“In the case of an electromagnetic pulse from a blast, 90% of people may be without communication and ham radio is actually one of the ways that you’ll be able to hear what’s happening.” That’s the report that NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff gave just moments after the nuclear all-clear was given during the recent scare in Hawaii.

Check out the great 8-minute video below featuring Hawaiian hams and how they’re preparing for the unthinkable in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Stories you’ll find in our February, 2018 issue:

The Powerful Voice of Radio Miami International
By Richard Fisher KI6SN

The Miami-based shortwave radio station known as WRMI began as a one-transmitter, one-antenna operation focusing mostly on Latin America. Then, late in 2013, an extraordinary opportunity came to WRMI’s door. Former shortwave broadcasting giant, Family Radio WYFR, was selling its massive antenna farm covering one square mile of ranch land near Kissimmee, Florida. The move turned WRMI overnight into a worldwide voice with 14 transmitters and 23 antennas.

TSM Reviews: DMR and the Radioddity GD-77
By Cory GB Sickles WA3UVV

Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) first came on the scene in the mid-2000s. But, price was always a barrier that stopped many from getting in on this amateur radio revolution. Recently, though, newer players moved into the market and prices began to fall. When Cory first heard about the Radioddity GD-77 he had low expectations. However, last fall they were running a Halloween special, with a 15 percent discount if you bought two, and that was enough to send him to his wallet. Now, he’s happy he did. Find out why Cory believes “Radioddity has a winning radio on the market.”

TSM Reviews: Exploring the Video and Radio Possibilities of Roku
By Mike Kohl

Over-the-Top (OTT) is the term the broadcast industry gives to “cord-cutting,” the wave of former cable and satellite-TV subscribers who are opting to bypass the fee structure of pay-TV in the US. OTT usually requires the use of a fairly robust Internet connection and at least one of many popular streaming devices. None are more popular that the long running and relatively inexpensive Roku devices. Mike takes a look at the possibilities for streaming not just video channels but radio as well for those seeking to maximize their cord-cutting experience in this first of a two-part series.

TSM Reviews: QRPWorks SideKar Plus
By Mark Haverstock K8MSH

Being a recent convert to QRP operation, Mark has been looking at radios and accessories that he can put into a small go-kit for portable operations and something easily taken on trips. Whether it’s hiking to a location off the grid or packing luggage for a flight—lightweight and portable are at the top of the list. Like many hams, with propagation conditions declining, Mark finds himself devoting more time operating in digital modes and relearning CW. Mark found that, mong its many talents, the QRPWorks SideKar Plus sends CW, RTTY or PSK using the keyboard or paddle; has a built‑in logger for 1,000 QSOs and weighs just 9 ounces.

NASWA’s 31st annual Winter SWL Fest and WWLG Update
By John Figliozzi

The 31st annual North American Shortwave Association (NASWA) Winter SWL Fest will be held next month in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. John Figliozzi, author of The Worldwide Listening Guide, previews the wide range of topics that will be featured this year. Among the programs will be an exclusive screening of “Spectres of Shortwave,” a film by Amanda Dawn Christie centered around the former RCI shortwave transmitter facility at Sackville, New Brunskwick. John also updates his shortwave guide.

Scanning America
By Dan Veeneman
Digital Overtakes Analog

Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Using Lessons Learned

Milcom
By Larry Van Horn N5FPW
Intro to Military Monitoring: A Look at the New 225-400 MHz UHF Milcom Band

Utility Planet
By Hugh Stegman NV6H
The Great NAVTEX War of 2018

Shortwave Utility Logs
Compiled by Hugh Stegman and Mike Chace-Ortiz

VHF and Above
By Joe Lynch N6CL
2017: A Momentous Year for ARISS

Digitally Speaking
By Cory Sickles WA3UVV
Mid-Winter Potpourri

Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
Did Joe Taylor K1JT, Destroy Amateur Radio?

Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Narrowcasting: FTA Satellite-TV and Lesser Known TV Channels

Radio Propagation
By Tomas Hood NW7US
Solar Wind and Funnel Clouds

World of Shortwave Listening
By Andrew Yoder
AM and FM Pirates in the Western Hemisphere

The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
Korean Winter Olympics; Latin and other Languages on Shortwave

Amateur Radio Astronomy
By Stan Nelson KB5VL
Learning about Radio Astronomy

The Longwave Zone
By Kevin O’Hern Carey WB2QMY
Loggings Galore!

Adventures in Radio Restorations
By Rich Post KB8TAD
Invasion of the Two-Band Transoceanic Clones: Whodunit?

Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Wire Antennas Part Two: More About Dipoles and Other Creatures

The Spectrum Monitor is available in PDF format which can be read on any desktop, laptop, iPad®, Kindle® Fire, or other device capable of opening a PDF file. Annual subscription is $24. Individual monthly issues are available for $3 each.

During my ongoing apprenticeship in D-Star, I continue to make mistakes and, mostly learn from them.

My latest: To “simplify” use of the DR feature of Icom ID-51A+, instead of loading all 750 repeaters the machine can hold, I loaded only those from areas where I expected to travel; i.e., Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and the Carolinas. Then, I promptly forgot having done that. Consequently, when I went to New York last weekend, I was dumbstruck that there were “no” D-Star repeaters in all of New York City or its environs. Flabbergasted, I was. When I saw the closest showing on my radio was in Ohio, I recollected what I’d done. So, what to do?

I traveled without my handy-dandy RTS programming cable and also sans computer; bringing only a tablet on this short trip. But, there is a micro SD card in the ID-51 and one in my tablet, so maybe I download the complete North America repeatercropped-id-51a info from http://www.dstarinfo.com to the tablet, format the tablet’s SD card in the radio, put it back in the tablet, copy the list to the card, put card back in radio and Bob’s Your Uncle I’ll be in business. I had several hours to kill and was situated in a warm and pleasant Italian restaurant in Briarcliff Manor at lunchtime with no crowd, so I could immerse myself in pizza, beer and ham radio fiddling with no pressure – perfect!

Well, actually maybe not so perfect; first, getting the SD card out of the tablet was tricky and ultimately required the use of a borrowed lady’s earring post to release the little door (we hams are resourceful!); then, I find out the repeater list will not download to an Android tablet and neither will the needed CS-51 program. But wait, there’s still hope: the repeater list can be downloaded as a csv spreadsheet file so let’s try that. By golly, that appeared to work as a download but alas, not as an upload. Nothing is as simple as it ought to be. Threw my hands up, downed my beer, and called it a day.

Days later, back home with computer I learned that the CS-51 (or the RTS equivalent) is totally necessary, and also that naming a new icf file has to follow the awkward format exactly, i.e., Set20180114_01 and not a more user-friendly “Jan 14 2018 settings,” even though the Nifty! Mini-Manual says you can. I did, however, learn how to program the radio using the SD card and not relying on the RTS cable which could be handy next time I’m in survival mode.

So now I have 750 repeaters loaded from all over the United States and Canada in my radio so I can’t run out unless I travel further abroad, and guess what, my HT is barely heavier than it was before!

Is Alexa your ham shack assistant? She has certainly become an indispensable addition to my shack.

Alexa is Amazon’s AI voice assistant. Alexa’s voice emanates from the several Amazon Echo products, like the Echo Dot, Echo Spot, Echo Show, Echo Plus, and Fire TV, among others to be announced.

Here are several Alexa related activated skills and applications that I have found especially useful in my ham shack, and you may find useful and fun to use in your shack, too. Some of these I use several times a day, while others I rarely use, and frankly, some of these applications are a bit of a challenge to get to work the way they should. So, you will discover that you have to ask Alexa just the right way; otherwise, she can get pretty uncooperative and frustrating!

