Link: https://youtu.be/wq5XvXJk5d4

Duration: 89 min

Transcript: Download plain text

Short Summary

Ham Nation episode 631 aired September 9, 2026, hosted by Josh (KI6NA) with co-hosts Gordo, Randy, Don, and Amanda. Top stories included the WRTC 2026 disqualification scandal in England, a Canadian cave rescue using QRP Labs QDXM radios, and Dr. Tamitha Skov's solar weather briefing featuring coronal holes and upcoming geomagnetic storms. The episode also featured Randy's Skyroof satellite tracking demo and a Moxon antenna build for UHF telemetry reception without a rotor.

Key Quotes

1. "Colorado made over 10,000 cubes." (00:02:47)
2. "There's like 0.5 dB loss for 100 ft on the 20 meter band." (00:07:15)
3. "Acting on what it called extraordinary information from members of the public after the awards ceremony for WRTC 2026 in July. Organizers have thrown out some of the competition scores which they believe were achieved as the result of an elaborate fraudulent strategy." (01:04:08)
4. "Low-frequency radio waves with the ability to penetrate rock are being credited in a dramatic rescue of an explorer who is trapped for 9 hours in a cave in Alberta, Canada in August." (01:05:27)
5. "it looks like we have solar wind that could be about 600 kilometers a second" (01:10:17)

Detailed Summary

Ham Nation Episode 631 — September 9, 2026

Hosts & Opening

• The episode aired September 9, 2026, hosted by Josh (KI6NA) with co-hosts Gordo, Randy, Don, and Amanda; Dr. T's full solar report was condensed from a 24-minute YouTube video on the Titha Cove channel.
• Gordo reported surfing off Costa Mesa in 8–12 ft waves and "getting his butt kicked" on the first wave.
• Randy said it was 81°F in Cold Beach, only the second or third time that year he had used air conditioning.
• Don reported 82°F locally and enjoyed an outflow boundary/gust front walk with a petrichor-like smell.

WRTC 2026 Disqualification Scandal

• WRTC 2026 results in England were overturned after fraud was uncovered: top teams MB2M and MB2A used pirate/bogus multiplier stations, frequency handoffs, and leaked team identity to inflate scores; disqualifications were announced September 1st following the July awards ceremony.
• Investigators used HF spectrum recordings to verify contacts and disqualified four stations (numbered 1, 2, 3, and possibly 4), with one high-power station caught spoofing other call signs as new prefix multipliers — a pattern also observed at the previous Italy WRTC.
• WRTC is the "Olympics of ham radio contesting," held every four years (past venues Italy, Seattle, Boston) with 50 identical stations built by the host club featuring equal towers, beams, and wire antennas, plus a referee and continuous audio recording at every site.
• Team call signs are kept secret until the start of the 24- or 48-hour contest, with sites pre-tested to ensure equal performance across all 50 locations.

Canadian Cave Rescue

• A cave explorer trapped 9 hours in Grotto Mountain's rat's nest cave in Alberta, Canada, was rescued using QRP Labs QDXM low-frequency radios deployed by Search and Rescue Alberta; the explorer was freed at midnight on August 15th.
• QRP Labs has partnered with SAR on digital cave radios since 2003; the low-frequency signals penetrate rock without line-of-sight, making them ideal for subterranean rescue operations.

Solar Weather with Dr. Tamitha Skov (WX6SWW)

• A coronal hole connected to the southern polar coronal hole is producing stronger-than-average solar wind; the Wang-Sheeley-Arge model showed potential speeds of ~600 km/s.
• Old region 4520 submerged below the surface around September 3rd–4th but continued subsurface activity on September 5th; a blast from the Sept 5 event didn't head center-disc, so Earth only got the shock/wake (minor high-latitude aurora).
• Region 4524 produced a direct, Earth-directed storm likely to impact on the 7th, driven by coiling core filaments and rotation rather than large flares; about 4–6 partially Earth-directed storms were expected for analysis.
• A west-directed solar storm from the Sept 5 event was strong enough to trigger a polar cap absorption event that degraded HF and even VHF contacts at high latitudes; the SUV instrument was shifted off-axis to better view the east-limb mid-corona, skewing imagery.
• Recent flares were mostly R1-level radio blackouts with only 15–20 MHz of degradation, but the Sept 5 event produced a major radiation storm; no X-class flares or R3-level blackouts were expected over the coming week.
• Solar flux was ~110, M-class flare odds 15–20%, with conditions calming after the 11th; mid-latitude aurora photographers were told to expect a peak around the 8th–9th with sporadic shows possibly through the 11th–12th.
• The radiation storm is declining; DRAP model shows it blinking off with full baseline expected within ~24 hours, though low R1–R2 blackouts will continue.
• Northern hemisphere summer means more solar exposure, so radiation storms, polar cap absorption, and ROTI (GPS/GNSS turbulence) hit the north harder than the south.
• GPS users were advised to avoid aurora and dawn terminators to minimize wonky reception from nightside storm effects and dayside blackouts.
• The host noted acquiring a new Open Spot 4 Pro and getting it set up in under 10 minutes.

