WARFA: Radio On The Left Coast

If you know of a non-commercial web site that could be included on our links page, just click the mailbox to e mail its URL to webrat@warfa.org. Note: To be on this page, a web site must fall into one of the catagories described by the headers, but we are open to suggestions for new catagories.

US Amateur Radio History by AC6V A brief history of amateur radio in a timeline format which begins with: Day One   Mother Nature sends static crashes and lightning crashes around the world - but no one is around to hear them!!! Either audibly or by radio - DX will be!!

The DXZone -- Amateur Radio Resource Guide -- This is a gi-normous web site with links to information about almost anything that a radio hobbyist might want.

10-10 International 10 10 is dedicated to maintaining high levels of communication on the ten meter band. As of 2008, with the sunspot cycle on the rise, this organization is going to be making a come back!

Amateur Radio Technical

Antennas
Antennas by KU4AY If your antenna didn't fall down last year, it wasn't big enough. This web page has links to several dozen pages about building antennas.

AM Loop Antennas Get the most out of any AM radio. Loops are passive antennas (no power supply required) that can do near miracles.

Amateur Radio RF Safety Calculator The FCC requires users of linear amplifiers to ensure that their local RF field levels aren't excessive. Use this simple form based calculator to find out if your station is compliant with the safety regulations. This page is also available in French: Calcul de Sécurité au RF pour Radioamateur

The Morse Code (CW)
The International Morse Preservation Soceity (FISTS) The art of CW, the oldest form of wireless communication known to man (except for smoke signals, semaphores, and mirrors maybe).

The Sparks Telegraph Key Review Every keying device on the planet may be viewable at this web site. Lots of pictures with info.

Longwave And Very Longwave (below 500 Khz.)
The Longwave Club Of America - Longwave Homepage The low down on the low end of the radio spectrum.
The Realm of Natural VLF Radio Phenomena By Steve McGreevy, N6NKS. In his own words: This web site will introduce you to the sounds of Earth's fascinating, naturally-occurring audio-frequency radio signals (between about 300 Hz and 12 kHz). I am a sound recordist of these beautiful-sounding phenomena of nature and take delight in presenting unaltered field-recordings of "Natural VLF Radio" signals of Earth - the fascinating radio sounds of "space-weather.

Broadband Over Powerlines (BPL)
Interestingly enough, BPL isn't likely to be an issue for most of you. It just doesn't seem to have caught on, at least in most areas, but if you are hearing lots of strange loud noise across the amateur bands coming out of your receiver, here's a couple of links that may help you out.
The Broadband Over Powerline Interference Resolution Web Site Is BPL near you? Use this on line data base to find out. Just enter your zip code and the site does the rest.

Broadband Over Power Line And Amateur Radio From the ARRL web site. A brief introduction to BPL and a list of "BPL Quick Links" to take you to much more about this new technology.

The National Terror Alert Response Center
Current estimated terror threat level...

Homeland Security Advisory

Information About Emergencies And Disasters
The RSOE HAVARIA Emergency and Disaster Information Service If it's an emergency, even a local one, anywhere in the world, chances are it will be reported at this site. The chicken in the flashing box is their symbol for the bird flu. This web site will not display well in older systems and will take a long time to load up on a dial up.

Emergency Preparedness Web Sites
NASA's Disaster Finder Links to over 600 web sites (as of early 2008) with information on emergencies and emergency preparedness.

EMCOMM -- Emergency Communications Web Site -- They bill themselves as the most complete source of emergency communications information on the internet and your friendly webmaster suspects that they could be correct.

Emergency Information And News From The ARRL
ARRL Field Emergency Orginization When disaster strikes, where do hams and interested others turn on the web for news and information? This web site is one of those places.

ARES® vs. RACES FAQ Emergency service is one of the basics of the Amateur Radio Service and there is sometimes come some confusion about ARES, the ARRL arm of emergency services and RACES, the government arm of amateur emergency services. This FAQ will outline FCC concerns of these two.

STARS Created by Jim Kaler, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy, University of Illinois As he says on his biographical page: My work is centered on a love of the day and night skies.... I have long researched the field of planetary nebulae, shells of compressed ionized gas that surround dying stars, and related areas, and am now principally interested in writing and in public education. And from his front page: Welcome! STARS presents a comprehensive suite of pages that tell the stories of stars and their constellations. Please explore and enjoy. The style of this web site is simple and unpretensious. Its pages are in a simple top to bottom format. It will load up fine in any browser that is still somewhat web capable. As you can probably tell, your friendly webmaster really likes this one. Dr. Kaler also maintains a companion web site to STARS called Skylights.

The Astronomy Picture Of The Day Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Earth Science Picture Of The Day Each day a different image or photograph is featured, with an accompanying caption, which deals with various topics in Earth Science. This site was inspired by and resembles the Astronomy Picture Of The Day.

Space Flight Now The leading source for online space news. This web site is far less "top heavy" than some of those other space news web sites and less blatantly commercial. It loads up will on a dial up.

Online space news. As of the spring of 2008, its author has been inviting his readers to e mail in their astronomy questions with his answers appearing on the web site. Like Space Flight Now, this is an attractive web site that doesn't take forever to download on a slow Internet connection.

Weather Enthusiasts

The Weather Matrix WeatherMatrix is a worldwide organization of over 10,000 amateur and professional weather enthusiasts -- meteorologists, storm chasers and spotters, and weather observers from all parts of the globe. Online for 10 years, we are the largest online weather community.

If you think your weather is bad...
Mt Washington, New Hampshire Visit the Mount Washington Observatory, the home of the world's worst weather.

¡Earthquakes! (And Other Natural Disasters)
Recent Earthquakes In California And Nevada From the USGS
Recent World Earthquake Activity From the USGS
Volcanoes On The Left Coast (a.k.a. The USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory)

Highways And Roads

California Highway Patrol Traffic Incident Information Page Near real time reports of traffic accidents, crime, adverse weather conditions affecting roads, and road closures from the CHP. This site includes SIG alerts.

California Highway Conditions The latest on road conditions from the California Department of Transportation. Just enter the numbers of the highway(s) you want to find out about into their search box and click on the search button. Separate multiple highway numbers with commas.

Trip Check - Oregon Travel Advisor Road and weather info (including web cams) from the Oregon Department of Transportation.