Our club repeater is capable of two-tone paging. It uses a CAT-1000 controller.Many moons ago in the mid 90's we had some Minitor I's pagers re-crystaled for the repeater.With narrow-banding affecting all public safety channels there will be scads of Minitor III and IV pagers out there, hopefully for cheap. The municipalities will likely upgrade to the Minitor V as it's narrow band capable.While the III and IV are frequency programmable, the ones that will be coming out of service will mostly be the 151-159 MHz subband versions.Never fear, if you use the engineer login function of the pager…
Ham Radio
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Most Topular Stories
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Minitor IV in the Ham Band
Advancing Ham Radio.. different ideas21 Jan 2012 | 1:36 am -
Amateur Radio Club Remembers Fallen Astronauts:
eHam.net News6 Feb 2012 | 6:24 pmHEMPHILL, Texas (KTRE) - Army Curtis describes a Saturday morning in February nearly a decade ago, when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over East Texas. "The noise was incredible and it literally shook the house like we were in an earthquake," said Army Curtis, Secretary/Treasurer Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club. "It was very emotional, it got very personal very quickly," said museum board member, Marsha Cooper. Nine years later members of the Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club gather at the Patricia Huffman Smith Museum, to honor the volunteers who served as the only means of… -
Buy the Drop-In Charger
KØNR: Radio Enthusiast8 Jan 2012 | 10:32 pmI’d like to pass along a tip that has taken me about 25 years of ham radio experience to figure out. I’ve owned many different models of handheld FM transceivers through the years and have always just used the standard “wall wart” charger to charge the batteries. Recently, I decided to “splurge” and get desktop chargers for the pair of FT-60′s that inhabit our two-ham household. I never realized how handy the drop-in style charger could be until I had one…the HT is always sitting there ready to go. Most of these drop-in chargers are rapid… -
I have some sad news folks.
Advancing Ham Radio.. different ideas1 Feb 2012 | 11:49 pmIt's been a while since I ranted about the ARRL. I was reluctant to renew my ARRL membership, so I let it lapse for a while so I could have some time to ponder if it's worth it.The decision I came to was, if I renewed, I didn't want the paper QST every month. I usually buy the CD ROM at the end of the year. So I was leaning towards the blind rate, which excludes QST. But that was only like $8.00, so why bother at all?I ended up renewing as a guy who went blind from reading QST, but I added the QEX subscription. I'll have someone read it to me I guess. I am so sorry, folks!About the only thing… -
FCC OKs Surveillance Robot Licensing:
eHam.net News6 Feb 2012 | 4:08 pm"A detailed order squelches amateur radio operators' third attempt to derail a lifesaving technology."
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American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
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Former ITU-R Director Dick Kirby, W0LCT/HB9BOA (SK)
7 Feb 2012 | 4:53 pmRichard “Dick” Kirby, W0LCT/HB9BOA, passed away on January 26. He was 89. In 1974, Kirby -- an ARRL Life Member -- was elected Director of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) International Radio Consultative Committee; he served as Director until his retirement in 1995. In 1992, under Kirby’s tenure as Director, the Committee became the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R). One o... -
Agenda Item 1.23 Passes Committee, Moves to Plenary
7 Feb 2012 | 1:41 pmOn the afternoon of Tuesday, February 7 (Geneva time), Committee 4 of the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) approved Option 1 to satisfy Agenda Item 1.23, with minor editorial amendments to the text received from Working Group 4C. Option 1 calls for a worldwide secondary allocation to the Amateur Service at 472-479 kHz, with a power limit of 1 W EIRP, with a provision for admini... -
Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor, K1JT, Addresses Plenary Session at WRC-12, Receives ITU Gold Medal
6 Feb 2012 | 6:41 pmOn Friday, February 3, delegates and attendees at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) had the pleasure of listening to Joe Taylor, K1JT, share his vision of the future of radiocommunication. Taylor -- an ARRL Member -- won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1993 for the discovery of a binary pulsar, a discovery which has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation. Aft... -
New QuickStats Poll Now Available on ARRL Website
6 Feb 2012 | 4:05 pmFour new poll questions have just been published on the QuickStats page on the ARRL website. Let your voice be heard!Questions in this month’s QuickStats poll:How many radials have you installed at the base of your HF vertical antenna? Do you have antennas installed in your attic? What kind of ac power supply do you use at your home station? Do you check the activity on a DX Cluster before gett... -
Be a Star! Deadline for Second Annual ARRL Video Contest is February 29
6 Feb 2012 | 3:26 pmIf you’ve ever wanted a way to show the world how exciting Amateur Radio can be, here’s your chance: The ARRL is sponsoring its Second Annual Video Contest! Here’s a chance to put that video camera to use: Shoot a ham radio-related video and send it our way. All videos must be postmarked by February 29, 2012. Burn your video to a CD or DVD using the appropriate software and mail it to ARRL Vide...
