First look: Tytera TYT MD-390 DMR HT
The Tytera TYT MD-390, the successor of the popular Tytera TYT MD-380 DMR HT, has arrived.
amateurradio.com

Just one more db
See if you can hear the difference between each 1 db increment.
VE7SL

Mobile AREDN Mesh Networking
I built a Mobile Mesh Node. It consists of 2 Ubiquiti Rocket M2 units – one for the AREDN node, and the other to act as a local wireless access point.
VA3QR

ARRL 2016 August UHF Contest Cancelled
Many commenters expressed dissatisfaction with the timing of the contest, occurring as it does at the hottest time of the year.
ARRL

Embed APRS position on your website
Paste the following HTML code on your web page, and you’ll have an automatically updating real-time APRS Google Map running in minutes.
aprs.fi

Find the signal in the noise
GPS signals are very weak, coming in at about 120 dBm which is below the thermal noise floor of ~100 dBm.
Software Defined GPS

ARRL really needs to reach out more effectively
I don’t believe that they’re doing enough to attract new members and retain existing members, and a few recent incidents have only solidified my opinion.
KB6NU

Supporting disaster communications from space
We owe it to these volunteers to do everything we can to support their work to help communities bounce back when disaster strikes.
FEMA.gov

CW call sign weight analyzer
A useful tool when trying to figure out how long it will take to send a call sign using CW.
RadioQTH

Listening to an astronaut transmit from the International Space Station
A fun and educational use of the RTL-SDR.
TRL-SDR.com

Amateur Extra Query Tools
AE7Q

Video

Rowetel FreeDV SM1000 in action
A transmission of the weekly WIA Broadcast in both SSB and then FreeDV.
YouTube

Introduction to the Icom IC-7300 HF/50/70MHz Transceiver
Icom’s first Software Defined Radio (SDR) HF radio.
Icom

IC-7300 retail price and shipping dates set
Universal Radio is accepting orders for the Icom IC-7300.
The SWLing Post

IC-7300: If King Midas was a Ham
Icom details IC-7300 features.
Icom

Raspberry Pi 3 released
For Raspberry Pi 3, Broadcom has supported us with a custom-hardened 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53.
Raspberry Pi

How to work Heard Island
This VK0EK Blog Site is now switching over to “DXpedition Mode.”
VK0EK.org

FCC outlines anti-pirate agenda for 2016
The man who’s made pirate radio a personal crusade has big plans to try and wipe out what he calls “poison ivy in the garden of the radio spectrum.”
diymedia.net

Google is building a 100kW transmitter
Of the few details listed in the documents, one thing does pop out as exceptionally odd: a 70-80 GHz transmitter with an effective radiated power (ERP) 96,411 W.
Hack A Day

ARES supports Army and Air Force MARS communications exercise
More than 300 Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) members participated in the first quarterly Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) US Department of Defense communications exercise of 2016 (COMEX 16-1).
ARRL

Taking the radio out of radio
Unfortunately there’s a detrimental sub-hobby that’s been around a long time, perhaps as far back as when there was spark and a new mode called CW was emerging.
amateurradio.com

Raspberry Pi-powered transmitters broadcast Syrian radio
The devices have a range of between 4 to 6km (2.5 to 3.75 miles), which is enough to cover an entire town.
BBC News

Video

SO-50 and a giant pile of red clay
SO-50 pass on 2016-01-30.
YouTube

Empire of Noise
Radio jamming documentary tells the story about the practice and political importance of radio jamming in the 20th century.
YouTube

Organizing RF adapters
A short video on how I now sort my connectors and adapters for my RF projects.
Life of Kenneth

FCC seeks comments on lifetime Amateur Radio licenses
“The FCC would benefit by reducing administrative costs.”
ARRL

Heathkit introduces stealth 2m/440 antenna kit
Heathkit proclaims the antenna has multiple patents filed for many inventions in its design and is waterproof.
Radio Artisan

A field guide to the North American utility pole
We live under the umbrella of an intricate and fascinating web of infrastructure that enables every aspect of modern technology. But how often do we really look at it?
Hack A Day

Follow the 2016 Heard Island Expedition on WSPR
The VK0EK 2016 Heard Island Expedition will operate a 250-milliwatt battery-powered propagation beacon kit
VK0EK

A rant about working pileups – from both ends
If the NPOTA activator is calling for call area 4 – we should not hear call signs with 2s, 5s, or 7s.
W2LJ

The Hams of Hoover
Why does Bluff Park in Hoover, Alabama have a high concentration of radio amateurs?
Southgate

