Date: Fri, 18 Feb 94 04:31:02 PST From: Ham-Space Mailing List and Newsgroup Errors-To: Ham-Space-Errors@UCSD.Edu Reply-To: Ham-Space@UCSD.Edu Precedence: Bulk Subject: Ham-Space Digest V94 #33 To: Ham-Space Ham-Space Digest Fri, 18 Feb 94 Volume 94 : Issue 33 Today's Topics: Daily IPS Report - 11 Feb 94 (2 msgs) Daily IPS Report - 18 Feb 94 Guide to the Personal Radio Newsgroups It's Official: GPS Anti-spoofing Is Now on Continuously MIR frequencies, AM or FM ? Oscar 13 Questions Weekly IPS Report - 18 Feb 94 Send Replies or notes for publication to: Send subscription requests to: Problems you can't solve otherwise to brian@ucsd.edu. Archives of past issues of the Ham-Space Digest are available (by FTP only) from UCSD.Edu in directory "mailarchives/ham-space". We trust that readers are intelligent enough to realize that all text herein consists of personal comments and does not represent the official policies or positions of any party. Your mileage may vary. So there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 14:58:56 GMT From: agate!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uknet!strath-cs!cen.ex.ac.uk!jmvasnie@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Daily IPS Report - 11 Feb 94 To: ham-space@ucsd.edu dave@eram.esi.com.au writes: > IPS RADIO AND SPACE SERVICES AUSTRALIA > Daily Solar And Geophysical Report > Issued at 2330 UT 10 February 1994 > Summary for 10 February and Forecast up to 13 February > IPS Warning 03 was issued on 03 Feb and expires today. > ----------------------------------------------------------- > > 1A. SOLAR SUMMARY > Activity: low > > Flares: none. > > Observed 10.7 cm flux/Equivalent Sunspot Number : 094/040 > > 1B. SOLAR FORECAST > 11 February 12 February 13 February > Activity Low Low to moderate Low to moderate > Fadeouts None expected None expected None expected > > Forecast 10.7 cm flux/Equivalent Sunspot Number : 090/034 > > 1C. SOLAR COMMENT > Previously flaring region (M class) has yet to appear. > ----------------------------------------------------------- > > 2A. MAGNETIC SUMMARY > Geomagnetic field at Learmonth : ??? > > Estimated Indices : A K Observed A Index 9 February > Learmonth 21 3333 5442 > Fredericksburg 27 32 > Planetary 30 34 > > > 2B. MAGNETIC FORECAST > DATE Ap CONDITIONS > 11 Feb 20 Active. > 12 Feb 20 Active. > 13 Feb 20 Active. > > 2C. MAGNETIC COMMENT > Magnetic activity did not decline as expected, futher active periods > are now expected. Another recurrent disturbance is expected Feb > 14-15. > > 3A. GLOBAL HF PROPAGATION SUMMARY > LATITUDE BAND > DATE LOW MIDDLE HIGH > 10 Feb fair-normal fair-normal poor-fair > PCA Event : None. > 3B. GLOBAL HF PROPAGATION FORECAST > LATITUDE BAND > DATE LOW MIDDLE HIGH > 11 Feb normal fair poor > 12 Feb normal fair poor > 13 Feb normal fair poor > 3C. GLOBAL HF PROPAGATION COMMENT > Propagation conditions are now expected to remain fair for > mid lats and fair-poor at high lats until Feb 16. > > ----------------------------------------------------------- > > 4A. AUSTRALIAN REGION IONOSPHERIC SUMMARY > MUFs at Sydney were about 15% below predicted monthly values > > T index: -4 > > 4B. AUSTRALIAN REGION IONOSPHERIC FORECAST > DATE T-index MUFs > 11 Feb 10 10 to 15% below predicted monthly values. > 12 Feb 20 About 10% below predicted monthly values. > 13 Feb 20 About 10% below predicted monthly values. > > Predicted Monthly T Index for February is 30. > > 4C. AUSTRALIAN REGION COMMENT > Ionosphere did not recover as expected yesterday, probably due > to continuing magnetic activity. Another disturbed period is > expected Feb 14-16. > -- > Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU) VK2KFU @ VK2OP.NSW.AUS.OC PGP 2.3 > dave@esi.COM.AU ...munnari!esi.COM.AU!dave available ------------------------------ Date: 18 Feb 94 02:09:56 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!sserve!usage!metro!news.ci.com.au!eram!dave@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Daily IPS Report - 11 Feb 94 To: ham-space@ucsd.edu In article , jmvasnie@cen.ex.ac.uk writes: | dave@eram.esi.com.au writes: | > IPS RADIO AND SPACE SERVICES AUSTRALIA | > Daily Solar And Geophysical Report | > Issued at 2330 UT 10 February 1994 | > Summary for 10 February and Forecast up to 13 February [ Entire report deleted ] Yes, I did write that... -- Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU) VK2KFU @ VK2OP.NSW.AUS.OC PGP 2.3 dave@esi.COM.AU ...munnari!esi.COM.AU!dave available ------------------------------ Date: 18 Feb 94 01:01:18 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!sserve!usage!metro!news.ci.com.au!eram!dave@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Daily IPS Report - 18 Feb 94 To: ham-space@ucsd.edu IPS RADIO AND SPACE SERVICES AUSTRALIA Daily Solar And Geophysical Report Issued at 2330 UT 17 February 1994 Summary for 17 February and Forecast up to 20 February IPS Warning 06 was issued on 17 Feb and is current for 20-23 Feb. ----------------------------------------------------------- 1A. SOLAR SUMMARY Activity: low Flares: none. Observed 10.7 cm flux/Equivalent Sunspot Number : 106/055 1B. SOLAR FORECAST 18 February 19 February 20 February Activity Low Low Low Fadeouts None expected None expected None expected Forecast 10.7 cm flux/Equivalent Sunspot Number : 110/060 1C. SOLAR COMMENT None. