Hamvention 2017 Review & Interviews [podcast]
A new look with a familiar feel in an all new Venue… and it was really a good day!
HamRadio 360

2017 Hamvention Report
The short story is that we had a blast and the new location is an improvement over Hara.
K0NR

Reflections on Hamvention 2017
I cannot overstate how little I miss the nasty old Hara. Though I knew where things were and like an old pair of shoes, there was a certain comfort in familiarity… the place simply sucked.
K9ZW

2017 Hamvention photos: Inside Exhibits
The following photos were taken in the main Hamvention buildings at the Greene County Fairgrounds.
The SWLing Post

2017 Hamvention photos: Flea Market
I’ve posted well over one hundred photos I took at the Hamvention Flea Market.
The SWLing Post

MFJ-1026 Noise Canceller tests
Mark, VA7MM, has been testing out his newly-acquired MFJ-1026 Noise Canceller and has provided several videos of the noise canceller in action.
AmateurRadio.com

How to play chess on CW
You can use chess notation to send moves and play chess games on the radio. The CARI group often met on the air to play informal games and tournaments.
KB6NU

The portable solar power station: You CAN have it both ways (sort of)
Many hams would like to have it both ways: Powerful enough to do something besides charge batteries or push a QRP radio while compact and light enough to hit the road.
Off Grid Ham

Video

Icom IC-7610 preview at Hamvention
This radio has 2 receivers, the equivalent of two IC-7300.
YouTube

Flex-6600M preview at Hamvention
Here’s a preview of the Flex-6600M. (M stands for Maestro, with display.)
YouTube

Six meter ham radio dipole for the VHF contests
Get on the 6m magic band during the second weekend of every June for the North American VHF contest.
KA5D

Digital Trunked Scanning Using SDR
Cheap, digital trunked scanning using RTL-SDR for the absolute beginner.
YouTube

Flex Radio announces New Flex-6400, Flex-6600
“M” versions include a large touchscreen and physical knobs on the face of the unit.
Flex Radio

2017 Hamvention: setup day photos
Since the Greene County Fairgrounds lack the number of indoor exhibitor space, they are using large white event tents to add covered square footage.
The SWLing Post

Updated band chart available from ARRL
ARRL has revised and updated its “US Amateur Radio Bands” charts, and these now are available for download.
ARRL

JT-Mapper: Real-time JT65 and JT9 Maps
I’ve found myself constantly looking up grid squares while trying to get a sense of the band’s propagation. With all this information already in my computer, I decided that my computer could do more to visualize my radio environment.
WG1V

Meteor Detector for HDSDR
Analyse the automatic real time waterfalls from HDSDR to locate meteor scatter.
M0CYP

Contemplating remote ops
The city council decision to deny my request for ANY antenna has stood and I think I’ve given up pursuing any kind of external antenna at the current QTH.
W0EA

All Amateur satellites
A comprehensive list of all Amateur Radio satellites including modes and frequencies.
JE9PEL

FreeDV 700D – First Over The Air Tests
I’m impressed! Conditions were pretty bad on 40m, the band was “closed”. This is day 1 of FreeDV 700D. It will improve from here.
Rowetel

Portable HF operations
With everything ready to go, I turned on the transceiver to find the bands alive with good strong signals being received on 20 meters from across the US as well as further south into Mexico and South America.
Jerry’s Journal

Video

Review: Military 2.0 Multiband Tuner Free HF Alpha Antenna
The antenna covers the 80-10 meter Bands.
Videos by Mike

My first Summits on the Air Activation
Activating Shovel Mountain, located in Central Texas, USA, W5T-NT033.
K5ACL

FCC changes will affect GMRS, FRS, CB, other Part 95 devices
DXing on Citizens Band will become legal.
ARRL

Man fined $500 for writing ‘I Am An Engineer’ in email to government
An electronics engineer says he found a flaw in traffic lights. The Oregon engineering board fined him for it.
Motherboard

Heads up: An invasion is coming
Yep, thousands of Hams are expected to converge on our county fairgrounds for a three day event known as the ‘Hamvention.”
Fairborn Daily Herald

