Amateur Radio Parity Act stalled
The legislation will be reintroduced in both houses of Congress after the 115th Session begins in January.
ARRL

Pearl Harbor Attack: Monitoring American radio traffic
IJN beefed up its radio-intelligence coverage of the American military presence in Hawaii. Two more stations, on Saipan and near Tokyo, now covered the communications of the Pacific Fleet and the U.S. Army Air Corps in Hawaii.
U.S. Naval Institute

28MHz high hopes monitoring
This blogpost is about monitoring 28MHz just before the ARRL 10m contest this weekend. It will be updated regularly till the weekend.
PE4BAS

ABC Ditches Shortwave Services
The ABC will end its shortwave transmission service in the Northern Territory and to international audiences from 31 January.
Radio Today

Five common mistakes new Hams make
This short list comes from working with a gaggle of new hams over the years and trying to help them get started in ham radio.
Ham Radio School

Where does 9600 bps come from?
We use serial communication all the time. But why are we using multiples of 300?
SparkFun Electronics

Reverse engineering traffic lights with an RTL-SDR
To reverse engineer these new lights he made a recording of the signals in GQRX and then opened them up in Inspectrum.
RTL-SDR.com

Creating a 2m repeater with a Raspberry Pi and RTL-SDR dongle
I will be using an RTL-SDR dongle to receive an input signal on 70cm. The receiver signal will then be demodulated and retransmitted using a GPIO pin on the Raspberry as a transmitter.
ZR6AIC

An unusual night for CB
For the most part, AM is used on most of the channels but you’ll find LSB activity on Channel 36 (27.365 MHz). And when the band gets busy and crowded, you’ll hear LSB QSOs from Channels 36 – 39 (27.365 – 27.395 MHz).
The SWLing Post

Video

TYT MD-398 power test
It is rated at 10W on high, let’s see if it is true to its claims.
Ham Radio Reviews

SSTV active from ISS December 8-9
The SSTV images will be transmitted as part of the MAI-75 Experiment on 145.800 MHz FM using the Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver located in the Russian ISS Service module.
AMSAT UK

Last call to press for Senate passage of Amateur Radio Parity Act
The House of Representatives approved the bill in September, and the Senate must follow suit if the bill is to succeed.
ARRL

Hurricane Center on air for SKYWARN Recognition Day
WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center in Miami will participate in SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) on Saturday, December 3.
ARRL

Santa Net 2016
Every year on 3916, we give good little boys and girls a chance to talk to Santa Claus at the North Pole!
The 3916 Nets

2 element dual-rectangle beam for 70cm
The antenna described here is a direct-connect dual-rectangle beam for use on 70 cm between 440 and 450 MHz.
jedsoft.org

Easy homemade Outernet antenna
An antenna for less than $1 total cost, doable without power tools and soldering, in less than 30 minutes.
Radio for Everyone

Emergency preparedness on the road
If it is required that I spend the night away from home for whatever the situation, I am prepared, as I carry all the required gear that will keep me safe if I become stranded.
VE6AB

A review of the Elecraft KX2 general coverage QRP transceiver
The KX2 is a feature-rich pocket QRP transceiver. For those who are familiar with the Elecraft product line, it’s like a KX3 (feature rich portable rig) in a KX1-sized (much smaller, handheld/pocket) package.
The SWLing Post

Looking back at Cycle 23
Cycle 23 was a much bigger cycle with higher sunspot numbers than Cycle 24.
NY4G

Disturbing the peace: Can America’s quietest town be saved?
There’s a town in West Virginia where there are tight restrictions on mobile signal, wifi and other parts of what most of us know as simply: modern life.
BBC

Special event
Members of the ‘Battleship Iowa Amateur Radio Association’ (BIARA) will be active as NI6BB between 1600-2359z on Wednesday, December 7th, in memory of the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Southgate

Video

How to set up an Outernet receiver
Outernet continuously sends out useful data like weather reports, news, APRS data as well as files like Wikipeda pages, images, videos and books.
RTL-SDR.com

Virtual Build-a-thon
Using either Skype or Webex we will present each week for about 30 minutes showing you the next stage of building the project. You can then ask questions and show us how you are getting on.
Chertsey Radio Club

Toyota Tacoma Mobile HF Install
Surprisingly the 590SG is compact enough IMHO for a nice mobile install, however someone with a smaller vehicle might not have the luxury of so much space. I rarely use the access cab except to throw junk in, so why not utilize it better?
K5ACL

Upcoming solar years… Can they be too quiet?
In 2008 there were 265 ‘zero sunspot’ days and the following year saw another 262 days of blank suns!
VE7SL

Should amateur radio be used for military purposes?
If the Border Patrol or Army asked you to listen for potential terrorist communications, would you do so?
KB6NU

Podcast: Foundations of Amateur Radio
A weekly, 4 minute podcast. The building blocks for Amateur Radio, one concept at a time
VK6FLAB