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2A. MAGNETIC SUMMARY Geomagnetic field at Learmonth : quiet to unsettled Estimated Indices : A K Observed A Index 16 February Learmonth 10 2222 3332 Fredericksburg 12 16 Planetary 10 15 2B. MAGNETIC FORECAST DATE Ap CONDITIONS 18 Feb 10 Quiet to unsettled. 19 Feb 12 Quiet to unsettled. 20 Feb 18 Unsettled to active. 2C. MAGNETIC COMMENT None. 3A. GLOBAL HF PROPAGATION SUMMARY LATITUDE BAND DATE LOW MIDDLE HIGH 17 Feb normal normal fair-normal PCA Event : None. 3B. GLOBAL HF PROPAGATION FORECAST LATITUDE BAND DATE LOW MIDDLE HIGH 18 Feb normal normal fair 19 Feb normal normal fair 20 Feb normal fair poor 3C. GLOBAL HF PROPAGATION COMMENT NONE. ----------------------------------------------------------- 4A. AUSTRALIAN REGION IONOSPHERIC SUMMARY MUFs at Sydney were 10 to 15% above predicted monthly values T index: 54 4B. AUSTRALIAN REGION IONOSPHERIC FORECAST DATE T-index MUFs 18 Feb 55 About 15% above predicted monthly values. 19 Feb 50 About 10% above predicted monthly values. 20 Feb 20 About 15% below predicted monthly values. Predicted Monthly T Index for February is 30. 4C. AUSTRALIAN REGION COMMENT None. -- Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU) VK2KFU @ VK2OP.NSW.AUS.OC PGP 2.3 dave@esi.COM.AU ...munnari!esi.COM.AU!dave available ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 12:00:25 GMT From: news.mtholyoke.edu!news.unomaha.edu!news@uunet.uu.net Subject: Guide to the Personal Radio Newsgroups To: ham-space@ucsd.edu Posted-By: auto-faq 3.2.1.2 Archive-name: radio/personal-intro Revision: 1.5 12/18/93 14:15:53 Changes: new mailing lists, .packet rmgroup, and .policy updates (Note: The following is reprinted with the permission of the author.) This message describes the rec.radio.amateur.*, rec.radio.cb, rec.radio.info, and rec.radio.swap newsgroups. It is intended to serve as a guide for the new reader on what to find where. Questions and comments may be directed to the author, Jay Maynard, K5ZC, by Internet electronic mail at jmaynard@oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu. This message was last changed on 18 September 1993 to add the mailing lists for the new rec.radio.amateur newsgroups, to note the rmgroup of rec.radio.amateur.packet, and to officially retire some (in)famous threads of discussion on rec.radio.amateur.policy. History ======= Way back when, before there was a Usenet, the Internet hosted a mailing list for hams, called (appropriately enough) INFO-HAMS. Ham radio discussions were held on the mailing list, and sent to the mailboxes of those who had signed up for it. When the Usenet software was created, and net news as we now know it was developed, a newsgroup was created for hams: net.ham-radio. The mailing list and the newsgroup were gatewayed together, eventually. As the net grew, and as packet radio came into vogue, packet discussion began to dominate other topics in the group and on the list. This resulted in the logical solution: a group was created to hold the packet discussion, and another corresponding mailing list was created as well: net.ham-radio.packet and PACKET-RADIO, respectively. These two groups served for several years, and went through Usenet's Great Renaming essentially unchanged, moving from net.ham-radio[.packet] to rec.ham-radio[.packet]. Readership and volume grew with the rest of the network. The INFO-HAMS mailing list was originally run from a US Army computer at White Sands Missile Range, SIMTEL20. There were few problems with this arrangement, but one was that the system was not supposed to be used for commercial purposes. Since one of hams' favorite pastimes is swapping gear, it was natural for hams to post messages about equipment for sale to INFO-HAMS/rec.ham-radio. This ran afoul of SIMTEL20's no-commercial-use restriction, and after some argument, a group was created specifically for messages like that: rec.ham-radio.swap. This group wasn't gatewayed to a mailing list, thus avoiding problems. While all this was happening, other folks wanted to discuss other aspects of the world of radio than the personal communications services. Those folks created the rec.radio.shortwave and rec.radio.noncomm newsgroups, and established the precedent of the rec.radio.