Ron Hashiro

Click here to hear audio from an ISS pass, courtesy of www.issfanclub.com. Suni Williams talks with teachers at a conference at Johnson Space Flight Center on May 31 2007, while passing over Oahu. Ground station was WH6PN at Sacred Hearts Academy. The ISS had a good signal. I got to listen to a part of the downlink to this QSO while parking my car into a parking structure heading to work.

The last days of the ANDE-MAA satellite, Space Command object #29664 are chronicled here. This unusual, battery-powered satellite will last around 365 days in orbit, having been released by the STS-116 crew onboard the shuttle Discovery on December 21, 2006.

Your webmaster is one of a world-wide network of ground control stations.

Compare that against the last days of the RAFT satellite in May.

There is an award certificate available if you work ANDE in the last ten days of operation. Click here for details.

On the November 23, 14:49:00z (November 23, 4:49 am HST) pass, ground station AH6RH finally turned on the laser beacons of the ANDE satellite.

The command sequence for Side A started at 14:48:40z and took 20 seconds, but by that time, ANDE had moved from it's closest approach (elevation of 74 degrees, azimuth bearing of 226 degrees, range of 158 statute miles, RX doppler of 92 Hertz) to a new postion (elevation of 55 degrees, azimuth bearing of 165 degrees, range of 184 statute miles, RX doppler of -1,840 Hertz) which is just about the edge of the effective beamwidth.

Success was finally achieved by pinging the satellite awake about two minutes earlier using a 2kHz offset for doppler, then swinging the Arrow antenna to point to the middle of the pass. ANDE was so low (altitude of 152 miles), and moving way faster than the usual 9 minute, 30 second passes for the ISS (altitude of 220 miles), that it is now only 8 minutes horizon-to-horizon for good passes. Doppler was +/-3.5 kHz for the pass, which was descending east of Oahu.

Power output was about 50 watts from the Icom IC-910H, into a two element Arrow antenna (the director was removed to increase beamwidth). No receiver pre-amp was used. Received signal was at least half-scale during the pass, so the automated logon sequence was used. The logon, commands and disconnect sequenced flawlessly for the first time. Time permitted only the high telemetry and laser beacon enabled commands for Side A to be entered.

The Hawaii VHF/UHF Repeater Page has been updated with VOIP (IRLP and Echolink) repeater information courtesy of Jack, KH6DQ.

The D-STAR Page has been updated with Hawaii D-STAR repeater information.

Check out this Youtube video clip.

A ham radio swapmeet will be held at the Aiea Elementary School, Saturday Oct 6 from 8:00 am to 12 noon. Amateur radio license testing will be available.

New WXSpots program and web site debuted this morning.

Hank, KH6HAK, informs me that IC Supply at 2978 Ualena St near the airport carries the Anderson Powerpole connectors.

Check out this web page, containing information and articles on the early days of amateur radio.

Manolo Morales did an excellent story featuring amateur radio operations during hurricane events. Click here to read the story.

New web pages have been posted. See 1296 MHz operations.

New web pages have been posted. See HF mobile. In addition, the pages for the effects of doppler shift and ISS communications, Warren Munro's classes and the CDARC Testing Schedule, which have been updated.

New web pages have been posted. See Happenings in Hawaii, Ham Radio Exam Testing, Morse Code and Study Guides.

The RAFT satellite is about to deorbit, by May 31, 2007. You can see the warming effects of coming in contact with increasing density of the atmosphere.

RAFT has also detected the doppler effect of approach the space fence radar in operation along the southern portion of the US.

Bruce Clark, K0YW, operating KH7X at KH6YY made the first successful EME contact from Hawaii on 2304 MHz at 2:39Z, 23-APR-2007 (Sunday afternoon, 4:39 pm). This is the first time EME from Hawaii has been worked on this band.

Contact was with Al, W5LUA, running 200 watts into a 12 foot TVRO dish. Equipment included an SSB Electronics transverter, a preamp and a Kenwood TS-2000 on 144 Mhz.

Location was the KH7X station at Alex Benton KH6YY's QTH. A number of hams helped Bruce with his attempt. They included KH6YY, KH6ND, KH7U, WH6GS, AH6NF and AH6RH.

2.3 GHz is the near the same frequency band as Wi-Fi wireless PC networking, and residential microwave ovens. Typical Wi-Fi devices are less than 200 milliwatts, and household microwave ovens are 1,000 watts or less. This attempt used more than 1,000 times the normal output of a Wi-Fi device, and about 1/5 the power of a household microwave oven.

