Final Days of VK0EK (ATNO Days)
One of our objectives is to give an All-Time New One (ATNO) to as many DXers as possible.
VK0EK

April 18th: World Amateur Radio Day
World Amateur Radio Day is the day when IARU Member-Societies can show our capabilities to the public and enjoy global friendship with other Amateurs worldwide.
IARU

Radio amateurs in the quest for geostationary satellites
In the next few years radio amateurs will have access to two geostationary platforms.
EE Publishers

The Doctor is In: New podcast from ARRL
Hosted by QST Editor In Chief Steve Ford, WB8IMY, the ARRL The Doctor is In podcast is a twice-monthly audio podcast that answers your questions.
ARRL

D-STAR satellite to launch from Kourou
OUFTI-1 from the University of Liege, Belgium, will be the first satellite to carry a D-STAR Digital Voice transponder.
AMSAT UK

Fuses: Make sure you can trust them
The Dollar Store fuse turns out to be the worst: running several minutes at 20A, double the rated current.
Noisebridge

Field guide to communications towers
Technically speaking, they are called Base Transmitter Stations (BTS). You might see ‘cell site’ and ‘cell tower’ used interchangeably, but these terms are not synonymous.
Hack A Day

Meteor Scatter season gets underway
Meteor Scatter season has started with the April meteor showers and will continue until the beginning of January next year.
Southgate

Morse News: Get your news the old fashioned way
It’s an application that pulls RSS feeds and translates them to Morse.
Ham Radio QRP

Video

Demolition: Voice of America Radio Towers
The final 48 “quad” towers were felled in a single explosives sequence on Monday, April 4, setting a new World Record in this category.
DCI

Rainy SO-50
From the 2016-03-27 2111Z SO-50 pass over North America.
Space Comms

Yaesu FT-891 – New HF/50MHz transceiver
Although the details are extremely limited, it seems we are talking about a HF/50MHz mobile radio similar with the FT-857 in size.
QRP Blog

The future of MacHamRadio.com
Popular website may close due to conflict of interest with employer.
MacHamRadio.com

ARRL tells FCC to restore balance of modes on 80 and 75 Meters
Refarming 3600 to 3650 kHz for data modes could prove to be a disincentive to General licensees to upgrade.
ARRL

Digital voice adapters for Raspberry Pi and Arduino
This is an ongoing project to develop very inexpensive hardware and software to help amateur radio folks with D-Star.
KI6ZUM

RF exposure – Evaluating your station
How do you practically conduct an RF exposure evaluation of your station?
Ham Radio School

TLF: A Linux based Ham Radio contest logger
TLF is a curses based console mode general logging and contest program for Amateur Radio.
TLF

APEX, New APRS Protocol, New Paradigm, New Software
APEX stands for “APrs EXtended”; It will be a new protocol which expands on and fixes most of the issues in the older APRS protocol while still remaining backwards compatible.
jeffreyfreeman.me

Nanocounter: Frequency Counter with an Android UI
The Nanocounter is an accurate, open source frequency counter that uses an Android phone as its display.
Hack A Day

Why you should get your Extra Class license
The Amateur Extra Class license is the highest class of license in the United States, and perhaps the world. Many hams—even hams that live outside the U.S.—aspire to pass the test and be awarded one.
Everything Ham Radio

JSatTrak: Cross-platform satellite tracking app
JSatTrak is a Satellite tracking program written in Java. It allows you to predict the position of any satellite in real time or in the past or future.
JSatTrak

New product

SharkRF: Standalone digital radio IP gateway
Connect openSPOT easily to DMR, D-Star reflectors, C4FM/System Fusion rooms, and use your radio with excellent voice quality without sync errors.
SharkRF

Video

Power outage… Zero HF noise
During a power failure I thought I would see how quiet HF can be.
Michael Carey

Power is back… And so is HF noise
The obsession with everyone (me included) to surround themselves with crappy, poorly designed electronics creates a nightmare for urban HF radio operators.
Michael Carey

and finally…

Don’t do this
Power line short circuit.
YouTube

Realtime QSO information from Heard Island
Dashboard shows QSO counts, recently logged callsigns, and QSO search.
DXA3.org

Multimode Digital Voice Modem
A project describing an adapter for D-Star, DMR and other digital modes based on an Arduino Due and a little PCB to put on top.
Notizbl0g.

