I’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…
Ham Radio
-
Most Topular Stories
-
Buy the Drop-In Charger
KØNR: Radio Enthusiast8 Jan 2012 | 10:32 pm -
Surfin’: When Digital Was Mechanical
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources27 Jan 2012 | 1:50 pmBy Stan Horzepa, WA1LOUContributing EditorThis week, Surfin’ recalls those mechanical digital clocks that once proliferated ham shacks everywhere. Jim Cain, K1TN, wrote: “Every active ham I knew in the 1960s and 1970s had a 24-hour Numechron Tymeter ‘digital’ clock, the one in a brown plastic case with rotating drums. I was watching The Black Cat (1934, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff) and in one... -
Common Causes of High SWR
9w2bba Amateur Radio Station Blog30 Jun 2010 | 2:13 amThere are many things other than the antenna that can cause high SWR. SWR meter readings take into consideration the antenna, the coaxial cable, the mount, the mounting location, the vehicle and objects in the antennas near-field environment. We broke our list of common high SWR causes into six primary categories. The order of the [...] -
Stupidity and inspiration
W2LJ's Blog - QRP - Do More With Less.26 Jan 2012 | 10:05 pmArgh! Sometimes I feel like such a dolt!80 Meters was quite vacant again tonight. Spinning the dial, up and down, looking for someone to talk with. I hear a loud station down near 3.511 MHz calling CQ. Notice that I said I heard a loud station calling CQ. But as it turns out, I didn't listen!The operator was Car N3AS and when I called him, he politely chatted with me for a few minutes. We exchanged the usual pleasantries and the QSO was very brief. After we bade our good-byes, Car starts to call CQ again. But this time, I was truly listening,… -
AR Newsline Report 1798 -- Jan 27 2012:
eHam.net News26 Jan 2012 | 6:59 pmThe following is a Q-S-T. The FCC nixes a waiver request from Anchorage VEC that would have lead to instant re-licensing of hams with expired licenses but the proposal is far from dead. Also ham radio to be discussed at WRC 2012; International cooperation removes a noise generator from 40 meters and the city of Los Angeles celebrate the life of a ham who started broadcast emergency alerting, Find out the details are on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1798 coming your way right now.
-
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
-
FCC Sets Date for Medical Devices on 70 cm
27 Jan 2012 | 10:48 pmIn November 2011, FCC Commissioners unanimously agreed to allocate spectrum and adopt service and technical rules for the utilization of new implanted medical devices that operate on 413-457 MHz (70 cm). These devices will be used on a secondary basis as part of the Medical Device Radiocommunication (MedRadio) Service in Part 95 of the FCC rules. In the Federal Register for Friday, January 27, ... -
Volunteer Tour Guides Make Your Visit to ARRL HQ Pleasant and Informative
27 Jan 2012 | 5:45 pmWhen you visit ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, the first smiling face you’re likely to see is a tour guide. ARRL’s Tour Guide program now includes 19 volunteers who donate thousands of hours of their free time per year, giving tours to hundreds of visitors.ARRL’s tour guides are an integral part of the ARRL. When not giving tours, they are busy accomplishing tasks in various HQ dep... -
The K7RA Solar Update
27 Jan 2012 | 2:12 pmThis was another week where average daily sunspot numbers declined, while average daily solar flux increased. Sunspot numbers for January 19-25 were 117, 88, 102, 103, 108, 105 and 68, with a mean of 98.7. The 10.7 cm flux was 157, 141.2, 141.6, 141, 144.3, 135.7 and 126.4, with a mean of 141. The estimated planetary A indices were 3, 4, 6, 21, 9, 17 and 14, with a mean of 10.6. The estimated m... -
Surfin’: When Digital Was Mechanical
27 Jan 2012 | 1:50 pmBy Stan Horzepa, WA1LOUContributing EditorThis week, Surfin’ recalls those mechanical digital clocks that once proliferated ham shacks everywhere. Jim Cain, K1TN, wrote: “Every active ham I knew in the 1960s and 1970s had a 24-hour Numechron Tymeter ‘digital’ clock, the one in a brown plastic case with rotating drums. I was watching The Black Cat (1934, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff) and in one... -
Federación Mexicana de Radio Experimentadores Marks 80 Years
26 Jan 2012 | 12:54 pmThe Federación Mexicana de Radio Experimentadores (FMRE) -- Mexico’s IARU Member-Society -- celebrated its 80th anniversary on January 14. FMRE board members, director and hams from throughout Mexico attended the celebration at FMRE Headquarters in Mexico City.The FMRE records show that the first time that Amateur Radio activities happened in Mexico occurred in 1918, when students at the Nation...
