AmateurRadio.com

When it comes to the Bruce Kelley QSO Party and the rules involving the use of circuitry and tubes popular in 1929 or earlier, some have enquired..."Why 1929...what was special about that year in particular?"

Over the past few nights I've spent some enjoyable hours reading QSTs from the late '20's. It seems that 1929 was really the beginning of much that we have come to recognize, for all of our lives, as 'Amateur Radio'....but to answer the question, we really need to go back a few more years.

Prior to that time, and especially in the very early years, amateur radio seemed to have much in common with the 'wild-west'. Rules, if any, were difficult to enforce, as was licensing. May hams operated without a licence, choosing their own call letters. There was a lot of crazy stuff happening...bootleggers, broadcasting music and a general 'every man for himself' approach.

Headquarters - Courtesy: http://qsl-history.webs.com/

The establishment of the ARRL in 1914, by Hiram Maxim, was the beginning of what was to be a tough fight to educate and organize amateur radio activity in North America.




With the appearance of QST, in 1915, membership grew quickly and it soon became a sign of notability to be a League member. By the late 20's radio was thriving and growing at unprecedented rates. The U.S. amateur population grew from 16,000 in 1926, to 30,000 in 1932 alone. By 1938 there were 50,000 licenced hams in the U.S.

However, a federal judgement, in 1926, ruled the Radio Act of 1912, to be largely unenforceable, creating even more chaos amongst broadcasters. Things were getting somewhat chaotic in the amateur radio world as well as in the commercial field. The time was ripe for some serious changes.

In order to gain some control over this new technology and the chaos surrounding its usage, more so in the commercial field (ships, aircraft, broadcasting, telegraph), the U.S. Congress passed the Radio Act of 1927 thus giving more tools to the recently-established Federal Radio Commission, the forerunner of today's FCC.

Although the Radio Act of 1927 gave the FRC the power to enforce regulations, it came down to the international agreements hammered out in the winter of 1937 to make things happen. The  International Radiotelegraph Conference, attended by representatives from 72 countries, met in Washington, DC to grind out some international 'rules' since the growing popularity and surprising success of the 'shortwaves' was now of worldwide concern.

Much as we see today, the fight for radio spectrum had begun. The 172-page Washington document makes fascinating reading and in it we see the basis for many of amateur radio's beloved fundamentals.

Courtesy: http://www.arrl.org/

It was here, that the new '1929 rules' were established and ham radio would never be quite the same...a very good thing.

The amateur's of 1927 didn't know it yet, but they would soon be deep in rebuilding their stations to meet the 'new requirements' of 1929!


Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Back in September I attempted to repair a Kenwood/Trio TR9500 UHF All-modes transceiver for a fellow club member. It had a faulty microphone pre-amp which I replaced and all seemed well but it had further issues with the receiver. Cutting his losses and wanting shot the owner sold it to me for the princely sum of £10.

I have had her back on the bench and initially couldn't find anything wrong. However in real use it become apparent that she was in fact profoundly deaf! Picking up test transmissions from the nearby FT857D or Baofeng outputting into a dummy load was one thing but it wasn't receiving anything else!

From the service manual and schematic I deduced that it could be the initial RF receive amplifier. It is a dual-gate mosfet (3SK76) It proved tricky but I managed to source a replacement on eBay and it was a simple job to replace once I'd extricated the PCB.

I can report it is now working and the video below shows it monitoring the GB3EE repeater in Chesterfield. From the coverage map I shouldn't be able to hear it but I can and reception has been marginal at best using other receivers but it repaired TR9500 doesn't have any problems.


I wonder if the rig has been subjected to a high RF field in the past this could easily have damaged the receiver amplifier and an induced RF into the microphone lead could have damaged the microphone pre-amp. It just seemed strange it having both faults.

Tuesday night is the last 432MHz UKAC contest and hope to use her in anger.
Andrew Garratt, MØNRD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from East Midlands, England. Contact him at [email protected].