Operations was in a tent pitched next to the TVRO dish to reduce feedline losses. The TX feedline was 7/8-inch heliax, and RX feedline included LMR-400 and LMR-600. Noise caused by rain falling on the tent can overwhelm the audio from the radio and disrupt QSOs.

The CW signal was just above the noise level, and sounded "watery" as if the speaker was being held underwater. The warbling tone was much worse than arctic flutter. The sound was typical due to the RF signal reflecting off the irregular surface of the moon. Doppler was on the order of a 3 kHz shift due to the relative motion of the earth and moon, multiplied by the frequency. CW speed was about 13 WPM, with much of the QSO sent twice in short phrases due to the signals being just above the noise level.

Click here to hear audio from an ISS pass, Scott, WA6LIE talking with Charles Simonyi, KE7KDP aboard the ISS, on April 10, 2007, moments after completing his first contact with Hawaii.

Ron, AH6RH made the first contact in the world with space tourist Charles Simonyi, KE7KDP while he was passing over Hawaii aboard the International Space Station. The contact occured at 04/11/2007 04:25z.

A female voice announcing "November Alpha One...Sierra Sierra" came on. Ron held a conversation with Suni Williams KD5PLB. Then Suni said "I have a person who wants to talk with you." After a few moments, Charles came on. I welcomed him to amateur radio, and was glad to make contact with him. He mentioned he was thrilled to make contact with Hawaii. I asked him if he was the author of the "Hungarian (variable naming convention)" used in Windows programming which I had done over 20 years ago, and he chuckled as he commented that he was and that others had used and abused the notation. I commented that it was great to meet the creator of the notation.

See: ARRL news story

The ARISS ground station at Sacred Hearts Academy, WH6PN, held an ARISS Telebridge Contact between Vasant Valley School, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, India and the ISS on Feb 23, 2007 10:50 pm HST. Click the above link for details.

The pass was a 79 degree descending pass. Start was 22:50:47 at 319 degrees; max was 22:55:37 at 228 degrees, 79 degree elevation; end was 23:00:21 at 143 degrees.

A partial audio clip of the downlink (recorded on a vertical antenna) is at: Click here to listen

The astronaut is Suni Williams, KD5PLB. She's responding to these questions:

• If a gold fish is taken up to a microgravity environment how will the fish react to the lack of gravity as it already floats in a fish tank?
• What happens to the respiratory gases that are released and remain inside the ISS (like CO2)?
• Why do some planets have rings?
• What happens to a bullet fired in space?
• What kinds of activities are you carrying out? How will they be beneficial to mankind?
• We are told that resources are highly limited in the ISS. How do you go about this difficulty for example: How much water are you carrying and is there any facility of reusing it over and over again?
• What kind of food you eat in the ISS and with what frequency?

Ron, AH6RH attempted a double satellite hop between Hawaii and California. AH6RH sent packet messages from Oahu, to the ANDE satellite orbiting about 200 miles overhead. ANDe relayed the message to the PCSAT satellite over the North Pacific to Scott, WA6LIE in Monterey, California. The attempt occured at 01/14/2007 01:09:47z. PCSAT-1 did not hear and digipeat the packets from ANDE-1. Later during the pass, contact was made directly through PCSAT with both Scott and Jim, W7XZ.

See: AH6RH-7 messages

Amateur radio operators were notified starting at 6:41 pm that a tsunami watch was in effect for a quake that occured in the Kuril Islands. The watch was cancelled at 9:33 pm.

See: Kuril Island quake

Four new amateur radio satellites have been released. See: RAFT and ANDE Operations Page

The latest keplerian elements can be obtained from here. The ANDE satellite is labelled as #29664, "ANDE (NO-61)". See: Daily keps

The downlink packets and telemetry can be observed here: Igate traffic

Hawaii is serving as ground stations for telemetry and control for the effort.

Here are some reports from RAFT and ANDE See: issfanclub.com

ANDE's two watt transmitter makes clean reception of ANDE difficult. Even with a 3 element beam, the pass has to higher than 80 degrees or more before a Kantronics KPC-3+ can decode the audio into data.

