Hello and welcome to the 588th installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts discuss using SDR receivers from a remote location or hosting them on web enabled sites. Several options are discussed including downloading, configuration, hosting, operation, technical specifications and more. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

The Tri-Lakes Monument Radio Association in Monument, Colorado, is offering another ham radio license class. This time, we are doing it for Amateur Extra, which involves a lot more material and higher technical content. We are using a hybrid approach that blends live training sessions with online learning using the Ham Radio School online course.

We have used this approach with our Technician and General classes, but this will be the first time we’ve applied it to the Extra license class. The basic strategy is to provide the students with access to the online videos and ebook from Ham Radio School, supplemented with an in-person kick-off session and weekly review sessions via Zoom. This provides a high degree of flexibility for the students because they can view the excellent instruction videos on their own schedule. But they still have personal interaction with the instructor team to fill in any gaps. One of the key elements of our approach is to assign an experienced Elmer (mentor) to each student, to check in with them, provide encouragement, and answer any questions that come up.

The in-person kick-off session is in Monument on Oct 4th, and the class ends with the exam session on Nov 15th.

The Extra License is the top FCC amateur radio license, providing full access to all Amateur Radio Service band allocations.
• Upgrade from General to Extra Class radio privileges
• Pass your FCC Extra Class amateur license exam
• Expand your HF ops on 15-, 20-, 40-, & 80-meter bands
• Gain a deeper understanding of radio electronics and theory
• Take the next step with antennas, amplifiers, digital modes

Course Overview:

• A ~30-hour, paced course of study preparing you to pass the Extra exam.
• Online lessons on demand, with personal Elmer support from WØTLM.
• Video lessons, ebook, depth media, quizzes & practice exams, all provided.
• In-person initial session (Oct 4) & license exam session (Nov 15)
• Weekly live class reviews via remote meeting (Zoom).

Registration fee: $65 (Proceeds support the Tri-Lakes Monument Radio Association)
Students will receive a subscription to the online course: Ham Radio School Extra License Course
A current FCC General License is required for registration.

The Extra Class exam is much more difficult than the Technician and General exams. It is important to start with a good understanding of the Tech & General material as a foundation for the Extra material. You may want to spend some time reviewing the Tech and General topics before attending the Extra license class.

More information and registration page are here:
https://w0tlm.com/radio-classes/extra-registration

Download our one-page flyer here:
Extra License Class Flyer – Oct 2025

73 Bob K0NR

The post Extra License Class in Monument, CO appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

CHOTA 2025 is nigh!

Here in the U.S., Churches and Chapels on the Air is a new concept. I was fortunate to play a leading role a couple of years ago in herding a few cats on this side of the pond to get on the air in this very special event. It’s led, for over a half century now, by WACRAL, The World Association of Christian Amateurs and Listeners.

Even though most US operators will grouse about the propagation over the past few months with all of the solar storms, we are at the high point in Cycle 25. And this makes the opportunities to jump the Pond from the US to England possible! Let’s give it a go…

This year, I’m activating Covenant Presbyterian Church on Ridgewood Road in Jackson, MS. This is in partnership with Jim Armstrong AK5J, President of the Jackson ARC. He and I will work with Chris AF5OQ and Wanda (KC5IBO) Dunn as a team using my portable contest station (see below).

I am not sure of which antenna we will use. It’s likely that a 31′ vertical will get us 40M and up (see below). We shall see as Jim and I scope out the church grounds for a place in the shade (lol). In 2023, my church got front-page coverage on the state’s largest newspaper as well as a human interest feature on Jackson MS TV. It’s worth a shot to get the word out about ham radio on the church grounds this year. It could pay off big time for you, your club or other group.

We will likely hang out on 20 meters, although most of the Brits settle on 40M and some 80M. Our team will monitor 40M and QSY when we hear some CHOTA calls. I’ll suggest to John G3XYF who coordinates the event to encourage those operators in England to check the 20M calling frequency at the top of each hour and call the US. John usually posts some suggested frequencies near the date for each band. It’s important to recall that the English hams are about 5-6 hours ahead of us in the day. Our team plans an early start to try to jump the Pond if conditions permit!

Here’s a screenshot of the CHOTA Rules…and don’t forget to “register” by sending John [email protected] that you’ll be operating in the event. I’ve just done that myself.

 This weekend was the North American QSO CW party, and the on time is 12 hours, and I put in about 1/4 of that. The issue was that it was a great day outside, and the sunshine and great weather was calling my name. The exchange in this contest is your name and state or province. This not being a big international contest, the CW speed varied from a slow 25 to a nice 36 wpm. I had no issues with the radio....well, having said that, now and then I have N1MM+ contest software hang after sending CW. It can get very frustrating, and I have finally narrowed it down to the Silicon Labs software needed for the Icom to communicate with the PC. It has been documented that even milliwatts of power can cause N1MM+ to hang. When you're calling CQ contest at 34-38 wpm, a hiccup like this can get very frustrating. I have good quality ferrite chokes in place, great grounding, but one issue is that my antenna is a bit close to the shack. The stray RF is hit and miss, and then when the ground outside is wet from a heavy rain, there is never an issue. (antenna is the Hustler 4BTV vertical). Now, having said that, during the NAQP I had some hang issues, but then for no reason it all of a sudden just stopped and never happened again during the contest. Anyway, I digress.....during my run, my best QSO per hour was 97 and I love that as it is GREAT for the keyboarding skill, ICR (instant character recognition) and brain training. What I really like is one op comes back to you at 25 wpm, and then the next is 36 wpm. It's great to have this shift, and it really improves your CW contest skill. The other thing is that during these times, the page up and page down keys get lots of exercise. These keys increase and decrease the CW speed. If someone comes back to my CQ at 25 or less, I hit the page down to match the speed. This op may have seen me spotted on a cluster, so my call is known, but the exchange may not populate at his end. It's polite and also less repeats, and in no way do I want to come off as a high-speed op who, if you can't match me, then I move on. Above is the final score for a very part-time effort........BUT anytime in front of the radio is a great time. 
 

Ham College episode 127 is now available for download.

Ham College 127
Technician Exam Questions Part 14
T4B – Operating controls: Frequency Tuning, use of Filters, Squelch function, AGC, Memory Channels, Noise Blanker, Microphone Gain, Receiver Incremental Tuning (RIT), Bandwidth Selection, Digital Transceiver Configuration.

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