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The Communicator: November – December 2026
1 November 2026 | by Welcome to The Communicator
Get ready for an exciting journey into amateur radio tech in the November–December 2026 issue of The Communicator. This milestone edition celebrates 60 years of emergency communications support with the Surrey Emergency Program, bridging a passion for amateur radio with essential public safety response.
Experience real-world emergency operations as volunteer cavers deploy custom digital radio equipment to send vital text messages through 500 metres of solid limestone during a rescue in Canmore’s Rat’s Nest Cave.
Trace how British Columbia’s call-sign license plates were born out of the catastrophic 1948 Fraser River flood, and review emergency preparedness from the ShakeOut 2026 earthquake drill, and master amateur satellite tracking with specialized software.
Dive into electrical engineering history with physicist Gustav Robert Kirchhoff’s foundational circuit laws. Read about Spy Boy, a 12-year old thought to be operating a World War I spy station.
In this issue's projects, explore automated lightning-disconnect protection for your station, POTA antennas and APRS messaging, a rotator refit, Yaesu FT-817 DSP board installation and a new soldering pencil.
A review of a portable Morse code keyer, and a global DX contest action making contacts across 11,000 kilometers. Whether you operate on HF, track satellites, or experiment with gear, this issue delivers an inspiring look at the amateur radio world.
Read about an exciting new Canadian amateur radio study website.
So power up, tune in, and turn the page—The Communicator has something for every level of amateur radio and every communicator... now reaching 165+ countries.
73, and enjoy the read!
(And no, I didn't script this)
Please note that there are active links for additional content when viewed on your device.
~ John VE7TI, Editor
Contents for this issue:
- Gustav Robert Kirchoff - Physicist and mathematician 4
- Mosquito Control Pilot Killed Involving an Amateur Radio Tower 7
- Amateur Radio License Plates: A History of BC Call Signs 8
- News You Can’t Lose - The gear we never let go 12
- The Lighter Side of Amateur Radio - The Perfect Antenna 13
- A rotator refit, Yaesu FT-817 DSP board installation and a new soldering pencil 14
- The practice exam I wish I'd had 24
- Trials & Errors - The Genius of Frank Conrad 28
- Full Quieting at the Operating Desk - Clearing Cataracts 31
- A Beacon, a Schedule, and a Little APRS Magic 34
- Putting a Journey on the APRS Map 36
- Spy Boy: The radio adventures of Frank Ryder 38
- BitWise: a Morse trainer inside a circuit puzzle game 42
- Amateur Radio’s Role in a Canmore Cave Rescue 42
- The everyday multimeter and its maintenance 44
- Alternative use of the FreeDV software 47
- A Focused Control App for Real Station Use 50
- An Automated Lightning Monitor and Antenna Disconnect System for the Amateur Radio Station 52
- An Integrated Approach to Amateur Satellite Operations 60
- Chelegance Keyer - CPO16 A Keyer for the Modern Ham 64
- ShackClock: Bringing the World Into Your Ham Shack 70
- Where Else to Buy and Sell Amateur Gear 74
- The “KJ6ER PERformer” Antenna as an HOA solution! 76
- Outside the box - Dipoles On The Air 80
- Brief Report from Zero Retries Digital Conference 2026, Pacificon 2026, and xara 84
- Foundations of Amateur Radio - Ghosts in the Machine: 90
- What If Gilligan Were a Ham? 93
- Profiles of SARC members - A Family Affair on the Air 96
- Douglas Campbell Brodie - An associate of Intrepid 106
- SARC General Meeting minutes - September 9, 2026 108
- SARC General Meeting minutes - October 14, 2026 110
- SEPAR Report - ShakeOut 2026 116
- QRT: Grateful for Your Kind Words & Focused on Our Hobby 118
- Remembering Heather Brodie 119
- HAM LEFTOVERS... 121
- A Look Back at The Communicator—December 2016 122
Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 445
An unmodified C62 can not decode TETRA. Or can it?
A successful TETRA decode using a TMO transmission sample from the HamTETRA group.
M17 Project
A new Ham’s guide to overcomplicating everything
How well does my station work in the field?
QRPer
Time’s up for the leap second!
A historic decision with implications for Amateur Radio.
WIA
Cincinnati-area Scouts talk to the world by radio
Fifty-eight Scouts take part in global Jamboree on the Air.
Amateur Radio Daily
When my students asked me to step aside
I wrote here this past spring about that first HAB launch, when our balloon climbed to 91,000 feet.
The Times of Israel
PHP2Shell and your AllStar node
A one-command check.
EtherHam
What is the T index?
We often look at sunspot numbers, solar flux, and geomagnetic activity to get an idea of what the bands might be doing. But there’s another number that’s particularly useful.
VK3FS
iOS App: SSTV Signal Desk
Decode SSTV and Weather Fax signals into images, receive ISS SSTV transmissions, or turn your own pictures into transmit-ready audio.
SSTV.org.uk
DXLook adds an honor system for donations
To those 100 people helping keep DXLook running: thank you.