-
eHam.net News
-
It's All About the Guns -- Battleship Firepower and Other Programs:
27 Jan 2012 | 6:19 pmIt's All About the Guns -- Firepower and other February Programs - Battleship NORTH CAROLINA February 18, 2012, 9:00 AM -- 5:30 PM. February 26 from noon until 10:00 PM, the Azalea Coast Amateur Radio Club will operate from the Battleship North Carolina during the North Carolina QSO Party. This annual "HAM RADIO" event allows amateur radio operators worldwide to contact as many of North Carolina's 100 counties as possible. The Battleship (NI4BK) is one of four stations worth "extra points" if contacted. The Club will communicate by voice through the Ship's original cabling and antennas. Morse… -
Propagation Forecast Bulletin #04 de K7RA:
27 Jan 2012 | 5:19 pmThis was another week in which average daily sunspot numbers declined, but average daily solar flux increased. Predicted solar flux is 120 on January 27-30, 125 on January 31 through February 2, 120 on February 3, 140 on February 4-8, 145 and 150 on February 9-10, 155 on February 11-13, 150 on February 14-19, and 145 on February 20-23. That's right, the long anticipated short term solar flux peak of 165 from February 17-21 is gone. -
AR Newsline Report 1798 -- Jan 27 2012:
26 Jan 2012 | 6:59 pmThe following is a Q-S-T. The FCC nixes a waiver request from Anchorage VEC that would have lead to instant re-licensing of hams with expired licenses but the proposal is far from dead. Also ham radio to be discussed at WRC 2012; International cooperation removes a noise generator from 40 meters and the city of Los Angeles celebrate the life of a ham who started broadcast emergency alerting, Find out the details are on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1798 coming your way right now. -
Firefighters, Ham Radio Operators, Public Receive SKYWARN Storm Training:
26 Jan 2012 | 6:53 pmPALESTINE -- About 40 people -- mostly first responders from area volunteer fire departments and amateur ham radio operators -- attended the annual National Weather Service's SKYWARN severe weather training program Tuesday night at the Anderson County Courthouse Annex in Palestine. SKYWARN is a network of trained storm spotters who make observations when storms threaten their communities. Spotters report visual and environmental clues, which suggest that the storm in their area may be a candidate to produce severe weather. Storm spotters also provide ground-truth reports of severe weather… -
Lorin 'Robbie' Robinson, WB9AUV (SK):
26 Jan 2012 | 6:51 pmLorin "Robbie" Robinson, a Plainfield Village Board trustee from 1974 to 1982, died Wednesday at the Lakewood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Plainfield. Born in Monmouth on Jan. 13, 1928, Robinson worked for Caterpillar Inc. for 37 years and retired from the company's Joliet plant in 1983, according to the obituary compiled by the Overman-Jones Funeral Home. While living in Plainfield -- he moved to Redding, Calif., following his retirement but returned to the village in 2001 -- Robinson was a member of the First Baptist Church of Plainfield and an avid amateur radio operator, WB9AUV,…
-
QRZ Forums - Amateur Radio News
-
Amateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1798 – January 27 2012
27 Jan 2012 | 12:06 amAmateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1798 – January 27 2012 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1798 with a release date of January 27th, 2012 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. The FCC nixes a waiver request from Anchorage VEC that would have lead to instant re-licensing of hams with expired licenses but the proposal is far from dead. Also ham radio to be discussed at WRC 2012; International cooperation removes a noise generator from 40 meters and the city of Los Angeles celebrate the life of a ham who started broadcast emergency alerting, Find out the details are on Amateur… -
The art of ham-mering out a ‘hello'
26 Jan 2012 | 2:12 pmI though this was an interesting article that I found online! -- Dustin 22BGEDGEHAM_899743f.jpg That’s how it’s done: R. Joseph Marcus, Director, Training, Indian Institute of Hams, demonstrating the use of Ham equipment at the National Youth Festival in Mangalore. Photo: Renuka Phadnis At the National Youth Festival recently, Hams made contact with 38 countries They are amateur radio operators who use radio frequency to connect with people. They do this to make friends, conduct experiments as well as to establish communication during a calamity. These hobbyists call themselves Hams and… -
