New: Baofeng UV-50X3 tri-band mobile
Baofeng just launched the UV-50X3 triband mobile radio and it looks like a jab, cross and left hook to the established Japanese manufacturers who were caught dreaming about DMR, C4FM, D-STAR and other leprechauns.
QRPblog

Chinese radio makers versus the big leagues
Have I been burnt or disappointed? You can bet your bottom dollar I have, and many of my reviews and past blogs would tell you that.
AmateurRadio.com

Attendance at Dayton tops 25,000 for second year in a row
For those keeping track, in 2014 the official count was 24,873 visitors, and attendance in 2013 was 24,542.
ARRL

Ham radio decline in Germany
In 2002 there were about 80,000 radio amateurs in Germany, by 2015 this had fallen to 67,349.
Southgate

VU3DES: Passing a ‘Technician Class’ US License exam
FCC FRN registration has clear options for applicants without an American Contact (mailing) Address. Using the FRN I could fill out the exam application forms and appear for the exam.
VU3DES

What’s special about 50 ohms?
A cable that has least loss at 77 ohms, also has maximum power handling capacity at 30 ohms. The mean between 30 and 77 ohms is 53.5 ohms.
Hack A Day

My Jeep portable Ham Radio station
Amateur radio is part of our gear. There are times when cell service is unreliable, trails are unpopulated, or we intentionally move off the grid. The Willys offers us an opportunity to expand our use of amateur radio as part of our leisure activities.
N4AE

A guide to listening to CB radio with an RTL-SDR dongle
Mario discusses how an RTL-SDR dongle can be used to have some fun listening to CB without needing to go out and buy a full CB radio.
RTL-SDR.com

Interference from an LDG autotuner
Hans did suffer from heavy noise (S9) on his FT-817 affecting his receive especially from digital weak signals like WSPR and JT modes.
PE4BAS

rtl-trx: Transmit and receive RTTY using an RTL-SDR dongle
Local oscillator leakage from an RTL-SDR dongle can be used as a very low power FSK transmitter.
GitHub

Ham radio tower frustrates neighbors
For 10 years, residents of a Maple Ridge neighbourhood have been fighting to have an amateur radio tower taken down, but a coalition of ham enthusiasts says they’re providing a valuable service.
CBC

Video

W7L Seven Lakes
YouTube

Crossbow antenna launcher
KF7IJZ

Transmitting RTTY with an RTL-SDR
YouTube

Into the Digital age
One of the reasons for the rapid growth of DMR over D-Star and Fusion is the availability of relatively inexpensive DMR radios for amateur operators from Connect Systems and Tytera.
Digital Mobile Radio for Hams

A Radio Amateur’s guide to solar panels
Solar panels that cost over $6.00 per watt a decade ago are now available for less than $2.00 per watt. Solar is on the cusp of becoming mainstream.
Off Grid Ham

New podcast: The Workbench
Over the next several episodes, we will deep dive on information, tips, and gear needed to setup and equip your own workbench.
The Workbench

Elecraft KX2 Go Box
The project uses a water tight Pelican 1050 brand enclosure.
VA2SS

Solar Analysis Paralysis
Don’t have gear or antennas for the low-bands? Time to make an adjustment to your equipment and antenna portfolios.
KE9V

China fits final piece on world’s largest radio telescope
The 500m-wide Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, is the size of 30 football fields.
BBC News

N9EWO Review: Icom IC-7300
You can usually get a better deal with more features in a Ham transceiver and the lack of tabletop receivers these days.
N9EWO

Dear ARRL, HR1301 is Hogwash
Your homeowners association can keep you from running a simple wire antenna.
N4AE

K8BL achieves Satellite WAS after 40 years
His contacts spanned 38 years, and he submitted QSL cards to claim the award.
ARRL

Serially, are you syncing or asyncing
Synchronous communication makes the receiver’s job easier by adding a third clock line to the ground and signal lines. This is the clock the transmitter uses to shift out the bits.
Hack A Day

Video

Yaesu FT-1000MP Repair
Follow along as Paul at Mr Carlson’s Lab shows the troubleshooting and repair steps involved in making a Yaesu FT-1000MP work again.
YouTube

24 hours of JT signal reception
This video shows which stations can be received using the JT65 and JT9 digital modes throughout 24 hours on 20m/14MHz, & how propagation changes during the day.
M0CUV

Sun has likely entered new evolutionary phase
The Sun is in the process of crossing into its magnetic middle age, where its 11-year Sunspot cycles are likely to slowly disappear entirely.
Forbes