DXLook
POTA Trip Planner
Plan your Ham Radio adventures worldwide.
N5SKT
Pushing Bluetooth out to 12 kilometers
What you won’t see here is any extra power than you get stock out of one of those generic coin-sized Bluetooth tracker tags.
Hackaday
Upcoming Events
EN100NP on the Air to Honor 100th Anniversary of Symon Petlura
June 8, 2026
Special Event Celebrates Efforts of Animal Shelters, Rescuers
November 1, 2026
Radio Club of America 2026 Technical Symposium & 117th Awards Banquet
November 21, 2026
Video
AllScan URI50 USB Radio Interface Review
Introducing the all new AllScan URI50 Universal Radio Interface.
Ham Radio Crusader
Introducing XARA, an Open Source VARA-compatible modem
This is a quick proof-of-life for Xara, an Open Source VARA-compatible modem. Linux, Raspberry Pi, full speed.
KM6LYW
Simple dipole antenna to receive ISS SSTV
Simple dipole antenna for your handheld transceiver. I built it for the 70cm band as I made this one strictly to receive the SSTV transmissions from ISS.
DX EXPLORER
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Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.
Ham College 145
Ham College episode 145 is now available for download.
General Exam Questions Part 6
G2A – Phone operating procedures: USB/LSB conventions, breaking into a contact, transmitter setup for voice operation, answering DX stations.
This video is part of the Ham College series, specifically episode 145, which focuses on preparing viewers for the Amateur Radio General Class License exam. In this session, the hosts cover Part 6 of the General Question Pool, section G2A related to phone operating procedures.
Throughout the video (0:33-46:54), the presenters walk through several official exam questions, explaining the correct answers and the underlying radio theory or operating etiquette required.
Key topics covered include:
Sideband Conventions: The hosts discuss the standard practices for choosing Upper Sideband (USB) or Lower Sideband (LSB) based on the frequency band in use (14:51-20:06).
Operating Etiquette: They explain the correct procedures for interacting with other hams, such as how to properly break into an existing conversation (29:15-30:42) and how to respond to DX (long-distance) stations effectively (33:43-36:10).
Technical Setup: The discussion touches on proper transmitter configuration, including the use of controls like ALC (Automatic Level Control) for clean voice operation (36:17-37:44).
Standard Practices: Various questions regarding general operating best practices, such as the use of specific terminology and identifying stations (33:43-34:50).
The episode provides a comprehensive review of these specific operational procedures to help students memorize the necessary information for their FCC exam.
George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].
Learning the hard way!
Once a month or so, I back up the SSD (Solid State Drive) on my PC. I do both a clone backup and an incremental backup. One clone is saved to another SSD, while a second is saved to a SATA connected drive. The incremental backups are saved to two separate SATA drives.
Why two backups for both the clone and incremental backups, you ask? Redundancy is my answer. Just in case things go really wrong! Yes, I also have an automatic cloud clone and incremental backup.
Anyway, this past month, I was doing a clone backup to the SATA drive. As you can imagine, it takes some time because the drive is nowhere near as fast as an SSD.
Partway through the backup, I needed my PC, and I needed it NOW! As the drive clones from one to another, a progress window appears with a Cancel button. I'd never used the Cancel option before, but this time I decided to give it a try. I cancelled the clone to the SATA drive, everything seemed to go well, and I was able to use my PC for whatever I needed.
The next time I started my PC, a message popped up informing me that drive H was being repaired! There was nothing I could do but sit back, watch, and hope the repair went well. Drive H was the SATA drive that I had been cloning to, and it was the drive I had cancelled the operation on.
Fortunately, everything worked out, and the disk was repaired. Lesson learned! Sometimes things don't work out quite as planned, and I have to learn the hard way.
Having said that, if the drive had not been repairable, it wouldn't have been a problem. It would simply have been replaced with a shiny new SSD!
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
LHS Episode #636: Unjoined
Show Notes
Featured Topic:
- r/opensource
- Your tokens aren’t valuable: No more AI.
- Source: https://lhs.fyi/MS (Reddit)
Announcements & Feedback:
- Announcements:
- Support the show!
- Support us via Patreon, Paypal, Merch, Sharing the Podcast via Social Media, and Rating Us in your Podcast Application! Your support allows us to continue to pay to host and produce the 18+ years of the podcast and participate in person at Hamvention!
- Come hang out with us on Minecraft!
- It’s been ages since we reminded folks about this, but… in case you missed it, we have 2 Minecraft Servers, and we’d love to have you join us.
- minecraft.lhspodcast.info
- minecraft.bluecows.com
- We need your feedback!
- Comments, Questions, Show Topic Ideas! Go ahead and send us hate mail, too… we get bored and need something to read and comment on! Email us at [email protected]
- Memorial Service for Russ, K5TUX
- There will be a memorial service held for Russ at our home in Mt. Vernon, Missouri on November 1, 2026. Everyone is welcome! If you’d like to join us, please send an email to [email protected] and we’ll send you more info!
