 00:40:45.860 --> 00:40:51.139 people may know by now. that the eclipse totality 00:40:51.139 --> 00:40:55.860 is going to start in Oregon and go diagonally 00:40:55.860 --> 00:40:58.019 southeast across the United States and then in 00:40:58.019 --> 00:41:01.739 South Carolina. And really, any of those places 00:41:01.739 --> 00:41:04.480 could potentially be a good location as long 00:41:04.480 --> 00:41:07.739 as you're within that narrow band path of totality. 00:41:08.219 --> 00:41:11.260 The thing you want to watch out for visually 00:41:11.260 --> 00:41:14.119 is you want good weather. You want it to be cloud 00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:19.190 free. If you look out in the western part of 00:41:19.190 --> 00:41:21.289 the United States, there are some places that 00:41:21.289 --> 00:41:24.489 are statistically more dry, more cloud -free 00:41:24.489 --> 00:41:27.030 at the times when totality is going to take place. 00:41:27.429 --> 00:41:29.670 Those are probably some really good options. 00:41:31.630 --> 00:41:34.570 You can go on the internet and if you Google 00:41:34.570 --> 00:41:37.190 Great American Eclipse, you can find websites 00:41:37.190 --> 00:41:39.949 that will tell you these are places where you 00:41:39.949 --> 00:41:42.690 are most likely to have... good dry, clear weather. 00:41:43.289 --> 00:41:45.369 But the nice thing from a ham radio perspective 00:41:45.369 --> 00:41:48.750 is that our radios can see through the clouds. 00:41:49.130 --> 00:41:52.510 So if you're interested in the ham radio or just 00:41:52.510 --> 00:41:56.269 the radio aspect of it, you can still fully participate 00:41:56.269 --> 00:41:59.929 even if you're in a place that is less dry. Or 00:41:59.929 --> 00:42:02.309 you might just get lucky, which is what I'm certainly 00:42:02.309 --> 00:42:04.710 hoping for. I'm hoping that we have good clear 00:42:04.710 --> 00:42:07.969 skies and good radio propagation all at the same 00:42:07.969 --> 00:42:10.780 time in Kentucky. Yep. Now that would be nice. 00:42:10.880 --> 00:42:14.980 It doesn't happen very often, but you know, it 00:42:14.980 --> 00:42:17.480 could happen, right? Yep. Yep. We're going to 00:42:17.480 --> 00:42:21.460 hope so. And so, you know, the reverse and one 00:42:21.460 --> 00:42:23.400 thing I want to mention is, you know, the reverse 00:42:23.400 --> 00:42:26.179 beacons and some of that stuff, you know, kind 00:42:26.179 --> 00:42:28.860 of relies more on digital mode. So I'm sure that 00:42:28.860 --> 00:42:32.039 would be helpful. if you do a digital mode or 00:42:32.039 --> 00:42:35.519 CW, something like that. But just get on the 00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:39.019 air and make some contacts and get some activity 00:42:39.019 --> 00:42:42.099 on the band so we can see what's going on. And 00:42:42.099 --> 00:42:44.199 I wanted to make a note. I know you said you 00:42:44.199 --> 00:42:46.559 had to work. You had to teach on that Monday. 00:42:47.599 --> 00:42:50.900 People who maybe can't get out and operate, they 00:42:50.900 --> 00:42:53.059 might still be able to set up a reverse speaking 00:42:53.059 --> 00:42:55.199 network node that they can just leave running 00:42:55.199 --> 00:43:02.639 for the day. PSK reporter node. You can just 00:43:02.639 --> 00:43:05.239 turn the radio on and have it just listen and 00:43:05.239 --> 00:43:07.739 report back and that's a good way to participate 00:43:07.739 --> 00:43:10.420 even if you can't actually be there operating 00:43:10.420 --> 00:43:13.480 in front of your radio during the eclipse. All 00:43:13.480 --> 00:43:16.820 right, very good. Well, we have reached the end 00:43:16.820 --> 00:43:20.820 of our time, so I want to thank my guests, Sam 00:43:20.820 --> 00:43:26.019 Rose, KC2LRC, and Dr. Nathaniel Frisell, W2NAF, 00:43:26.179 --> 00:43:29.079 and everyone out there for listening tonight, 00:43:29.199 --> 00:43:32.960 and that is a wrap for this week's edition. of 00:43:32.960 --> 00:43:36.840 HamTalk Live. Now, next week, 9 o 'clock Eastern 00:43:36.840 --> 00:43:42.440 Time, Andrew, OZ5E, and Lisa Huddleston from 00:43:42.440 --> 00:43:45.400 the Ham Band will be on. If you remember that 00:43:45.400 --> 00:43:49.360 viral video a few years ago of the people on 00:43:49.360 --> 00:43:51.960 the tower doing the music video, they're going 00:43:51.960 --> 00:43:57.760 to be here live from Denmark. And we're looking 00:43:57.760 --> 00:44:01.860 forward to that. So make sure you tune in for 00:44:01.860 --> 00:44:04.780 the Ham Band next week. And for a list of all 00:44:04.780 --> 00:44:07.500 of our upcoming guests, you just go to HamTalkLive 00:44:07.500 --> 00:44:11.460 .com and click on the show schedule link. So 00:44:11.460 --> 00:44:16.980 for now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7375. 00:44:17.519 --> 00:44:36.849 And may the good DX be yours. Thanks for watching!