The NO-44 PCSAT satellite is usable for about another week. As a result, there's two good passes this weekend to contact the West Coast via PCSAT. Sometime next week, the satellite will fall into the earth's shadow, and reset. When that happens, the digipeating operation will stop. See: The PCSAT web page

The digipeating frequency is 145.825 MHz. The callsign is PCSAT-1. The alternate aliases are: ARISS, WIDEn-n, APRSAT.

The passtimes for Honolulu in HST are:

• Start: Sat Jan 13 3:07:14 PM @ bearing 006 degrees
• Middle: Sat Jan 13 3:13:27 PM @ elevation 12 degrees, bearing 059 degrees
• End: Sat Jan 13 3:18:56 PM
• LOS: Sat Jan 13 3:19:36 PM @ bearing 112 degrees.
• Maximum duration: 11 mins 42 secs

• Start: Sun Jan 14 2:38:00 PM @ bearing 013 degrees
• Middle: Sun Jan 14 2:43:24 PM @ elevation 8 degrees, bearing 057 degrees
• End: Sun Jan 14 2:48:42 PM @ bearing 101 degrees
• LOS: Sat Jan 13 2:48:42 PM @ bearing 101 degrees.
• Maximum duration: 10 mins 42 secs

You might find this Youtube video amusing and insightful. See: The CF Rap

If you like HF contesting, you'll like The Ham Band

Amateur radio operators responded to the needs around the Kona Coast area following the magnitude 6.7 earthquake. ARES and RACES operators responded to State and Oahu Civil Defense. See: Kiholo Quake

www.arrl.org

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PORTABLE AM/FM RADIO WITH EXTRA BATTERIES, OR ONE THAT HAS AN INTERNAL HAND-CRANKED GENERATOR!

See: www.arrl.org

A reminder: Being prepared is a personal responsibility. Being aware of emergency response and recovery procedures before an incident is also a personal responsibility.

A second reminder: During an emergency, emergency responders use the regular phone lines to activate and coordinate a response, especially between agencies. Nothing is more frustrating to a responder than to get no open phone lines, busy cell phone networks and busy signals -- it slows down their response. So do yourself a favor and keep the phone lines clear! Make ONE call to a relative on the mainland, let them know you're okay, and tell them to call the other relatives on the mainland. That frees up the phone lines for local emergency response.

A third reminder: At the exact moment a disaster occurs, assume everything is broken. What the responders are doing is building a response. If things are working, that's one less headache and the response is one step closer. If its broken, it'll be fixed in priority order. If people, equipment or materials need to be moved as part of that response, especially from a warehouse or staging center to the scene of the response, recognize that it takes some time. In the meantime, improvise.

Another web page featuring contacting the ISS (International Space Station) has been added. Click on this link.

The web page featuring contacting the ISS (International Space Station) has been updated. Click on this link.

The web page featuring radio nets in Hawaii is now available. Click on this link.

KH6DT and AH6RH established a Hawaii terrestrial record for digital voice contact using Icom ID-1 D-STAR radios on Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 6:31 pm between Oahu and Maui. Analog voice contact quality was fair, with lots of background noise. The digital voice contact was very clear, but had the "Donald Duck" characteristic and artifact of Icom's D-STAR digital voice quality.

KH6DT and AH6RH established digital voice contact using Icom ID-1 D-STAR radios on Saturday, July 29, 2006 at 7:08 pm. Analog voice contact quality was fair, with background "sizzing bacon" noise. Digital voice contact tended to be either (a) very clear, or (b) non-existent, depending on whether there was sufficient S+N/N to provide a digital voice contact.

A web page featuring contacting the ISS (International Space Station) is now available. Click on this link.

A web page featuring getting started in amateur radio is now available. Click on this link.

The web page featuring APRS in Hawaii is now available. Click on this link.

Many thanks to Ernie Burnett for suggesting the code modification to make this page appear the way it was intended.

Four way QSO with Bev AH6NF (at the KH6J Field Day site at Kualoa Beach Park, NW side of Oahu), Dean KH6DT (Wailuku, Maui), Ray NH6RZ (Mililani, Oahu), and Ron AH6RH (Ala Moana, Oahu). 85 degree descending pass to the west. Total pass time was 9 minutes, 16 seconds starting at 13:04:57.

Total access time was 2 minutes 21 seconds from 03:09:11z to 03:11:32z. All stations were within a circle of diameter of about 120 miles. The north most station, AH6NF was the first on. The east most station, KH6DT was the second and the last on. NH6RZ was running 4 watts. AH6RH was running 10 watts at BL11bg.