Amateurs Asked to Listen for RS-39 Satellite
26 Jan 2012 | 2:05 pmThe Chibis-M microsatellite, also known as RS-39 (RadioSputnik 39), was jettisoned from the Progress M-13M cargo spacecraft Tuesday evening (UTC). The satellite is designed to study atmospheric phenomena such as Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes (TGFs) associated with lightning. RS-39 has CW beacons on 435.315 and 435.215 MHz and amateurs are asked to submit reception reports via email to the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences at amateur-rs39@chibis.cosmos.ru. Each report will be acknowledged with a special QSL. The CW telemetry format is available here. Telemetry… -
Record set at Winter Hill
26 Jan 2012 | 2:49 amRecord set at Winter Hill The Port Lincoln Times reports that Rex Moncur VK7MO achieved an Australian amateur radio 10 GHz record last week of 843 kilometres by using aircraft reflections. The newspaper reports: Amateur radio enthusiast Rex Moncur set an Australian record last week, sending microwaves 843 kilometres from Port Lincoln's Winter Hill lookout to Mount Macedon north of Melbourne [David VK3HZ] with the help of an aircraft. Normally microwaves only travel "line of sight" but the distance can be extended by reflecting them off an aircraft between two points. Using a pay TV dish with… -
SumbandilaSat beyond repair
26 Jan 2012 | 2:42 amSumbandilaSat beyond repair The defenceWeb site reports that South Africa’s second satellite, SumbandilaSat (SO-67), is no longer fulfilling its main purpose due to technical problems. Rob Olivier, head of Business Development at SunSpace, told defenceWeb that although contact can still be made with the satellite, it cannot capture images and is thus “not fulfilling its main purpose”. He said that chances of repairing the satellite are virtually zero and that SunSpace has moved on to other projects. SumbandilaSat was damaged during a solar storm in the June last year. The power supply…
-
QRZ Forums - Contests, DXpeditions and Special Events
-
Lifeboat stations UK
27 Jan 2012 | 3:26 pmLook out tomorrow (28th) for UK GBxxxx stations on air for the SOS Lifeboat week. In particular GB4TBL will be active from Torquay, Devon(WAB Sq SX96) on 7140 (+/- QRM) LSB. -
VP6T on LoTW
26 Jan 2012 | 10:12 amI don't know if this is the correct place to put this post, but I was suprised today to find my three Q's with VP6T confirmed on LoTW! WOW! -
FYBO Freeze Your Butt Off promo Trailer
25 Jan 2012 | 11:46 pmHi everyone, Take a look at this one minute trailer I have made to promote the February 4th FYBO (Freeze Your Butt Off) contest and to let hams know that I will be making a video of my 2012 FYBO outing. http://youtu.be/elWjGYdxmsA Please participate in this event if you like QRP. There is also the MN, DE and VT QSO Parties happening the same day, so plenty of fun to be had by everyone. If you know of any hams or non-ham friends that would like to see this, please share it with them as well as your ham clubs. 73 Rem K6BBQ BBQ Ham Radio -
Winter Field Day Jan 29-30
25 Jan 2012 | 10:10 pmhttp://www.spar-hams.org/contests/winterfd/index.php?pg=1 Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio SPAR Announces Winter Field Day 2012 Not only during Field Day in June, do the bands come alive with improvised signals proving the ability to respond to emergencies. Since emergencies and natural disasters don't always happen in the summer, during Winter Field Day, frigid winds, icy limbs and bitter cold replace the thunderstorms and blistering heat of summer. In 2007 SPAR established a Winter Field Day event and invited all Amateur Radio operators to participate. The event was repeated in… -
B-17 "City of Savannah" Special Event Station WW2COS on Jan 28th
23 Jan 2012 | 10:50 amThe Coastal Amateur Radio Society in Savannah will be operating special event station WW2COS from the radio compartment of the B-17 "City of Savannah" to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Eighth Air Force. We will be operating a combination of vintage and modern radio gear and will be streaming live video from the compartment. QSL information and link for video stream can be found at our QRZ.com entry for WW2COS. Date: Jan 28, 1000 til 1700 est Freqs: Tentative 28.375 MHz 14.265 MHz 7.290 MHz We may bounce around depending on band conditions.
