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Latest podcast episodes about websdr

Foundations of Amateur Radio
Being an amateur without either radio or antenna

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 26, 2025 3:50


Foundations of Amateur Radio A recent comment by a fellow amateur sparked a train of thought that made me wonder why there is a pervasive idea within our community that you need a radio transmitter and antenna to be a radio amateur, moreover that for some reason, if you don't have either, you're not a real amateur. I suppose it's related to the often repeated trope that the internet enabled modes like Allstar Link, Echolink and even IRLP, are not real radio, despite evidence to the contrary. Instead of fighting this weird notion, I figured I'd get on with it and find a way to play even if you don't currently have the ability to erect an antenna or key a transmitter for whatever reason. Before I dig in, a WebSDR is a Software Defined Radio connected to the Internet. It allows a user to open a web browser, pick from a massive collection of receivers around the world and listen in. Some of these also have the ability to transmit, but more on that later. Here's the idea. Have you ever considered tuning to a WebSDR, using it to pick a signal and using your computer to decode that signal? I'm aware that some sites provide a range of in-built decoders, but that doesn't cover the wide spectrum of modes that amateur radio represents, let alone the modes that are not specific to our hobby. As I've said previously, many of the modes in use today are essentially the width of an audio stream. This means that if you tune a WebSDR to a frequency the audio comes out of your computer speakers. If that's voice, your job is done and you can hear what's going on. If it's something else, then you're going to have to find a way to decode this to get the message. So, if you send the audio from your web browser into something like Fldigi or WSJT-X, you'll be able to decode the signal if it's supported by those tools. This is true for all the other tools too, Morse, RTTY, you name it. Depending on which operating system you're using the way to implement this will differ. Starting with a search for "WebSDR and WSJT-X" will get you on your way. You might ask why I'm advocating WSJT-X, even though it only supports a small set of modes and that's a fair question. In my experience, it's the simplest to get running and get results. Two tips, make sure you set your configuration to indicate that you don't have a radio, otherwise it's going to attempt to control something that isn't there, and make sure that your computer clock is set accurately using NTP or Network Time Protocol. You can thank me later. Now I hinted earlier at transmitting. There's a growing range of places where your amateur license will give you access to a station somewhere on the internet and with that the ability to get on air and make noise. An increasing number of radio amateur clubs are building remote stations for their members to enjoy. There are also individuals and small groups doing the same independently. A few organisations are offering this as a service to paid subscribers. These tools often implement a remote desktop session where you connect to a computer that in turn is connected to a radio. The supported modes depend on what is installed at the other end. Others implement a slightly different method where you run specialised software locally, sometimes inside a web browser, that connects to a server across the internet, allowing you to run whatever digital mode you want on your own computer. I'll point out that even if you start with receiving digital modes using a WebSDR, you can expand that into transmitting at a later stage. So, no antenna, no transmitter, no problem, still an amateur! I'm Onno VK6FLAB

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour
The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour - 3.26.25

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2025 58:58


Since the first time Man planted a garden or fought a battle, weather has been vital to success and survival. The weather has famously decided wars. In some cases, weather has been the key factor in the rise and fall of whole Empires. Like many other contemporary real experts, today's guest, Jim Lee, is an independent researcher, in this case, into weather modification.   Why Weather Matters   George Washington avoided surrendering his army in the Battle of Long Island by deceiving the British about his movements and then withdrawing 9,000 men, supplies, and cannons overnight and into the next morning across the East River while a fog miraculously provided cover. If that Providential escape had failed, the War of Independence could have ended.   Napoleon attacked Imperial Russia as winter arrived and was soundly defeated by both poor planning and the vicious cold, decimating the French army, which had over 100,000 men captured, 380,000 dead, and only 27,000 returning to France.   Decades later, despite France's failure in 1812, Hitler's army tried attacking the Soviet Union during World War II and managed to hang on with brutal tactics until winter arrived and the Germans were soundly defeated. Many of the German survivors who managed to make it back to Germany alive were badly disfigured by frostbite, which had claimed noses, eyelids, fingers, and toes. The Germans also murdered over 1 million civilian Soviet Jews during the invasion. The German army troops captured over 5 million Soviet troops and deliberately starved over 3.3 million Soviet prisoners of war in brutal disregard for the established rules of war. Despite the most savage and determined fighting, the weather heavily influenced the failure of the German assault upon the Soviet Union.   Any effective military will invest whatever it can to predict, manage, and manipulate weather systems.   More recently, during the Vietnam War, the US seeded clouds over the Ho Chi Min trail in order to mire down enemy North Vietnamese soldiers from moving South.   Growing Concern About Abuses of Weather Control in the US   Many concerns have arisen that Earth's weather is being manipulated in ways harmful to the citizenry and the economy. The hurricane that hit the Hawaiian Island of Maui and the accompanying firestorm that devastated the town of Lahaina in 2023 with grave loss of life and destruction of the community appeared very suspicious. Hurricane Helene and then Milton chewed up Florida and demolished Southeastern Appalachia communities in North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. Have behaved in unusual ways and produced unusual and shockingly high amounts of damage and loss of life. Many citizens have questioned what aspects of the storms may have been “enhanced” or manipulated. The lack of official assistance being provided to survivors of these devastating events has understandably increased suspicion.   The federal government has done nothing to alleviate citizen concerns; instead, it has encouraged censorship through social media. The usual claims of conspiracy theory have been lobbed against anyone raising these questions, but as it turns out, citizens are asking very good questions.   Government Censorship   The federal government censors and curtails information and public discussion on subjects like weather manipulation. For a good review of the state of government censorship in the world today, listen to the Joe Rogan interview with Mike Benz that aired this month. The federal government funds, coordinates, and gives orders to its own branches and federal agencies and to non-government organizations (NGOs), nonprofits, universities, and others to censor and eliminate free speech. There are literally hundreds of thousands of hired individuals manipulating the truth as hired guns through traditional news outlets, social media, university outlets, book publishers, and scientific journals.   Weather Modification, Inc.   The absurdity of these government denials was recently highlighted by a photo of a plane on TikTok with a large corporate logo across its fuselage that said, “Weather Modification, International.” The Weather Modification International website was surprisingly empty, but when I checked the web archive for earlier versions, I found that their website started being stripped of data in early 2020. The 2019 archive offered a more robust introduction to the company. Turns out, Weather Modification Inc. has been operating since its founding in 1961 by two farmers/pilots. As of 2019, the company had grown to almost 40 aircraft and 100 personnel. Here is a screenshot of the 2019 “Who We Are” web page.     Weather Modification, Incorporated has been in business since 1961. Their current website declares:   “When most people look up they see clouds. WE SEE POTENTIAL.” About us: Now, more than ever, the worldwide need for solutions to atmospheric necessities such as water resource management and environmental quality monitoring, is critical. With nearly a half-century of successful programs, our experience speaks for itself.   Let us help you better manage your atmospheric and water resources.   In the archive, Weather Modification Inc. had a very robust and international list of governmental, military, academic, and private clients. The client list for the United States included the US Department of Defense (DOD), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its National Hurricane Center, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, several state cloud seeding or weather modification programs, and more. They also have a number of international government clients.   Our Guest Today, Jim Lee   Despite censorship and other barriers, some intrepid truth-tellers have been collecting and revealing the discovered facts and information concerning both the details of weather manipulation and how it has now been weaponized against U.S. citizens, against all moral and legal limitations.   One of these truth-tellers is today's guest, Jim Lee. He has devoted his work to “separating fact from fiction regarding geoengineering, pollution, privacy, and propaganda in an easy-to-understand way.”   Jim Lee has been gathering and sharing news regarding weather manipulation since 2012. He has gathered and published a collection of historical evidence and news about weather modification that I believe is unmatched anywhere else. His goals are to “enact changes in laws worldwide to bring transparency and accountability for weather modification and geoengineering experiments.” The interview with Jim Lee makes clear that there is nothing conspiratorial about weather modification except the government's attempts to hide it from the public.     His historical Weather Modification History internet collection of thousands of news articles going back more than 100 years is a masterpiece in organization and research. In addition to the screenshots of the media articles, each is linked to the full version of the article, offering an unprecedented review of the history of documented weather management and manipulation.   Lee's accompanying climate viewer maps website is his most remarkable feat, inviting visitors to explore weather issues in depth. His maps are gorgeous.   Jim Lee has directly addressed what he calls the “pseudoscience, fear-porn, clickbait, and the facts” surrounding Helene and Milton. He concludes that proving federal or any other attempts to modify the hurricanes cannot be done but that seeding with chemicals or mechanical devices is possible but there is no data to prove it in this case.   Jim Lee examines in detail on his website why radar or HAARP involvement is impossible, explaining:   First of all, HAARP was not on during either of these storms. If you want to learn more about HAARP and the three ionospheric heaters worldwide, check out my page on Space Weather Modification. You can tell when HAARP is on simply by checking HAM radio or WebSDR and tuning into 2.8 to 10 MHz. It was not.   That leaves NEXRAD Doppler radar, aka WSR-88D. Can a NEXRAD radar alter a hurricane? NO! Why? It's all about the numbers. NEXRAD can produce a peak of 750,000 watts with an average power of around 1300 watts. Let's compare that to a hurricane:   7,000,000,000,000,000 watts or joules/second. 7 quadrillion watts vs 750,000 watts. You do the math.   There is a great deal of old-fashioned weather modifications through seeding and chemtrails (pollution in the sky whether as a byproduct of exhaust or deliberately produced) that have resulted in changing conditions for some of our most fertile and fruitful farmlands turning them from abundant crop producers to wastelands. That alone–the loss of millions of acres of cropland—and the bounty they produce, is alarming enough to warrant our direct attention.   Were the recent hurricanes manipulated by seeding clouds in some way? Lee says, “There isn't evidence.” There are disagreements within the freedom network about this point, but Lee says he and colleagues looked for any airplane traffic, but there was none. So, unless there were undiscovered spy planes with their identifying transponders turned off, there was no manipulation.   There is confirmation of weather modification and manipulation that has now clearly been directed at our own United States citizens and their productivity. Our guest, Jim Lee, tells us about how these practices are used by governments, federal and sometimes state, as well as by private industries. Reasons for manipulating weather vary and include efforts to increase or decrease rainfall and water tables through snow melt and to encourage greater amounts of snow for ski season. Managing rainfall to perfect the growing and harvesting of crops is also attempted.   One of the most serious aspects of climate manipulation is the tolerance shown and lack of measurement of nanoparticles that are spewed into the upper atmosphere by global air traffic.   Listen to us today as we learn so much more about how heavily and capriciously our weather is manipulated, the risks this presents, and what we can do to protect ourselves and our world.   Jim Lee and his marvelous websites can all be found at Connect with ClimateViewer and Weather Modification History. Readers can also connect to Jim through his Substack: The Climate Viewer Report.   ______   Learn more about Dr. Peter Breggin's work: https://breggin.com/   See more from Dr. Breggin's long history of being a reformer in psychiatry: https://breggin.com/Psychiatry-as-an-Instrument-of-Social-and-Political-Control   Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal, the how-to manual @ https://breggin.com/a-guide-for-prescribers-therapists-patients-and-their-families/   Get a copy of Dr. Breggin's latest book: WHO ARE THE “THEY” - THESE GLOBAL PREDATORS? WHAT ARE THEIR MOTIVES AND THEIR PLANS FOR US? HOW CAN WE DEFEND AGAINST THEM? Covid-19 and the Global Predators: We are the Prey Get a copy: https://www.wearetheprey.com/   “No other book so comprehensively covers the details of COVID-19 criminal conduct as well as its origins in a network of global predators seeking wealth and power at the expense of human freedom and prosperity, under cover of false public health policies.”   ~ Robert F Kennedy, Jr Author of #1 bestseller The Real Anthony Fauci and Founder, Chairman and Chief Legal Counsel for Children's Health Defense.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour
The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour - 1.8.25

