Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 415

Amateur Radio Weekly

FCC warns licensee on out-of-band transmissions
Amateurs are reminded to exercise care when programming non-Amateur frequencies into their VHF/UHF radios, and to ensure that transmitting on those frequencies is disabled.
ARRL

CW for pop pickers
The (not really) mysterious world of Morse Code training vinyl records.
EI3LH

Raven: New AREDN mesh chat
A decentralized mesh messaging platform with the ability to bridge messages from AREDN to other message platform.
AREDN

HamStat: HamsOverIP monitor
HamStat provides a real-time view of “conditions” on the HamsOverIP system. It shows who is currently on a call, who has recently finished a call, and who may be available or open to a call.
WA4MTP

Don’t try this at home
Alan Spindel is president of the Radio Club of America and senior electrical engineer for Ten-Tec/Alpha RF Systems. He develops hardware and firmware for Amateur and professional radio systems.
RadioWorld

Coax attenuation calculator: Reduce signal loss
This guide explains how coax attenuation works, how to calculate it, and how to minimize loss for maximum system performance.
Ham Shack Reviews

Go box version 0.1
I have primarily made these tiny trips with my own bare hands awkwardly clutching a bunch of crap to my chest.
K3LOE

Linux Ham Radio KISS serial driver being modernized in 2026
The MKISS code hasn’t seen much driver activity since the original Git import of the Linux kernel more than twenty years ago.
Phoronix

BBC seeks shortwave recordings and listener stories—Can you help?
If you have recordings, firsthand experiences, or even strong leads, your contribution could help shape this program.
SWLing Post

Echo: KiwiSDR, OpenWebRX, WebSDR and FM-DX iOS browser
Browse 2,000+ KiwiSDR, OpenWebRX, WebSDR, and FM-DX servers to hear shortwave, aviation, numbers stations, and distant FM in real time.
RTL-SDR

Video

2026 National Hurricane Conference Amateur Radio Workshops
From Orlando, Florida on March 31st, 2026.
Jim Palmer

Baofeng UV-5R: Send emails & text messages
This guide compares devices to help you configure APRSDroid and connect your radio, perfect for anyone exploring Ham Radio capabilities.
HAM-DALORIAN

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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 414

Amateur Radio Weekly

Pebble HF
An ultra-affordable QRP radio kit with big potential.
QRPer

DLARC: The radio geek’s doomscrolling antidote
Immerse yourself in a digital collection of Amateur Radio and communication artifacts.
RadioWorld

Two Amateur Radio operators tapped into a Soviet frequency
Did they hear a woman burning alive in space?
Popular Mechanics

The power of the whisper
How WSPR and WSJT-X are redefining long-distance radio.
Bryan King

D75Link
D75Link connects via Bluetooth to the Kenwood TH-D75 in DV Gateway Mode and bridges voice to D-STAR reflectors (REF, XRF, DCS) over the internet.
VE4ELB

What is Ham Radio: A newcomer’s guide
Learn the basics of how to become a licensed Ham. Plus, tips on the gear you’ll need to start broadcasting.
Field & Stream

Installing a CB radio base station with proper grounding
It’s one of the best CB base station setups I’ve seen.
The SWLing Post

MorseBuddy
A web based Morse Code training app.
AA4OO

Opinion: Do the terms YL and OM reflect patriarchy or affectionate jargon?
Is it time for our Amateur Radio community to reconsider the use of gendered terms in our hobby?
Random Wire

Using Morserino M32 Pocket as Bluetooth keyboard
Your paired Bluetooth device receives the decoded characters as if they were keyboard keypresses.
LZ1PID

Handheld transceivers: A generational curse
All modern radios available today have the same Achilles’ heel that no amount of advances have been able to resolve: low transmit power and poor antennas.
Off Grid Ham

JS8Reporter
It reads MCF505 Area Assessment form data received via JS8Call and displays that data on an offline map of North America.
The SitRepNet Project

FCC warns Pittsburgh Amateur Radio operator for 911 interference
A BTech UV-Pro was transmitting over an Allegheny County EMS channel, commission alleges.
RadioWorld

Video

The tide waits for no Ham
Kayaking and Ham Radio.
Ham Radio and Kayaking with 2E0WMG

Off-grid radio data communications center
Let’s assemble an HT, amp, lithium battery, and power distribution system in a small, sealed ammo-box.
KM6LYW Radio

Testing prototype Discovery Drive Satellite Tracker
People keep asking me where to buy a satellite tracking rotator, and now there’s a new option.
saveitforparts

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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 413

Amateur Radio Weekly

OOTA: Out On The Air
Any location. Any antenna. Any power.
OOTA

What’s new at DLARC
We have lots of new documents and movies from Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Radio Amateurs’ Club. The club has been diligent about documenting its history: they recently sent dozens of documents, images, and films.
Zero Retries

A visit to Italy’s Begali Keys factory
We accepted the offer and started our trip to Italy with a visit to Brescia, where the company has been producing keys for more than 60 years.
OnAllBands