USB CW Key
Enable a key to be used as mouse input via USB.
whaley.org.uk

Requiem For Radio project
Artist Amanda Dawn Christie has brought back to life the sounds of the 13 CBC Radio-Canada International shortwave towers that once stood in Sackville, N.B.
CBC

How to broadcast color PAL and NTSC television with an SDR
This project describes my approach and success in transmitting an analog color TV image via a HackRF One.
hackaday.io

VHF SOTA Expedition in the Snowdonia National Park
I stayed a total of 8 days and activated 11 summits.
Adventures in Ham Radio

The Cricket: The Four State QRP Group’s latest transceiver kit
The Cricket is a low cost entry level minimalist CW transceiver for the 80 meter band.
The SWL Post

Contesting in Hawaii – H2O versus your antennas
The elements always win…meaning water. Well, the Sun plays a role as does wind. Nothing like the repeated pounding that trade winds do to break or loosen something.
ARRL and Ham Radio in Hawaii

Video

MFJ-269C testing coax cable faults and length
The MFJ-269C is so much more than an SWR analyzer.
Ham Radio Concepts

Ham Radio Headset Shootout: Budget vs. High-End
Discussing two very popular headsets in the Amateur Radio community in this video.
YouTube

Low-Cost 10 GHz SSB Receiver
This set-up should be capable of receiving the amateur radio transponder on the geostationary satellite Es’Hail 2 that is expected to be launched in early 2018.
AMSAT UK

FCC proposes huge fine on New York Police radio jammer
The FCC has proposed a fine of more than $400,000 on a Queens, New York, man who has admitted making unauthorized transmissions on New York City Police Department radio frequencies.
ARRL

A better way to put a PL-259 on RG-58 coax
A soldering technique that seems to simplify assembly of PL-259s with RG-58 cable.
KB6NU

Tracking North Korean Numbers
The announcements typically take between 5 to 10 minutes to read dependent on the number of digits passed.
K2DLS

How to survive the Total Solar Eclipse of 2017
We’re just 18 weeks away from the “Great American Total Solar Eclipse” that will darken skies across the continental U.S. on Aug. 21. Are you ready for it?
space.com

Apollo 16, 45th Anniversary Special Event
Apollo 16 was the first mission to visit the lunar highlands. John Young and Charles Duke spent 71 hours on the surface
NN4SA

Mastr 3 UHF Low Pass Filter Testing
One piece I see myself being able to use elsewhere is the final low-pass filters from the power amplifiers.
The Life of Kenneth

Morsum Magnificat available for free download
The Morse Magazine, otherwise known as “MM”, contained a vast amount of information and illustrations of interest to Morse operators.
Southgate

Packet Pad app
Packet Pad lets you view Packet Radio transmissions on your iOS device.
Packet Pad

Video

Locating HF Interference in the home
After walking around with a portable receiver and failing to find the source, all house power was turned off and the interference was gone. You won’t believe the eventual culprit!
YouTube

Installing A Mag Mount On A Fiberglass RV Roof
The Motorhome Ham Station starts to come along.
K6UDA Radio

Emergency communications driving increase in Ham Radio operators
Hams standing by and ready to help during disasters or other events.
Emergency Management

Tornado siren hack came via radio frequency
Our system is not software related and on a computer. It’s a radio system.
The Dallas Observer

World Amateur Radio Day is April 18th
Celebrating Amateur Radio’s contribution to society.
ARRL

Portable mini paddle for the Elecraft KX line as a kit
The building experience was just fine.
VA2SS

North Korea broadcasts numbers station as nuclear test looms
Pyongyang is reportedly broadcasting encrypted messages reminiscent of those used to contact spies during the Cold War.
The National Interest

Russian Buzzer disappears
The Russian buzzer on 6998.0 kHz has disappeared.
Southgate

International Girls in ICT Day
An initiative that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider car​eers in the growing field of ICTs.
ITU

Heat shrink tubing and the chemistry behind its magic
Heat shrink tubing was a product of the Cold War era.
Hack A Day