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2025 58:58


Since the first time Man planted a garden or fought a battle, weather has been vital to success and survival. The weather has famously decided wars. In some cases, weather has been the key factor in the rise and fall of whole Empires. Like many other contemporary real experts, today's guest, Jim Lee, is an independent researcher, in this case, into weather modification.   Why Weather Matters   George Washington avoided surrendering his army in the Battle of Long Island by deceiving the British about his movements and then withdrawing 9,000 men, supplies, and cannons overnight and into the next morning across the East River while a fog miraculously provided cover. If that Providential escape had failed, the War of Independence could have ended.   Napoleon attacked Imperial Russia as winter arrived and was soundly defeated by both poor planning and the vicious cold, decimating the French army, which had over 100,000 men captured, 380,000 dead, and only 27,000 returning to France.   Decades later, despite France's failure in 1812, Hitler's army tried attacking the Soviet Union during World War II and managed to hang on with brutal tactics until winter arrived and the Germans were soundly defeated. Many of the German survivors who managed to make it back to Germany alive were badly disfigured by frostbite, which had claimed noses, eyelids, fingers, and toes. The Germans also murdered over 1 million civilian Soviet Jews during the invasion. The German army troops captured over 5 million Soviet troops and deliberately starved over 3.3 million Soviet prisoners of war in brutal disregard for the established rules of war. Despite the most savage and determined fighting, the weather heavily influenced the failure of the German assault upon the Soviet Union.   Any effective military will invest whatever it can to predict, manage, and manipulate weather systems.   More recently, during the Vietnam War, the US seeded clouds over the Ho Chi Min trail in order to mire down enemy North Vietnamese soldiers from moving South.   Growing Concern About Abuses of Weather Control in the US   Many concerns have arisen that Earth's weather is being manipulated in ways harmful to the citizenry and the economy. The hurricane that hit the Hawaiian Island of Maui and the accompanying firestorm that devastated the town of Lahaina in 2023 with grave loss of life and destruction of the community appeared very suspicious. Hurricane Helene and then Milton chewed up Florida and demolished Southeastern Appalachia communities in North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. Have behaved in unusual ways and produced unusual and shockingly high amounts of damage and loss of life. Many citizens have questioned what aspects of the storms may have been “enhanced” or manipulated. The lack of official assistance being provided to survivors of these devastating events has understandably increased suspicion.   The federal government has done nothing to alleviate citizen concerns; instead, it has encouraged censorship through social media. The usual claims of conspiracy theory have been lobbed against anyone raising these questions, but as it turns out, citizens are asking very good questions.   Government Censorship   The federal government censors and curtails information and public discussion on subjects like weather manipulation. For a good review of the state of government censorship in the world today, listen to the Joe Rogan interview with Mike Benz that aired this month. The federal government funds, coordinates, and gives orders to its own branches and federal agencies and to non-government organizations (NGOs), nonprofits, universities, and others to censor and eliminate free speech. There are literally hundreds of thousands of hired individuals manipulating the truth as hired guns through traditional news outlets, social media, university outlets, book publishers, and scientific journals.   Weather Modification, Inc.   The absurdity of these government denials was recently highlighted by a photo of a plane on TikTok with a large corporate logo across its fuselage that said, “Weather Modification, International.” The Weather Modification International website was surprisingly empty, but when I checked the web archive for earlier versions, I found that their website started being stripped of data in early 2020. The 2019 archive offered a more robust introduction to the company. Turns out, Weather Modification Inc. has been operating since its founding in 1961 by two farmers/pilots. As of 2019, the company had grown to almost 40 aircraft and 100 personnel. Here is a screenshot of the 2019 “Who We Are” web page.     Weather Modification, Incorporated has been in business since 1961. Their current website declares:   “When most people look up they see clouds. WE SEE POTENTIAL.” About us: Now, more than ever, the worldwide need for solutions to atmospheric necessities such as water resource management and environmental quality monitoring, is critical. With nearly a half-century of successful programs, our experience speaks for itself.   Let us help you better manage your atmospheric and water resources.   In the archive, Weather Modification Inc. had a very robust and international list of governmental, military, academic, and private clients. The client list for the United States included the US Department of Defense (DOD), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its National Hurricane Center, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, several state cloud seeding or weather modification programs, and more. They also have a number of international government clients.   Our Guest Today, Jim Lee   Despite censorship and other barriers, some intrepid truth-tellers have been collecting and revealing the discovered facts and information concerning both the details of weather manipulation and how it has now been weaponized against U.S. citizens, against all moral and legal limitations.   One of these truth-tellers is today's guest, Jim Lee. He has devoted his work to “separating fact from fiction regarding geoengineering, pollution, privacy, and propaganda in an easy-to-understand way.”   Jim Lee has been gathering and sharing news regarding weather manipulation since 2012. He has gathered and published a collection of historical evidence and news about weather modification that I believe is unmatched anywhere else. His goals are to “enact changes in laws worldwide to bring transparency and accountability for weather modification and geoengineering experiments.” The interview with Jim Lee makes clear that there is nothing conspiratorial about weather modification except the government's attempts to hide it from the public.     His historical Weather Modification History internet collection of thousands of news articles going back more than 100 years is a masterpiece in organization and research. In addition to the screenshots of the media articles, each is linked to the full version of the article, offering an unprecedented review of the history of documented weather management and manipulation.   Lee's accompanying climate viewer maps website is his most remarkable feat, inviting visitors to explore weather issues in depth. His maps are gorgeous.   Jim Lee has directly addressed what he calls the “pseudoscience, fear-porn, clickbait, and the facts” surrounding Helene and Milton. He concludes that proving federal or any other attempts to modify the hurricanes cannot be done but that seeding with chemicals or mechanical devices is possible but there is no data to prove it in this case.   Jim Lee examines in detail on his website why radar or HAARP involvement is impossible, explaining:   First of all, HAARP was not on during either of these storms. If you want to learn more about HAARP and the three ionospheric heaters worldwide, check out my page on Space Weather Modification. You can tell when HAARP is on simply by checking HAM radio or WebSDR and tuning into 2.8 to 10 MHz. It was not.   That leaves NEXRAD Doppler radar, aka WSR-88D. Can a NEXRAD radar alter a hurricane? NO! Why? It's all about the numbers. NEXRAD can produce a peak of 750,000 watts with an average power of around 1300 watts. Let's compare that to a hurricane:   7,000,000,000,000,000 watts or joules/second. 7 quadrillion watts vs 750,000 watts. You do the math.   There is a great deal of old-fashioned weather modifications through seeding and chemtrails (pollution in the sky whether as a byproduct of exhaust or deliberately produced) that have resulted in changing conditions for some of our most fertile and fruitful farmlands turning them from abundant crop producers to wastelands. That alone–the loss of millions of acres of cropland—and the bounty they produce, is alarming enough to warrant our direct attention.   Were the recent hurricanes manipulated by seeding clouds in some way? Lee says, “There isn't evidence.” There are disagreements within the freedom network about this point, but Lee says he and colleagues looked for any airplane traffic, but there was none. So, unless there were undiscovered spy planes with their identifying transponders turned off, there was no manipulation.   There is confirmation of weather modification and manipulation that has now clearly been directed at our own United States citizens and their productivity. Our guest, Jim Lee, tells us about how these practices are used by governments, federal and sometimes state, as well as by private industries. Reasons for manipulating weather vary and include efforts to increase or decrease rainfall and water tables through snow melt and to encourage greater amounts of snow for ski season. Managing rainfall to perfect the growing and harvesting of crops is also attempted.   One of the most serious aspects of climate manipulation is the tolerance shown and lack of measurement of nanoparticles that are spewed into the upper atmosphere by global air traffic.   Listen to us today as we learn so much more about how heavily and capriciously our weather is manipulated, the risks this presents, and what we can do to protect ourselves and our world.   Jim Lee and his marvelous websites can all be found at Connect with ClimateViewer and Weather Modification History. Readers can also connect to Jim through his Substack: The Climate Viewer Report.   ______   Learn more about Dr. Peter Breggin's work: https://breggin.com/   See more from Dr. Breggin's long history of being a reformer in psychiatry: https://breggin.com/Psychiatry-as-an-Instrument-of-Social-and-Political-Control   Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal, the how-to manual @ https://breggin.com/a-guide-for-prescribers-therapists-patients-and-their-families/   Get a copy of Dr. Breggin's latest book: WHO ARE THE “THEY” - THESE GLOBAL PREDATORS? WHAT ARE THEIR MOTIVES AND THEIR PLANS FOR US? HOW CAN WE DEFEND AGAINST THEM? Covid-19 and the Global Predators: We are the Prey Get a copy: https://www.wearetheprey.com/   “No other book so comprehensively covers the details of COVID-19 criminal conduct as well as its origins in a network of global predators seeking wealth and power at the expense of human freedom and prosperity, under cover of false public health policies.”   ~ Robert F Kennedy, Jr Author of #1 bestseller The Real Anthony Fauci and Founder, Chairman and Chief Legal Counsel for Children's Health Defense.