AetherSDR
A Linux-native client for FlexRadio Systems transceivers.
ten9876

KJ4WLC Ham Dashboard
Real-time Amateur Radio data.
KJ4WLC

A short and maybe not-so-sweet HF antenna
A lot of information has been posted online recently about very short portable vertical antennas.
Ham Radio Outside the Box

My time with Pat…So far
My love for pat has only grown over the past couple of years that I’ve been using it. Why? Because it’s simple and incredibly versatile.
KC8JC

Hush
An Open Source alternative to VARA-HF.
Hush

Ham Clock CYD
A stand-alone device that could operate even if the internet is not available.
KC1ENS

ARRL is hiring
We are currently hiring for several impactful positions.
ARRL

ARDC is hiring
ARDC seeks a mid-to-senior-level Software Developer and Technical Writer.
ARDC

Video

Talking across the continent through the International Space Station
I tried a couple new antennas for dual-band satellite operations.
saveitforparts

Otis NP4G: Dayton Hamvention 2026 Amateur of the Year
A Puerto Rican orthodontist, DXpeditioner, and president of INDEXA who has spent years turning big radio dreams into real-world action.
Q5

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If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

  About 10 years ago I posted about backing up your PC. Since May 2016 when I posted I would image even more radio op's depend to some degree on their PC's. Even if you are a minimalist when it comes to mixing ham radio and computers I am sure most of you have a PC and depend on it for something. MANY times in the past I have said "I have learned my lesson" when one of my beloved PC's either just stopped working or the OS hiccuped or was doing back flips. When one or all of these things happen and I do say WHEN because whether you like it or not you beloved PC will let you down. If you have not backed up it is to late and the fun begins to see what and if you can salvage anything.  I do backup and have for a very long time. I have a clone backup and an image backup. In my PC I have 4 drives all are SSD drives. The main drive is an M.2, then I have 3 1TB drives. The break down goes as follows, SSD 1 is for a clone, SSD 2 is for image and finally SSD3 another clone. Now I do realize there are some PC whiz bongs out there that will have advice for me regarding this but this works for me. Do I have cloud storage, no I don't. The way I figure it is I have enough on my PC for backup and well if the PC catches fire and the drives are toast I more to worry about as most likely either all or most of my house went with it.  Have I ever had to fall back on my backup's over the past few years....HELL YES! With the setup I have I can do the following: From the image drive I have multiple snap shots of what is on my PC. I can pick a date open it and look around via file explorer, the desktop and so on. For example I deleted a file on my PC but then 3 month later realize I really really need it. I can go to the image drive look for an image that is before the date I deleted the oh so important file. Then open that image and navigate to where that file is and I can drag it onto my desktop.   
My clone drives
  The clone drive is a duplicate drive of my main C drive. If I get up one morning and start the PC and greeted with ZERO Win11 working. No problem I just turn off the PC, restart, press a certain F key that takes me to my BIOS and tell my PC to boot from my clone drive. I then am back in biz, I then I have the time to determine if my C drive is software or hardware related. If it was a Windows melt down I can reformat the drive. Then ask my backup software clone of my drive I am now using back to my C drive. Then restart in BOIS and direct my PC to start using drive C again.  To both examples above the very import thing is to regularly backup your PC. You are wasting your time if you only back up let say every 6 months. So many things can change over that time and if you do need to use the clone you may have lots missing. I do a backup once a week and really with SSD drives it takes no time at all. In the above picture you can see the top drive SN770 section 3(C) has 299.52 GB of info. My clone drive below CT1000 has 291.26 GB of info and this is only after I did a backup yesterday.  The software I use is free and very simple to use. I have asked it on numerous occasions to save me and it has never let me down. The software is called Macrium Reflect free version. There is no long a free version available from the Macrium site they have stopped that. But if you are interested go to Oldergeeks website in the search bar type Macrium Reflect and you will be directed to working download of the free version and do so at your own risk.   

Flea Power

Making QSOs with a Tiny Solar Panel

Last year I bought a 5 watt solar panel and a little rechargeable battery for $14. This week I made two QSOs a day for 8 days powered only by the solar panel in the window. I wanted to find out if I could really make QSOs with minimal power. I worked 9 states and 3 countries.

I used the (tr) uSDX at 4 watts. The antenna was a 136 ft OCF dipole. In the foreground is the little battery. It’s only 2500 mAh. To convert the 5 volts from the battery to 12 volts for the rig, I used a Baofeng charging dongle. Everyday after making a couple of QSOs, I’d put the panel in a window and charge up the battery.

Of course using QRP is essential. The rig draws 66 mAh on receive
and 570 mAh on transmit.