-
QRZ Forums - Hamfest and Convention Calendar
-
Ellijay Hamfest May 12, 2012
27 Jan 2012 | 4:30 pmEllijay Amateur Radio Society (EARS) is hosting the Ellijay Hamfest on Saturday May 12th 8:00 am to 3:00 pm at the: Gilmer County Civic Center 1561 South Main Street Ellijay, GA 30540-4600 More information at: http://www.ngamtn.com/w4hhh/ -
Spring Belton HamEXPO -- April 14, 2012 (Belton, TX Expo Center)
25 Jan 2012 | 2:57 pmhttp://www.beltonhamexpo.org/ Saturday, April 14, 2012 Bell County Expo Center in Belton, Texas (301 West Loop 121) From Interstate 35 take Exit 292 to the Dome (1/4 mile west of I-35) Only 50 miles north of Austin Just 130 miles north of San Antonio 140 miles south of Dallas / Ft. Worth 165 miles northwest of Houston You can get all the other information on their website for getting a table, admission if $5 and well worth it. This is often regarded as one of the friendliest swamp meets. I have attended a number of these since becoming a ham in 2001. I went to the Fall event in October after… -
St Louis Winterfest (Largest hamfest in St Louis area)
24 Jan 2012 | 10:27 amEach January The St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club, Inc., warms up the ham radio winter with Winterfest - the largest Hamfest in the area! Saturday, January 28, 2012 · 8:00am - 1:00pm VE Testing: Starts at 9:30 AM SHARP - First Come First Served - LIMITED to 30 individuals. Talk-in on 146.760 (no PL that day) and 146.940 (141.3 PL). For more information visit http://www.slsrc.org/winterfest.html -
Orlando Hamcation, Feb 10, 11 & 12th
23 Jan 2012 | 7:05 amBring the family and enjoy :) Orlando HamCation 2012 February 10, 11, 12 Take extra time to enjoy the sunshine :cool: & Mickey Mouse!:D Central Florida Fairgrounds 4603 West Colonial Drive Orlando, Florida 32808 Friday: Noon to 6pm Saturday: 9am to 5pm Sunday: 9am to 2pm Hamcation Hotline (407)841-0874 Outside Florida (800)214-7541 http://www.hamcation.com/ Manufacturers - New Dealers - Swap Shop - Tailgaters - Forums - Fox Hunt - Testing - Food - Free Parking - Emergency Equipment Display - RV Parking Email your questions to: info@hamcation.com -
Wheaton Community Radio Amateurs Mid-Winter Hamfest - THIS Sunday - January 22, 2012
21 Jan 2012 | 11:18 amSunday, January 22, 2012 Doors open at 8am Kane County Fairgrounds 525 S. Randall Rd. St. Charles, IL See our flyer for more information http://wheatonhamfest.org/flyer.pdf
-
N5FDL's Amateur Radio and Emcomm Blog
-
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.
-
KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
-
Digital QST coming soon
27 Jan 2012 | 12:25 pmIn his last missive to ARRL members in the Great Lakes Division, Jim Weaver, K8JE, reports: ONE TOPIC MANY members will appreciate is a free, digital version of QST via the Internet. This version offers the ability to read our membership journal online in a manner quite similar to that in which we read the hard-copy version. It also offers the ability to include full schematics and other information that sometimes can merely be referenced in the print edition, as well as direct links to items contained in the ads. Becoming accustomed to the online version may require a little… -
Rig on the fritz? Crack it open and have a look.
25 Jan 2012 | 8:11 pmThere’s no doubt that today’s rigs are pretty complicated. Even so, there’s no reason not to crack them open should they quit working. Often, the repair is something simple. Two recent experiences back me up on this. New fuse makes Heathkit happy A couple of weeks ago, a ham friend expressed an interest in one of the Heathkit IP-2717 HV Power Supplies that I rescued from the University of Michigan’s Property Disposition center a couple of years ago. I purchased three of them at the time, one working, two not working. I told him that I’d let him have one of the… -
ARRL News – January 25, 2012
25 Jan 2012 | 1:54 pmWe’ve criticized the ARRL website here on KB6NU.Com from time to time, but there’s a lot of good stuff there, too. In particular, they regularly post timely news items. Here are three items I found particularly interesting: FCC denies Anchorage VEC’s waiver request. In July 2011, the Anchorage VEC asked the FCC to permit individuals who have previously held an Amateur Radio license grant issued by the Commission — but which has expired and is beyond the two year grace period for renewal — to receive credit for elements previously passed, and thus a new license… -
What’s your favorite test instrument?
