Astronomy Picture of the Day

In addition to ham radio I am also interested in Astronomy.  During some our recent astronomy club meetings and outings I have noticed that there are a large number of astronomy enthusiasts that are also hams.  Maybe that means that the two hobbies attract the same sorts participants; those with an interest in technical things.  I think the same was true during the early days of the personal computer revolution.

Anyway, for you hams that are also interested in Astronomy, here is a great link to bookmark.  The NASA photo of the day is a good way to start the morning along with your cup of joe and a quick peek at the DX Spotting Network.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Here is todays photo:

See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download  the highest resolution version available.

Alaskan Moondogs
Image Credit & Copyright: Sebastian Saarloos
Explanation: Moonlight illuminates a snowy scene in this night land and skyscape made on January 17 from Lower Miller Creek, Alaska, USA. Overexposed near the mountainous western horizon is the first quarter Moon itself, surrounded by an icy halo and flanked left and right by moondogs. Sometimes called mock moons, a more scientific name for the luminous apparations is paraselenae (plural). Analogous to a sundog or parhelion, a paraselene is produced by moonlight refracted through thin, hexagonal, plate-shaped ice crystals in high cirrus clouds. As determined by the crystal geometry, paraselenae are seen at an angle of 22 degrees or more from the Moon. Compared to the bright lunar disk, paraselenae are faint and easier to spot when the Moon is low.

 

 

HughesNet Upgrade

🙂 The HugheNet upgrade happened today.  It only took the installer about an hour to change out the old modem and dish.  So far the Gen4 is a vast improvement over our older HughesNet connection.  I haven’t measured the download speeds yet, but it does feel much zippier than before.

Fred, KC9QQ

Club Log

I don’t know how many of you use Club Log, http://www.clublog.org , but I would recommend it to those of you that like to chase DX.  I used to only use Club Log to check the logs of current and past DXpediitons for my call, but recently I have setup my own account and had DXLab upload my QSO data  to Club Log.  This provides a significant advantage when you are wanting to QSL any DXpeditions that are uploading to Club Log.  First of all, with a couple of clicks you can check the logs of all of the listed Dxpeditions for your call.

Once you have determined that you are in their log, many of them allow you to use OQRS (Online QSL Request Service) to request a QSL card.  If you chose to use OQRS, Club Log will automatically insert the QSO details uploaded from your log into the OQRS request form.  The only thing you have to do to request a card is to decide whether you want to pay a nominal fee via PayPal for a direct card or request that the card be sent via the Bureau.  Since I am still chasing a lot of new ones and a bit impatient I usually opt for direct QSL.  I have gotten very quick returns on most of the OQRS cards I have requested.

Club Log also allows other hams to verify that they are in your log before they send you a card. Club Log will not provide them the details of the contact in order to protect the integrity of the system, but it will let them know that you logged them on a specific band so they know they are  good in your log before going to the expense of sending a card.  Of course I also use LoTW to confirm many contacts.  I have greater than a 40% confirmation rate with LoTW.  However, to me it is still a thrill to receive a QSL card in the mail, even if it is not DX.

I also added a ClubLog tab on the website that displays my last 10 contacts.  The output also show my current DXCC count so you can see that I am far behind many of you in working DX.  Of course it is not so bad to be so far behind because it means I have lots of opportunities to work new DXCC entities :-).

73,

Fred, KC9QQ