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eHam.net News
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Earthquake Hits, Radio Amateurs Act:
7 Feb 2012 | 6:20 pmEffects continue across the central Philippines after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck triggering landslides with dozens of people killed and many trapped in toppled homes. Chief Operating Officer for IARU society PARA, Eddie Valdez DU1EV said ham radio operators are now active in communications assistance. Eddie DU1EV said those near the epicentre of the earthquake in the DU7 and DU6 call areas are active. They have chosen to use the VHF band for communications. Their services included message handling with phone communications cut, widespread power outages, bridges and other infrastructure… -
Amateur Radio Club Remembers Fallen Astronauts:
6 Feb 2012 | 6:24 pmHEMPHILL, Texas (KTRE) - Army Curtis describes a Saturday morning in February nearly a decade ago, when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over East Texas. "The noise was incredible and it literally shook the house like we were in an earthquake," said Army Curtis, Secretary/Treasurer Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club. "It was very emotional, it got very personal very quickly," said museum board member, Marsha Cooper. Nine years later members of the Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club gather at the Patricia Huffman Smith Museum, to honor the volunteers who served as the only means of… -
Richard 'Dick' Laurence Barber, W1GFM (SK):
6 Feb 2012 | 6:24 pmMr. Richard "Dick" Laurence Barber, 75, of Rockingham died Friday, February 3, 2012 at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. He was born December 6, 1936 in Willimantic, CT and was formerly a resident of Spruce Pine NC. Mr. Barber was preceded in death by Mother; Margaret Tracey Felton and husband Bernie Felton and Father; Laurence Herbert Barber and wife Gladys Barber. He was active in the community and enjoyed volunteering his time to help others. While in Spruce Pine, He was an active member at St Luciens Catholic Church and was a member of the Church Council. He served on the Mitchell… -
FCC OKs Surveillance Robot Licensing:
6 Feb 2012 | 4:08 pm"A detailed order squelches amateur radio operators' third attempt to derail a lifesaving technology." -
Amateurlogic Episode 36 Released:
6 Feb 2012 | 4:06 pmWe visit the Capital City Hamfest in Jackson, MS and talk with Tom Samacicio KB4HQA of HQARadio.com, Don Wilbanks AE5DW of Amateur Radio Newsline, and Ward Silver N0AX of the ARRL. Peter drops in on the Melbourne Mini Maker Faire for some fun.