20 Jan 2012 | 2:38 pmThe venerable Simpson Model 60 VOM has been in production for more than 60 years. In the Test&Measurement World group on LinkedIn, editor Martin Rowe asks, “What’s your favorite test instrument”? He gets some interesting answers, but the two top vote-getters are the Bird Model 43 Wattmeter and the Simpson Electric Model 60 VOM (see right). About the Bird wattmeter, one engineer said, “That’s easy – The Bird Model 43 Wattmeter. No other instrument has been in production, in its original design, for so long. Since 1952, which makes next year 2012 its… -
Last weekend a busy one for KB6NU
17 Jan 2012 | 10:51 amMe making a point (apparently about SWR) at Saturday's One-Day Tech Class Last weekend was pretty busy for me, ham radio-wise. It started bright and early Saturday morning with the latest One-Day Tech Class. There were twelve students in the class, and all twelve passed! This class was a bit odd in that most of them signed up during the week before the class. So few had signed up by Saturday, January 7th, that I was even thinking that I might cancel the class. On Sunday, January 8, I sent out a reminder to my mailing list, and after that, the class quickly filled up. Many of them were…
-
9w2bba Amateur Radio Station Blog
-
2011 in review
1 Jan 2012 | 7:41 amThe WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,400 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many [...] -
2010 in review
4 Jan 2011 | 3:29 amThe stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever. Crunchy numbers The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 21,000 times in 2010. If each view were [...] -
MARES Annual Dinner Night – Floral Fantasy
7 Jul 2010 | 11:56 pmCome and join us to a MARES Annual Dinner at Bayou Coffee House, Cyberjaya. It is opened to all – radio amateurs, SWL and anybody who wishes to participate and have a good time. Do not miss out the chance to meet up with old friends and make new ones. Date: Saturday 31 July 2010 [...] -
Common Causes of High SWR
30 Jun 2010 | 2:13 amThere are many things other than the antenna that can cause high SWR. SWR meter readings take into consideration the antenna, the coaxial cable, the mount, the mounting location, the vehicle and objects in the antennas near-field environment. We broke our list of common high SWR causes into six primary categories. The order of the [...] -
Simbol Skema Peralatan Elektronik
29 Jun 2010 | 2:11 amThe schematics symbols for most major electrical components can be found in this table. However, each component may have numerous possible representations. In cases where there is more than one common symbol, pls ask help from pakcik google. Read more .. Filed under: Kemaskini
-
W2LJ's Blog - QRP - Do More With Less.
-
Not quite what I suspected
27 Jan 2012 | 9:17 pmYou know what they say about conventional wisdom - that more often than not, it's wrong.I got my QSO in tonight on 80 Meters, which was again practically deserted. Scanning the entire CW portion and only hearing a handful of QSO/signals is depressing. We have all that beautiful spectrum and it's like no one is using it!Anyway, after a QSO with Burt K1OIK who lives on Cape Cod, I decided to do a little experiment. I wanted to find out, using the Reverse Beacon Network, what the difference in performance is (roughly) between the 88' EDZ and the Butternut HF9V on 80… -
Stupidity and inspiration
26 Jan 2012 | 10:05 pmArgh! Sometimes I feel like such a dolt!80 Meters was quite vacant again tonight. Spinning the dial, up and down, looking for someone to talk with. I hear a loud station down near 3.511 MHz calling CQ. Notice that I said I heard a loud station calling CQ. But as it turns out, I didn't listen!The operator was Car N3AS and when I called him, he politely chatted with me for a few minutes. We exchanged the usual pleasantries and the QSO was very brief. After we bade our good-byes, Car starts to call CQ again. But this time, I was truly listening,… -
This is a good thing
26 Jan 2012 | 7:57 pmLooks like the 40 Meter QRN is going to knock me out of the QRP-L Foxhunt for tonight - again! It's a good thing I am 80 Meter capable. In a bit, I'll go down and get a few QSOs in the log before turning in for the night.The good thing, that I mention in the post title is that I am noticing that as I spend more time on the air, I spend less time on the Web. And the time I do spend on the Web, is Amateur Radio related. I might check Facebook for a minute or two just to see what Ham friends are up to, but not much more than that. And the news sites are filled with… -
Coming soon to an outdoor venue near you!