My Christmas present arrived last night. Being a patient and practical person, I waited until this morning to open it and as you can see, it’s the 2014 SKCC Club Key from LNR Precision. Click the image for a better look.

I had wanted to get this one in this calendar year as I’m not sure how much longer it will be available. I had picked up the Pro Pump NT9K Standard Version key while at Dayton this year and have been very pleased with its smooth action. This smaller version is just as well-built and enjoyable to use as the “Pro”.

I know that because the new key already has ten contacts to its credit…

Tagged: keys, skcc

Jeff Davis, KE9V, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Indiana, USA.

 

Greetings, salutations and happy holidays! Today your weary hosts (minus one) bring you some great information about great topics, like: Why you should avoid qrznow.com, why you should upgrade your WordPress installation, why you should try ElementaryOS, why the government is like a turtle, and why bacon renders your argument invalid. Be well, listen often, and stay safe.

73 de The LHS Guys

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

A co-worker of mine got his GMail hacked. I doubt anyone guessed the password — it was not easily “guessable.” There was probably some malware running on a machine he used to log in at some point. Who knows?

Why is a hacked GMail or Yahoo Mail account a big deal? Because once they get into your e-mail account, they have access to EVERYTHING.

Think about it… if someone has access to your e-mail account, they can launch any number of frauds against you. They can read through your email and see that you’re on vacation in Hawaii. Then, when you’re asleep, they can email your contacts asking them to send money via PayPal using credible details about your travel (“I twisted my ankle on the beach — please send cash!”). They can also reset the passwords on your bank accounts, Facebook, etc. Access to your e-mail account is, to a hacker, like a kid in a candy store.

For a number of years I’ve been using Two-Factor Authentication on my GMail account. Each time I log in, you can set it up to send you a text with an additional code that’s only valid for a short period of time. Alternatively, they make an app (called Google Authenticator) that gives you the code even if you aren’t in wireless range. Using two-factor authentication makes it MUCH harder for someone (other than you) to access your GMail account.

If you don’t always (or ever?) carry around a smartphone and would rather have a physical device, you can use an “electronic key” that you plug into your computer. I’ve used a Yubico security key (the cheap one — there are more expensive versions) and can recommend it. It’s a little device that hooks to your keychain. It almost looks like a USB thumb drive, and while it does get inserted in a USB port, it is much more rugged that a standard thumb drive. You can set it up so that the key has to be plugged into your computer in order to log in to your account.

I found the security key to be easy to carry around, it’s cheap ($18 on Amazon – not an affiliate link), and waterproof. The key can be used to provide an extra layer of security not only for GMail, but also WordPress (via 3rd party plugin), Lastpass, and more. One downside, however, is that it only works with the Google Chrome browser at the moment. I would imagine as more browsers adopt the FIDO U2F standard specification, more options will be available.

Whether you choose to use one of the two free options, or pony up for a physical device like the security key, the only thing that matters is that you do SOMETHING. If you use GMail, watch the video above to learn step-by-step how to do it. Please do it now and avoid waking up some morning to find that you’ve been hacked. It’s not a good feeling.

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

One of the great things about amateur radio is the number of different ways in which the hobby can be enjoyed.

For over a year now my health has been poor because a brain bleed in September 2013. Before then, I enjoyed QRP QSOs (mainly SSB), construction and field experiments from VLF to optical. Since my stroke I have been clumsy and (until recently) not allowed to drive. Very very slowly, normality is returning but I think it will be way into 2015 before I can call myself well.

In the meantime, I still manage WSPR and other digital modes from home. I can even, albeit briefly, manage our local 2m FM net and the occasional VHF/UHF contest. Some people enjoy satellites, MS or moonbounce. Others just like to ragchew on 80m.

We must rejoice that there are so many different, yet equally valid, ways of enjoying ourselves. We have a great hobby.

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.