* hierarchy, which in turn reflected Usenet's overall trend toward a hierarchical name structure. The debate between proponents of a no-code ham radio license and its opponents grew fierce and voluminous in late 1989 and 1990. Eventually, both sides grew weary of the debate, and those who had not been involved even more so. A proposal for a newsgroup dedicated to licensing issues failed. A later proposal was made for a group that would cover the many recurring legal issues discussions. During discussion of the latter proposal, it became clear that it would be desirable to fit the ham radio groups under the rec.radio.* hierarchy. A full-blown reorganization was passed by Usenet voters in January 1991, leading to the overall structure we now use. After the reorganization, more and more regular information postings began to appear, and were spread out across the various groups in rec.radio.*. Taking the successful example of the news.answers group, where informational postings from across the net are sent, the group rec.radio.info was created in December, 1992, with Mark Salyzyn, VE6MGS, initially serving as moderator. In January, 1993, many users started complaining about the volume in rec.radio.amateur.misc. This led to a discussion about a second reorganization, which sparked the creation of a mailing list by Ian Kluft, KD6EUI. This list, which was eventually joined by many of the most prolific posters to the ham radio groups, came up with a proposal to add 11 groups to the rec.radio.amateur hierarchy in April 1993. The subsequent vote, held in May and early June, approved the creation of five groups: rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc (to replace .packet), .equipment, .homebrew, .antenna, and .space. The Current Groups ================== I can hear you asking, "OK, so this is all neat history, but what does it have to do with me now?" The answer is that the history of each group has a direct bearing on what the group is used for, and what's considered appropriate where. The easy one is rec.radio.amateur.misc. It is what rec.ham-radio was renamed to during the reorganization. Any message that's not more appropriate in one of the other groups belongs here, from contesting to DX to ragchewing on VHF to information on becoming a ham. The group rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc is for discussions related to (surprise!) digital amateur radio. This doesn't have to be the common two-meter AX.25 variety of packet radio, either; some of the most knowledgeable folks in radio digital communications can be found here, and anything in the general area is welcome. The name was changed to emphasize this, and to encourage discussion not only of other text-based digital modes, such as AMTOR, RTTY, and Clover, but things like digital voice and video as well. The former group, rec.radio.amateur.packet, should be removed by September 21st, 1993. It is obsolete, and you should use .digital.misc instead (or the appropriate new mailing list, mentioned below). The group has .misc as part of the name to allow further specialization if the users wish it, such as .digital.tcp-ip. The swap group is now rec.radio.swap. This recognizes a fact that became evident shortly after the original group was formed: Hams don't just swap ham radio gear, and other folks besides hams swap ham equipment. If you have radio equipment, or test gear, or computer stuff that hams would be interested in, here's the place. Equipment wanted postings belong here too. Discussions about the equipment generally don't; if you wish to discuss a particular posting with the buyer, email is a much better way to do it, and the other groups, especially .equipment and .homebrew, are the place for public discussions. There is now a regular posting with information on how to go about buying and selling items in rec.radio.swap; please refer to it before you post there. The first reorganization added two groups to the list, one of which is rec.radio.amateur.policy. This group was created as a place for all the discussions that seem to drag on interminably about the many rules, regulations, legalities, and policies that surround amateur radio, both existing and proposed. Recent changes to the Amateur Radio Rules (FCC Part 97) have finally laid to rest the Great Usenet Pizza Autopatch Debate as well as complaints about now-preempted local scanner laws hostile to amateurs, but plenty of discussion about what a bunch of rotten no-goodniks the local frequency coordinating body is, as well as the neverending no-code debate, may still be found here. The other added group is rec.radio.cb. This is the place for all discussion about the Citizens' Band radio service. Such discussions have been very inflammatory in rec.ham-radio in the past; please do not cross-post to both rec.radio.cb and rec.radio.amateur.