Radio attack lets hackers steal 24 different car models
Thieves are amplifying near-by key fob signals.
Wired

The Radio Amateur’s Code
Radio sport that involves chasing that elusive country, county, SOTA peak, NPOTA entity or whatever should never become the focus of our lives, or our reason for being.
W2LJ

Why I changed my call sign after 28 years
Up until last month, I’ve used my original Novice-class call sign since it came in the mail in 1988.
N4AE

Ham Radio and Photography
It goes without saying that I always have my emergency preparedness kit with me that is stored in the cargo bay of my mobile, as you never know when you might need to draw from it.
VE6AB

Man in trouble for cellphone jammer on public train
A 63 year old financial analyst is facing serious charges, because he used a cellphone jammer on a public train.
Southgate

The technology working behind the scenes of Heard Island
Here is a pictorial list of the technology we are using to support VK0EK. Every thing we use is in the “Cloud” – and everything is automatically maintained and backed up.
VK0EK

Rash believed to be caused by radiation from mobile phone mast
Resident said she suffers from electrosensitivity- a condition suffered by people who in varying degrees are made ill by connection to electricity.
Ledbury Reporter

North Korea intensifies shortwave jamming
North Korea has been from the beginning of March continually signal jamming radio broadcasts on the shortwave frequency used by the South Korean non-profit broadcaster Unification Media Group.
The SWLing Post

Video

NOAA WX Sat umbrella antenna
Using an umbrella in place of a quadrifilar helix antenna.
YouTube

Tytera MD-9600 DMR Digital Mobile Radio
Tytera has introduced a new mobile two way radio capable of operation in both digital and analog modes.
Cricket Ventures

In depth: Icom IC-7300 review
Icom IC-7300 is the first direct sampling SDR (software defined radio) available from one of the “big three” Japanese manufacturers.
YO9IRF

FreeDV 2400A
Two new FreeDV modes for VHF/UHF.
Rowetel

SM2000 update (turning your $35 HT into a digital radio)
KA8BMA has been working steadily on the CAD work for the SM2000 VHF Radio.
Rowetel

The Amateur Radio Operators Preparing for the Worst
In natural or man-made disasters, ham-radio enthusiasts put their hobby to work.
The Atlantic

The first transatlantic communication cables
The TAT-1 system would have two cables, one for east-west traffic, the other for west-east calls. The core of each cable was a single coaxial cable with a solid copper center conductor
Hack A Day

Over the horizon radars becoming routine on Amateur HF bands
A 50 kHz wide Russian OTH radar has been heard in the evening on 80 meters, often in the CW part of the band.
ARRL

Raspberry Pi QRP TX Shield for WSPR
The QRPi board is an inexpensive way of turning a Raspberry Pi single-board computer into a QRP transmitter.
Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corp

IC-7300 — A Game Changer
While traditional receiver designs utilize Local Oscillators, LO, these Analog to Digital converter, ADC, devices have become the heart of the IC-7300 receiver design.
Icom

Listen for ISS with Raspberry Pi 3 and SoDeRa
Receive amateur radio transmissions from the International Space Station.
AMSAT UK

Carrington Probabilities
His estimate of the probability of another Carrington event is surprisingly high.
VE7SL

Our hobby in 30 years?
An aging population will not buy so many rigs, will not support magazines. Numbers will fall. Activity will fall.
amateurradio.com

ARRL on Instagram
The official Instagram account for ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio in the US.
Instagram

Stuart Sizer: Heathkit designer
Stu Sizer––”stylist, artist, maker of models, bon vivant”––was tasked with crafting Heathkit’s user-friendly and attractive exterior designs.
The SWLing Post

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