Here’s my log for the 8 days I conducted the experiment:

11 Mar-26 1507 14.060 W0ANM CW 569 559 MN
12 Mar-26 1405 7056 VE3KZE CW 579 579 ON
12 Mar-26 1407 7053 K0DOG CW 579 579 PA
13 Mar-26 1511 14.060 KA5TXN CW 339 559 TX
13 Mar-26 1921 14.027 DL8DYL CW 599 599 Germany
13 Mar-26 1923 14.0 HA3MAR CW 599 599 Hungary
14 Mar-26 1405 7054 KB3NSK CW 559 599 PA
14 Mar-26 1407 7052 K3EW CW 559 599 MD
15 Mar-26 1359 7052 K4TNE CW 449 579 NC
15 Mar-26 1406 7057 K3OP CW 529 559 PA
16 Mar-26 1611 14.044 K5OHY CW 539 559 TX
16 Mar-26 1614 14.057 AF8T CW 599 599 OH
17 Mar-26 1541 7051 WA1TOM CW 339 559 MA
17 Mar-26 1549 14.044 N4DH CW 339 549 NC
18 Mar-26 1550 14.058 KF8FCC CW 599 599 MI
18 Mar-26 1555 14.047 NS1C CW 449 559 FL

For many months, I’d been using the panel and the battery to power
my WSPR transmitter at 200 mw. I’d send out a beacon every morning
on 20 meters. I was heard all over the world. So I thought I’d try CW
with a little more power.

Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 412

Amateur Radio Weekly

2026 Hamvention Award Winners announced
Please join us in congratulating these very deserving winners.
Hamvention

FT0 digital mode
The next evolution in digital modes — featuring a 0-second sequence time.
FT0

LinHT hardware documentation
LinHT is an open-source handheld software-defined radio (SDR) transceiver built around a modern Linux System-on-Module and a true IQ RF front-end.
M17 Foundation

HamDash
Free and Open Source Ham Radio dashboard.
HamDash

Ten watts to Spain. Ten watts to Germany. Ten watts to Austria
The EFHW at 35 feet made all the difference.
David Saylors

Alliance Amateur Radio Network
Radio for those left out.
AARN

Is the CIA using radio to instruct Iran agents? Listen for yourself
An amateur sleuth thinks ghostly broadcasts are a revival of Cold War ‘numbers stations.’
The Times

DXtra FCC radio database explorer
We have computed Longley-Rice coverage maps for the entire US, Canada, UK and European fleets of FM stations. Also we have computed VOACAP coverage maps for most of the world’s HF.
DXtra

Installing an M17 Reflector on a cloud server
I document what worked for me after more than half a dozen attempts to build a working system.
EtherHam

Be gone pesky radials!
One of the biggest bugbears of portable operations in a public space when using a vertical antenna is having to lay out radials.
Ham Radio Outside the Box

MyHamStudyHub
The complete study platform for FCC Technician, General, and Extra class amateur radio licenses. No cost.
MyHamStudyHub

868MHz DX
This is 139m above sea level, with a clear line of sight across the Irish Sea to Cumbria, the Isle of Man, and the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland.
Real-World Amateur Radio

Video

2026 Hamvention Award Winners announcement video
Tim Duffy, K3LR, and Hamvention spokesperson Michael Kalter, W8CI announce the 2026 Hamvention Award Winners.
DX Engineering

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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 411

Amateur Radio Weekly

Indiana Bill prohibits HOAs from restricting Ham antennas
A homeowners association may not adopt or enforce a regulation, rule, or other policy that has the effect of prohibiting a person from maintaining an Amateur Radio antenna on a property that the person owns, rents, or leases.
US7IGN

MFJ Documentary
Martin F. Jue: Life and Legacy. A documentary about MFJ Enterprises, ingenuity, legacy, and community.
Preston Booth Cinematography

Big numbers for POTA
Activity has grown substantially since 2023—roughly 40% overall.
POTA News & Reviews

ARISS beyond the ISS
ARISS is plotting a course to continue our mission in the government and commercial space realm beyond the targeted decommissioning of the ISS in the 2030 timeframe.
ARISS

Simple D-STAR transceiver uses inexpensive hardware
D-StarBeacon makes beacon-type functions possible on inexpensive hardware, instead of requiring a full-blown radio.
Hackaday

Mini-FT8
Mini FT8 on M5 Cardputer for portable operations.
AG6AQ

Satellite status and online tracker
This is a list of all amateur satellites and other sats of interest. It is also a simple online tracker.
AMSAT-SM

The ISS returns to S-Band
HamTV now transmitting color bars on 13 cm.
AMSAT-CA

New Farsi numbers station reported on 7910 kHz
According to the report, this new signal first appeared around the time of recent military strikes involving Iran.
SWLing Post

Rydberg atoms detect clear signals from a handheld radio
Scientists recover audio encoded in multiple public radio channels.
Phys.org

Canada to shut down its VHF weather radio service
Environment and Climate Change Canada cited increased costs and “more viable alternatives.”
RadioWorld

Video

K5ACP BNC antenna clip is just what I’ve been looking for
This is a sturdy MOLLE clip that we purchase and then add our custom designed BNC bracket.
Ham Radio Tube

Five Two Simplex Challenge
Call out on 146.52 MHz FM for 52 days and work together to generate more 2m simplex activity.
N2MAK

(Hobbies) Ham Radio
It’s become easier than ever to communicate with each other. Yet, there’s a beauty in understanding the simple forms of electronic messaging.
Not Just a Hobby

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  • Matt W1MST, Managing Editor