* unless the topic is genuinely of interest to both hams and CBers - and very few topics are. The rec.radio.info group is just what its name implies: it's the place where informational messages from across rec.radio.* may be found, regardless of where else they're posted. As of this writing, information posted to the group includes Cary Oler's daily solar progagation bulletins, ARRL bulletins, the Frequently Asked Questions files for the various groups, and radio modification instructions. This group is moderated, so you cannot post to it directly; if you try, even if your message is crossposted to one of the other groups, your message will be mailed to the moderator, who is currently Mark Salyzyn, VE6MGS. The email address for submissions to the group is rec-radio-info@ve6mgs.ampr.ab.ca. Inquires and other administrivia should be directed to rec-radio-request@ve6mgs.ampr.ab.ca. For more information about rec.radio.info, consult the introduction and posting guidelines that are regularly posted to that newsgroup. The groups rec.radio.amateur.antenna, .equipment, .homebrew, and .space are for more specialized areas of ham radio: discussions about antennas, commercially-made equipment, homebrewing, and amateur radio space operations. The .equipment group is not the place for buying or selling equipment; that's what rec.radio.swap is for. Similarly, the .space group is specifically about amateur radio in space, such as the OSCAR program and SAREX, the Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment; other groups cover other aspects of satellites and space. Homebrewing isn't about making your own alcoholic beverages at home (that's rec.crafts.brewing), but rather construction of radio and electronic equipment by the amateur experimenter. Except for rec.radio.swap and rec.radio.cb, all of these newsgroups are available by Internet electronic mail in digest format; send a mail message containing "help" on a line by itself to listserv@ucsd.edu for instructions on how to use the mail server. All of the groups can be posted to by electronic mail, though, by using a gateway at the University of Texas at Austin. To post a message this way, change the name of the group you wish to post to by replacing all of the '.'s with '-'s - for example, rec.radio.swap becomes rec-radio-swap - and send to that name@cs.utexas.edu (rec-radio-swap@cs.utexas.edu, for example). You may crosspost by including multiple addresses as Cc: entries (but see below). This gateway's continued availability is at the pleasure of the admins at UT-Austin, and is subject to going away at any time - and especially if forgeries and other net.abuses become a problem. You have been warned. A Few Words on Crossposting =========================== Please do not crosspost messages to two or more groups unless there is genuine interest in both groups in the topic being discussed, and when you do, please include a header line of the form "Followup-To: group.name" in your article's headers (before the first blank line). This will cause followups to your article to go to the group listed in the Followup-To: line. If you wish to have replies to go to you by email, rather than be posted, use the word "poster" instead of the name of a group. Such a line appears in the headers of this article. One of the few examples of productive cross-posting is with the rec.radio.info newsgroup. To provide a filtered presentation of information articles, while still maintaining visibility in their home newsgroups, the moderator strongly encourages cross-posting. All information articles should be submitted to the rec.radio.info moderator so that he may simultaneously cross-post your information to the appropriate newsgroups. Most newsreaders will only present the article once, and network bandwidth is conserved since only one article is propagated. If you make regular informational postings, and have made arrangements with the moderator to post directly to the group, please cross-post as appropriate. -- Jay Maynard, EMT-P, K5ZC, PP-ASEL | Never ascribe to malice that which can jmaynard@oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu | adequately be explained by stupidity. "If my car ran OS/2, it'd be there by now" -- bumper sticker GCS d++ p+ c++ l+ m+/- s/++ g++ w++ t+ r -- 73, Paul W. Schleck, KD3FU pschleck@unomaha.edu ------------------------------ Date: 17 Feb 1994 02:11:28 GMT From: agate!overload.lbl.gov!ux5.lbl.gov!dprsm@ames.arpa Subject: It's Official: GPS Anti-spoofing Is Now on Continuously To: ham-space@ucsd.edu What is anti-spoofing? Does this mean that we are now getting a scrambled signal? (which I think we've been getting all along?); or does it mean that the powers-that-be have come to their senses and turned off the signal jitter? ------------------------------ Date: 17 Feb 1994 14:05:57 GMT From: library.ucla.