Foundations of Amateur Radio
Bald Yak - week 2

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2024 7:02


Foundations of Amateur Radio Bald Yak, week 2 During the week an interesting question was put to me. Am I going to make this into a GNU Radio tutorial? In short, no and yes. At this point I know enough about what I'm attempting, to recognise that I'll be deep diving into the bowels of GNU Radio and the inevitable idiosyncrasies that a large project like that has and as a result I'll likely have to explain the context in which something broke, which will no doubt result in me having to walk you through the details. So, this means that there will be trips into how this thing works, but I'm not currently planning a GNU Radio course, not only because that's not what Bald Yak is about, but because I like to know what I'm talking about, even if the peanut gallery might at this point call out: "Why start now?" -- yes, from time to time, what I'm talking about here is based on something I'm still in the process of learning and obviously I make mistakes. Now, if you haven't been playing along, let me state the purpose of why I'm here. "The Bald Yak project aims to create a modular, bidirectional and distributed signal processing and control system that leverages GNU Radio." In the pursuit of happiness, I've been resisting making a table with the various communication protocols in use to extract data and control the data stream within the software defined radio world. I've been avoiding this because I don't feel like I know the landscape well enough. Of course, making the table will create a better understanding, chicken and egg. I do have a handle on what functionality is required. So, in the spirit of writing it down or it didn't happen, here's what I know. This thing needs to be bi-directional because it needs to be able to receive and transmit. I don't yet know if this functionality needs to be symmetric. What I mean by that is that I don't know if both directions need the same functionality. Consider for example a distributed receiver decoder. Imagine a device that spits out bytes at a particular rate. These bytes represent received radio signal. How and what they are specifically I'll leave alone for the moment. This information needs to be read and processed. The processing could happen on the same computer, or it could be a separate computer connected to the local network, or a remote network across the internet. There could be more than one computer doing the work. We could choose to send the whole stream of bytes, our radio signal, to every computer. This is how YouTube works when multiple people watch the same video - and yes, I'm ignoring caching for the moment. It requires a boatload of network bandwidth and hardware. You could send part of the signal to a receiver, this is how WebSDR works. This requires a mechanism to select and control each part of the data stream. A third option is to use a networking technique called multicast. It provides a way to send a data intensive stream, like our radio signal, to multiple computers simultaneously. NASA uses this to distribute radio signals all over the place. I used it in the early 1990's to broadcast a live radio show I hosted, Online Computing Radio, across the globe with listeners in Sweden, Switzerland and Greenland whilst I was in a radio studio in Perth, Western Australia. This only to say that multicast has been around for a long time. Another way to look at this is that a radio transmission is a multicast signal. As long as you're within range, anyone can receive the same signal. To keep track of what we were talking about, this is discussing how a digitised received radio signal is distributed to various computers for processing. Each of those three methods can be combined in interesting ways depending on requirements. For example, a spectrum logging tool might expect the entire stream, but an FM decoder might only want one little slice, a RTTY decoder might want a different slice and an FT8 decoder yet another. Before I go on, let me come up with some terms. No doubt these will get refined, but for now, I'm going to define a receiver as a computer that acts as a destination, or sink, for a stream of radio bytes across the network. Similarly, I'll define a computer that generates a source of radio bytes as a transmitter. I'm not yet sure what to call the computer that's physically connected to the antenna, but I'll start with using the term "antenna node". This isn't strictly accurate, since there's more than an antenna there, but I have to start somewhere. I note that GNU Radio calls a transmitter a source and calls a receiver a sink. With that nomenclature, our "antenna node" would be considered both a sink and a source, which doesn't really help us here. Back to the receiver. All of this needs some form of control intelligence, as-in, a receiver needs to be able to control where the signal comes from, or said differently, you need to be able select an antenna node. Not only that, you need to be able to tell the antenna node specifically what data you want and perhaps in what form. Now, on the reverse side of this, the transmit chain, do we need the same functionality? Does an antenna node need to be able to accommodate multiple transmitters? Does such a thing exist? Do we want it to exist? How would we get one data stream from the transmitter to the antenna node? How would we do this with multiple streams? Is the same control system required? At this point you're likely to realise that this isn't trivial. We can pick something and just start, but I'd like to spend at least a little amount of time considering the options. With over 40 years in the computing field I'm leaning towards making the transmit and receive identical because we don't yet know what we don't know and besides I can sort of see how multiple transmitters might use the same antenna node and what the real world applications of this might be. Something else to wrap your head around, what if the transmit logic was the reverse of the receive logic, as-in, the same thing, just swapping sink and source around. It has a certain elegance about it, even if I don't yet know how this might be achieved. I'd also like to take a moment to thank Kevin VE7ZD, Nick VA3NNW and Mark W1MM for their thoughts and suggestions. Keep them coming. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Foundations of Amateur Radio
In the beginning was the contact

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2024 7:02


Foundations of Amateur Radio Getting started in our hobby can be a challenge. Even if you've got a shiny new license and you've been taught what the legal requirements are, you might even have your first radio, but after that it might feel like you're all on your own in this bright and shiny new world. It doesn't have to be that way. First thing to know is that you are exactly where all other amateurs have been before you. In other words, don't stress too much about what you don't know or what mistakes you might make. I recently read a comment from a new amateur who was so scared of making a mistake that they hadn't made their first contact. You should know that there is a massive difference between making an accidental mistake and knowingly interfering with another service. Here's some mistakes I've made. My license permits a maximum power level of 10 Watts. I dutifully set-up my radio to do just that, made my first contact on HF using 10 Watts, only to learn later that power levels are set separately for HF, 6m, VHF and UHF on my specific radio. So, the second time I keyed up my microphone, I was using 50 Watts. Not only that, I didn't quite understand how to set-up my radio for repeater use, so I keyed up on the output frequency and happily talked to the other station, blissfully unaware that I wasn't actually using the repeater. It wasn't until several years later that I learnt that the minimum power level was 5 Watts on all bands, except UHF, where it is 2 Watts. And as icing on the cake, one day I managed a 2m contact across about 70 km, from my car. It wasn't until later in the night that I discovered that all the settings on my radio had reset and it was again using 50 Watts. Another time I was in the club radio shack and having some fun with the club station. I tuned to a 2m frequency and called CQ. Didn't hear anything. Then I discovered that I'd missed a decimal point and was actually transmitting on the 20m band, where I'm not permitted with my license. Each of those things are outside the restrictions of my license, but made by mistake, not on purpose. Instead of stressing about it, I went, oops, and carried on with a new lesson learnt. I will point out that I'm certain that there are more, mistakes, feel free to let me know. Those concerns aside, finding people to talk to is another barrier to entry. We have all these bands and there's nobody about. It reminds me of a funny story I've shared before, told by Wally VK6YS, now SK. In his early amateur radio days he operated from Cockatoo Island, an island off the north coast of Western Australia, near Yampi Sound, which is where his callsign came from. With a new radio and transverter for 6m, Wally had been calling CQ for weeks, but nobody would talk to him. Occasionally he'd hear a faint voice in the background. Meanwhile it transpired that amateurs across Japan were getting upset that he wasn't responding to their 20 and 40 over 9 signal reports. His transmission was getting out just fine, his receiver wasn't working nearly as well. Turns out that during manufacturing, a pin on the back of his transverter hadn't been soldered correctly. Oops. Once he fixed that, he worked 150 Japanese stations on the first day and a lifelong love of the 6m band was born. One hard learnt lesson is that the bands are constantly changing. If you cannot hear anything on one band, try another. If the band is quiet, it's likely because the conditions for that band are bad, but generally this is only true on HF. On VHF and UHF, the opposite is often true. Some bands, like 10m and 6m behave more like VHF, but not always. 20m can go from brilliant to abysmal and back in seconds, sometimes during the contact. Each band has its own idiosyncrasies that you'll need to explore before you can hope to improve your chances of success and even years of playing will often get you surprises. I recall trying, for giggles only, to call CQ on a pretty quiet band only to score an unexpected contact with a Central European station on the other side of the globe. A good rule of thumb is to go where the action is. If you can hear others, they're much more likely to hear you. While this is not universally true, it's a good starting point. Of course, you don't need to physically have a radio to experience any of this. There are many websites that provide you with access to radio tuners. If you search for WebSDR or KiwiSDR you'll come across hundreds of online receivers that you can tune and operate on the frequencies they support using just your web browser. Some have the ability to decode digital modes within the web page, so you won't even have to install any extra software to play. You might think that using such a receiver is not really amateur radio, but I'd like to point out that a transceiver is both a transmitter and a receiver. You can get the receiver right there in your web browser. The transmitter is a little more complex, but technically also possible. Many amateur clubs have a remote accessible station which will allow you to get started. That kills two birds with one stone, you get to interact with the people in the club and you get to play on-air without needing to figure out just which radio to get and what antenna to connect it to and where to put either. Other places to find new friends are of course social media, the so-called fediverse, a collection of social networking services that can communicate with each other, has several communities. You can get started at https://mastodon.radio and https://lemmy.radio. There's plenty of other on-air activities like Nets, discussion groups where you can get to know other amateurs. I run a weekly Net for new and returning amateurs called F-troop on Saturday morning midnight UTC for an hour, where you can say hello and ask questions. We pass the microphone around a circle, so everyone gets a go. You'll find more information at https://ftroop.groups.io. Getting started does not have to be a daunting experience. Get on-air, make noise and before you know it, you'll have forgotten just how much you worried about things that really didn't cause any issues in the big picture. If you're still stuck, drop me an email, cq@vk6flab.com and I'll attempt to point you in the right direction. What are you waiting for? I'm Onno VK6FLAB

TechtalkRadio
EPISODE 359 – Everything Everywhere All Too Quick

TechtalkRadio

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2023 54:36


This week on TechtalkRadio, Andy and Shawn explore some tech gadget ideas for kids as Shawn's Son approaches his first birthday, including a not very traditional Roku Remote without batteries that Shawn found to be a fun toy. Shawn also discusses his experience with the Endor 3 3D Printer and how he used it to create useful items for his home, such as a baby gate designed from Thingiverse. Additionally, he shares his thoughts on the new Wyze Wireless Gaming Headset, highlighting both its pros and cons. Andy also weighs in on the discussion, sharing his preferred headphones for work and gaming, including the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro and SteelSeries Arctis 7. Finally, they touch on the exciting new partnership between Roku and Wyze, which includes the integration of Wyze cameras into the Roku platform. Andy discusses his recent news segments on the dangers of text spam, email scams, and the emerging threat of voice AI, which could be used to capture voice prints and scam people in your social circle. He also shares his experience with Voice.AI, one of the best voices deepfake sites he's come across, and even surprises Shawn with a demo of one of the voices he created. While the service can be pricy, it certainly has its fun uses however could also have risks associated with it. Andy also shares a frustrating experience with BingChatAI, which ended a chat with him because it felt he was being confrontational when he was just trying to provide accurate information about TechtalkRadio. CEO of RAXCO Software, Bob Nolan, joins Andy Taylor to discuss the company's history and offerings. With roots dating back to 1978, RAXCO Software began as a provider of system management tools and has since evolved to offer a range of solutions, including server management, system backups, and quick restoration options. Bob and Andy also discuss the importance of these solutions in the context of recent ransomware attacks, such as the one experienced by the Tucson Unified School District earlier this year. Specifically, they delve into RAXCO's Instant Recovery technology and how it has helped organizations recover from such attacks. Shawn shares the Cool Website of the Week, WebSDR.org for those wanting to check out Amateur Radio Cast around the World. Connect with Us on social media! Facebook @techtalkers YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/techtalkradio Twitter @TechtalkRadio Instagram techtalkradio Web: TechtalkRadio.Com Subscribe and Like on Spreaker! Spotify, YouTube, Audacy, iHeart and Apple Podcast

TheOxfordAmbientCollective
Signal To Noise (collab With Encym)

TheOxfordAmbientCollective

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2022 4:58


A collaboration with a music friend Encym (Roland). I have done a few collaborations with Roland now and it is always a pleasure to work with him. This track contains a number of wonderful samples that Roland sent me. These have been manipulated with an app called SpaceCraft and with effects added from a Nembrini delay. Radio sounds have come from an app called WebSDR. The track was put together in AUM.

HamRadioNow
HRN 427: Our Ten Point Tooth Anniversary, and MARS Interop

HamRadioNow

Play Episode Listen Later May 11, 2022 147:51


10.2 years ago, HamRadioNow evolved out of ARVN//AmateurRadioVideoNews's DVD production business with a series of programs recorded during a visit to the Orlando HamCation in February, 2012. So we're a couple months late… hence the ‘point tooth' appendage to the big Ten Years. Well, we were kinda off the air that month, and we forgot all about it for the most recent two episodes (apparently it wasn't that big a deal). But watching the 7th Anniversary Episode of HamRadio 2.0 reminded us. So Congratulations, Jason KC5HWB and congratulations, us! (BTW, Jason has been producing ham radio shows full time for the past two years. Awesome!).Gary remembers: I wasn't the first ham to think of the show name HamRadioNow. Ten years ago, when I went looking into that name, I found out that the domain HamRadioNow.com was already owned… but not in use… by Tom Loughney AJ4XM. Tom's early career was as a broadcast engineer, and he had hopes and dreams of making shows under the HamRadioNow banner. But they weren't coming together when I asked him about the URL. It was about to expire, and he let it go, so I got it. Thanks, Tom - I hope we've done you proud. Note that we've promoted ourselves as HamRadioNow.TV, but it would have been awkward to have a different ‘dot com' out there. I'm glad we have both.As part of the ‘celebration', we're giving away one of Gary's old (and beloved) handhelds, an ICOM W2A. This model was manufactured in the early 1990s. It's a dual-band, dual-display radio that can receive on both a VHF and a UHF channel at the same time (take THAT, Anytone 878 and most Baofengs). It holds 30 VHF and 30 UHF memory channels, and it's the first ICOM dual-band, dual-display radio in a ‘smaller than a brick' form factor. And as of a recent check of used equipment, it has almost zero monetary value. It comes with the drop-in charger, but needs a new battery. Then it should be good to go! It did work when we tested it before the show, but it offered ‘as is' with no warranty or expectation that it will be anything more than a curious paperweight. Enter to win? This giveaway is open to licensed hams only, and the radio will be shipped only to a US postal address. If you quality, enter by leaving the comment “I want it” on either this episode's YouTube page or Facebook Group post. Make sure your name and call sign are obvious in your comment. We'll choose a winner at random from qualified entries after Friday, May 13, 2022, and reply with ‘It's You'!' as a reply to your comment. You then reply by email to kn4aq@arvn.tv, and we'll get your shipping address. Then we'll tie the package to the back of a nearby turtle and send it on its way.Meanwhile, back on our episode… Last week we noted that a MARS/Amateur Radio Interoperability Test would be happening during the week. Gary tuned in from his Q-Mobile, and later (thanks to a tip from host David W0DHG) on some WebSDR receivers. The operation demonstrated 60 meter propagation, both daytime and night, as the MARS stations (using ‘tactical' call signs like Delta X-Ray) requested some real-time information from hams in specific locations around the US. We played some video of our observation while Army MARS Chief Paul English WD8DBY / AAA6B told us what we were watching. It was fun listening, and probably even more fun for the hams who participated.We also welcomed back Marty Sullaway NN1C (formerly KC1CWF or

tv mars dvd btw tooth norcal uhf ham radio vhf icom interop orlando hamcation websdr hamradionow kc1cwf
TheOxfordAmbientCollective
Project Adzan (with Pete Swinton) - 1 - Shortwave

TheOxfordAmbientCollective

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2022 5:48


This is track is start of a new collaboration with my music friend Pete Swinton. I will be re-working some of his tracks from his excellent Project Drone Adzan Maghrib album. https://peteswinton.bandcamp.com/album/project-drone-adzan-maghrib This track is a re-work of the Project Adzan 1. It was mixed in the AUM app on my iPad and used the excellent apps Bleass Slow Machine, WebSDR, Magic Dice, auDSPr and Barricade.

Foundations of Amateur Radio
Testing your radio's audio frequency response

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2022 4:31


Foundations of Amateur Radio During the week I was reading a comment from another amateur about digital modes. Tucked inside that comment was a phrase that could easily have been overlooked, but it reminded me that there is plenty to learn and test in the field of amateur radio. The phrase, "requires actual understanding of audio level paths" was uttered by Chris, VK2CJB and it prompted a brief conversation at the time, but I've been working on it ever since. Where I arrived at is an attempt, incomplete as yet, to design a mechanism to show the impact of various transmitter settings on the received audio in such a way that you can test your own gear and see the result. Before I explain how I'm doing this, let me describe why it's important. Using a radio in concept is pretty simple, if you yell into the microphone, the audio comes out distorted and if you whisper, it might also be distorted, but in a different way, neither is conducive to communication. One way to improve this is a tool called the ALC. Using Automatic Level Control as a guide to what level your audio should be is outlined in every amateur radio manual I've seen, but how much it matters and to what extent is left unsaid. If you apply a filter or any number of other fancy options, what happens to your audio? To get some sense of what I'm describing, listening back to your own voice after it comes across HF SSB is surprisingly distorted in comparison to a local recording. You might argue, what's the harm, as long as the other station can hear my voice, we're good to go. Sure, if voice is all you're using, but what if it's data? In that case, the audio you're transmitting is actually encoded digital information. To decode it, the software needs to deal with frequencies, distortion and levels to name a few. In computer science, "garbage in, garbage out" is the concept that flawed, or nonsense input data produces nonsense output. In our case, if you transmit garbage, the receiver is going to start with garbage and what gets decoded is likely not what you expect. Without going into error correction, essentially, the cleaner the path between the transmitter and the receiver, the higher the chances of success and to be fair, you already know this when you attempt to work a pile-up on a noisy band. "Again, again, just the prefix, again!", sound familiar? To achieve this I started with the idea that you could transmit a tone and if you knew what it was, you could determine the difference between what was sent and what was received. My first step was to generate a single 1 kHz tone, but then I wondered what would happen if you did multiple tones, one after the other. My current version is an audio frequency sweep, running from 0 to 5 kHz in five seconds. It's essentially a computer generated sequence of tones with known characteristics. You transmit this audio file using your radio and then record it off air, either from a local receiver, WebSDR, or the radio belonging to a friend. Using the recording, you can create a spectrogram, a picture, showing the frequencies over time present in the audio. Compare the two and you just learnt what each setting on your radio does precisely to the audio. Of course it's simple for me to say this, but I'm working on using a tool I've spoken about before, csdr, to do the heavy lifting, so you can actually do a meaningful comparison between the various audio files. In the mean time, I've managed to use SoX, the so-called Swiss Army knife of sound processing programs to both generate the audio sweep and draw a preliminary spectrogram. Next up is showing some side-by-side images of various radio settings and their effect on the spectrogram. I'll publish this on my website when I have something to show-and-tell. I also don't yet know if my source audio file is going to be sufficient, but I'll subject that to some testing as well. For example, I'm investigating multiple simultaneous audio sweeps with different frequency ranges. The more complex the spectrogram, the more we might be able to learn from the distortion on receive, but time will tell. If you have some ideas on how to improve this, let me know. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Foundations of Amateur Radio
You in the community ...

