Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 344

Amateur Radio Weekly

ARRL IT security incident – Report to members
ARRL agreed to pay a $1 million ransom.
ARRL

Freebeacon: FreeDV based beacon service
Listens for a trigger string in a FreeDV text message, then transmits a reply.
VK2ZIW

What’s new at Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications
I can hardly express how large this warehouse is and how much reading material was available for us: Commercial radio manuals, military documents, avionics repair guides, parts catalogs, schematics.
Kay Savetz K6KJN, Zero Retries

A shorted diode…and the sBitx
I blew a diode while pushing the boundaries of my IRF520 output transistors messing around with FT8.
WK4DS

Connecting Earth to space
How Amateur Radio links us to the ISS.
Sonshine

The most useful knots for SOTA and POTA
A super convenient friction hitch when the rope is very long (no need to access the end of the rope). Easy to undo.
AB1WX

LEO satellite systems cause environmental harm regulators didn’t prepare for
The disposable nature of satellites means 29 tons of satellites will re-enter our atmosphere every day at peak.
TechDirt

HamOpen
Facilitating the development of Open Source software and hardware for Amateur Radio.
HamOpen

Keeping Ham Radio relevant
Ham radio operators provide an unpaid, all-volunteer, citizen brigade of disaster relief workers.
Next Avenue

Video

Working SO-50 in Arizona
Stations heard on this pass included AI6YR in grid CM93 Santa Rosa Island, in the Channel Islands south of Santa Barbara, California.
WD9EWK/VA7EWK

Lucille Ball tells crazy story
Fillings pick up secret Morse station.
YouTube

Icom X60 teaser video
More info from Icom is expected today at the Tokyo Ham Fair.
Icom Japan

Get Amateur Radio Weekly in your inbox.

Sign-up here

Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 343

Amateur Radio Weekly

Why M17 is significant
No other Amateur Radio digital voice system is as well defined as M17.
Zero Retries

QSL cards from the past
A complete collection of old QSL cards now totaling more than 56,000.
W8JYZ

Ham Radio becomes voice of victims and rescue teams alike
The operators are accompanying each rescue team, providing real-time updates on the situation on the ground.
India.com

San Francisco Ham Radio operators provide critical communication link
Ham Radio operators across Northern California provided a critical communication link to embattled first responders.
KPIX

HFGCS: The backup plan for doomsday
The United States Strategic Forces Command built their backup plan around the unique properties of HF radio.
Hackaday

The QubeDX: A modular CubeSat style QRP Transceiver
Building a QRP radio for digi mode operation that can be operated remotely via Wi-Fi.
DK1MI

Loop the loop on 6 meters
Meteor scatter is probably one of the coolest things that Techs can do.
KB6NU

Store and Forward
A podcast about the past and future of Ham Radio.
Store and Forward

An introduction to the 1.25 meter band
222 MHz has many of the qualities of 2 meters, with the added benefit of less consumer electronics interference and generally a lower noise floor.
N4DTF

Video

Analog television transmission with a HackRF SDR
Using a program called hacktv-gui to transmit analog TV signals.
Signals Everywhere

The beginners guide to the Radioberry HF SDR Transceiver Pi Hat
The first initial steps needed to install the Radioberry service on a Raspberry Pi 4.
Tech Minds

Get Amateur Radio Weekly in your inbox.

Sign-up here

Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 342

Amateur Radio Weekly

Sunspot counts hit a 23-year high
The sun is partying like it’s 2001.
SpaceWeather.com

Climate change and Amateur Radio
It is an important topic and it does affect many aspects of our Amateur Radio hobby.
The Random Wire

SolarHam
Providing real time space weather news and data from various sources, all in one location for easy navigation.
VE3EN

Help me make a Ham zine
Let’s make this a community effort.
KB6NU

Charging your laptop or tablet off-grid
I always suggest taking an adapter which has a minimum of 60-watts, 5-20 volt 3-5 amps on the USB-C power delivery port.
Off Grid Ham

Beyond the beacon: Discovering the unexpected benefits of WSPR
You can use the data that’s generated by the WSPR network to check your own antenna’s performance for transmitting and receiving.
QRPer

Unexpected X- and C-shaped structures in the atmosphere
When bubbles, crests or solar storms disrupt the plasma distribution in the ionosphere, radio signals passing through the atmospheric layer can be changed, lost, or fade away.
CNN

Video

D-Star, DMR, C4FM, explained
For newcomers in digital Amateur Radio communications, getting familiar with all the terms, modes, and reflectors can be very confusing.
Laboenligne.ca

Introduction to mobile POTA operations
A guide to activations in the park.
Ham Radio Prep

Contesting for Technicians
HF contesting for Technician Class Ham Radio Operators.
W1DED

History of an FCC monitoring station
With a Former FCC trainer, Ham, and engineer.
Ham Radio Perspectives

Get Amateur Radio Weekly in your inbox.