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!elendir@network.ucsd.edu Subject: MIR frequencies, AM or FM ? To: ham-space@ucsd.edu Hello, I've heard that the MIR station used the 143.625 MHz for Earth control. Do you know which mode they use ? AM, FM or SSB ? Thanks for any info, Vince (11 weeks and waiting ...) -- ------------------------------ Date: 17 Feb 94 16:25:35 GMT From: news-mail-gateway@ucsd.edu Subject: Oscar 13 Questions To: ham-space@ucsd.edu The cheapest way to go is a 8-12 turn helix for 432 uplink and the Quagi for downlink. The following chart is a design by W3PM for the 2m downlink for AO-13. Frequency 145.900 # of Elements 8 Units are Cm Length Spacing Boom Pos Reflector 218.122 0.000 0.000 Driven Ele 205.740 52.705 52.705 Director # 1 90.487 39.529 92.234 Director # 2 90.011 83.185 175.419 Director # 3 89.535 43.974 219.393 Director # 4 89.059 65.722 285.115 Director # 5 88.582 65.722 350.837 Director # 6 88.106 65.722 416.560 Total Length 4.166 M I recently acquired a 6 element quad for 2m (~ 6 feet long) and a quick check the other nite seemed to show some good promise. I need to do a better comparison between it and my KLM-14C for high squint angles,weak signals etc. The S band downlink on AO-13 is approximately 2400 Mhz. Again you can build a small dish (2-4 ft) or a 16-22 turn helix. The helix is probabily a better choice rather than the 2 ft dish. The main cost for S band is the preamp and downconverter. Down East microwaves sells kits/finished products in the range of $90/$200. SSB electronics has finished products in the $200-$400 range. The high priced SSB stuff has very low noise temperatures and would suit the small dish or short helix. W3PM has the Down East kits on a 20 turn helix and the signals are pretty good. (By the way W3PM is available at w3pm@amsat.org and is the ham I bother with all my questions :) ) end the views expressed here are the author's C. Harper harper@huntsville.sparta.com or kd4qio@amsat.org KD4QIO SPARTA Inc (205) 837-5282 x1216 voicemail 4901 Corporate Drive (205) 830-0287 FAX Huntsville AL 35805 "we have met the enemy and he is us." w. kelly ------------------------------ Date: 18 Feb 94 01:02:03 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!sserve!usage!metro!news.ci.com.au!eram!dave@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Weekly IPS Report - 18 Feb 94 To: ham-space@ucsd.edu 11 FEBRUARY - 17 FEBRUARY 1994 Issue No 07 Date of issue: 18 February, 1994 INDICES: Date 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 10cm 093 098 098 101 104 105 106 A 38 27 30 28 26 16 ( 12) T 20 26 36 48 72 41 54 SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY February 11 Solar activity was very low. The geomagnetic field at Learmonth (WA) was unsettled 00-09 and 21-24UT, and at storm levels at other times. Ionospheric F2 critical frequencies at Sydney were near predicted monthly values, with Sporadic E blanketing at 08UT. February 12 Solar activity was very low. The geomagnetic field at Learmonth (WA) was unsettled to active, apart from minor storm levels 12-15UT. Ionospheric F2 critical frequencies at Sydney were near predicted monthly values February 13 Solar activity was low. The geomagnetic field at Learmonth (WA) was unsettled to active, apart from minor storm levels 18-21UT. Ionospheric F2 critical frequencies at Sydney were near predicted monthly values until 16UT, apart from enhancements of 15-40% from 11-15UT, and 15-30% depressed from 17UT onwards. February 14 Solar activity was very low. The geomagnetic field at Learmonth (WA) was unsettled to active, apart from minor storm levels 15-18UT. Ionospheric F2 critical frequencies at Sydney were near predicted monthly values until 09UT, and enhanced by 15-30% thereafter. .SK February 15 Solar activity was very low. The geomagnetic field at Learmonth (WA) was unsettled to active, apart from minor storm levels 12-15UT. Ionospheric F2 critical frequencies at Sydney were 30-60% enhanced until 06UT, 15-30% enhanced 07-18UT, and near predicted monthly values thereafter. February 16 Solar activity was very low. The geomagnetic field at Learmonth (WA) was unsettled to active Ionospheric F2 critical frequencies at Sydney were near predicted monthly values with spread F during local night. February 17 Solar activity was low. The geomagnetic field at Learmonth (WA) was quiet to unsettled Ionospheric F2 critical frequencies at Sydney were 10 to 15% above predicted monthly values FORECAST FOR THE NEXT WEEK (18 - 24 FEBRUARY) SOLAR: low GEOMAGNETIC: active 20-23 Feb due to a coronal hole IONOSPHERIC: near predicted monthly values, MUFs are then expected to be depressed 15-20% during the coronal hole activity -- Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU) VK2KFU @ VK2OP.NSW.AUS.OC PGP 2.3 dave@esi.COM.AU ...munnari!esi.COM.AU!dave available ------------------------------ End of Ham-Space Digest V94 #33 ******************************