Brief exchanges of callsigns and sig reports (59s) were done. The contacts tended to be unstable, with the sigs good for perhaps 2-3 seconds at certain moments, and other moments it would cut-off in the middle of the exchange. Not very good link quality for extended ragchew QSOs as experienced with the earlier 03:24z pass.

Attempts were made to compensate for doppler. In this event, access occurred on 437.800, and shifting freq to 437.805 extended the usability of the end of the pass about 10-15 seconds.

I was surprised that attempts to shift down 10 and 5 khz for doppler in the first half of the pass didn't seem to have material effect. Your access time and link quality into the repeater may vary.

Remaining crossband repeater passes for Saturday are at 4:13:58 pm HST 10 degree pass and 5:48:07 pm HST 22 degreee pass. Sunday passes are 1:53:15 am HST 10 degrees and 3:28:20 am HST 15 degrees.

Kyle WH6BIE, Dean KH6DT and Ron AH6RH held a three-way QSO via the ISS UHF/VHF Cross-band repeater. The QSO occured at 5:26 pm HST, Fri June 23, 2006 on a 55 degree ascending pass to the east. The usable passtime was 1 minute, 40 seconds.

Kyle used a Yaesu FT-50rd for the uplink and FT-2800M 5/8 monoband mobile vertical on a bicycle for the downlink. Dean used an Icom IC-2720. Ron used a Kenwood TM-D700 at 10 watts and 1/4 wave verticals mounted on the car.

At 7:04 pm HST, Fri June 23, 2006 a 5 degree ascending pass to the wast was measured. The usable passtime was 15 seconds.

Station used was a Kenwood TM-D700 running 10 watts into a trunk-lid 1/4 wave UHF antenna. No attempt was made for doppler frequency correction on these measurements.

The cross-band repeater on the International Space Station is operational from now until sometime Sunday, June 25, 2006. Don't miss this opportunity to operate this rare mode. You transmit on 437.800 Mhz, and receive on 145.800 Mhz.

The list of times of the passes over Honolulu in HST is here. Click on this link.

For realtime news, see http://www.issfanclub.com

The linking for the State-wide VHF repeater system is operational again. Many thanks to Robin, AH6CP for his efforts.

First three-way QSO over 1.2 Ghz was done on Saturday, June 3, 2006 between 8:36 and 9:00 pm between Rick KH7O, Toby KH7FR and Ron AH6RH. Stations were running 10 watts into gain antennas between 9 dB and 14 dB gain. None of these stations have line-of-sight on 2m or 440 UHF.

Operated Radio Central onboard the USS Missouri, BB-63, as part of Museum Ships Weekend. 20 meters and 17 meters began to warm up about 2:00 pm local time, was still going strong with some mean QSB when I had to leave at 5:00 pm local. We were averaging about one QSO per minute on each band.

Station 1 was a Kenwood TS-450S with an amp running 600 watts into a vertical on 20m. Station 2 was a Kenwood TS-450S with an amp running 400 watts into a vertical on 17m. See photos at http://www.kh6bb.org

Was great to hook up to Al, KH6ILR/3 in Washington, D.C. on 17 meters. Many thanks to Ned, KH7JJ, for an absolutely wonderful day!

First digital data exchange over 1.2 Ghz using Icom ID-1 radios was done on Sunday, May 28, 2006 at 8:51 pm. Web access and e-mail operations were transparent. This paves the way to further assessment for using the ID-1 as a rapid means of deploying Internet connectivity to disaster scenes. See ID-1 IP programming notes on how to program the radio for simplex IP operations.

Still working (slowly) in solving the formatting problem caused by the differences in the way Internet Explorer and Netscape/Mozilla handles CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

A feature of amateur radio called APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) allows amateur radio operators to track vehicles and exchange instant messages using amateur radio and the Internet. This map displays recent activity on Oahu.

Kauai
Oahu
Maui
Big Island of Hawaii

A new web page featuring Katashi Nose, KH6IJ is available.
http://ronhashiro.htohananet.com/am-radio/hof/kh6ij.html

Ron, AH6RH and KH6DT made a QSO with Bill on a 16 degree ascending pass east of Oahu. Ron secured a UHF two-way contact.

Dean, KH6DT made a QSO with Bill on a 18 degree ascending pass east of Maui.

Three stations made contact with Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, on the 17 degree pass west of Oahu. Ran 1/2-wave vertical mag mount in the center of the roof.

