The Raymond Fault: Now Even Bigger!

The LA Times reported today that  the California Geological Survey has issued a revised map of the Raymond fault which indicates the fault is longer than was previously believed. Experts now say that an earthquake along the Raymond fault, which runs directly under South Pasadena, could be as large as a magnitude 7. Uh oh.

California Geological Survey Map

Today’s article by Rong-Gong Lin mentions a specific risk factor in our city. “South Pasadena only recently decided to take a new look at brick buildings and found out that nearly half of the 60 brick structures — including stores, restaurants, apartments and churches — in that city were not retrofitted” to protect against earthquake damage.

If you want to learn more about the new map, check out the full press release on the California Geological Survey’s website. The Survey also provides a detailed map of faults throughout the entire state. And if you’ve been meaning to get more prepared for a possible quake, “Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country” by the USGS is a great place to start.

Thanks to Oliver K6OLI and Tim WA0PTC for the info. 

 

How to Solder with Allen KC7O

SPARC thanks Allen Wolff, KC7O for the entertaining and informative presentation on soldering that he delivered at our June 7 meeting. Allen has over forty-five years of experience in aerospace manufacturing operations and quality management. He has worked on the Apollo lander, military communications, missile guidance systems, spacecraft deployment, satellites, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems.

Due to copyright issues, we can’t distribute Allen’s slides, but below is a list of references Allen consulted while creating his presentation.  Use these links to brush up on your soldering skills now as we prepare for our next club activity, creating an antenna for use in a radio “go box.” As Bob, WB6YJJ said in his recent club email, “Antenna connectors are tricky to solder, so come and learn the CORRECT way from an expert.”

Wikipedia on soldering
Crimping vs. Soldering
Instructables on soldering tips and tricks
Hakko brand wick
Science Buddies primer
Adafruit guide to common solder problems
Death by “tin whiskers”

End of an Era at Voice of America

This post was written by SPARC’s Oliver Dully, K6OLI.

Dr. Kim Andrew Elliott will retire from the Voice of America on June 23, 2017, after thirty-two years as audience research analyst and broadcaster.

Therefore, the last VOA Radiogram will be the weekend of June 17-18. There is no word on a replacement, if any.

VOA Radiogram

As a new ham the VOA Radiogram has been of immeasurable value to my understanding of HF propagation, antenna setups and using SDRs like websdr.org or RTL-SDR. But most importantly VOA Radiogram was my gateway to Fldigi, providing a stable and reliable platform to experiment with, and learn about the many settings and modes.

For hams focused on emergency communications, VOA Radiogram has been a one-of-a-kind training opportunity, increasing our skills and allowing for experimentation, all of which ultimately benefits our served agencies and therefore the communities in which we live and operate.

Moreover, hams without HF capabilities or licensing found VOA Radiogram useful because they had to think out of the box, using SDR dongles, shortwave receivers, or web-based SDRs to access the digital transmissions with Fldigi. By demonstrating capabilities such as fast transmission of text and even image transfers over long distances, Dr. Elliott has inspired many hams to upgrade their license and their stations.

I want to thank Dr. Elliott for his work and dedication. The VOA Radiogram has been one of the most valuable and useful transmissions over the airwaves. I also want to express my hope that VOA will continue a regular schedule of digital transmissions via Fldigi. The benefits for the community and its preparedness are immense.

For those  who want to try VOA Radiogram during the remaining transmissions:

  • set Fldigi to use your computer’s internal soundcard
  • find an SDR that covers the band you want on websdr.org (UTwente SDR will work best for most people)
  • and tune to the frequency at the correct time using AM.

Fldigi will pickup the transmission from your computer speakers and decode the signal through the internal microphone. You can watch and read it as it happens. (Those of you with appropriate HF capability will be able to tune as you normally would and decode acoustically or via your soundcard interface.)

Here is the schedule for the next few weekends in Pacific Time:

Sat 0900-0930 17580 kHz
Sat 1930-2000 5745 kHz
Sun 1230-1300 15670 kHz
Sun 1330-1400 11580 kHz
Sun 1630-1700 11580 kHz

You can find the program, official schedule in UTC and further information on http://voaradiogram.net.

73,
Oliver K6OLI

Join Us for Field Day 2017

Field Day 2017

Field Day is an annual ham radio event that encourages operating in the great outdoors. It’s “amateur radio’s open house,” a great opportunity to learn about the hobby and meet your neighborhood hams.
There are two local transmission sites we encourage you to visit. Members of SPARC will be on the air with fellow hams from the Pasadena Radio Club, JPL RC and Caltech RC on the campus of Art Center College of Design.

Saturday, June 24, 11:00 a.m. to
Sunday, June 25, 11:00 a.m.

1700 Lida Street
Pasadena, CA 91103
Hillside Campus, South Parking Lot

We will join our friends from Altadena Emergency Radio Team and ARES Northeast at Huntington Hospital.

Saturday, June 24  9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
100 W. California Blvd.
(Outside Research Conference Hall)
Pasadena, CA  91105

 

Learn Fldigi at Our April 5 Meeting

Fldigi released a major update on March 28, and Oliver K6OLI has updated his online guide to cover the new version.

At our next monthly meeting — Wednesday, April 5, 19:30 at the EOC — Oliver will give a brief hands-on introduction to Fldigi. All are welcome, and you don’t have to bring anything other than your curiosity. But feel free to you bring a laptop and HT and practice with us. Oliver will guide everyone through the set up and demonstrate how to send and receive messages.

You can download and install the software for your operating system here:

  • Windows or Mac
    Download and install fldigi, flmsg and flwrap.
  • Android
    Download and install AndFlmsg. (Detailed instructions for Android are provided here)

For experienced users, the meeting will be a good opportunity to upgrade, test and double check your setup with the new version Fldigi 4.0.1.

Hams Support the AC 100 Ultramarathon

At our February meeting, representatives from the Angeles Crest  100 Mile Ultramarathon demonstrated the radio gear they use to keep runners safe. The thirtieth annual AC100 will start on August 3, 2017 and continue through August 6 (Thursday through Sunday). Licensed hams are invited to volunteer at checkpoints along the route.

This video shows some amazing scenery that AC100 participants and volunteers can enjoy.
Visit AC100.com for more information.