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QRZ Forums - Amateur Radio News
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Joe Taylor, K1JT to address the Munich Technical Forum
8 Feb 2012 | 5:01 amJoe Taylor, K1JT to address the Munich Technical Forum Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor, K1JT, will present 'Recent Advances in Amateur Weak Signal Communication' to the Munich Technical Forum (Amateurfunktagung) in Munich. Joe's presentation will be on Saturday, March 10th, and Joe will be able to spend time to meet other Radio Amateurs at the event throughout the weekend. More than 600 are expected to attend the event, which includes a number of technical presentations in German, workshops and an exhibition. There is no admittance fee, since this event is sponsored by the Deutscher Amateur Radio… -
Central Philippines earthquake update
7 Feb 2012 | 4:52 amCentral Philippines earthquake update Communications have been set up on HF as the emergency activity of amateur radio becomes established in the earthquake and landslide hit areas. Chief Operating Officer for IARU society PARA, Eddie Valdez DU1EV said that Ham Emergency Radio Operations (HEROs) has activated the emergency frequencies of 144.740 MHz and 7.095 MHz. Eddie DU1EV said 'They have established their command centre on board the Philippine Coast Guard search and rescue vessel BRP Davao del Norte. HEROs have been busy forwarding traffic from the disaster areas to Cebu and Manila.'… -
Earthquake hits, radio amateurs act
7 Feb 2012 | 2:01 amEarthquake hits, radio amateurs act Effects continue across the central Philippines after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck triggering landslides with dozens of people killed and many trapped in toppled homes. Chief Operating Officer for IARU society PARA, Eddie Valdez DU1EV said ham radio operators are now active in communications assistance. Eddie DU1EV said those near the epicentre of the earthquake in the DU7 and DU6 call areas are active. They have chosen to use the VHF band for communications. Their services included message handling with phone communications cut, widespread power… -
Morse code not on the way out
6 Feb 2012 | 7:11 amMorse code not on the way out Five years ago, on February 23, 2007, the Federal Communications Commission took action against the thorny question of mandatory code licence testing. Writing in the latest CQ magazine Rich Moseson W2VU has an article 'No-Code Plus Five Years: An Assessment' which points to the situation then and now. The article checks on signs of the state of play, by asking a manufacturer of keys and paddles, the FISTS group, looking at CW contest results and the licensing statistics. Rich W2VU finds it is alive and well, despite early predictions it was on the way out. CW has… -
Twitter telegraph a reality
6 Feb 2012 | 7:08 amTwitter telegraph a reality Just when you think you know about technology convergence, along comes the simple Arduino project. It involves a Morse code key, somewhat an old switch, with a new use in the form of modern Twitter. Becoming a Tworse key you can send standard Twitter messages through a LAN cable and decoder. The Arduino project includes the source code, hardware schematics and building instructions. Check out @tworsekey on Twitter to read some examples sent from the actual device. Or visit Google at https://code.google.com/p/tworsekey/ Jim Linton VK3PC Get Southgate Amateur Radio…
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QRZ Forums - Contests, DXpeditions and Special Events
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17-18 February - Russian WW PSK Contest
7 Feb 2012 | 2:22 pmThe contest awards will receive all beginners of PSK-contesting. The plaque will be raffled for the thousandth participant of the contest... We invite all radio amateurs all over the world to take part in Russian WW PSK - 2012 and represent both themselves and their countries in air adequately. Read more about the rules of the contest at: 17-18 February - Russian WW PSK Contest. -
February 2012 Spartan Sprint
6 Feb 2012 | 7:26 amThe Adventure Radio Society's February 2012 Spartan Sprint is tonight, February 6, 2012 at 9:00 pm EST (2012-02-07 @ 0200-0400 UTC). More information may be accessed at http://adventure-radio.org/wiki/inde...n_Sprint_Rules. Join in the fun! 72/73, Will, NQ2W -
TO5X Martinique Island
5 Feb 2012 | 6:30 amR5GA will be active from Martinique Island 13-20 February 2012 as FM/R5GA http://dxing.at-communication.com/en...inique-island/ 73 Al 4L5A -
February Arizona Centennial Special Event Plans Satellite Operation