• 16:57:23 Acquisition of signal.
• 16:57:23 - 17:01:05 Maritime Mobile
• 17:00:22 - 17:00:41 AH6RH, Ron
• 17:00:46 - 17:03:58 NH6PU, Pat
• 17:03:58 - 17:04:41 KH6DT, Dean
• 17:04:56 - 17:05:11 Called for AH7E
• 17:05:16 End of Pass

Six stations made contact with Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, in nine minutes, 45 seconds on the 81 degree pass between Oahu and Molokai. Ran Arrow Antenna beam.

• 16:32:35 Acquisition of signal.
• 16:32:35 - 16:35:05 W0CXX, Maritime Mobile
• 16:35:06 KH6DT, Dean
• 16:37:10 - 16:37:20 AH6RH, Ron
• 16:37:49 AH6SH, Michael
• 16:38:38 G3SEA, Paul
• 16:39:22 NH7NM, Ed
• 16:40:10 - 16:40:56 AH6RH
• 16:41:02 Loss Of Signal over the Koolau Mountain Range
• 16:41:xx NH6RZ
• 16:42:20 End of Pass

The links to web pages containing alert information for Hawaii has moved to a separate web page as of April 1, 2006. The new location is:

http://ronhashiro.htohananet.com/alert/

Seventeen hams across Hawaii made two-way radio contact with the International Space Station on March 5, 2006.

Watch the video: Two-way contact with Bill McArthur, KC5ACR

Six stations checked into the 147.06 Mhz net just prior to the pass. An additional five stations were at Waikiki.

Seventeen stations made contact with Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, in eight minutes, 51 seconds on the 19 degree pass.

With Bill's schedule, he may be on Friday night 8:00 pm to Saturday noon HST, and also Saturday night 8:00 pm to Sunday noon HST. Sunday UTC (Saturday night to Sunday noon) is his day off, so there is a better chance of contact.

Bill returns to earth at the end of March. Now is a good time to prepare for any future operation. Let's see if we can triple the number of contacts per pass by practicing NOW.

• Program your radio's offset for -1.31 Mhz (Don't forget the negative offset).
• Tune to receive on 145.80
• Test that the transmit freq is 144.49
• Do not transmit on 145.80. Bill is not listening on 145.80.

• Listen for Bill to complete his acknowledgement of the previous station.
• Call Bill with your callsign phonetically, and say "59".
• Listen for Bill to acknowledge you with your callsign and "59".

• 11:08:31 AH6RH Acquisition of signal.
• 11:09:07 AH7E
• 11:09:33 KH6W
• 11:09:55 KH7GN
• 11:10:19 KH6CQ
• 11:11:01 NH6RZ
• 11:11:12 NH7L
• 11:11:23 NH6RZ
• 11:11:45 NH6RZ
• 11:12:20 AH6NM
• 11:12:38 AH6DT (KH6DT)
• 11:12:51 AH6NF
• 11:13:02 AH6DT (KH6DT) QSL?
• 11:13:51 AH6RH Query on crossband repeater operations
• 11:14:23 AH6DT (KH6DT)
• 11:14:55 KH7FR
• 11:15:20 NH7XQ
• 11:15:33 WH6GS
• 11:15:58 WH7O
• 11:16:14 AH6J
• 11:16:36 WH6FC
• 11:16:58-11:17:09 AH6RH Loss of signal.

The astronauts on the International Space Station will be releasing the first-of-its-kind satellite made from a discarded spacesuit.

See: January 26 NASA article.

To track the space suit: www.suitsat.org

To track the space station: www.issfanclub.com

The scenario for Saturday's Simulated Emergency Net (SET) has changed. Originally, the scenario called for a recovery from a simulated hurricane. With the rainstorms that are the remnants of Tropical Disturbance Kenneth now in the vicinity of the main Hawaiian Islands, there is a possibility for confusion of the simulated emergency messages with actual, live messages related to the rainstorm. Confusion may also occur with the general public that may not be listening carefully to the radio traffic.

For SET 2005, the NCS will open SET as usual, taking check-ins, and announce the change in scenario from post-hurricane recovery. The new scenario is monitoring the actual rainstorm activity and passing reports of weather and ground conditions in ARRL Radiogram form to the NCS.