FCC’s Laura Smith – Your Repeater; Your Rules
We haven’t heard a lot from FCC Special Counsel Laura Smith lately, but she spoke at Pacificon.
Southgate/Ham Radio Now

Solar powered Ham Radio for beginners
I am going through the gear one will need to operate with a solar power source, how to use it and a couple of things to avoid.
Ham Radio Reviews

SKYWARN Recognition Day on-the-air event is December 3rd
SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and ARRL to honor the contributions that SKYWARN volunteers make to the NWS mission.
ARRL

Special Event K7Z: Zane Grey’s 145th Birthday
Zane Grey was an author and master of the American western novel.
K7Z

Special Event W1T: Mark Twain’s 181st Birthday
ARRL staff will be operating as W1T from November 28 – December 4, in honor of Mark Twain’s 181st birthday.
W1T

Video

D-Star DVmega Raspberry Pi 3 hotspot
This hotspot is using a Raspberry Pi to operate as a full D-star hotspot.
HamRdioConcepts

Compact Homebrew End Fed QRP Antenna
I built this antenna specifically for low wattage QRP use to be compact and inexpensive. It utilizes a 9:1 balun wrapped on a T106-2 torpid and minimal hardware to be lightweight.
KD9EAS

W2LI: Dry Tortugas NPOTA Activation
Rob (K2RWF) and Craig (KD2INN) activate Dry Tortugas National Park in the Gulf of Mexico.
YouTube

Hara Arena items to be auctioned off starting Thanksgiving
The auction will include a limited number of Hara Arena and Cincinnati’s Crosley Field seats, Hara signage, photos, posters, sports and event memorabilia, sports equipment, chandeliers, catering items, tables and chairs.
Dayton Daily News

Simulating JT modes: how low can they get?
In this post I’ll show how one can use the signal generation tools in WSJT-X to do decoding simulations.
Daniel Estévez

Does QRP Really Work?
I have heard the saying so often “Life is Too Short for QRP”. For some reason, many radio amateurs refuse to embrace and even eschew low power.
NY4G

Hams on Strava
Many DXers and Contesters also participate in endurance sports such as running, cycling, and triathlon when not on the radio.
AmateurRadio.com

The Doctor is in: Stealth Antennas
Sometimes the best antenna is the “least” antenna.
ARRL

Amateur radio installation in a 2016 Ford F-150 SuperCrew
Installing in a truck and an evolving digital radiosphere presented some challenges.
Kevin Sanders

Ham Radio 360: ARES; an Introduction
Ham Radio 360 talks to Cecil Higgins (AC0HA) the ARES Section Manager for Missouri.
Ham Radio 360

Field Results for an AS-2259/GS Antenna
Let’s start with the good news first. The antenna worked like a champ. From suburban Chicago, our first contact was Toronto.
N4AE

Video

DEF CON 24: I Amateur Radio And So Can You
Kat Sweet explains how Ham Radio can be incorporated into everyday hacking.
K7FTW

Yaesu FT-817 QRP through a mag mounted Ham Stick
I make a QSO while testing out a 40 meter ham stick in a mag mount configuration.
KD9EAS

Ham Radio 2.0: Unboxing and testing the Yaesu FT-891
Yaesu’s newest HF mobile radio has some cool new features, but leaves out other options.
Ham Radio 2.0

ARRL Webinar: CHIRP Programming
This ARRL webinar offers a brief overview of the free, open-source CHIRP software, which can be used to program most radios.
ARRL

Ham shack kitten
Essex Ham’s Shack Kitten, Splodge, gets his own YouTube video.
Essex Ham

Scientists are bringing back vacuum tubes
A group of scientists have developed super-efficient microscopic vacuum tubes that may be able to outperform semiconductors.
Popular Mechanics

3D print your next paddle
Mini Iambic Magnetic Morse Paddle is designed for portable or SOTA operation.
Thingiverse

End fed half wave antennas
End feeding antennas can be an incredibly convenient configuration because you only need one support (like a tree).
High on Solder

You can swing a dead cat but you shouldn’t swing your Bug
If it ain’t got that swing, that’s a good thing
N4PBQ

Funny old hobby
Our hobby is based upon communication – Yet, when face-to-face, we suck at it…
M0PZT

Amateur Radio satellites
Check the status and communication frequencies of all active Amateur Radio satellites.
N2YO

Comparing the weak signal performance of a WBR Regen with a K2
The WBR seems to get a bit of a bad rap with some people for it’s sensitivity. Based on my experience, this design does seem to be fairly deaf on AM, but the sensitivity on SSB/CW is fine.
AA7EE

SOTA Super Activation
The aim of the event is to get as many Summit to Summit – “S2S” – contacts as possible. The summit contacts can be between North America and Europe or within the regions themselves.
Southgate