13 Colonies Special Event
All HF bands will be in play, including the WARC bands, with the exception of 60 meters. Simplex on 2 meters and 6 meters is encouraged.
13 Colonies

Folded Skeleton Sleeve Antennas
The design is a unique way to build a dual-band resonant dipole or groundplane vertical.
High on Solder

Hams could be superheroes when the earthquake hits
When the big one hits, one of the best technologies to rely on for communication may not be cell phones or computers.
KUOW

Middle Tennessee Ham Quest
The Greater Nashville & Middle TN Ham Quest is a new project dedicated to combining traditional Hamfest elements with less traditional offerings that will help to unite the Ham community.
Ham Quest

K5EHX repeater search tool
Enter a city or zip code for near-by repeaters.
K5EHX

GQRX for digital signals
The idea was to show how GQRX can be combined with other software to use it’s nice GUI. With some plumbing, that’s easily possible.
Carriers Everywhere

How do you measure the success of Field Day?
I’m the president of our club, so if the experience isn’t great, then a large portion of the blame falls on me. After this year, I have a feeling some folks are ready to have me impeached.
KK4DSD

First Field Day as a CW operator
Field Day 2016 with the Knightlites QRP club.
Ham Radio QRP

Field Day 1929 style
The transmitter was a 27-24-24-865 job more or less straight out of July 1931 QST.
AmateurRadio.com

Direwolf: Software soundcard, modem/TNC and APRS encoder/decoder
It can be used stand-alone to observe APRS traffic, as a digipeater, APRStt gateway, or Internet Gateway (IGate).
WB2OSZ

Video

APRS timelapse
Video made of APRS screenshots from aprs.fi map.
DF2ET

Properties of different types of capacitor
Find out all about the different properties of the various capacitor types: electrolytic; ceramic; tantalum; plastic film.
YouTube

Field Day 2016 is upon us!
Sean, KX9X, Media and Public Relations Manager for the ARRL comes by to share the League’s perspective of the event as well as some tips and tricks to make this Field Day one to remember.
HamRadio360

Field Day 2016 site locator
To find a location near you, type in your town and state in the Location or Call Sign box on the left.
ARRL

It’s Field Day weekend 2016: find a local event, have fun
If you live in North America and have an interest in becoming a ham radio operator, this is the weekend to check out what amateur radio is all about.
The SWLing Post

Are you ready for Field Day?
I’ve been working on my set up for portable HF operations for the last couple of months. It is nothing elaborate or even remotely fancy. It does work and that is good enough for me.
N0RVS

VLF, LF, MF experimenters will transmit ARRL Field Day greetings
A number of Experimental (Part 5) licensees — nearly all of them radio amateurs — have been plying the depths of the radio spectrum as the ham radio community awaits FCC action on the new 2200 and 630 meter bands.
ARRL

Field Day 2016: Activate Off Grid Systems!
Be flexible and understand that Field Day means different things to different people. For some, it’s a serious disaster preparedness drill. For others, it’s a contest, a public outreach effort, or a picnic in the park with radios.
Off Grid Ham

Checklist for a GOTA station
So, I don’t forget to bring anything, I thought I’d come up with a checklist for the station.
KB6NU

Special event station K1D to operate satellites on Field Day
In an effort to encourage more kids and their families to get involved in the hobby, the kids at Ham Radio (dot) World are working to put an all-kids Special Event ARRL Field Day station on the air.
Southgate

“Amateur Radio Week” proclamations abound in advance of Field Day
Several states, counties, and communities across the US have officially recognized the public contributions of Amateur Radio.
ARRL

New Mexico wildfire emergency threatens some Field Day sites
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) volunteers in New Mexico late last week responded to the Dog Head fire, which is affecting Torrance and Bernalillo counties, and that activation continues.
ARRL

Field Day 2016 rules [PDF]
Field Day is open to all amateurs in the areas covered by the ARRL/RAC Field Organizations and countries within IARU Region 2. DX stations residing in other regions may be contacted for credit, and may submit entries as check-logs.
ARRL

When everything else fails, ham radio will still be there—and thriving
Ham is now a full-fat fabric that can provide Internet access. Why aren’t you using it?
ars technica

FCC to investigate rise in noise floor
The FCC is investigating changes and trends to the radio spectrum noise floor to determine if there is an increasing noise problem.
ARRL

Daily Twitter HF Activity Challenge
Amass as many contacts as possible between 0000z and 2359z each day. Post your results to Twitter.
SOTABEAMS

