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

Tytera MD380 firmware reverse engineered
The entire radio has been reverse engineered with rewritten firmware and the beginnings of a very active development community.
Hack A Day

Winter Field Day is January 30 – 31
Winter Field Day encourages emergency operating preparedness in the winter.
Winter Field Day Association

First Iranian Ham Radio contest February 1st
The first Iranian ham contest is going to be held on February 1st, 2016 and will last for 10 days.
Alborz dx group

Getting started In QRP
There are two big reasons why radio amateurs who have no real interest in QRP should familiarize themselves with it anyway. First, it forces them to refine their operating skills, and that’s helpful no matter how much juice you’re sending up the coax.
Off Grid Ham

VHF Super Conference
A conference involving VHF, UHF, microwave and above frequencies.
VHF Super Conference

Some friendly NPOTA advice
If you’ve never left the friendly confines of your home shack before, here are some things to consider.
W2LJ

Congressman asks FCC for help with NYC repeater interference
“Amateur Radio repeaters on Long Island are rendered useless…”
ARRL

The “Nifty Accessories” KX3 stand
For desktop operation the short rear legs make for a laid back angle that makes the display difficult to see and the buttons awkward to operate.
Ham Radio QRP

Tips for beginning net control operators
There are no mistakes, only experience. When you’ve finished the net that is what you will have.
KB6NU

GlobalSET 2015 is a wrap, with lessons learned
It was estimated that 10 times more radio amateurs took part in GlobalSET 2015.
ARRL

Ham radio operator asked to take down tower
Ham plans to sue the city for harassment in regards to a radio tower he was forced to remove.
Mainely Media

Video

Maritime emergency Ham Radio recording
The occupants felt threatened that it might be a pirate, so they called for help on the Ham Radio.
W1JSB

ISS SSTV activity today
The SSTV transmissions will be made from the amateur radio station located in the Russian Service Module of the ISS using the callsign RS0ISS.
AMSAT UK

Review: Heathkit Explorer Jr. GR-150 TRF AM radio receiver kit
The Explorer Jr. manual is very nicely done, spiral-bound, and very reminiscent of the old Heathkit manuals in terms of layout and detail.
The SWLing Post

Number of Ham Radio licenses to reach 750,000 by 2017
The number of unexpired amateur radio licenses in the United States was 733,594 in November 2015, an annual growth rate of 1.05% and five year growth rate of 4.52%.
KC4LMD

A stealthy HOA HamStick directional dipole
This is a sneak peek at the project and I will follow up with a very detailed build, tune and operation on 20 and 40 meters bands using both Phone and digital PSK31.
Prepared Ham

USB rechargeable AA batteries
Featuring the same lithium polymer chemistry of your smarthphone, these AA and AAA batteries can be plugged directly into USB for charging.
Macworld

Retirement and Ham Radio
What I have come to learn is that Monday is just as good a day as Saturday and weekend crowds are to be avoided. There are no crowds on Tuesdays.
amateurradio.com

MyAPRS: APRS app for iOS
A modern APRS app for iOS users with model detection, frequency detection, and C4FM highlights.
MyAPRS

Splat! scripts
Scripts to run the Splat! radio terrain mapping tool.
GitHub

Recent Ham attack
The weather station was taken down for test, and upon investigation, the source of the problem was quickly discovered to be a result of squirrel sabotage.
Essex Ham

Video

The Russian Woodpecker documentary now online
An enormous secret Soviet weapon that stands in the shadow of Chernobyl, and which Kremlinologists in the 1980s thought might be a giant mind-control device.
russianwoodpecker.com

Moonbounce/EME Project Diana 70th anniversary special event
This is a narrated compilation of videos taken on 10 January 2016 at a special event that commemorates the 70th Anniversary of the US Army Signal Corp’s Project Diana.
W2AEW

Ten Tec: 2016 and Beyond
Ten Tec’s new owner outlines expectations going forward.
AmateurRadio.com

National Parks on the Air gets off to strong start
During the first three days of NPOTA, “Activators” were on the air from 78 of the 483 NPOTA Units.
ARRL

So sad
If that’s the definition of a “real Ham” then I’m not one, either.
W2LJ

Low noise yagis explained
If designed correctly, the Yagi will present an excellent SWR curve over a given operating range when directly fed.
G0KSC

Shortwave pirate radio 2015 – a year in review
As one might expect, Saturday and Sunday are the big winners, with Friday in third place.
30 Below

Time station CHU in The Empire Strikes Back
Here’s the clip from The Empire Strikes Back, Battle of Hoth: listen at 25 seconds and at 40 seconds.
The SWLing Post

LED lights in the shack
If you have been wondering how much RFI LED lamps might be producing, you may find these findings of value.
VE7SL

File RFI complaints directly with FCC
The FCC has made it easier for hams to file their own RF interference and other complaints.
ARRL

How to

Using the RFSpace Cloud-IQ with CuteSDR on the Raspberry Pi 2
I have been playing with CuteSDR on Linux and Mac and came to think, would this work on a Raspberry Pi?
OZ9AEC

Fixing the Ten-Tec Century/21 sidetone
The sidetone volume on the C21 is adjustable but the pitch is not.
Ham Radio QRP

Video

Building a simplex repeater
I explain the concept of a simplex repeater and how to assemble one out of an Argent Data ADS-SR1 and a Motorola Maxtrac.
The Life of Kenneth

Listening to the International Space Station
I show how easy it is to listen to the ISS using nothing more than a handheld radio.
M0TGN