Video

Install TQSL and load existing certificate on Raspberry Pi 3
If you already have a TQSL callsign cert on your existing computer, this is for you.
K0PIR

QRPP (less than 1 watt) QSO
Using my homebuilt 1Watter transceiver from kitsandparts.com for a QSO on 40m tonight was a bit tough.
Ham Radio QRP

Amateur Station Logging
Episode 18 addresses log books and logging, including when to log and not to log.
Ask Dave

Flevo shortwave station is silent
With its four powerful transmitters and 17 directional aerials it distributed thousands of Radio Netherlands Worldwide radio programs.
Vimeo

First transceiver with built-in FreeDV
“All Ham Band” RS-918SSB HF SDR Transceiver offers FreeDV as an operating mode.
marxy.org

Digital Amateur Television from the International Space Station
In principle, the HamVideo DATV transmitter is permanently transmitting from Columbus, the European ISS module.
AMSAT-ON

Same-band “Dueling CQs” now prohibited in all ARRL Contests
ARRL has clarified its contest rules to clearly prohibit the practice of interleaved CQs.
ARRL

Keeping New Radio Hams
Crucially, the Camb-Hams have no committee, no finances (so no subscription), and any amateur who wants to call him/herself a ‘Camb-Ham’ is automatically a member.
Southgate

Irony
The FCC is requiring radio amateurs be at least 1 km from electric power transmission lines using Power Line Carrier (PLC) systems on those bands.
Radio Artisan

RF Propagation Analytics
See which bands are open now.
The University of Alabama

GNU Radio decoder for AO-73
The modulation that the FUNcube satellites use is DBPSK at 1200baud. The coding is based on a CCSDS concatenated code with a convolutional code and Reed-Solomon, but it makes extensive use of interleaving to combat the fading caused by the spin of the spacecraft.
destevez.net

Video

Decapsulating a ceramic integrated circuit
Decapsulation (decapping) a ceramic integrated circuit to get at the die is easy with MAP gas.
YouTube

Standing Inside a broadcast transmitter while it’s on
See inside a Gates BC-250-GY broadcast transmitter from the 40’s era.
Mr. Carlson’s Lab

New Bands! FCC Issues Rules for 630 & 2,200 Meters
The FCC on March 28 adopted rules that will allow secondary Amateur Radio access to 472-479 kHz (630 meters) and to 135.7-137.8 kHz (2,200 meters).
ARRL

Three killed after storm chasers crash while pursuing tornado
A few miles west of Spur, Tex., three storm chasers died while tracking a tornado when their two vehicles collided at a rural intersection on Tuesday afternoon.
Washington Post

Global HF Pirate Weekend: March 30-April 2
The SWLing Post

Getting Started In Amateur Radio Data Modes
We will discuss the rationale for operating amateur radio data modes, the pros and cons as they apply to the off grid ham, and factors to consider before getting started.
Off Grid Ham

Review: Bioenno Power LiFePo4 Batteries
I’ve been using Bioenno’s 9aH LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) for over a year now with great success – even to power my 100 watt rig.
K5ACL

New power distribution kit build
I would highly recommend this power distribution center kit to anyone interested in learning what goes into making one and as a side benefit save a bit of money.
The Real Rich Hand

Make a 2.4 GHz Yagi with paper clips and popsicle sticks
It’s more like a 2.4 GHz field strength meter. The board on the antenna beam is a SparkFun ESP8266 Thing, which includes an Arduino-compatible microcontroller and a WiFi interface.
KB6NU

Video

Add an On The Air LED to Kenwood MC60 Desktop Mic
toddfun.com

Documentary: The DXer and the Technician
This true story is about two amateur radio operators who have been friends for over 35 years.
VA2PV

Essex 2 meter activity afternoon
Much of the activity is in FM and via the GB3DA repeater at Danbury. However there is also activity using CW, SSB, SSTV and other digital modes.
YouTube

CW (Morse Code) QSO on 30m
The key is an old Navy Flameproof straight key.
YouTube