AmateurRadio.com

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?

Check out his website here.

Because my dad has been an amateur radio operator for decades, my interest in ham radio is as old as I am. I had always wanted to get my license. Some time passed by and my interests changed in puberty. There were so many other interesting things like girls, music festivals, journeys all over the world for my job as industrial automation programmer. But my interest in amateur radio never left me and so I decided to get my license in 2012.

After getting my license, I built socialhams. It was hard work but I have really had a lot of fun. I am trying to spread the word about my project.

Socialhams is a community for ham radio operators. It combines features from typical social networks with ham radio related ones. To join socialhams all you need is a valid email address and, obviously, a ham radio callsign. It’s as simple as that!

As a registered member of socialhams you can freely meet like-minded people as well as join the Chat, write Blog and Forum posts, start Polls, create Groups and Events. Photos, Videos and Files can be embedded or uploaded to your profile and many other sections, too.

The iPhone App, allows you to browse profiles, watch photos and videos, upload photos, send mail, and lots more. All from your iPhone! And if you have an Android-powered device, our Android App lets you use socialhams while on the go, right from your own handset.

You can meet people; chat online; check our top rated, featured items; read about popular topics; wish someone a special greeting on his/her birthday; match your interests; and even take advantage of our elaborate people search option.

You will also find unique ham radio related modules:

DX Cluster
Use the DX Cluster feature to make that contact or Spot one for the rest of the community! The DXCluster tool allows users to locate and spot other Amateur Radio operators transmitting on specific frequencies to make those rare contacts or find that missing location you’ve been searching for. This is the world first HTML5 web socket based DXCluster client.

Logbook
The socialhams logbook allows you to record those important Amateur Radio contacts. This tool gives members the ability to add, edit, organize and sort their contacts all in one convenient location.

APRS Map
The APRS feature will display the location of any APRS station in the viewable area. This feature also provides each member with the ability to send a message from socialhams to any APRS device with messaging capability.

NCDXF Beacon
The Beacon Map displays the location, status and the current or future action of each NCDXF beacon in the network. By listening for each beacon on each band you can determine which bands are open and to what part of the world.

World clock
The World Clock allows each user to stay up to date with the time on any part of the globe. Users can also keep track of the Grey line as it moves to make use of this unique propagation condition.

Library
Collection of various documents like manuals, schematics, spreadsheets, etc

Elmer’s corner
The Elmer corner allows any socialhams member to create and publish a tutorial or guide for the entire community to use. Become an Elmer today!!

In our Feedback section, you can post your questions, comments, regards, etc. without any restrictions (of course, you must strictly avoid obscenity, rude language, and abide by the terms of socialhams). To cater to a wider ham radio community, all our features are offered in both English as well as German. Additional languages are in preparation.

We will steadily improve existing functions as well as develop new, interesting ham radio related modules. At the moment we are working on a Geophysics and SOTA module. All our work in process can be previewed on our development site http://dev.socialhams.net, and additionally all our developments are available as Git repository on http://gitlab.paan-systems.com. We would be happy to find developers that are interested in joining the project.

To enjoy the unique socialhams experience, all you need to do is sign up http://socialhams.net!

I have many times said that if all radio magazines had to go, then GQRP Club’s SPRAT would be the very last to go. This quarterly magazine is low in cost, very high in simple projects to build and the back page always has GQRP Club sales items.

Of ALL the magazines I see, SPRAT is without doubt the best. Back numbers of this excellent magazine are available on a DVD.

This is a little (sized) magazine but it is excellent value. The best in fact.

Stories you’ll find in the December, 2014 edition:

The Radio Rovers of the 1920s
By John Schneider W9FGH

Americans spent $60 million on radio sets and parts in 1922, and businessmen and hobbyists fed the radio craze by building hundreds of new broadcasting stations. Almost overnight, the radio spectrum was packed with signals from all around the country—the number of licensed stations went from 28 in January to 670 by the end of the year. But there were still many smaller cities and towns that did not yet have their own broadcast stations. To serve these cities a special class of “portable” station license was created.

Mystery Regenerative Radio
By Rich Post KB8TAD

Rich Post spotted a radio at an antique radio swap meet and was immediately drawn to it. From a distance, he thought it looked like a Lafayette Explor-Air KT-135 regenerative receiver. It used the same tubes as the Lafayette, but so did nearly all regenerative sets from the 1950s and 60s, including the Allied Knight-kit Space Spanner and the Heathkit GR-81. But who actually manufactured the set?

Testing Those Capacitors
By Rich Post KB8TAD

If you ask most radio restorers, what part or parts most often need replacement, they will answer “capacitors.” Rich has been repairing radios for over half a century, and, back in the day, often had to replace some of the capacitors. Now, those capacitors are often themselves a half-century or older. What could happen to that circuit if the capacitor was leaky or shorted? How likely is it to short? How can you test it to be sure?

Vint Hill Farms Cold War Museum Traces History of Cutting-edge Communications
By Cory Koral K2WV (Photos courtesy of Gary Morgan, Founding Member, The Cold War Museum)

Current simmering East-West tensions brings to many minds the Cold War era. At the center of electronic technology of that time was a sprawling top-secret complex in the Virginia countryside known as Vint Hill Farms, where the fine art of modern spying via HF and satellite was directed. Now, it’s a museum dedicated to remembering Cold War lessons.

Old-Time Radio Today
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR

What’s the point of having a restored vintage radio if all you can listen to are today’s ear-numbing AM talk shows? Now you can get the most out of your vintage radio by streaming the top shows of yesterday. Even if you don’t have an old-time radio you can get close to the same experience.

AmateurRadio.com Editor’s Note:
If you are a current subscriber to The Spectrum Monitor (or are interested in becoming one), don’t forget to sign up for your 2015 subscription.  It’s well worth $2/month to keep this great little publication “on the air”!

See http://www.nevadaradio.co.uk/amateur-radio/transceivers/mobile-transceivers/alinco-dr-135dx-uk .

Nevada is selling Alinco multi-mode 28-29.7MHz radios on special deal at £99.95. For “export only” they can be expanded to also cover CB frequencies. Such expansion is not legal in the UK. At less than £100, this is a very good price for a 10m multi-mode rig.

I admit I “lifted” the original image from the Nevada website. As it was Javascript, I was unable to link, as I had wished, to the original images. If using this image on this blog is a problem, it will be immediately removed, although I hope Nevada see this as free publicity.

Ham College is a show for those new to the hobby and those wishing to get into Amateur Radio. But us old guys should find it a good review and probably learn some things we missed (or forgot) the first time around. We’ll help you study for your Amateur license exam and cover topics to get you up to speed and having fun.

If the pilot turns out good and draws enough interest, this show will be coming in 2015.

I’ve discovered an archive of several older electronics and radio-related magazines available for download in PDF format.

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Popular-Electronics-Guide.htm

In addition to Popular Electronics, they also have archives of the following titles available:

Electronics Illustrated (1958-1972)
Electronics World (1959-1972)
Radio Electronics (1948-1992)
Elementary Electronics (1964-1980 sporadic)
BYTE (1975-1984)

And many more….