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2021 2:49


Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day a member of our community proudly showed off their plaque for first place as a Short Wave Listener or SWL in the Poland SP DX Contest. Together with their dad they listened on 80m using a WebSDR and logged all the contacts they were able to hear. Their participation didn't include transmitters, since neither have got their callsigns, yet. To me this illustrates exactly what it's like to dip your toes into the world of amateur radio and it's a path that many amateurs have taken to become licensed and transmitting. I'm mentioning this because that same short wave listener also won a platinum diploma from the anniversary of Stanislaw Lem's 100th birthday amateur contest. If that name sends tingles of excitement down your spine, you're familiar with his work. If not, you might be interested to know that Stanislaw Lem was a world acclaimed Polish writer of science fiction who died in 2006. This random discovery, in addition to giving me ideas about opportunities for contests and awards, reminded me of other times when in one setting I've been surprised by information relating to another setting. In this case, science fiction. In previous workplaces I've come across software developers, technicians and managers who outside their roles in computing were active as volunteer fire-fighters, paramedics, writers, stage performers, singers, foster parents and more. It occurred to me that we in the amateur radio community spend most, if not all, of our time discussing amateur radio, but that we likely share other interests with our community. I recently discovered other science fiction nerds, a cos-player, there's some volunteer fire-fighters and the like, no doubt there's more. My point being that in addition to finding more common ground between us as a community, we also have the opportunity to share our hobby with other people who share our interests. It's hard to imagine that science fiction fans and fire-fighters for example are unable to relate to amateur radio. Don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating that you hit the members of your other communities over the back of the head with amateur radio. Instead, think of it as another way to connect to that group. The thing that strikes me about our amateur community is the diversity that it encompasses. It means that there's likely plenty of other interests that you will find that bind you to other amateurs and it likely means that your other hobbies and interests might share some of your amateur interests. Truth be told, as all consuming as amateur radio is, it's not the only thing that defines you and it's not the only thing of interest to the people around you. What those interests are is up to you. Only one way to find out. Talk with your friends. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

GB2RS
RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for August 29th 2021.

GB2RS

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2021 16:38


GB2RS News Sunday 29th August 2021 The news headlines: G QRP Convention details announced RSGB releases more Online Convention info Farnham WebSDR to close   The G QRP club has released a detailed agenda for its Online Convention 2021, taking place on the 4th and 5th of September. The event comprises a series of online presentations and knowledge-sharing meetings where people can share ideas and ask questions. You can find all the details at gqrp.com. The RSGB has announced further details of its online Convention, which will be held on Saturday the 9th of October. The event will be streamed live on the Society's YouTube channel. Andrew Barron, ZL3DW will present an entertaining talk about Software Defined Radio that re-evaluates what we mean by SDR. The talk is technical, but not too technical; no maths – well, not much – no software code and no vector diagrams. It is suitable for those who want to learn more about software-defined radio. Ray Novak, N9JA from Icom is well-known in DXing circles. He will look at the question of would you like to be on a DXpedition that doesn't break the bank? He will help you get interesting ideas on how to have fun as if you were on a DXpedition to a rare entity because your next amateur adventure could be as close as your local park. Whether you're new to amateur radio or have been enjoying it for years, do put the 9th of October in your diary. You can find more information at rsgb.org/convention. The popular amateur radio WebSDR at Farnham is to close in a few weeks due to a change of site ownership. It is hoped to eventually relocate to a new site, and the operators are asking for help to identify a suitable location. More at farnham-sdr.com. Ron White, G6LTT has been co-opted as RSGB Regional Representative 9, London and Thames Valley, until the RSGB 2022 AGM. He can be contacted by email to rr9@rsgb.org.uk. Other appointments include Martin Hallard, G1TYV who takes up the role of District Representative 52, Central and East Birmingham and Leigh Preece, M5GWH, District Representative 55, Staffordshire. The Cambridge Repeater Group Foxton Rally is still going ahead on Sunday the 19th of September, however, there will not be a Bring & Buy. Car Boot traders are welcome. See cambridgerepeaters.net for details. If you are planning a visit to the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park, please note that the RSGB will continue asking visitors to wear a face mask or shield, unless exempt. This policy is in the interest of volunteer and visitor safety, as there is limited airflow and it can get crowded in the theatre and technology areas. The RSGB is actively looking to recruit additional volunteers to join the team, particularly for the weekends. If you think this could be of interest to you, contact Martyn, G0GMB via email to martyn.baker@rsgb.org.uk. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may be alterations or cancellations due to the pandemic. As previously publicised, the Milton Keynes ARS Rally, originally due to be held on the 29th of August, is cancelled. The organisers look forward to welcoming visitors again in 2022. The organisers of the Torbay Amateur Radio Society are very pleased to be able to confirm that the annual communications rally is going ahead today, the 29th of August. The event is being held at the Newton Abbot Racecourse site. Further details are at tars.org.uk. The Huntingdonshire ARS Rally will take place on bank holiday Monday, the 30th, at Ernulf Academy, St Neots PE19 2SH. Gates open for the public at 9 pm. There is free car parking, a Bring and Buy and indoor and outdoor stalls are available. More at hunts-hams.co.uk. The online G-QRP Convention takes place on the 4th and 5th of September. See gqrp.com. The annual Telford HamFest takes place on the 5th of September, at the Harper Adams University campus near Telford, Shropshire. In addition to the usual wide range of traders and exhibitors, there will be presentations by three prominent speakers covering topics such as EME, antennas and RTTY. The event opens at 10.15 am, with talk-in via GB4THF. Details can be found at telfordhamfest.org.uk. Now the DX news A group will be active as TM3U from the Saint Marcouf Islands, IOTA reference EU-081, until the 3rd of September. They will operate CW, SSB and digital modes on the 80 to 6m bands. They also plan to be active on the QO-100 satellite. All QSOs will be uploaded to Club Log and confirmed automatically via the bureau; direct cards should be sent to ON8AZ. See eu081.be for updates. Matt, AF2F will be active again as AF2F/W4 from Hatteras Island, NA-067 until the 4th of September. He will operate CW and FT8 on the HF bands, and Q65 on 6 metres. QSL via Club Log's OQRS. Paco, EA7KNT plans to be active as D4SAL from Sal, AF-086, in Cape Verde until the 5th of September. Now the Special Event news Nigel, M0NJW will be active as GB1SAK between the 3rd and the 5th of September during the St Anne's Kite Festival. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. This special event station will run from the beach using a long wire supported by a kite flying at a maximum of 60m above the ground. The Shropshire Linux User Group is celebrating 30 years of the Linux operating system with GB4TUX from the 4th of September. The call will be activated from the Telford Hamfest on the 5th of September. Members of Leyland & District Amateur Radio will be activating a disused 1950s passenger liner on the 4th and 5th of September. The TSS Duke of Lancaster is beached on the River Dee Estuary, North Wales. The group will operate as GB1DOL with a mixture of SSB, CW, FM and FT8 on HF and the 2m band. Details are on QRZ.com. Members of the Air Training Corps from Surrey Wing will be operating GB80ATC at their Annual Field Day at Brooklands Museum in Weybridge on the 4th of September. This marks the 80th anniversary of the Air Training Corps. The station plans to be operating on the 2m band using FM and on the 80 to 12m bands depending on conditions. Operations will be between 9 am and 4 pm. The Alabama Contest Group will operate a Special Event commemorating the victims of the 9/11 attacks. It will run from the 5th of September at 0000UTC to the 12th of September at 2359UTC. The callsign will be K4A and there will be special QSL cards available. QSL with SASE to Bob Beaudoin, WA1FCN. 9Y59IND will be on the air to celebrate Trinidad and Tobago's 59th Independence Day. Running until the 12th of September, it will operate HF SSB, FT8, EME, DMR and D-Star. A schedule of activities can be found at 9y59ind.info. Riviera Amateur Radio Club will be running GB8BB in September in commemoration of those who served in the Battle of Britain. This year is the 80th anniversary. Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following any government recommendations during the pandemic. This weekend is the World-Wide Digi DX contest. It runs for 24 hours from 1200UTC on the 28th to 1200UTC on the 29th. Using FT4 and FT8 on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is your 4-character locator. Today, the 29th, the UK Microwave group contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 5.7 and 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator. Also on Wednesday, the UK EI Contest Club 80m contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your 6-character locator. On Saturday, the CWops CW Open contest runs for the full 24 hours. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is serial number and your name. There are three 4-hour sessions to this contest. Next weekend is a busy one for contests. The SSB Field Day runs from 1300UTC on the 4th to 1300UTC on the 5th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The IARU Region 1 Field Day also runs for 24 hours from 1300UTC on the 4th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The 144MHz Trophy Contest also runs for 24-hours from 1300UTC on the 4th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The All Asian DX contest runs for 48 hours next weekend from 0000UTC on the 4th. It is SSB only on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands. The exchange is signal report and your age, although ladies can just send 00. The 2nd Fox Mike Hotel Portable Operations Challenge will take place on the 4th and 5th of September. Session 1 is 0800 to 1159UTC on the 4th; Session 2 is 1600 to 1959UTC also on the 4th; Session 3 is 0000 to 0359UTC is on the 5th. This contest uses the 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80m bands. CW, phone and digital contacts are permitted. Full details at foxmikehotel.com/challenge. Next Sunday, the 5th, the fifth 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 1100 to 1500UTC. Using all modes on the 144MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The Worked All Britain 144MHz QRO contest will take place on the 5th of September from 1000 to 1400UTC. The full rules are on their website. Entries to be with the contest manager by the 15th of September. Mobile and portable categories have resumed, but the organisers ask that participants please act sensibly. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 27th of August. We had another week with a quiet Sun, but it wasn't as settled as you might think. Yes, the solar flux index was in the low- to-mid-80s, but the Sun started to get very active. The first event on Sunday saw a prominence eruption off the west limb that flung a coronal mass ejection, or CME, into space. Another eruption near active region 2859 also launched a large amount of plasma into space, but luckily it was not headed towards Earth. So, by Thursday, we had two large sunspot groups visible, with perhaps region 2860 looking more and more active as it grows. Any potential CME activity occurring as a result of any solar flare this weekend will likely end up hitting the Earth. DX was a little sparse, but there were some nuggets to be had. Josep, EA3BT, on holiday in Tanzania, was workable on 15m as 5I3B and Pasi, OJ0W, on Market Reef, supplied CW QSOs for many stations on a mix of bands including 80 metres. Gary, G0FWX on the 10 metre UK Net Facebook group reported hearing Australia on 10m FT8 last week. Gary said: “I started working VKs in the middle of September on SSB last year, but this is a good sign”. Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the mid-70s with mainly settled geomagnetic conditions. Friday the third is the exception when the Kp index is set to rise to four. Maximum usable frequencies are starting to rise a little thanks to seasonal changes, with 18MHz and even 21MHz often open during the daytime. These openings will likely firm up as we head towards mid-September and head into Autumn ionospheric conditions. And now the VHF and up propagation news. High pressure looks very likely to dominate the weather charts for the coming week and will continue the Tropo-themed weather pattern of the last few days. Unlike Sporadic-E, Tropo tends to be long lasting but is usually better overnight and across sea paths like the North Sea or across Biscay to Spain and beyond to EA8. Don't forget to try modes other than FM and FT8, such as SSB or CW – and do call CQ if the band is quiet. Sporadic-E itself is looking less exciting as we head to the end of the current summer season. Fleeting events can still happen, and 10m will carry the most traffic with just the odd foray onto 6m on a good day. Meteor scatter via random meteors is usually at its best in August, so keep looking around dawn to benefit from the pre-dawn enhancement. This is caused by the dayside of the earth rotating into the flux of meteors in the orbital plane. There is just one small meteor shower this week, peaking on the 1st of September. The Aurigids have a low Zenithal Hourly Rate of just six. The Moon reaches apogee on Monday so path losses will be at their highest for the month. On the positive side, peak declination occurs on Thursday so we have high peak elevations over 60 degrees meaning less ground noise at VHF and long Moon visibility windows. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

Foundations of Amateur Radio
What radio should I buy as my first one?

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2021 4:53


Foundations of Amateur Radio Recently a budding new amateur asked the question: "What radio should I buy?" It's a common question, one I asked a decade ago. Over the years I've made several attempts at answering this innocent introduction into our community and as I've said before, the answer is simple but unhelpful. "It depends." Rather than explaining the various things it depends on, I'm going to attempt a different approach and in no particular order ask you some things to consider and answer for yourself in your journey towards an answer that is tailored specifically to your situation. "What's your budget?" How much money you have set aside for this experiment is a great start. In addition to training and license costs, you'll need to consider things like shipping, import duties and insurance, power leads and a power supply, coax leads and connectors and last but not least, adaptors, antennas and accessories. "Should you buy second hand or pre-loved?" If you have electronics experience that you can use to fix a problem with your new to you toy this is absolutely an option. When you're looking around, check the provenance associated with the equipment and avoid something randomly offered online with sketchy photos and limited information. Equipment is expensive. Check for stolen gear and unscrupulous sellers. "What do you want to do?" This hobby is vast. You can experiment with activities, locations, modes and propagation to name a few. If you're looking at a specific project, consider the needs for the accompanying equipment like a computer if what you want to explore requires that. You can look for the annual Amateur Radio Survey by Dustin N8RMA to read what others are doing. "What frequencies do you want to play on?" If you have lots of outdoor space you'll have many options to build antennas from anything that radiates, but if you're subject to restrictions because of where you live, you'll need to take those into account. You can also operate portable, in a car or on a hill, so you have plenty of options to get away from needing a station at home. "Are there other amateurs around you?" If you're within line of sight of other amateurs or a local repeater, then you should consider if you can start there. If that doesn't work, consider using HF or explore space communications. There are online tools to discover repeaters and local amateurs. "Is there a club you can connect to?" Amateur radio clubs are scattered far and wide across the planet and it's likely that there's one not too far from you. That said, there are plenty of clubs that interact with their members remotely. Some even offer remote access to the club radio shack using the internet. "Have you looked for communities to connect with?" There is plenty of amateur activity across the spectrum of social media, dedicated sites, discussion groups, email lists and chat groups. You can listen to podcasts, watch videos, read eBooks and if all that fails, your local library will have books about the fundamental aspects of our hobby. "Have you considered what you can do before spending money?" Figuring out the answers to many of these questions requires that you are somewhat familiar with your own needs. You need a radio to become an amateur, but you need to be an amateur to choose a radio. To get started, you don't need a radio. If you already have a license you can use tools like Echolink with a computer or a mobile phone. If you don't yet have a license, you can listen to online services like WebSDR, KiwiSDR and plenty of others. You can start receiving using a cheap RTL-SDR dongle and some wire. "Which brand should you get?" Rob NC0B has been testing radios for longer than I've been an amateur. His Sherwood testing table contains test results for 151 devices. The top three, Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu count for more than half of those results. This means that you'll likely find more information, more support and more local familiarity with those three. I will point out that Rob's list has 27 different brands on it, so look around and read reviews both by people who test the gear and those who use it. And finally, "Why are you here?" It's a serious question. Different things draw different people into this community. Think about what you like about it and what you want to do more of. Take those things into consideration when you select your radio. As you explore the answers to these questions, you'll start building a picture of what amateur radio means to you and with that will come the answer to the question: "What radio should I buy as my first one?" If there are other questions you'd like to ask, don't hesitate to get in touch. My address is cq@vk6flab.com. I look forward to hearing from you. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

GB2RS
RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for May 2nd 2021.

GB2RS

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2021 14:48


GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 2nd of May 2021 The news headlines: RSGB AGM appointments Club, Beacon and Repeater insurance renewed Help survey amateur radio At the RSGB AGM on the 24th of April, it was announced that Stewart Bryant, G3YSX has been elected as President of the Society and will serve until the 2023 AGM. We congratulate him and welcome him as RSGB President. Dave Wilson, M0OBW was elected as a Director of the Society and will serve until the 2024 AGM. Congratulations to him and many thanks to those Directors who have served during the year. Paul Devlin, G1SMP and David Hills, G6PYF were endorsed as nominated Directors of the Society and will serve until the 2024 AGM. Congratulations to them both. RSGB Club Insurance and Beacon and Repeater Insurance has now been renewed for the year to April 2022. Club Insurance Certificates can be downloaded from the RSGB website; please use your Membership Services login to obtain a copy of your Certificate. To ensure that your beacon or repeater is covered under the insurance, a £10 admin fee is required and you may renew this online at the RSGB shop. Please allow a couple of days after renewal for your certificate to be dispatched. The IARU Region 1 is running a strategic workshop on the future of amateur radio. Each of the national societies in the region has been asked to contribute information about amateur radio in their country. In preparation, the RSGB is conducting a short survey of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that apply to amateur radio in the UK. The Society would like to hear the views of all UK radio amateurs so please take a few minutes to fill in the survey at www.rsgb.org/survey. The deadline for responses is the 23rd of May. There are three new ways to listen to GB2RS news. John, G4TRN and Sean, G7NJX have been providing a regular UHF service via GB3ZB in Bristol for some time. Now, this repeater is interlinked to GB3FI in Cheddar to give extended coverage on both sides of the Mendips. The broadcast is at 9.30 am. Another new transmission comes from Richard, G0NAD near Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, serving the Tendring area on 433.525MHz FM at 11 am. GB2RS can now also be heard via the QO-100 amateur radio satellite. The transmission is provided by Keith, GU6EFB at 0800UTC, using upper sideband on 10489.900MHz, which is in the mixed-mode section of the narrowband transponder. QO-100 is a geostationary satellite with a footprint that covers Europe, Africa and India, so this news bulletin is a specially adapted international version. The RSGB would like to thank AMSAT-DL for their kind cooperation in making this broadcast possible. If you don’t have any 10GHz equipment but would still like to monitor the broadcast, there is a dedicated webSDR at batc.org.uk that requires no radio equipment. Just click on the ‘online’ tab. SOS Radio Week is an annual event that sees many amateur radio stations get on the air throughout the month of May. The aim is to raise awareness of the voluntary work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and National Coastwatch Institution. The event coincides with the RNLI’s own Mayday fundraising month. For further details of the event, visit sosradioweek.org.uk. Earlier this month Mike, G4GUG was interviewed on the University of the Third Age, or U3A, podcast. Mike is the amateur radio subject adviser at U3A. He shared his personal experience of enjoying amateur radio throughout his life and also highlighted the influx of new licensees over the last year. You can hear the podcast on the U3A YouTube channel; search for Episode 7. Mike’s interview starts about nine-and-a-half minutes into the podcast. Sixteen awards were given at this year’s AGM. This included the prestigious RSGB award of Life Vice President, which was bestowed on Dave Wilson, M0OBW. This rarely-given award was for his tireless devotion over many years to all aspects of amateur radio and the Society. Congratulations to everyone who received an award. You can see the trophies, the winners and read the full citations at rsgb.services/gb2rs/010. Now the DX news This year’s International DX Convention will be a virtual two-day meeting to be held on the 15th and 16th of May, with eight DX-related and eight exhibitor Zoom webinars respectively. Free pre-registration is required and is now open. See dxconvention.com for more information, including the programme details. Matthew, M0ZMS will be seconded to the RAF station at Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, IOTA reference SA-002, from late April to late August. He will be active as VP8ZMS, hopefully using the Royal Air Force ARS club station shack. He operates digital modes, CW and some SSB. QSL via home call and Logbook of The World; logsearch on Club Log. Lee, HL1IWD will be active holiday style as HL1IWD/4 from the Kogunsan Islands, AS-148, until the 3rd of May. He will operate CW and some FT8 on 40-20 metres. On his way back he will make a short stopover on Anmyon Island, AS-080, and will try to operate as HL1IWD/3. QSLs via EA5GL. Now the Special Event news GB0ME will be on the air until the 16th of May to highlight awareness of the medical condition ME. The official awareness day is the 12th of May. The schedule of calling is to be confirmed but, until the 16th, George, MM0JNL will be operating as GB0ME when working from home to get the callsign out there. On the 8th and 9th of May, GB2SXC and GB0SCW will be on air for the Stone Cross Windmill near Eastbourne. The stations are part of the Mills on the Air event. For further details email canavp@gmail.com. Guernsey Amateur Radio Society will be using GB5LIB for the 76th anniversary of the Liberation of the islands. The call will be activated by club members from 0001UTC on the 8th to 2359UTC on the 14th of May. All bands and modes from 160m to 10m will be used and maybe 4 and 6m, if conditions allow. See QRZ.com for details. Paul, G1OVK will be operating GB0SOS throughout May for SOS Radio week. Using HF, 2m and 70cm, he will operate SSB and digital. QSL via the bureau. GB2HLS will be operated by Wirral ARS from Hoylake Lifeboat station throughout May. This is part of the SOS Radio Week activities. On the 8th and 9th of May, Chesham & District ARS will operate GB0BWN at Brill Windmill as part of the Mills on the Air weekend. They will be using the 80m, 40m and 2m bands. Now the contest news With different parts of the UK having different lockdown restrictions, please make sure you follow the appropriate regulations. Several contests now accept portable entries, so please check the contest rules. Above all, please follow relevant national and local restrictions. This weekend, the 432MHz to 245GHz Trophy ends its 24-hour run at 1400UTC today, the 2nd of May. Using all modes on those bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Today, the 2nd, the 10GHz Trophy runs from 0800 to 1400UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The ARI International DX contest ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC today, the 2nd. Using CW, Phone and RTTY on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Italian stations also give their Province code. Today, the 2nd, the UK Microwave group Low Band Contest runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is the same for both, signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your signal report and 4-character locator. The fourth FT4 Series contest also takes place on Wednesday from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using the 3.5 to 14MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator. Next Sunday, the 9th, the 70MHz CW contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode. The Worked All Britain 40m Phone and CW contest runs for 1000 to 1400UTC next Sunday, the 9th. Using SSB and CW, the exchange is signal report, serial number and the WAB area. Also on the 9th, the IRTS 40m Daytime Counties Contest runs from 1200 to 1300UTC. Using SSB and CW, the exchange is signal report and serial number. EI and GI stations also exchange their County. The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon runs until the 1st of August. Exchange your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 30th of April. Last week was characterised by relatively low sunspot numbers but reasonably settled geomagnetic conditions. The solar flux index never rose above 80 all week, despite a large cluster of sunspots. This cluster, composed of regions 2818, 2820 and 2821, were responsible for some C-class solar flare activity, but never really grew into anything. By the time you read or hear this, they will have rotated out of view. The Kp index started the week at five, thanks to the effects of a high-speed solar wind stream from a coronal mass ejection. This was relatively short-lived and the rest of the week saw more settled conditions with a maximum Kp index of three and often zero. HF conditions have been variable. There has been DX workable, as Norfolk ARC showed during last Saturday’s International Marconi Day. GB0CMS made more than 900 contacts on HF, including contacting the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Ecuador, Panama, the Falkland Islands, Australia and Indonesia. SSB activity on 10 metres has been reported as being relatively quiet, with the odd Sporadic-E contact into Europe. FT8 has thrown up a few contacts into South America during the late afternoon and early evening. Next week, NOAA predicts the SFI may dip again, perhaps down to 72-73. This weekend may see unsettled geomagnetic conditions with the potential for the Kp index to rise to four or five due to coronal hole activity. However, once this clears we may expect a more settled Kp of two as the week progresses. Propquest shows that, according to the Chilton digisonde data, daytime MUFs over a 3,000km path are generally reaching the 18MHz band and occasionally 21MHz. And now the VHF and up propagation news. Next week it will probably be very difficult to time the weather changes correctly. It will be a mix of classic April showers – in May! – and some longer periods of rain, but also weak ridges of high pressure or, more accurately, ‘cols’, between highs and lows. These are very rarely useful for Tropo but may facilitate temporary lifts in the early mornings. The trend towards a showery weather pattern is likely to be good news for the rain scatter operators on the GHz bands. With the arrival of May, expectations for Sporadic-E grow stronger. The daily blogs will begin this month on the Propquest.co.uk website where a commentary about the location of jet streams and potential for Sporadic-E will be discussed along with a chance to evaluate the new Sporadic-E Probability Index, or EPI, shown on the same website. Beams certainly help with weak Sporadic-E or multi-hop paths, but a strong opening will be found with even a colinear, so it’s not just for super-stations. If you’ve never worked Sporadic-E before, doing just one thing, checking 10m and 6m at teatime, will guarantee you the best chance of breaking your duck. Last week we had a Supermoon. No reason to get excited, this is simply a full Moon occurring within 10% of perigee. Perigee was last Tuesday so EME path losses will slowly rise all week. Moon declination is negative until Saturday so we’ll see lengthening Moon visibility windows and peak Moon elevations as the week goes on. Two meteor showers to look out for this week. The Eta-Aquarids has a broad peak around the 6th of May with a good Zenithal Hourly Rate or ZHR of 50, then the much smaller Eta Lyrids on the 8th. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

Foundations of Amateur Radio
You Can't Always Get What You Want

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2021 4:29


Foundations of Amateur Radio One of the things about amateur radio that I find intensely fascinating and to be honest sometimes just as frustrating, is that you don't know what the outcome of an experiment might be at any one time. Not because you cannot control the experiment, or because you don't know what you're doing, but because the number of variables involved in most meaningful amateur radio experiments is pretty much infinite. I've spoken about this before, the idea that if you were to make a simple dipole antenna and fold the ends on each other, you'd have infinite variation in antennas with just a so-called simple antenna, since you can vary the shape of it in an unending variety of ways. The other day I was doing an experiment. An amateur radio one to be sure, but I was doing this within the realm of computing. I have been playing with digital modes for some time now and along the way shared some of what I've learnt. It occurred to me that I've been assuming that if you had the chance to follow along, you'd have access to the required hardware, simple enough, a $20 RTL-SDR dongle, but none-the-less, extra hardware. What might happen if you rule out that dongle and instead used a web-based receiver like WebSDR, or KiwiSDR, or any number of other such sites where you can pretty much tune to any band and frequency and see what's going on at a particular antenna location. For one it might allow you to decode something like APRS remotely, or decode an FT8 signal, perhaps even your own FT8 signal. Unfortunately most, if not all, of those sites include only the bare bones decoders for things like CW, AM, SSB and FM. After that you're pretty much on your own. You could do some funky stuff with a web-browser, linking it via some mechanism to the tool you use to actually decode the sound and there's some examples of that around, none that I really warmed to, since it requires that I open a web browser, do the mouse-clicky thing and then set-up some audio processing stuff. What if I wanted to figure out where the ISS was right now and wanted to listen to a receiver that was within the reception range of the ISS as it passed overhead, and automatically updated the receiver in real time as the ISS was orbiting the earth? For that to happen you'd need something like a command-line tool that could connect to something like a KiwiSDR, tune to the right frequency and extract the raw data that you could then decode with something appropriate. Turns out that I'm not the first person to think of this. There's even a project that outlines the idea of following a satellite, but it hasn't moved anywhere. There's also a project that is a command-line client for web-based KiwiSDR sites, but after spending some quality time with it and its 25 clones on github, I'm not yet at the point where this will work. Mainly because the original author made a design decision to record data to a file with a specific name and any clone I've found thus far only allows you to define what name to use. None so far actually appear to send their stream to something that can be processed in real time. Of course I could record a few minutes of data and process that, but then I'd have to deal with overlap, missing data, data that spans two files and a whole host of other issues, getting me further and further away of what I was trying to do, make a simple web-based audio stream digital mode decoder. As the Rolling Stones put it, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" And to me this sums up our hobby in a nutshell. When you call CQ, or go portable, or test an antenna, or attempt to build something new, there's going to be setbacks and unexpected hurdles. I think that it is important to remember that amateur radio isn't finished, it's not turn-key, no matter how much that appeals, you cannot find a one size fits all solution for anything, not now, not yesterday and not tomorrow. This hobby is always going to test boundaries, not only of physics, but your boundaries. It's after all one giant experiment. So, next time you don't get what you want, you might try something you find, and get what you need. Also, apologies to Keith Richards and Mick Jagger for butchering their words, a rockstar I am not. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Festival Tsonami
Festival Tsonami2020 | DIA#4: Transmisión Pre-Eclipse "Los Satélites"

Festival Tsonami

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 14, 2021 60:20


TRANSMISIÓN PRE-ECLIPSE; LOS SATÉLITES Para iniciar un día de transmisiones a propósito del eclipse solar que se presenció desde parte importante del territorio chileno, Radio Tsonami transmitió sonidos del espacio capturados en tiempo real por satélites de la plataforma WEBSDR.

QSO Today - The oral histories of amateur radio
Episode 335 Clint Turner KA7OEI

QSO Today - The oral histories of amateur radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2021 63:03


Clint Turner, KA7OEI, is an experimenter, builder, and operator on all bands and modes.  He shares his background in microwave communications, EME or Moonbounce, and his involvement in the Northern Utah Web SDR Project, an amazing on-line resource hams who want to listen to all of the lowbands with waterfall display at the same time.  KA7OEI is my QSO Today.

Foundations of Amateur Radio
If you want to do HF in an apartment, where do you start?

