AmateurRadio.com

Stories you’ll find in our April, 2018 issue:

TSM Reviews: Icom IC-7610
By Mark Haverstock K8MSH

At Hamvention 2017, we got our first official peek at the IC-7610. It was billed as the next big thing in amateur radio transceivers, containing a more advanced set of features than the IC-7300. And, it’s loaded: An Ethernet port to run the radio remotely; an onboard RS-BA1 server means no PC or software is required; left and right speaker outputs; USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports; built-in RTTY/PSK on-screen decoder and encoder; TX memory means you can do basic QSO or contest operations without using an external device or software. And that’s just to start! Mark puts this rig through its paces.

‘De-Frankensteining’ Electricity: Life and Work of Michael Faraday and Joseph Henry
By Georg Wiessala

There are significant parallels between the lives and careers of Michael Faraday and Joseph Henry: They lived in times when gases and electricity fascinated people and were among the first to work by scientific method, through controlled experiments and experimental science. More generally, both researchers were born in poverty and seriously troubling family backgrounds. Both were apprenticed at a young age, both became eminent scientists and outstanding science communicators, educators and lecturers. Georg examines the lives of these two giants of electricity.

Facing the Challenge of Making Ends Meet at Nonprofit Radio Stations
By Richard Fisher KI6SN

The world of Low Power FM (LPFM) radio is a far cry from the well-heeled world of their distant cousins—powerful noncommercial radio stations in big cities. Instead of feasting on highly organized quarterly fundraisers that can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars, LPFMs can often be heard pleading for day-to-day funds to fix air conditioners, CD players, even transmitters. Richard looks into this seldom reported part of American radio.

Yaesu FTM-3207DR
By Cory GB Sickles WA3UVV

While prototypes of the FTM-3207 were shown at the Dayton Hamvention in 2017, it was not until nearly the end of the year that the radios started shipping. This happened for several reasons – not the least of which was the reveal of System Fusion II – with new features, a new repeater and upgraded firmware for existing radios. Understandably, upgrading and enhancing the “System” part of System Fusion took precedence over the release of a new radio. The upside is that when the FTM-3207 was released, it had some unexpected and welcome new features making it fully System Fusion II- ready and then some. Cory takes a look at the Yaesu FTM-3207 and speculates on the future of Digital Voice on the VHF/UHF amateur bands.

Channel Master’s New Over-the-Air TV Tuner/DVR with Interactive On-Screen Guide
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR

The landscape has been ripe for a digital OTA-TV tuner with recording capabilities and interactive guide. Channel Master has previously released similar products, which we have reviewed in years past, but in order to compete with TiVo or an Over-the-Top (OTT) device such as Roku and deliver a more cable/satellite-type viewing experience, Internet connectivity would be required. That brought the company to launch its latest effort in March—the CM-7600 Stream+ Media Player, an OTA-TV/Internet set-top box. We take a look at how this new Channel Master product works today.

Scanning America
By Dan Veeneman
DeKalb County, Illinois and New Additions to P-25 Phase II

Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Software Defined Radio and Federal Monitoring

Milcom
By Larry Van Horn N5FPW
225-400 MHz Military Aircraft Band Overview

Utility Planet
By Hugh Stegman NV6H
Whew! (Busy Month on the Radio)

Shortwave Utility Logs
Compiled by Hugh Stegman and Mike Chace-Ortiz

VHF and Above
By Joe Lynch N6CL
The Lyrids Meteor Shower

Digitally Speaking
By Cory Sickles WA3UVV
Analog FM – Half Off

Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
You Can’t Keep a Good Antenna Down

Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Baseball on the Radio 2018

Radio Propagation
By Tomas Hood NW7US
How to Beat the Low Sunspot Numbers

The World of Shortwave Listening
By Rob Wagner VK3BVD
A Little Knowledge of Propagation Can Really Help!

The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
Blues on Shortwave; BBC Programming for April

Maritime Monitoring
By Ron Walsh VE3GO
Radio Active Spring

The Longwave Zone
By Kevin O’Hern Carey WB2QMY
PIM/272 is Back (Sort of)!

Adventures in Radio Restorations
By Rich Post KB8TAD
Hallicrafters S-85: Another Scarce Model

Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Move Toward the Light: Antennas Above 144 MHz, Part One

The Spectrum Monitor is available in PDF format which can be read on any desktop, laptop, iPad®, Kindle® Fire, or other device capable of opening a PDF file. Annual subscription is $24. Individual monthly issues are available for $3 each.