Post nuclear strike, Last Ditch Network ‘LDN’
The LDN or Last Ditch Network, was intended to be Regional Government’s last line of communication when all their landlines and associated backup radio paths had failed following a nuclear attack on the British Isles.
UKWMO Communications

Turning a marine battery into a massive emergency power source
To create my charging hub, I used a little Bestek splitter with two 12v sockets and 2 5v USB outlets.
amateurradio.com

Icom remote rig RS-BA1 IP software
The RS-BA1 allows you to access your ham shack rig at a distance, whether that distance is another room in your home or another country.
Icom

Video

What is inside an electrolytic capacitor?
A one minute teardown answering the question “What is Inside an Electrolytic Capacitor.”
ToddFun.com

Why modern Makers are bringing back Ham Radio
Some Maker spaces now offer ham radio activities. A few, like HacDC, have their own radio shacks and experimental equipment and offer ham radio license classes.
Yahoo! Tech

First impressions of the Icom IC-7300 HF + 6M transceiver
We did not use the transmit functions on the radio, but were able to test out the receiver at my campsite with a Buddipole antenna on 40 meters.
AB4BJ

Vanderbilt CubeSat data collected by ham radio operators worldwide
Building a program of reliable CubeSats; doing real science at a fraction of the cost.
Vanderbilt University

Listening to 10 meter radio beacons
Radio beacons can be found across the RF spectrum from the LF (low frequency) band all the way up to bands inhabited by satellite signals.
The SWLing Post

New distance record on AO-7
We both agreed to simply repeat your call / my call / grid / report rapidly, much in the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both stations cleanly heard the others call and grid.
AMSAT

Amateur Radio Parity Act… Amendments?
There was one Committee member, Rep. Anna Eschoo from California, who has been wary of, if not opposed to the bill, based on lobbying she’s received from an association of HOAs.
AmateurRadio.com

Review – BTech UV2501+220 (Tri-Band)
BTech has introduced a low profile Tri-Band Mobile Transceiver to the ham radio marketplace.
Ham Radio Blog PD0AC

HamSphere: Virtual Ham Radio
Talk to Amateur Radio operators all over the world. No extra hardware needed.
HamSphere

Tiny USB Morse Code Beacon
The design for the board is available with single-sided artwork suitable for production using simple methods like toner transfer.
Hack A Day

Video

Getting started with digital modes
This comprehensive video explains the concept behind amateur radio digital modes and describes the hardware and cabling required to get started.
QRP School

UHF RICK Repeater with Auto ID and Teardown
I had previously mentioned that the RICK doesn’t meet FCC requirements on its own due to its lack of automatic identification. What it does have is an accessory port where you can plug in some other device which can generate the ID for you.
The Life of Kenneth

Radio Free Europe (1964)
This film gives an overview of Radio Free Europe’s news-gathering and audience research, its production center in Munich, and its transmission operations in Germany and Portugal.
YouTube

Ham radio licenses at all-time high
Amateur Radio (ham radio) has been around for more than 100 years. The United States government began licensing Amateur Radio operators in 1912.
Ironton Tribune

History of HamTV on the ISS
February 11th was a historic event: Tim Peake activated the Ham Video transmitter on board Columbus.
AMSAT UK

KiwiSDR: 30 MHz bandwidth SDR for VLF/LF/MF/HF
The KiwiSDR is an up and coming VLF/LF/MF/HF capable SDR that has a large 30 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth and coverage from 10 kHz to 30 MHz. It is designed to be low cost and used as an online internet based SDR in a similar way to how WebSDR is used.
RTL-SDR.com

Ham Radio In The Back Country
I recorded the lat/long coordinates supplied by my D72 that I had set up to manually beacon as VE6AB-7 and was being heard and digipeated by my APRS weather station VE6AB-8 mounted in the cargo bay of my mobile parked on a forestry road a kilometer or so away.
Jerry’s Journal

Hack A Day is looking for writers
Contributors are hired as private contractors and paid for each post. You should have the technical expertise to understand the projects you write about, and a passion for the wide range of topics we feature.
Hack A Day

Protecting the Elecraft KX3 on the Hills
Protection of my expensive investment (well, the KX3 isn’t cheap is it?!) is paramount and I have three stages.
M0JCQ’s Ham Blog

How to

Ham solar energy plant: 100 watts For $300
The Off Grid Ham 100 Watts for $300 Solar Energy Plant will produce reliable power but is a no frills affair.
Off Grid Ham

The Beautiful Genius Load
Up to now I only had one dummy load and it was built into my MFJ Deluxe Versa Tuner II so I thought it was high time to have something a bit more portable.
Ham Radio – QRP