5 Feb 2012 | 3:41 amFebruary Arizona Centennial Special Event Plans Satellite Operation The Central Arizona DX Association (CADXA) is very pleased to announce their special event operation in celebration of the Arizona Centennial during the week of February 13-19th, 2012. K7UGA Satellite Operation Using the callsign of the late Senior Senator, Barry M. Goldwater, K7UGA, CADXA members will be operating from stations located throughout Arizona during that week. Special operating locations from Tucson, Prescott and Phoenix will be on the air celebrating the 100th anniversary on Tuesday, February 14, 2012. They will… -
Special Event Call Sign, CK975LC
4 Feb 2012 | 4:15 pmThe Loyalist City Amateur Radio Club of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the clubs formation with a Special Event Call Sign for Mar 1-31, 2012. The call sign will be available to club members for use on all bands and modes during that time. QSL will be via Bureau or direct to VE9MY. All direct QSL requests must be accompanied by a SAE and sufficient return postage. Please no foreign postage stamps. Club information available at: www.lcarc.ca
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QRZ Forums - Hamfest and Convention Calendar
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WCARC Annual Swapfest - 2012 Feburary 25th @ San Gabriel Park Georgetown, TX
6 Feb 2012 | 9:19 amSetup will start at 7:30AM assistance from club members is encouraged. The swapfest will open to the public at 8:00AM and run until 5:00PM. There will be door prizes every 1/2 hour starting at 9:00AM. The admission price is a meager $2.00 per person and seller tables are rentable for only $8.00 each. Examinations for New F.C.C. Amateur Licenses and License Upgrades will be available at the swapfest. Conducted by ARRL-VE's, the test sessions will begin promptly at 9AM. Please click here for more test session details or Contact Lloyd, K1LGJ @arrl.net, for more specific information. -
Plano Texas - Ham Com 2012 Online Reservations available now!
3 Feb 2012 | 6:08 amHam Com 2012 June 8 and June 9 ALL DAY 8a to 6pm both days! Details at: www.hamcom.org -
Richmond VA FrostFest, Saturday, February 4, 2012
2 Feb 2012 | 12:03 amDealers/Vendors Commercials Booths Seminars VE Testing Door Prizes http://www.frostfest.com -
7th Great Hamfest of the North 2012 in Puerto Rico
29 Jan 2012 | 6:42 pmThe Caribbean Amateur Radio Group invites all ham radio operators, CBer's, those interested in communications and the public in general to the 7th Great Hamfest of the North, to be held on Sunday, February 5th, 2012 in the Francisco "Pancho" Deida Coliseum, located in the City of Hatillo on Road #2 in Puerto Rico, from 8 am to 3 pm. There will be conferences on satelites, exhibitions from different clubs, old radios, ARRL Table, license and upgrade exams from the ARRL/VEC PR Team, QSL checking and QSL Bureau Service, recognitions to Distinguished Ham Radio Operators 2011, swap sales, prize… -
Southington, CT Hamfest March 18th 2012
29 Jan 2012 | 10:01 amSunday March 18th, 2012 8:00 AM to 12 PM Southington High School 720 Pleasant Street, Southington, CT • 6 foot of linear table space is $15 in advance, checks must be received before the day of the Fleamarket. Day of the Fleamarket spaces are $20 • Bring your own tables take 50% off ! • Additional persons helping pay $5.00 as general admission. (be fair!) • Children under 12 free! • Doors open for all vendors unloading - 6:15am. • For further info contact – Norm – W3IZ -860-584-1403 (eve) or 860-594-0230 (day) Web site info www.chetbacon.com/sara.htm W1ECV@ARRL.NET
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N5FDL's Amateur Radio and Emcomm Blog
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Repeater Owners are Servants, not Gods
22 Jan 2012 | 6:44 pmThis will come as a shock to some of those whose call signs are attached to Amateur Radio repeaters: You’re not special and the Amateur Radio community does not need you nor owe you anything. And, if your repeater is closed or demands a large “voluntary” membership fee, you are hurting, not helping, Amateur Radio. -
EMCOMM Groups: If You Aren't Doing, You're Dying
12 Jan 2012 | 11:46 amIf your local group doesn’t have stuff going on, you’re dying. It’s just that simple. The great killer of volunteer organizations is not having anything for the volunteers to do. If they don’t have something to do, your volunteers will find something — like a more interesting and involving group to work with. Enough of that and it’s game over for your group. -
"World of Amateur Radio" 1978 ARRL Film (Really Cool!)