Mobile Antennas, Mounts & Coax

• Gordo framed mobile operations during Field Day as a good test case for emergency comms, emphasizing the importance of reliable mobile setups.
• Mobile ham antennas typically terminate to a 3/8-24 thread mount usable on chainlink fences, boat rails, or vehicles; the mount has an SO239 connector on one side and a brass 3/8-24 stub on the other, with a white or black insulator on the correct side or performance is lost.
• Gordo warned large antennas with big loading coils (e.g., Outbacker) can lever the brass 3/8-24 stub out because it is only swedged, not soldered/welded — his own antenna once flew off on the freeway.
• For HF mobile, RG8X suffices with ~0.5 dB loss per 100 ft on 20 meters; LMR400 is overkill for typical 10–15 ft mobile runs.
• A demo case showed a disintegrated insulator causing a direct short; a 10–15 turn matching inductor measured 2–3 ohms instead of the intended 50 ohms on 40 meters.
• An MFJ "Swan" (or Swan Cubic) tuner adds/subtracts inductance for proper 40-meter matching, dipping around 7250 kHz.
• "Magic boxes" — vendor-brand portable enclosures sold at Hamfests (the SKB Portable Pro, made in Orange, California) — can hold multiple rigs plus a 12 Ah Bowens LiFePO4 battery for DC-independent portable operation; the US Coast Guard Auxiliary uses similar setups.
• Magic match tuners won't work with ATAS/Yaesu-style antennas that send 12V DC up the coax.
• The Outbacker triple breakdown antenna fits inside a carry-on, suiting rental-car mobile or maritime-mobile with a 3/8"-24 threaded mount from Diamond or Comtel.

Skyroof Satellite Tracking

• Skyroof (free, Windows-only) interfaces with a $40 RTL SDR dongle and recently added built-in satellite telemetry and SSTV decoders, replacing a patchwork of separate tools.
• The software includes radio control, customizable satellite groups, waterfall, maps, sky view, and an upcoming timeline (elevation as height, pass length as width).
• A telemetry burst from QMR-KWT was decoded at 7.88, 105 bytes, 9600 baud.
• The IC-9700 disappointingly doesn't do 9600 baud, though Icom showed a prototype at a Japanese hamfair doing 9600 baud via both the built-in sound card and rear accessory port.
• Randy's example timeline showed RS44 coming overhead around 20:40 with a low pass as low as ~2.5° elevation.

Moxon Antenna Build

• Randy built a Moxon (two-element beam of brass rod, PVC tubing, and wire) to receive UHF satellite telemetry without a rotor; designs were sourced from Z33 Tango, which includes a calculator for dimensions by frequency and wire size.
• He cut grooves in 3/4-inch PVC pipe to seat the reflector, slid a PL-259 connector down the center, and used marine-grade heat shrink with adhesive after Harbor Freight heat shrink failed when elements slid out.
• Mounted on a 10-ft pole about 10 minutes before a 12:05 pass, he ran cable inside and decoded multiple telemetry packets; he acknowledged it's not as good as tracking but has no moving parts.

Randy's Shack Setup

• Randy's shack includes a scanner, IC-9700, IC-7610, SX-71 receiver, rotor control, APRS gateway, and wireless keyboard — providing a full-spectrum operating environment from HF through UHF.

Amateur Radio Newsline (#2549)

• The ZK3 ZLD DXpedition to Tokelau, scheduled for November, was postponed a year due to an admin error that cost return ferry bookings; it would have been the first activation since ZK3A in 2019 — donors can refund or escrow contributions.
• Don Wellbanks (AE5DW) reported the ZK3 postponement, the cave rescue, and the WRTC scandal as the lead items in Newsline #2549.

Icom RC-7760 Remote Controller

• The Icom RC-7760 acts as an extra control head for the IC-7760 RF deck, with up to five units registered (one active at a time), connected via LAN/Wi-Fi to a commercial access point; it provides HF/50 MHz coverage at 1 kW.

W1AW & Colorado QSO Party

• Amanda reported Colorado made over 10,000 QSOs during the just-ended W1AW (stroke zero) event, with one operator making 1,500 FT8 contacts and Amanda personally contributing 1,500 contacts.
• Amanda was preparing to operate portable from a camper with a tower trailer for the Colorado QSO Party (Saturday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mountain), using club call WØFUN instead of her personal call.
• The Colorado QSO Party conflicts with the Route 66 on-the-air event (12th running), making the weekend a scheduling challenge.

Community, Elitism & Apps

• Greyman posted a video/tweet calling on the amateur community to stop elitism toward BaoFeng/cheap radios, noting many higher-end radios also contain Chinese parts.
• "Salty Dog" said ham radio makes Twitter a waste of time, which other hosts pushed back on.
• The WAWW net host selected 30 operators the prior week without asking what radio they used, and described himself as an "antenna elitist" rather than radio elitist.
• Caller N2YTA said he only asks operators what radio they use when they sound good; poor audio is usually operator error (mic placement, convertible at 80 mph).
• The hosts discussed a new ham social-media site cqgram.com for sharing photos, videos, and setups.
• Rising iPhone pricing ($2,000–$2,800) prompted a recommendation to use old tablets for field logging.
• A beta POTA.app release added a redesigned spots page and improved map view.
• Route 66 on-the-air starts on the 12th; hosts recommended posting activations to spotting logs, trackers, and alerts so they can be chased on the air.

Commercial Tower & MeshCore Notes

• American Tower and Crown Castle were cited as the major commercial US tower owners; amateur repeaters often end up on Forest Service/BLM towers or via ham operators working at those companies.
• A MeshCore repeater is deployed at Stennis Space Center by the N5SSC radio club with its antenna at ~400 ft; placing one on a commercial site requires a guaranteed control operator, and the admin app enables remote RF connection if there's a clear path.

Events & Wrap-Up

• Josh and Amanda planned to attend the OC Maker Faire at the Orange County Fairgrounds that Saturday, with potential ham radio booth presence; clubs were encouraged to rent fair booths for membership drives and VE sessions.
• The Hamishian Bros will appear on the show in June to discuss their awards.

Grand Prize & Swag Winners

• The Ham Nation end-of-September grand prize is an Icom ID-50A, with three swag-pack winners announced this episode: Stuart MV4T, David NI7RO, and Jeffrey KE6IJC.