Author Archive
Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 230
February 23rd, 2019 | 
Author: 
US Amateur Radio Population Grows Slightly in 2018
The US Amateur Radio population once again grew by about 1%.
ARRL
The myth of VHF line-of-sight
I’ve come to realize the limitations of this model and how it causes radio hams to miss out on what’s possible on the VHF and higher bands.
K0NR
Ham radio and the condo life
I have been doing it for close to 7 years now and it does have it’s challenges.
VE3WDM
Random Acts of Kindness
The measure of a person is how they interact with someone who can do nothing for them in return.
AmateurRadio.com
Pi-Star hotspot getting started
The metal box is very solid, the board is good quality and the OLED display was already soldered in place. There was some soldering in that the pin headers for attaching to the Pi had to be soldered on to the Pi Zero board.
marxy.org
Receiving Es’Hail-2 GeoSat
Es’Hail-2 (QO-100) is a geostationary satellite at 25.5° East which carries transponders usable by radio amateurs.
M1GEO
Winlink on a Raspberry Pi
OH8STN
Repeater timeout project kit launched
A new project kit neatly solves the problem of alerting you before you hit the crucial timeout moment.
Essex Ham
Video
Ham Radio Deluxe Logbook 8 Things to Know
K0PIR
Dr. Tamitha Skov: Space Weather Woman
Space Weather News | Orbit Outlook and Meteors 02.21.2019
YouTube
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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 228
SSTV from International Space Station
The Inter-MAI amateur radio Slow Scan Television experiment in the Russian Service Module of the International Space Station is scheduled to be activated Jan 30 – Feb 1 on 145.800 MHz FM.
AMSAT UK
Will opaqueness kill Brandmeister?
In response to the ill-advised Brandmeister ban on the DV4mini devices by Corey Dean (N3FE), I approached some of the key personnel behind the Brandmeister DMR system.
K2DLS
ARRL to re-examine Parity Act
The organization needs to “review, re-examine, and reappraise ARRL’s regulatory and legislative policy with regard to private land use restrictions.”
ARRL
The 1859 Carrington Event
The Carrington Event of 1859 was a glimpse of what our star is capable of under the right circumstances, the implications of which are sobering indeed given the web of delicate connections we’ve woven around and above the planet.
Hack A Day
QRP FT8 Operating Tips
A few tips on making the most out of FT8, especially when operating QRP.
N0SPN
Industrial machines easily hacked with Software Defined Radios
Take control of building cranes, excavators, scrapers and other large industrial machines with a simple bladeRF software defined radio.
RTL-SDR.com
The Knitted Radio
The Knitted Radio is an installation piece that manifests how to knit a sweater that is also an FM radio transmitter.
Irene Posch
Video
Breaking the bandwidth barrier with your oscilloscope
What if you don’t care about getting an accurate representation? What can you do?
Keysight Labs
Quartzfest Jan 19, 2019
No other gathering in the world brings together so much hands-on demos and innovation in mobile systems.
K7AGE
Introduction to the IC-9700
We have been fortunate to have had an engineering sample of the IC-9700 VHF/UHF Base Station Amateur SDR Transceiver.
Icom
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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 227
Holiday Serenade on Sideband from Antarctica
This year, Ham Radio operators and SWLs around the world are invited to listen in and email listener reports.
ARRL
AO-85 battery issues
Today the nominally 3.6v pack was down to 2.8v at the end of the eclipse. That is dangerously low.
AMSAT
Logbook of The World Tops 1 Billion QSO Records
A more important statistic may be the nearly 187 million contacts confirmed via LoTW over its 15-year history.
ARRL
FT8DMC: FT8 Digital Mode Club
Everyone with a love of FT8 is welcome to join our club. All FT8DMC members are eligible to participate in various club’s activities and award programmes.
FT8DMC
[PDF] Satellite Roving in the Northwest Territories
A young ham braves rough, snowy terrain to activate rare grids.
QST Magazine
How-to: Ham Desk Project
The last Ham Radio shack desk I ever need.
K0PIR
A Look At Foot Switches
Foot switches were never a must-have Amateur Radio accessory… that is until I started contesting about 12 years ago.
VE7SAR
How-to: Receive HF SSTV with Raspberry Pi and RTL-SDR
You can also use this system to receive SSTV from the ISS (International Space Station) at 145.800 Mhz.
IT9YBG
Video
DRAWS Ham Radio Digi Mode HAT for Raspberry Pi First Look
DRAWS HAT makes integrating the Raspberry Pi with an HF radio easier and less expensive than ever before.
OH8STN
Feld Hell in action
First test with two Hell machines.
YouTube
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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 226
Breaking Changes: WSJT-X 2.0 now available
FT8 and MSK144 protocols have been enhanced in a way that is not backward compatible with older versions of the program.
ARRL
Fox-1Cliff anomaly
Fox-1Cliff/AO-95 will not be commissioned as our fourth Fox-1 amateur radio satellite.
AMSAT
Excel based GridMaster grid map tool [USA]
a popular way for amateur radio satellite operators to keep track of grid squares they have worked/confirmed.
KE4AL
Reflecting the Geminides on 6m
With the passing Geminides meteor shower I thought it would be an interesting experience to monitor the MSK144 frequency.