For SET 2005, compose ARRL Radiograms, addressed to the NCS (ie, State RACES NCS, OCDA RACES NCS, Healthcomm NCS, etc) and report weather and ground conditons. Please add your name and callsign for the signature block. Messages during this period counts as net traffic for SET. As time permits, NCS or other stations may send test messages to you.

Operations is expected to start at 9:00 am on these frequencies. There may be other frequencies that will be hosting SET 2005 nets.

• SCD: 147.02/147.04/147.06 Mhz FM; 7.088 Mhz LSB
• OCDA: 146.88 Mhz FM
• Healthcomm: 147.22 Mhz FM

Depending on conditions, Skywarn may operate on 147.02/147.04/147.06 at the :00 and :30 of the hour, and on 146.88 at :15 and :45 on the hour with bulletins and message handling.

Since the situation is fluid, please expect changes with operations for SET 2005.

Stations are encouraged to create and pass test messages in the ARRL Radiogram message format. Test messages should start and end with the words "This is a test message" and the signature section should contain the name and title of the originator of the message.

A hurricane named Yoza has hit the major islands of the Hawaiian Island chain, leaving all islands in need of relief and recovery. The simulated hurricane has left the area and is no longer a threat to the Hawaiian Islands. Each area may also implement their own scenarios in addition to the state-wide scenario.

Stations are encouraged to create and pass messages in the ARRL Radiogram message format. Messages should start and end with the words "This is a test message" and the signature section should contain the name and title of the originator of the message.

2004 SET Guide

Information on ARRL Radiogram message handling can be found at: Hawaii Healthcomm Message Handling

It's a good time to track the storm. https://metoc.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc.html

The new URL is: http://rhashiro.htohananet.com/am-radio/in-hawaii.html

Looking for a Windows-based program that integrates the Internet, HF digital links, and global position reports? These are links you might find useful for reviewing Winlink 2000.

• Winlink 2000 website  Click http://www.winlink.org
• Features   Click http://www.winlink.org/features.htm
• Information page on emergency management usage   Click http://www.winlink.org/Emergency.htm
• Airmail 2000 mail client   Click http://www.airmail2000.com/

If you've ever tried making the 30 Amp Anderson Powerpole connector and had the wire pull out from the pin, you know it's a real bummer. Soldering the pin may lead to "wicking" of the solder on the silver-plated contact. The Gardner Bender GS-88 crimp tool requires delicate manipulation. Gardner Bender GS-88/Anderson Powerpole Crimp Instructions

If you are making several power connectors, consider the investment in the West Mountain Radio Powerpole crimp tool. Once you see the quality of the crimp and finished product (an absolutely awesome professional crimp...better than solder), its very hard to use anything else! It does a real professional job for about $50, 1/2 the cost of the industrial-strength hand tool.

If you want the right high-end tool for the right job, use the Sargent 4182 CT crimp tool.   At about $100, it is pricey.

• Sargent Tool Web Site
• Picture of Sargent 4100 Series Tools
• Specs on Sargent 4182 CT

Available at

• Mouser Electronics,
• PowerWerx (not shown on web page). (These suppliers listed are informational purposes only, and not necessarily an endorsement.)

Having made the recommendation through the ARRL ARECC CCE course of adopting the Anderson Powerpole as a universal power connection for emergency communications, I'm glad to see so many amateurs finding the merits of the connector, and to see the wealth of products available to meet the needs of the emergency communicator.

Links to various 2004 legislative web pages were listed.

The DXpedition to Kalawao County, April 15 to 18 2004 by AH6NF and AH6RH was successful. Over 180 QSOs were completed in the times available around the previously scheduled work tasks. Contacts were on 17m. 20m and limited 40m activity. The QSL card is being designed and printed. More details on the results coming soon.

A swapfest was held April 3, 2004 starting from 8:00 am to 11:00 am at Aiea Elementary School parking lot and cafeteria. (Directly mauka of Aloha Stadium at the corner of Moanalua Road and Kaimakani Street. Take the Aiea exit from H-1, either direction. Sign in at the tent at the entrance to the parking lot.)

These arrangements are underway for RACES/ARES in Hawaii regarding Hurricane Jimena, 9/01/2003 7:20 am HST.