How to decode maritime broadcasts in RTTY, Sitor B, and NAVTEX
Non-voice high seas weather broadcasts and safety messages to mariners can be found by spinning your VFO dial to 8.472 MHz USB.
The SWLing Post

Video

Speedy Cutover Service, SXS switching cutover to ESS
With the speedy cutover service – 51 installers simultaneously cutting 927 cables as fast as possible, all on cue – the interrupted service could be brought down to well under a single minute.
AT&T Tech Channel

Decoding DMR on OS X using an RTL SDR and DSD Plus
This video shows that decoding DMR using DSD+ command line tool is possible on a Mac running OSX
YouTube

Demonstration of radio frequency interference
RFI simply means that there is a part in the radio spectrum that we wouldn’t like to see, it is usually unintentionally caused by devices around us .
YouTube

Winter Field Day is better than ever
290 QSOs, 40 states, plus Canada and Puerto Rico contacted, several DX entities. Winter Field Day’s 2016 effort was the best ever for our club, and most of us only operated for about five hours.
KK4DSD

Top 10 reasons to take Ham Radio portable
Add massive noise levels across the HF bands and RFI to neighbours when I operate above the 20m band and then you have all the reasons I started taking my rig into the great outdoors.
M0JCQ’s Ham Blog

Hidden Antennas for HOA restrictions?
I have a confession to make… I live in a HOA! I know most hams say what the hell did you do that for, you knew you could not put up a 60 foot tower. Turn in your FCC license…
Prepared Ham

Radio astronomy with an RTL-SDR
Jupiter and its satellites like Io sometimes interact to create “radio storms” which can be heard from earth at frequencies between 3 to 30 MHz.
rtl-sdr.com

Decoding Russian Meteor-M2 WX satellite images
Meteor-M N2 transmits images using the digital LRPT protocol at around 137.1 MHz.
phasenoise

New bonus points announced for Field Day 2016
This year’s Field Day introduces two new ways to score bonus points — Social Media and Safety Officer.
ARRL

A Ham’s revenge for loud neighbors
With a car mount antenna pointed directly at the neighbor’s stereo, Kevin could transmit on a specific, obscure frequency and silence the speakers.
Hack A Day

No better time to promote the hobby?
If you’re not involved with promoting the hobby – no need to read on.
Essex Ham

Ham TV operators go high definition
Hams have been experimenting with television since the 1920s, and as a group are acutely aware of technological developments in this area.
TVTechnology

Profiles in QRP: Ann K1QO
“I’ve always been impressed with what low power, CW, and simple wire antennas can do.”
W2LJ

Video

Microwave transceiver teardown
Having no immediate use for it, and with a premium on storage space in my life these days, I figured I’d tear it apart and see how it works.
The Life of Kenneth

JT9 QSO example
Jeff McGrath

ARRL January VHF Contest this weekend
Assuming Mother Nature cooperates, the January VHF Contest offers a welcome reprieve from what might be the long winter doldrums.
ARRL

Teletext time travel
Recovering teletext from VHS recordings.
TRANSDIFFUSION

Net map tool
See location points on a map based on callsign.
K5EHX

VK5ARG FreeDV transmissions
The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group, under its club call sign VK5ARG, are conducting experimental retransmissions in FreeDV.
Southgate

Capital City Hamfest to be webcast
w5kub.com will be live at the Capital City Hamfest this weekend.
W5KUB

Militia radio frequencies
The militia-patriot movement in America has embraced radio communications in a big way.
RadioMaster Reports

Amateur Radio Satellites live position on a map
FG8OJ

AggieSat4 deployed with Amateur telemetry and CW payload
AggieSat4 was launched aboard the Orbital ATK Cygnus OA-4 cargo resupply mission.
AMSAT UK

Open letter to the ‘Ham’ in Thursday night’s pile-up
Is this really the way we all should be behaving in the pile-ups? Does it ever work? It must, because you kept doing it.
N4KC

Will CircuitCity be this generation’s RadioShack?
Watch out, Best Buy. Circuit City is coming back this year, but it may look a little different.
Engadget

Two portable oscilloscopes: shootout
To get an idea of what the signals ought to look like, I measured them both with my current favorite bench scope, a Rigol DS1104Z.
Hack A Day

Video

How to operate FO-29 using a single Yaesu FT-817
How-to video describing and demonstrating the basic concept of working amateur radio satellite FO-29 semi-duplex using a single Yaesu FT-817 2m and 70cm.
YouTube

Vacuum fluorescent tube clock
Manhattan style construction IV-18 Tube Clock based on the MSP430G2553 microcontroller.
YouTube