23 Oct 2011 | 9:53 pmDick Van Dyke, Roy Neal K6DUE, Barry Goldwater K7UGA, King Hussein JY1, Arthur Godfrey K4LIB and many others extol the virtues of amateur radio in this vintage film from 1978. On YouTube Tim Verthein KC0JEZ writes: I converted this old and somewhat damaged 16mm film to video tape many many years ago when the technology to do that was rather archaic. I have now converted those old video reels to digital movies. -
I, Repeater Owner (Part 1)
29 Aug 2011 | 2:24 amN5FDL/R in Ripon, borrowed Vertex repeater and Telewave six-cavity duplexerI never expected, in my entire life, to have my call sign on an Amateur Radio repeater, much less two of them. And on 2-meters, too. Yet, if I key up on 147.015 + PL 82.5, I’ll get a response in the voice of my oldest friend, Ben Harold, KG4BYN, announcing “N5FDL Repeater, Tracy!” Key up on 147.210 and I hear my callsign sent in Morse code that is actually too fast for me to copy (if I didn’t already know it was N5FDL/R being sent). Like most everyone else, I believed the airwaves were… -
Why (Special Agent) Johnny (Still) Can't Encrypt
14 Aug 2011 | 4:07 pmHere is a PDF version of the study, presented at the Usenix Security Conference, that details major security issues with the P25 digital protocol used by public safety agencies. It talks about encryption issues and how to mount a denial-of-service attack, capable of making encryption impossible (and forcing users to communicate “in the open”). The report does a good job of explaining how P25 works and makes you wonder whether the huge investment in P25 post-9/11 actually bought us anything besides an illusion of protection.
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KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
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Things I found while twittering
6 Feb 2012 | 2:29 pmJust some things I found while twittering. I found them interesting, so I thought you might, too…….Dan Tworse Key: a tweeting Morse key. An open design exercise in interface archaeology, that decodes the input from a classic Morse key to send twitter messages. The source code and hardware schematics are available online http://modin.yuri.at/tworsekey/ Design analog chips. According to the website, this freely downloadable book is “a comprehensive introduction to CMOS and bipolar analog IC design. The book presumes no prior knowledge of linear design, making it… -
A wake-up call for amateur radio?
6 Feb 2012 | 1:42 pmYesterday, this letter to the editor was published on the website of The Review of East Liverpool, OH: Ham radio usage needs fixed Dear Editor: Attention amateur radio operators, it is easy to forget where amateur radio is and what we are here for. First let me give you a story. A man sat in his car out of gas during freezing weather, on January the 29th of this year. He was a Ham operator and he had called several times for assistance. No answer came. For those of you who know a little about sub-freezing weather, you can go into hypothermia in less than an hour inside a car and it takes 20… -
Ham Radio in the News – 2/3/12
3 Feb 2012 | 8:52 pmHam radio in the new for February 3, 2012: Ham radio: Last means of communications in a disaster. This short spot appeared on KVAL-TV in Eugene, OR. The two-minute video describes how ham radio operators helped out during the recent flooding in the Eugene area. Scout training (and ham radio) saves the day for backcountry skiers. Ham radio plays a part in the rescue of two Colorado skiers. GET INVOLVED: Club helps keep area safe. The San Angelo Amateur Radio Club works with the county and city Offices of Emergency Management, the police and sheriff, and all the fire departments in the… -
Extra Class question of the day: antenna gain
2 Feb 2012 | 10:01 pmAntenna gain is one of the most misunderstood topics in amateur radio. There are several reasons for this, including: Antennas don’t really have gain in the same way that an amplifier has gain. When you use a linear amplifier, you get more power out than you put in. Since transmitting antennas are passive devices, there’s no way to get more power out than you put in. It’s not easy to measure antenna gain. There is no antenna gain meter that you can simply hook up to an antenna to measure its gain. So, what is antenna gain? According to question E9A08, antenna gain is the ratio relating… -
Extra Class question of the day: contesting
2 Feb 2012 | 9:58 amE2C01 asks, “Which of the following is true about contest operating?” The correct answer is “Operators are permitted to make contacts even if they do not submit a log.” This is a fun way to get your feet wet in contesting and helps the operators participating in the contest to achieve higher scores. Having said that, you should submit a log, even if you only make a handful of contacts. At WA2HOM, we participated in the CQWW SSB contest last fall. We only operated for a short time, as we can only operate when the museum is open. Even so, we recently received a…
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W2LJ's Blog - QRP - Do More With Less.