Sign-up here

Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 341

Amateur Radio Weekly

First M17 based radios begin shipping
Connect Systems has begun shipping the first radios that operate M17 out of the box.
Amateur Radio Daily

The rich history of Ham Radio culture
To really belong, you’re going to have to go along with the standard operating procedures universally accepted by Radio Amateurs.
MIT Press

Successful AREDN link
If you pick up something just to learn the thing, you likely won’t go far with it.
N3VEM

VHF/UHF handheld performance comparison
Comparing performance in sensitivity, dynamic range, and adjacent channel rejection.
QRPer

What is the difference between a counterpoise and a radial in a vertical antenna?
In the context of vertical antennas, both counterpoises and radials are used to improve the efficiency and radiation pattern of the antenna by providing a ground system.
VE3IPS

The baked potato radial
Would a Mylar blanket work the same way as the Faraday cloth?
K3FNB

The best reasons to build a go-box
It saves time in the field and helps to ensure nothing is left behind in the shack.
Ham Radio Outside the Box

TD-H3 VHF/UHF radio
You can think of this as an improved Baofeng UV-5R.
K0NR

A one-of-a-kind shortwave radio station
WBCQ is probably the only shortwave, AM, and FM combination radio station in the United States.
RadioWorld

DLARC adds over 1,300 items to new college radio collection
Materials in the collection include ‘zines, radio station program guides, flyers, playlists, correspondence, books, academic theses, magazines, and more.
Internet Archive

Is shortwave on life support?
Today, the shortwave landscape is a mere shadow of itself.
Hackaday

Video

Hustler 6BTV antenna on a dock
Unleashing the power of my 6BTV vertical antenna mounted on a dock over salt water.
W2PAK

Get Amateur Radio Weekly in your inbox.

Sign-up here

Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 340

Amateur Radio Weekly

Are hackers the future of Amateur Radio?
Shaking off an image of being the exclusive preserve of old men with shiny radios talking about old times remains a challenge.
Hackaday

Amateur Radio Newsline announces Young Ham of the Year
Grace has been a regular presenter at the Youth Forum at Dayton Hamvention.
Amateur Radio Daily

International Dog Day special event
Calling attention to the urgent needs of abandoned, abused, neglected and homeless dogs by operating special event stations in Europe and the US.
International Dog Day

Understanding repeater speak
All that jargon that Hams use can seem like a foreign language to those who have had little exposure to Amateur Radio.
OnAllBands

Ham Radio call signs discovered during university renovation
Alumni recall making infinite connections around the world.
Lehigh University

FCC hits 13 landlords in NYC metro area with pirate letters
Enforcement sweeps allege illegal FM broadcasts within the last year.
RadioWorld

Review of the RFNM software defined radio
It is capable of wide bandwidth – up to 153.6 MHz.
RTL-SDR

Medium-wave sunset in Europe
European medium-wave transmitters are going silent.
RedTech

Video

Cheap FT-857d display replacement
George replaces a defective FT-857d display with an economical new option.
Amateurlogic TV

Return from whiskey two-seven with 2M FM radio operations
Aeronautical 2m simplex.
W7NY

Get Amateur Radio Weekly in your inbox.