TCP and UDP connections over audio
This binding provides an abstract version which emits and consumes floating point samples which can be fed to a sound card.
GitHub

6 Meter Quad Turnstile Antenna
A quad turnstile consists of two cubical quad loops oriented in a diamond configuration and angled 90 degrees apart from one another.
High on Solder

DIY Powerpole voltage and current meters
Due to the availability of nice and cheap modules, it is very easy to make them oneself.
AmateurRadio.com

Canada Day Contest 2016 is coming
Amateurs all over the world are invited to Canada’s Birthday Party on the air.
RAC

23DA330 Jeremy’s Homebrew Quad
Jeremy was able to remove about 145′ of #19 copper wire from the old discarded washing machine motor which provided him more than enough wire to create 3 square loop driven and parasitic elements.
Delta Alfa

Video

Icom 7300 Fldigi Setup
Whether I’m using N1MM, N3FJP, MMTTY or Fldigi, the rig settings stay the same.
K0PIR

Digital modes via satellite
An example of what it’s like to work amateur satellites using digital modes.
YouTube

Last Pass of April 2016 ISS SSTV Event
This is one of two rare MAI-75 passes over North America.
YouTube

ARRL June VHF Contest this weekend
For amateurs in the US and Canada (and their possessions) to work as many amateur stations in as many different 2 degrees x 1 degree Maidenhead grid squares as possible using authorized frequencies above 50 MHz.
ARRL

Hey, which coaxial cable should I use?
We’ll focus on the most popular cables, with 50 ohm impedance to match the output impedance of our transceivers.
Ham Radio School

Is DMR the digital voice winner in Amateur Radio?
It was standing room only at the DMR Forum at Dayton this year.
KB6NU.com

AM: The original speech transmission mode
AM radio has been in slow decline for decades, indeed it’s disappearing completely in some European countries.
Hack A Day

Deceptive Sun
A quick glance at Sunday’s sun reveals a spotless environment, something we will likely be seeing more often in the years to come.
VE7SL

Digital Video Transmission using LimeSDR and GNU Radio
One of the reasons why I find the LimeSDR interesting is that it can transmit high data rates over a wide frequency spectrum. It covers many ham radio bands where we can legally transmit wide signals using high power.
MYRIAD RF

ARES volunteers take part in search for missing plane
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers in Kentucky recently joined other volunteer organizations, law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency managers in an effort to locate a missing single-engine private aircraft.
ARRL

Mark’s battle with RFI & EMI
Everyone involved in radio comms will suffer this insane problem at some stage of their hobby career. Interference from cheap and nasty technology destroying listening pleasure!
Delta Alfa

Bouvet… so far away…
Why isn’t the Intrepid DX Group announcing plans to activate Bouvet? It all comes down to money. Lots of money is needed.
N6PSE

Decoding NOAA weather satellite telemetry beacons
The telemetry not only contains data such as the current spacecraft time, day and ID, but also contains scientific data from on-board instruments.
RTL-SDR.com

Wrap it up: Icom sums up Hamvention 2016
Icom America

Video

K8RA P2 Paddle restoration timelapse
YouTube

2016 Hamvention attendance up slightly?
General chairman of the event said attendance this year may have been up slightly from 2015.
ARRL

Can we use a Raspberry Pi model B as FreeDV modem?
I am going to try using them as a headless FreeDV modem similar to the SM1000.
OZ9AEC

6 meter collinear antenna
I like to keep my antennas simple and cheap by using wire as the basis for everything.
High on Solder

Shield Hat: Signal Proof Apparel
It has shielding effectiveness 55dB-65dB from 10 MHz to 4 GHz. Silver is also antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiodor and antistatic.
Shield

Custom 19″ cabinet for a portable repeater
A 19 Inch rack mount is a standardized frame or cabinet for mounting equipment modules.
NT1K

How is Amateur Radio in your country?
European Radio Amateurs’ Organization’s survey wants to determine the current status of amateur radio in your country.
ERAO

Adventures with software defined radio
The SoftRock RXTX Ensemble seemed highly respected and has been available long enough to develop a good user base.
M0SPN

Video

NPOTA Activation: Expect the unexpected
W3ATB shares his NPOTA activation of Saint Gardens (NS60) in New Hampshire on June 1, 2016.
W3ATB

KD2GTM’s Hamvention Recap
All about my experience at my first Hamvention!
KD2GTM

The Transistor: 1953 documentary, anticipating its coming impact
The intent of the film was clearly to give the public of that era their first understanding of what a transistor was and why it mattered so much.
AT&T Tech Channel