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Random thoughts.
7 Feb 2012 | 7:25 pmThe other night, I tried uploading some QSOs to Log of the World. I was unsuccessful as my certificate had expired. I filed for a new one, got everything working and uploaded my latest batch of QSOs without a problem. I try to do this once a month or once every couple of weeks.Out of curiosity, I went back to the LOTW site tonight to do a little math. I have a LOTW QSL return rate of 19.8 percent. I have no idea as to whether that's good, bad or average.I went over to eQSL and did the same math - 19.27 percent - slightly lower. Frankly, that surprised… -
QRP Antennas
6 Feb 2012 | 6:44 pmI guess in all reality, that's a misnomer. There are antennas - period. I often get asked, "What's the best antenna for a budding QRPer?" Without a doubt, this is:But if you're like the rest of us mere mortal human beings, you don't have the real estate, money or insurance agent for one of these. But you do want to get involved in QRP on the HF bands. What should you use? Again, my friends - that's the $64,000 dollar question; and there as many answers as there are Hams.But the main thing to remember is this. In the end, you have to determine this for… -
First KX3 Field Test
5 Feb 2012 | 6:25 pmThis appeared on the KX3 YahooGroup reflector today:All-Attached is a photo of KX3 #6. It's an outdoor shot with the backlight off. This unit is in Field Test here, which is its own type of milestone for all those waiting patiently. I'll be writing objective appraisals of this FT unit. That will be my intent, anyway (objectivity). This email is a first cut. Read on.My personal opinion is that this is the coolest amateur transceiver ever designed, built, or dreamed of. Perfect size, perfect weight, VERY respectable performance. You can *really* take the KX3 with you, and you’ll really want… -
Brave and Hearty Souls
5 Feb 2012 | 4:49 pmNow this is REALLY Freeze Your Buns Off / Polar Bear Moonlight Madness !!!QRP'ers - are we dedicated or just plain crazy? Gatineau Park and the Wolf Trail sure look beautiful! Thanks Martin, for sharing, you have shown us the quintessential FYBO / PBMME effort.FYI, the HK0NA DXpedition ended today. Thanks to the crew and its supporters for their efforts. I got them exactly once and that's plenty for me. According to the Team, even after 190,000 +++ QSOs, the pileups were still very deep. Hope all of you were lucky enough to have worked them, if you were trying.72… -
FYBO fun
4 Feb 2012 | 5:47 pmFYBO was fun today. No big effort as there were way too many other things going on that vied for my attention. In between chores and duties, I was able to get out to the driveway, where I had the PFR3A on a battery in the back of my Jeep. The antenna was the Buddistick on the magmount on the top of the roof. Kudos to Bob W3BBO for suggesting this setup - it worked great! The car body acts as a much better counterpoise/ground plane than the single wire and using the magmount eliminates the need for mast and guying. So if you're not hiking - this is a great…
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KØNR: Radio Enthusiast
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2012 ARRL Field Day Information Packet Available
4 Feb 2012 | 9:28 amARRL Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. Each year over 35,000 amateurs gather with their clubs, friends or simply by themselves to operate. The information packet for Field Day is now available on the ARRL web site. - Bob K0NR -
Via The Buro