26 Jan 2012 | 5:00 pmCourtesy of Rem K6BBQ - Amateur Radio video maker of note:BTW, the rules for the contest that K6BBQ is speaking of can be found here. That's right folks, save the date - February 4th - one week from this Saturday!72 de Larry W2LJQRP - When you care to send the very least! -
Another 80 Meter night
25 Jan 2012 | 9:16 pm40 Meters and 20 Meters were quite loud with neighborhood QRN - so 80 Meters was my refuge once again. Even so, it took me quite a while to get a QSO in. Activity seemed to be on the light side. Maybe the ionosphere is still a little bit hootsy from the CME the other day?I ended up having a nice chat with Phil W8OZM from Willowick, Ohio. Willowick is between Erie. PA and Cleveland, Ohio - right close to the shores of Lake Erie. In about 20 minutes however, the band began to change and increased QRN and QRM on Phil's end cut our QSO short.Speaking of QRN, Mike…
-
KØNR: Radio Enthusiast
-
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… -
Mixed Signals from Yaesu
29 Dec 2011 | 8:32 amThis just in from the Things That Make You Go Hmmm Department: the amateur radio portion of Yaesu splits from Mother Motorola while the land mobile portion stays. This is right on top of an announcement that Yaesu will pursue a digital amateur radio offering based on land mobile technology (i.e., definitely not D-STAR). The K0KDS blog has a post about the split, so go there for the full story. The ARRL has this news item about the organizational change. Here’s the paper that Yaesu published about their move into digital technology for amateur radio. 73, Bob K0NR
-
HamFeed
-
My experiment - An Astatic D-104 on the Yaesu FT-7800
28 Jan 2012 | 10:56 amI found a couple of Astatic D-104's laying around my basement. I used these for my vintage Kenwood and Heathkit radios which require a high... -
Do you need a 2 meter, 440mHz, or 220 Mhz antenna?
28 Jan 2012 | 10:18 amVericals, Yagi's, whatever! Ebay doesn't come close for quality or price! I make each antenna to customer order and usually ship within 2... -
FCC Update for 2012-01-27
28 Jan 2012 | 10:00 amThis information was distributed by the FCC on 2012-01-27 at 08:00:00 Looking for a new license or... -
FS: Kenwood TH-F6A with MANY extras!
28 Jan 2012 | 9:08 amUp for sale is a excellent condition Kenwood TH-F6a tri band HT with many many extras. First off you're getting this HT, which comes in the original... -
FOOT SWITCH
28 Jan 2012 | 8:35 amTHE FOOT SWITCH IS QUALITY MADE OF DIE CAST ALUMINUM..IT WORKS WELL FOR HANDS FREE KEYING OF TWO HEIL TYPES MICS OR TWO BOOM ARM MICS OR TWO...
-
Practical Amateur Radio Podcast
-
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.
-
Advancing Ham Radio.. different ideas
-
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… -
Mesh Potato
18 Dec 2011 | 7:42 pmAn interesting video was just posted on the TAPR YouTube channel. It's a presentation that David, VK5DGR gave at the 30th Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference. This was held back in September in Baltimore, Maryland.In East Timore, there is no local phone service to speak of. Most people have cell phones, but they can't afford to use them. That costs 25 cents per minute, for people who earn about a buck and a half per day. That situation is duplicated in developing nations around the world.Australian Amateur Radio Operator David Rowe VK5DGR is part of a group that's trying to… -
70cm DATV and the future
20 Nov 2011 | 6:51 pmHere is an interesting excerpt from an articled titled "Earth-shaking ATV, Plus.." by N5EM in CQ-VHF Magazine, March 1999 that I recently ran into.Digital ATV Is Heating Up!Since I last wrote about some possibilities in Digital Ham TV (DHTV), several reports of experimentation have been received. As long as there are efforts to make digital ATV a reality , I'll report on the work and keep you informed. One of the best developments is the previously mentioned e-mail re-mailer for DHTV. Check out the Web address for information about reading and posting messages to this list.For those of you…
