August 2008
Articles from the
August 2008
issue
of CQ posted on our
website include:
The August issue of CQ starts with an in-depth report on the ham radio response to May's massive earthquake in China. Public Service Editor Bob Josuweit, WA3PZO, gathered information and photos from China, Hong Kong and elsewhere to produce our comprehensive coverage. Next, if it's August, it must be time for the SSB results of last year's CQ World Wide DX Contest. Once again, despite continued low sunspot numbers, the 2007 contest "made its own propagation" and a record number of logs came in -- more than 5000 entries showing nearly 43,000 separate stations worked more than once by the competitors. Plus, 23 new records were set! Here's a preview of the worldwide winners in each major category: High Power All Band - 8P5A; Low Power All Band - P40A (3rd straight win!); QRP - IK5RUN; Assisted - RU9WX; Multi-Single - CN3A; Multi-Two - AO8A, and Multi-Multi - TS6A.
We've also got our annual guide to new products introduced at Dayton in part one of "The Magical Mystery Hamvention® Tour" by CQ Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU. Once again, there was so much new stuff that we were forced to break the article into two parts - radios and amplifiers this month, antennas and accessories next month.
Our columns for August start out with "Washington Readout," in which column editor Fred Maia, W5YI, offers tips on operating outside your home country; "Math's Notes" editor Irwin Math, WA2NDM, follows up July's voltage-to-frequency converter discussion with the "flip side" (for those of you who remember vinyl records!), a look at frequency-to-voltage converters; and "Weekender" editor Phil Salas, AD5X, shows you how to build your own capacitors for trap antennas.
"World of Ideas" editor Dave Ingram, K4TWJ, offers a primer on HF operating for those readers just starting out (or thinking about starting out) on the "low bands"; Beginner's Editor Wayne Yoshida, KH6WZ, asks the musical question, "What Flavor is Your Ham Radio?" and Mobiling Editor Jeff Reinhardt, AA6JR, looks at installing ham rigs in some of today's tiniest cars in "Big Signals from Small Packages."
"Fun Times, Fun Rigs," is the topic of this month's QRP column by Dave Ingram, K4TWJ, as he looks at low-power radios ranging from the under-$20 single-band "Pixie" transceiver to the classic Ten-Tec Argonaut and the currently popular Elecraft K1; Digital Editor Don Rotolo, N2IRZ, checks out HamSphere, a 21st-century version of the old "Dr. DX" ham band simulator; New Products Editor Anthony Luscre, K8ZT, highlights Ten-Tec's 40th Anniversary Jupiter transceiver, West Mountain Radio's RIGblaster Duo (one RIGblaster for two rigs), some new and improved "atomic clocks" from MFJ and several new books.
Awards Editor Ted Melinosky, K1BV, looks at some short-term awards including Italy's "Diploma Grande Guerra" commemorating the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I (known before World War II as "the great war"), as well as a series of awards offered by YLRL, the Young Ladies Radio League; while DX Editor Carl Smith, N4AA, offers suggestions for keeping active while (still) waiting for the sunspots to return, along with a tongue-in-cheek scale of signal levels in DX pileups (ranging from "P0 - Can't hear the DX; can't hear the pileup either" to "P7 - DX worked on the first call; Why do people think this is so hard?")
"VHF-Plus" editor Joe Lynch, N6CL, writes about DL9KR, who has qualified for the first-ever DXCC award on 70 centimeters, and continues his July discussion about the effects of Earth's "magnetotail" on the surface of the moon.
Contesting Editor John Dorr, K1AR, starts getting you ready for this autumn's contest season with a column on the importance of getting ready for a contest well ahead of time; and Propagation Editor Tomas Hood, NW7US, offers his forecasts for what to expect from the ionosphere in August. Hint: 15, 17 and 20 meters should be good for DXing in daylight, while 20 looks like it will offer the best openings at night.
That's a brief look at what's coming up in the August issue of CQ magazine, which should be on newsstands and in subscribers' mailboxes by late July. For information on becoming a CQ subscriber, click the "Click Here to Subscribe" button at the top of this page.
Half Empty or Half Full Redux
On The Cover
Frank Donovan,
W3LPL, at his contest superstation in Glenwood, Maryland; Inset: Chinese ham
BG8BES stands by with a portable HF transceiver as soldiers move into an
earthquake-damaged area and a rescue worker carries a baby out.