19 Jan 2012 | 12:01 amAt our local radio club meeting this week, I did a presentation on amateur radio operating awards. The emphasis was on the most common awards: Worked All States (WAS), Worked All Continents (WAC), DX Century Club (DXCC) and VHF/UHF Century Club (VUCC). I talked a bit about how to obtain a QSL card for written confirmation of a radio contact. As I discussed using the QSL Bureau, it became clear that this is the kind of thing that a new ham might not learn on their own. In fact, they might not know this even exists. The “Buro”, as it is often called on CW, is really two separate… -
Technician License Class – April 2012
15 Jan 2012 | 12:48 pmMonument, Colorado Saturday April 21 and Saturday April 28 (8 AM to 5 PM) 2012 Location: Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Station 1 Sponsored by the Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Radio Association The Technician license is your gateway to the world-wide excitement of Amateur Radio… Earn your ham radio Technician class radio privileges Pass your FCC amateur radio license exam right in class on the second day Multiple-choice exam, No Morse Code Required Live equipment demonstrations Learn to operate on the ham bands, 10 Meters and higher Learn to use the many VHF/UHF FM repeaters in Colorado Find out how… -
Buy the Drop-In Charger
8 Jan 2012 | 10:32 pmI’d like to pass along a tip that has taken me about 25 years of ham radio experience to figure out. I’ve owned many different models of handheld FM transceivers through the years and have always just used the standard “wall wart” charger to charge the batteries. Recently, I decided to “splurge” and get desktop chargers for the pair of FT-60′s that inhabit our two-ham household. I never realized how handy the drop-in style charger could be until I had one…the HT is always sitting there ready to go. Most of these drop-in chargers are rapid… -
More Summits On The Air (SOTA) Info
1 Jan 2012 | 5:10 pmI recently wrote about the Summits On The Air (SOTA) program gaining traction here in Colorado. Catching up on some of my podcast listening, I came across Jerry KD0BIK’s Practical Amateur Radio Podcast (PARP) on the topic of SOTA. It turns out that Jerry has gotten hooked on the SOTA program and has been out activating some of the Colorado peaks in December. Operating a ham radio on top of a mountain during winter may seem like the act of a person with only one oar in the water (or shall we say one half of a dipole in the air?). But actually, we’ve had quite a few days of…
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HamFeed
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Ranger rci-2995dx am/fm/ssb/cw 10 & 12 meter amateur base transceiver 150 w pep ssb
8 Feb 2012 | 11:51 amRANGER RCI-2995DX AM/FM/SSB/CW 10 & 12 METER AMATEUR BASE TRANSCEIVER ,This is the newer version with the Green/Black LCD display and it is rated at... -
trade for a drake c-4
8 Feb 2012 | 11:10 amWhat will you trade me for it? I have no idea what it is worth, but I only have the box itself, not the switch or anything else. It seems to be in... -
FCC Update for 2012-02-07
8 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amThis information was distributed by the FCC on 2012-02-07 at 08:00:00 Looking for a new license or... -
Please add call sign
8 Feb 2012 | 9:45 amCall sign: M6DFA First name: Dave Last name: Farrant Address: 13 Bramham Down Guisborough TS14 7BY UK Thanks -
Astron 35-m ps. Ameratron at-15 tuner
8 Feb 2012 | 9:37 amAstron ps has low power out transformer is ok $ 70 plus shipping ameritron at-15 tuner needs a meter driving board, but meter is ok $ 100 plus...