PE4BAS
25 meter dish as a SatNOGS station
This week the Dwingelooradio Observatory tested their 25 meter dish as a SatNOGS station.
SatNOGS
Testing budget friendly Solar Power options
A 100w foldable solar panel for less than $200? I’m in.
W5KV
NASA On the Air
2018 is a big year for NASA anniversaries and we’d like for you to help us celebrate.
NASA On the Air
Video
JS8Call Basics
In this video we take a look at the basics of using the JS8Call software.
KM4ACK
Raspberry Pi NOAA Satellite Receiver
A specialized QFH antenna and a briefcase form-factor satellite receiver.
element14
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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 225
Skywarn Recognition Day is today
During the SKYWARN™ Special Event operators will visit NWS offices and contact other radio operators across the world.
National Weather Service
Amazon AWS Ground Station
Ingest and Process Data from Orbiting Satellites.
Amazon Web Services
Peanut: Talk to DSTAR reflectors via Android
On the Peanut you can talk with Hams around the world via an Android device or network radio.
PA7LIM
VHF Tropo Opening
After 3 hours I’d worked 10 DXCC on 2m.
Adventures in Ham Radio
Designing and Testing a PCB Wideband Spiral Antenna
A Vivaldi antenna is wideband and directional and the design works well for frequencies above 800 MHz, but becomes too physically large to handle for lower frequencies like 400 MHz.
RTL SDR
Restoring A Rusting Old Tower
I’ve discovered that some ‘free’ ham gear is like being given a free dog… you have to be aware of the hidden costs.
VE7SAR
My SOTA Battery Journey
I started out using a small sealed lead acid (SLA) battery. These use well-established battery technology that has stood the test of time.
K0NR
Video
SDR Basics: RTL-SDR + Android
How to Use an RTL-SDR Dongle on an Android Phone.
YouTube
Inside a Sony CRT factory
YouTube
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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 224
Ham Radio HAT for Raspberry Pi
Board provides audio support, GPS for clock accuracy, 12v input, and 2 radio interfaces.
NW Digital Radio
Canadian National Parks On The Air
Welcome to the Canadian version of working Parks and Historic Sites managed by Parks Canada.
Radio Amateurs of Canada
Happy 5th Birthday FUNcube-1
Five years ago, on November 21, 2013, FUNcube-1 launched into space. Soon, we hope to welcome ESEO (FUNcube-4) and JY1SAT (FUNcube-6) into space. A remarkable achievement by the radio amateur volunteers of AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL.
AMSAT UK
Amateur TV plays communication role in California fire emergency
ATV cameras offered views of some of the state’s fires, including the Briggs Fire in Santa Paula, and the Peak Fire in Simi Valley.
ARRL
Tips for the budding QRP DXer
Know when to cast your net. And that’s what this post is all about. This coming weekend will be a VERY good time to cast your net.
W2LJ
When an N connector isn’t
This is an N connector… or is it?
hamradio.me
A Triplexer… What is that?
Three Transmitters, One Antenna or Vice-Versa.
The Communicator
First geostationary satellite with Amateur Radio transponders successfully deployed
SpaceX have successfully launched and deployed the Es’hail-2 satellite which is now in geostationary orbit.
rtl-sdr.com
Video
JS8Call overview
Official JS8Call Channel
SharkRF OpenSPOT 2 review
Here is SharkRF’s new digital Hotspot, the OpenSPOT2. This device now includes WiFi and covers many digital modes such as, DMR, D-STAR, Yaesu Fusion C4FM.
Laboenligne.ca
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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 223
FT8 – Tipping Point for Ham Radio?
What will kill amateur radio is if we we cease to innovate, become old and grumpy, and no longer bring new blood into the hobby.
K5SDR
JS8Call QSO Party
Whether you like a quick exchange or a long rag-chew, this event is for you.
JS8Call
Ham fined $25,000 for operating unlicensed FM station
Following up on February 2015 complaints regarding pirate radio operations in Paterson, FCC agents spotted a signal on 90.9 MHz that “appeared to be an unauthorized radio station.”
ARRL
Pass Recorder
Pass Recorder will sit in the background waiting for a satellite pass to be above 0 degrees and record the audio to a wav file. (Windows Only)
2M0QSL
Build a 433MHz radio chat device
Add a cheap 433MHz radio to your Raspberry Pi to send wireless messages without WiFi and operate remote-control main sockets.
The MagPi
Early Amateur Radio In The Canadian Arctic
In the 1930s people working in Canada’s Arctic often brought their amateur radio skills and equipment north with them so that they could relieve the isolation by contacting other radio operators around the world.
VE7SAR
New amateur satellite forum aims to help newcomers
This is a forum where everyone can report on experiences and knowledge from operating satellites and thereby help other newly interested radio amateurs to become active and a member of our satellite community.
AMSAT UK
History of white LEDs
Infrared, red, and even green LEDs were “easy,” but blue LEDs require a much larger bandgap, and therefore required more exotic materials.
Hack A Day
Video
ISS SSTV Passes Oct 28, 2018
Here are many International Space Station Slow Scan TV photos that I captured on October 28 & 29.
K7AGE
Review of Geochron 4K World Clock
For 50 years, Geochron made a classic, mechanical clock showing the time across the world as well as areas of light and dark. Well, they’ve now gone electronic with the new Geochron 4K.
David Casler