Sign-up here

Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 339

Amateur Radio Weekly

A century of service and signals
100-year-old Ham Radio enthusiast, teacher marks milestone.
The Mountaineer

Hams are resurrecting technical ideas from the past
DLARC and 21st century tech make this possible.
DLARC

ARRL confirms ransomware gang stole data in cyberattack
The organization claims the data breach affected 150 employees.
Bleeping Computer

Amateur Radio club has changed my life
Amateur Radio has honestly changed my life, I’ve friends all over the world now.
BBC News

Quisk SDR software
Controls SoftRock, Hermes-Lite, and more.
Quisk

FCC enforcement actions
How likely is it that the FCC would come after me if I violate the rules?
K0NR

MARSgrams and memories
Enduring legacy of military auxiliary radio in connecting families.
Southeast Missourian

The next 90 day satellite decays
List of satellites reentering Earth’s atmosphere in the next 90 days.
LU7AA

Super long-range Wi-Fi works at a range of 1.8 miles
HaLow standard aces a real-world test despite high interference.
Tom’s Hardware

Signal

Video

Just give AM a chance
Late Shift POTA on 40m AM.
N2MAK

Demo: New WSJT-X Super Fox/Hound mode
K8R in American Samoa is the first DXpedition to use the new Super Fox/Hound mode.
K7AGE

I just made contact with an airplane
How about doing it while riding your Bicycle?
Mr MuDs Ham Radio Radio Time

Does a fence antenna work?
How to turn your fence into a Ham Radio antenna.
Broken

Get Amateur Radio Weekly in your inbox.

Sign-up here

Are you trying to pickup your CW speed….here is some info.

Giving it all you've got but you seem to be held at a CW speed between 10-13wpm....what's happening? First off there is nothing wrong and this is normal even better if you're ready to jump to the next step in learning CW. Here is the thing as you improve and your CW speed picks up the time it takes to recognize each letter speeds up as well.  When you are in the the 10-13wpm bracket your time to acknowledge the letter collides with the next letter coming at you. This is what hampers you from getting to the next CW milestone. So what to do.....it's now time to move to the next level of CW and that is instant character recognition or ICR as it is called. Did you know most of you at this very point in time can have code sent to you at 38wpm and you can decode it!! WHAT you say.... have I been drinking, most of you if I sent  "CQ" at 38wpm you would know what I was sending. How about "73" again most of you would understand at 38wpm what I was sending to you. When both CQ and 73 were sent at that speed you knew it because you were practising ICR. At that speed, you were not hearing C and then Q and putting it together but you knew the sound of CQ or 73. This is what ICR is all about. Knowing the sound of each letter (later you can dive into words and phrase sounds) It's important to not just skip to common CW QSO phrases and words, I say this because to instantly know the letters and number is important for copying call signs, QTH's and names.  How does one start up the ICR ladder of code, well it's very fast and easy and I  mean fast. You need to speed things up so you're only able to hear a sound and not dots and dashes. Just like CQ at 38wpm, you hear the sound, not each letter or the dots and dashes that represent each letter. At first, your brain is going to wonder what you are up to as it is used to only working at 10-13wpm and the method used to convert dots and dashes to letters or numbers. Now it's a rhythm your brain is being exposed to.  I started by using a program where I could control the letters I wanted to know the rhythm of and start with easy ones to start tuning the grey matter. Look at a program such as MorseCode World that allows you to practice letters of your choice at the speed of your choice. At the website click on CW generator. Once there enter the letters/numbers you want to learn. Now click on Morse controls button and set your speed. The letters I  started with were E, T, C, I, K, M, and O. I entered each letter 8  times and then on the next line 8 of the next letter. See below: E E E E E E E E T T T T T T T T C C C C C C C Set the speed at 18-20wpm and hear the rhythm of the letters and not dots and dashes. I enter about 3-5 letter groups and give it a go for a few days. Now don't write down what you hear but just go over it in your mind what letter it is. Then change it up by mixing these letters up and try again, don't look at the page of letters and don't write it down.  Just listen to the sound and in your head say the letter. Your brain will start to pick up the new challenge you are giving it and yes when you hit H,5, S or B and 6 your brain will reply "Say what" BUT your brain is very powerful and soon will pick up these letters and even when you send H, S B, 6, V and 4.  As with anything you learn, it is a journey and just remember to always enjoy it and never forget how far you have come along. Enjoy your next adventure of ICR.

Subscribe FREE to AmateurRadio.com's
Amateur Radio Newsletter

 
We never share your e-mail address.


Do you like to write?
Interesting project to share?
Helpful tips and ideas for other hams?

Submit an article and we will review it for publication on AmateurRadio.com!

Have a ham radio product or service?
Consider advertising on our site.

Are you a reporter covering ham radio?
Find ham radio experts for your story.

How to Set Up a Ham Radio Blog
Get started in less than 15 minutes!


  • Matt W1MST, Managing Editor




Sign up for our free
Amateur Radio Newsletter

Enter your e-mail address: