Blew off most of the recent fun contests.\u00c2\u00a0 Just a few QSO’s in Stew Perry, fewer in NAQP CW, and zero interest in NAQP SSB.\u00c2\u00a0 Atypical, but there it is.<\/p>\n
During Stew Perry I operated long enough to observe the K9AY was having a good night.\u00c2\u00a0 RX on the K9AY was much better than on the transmit antenna in a lot of cases, even though QRN was relatively low.\u00c2\u00a0 I was able to copy several stations on the K9Ay that were below the noise on the TX inv-L antenna.\u00c2\u00a0 The wx conditions had been very wet leading into that weekend, so I expect the ground conditions were better.\u00c2\u00a0 The radial field for the K9AY got torn up during this seasons leaf harvest, so its mostly just a ground rod.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s worth investigating more thoroughly and methodically.<\/p>\n
Currently the normal shack-time has been squandered toying with the Linux file server.\u00c2\u00a0 Been toying with some PHP\/html curiosities, and getting a project gathering band data from the\u00c2\u00a0 ARRL Sweep contest migrated to the server.\u00c2\u00a0 Most recently been more compelled by curiosity into looking at the raw data<\/a> now available from the reverse beacon network<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 The “reverse beacons network” is simply a site that has been set up[by PY1NB, F5VIH, and N4ZR, et. al.] to gather spots generated by various CW skimmers that have public access nodes.<\/p>\n Currently the network is fairly irregular, in that most of the skimmers seem to be part-time.\u00c2\u00a0 But there are more of them active for more regular durations as time and interest marches forward.\u00c2\u00a0 Interesting idea.\u00c2\u00a0 The data available goes back to 2009, by the day.\u00c2\u00a0 It occurs to me that the data might be useful as yardstick for measuring a station’s relative strength.\u00c2\u00a0 A good way to compare stations in the only way that really counts – how well can they hear you.<\/p>\n The amount of data available is fairly large, even with a relatively small and irregular network of skimmers being aggregated.\u00c2\u00a0 It seems like it might be interesting to peel off the data I feel is of interest, and see if anything interesting can be “squouze” from it.\u00c2\u00a0 To that end, a whole new array of “how do I\u00c2\u00a0 get ????” questions pop up.\u00c2\u00a0 The spot analysis tool written by F5VIH is a great start, but maybe not exactly what I’d like to see.\u00c2\u00a0 In the end, nothing may come of the recent curiosities other than a less than rigorous exercise of the gray matter.<\/p>\n Let the leaves blow where the wind takes them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blew off most of the recent fun contests.\u00c2 Just a few QSO’s in Stew Perry, fewer in NAQP CW, and zero interest in NAQP SSB.\u00c2 Atypical, but there it is.<\/p>\n During Stew Perry I operated long enough to observe the K9AY was having a good night.\u00c2 RX on the K9AY was much better than on the transmit antenna in a lot of cases, even though QRN was relatively low.\u00c2 I was able to copy several stations on the K9Ay that were below the noise on the TX inv-L antenna.\u00c2 The wx conditions had been very wet leading into that weekend, so I expect the ground conditions were better.\u00c2 The radial field for the K9AY got torn up during this seasons leaf harvest, so its mostly just a ground rod.\u00c2 That’s worth investigating more thoroughly and methodically.<\/p>\n Currently the normal shack-time has been squandered toying with the Linux file server.\u00c2 Been toying with some PHP\/html curiosities, and getting a project gathering band data from the\u00c2 ARRL Sweep contest migrated to the server.\u00c2 Most recently been more compelled by curiosity into looking at the raw data now available from the reverse beacon network.\u00c2 The “reverse beacons network” is simply a site that has been set up[by PY1NB, F5VIH, and N4ZR, et. al.] to gather spots generated by various CW skimmers that have public access nodes.<\/p>\n Currently the network is fairly irregular, in that most of the skimmers seem to be part-time.\u00c2 But there are more of them active for more regular durations […]<\/p>\n