Also, many of these services must be enabled before you can use them; for example, before you can use the Call Sign Skill, you need to say:

Alexa, enable Call Sign

Then, it should work just fine for you.

Now, here is a list of Alexa skills and applications you may find very helpful to use in your ham shack:

Alexa, what Time is it or simply: Alexa time

Alexa, what time is it in Mexico City — or any location of which you want the time

Alexa, what is the weather or simply Alexa weather

Alexa, what is the weather in Brisbane Australia — or any other QTH in which you want the weather

Alexa, what is the temperature or simply Alexa temperature

Alexa, what is the temperature in Key West — or any other QTH you request

Alexa, what is xx Fahrenheit in Celsius
(Note: great when in a QSO with stations using the metric system and you want to give them your temperature in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit)

Alexa, what is the 7 day forecast

Alexa, what is the 7 day forecast for Montpelier Vermont — or any other QTH you request

Alexa, open Weather Sky
(Note: this will give you a very in-depth weather report and forecast for your area, more than just asking for the weather in the previous commands)

Alexa open Weather Sky for Key West, Florida — or for any other QTH for which you want an in-dept weather report and forecast

Alexa, set a 10 minute timer
(Note: this is good for creating a station ID reminder)

Alexa, how many dollars are in 85 pounds
(Note: want to purchase an antenna from the UK where the price is in pounds? Use this quick conversion! This conversion works for many other currencies as well)

Alexa, what is xxx divided by yyy
(e.g. what is 468 divided by 3.8 to determine the length of a 75 m dipole)

Alexa, what is the distance between Bowling Green Kentucky and Quito Ecuador — or whatever qth you ask for

Alexa, how do you spell heterodyne — or whatever word you ask for
(Note: even though I am a Ph.D., I am a terrible speller and use this skill frequently)

Alexa, ask call sign who is K8HSY — or whatever call you want to know
(Note: often you have to use phonetics; I suggest using proper phonetics, e.g. kilo 8 Hotel Sierra Yankee)

Alexa, ask QRZ who is W7GPF — or whatever call you want
(Note: often you have to use phonetics; I suggest using proper phonetics, e.g. Whiskey 7 Golf Papa Foxtrot)

Alexa, ask ham look-up who is K8OEY — or whatever call you want
(Note: often you have to use phonetics; I suggest using proper phonetics, e.g. Kilo 8 Oscar Echo Yankee)

Alexa, Propagation report

Alexa, ask our ionosphere what are the current band conditions

Alexa, open space weather

Alexa, what time will the sun sit tomorrow

Note: great for gray line anticipation for DX

Alexa, what time will the sun rise tomorrow

Note: great for gray line anticipation for DX

Alexa, create a reminder to meet Tom for a schedule at 9 am Saturday morning — or any other reminder you need

Alexa, create a reminder to get on the Kentucky Phone Net every day at 5 pm in the afternoon — or any other everyday reminder you might need

Alexa, play the latest Ham Nation podcast — or any number of other ham-related podcasts

Alexa, use APRS and locate kilo 4 uniform lima echo

Note; works only for stations using the APRS system when you ask

Alexa, start extra ham cram

Note: gives you 7 different questions from the extra class pool to answer each time you execute the skill; good for exam prep. See how well you do!

Alexa, Open Amateur Radio test

Note: gives you several questions from the test pool to answer for fun or as a test prep

Alexa, Open Amateur Radio General Class Study

Alexa, Ask Ham Exam for a Question

Alexa, Open Ham Radio Facts

Note: gives you a different ham related fact each time you open it

Alexa, Open Q-code

Note: gives you a different Q-code each time you open it

Undoubtedly, I left a few out. There are new skills and applications becoming available about everyday; so many that it is impossible to keep up. If you know of any I left out that you use in your ham shack, please let me know. I am trying to maintain a reasonably complete file of ham shack useful skills and applications.