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Practical Amateur Radio Podcast
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The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast v51.5
25 Jan 2012 | 5:30 amNew Years Resolutions is the topic of our first podcast for the new year. This episode kicks off my 5th year of podcasting about amateur radio. -
The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast v50.4
21 Dec 2011 | 5:30 amIn this episode, I discuss the Summits On The Air program. The featured gadge is the iP30 antenna analyzer. All this and more. Thanks for listening. -
The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast v49.4
30 Nov 2011 | 5:30 amIn this episode, I discuss if keeping a logbook is required and what to record. The Summits On The Air website is our featured website segment. All this and more. Thanks for listening. -
The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast v48.4
26 Oct 2011 | 6:30 amIn this episode, I point all the fun activities awaiting tech class operators once they upgrade to the general class. DXCoffee.com is our featured website segment. All this and more. Thank you for listening and sharing. -
The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast v47.4
23 Sep 2011 | 6:30 amThe letter of Chris KE5ZRT and a special message we can all learn from, plus a poem by Eddie Phillips, N4EMP. Thank you for listening and sharing.
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Advancing Ham Radio.. different ideas
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I have some sad news folks.
1 Feb 2012 | 11:49 pmIt's been a while since I ranted about the ARRL. I was reluctant to renew my ARRL membership, so I let it lapse for a while so I could have some time to ponder if it's worth it.The decision I came to was, if I renewed, I didn't want the paper QST every month. I usually buy the CD ROM at the end of the year. So I was leaning towards the blind rate, which excludes QST. But that was only like $8.00, so why bother at all?I ended up renewing as a guy who went blind from reading QST, but I added the QEX subscription. I'll have someone read it to me I guess. I am so sorry, folks!About the only thing… -
Doodle Labs DL435-30 Reports
29 Jan 2012 | 9:44 pmA few hams have bought the Doodle Labs DL-435-30 transceiver.The radio is capable of about 6 Mbps of data throughput utilizing a 5 MHz wide channel in the under-used 420-440 MHz ATV sub-band.These were first made available in October 2011, so tests have been somewhat limited. However here are some initial conclusions:At 20-30 feet using a 6 dBi gain omnidirectional antenna a couple different ham groups have seen 1/2 mile to 3/4 of a mile usable non-line of site mobile coverage using a 1/4 wave mag mount antenna. Both reports were in moderate to heavily mature tree neighborhoods.Keep in mind… -
Minitor IV in the Ham Band
21 Jan 2012 | 1:36 amOur club repeater is capable of two-tone paging. It uses a CAT-1000 controller.Many moons ago in the mid 90's we had some Minitor I's pagers re-crystaled for the repeater.With narrow-banding affecting all public safety channels there will be scads of Minitor III and IV pagers out there, hopefully for cheap. The municipalities will likely upgrade to the Minitor V as it's narrow band capable.While the III and IV are frequency programmable, the ones that will be coming out of service will mostly be the 151-159 MHz subband versions.Never fear, if you use the engineer login function of the pager… -
HSMM / 802.11 in print
2 Jan 2012 | 1:58 pmList is a list of known printed HSMM resources for further reading that I have been compiling.I am curious about articles in print outside of the US. If anyone knows of anything in any of the RSGB publications, etc, I'd appreciate hearing about them.ARRL- VHF Digital Handbook - Chapter 7 - High Speed Multi-Media Radio by K8OCLN6GN, "Inexpensive Multi-Megabaud Microwave Data Link," Ham Radio Magazine, December 1989VE3JF, "VHF/UHF/Microwave Radio Propagation Primer for Digital Experimenters," TAPR/ARLL DCC, 1997N2IRZ, "Web Pages on Packet Radio," CQ-VHF February 1999K4ABT, "The Phoenix Shall… -
DIY - ARRL and Radio Shack
27 Dec 2011 | 9:46 pmBack in June of 2011, I pointed out that there is a resurgence in the Do-It-Your-Self (DIY) community.The economic crisis, Make Magazine, and the development of Maker Faire's/ "Maker Fests", all have apart to do with this.A while back Radio Shack asked the "DIY community" what they would like to see in Radio Shack stores.The top ten improvements requested were:1. Arduino2. More Kits and Project Suggestions3. More introduction/instructional books4. Larger assortment in LEDs5. Wider variety in resistors6. TONS more capacitors7. DIY audio and speaker equipment8. HAM radio gear9. More competitive…