- Facebook event page: https://lhs.fyi/mem
- Support the show!
Subscribers & Supporters:
- Free Patreons
- Juan Carlos Marazzi
- Discord
- jo_pg4i
- firgenholtwireless
- Matt KB3ZTQ
- Eric - VE2LTX
- Pa
- Live Show Participants
- Mike, K6GTE
- Steve, KJ5T
- Don, KB2YSI
Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].
Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 444
1 out of 18 Hams fail to renew at the payment point
227 hams per month failed the payment process after applying for renewal. That’s 4.63% of the total.
K4HST
Earth-Venus-Earth 2026
The successfully received message was modulated in a specially designed waveform (M-FSK), in collaboration with the Open Research Institute
Dwingeloo
Pilot killed after helicopter strikes 150-foot Amateur Radio tower
Isaac “Ike” Moore, 63, was killed October 15th when his Manatee County Mosquito Control District helicopter crashed in Myakka City, Florida.
WirelessEstimator.com
HOA advocates held summit opposing Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act
Lobbying group favors HOA approval over antenna placement.
Amateur Radio Daily
APRS Welcome Center
APRS Welcome Center is an APRS-based messaging app that can provide timely information to other APRS-enabled operators in an area.
KC1VMZ
SlowscanTV.com
SSTV images received by Amateur Radio operators.
SlowscanTV
POTACAT
POTACAT puts every POTA, SOTA and DX spot on one screen, tunes your rig with a click, and puts your whole station on your phone.
K3SBP
Pluto+ SDR as vector network analyzer with SATSAGEN
This great piece of software can turn the Pluto+ SDR into many laboratory instruments: spectrum analyzer, VNA, signal generator, and more.
SP3OHM
Morse Code Translator
Convert text to Morse or Morse back to text — with real audio playback, a blinking light, vibration, downloadable audio, adjustable speed & Farnsworth spacing, and a shareable secret-message link.
Morse Code Translator
iOS app: Family Ready: Emergency Plan
The family side of a go-kit: everyone’s key details on a card that still works when cell data is down.
Honest Little Apps
Researchers successfully demonstrate plasma beam antenna
The researchers also created and demonstrated a contactless antenna-feed, which consists of a metal ring that serves as a capacitor.
NC State
Upcoming Events
EN100NP on the Air to Honor 100th Anniversary of Symon Petlura
June 8, 2026
Another ISS SSTV Event Begins This Week
October 22, 2026
Radio Club of America 2026 Technical Symposium & 117th Awards Banquet
November 21, 2026
Video
Pacificon walk-through
Let’s take a peek at the Pacificon convention, looking at the show floor, and the Zero Retries companion event – all about data modes.
KM6LYW
You can receive SSTV images from space
Receiving images from multiple satellites including the International Space Station, Russia’s UMKA-1, and China’s JAMX-01.
saveitforparts
Hy-Gain – Cushcraft – Ameritron – Mirage new factory tour
Complete walk-through of their new factory location in Linton, Indiana.
W9SN
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Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.
A new keyboard
Because I do a lot of contesting, my keyboard gets a serious workout every year. Recently, some keys started becoming unreliable. I’d press a key and nothing would happen until I tried again—sometimes several times. I considered taking the keyboard apart and cleaning the contacts, but it looked like I’d have to practically destroy it to get inside.
My Lenovo keyboard had served me well, but this was the second one I’d worn out. The membrane seemed to be failing, leaving certain keys hit-or-miss. That’s especially frustrating during a CW contest: when a letter doesn’t register as I’m typing a call sign, I press it again—and sometimes end up with too many of that letter.
I’d been thinking about switching to a mechanical keyboard. If a switch fails, it can be replaced. The key-caps can be customized, and the keys can be remapped. It was time for a new keyboard, I chose the full-size Keychron C2 Pro, which had excellent reviews.
It came with yellow switches, which are relatively quiet. I can rest my fingers on the keys without accidentally activating them. Mechanical switches come in different types, often identified by color, with different characteristics. It’s worth reading up on them to find the ones that suit your typing style.
The keyboard can also be remapped using Keychron’s software. I wanted to move the backslash key to the Windows key’s spot—the second key from the left on the bottom row. The software’s AI made it easy: I described the key I wanted to move, where I wanted it, and what I wanted the Windows key to do instead. It handled the remapping for me.
That placement is ideal when operating SO2V (single operator, two VFOs), because the backslash key switches between VFO A and VFO B. With the key in its usual spot, I had to move my fingers away from the home row and then find my way back to type a call sign. In the heat of a contest, those extra movements cost time.
I also discovered that I tend to rest my fingers heavily on the keyboard. During quiet moments, I was sometimes pressing keys without meaning to and entering repeated letters. I asked Keychron’s AI how to prevent that, and it adjusted the keyboard settings. The problem stopped, and it worked great for me. The Keychron keyboard is a nice addition for both contesting and blogging.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
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