• HF stations are encouraged to monitor 40 meters and 75/80 meters for inter-island traffic.
  • 7.088 Interisland Frequency
  • 3.888   Big Island
  • 3.905   ARES
  • 3.993.5 State RACES
  If events warrants activating ARES/RACES, monitoring stations are encouraged to notify their local ARES/RACES coordinators.
• Jimena was downgraded to a tropical storm at 4:45 am. The 5:30 am position of Jimena was past due south of South Point.
• Per JTWC Bulletin #19, the closest approach to Honolulu is forecasted 251 nm at 1:00 pm Monday. Jimena has moved south from previous tracks forecasted over the weekend.
• Big Island ARES have been notified to report to their designated shelters and hospitals. They will come up on 7088 or 3905 if an emergency is declared. Local traffic is on 2m simplex and repeaters.
• Big Island report as of 7:45 pm Sunday. Hilo has heavy sporadic showers and very light winds. Kau is very humid, has no winds, heavy low cumulus clouds. When there is a break in the low clouds, high cirrus clouds are visible.
• Skywarn is collecting weather reports from the Big Island via the Internet.
• Skywarn nets to appear on IRLP linked repeaters on the Western Reflector #4.
  • KH6SW NWS Honolulu 147.44 simplex
  • AH6GR/R Maui 147.18+
• Skywarn (National Weather Service, UH Manoa) has net control running starting Sunday afternoon. This is an excellent chance to practice handling the radio operator position and net control station.
• Oahu Civil Defense Agency will run nets on 146.88- repeater on this schedule:
  • Sunday 7:30 pm.
  • Monday 7:30 am, 12:00 noon, 7:30 pm.
• OCDA RACES is looking for stations to monitor 7088 or 3993.5 and relay messages as needed. Contact Ray Moody, AH6LT at moody@hawaii.edu.
• State RACES is monitoring the course of Jimena and may activate accordingly on HF.  The links on the State-wide VHF repeater system are currently down for maintenance.

Other sites:

• OCDA RACES info
• 72-hour kit
• Radios for emergencies
• Other amateur radio stuff

You might find this page of interest. Human Powered 12 Volt Generator

It's the CW operator's dream paddle.  Find out why.

Not bad for one day's mobile/portable operation with an FT-817, 10 m Maldol antenna, Hustler mobile antennas, a magnetic mount and the Alpha Delta Outpost Tripod. Operations were from (a) the summit of Diamond Head, (b) the Windward Coast of Oahu, and (c) Makakilo. The result was completely unexpected and a pleasant surprise.

1.2 GHz pioneers Dean Tanimoto, AH6IF and Ron Hashiro, AH6RH completed a Hawaii terrestial record for 1.2 GHz QSO. The QSO was from Wailuku, Maui to Makakilo, Oahu on July 1, 2001. The signals travelled over 120 miles.

The QSO was made by bouncing the signals from Maui off of the volcanic mountain Mt. Haleakala to Oahu. The ferrous and basaltic content of the cinders made it an ideal natual passive reflector.

Oahu 1.2 GHz pioneers Rick Ching, KH7O and Ron Hashiro, AH6RH completed an Oahu terrestial record for 1.2 GHz QSO on June 17, 2001. The great circle distance was 28.58 km (17.79 mi) between Palolo and Kapolei with one watt at each end.

The QSO was made by bouncing the signals from Palolo off of the volcanic mountain Diamond Head to Kapolei. The ferrous and basaltic content of the crater wall made it an ideal natual passive reflector.

More testing efforts continue.

Tuned into 144.200 lately? You can start to hear activity again.

The online course of emergency communications was announced on Jan 16,2001 and filled within 24 hours with its next 45 students. The students have up to eight weeks to complete the study. See: http://www.arrl.org

ARRL has proposed having a national certification program on a number of areas within amateur radio. One of the areas of discussion is in emergency communications. View the current outline at http://home.earthlink.net/~w0ipl/emcom-rd.htm

Here's your chance to work the International Space Station. See Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

See: http://www.qsl.net/krpdxg/index.html

The Emergency Amateur Radio Club (EARC) won fifth place nationally for it's submission to the "Frequency" movie promotion contest. See details at http://www.arrl.org and http://www.qsl.net/ah6rh/freq.html

Richard, a fixture in amateur radio on Oahu, passed away on May 1. Brec, WH6EU, has a write-up at his web page. Click here to see it.

If you own one of the older ICOM HF, VHF, UHF, 1.2GHz and R-71 family radios and would like to get a non-volatile RAM board instead of replacing the lithium RAM battery, check out this page

• Harvard Wireless Club 
• CQ Contest Hall of Fame, No. 2