AmateurRadio.com

I’m pleased to announce that beginning February 28th, Cale Mooth’s Amateur Radio Weekly will be available each Saturday morning on AmateurRadio.com.

Cale, KK4HSX

I began reading Cale’s (KK4HSX) newsletter a few weeks ago and was impressed by its style and organization. He does a tremendous job curating some of the best articles and posts from the week and puts them into his newsletter. I think you’ll find he has a real knack for finding the interesting stuff that might not otherwise make it onto your radar — without having to wade through lists of endless links.

If you’re already a subscriber to our daily Amateur Radio Newsletter, we’ll include a link each week to a post featuring the latest issue of Amateur Radio Weekly so you won’t miss it. You can also subscribe directly to his weekly e-mail newsletter by clicking here.

Thank you, Cale! We’re excited to read what you discover!

Over on Reddit, there’s a discussion going on about an Android smartphone with some sort of built-in UHF radio (FRS/GMRS). It appears to be a Chinese-made Android phone from Otium called the Otium V8. It’s for sale on Amazon for about $300.

Below is a screenshot from someone asking how it works. The frequency is a shared FRS/GMRS channel (in the U.S). I would expect a radio like this to be “channelized” and not show a frequency directly on the screen — which makes me wonder what other frequencies one might be able to enter…?

Courtesy of /u/rgansaldi

Are GSM phones with built-in radios common? Has anyone ever used one of these?

From the screenshot of the built-in PTT app, it looks like it has an adjustable power level, does frequency splits, PL/CTCSS, and even has a narrow/wide bandwidth selection.

What chip are they using to do this? Can it be tweaked with software to transmit/receive “out of range” in the 70cm ham band? I’m curious!

Over the last decade, I’ve listened to many ham radio podcasts and found them to be a great way to pass the time while driving or working in my home office.

Some of the best podcasts have come and gone, and some wax and wane on a regular basis as the host’s time permits (Jerry, we miss PARP!).

I put a list together of the eight podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis. Hopefully you’ll see one or two that you haven’t added to your list. Do you also enjoy listening to any of these great podcasts?

(And if I’ve missed a good one, please let me know in the comments!)

#1: ARRL Audio News

#2: Amateur Radio Newsline

#3: SolderSmoke Podcast

#4: ICQ Amateur Radio Podcast

#5: Hap Holly’s RAIN Report

#6: Linux in the Ham Shack

#7: Fo Time

#8: QSO Today

#9: 100 Watts and a Wire

First of all, thank you to the 1,450 people from all over the world who entered the giveaway. That’s a record number of entries for us!

Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for… the winners!  OK, here they are:

Three (3)
Complete NESDR XTR HF SDR packages including:
NESDR XTR SDR Set
(Brand new model, featuring the popular E4000 chip tuner)
Ham It Up upconverter
Upconverter Enclosure (silver)
Male MCX to male SMA pigtail (SDR cable)
Male SMA to female BNC adapter (antenna adapter)
Estimated $129.95 value

Luc ON7DQ
Tom KJ9P
Mika KF4IVM

Five (5)
Complete NESDR Mini 2 HF packages including:
NESDR Mini 2 SDR set
Ham It Up upconverter
NESDR Mini 2 enclosure (silver)
Upconverter enclosure (silver)
Male MCX to male SMA pigtail (SDR cable)
Male SMA to female BNC adapter (antenna adapter)
$111.95 value

Ed N2RWH
Claudio PU4BIT
Paul MM1BJZ
Joseph KK4PYN
John KC8JZO

Twelve (12)
NESDR Mini 2 SDR sets
$25.95 value

Rob KA2PBT
Delrey K4WJR
Mike KA7PLE
Marco DE8MSH
Dale WX8W
Suresh VU3JOG
Boban EA2DVR
Chris KD4OGD
Robert KB5SQG
Carl M0SER
Budd WB7FHC
Bob WB3DYE

If you won, you’ll be hearing from me very soon! If you weren’t one of the lucky winners, NooElec has sent us some coupon codes for those who would like to order on their website:

NooElec and AmateurRadio.com have teamed up to give away
SDR (Software Defined Radio) receiver packages to TWENTY hams!
Over $1,200 in free prizes and they’ll pay the shipping worldwide!
The deadline to enter is 18 December 2014 20:00 UTC.

We’ve announced the winners!
Click Here
Read the rest of this entry »

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.

I’ve been a General class ham for many years now, but the thought of upgrading to Extra has always been hanging over my head. Honestly, it’s not really that I miss the additional band privileges — I really don’t — but after being licensed for close to a quarter of a century, I feel like I should take the time to just get it done.

I’ve been studying using Dave Casler’s (KEØOG) online self-study course. If you’re not familiar with his videos, you should check them out. They’re incredible and he offers programs for Technician and General, too.

What are you waiting for? Maybe it’s time for an early 2015 New Year’s Resolution?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j99xlpv5zJU

Check out his website here.