Antarctica expedition
Felix, DL5XL (N5BC), will once again operate from Antarctica using his call sign DP1POL. Activity will be from November 2016 to February 2017.
DL5XL

Small-scale EME setup
you don’t need a huge antenna system to operate EME (moonbounce) successfully.
ARRL

Portable shortwave spectrum capture for the urban city dweller
Lightweight, portable set-up that would let me capture large chunks of the shortwave radio spectrum out in the field, which I could later explore in detail.
The SWLing Post

Copying GRLevel3 settings to another computer
Like many other Windows programs, preference data is stored in the registry, and this provides a somewhat easy work around.
Kevin.Sanders.io

HDSDR beta 2.75 released
HDSDR hasn’t been updated since 2013, so it is good to see that the author is back in action.
RTL-SDR.com

Put that Amateur Radio license to use on 915 MHz
Faraday makes it very easy to transmit and receive digital data, with decent power and range.
Hack A Day

Learning Morse Code in 4 hours
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a system that teaches people Morse code within four hours using a series of vibrations felt near the ear.
Georgia Tech

National Geographic: Guide to Ham Radio
Can Ham radios really talk to space? And other answers.
National Geographic

Suspected terrorists believe HAARP controls minds
Two men collected dozens of weapons as part of a plan to attack the High Frequency Active Aural Research Facility or HAARP.
WALB

SainSonic APRS Tracker
1 watt APRS tracker with GPS, Bluetooth built-in.
SainSonic

KB6NU’s One-day Tech class videos
KB6NU has been sharing a series of videos from his One-day Tech class.
KB6NU

ISS APRS packet system switched to UHF
Crew member Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, has activated an ARISS UHF radio that had been in storage on the ISS, and it is now operational on 437.550 MHz.
ARRL

An improved knob for the K2
Compared to tuning knobs on most commercial rigs, the one on the K2 has a rather sharp edge, the effects of which can become obvious if you tune a lot by resting one finger against it.
AA7EE

Do you have a prepared Ham Radio elevator pitch?
Don’t try to be all things to all people, stick with the aspects of ham radio you enjoy and have passion and expertise.
Ham Cram

All-Seeing Eye: Russia builds gigantic military radar in Arctic
The so-called “over the horizon” radar is a type of radar system, which is able to detect targets at very long ranges, typically hundreds and thousands of kilometers.
Sputnik News

Video

Building an APRS Digipeater
The transceiver is a GM300, with a KAM plus TNC modulating it. If we didn’t happen to have a KAM+ on hand, I would have probably used an OT3m from Argent Data.
The Life of Kenneth

TYT MD-398 GPS Unboxing
This model is the GPS version. It also comes in a version without GPS. This is a pre-release model, however, it is identical to the Radioddity GD-55 model.
Ham Radio Review

W9BVX’s helium balloon vertical antenna
Watch now as he ticks another item off his ‘bucket list’.
KB8VBR

Radio Review: QYT KT8900 Mini Dual Band Mobile
Programming repeaters into the QYT KT8900 Mini Dual Band Mobile
AF5DN

BITX40 40 meter transceiver
The BITX40 is a single circuit 40 meter SSB transceiver capable of 7 watts.
HF Signals

Ham proposes vanity call sign rule changes
W4ADL is proposing that any licensee obtaining a vanity call sign be required to keep it for the full license term.
ARRL

Open Repeater Project
The OpenRepeater Project is the development of a low cost, low power, but a feature rich duplex Linux based amateur radio repeater controller using computers like the Raspberry Pi 2.
Open Repeater Project

24 GHz handheld
Vegetation completely blocks 24 GHz signals. A tree or even the smallest bush blocks the signal.
EA4EOZ

Designing an idiot switch
Building a micro controller device that removes power from a soldering iron when the user leaves it turned on for too long.
Ham Radio 360: Workbench

APRSpro
iOS APRS client with built-in iGate.
APRSpro

Taking your QRP signal to the next steps
The heavy lifting is done not by you but by the DX who is trying to dig you out of the mud.
AmateurRadio.com

Graphing realtime WSPR propagation
This gives useful information about when a certain part of the world can be heard and worked.
PE4BAS

Why you should care about software defined radio
It hasn’t become a household term yet, but Software-Defined Radio (SDR) is a major player on the developing technology front.
Hack A Day

Amateur Radio and FreeBSD [PDF]
Many of the applications written generically or specifically for Linux are easily transferred to FreeBSD.
FreeBSD Journal

Video

K7AGE Visits the new TWIT Studio
On my way to the Pacificon Hamfest, I stopped by the new TWIT studio and I was on Ham Nation.
K7AGE

Drone footage of 2017 Hamvention site
Quad-Copter touring the Greene County (Ohio) Fairgrounds
W8WWV

Drone footage of antenna install
The team at RemoteHamRadio.com installed two rotating towers in Maine.
YouTube