If you would like to get a sneak peek at the new N0HR.com website – just be warned that it’s only partially done. There’s still stuff that’s not functioning as expected – I know that and am working when I can to make the changes.

I think the Ham Radio Links system will be the next to move. That thing is massive and it would be a shame to lose it in the move. Next will be the Ham Radio Product Reviews section. Again, there’s a lot of effort that’s been spent to build the reviews system that I don’t want to lose.

Some things might have to wait until the new server is live. The propagation updates are from a thorny script that I created (which provide feeds to Propstats and the propagation numbers in the HamLinks Ham Radio Toolbar).

The Ham Radio Forums are low traffic and should be relatively easy to move (famous last words).

Anyway, let me know what you think of the new look & feel.

73

Pat N0HR

. .

• scripts I’ve created to provide propagation information to the ham radio toolbar, Propfire for firefox and PropStats
• the ham radio blog
• Ham Radio Reviews product review system
• Forums
• Ham Radio Links

There’s a lot of complexity behind some of these – and moving them will not be trivial. I fully expect some (all) of these to flat out crash in the days to come. Let me apologize in advance for the inconvenience. Believe me, it pains me to do it.

Once the move has been made, you should see improved reliability & performance of the site and a new look/feel that should be easier to navigate. I’m not sure how long it will take to complete the move (hopefully it will be  less than a week for the bulk of the changes).

I first setup N0HR.com in 2001 and have been using ICDSoft since the beginning. This month, I’m moving to HostGator – a few more features and a better hosting rate drove the move. The site was ready for a new look anyway. My web based CRM & online issue tracking business, Adapt Data Solutions, has been using HostGator and we’ve been pleased with the results to-date. 

Thanks for bearing with me through this move.

OK, I know what you’re thinking. You’ve seen these web polls before, web polls are a dime a dozen, are statistically invalid and don’t add a lot of value.  Perhaps, if you’re in the U.S., you can’t stand to look at another poll after the 2008 election.

Who cares? They’re fun.

In this first installment, I’m asking what services you use most for on-line ham radio equipment purchases. I know that many folks rely on more than one, some shun eBay, others swear by it – it seems that everyone has a different opinion on where to shop/sell ham radio equipment on-line.

Where do you do your on-line ham radio trading?

..

I can post something to my blog every now and then, keep up with a few ham radio forums and such but I certainly can’t afford even a second to two to be distracted with messages that KZ0ZXZ is now boarding a train for El Paso.

Steve notes that one ham has a goal of “tweeting” 10,000 times in a year. Yikes. What possible value could that have to anyone? I could see some value in group using Twitter to meet at the Dayton Hamvention – when you’re all trying to meet you’d know that Frank’s at Denny’s having breakfast, Chuck’s in the flea market and Stan is lugging a boat anchor to the car. That’s about it though.

If you had to explain Twitter to a ham radio buddy and show the value what would you say? I might describe Twitter as something like a packet spotting network that only shows spots for your buddies. Or maybe a APRS system that only shows location data for your buddies. What good is that? Good question. There are a few rare times that I’d really be interested, but usually it’s simply more noise. 

Perhaps I’m a bit too old for the entire social computing scene. Perhaps I’m simply too busy and need to shed some urgent but not-important activities. Either way, for now, you won’t see me on Twitter.

Of course, ironically, some may read this post and note that a blog posting about not Twittering adds no value itself. You’re correct – sorry I mentioned it.

There is one unfortunate side effect of this additional traffic though. My ISP sent me a note saying that my site has caused a "High Load Incident" on the server causing them to lock out a php script that I have created. This script provides the solar propagation data to the HamLinks Ham Radio Toolbar.  Roughly 4000 ham radio operators and shortwave enthusiasts are using HamLinks with Firefox and Internet Explorer to navigate the web.

This has caused a Perfect Storm on my humble website as (due to other issues out of my control) I am also unable to make edits to the toolbar itself. I hope to have this resolved within a few hours.

Anyway, the Propagation Status utility is (once again) updating with current HF radio propagation data. If you would like to show HF radio propagation data on your website, then check it out.  It’s free.

Likewise, I had to make a few updates to restore the DXpedition Map (interactive map showing upcoming ham radio DXpeditions).

More changes to come. I’ve recently updated my Ham Radio Product Review system. The improvements there are going to make this a much better way to review ham radio equipment. Stay tuned.

• Unlike some other ham radio websites, anonymous reviews are not allowed. It’s far too easy to “stack the deck” with bogus/anonymous reviews. So on this site your review must be linked to your callsign.
• You need to register for the NØHR QRM Forum first. Once you’ve registered, you can participate in the Forums and you can submit ham radio product reviews. Click here to register for the Ham Radio Forums/Ham Radio Reviews. 
• Ham radio product reviews on this site are multi-dimensional. Rather than simply ranking a product from 1 to 5 for an overall score, you are asked to grade products on several attributes.  For example, when you are submitting a review of a HF vertical antenna, you’ll be asked to rate three attributes:
• Mechanical design and durability
• Performance
• Overall Value

So, let’s hear it! What do you think about the ham radio products you’re using today?

• zoom in on a DXpedition,
• slide the horizontal scrollbar to move through time and see upcoming DXPeditions appear
• hover your mouse over a DXpedition to see the details (DXCC entity, source, QSL route, bands, IOTA, etc.),
• click on a dxpedition with a link to see the website
• select the highlights (below) to see the modes (SSB, CW, RTTY) or highlight IOTA dxpeditions (these appear in red)

Give it a try!

PropagationStats should again be fully functional for those who put it on their websites. The new scheme periodically polls the NOAA site and generates a single text file which is then grabbed by the flash code in PropagationStats – making my ISP happy.
Doing a quick internet search, I did come across a few cool ham radio sites using Propstats:

• Bangladesh Amateur Radio League
• Magnolia DX Association
• S50U Ham Radio Site
• Flagler Emergency Communications Association (F.E.C.A.)
• Montana Amateur Radio Emergency Services
• N6AQ Amateur Radio Community
• Milpitas Amateur Radio and Electronic Society
• Del-DX
• KC5LK
• G3VRE Chippenham UK Club
• University of Mississippi ARC
• K6RF
• KTØY
• Motorola ARC
• EA1WX ARS Spain

That’s folks in at least 5 countries using this little flash program.

If you find more sites using it or want to use it yourself, shoot me an email or note it here.

73
Pat

http://www.n0hr.com