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2020 4:33


Foundations of Amateur Radio One of the many vexing issues associated with getting on-air and making noise is actually making that happen. So, let's look at a completely restricted environment. An apartment building, seven stories off the ground, no ability to make holes, an unsympathetic council, restrictive local home owners association, et cetera, et cetera. On the face of it your amateur radio hobby is doomed from the start. In reality, it's only just beginning. So, to hear HF right now, today, you can go online and listen to a plethora of web-based software defined radios. There's the canonical WebSDR in Twente and a whole host of others using the same or similar software. There's KiwiSDR, AirSpy, Global Tuners, and many more. This will give you countless radios to play with, coverage across the globe, the ability to compare signals from different receivers at the same time on the same frequency, the ability to decode digital modes, find propagation, learn about how contests are done, the sky's the limit. I'll add that you don't need an amateur license for many of these resources, so if you're considering becoming part of the community of radio amateurs, this is a great way to dip your toe in the water. Think of it as a short-wave listening experience on steroids. I hear you say, but that's not amateur radio. To that I say, actually, it is. It's everything except a physical antenna at your shack or the ability to transmit. Permit me a digression to the higher bands. If you want to listen to local repeaters on UHF and VHF, listen to DMR and Brandmeister, you'll find plenty of online resources as well. You can often use a hand-held radio to connect to a local repeater which can get you onto the global Echolink, IRLP and AllStar networks. Failing that, there's phone apps to make that connection instead. Of course if you want to expand your repertoire to transmission, beyond a hand-held, you can. There are online transmitters as well. Many clubs have their club station available for amateurs to use remotely using a tool like Remote Hams. You'll get access to a radio that's able to transmit and you'll be able to make contacts, even do digital modes and contests. You will require an amateur license and access to such a station. Some clubs will require that you pay towards the running of such a service and often you'll need to be a member. Then there's actually going to the club, you know, physically, going to the club shack and twiddling physical knobs, though for plenty of clubs that's now also a computer since they're adopting software defined radios just like the rest of the community is. Using a radio via a computer can be achieved directly in the shack, but there's no reason to stay on-site. You can often use these radios from the comfort of your own shack. If you do want to get physical with your own gear, receiving is pretty simple. A radio with a wire attached to it will get you listening to the local environment. I have for example a Raspberry Pi connected to an RTL-SDR dongle that's connected to a wire antenna in my shack. It's listening across the bands 24/7 and reporting on what it hears. If you want to use an actual transceiver and you don't have the ability to set-up an antenna, kit out your car and go mobile. Failing that, make a go-kit with batteries, which as an aside will stand you in good stead during an emergency. Take your go-kit camping, or climbing, or hiking. Plenty of opportunities to get on-air and make noise. I hear you asking, what about having an antenna farm? Well, you can set one up in a farmers paddock and connect to it remotely - you will need permission from the land-owner - there's plenty of amateurs who use their country abode as a remote station. If you want to make noise at your actual shack, the antenna might be a piece of wire hanging from the balcony after dark, or an antenna clamped to the railing. You can use a magnetic loop inside your house. Some enterprising amateurs have tuned up the gutters in their building, or made a flagpole vertical, or laid a coax antenna on the roof. Have a look for stealth antennas, there's a hundred years of amateurs facing the same problem. My own station is very minimalist. There's literally a vertical antenna clamped to the steel patio. Using that I'm working the world with 5 Watts, 14,000 km on 10m, no kidding. Getting on-air and making noise doesn't have to start and finish with a Yagi on a tower. There's plenty of other opportunities to be an active amateur. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

GB2RS
RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for November 8th 2020.

GB2RS

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2020 12:01


GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 8th of November 2020 The news headlines: RSGB preps reply to 2nd EMF consultation Convention: Learn More About… stream on YouTube ARRL opposes new $50 licence fee The RSGB is currently working on detailed comments and suggested amendments to the second Ofcom EMF consultation. The Society is also preparing guidance to help all UK radio amateurs to assess compliance and keep the necessary records. Go to https://rsgb.org/emf and click on the link for the latest update. The keynote lecture and the presentations from the ‘Learn more about’ stream at the RSGB’s 2020 Convention Online are now on the Society’s YouTube channel. Catch up on what you missed or watch again. You can find them on www.youtube.com/theRSGB. US amateurs have been exempt from application fees for several years. The ARRL will file comments in firm opposition to an FCC proposal to impose a $50 fee on amateur radio licence and application fees. Under the proposal, amateur radio licensees would pay a $50 fee for each amateur radio application. This would apply for new licenses, licence renewals, upgrades to existing licences, and to vanity callsign requests. The ARRL is encouraging members to file comments that stress amateur radio’s contributions to the country and communities. For more information, go to http://www.arrl.org/news. The RSGB is taking part in December YOTA Month but the Covid-19 restrictions will make the event very different this year. If you are a parent with a newly-licensed youngster in your family, you can apply to host the callsign GB20YOTA safely from your own home. You must be a Full Licence holder to apply for the callsign. You can book an appointment slot within a set calendar shown on the GB20YOTA QRZ.com page. To register your interest, or to reserve an operating slot, contact RSGB YOTA Month Coordinator Jamie, M0SDV via email to yota.month@rsgb.org.uk. If you are on the lookout for interesting lectures, then a talk given to South Dublin Radio Club could be for you. Joe Ryan, EI7GY gave a presentation on the radio experiments by Colonel Dennis, EI2B, from 1898 to the late 1930s. Find out more at https://southdublinradioclub.weebly.com. The RSGB has made available the video of the Introduction to GNU Radio talk by Heather Lomond, M0HMO, which is one of Society's Tonight @ 8 Webinars. It joins all the previous Tonight@8 talks and the RSGB Convention Online talks, so there are many hours of interest for all radio amateurs. Go to www.youtube.com/theRSGB for all the videos. The RSGB National Radio Centre 80m net continues to run Monday to Friday at 10.30 am around 3.727MHz. All NRC volunteers are welcome to join the net and they actively encourage other amateurs to call in as part of the RSGB’s Get on the air to care campaign. If you haven’t got an 80m station, why not listen in using one of the many webSDR sites? Now the special event news Thurrock Acorns Amateur Radio Club will be running GB2REM on Sunday the 8th and Wednesday the 11th of November for Remembrance Day. The club will be focusing on keeping the station active on these two days but may be heard from Saturday the 7th until Thursday the 12th. More details at https://taarc.co.uk. Larry, G4HLN will be active as GB4CKS until the 14th of November. The station marks the 85th anniversary of the death of Australian record-setting aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. He disappeared on the 8th of November 1935 off the coast of Myanmar, then known as Burma, whilst trying to break the England-Australia speed record. Larry will operate CW and some SSB on 40 to 10m. QSL via G4HLN, direct or via the bureau. Special event station 4X0RMN will be active on the 13th and 14th of November from Ramon Crater, Israel's largest national park. QSL via 4X6ZM, Logbook of The World and eQSL. Now the DX news Remo, HB9SHD plans to be active as 8Q7RM from Kandolhu Island, IOTA reference AS-013, until the 29th of November. Activity will be holiday style on various HF bands using CW, SSB and digital modes. QSL via HB9SHD. Robert, S53R plans to continue working in his spare time as T6AA in the Afghan capital city of Kabul, until mid-December. Giorgio, IU5HWS has been stationed in Iraq with the Italian Army since September and expects to remain there until around the 20th of January. The Iraqi Amateur Radio Society has authorised him to operate as YI9/IU5HWS until his requested callsign of YI9WS is granted by the National Communications and Media Commission. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the contest for new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your own national and local government’s advice first and foremost. This weekend, the Marconi CW contest ends its 24-hour run at 1400UTC today, the 8th. Using the 144MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange is the same for both: signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the Autumn Series runs from 2000 to 2130UTC using SSB on the 3.5MHz band. The exchange is signal report and serial number. Thursday sees the 50MHz UK Activity Contest taking place from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Saturday the 14th, the Club Calls contest runs from 2000 to 2300UTC. Using SSB and CW on the 1.8MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and your club information. Next weekend, the WAE DX RTTY contest runs from 0000UTC on the 14th to 2359UTC on the 15th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Sunday the 15th, the UK Microwave group’s Low Band contest runs from 1000 to 1400UTC. Using the 1.3 to 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 6th of November. Sunspots are a bit like buses. You wait forever and three come along at once! Last week we had active regions 2778 and 2779, which pushed the solar flux index up to 88. This week we have sunspot region 2781, which is a monster. At the time of writing, this region had pushed the SFI to 88 again, but it has been active in terms of solar flares. These have been minor C-class events, so not too much to worry about. The good news is that geomagnetic conditions have been very settled over the past week, with the Kp index running between zero and two. This no doubt helped ionospheric propagation. There was some good DX reported over the past seven days. TX0T, the DXpedition to Tatakoto Atoll, OC-298, in French Polynesia, has been worked by several stations in the UK. The Far East has also been workable, especially on FT8, where Indonesia, China and Japan have all been spotted. Next week, NOAA predicts the SFI will be in the range 72-76. The good news is that geomagnetic conditions are predicted to be quiet with a maximum Kp index of two. We may get some radio blackouts or sudden ionospheric disturbances as a result of M- or C-class solar flares from active region 2781, but these are difficult to predict. Radio blackouts occur when the strong, sudden burst of X-rays from a solar flare hits the Earth's atmosphere, blocking high-frequency radio signals in the D-region of the ionosphere. NOAA puts the probability of an R1/R2 radio blackout at 15%, and an R3 radio blackout at just 5%. Overall then, it looks like a good week for HF propagation. And now the VHF and up propagation news. There was a brief return of Tropo at the end of the last week. The first of this autumn’s opportunities was complete with fog below the inversion layer. Unfortunately, the related high and its Tropo is not due to last and indeed will have probably moved away during the weekend. It does, though, show the capability of a good temperature inversion with foggy air trapped below it to produce good Tropo. The last vestiges of it are now clearing away across the northern North Sea, but may still be just worth exploring for the 48th Marconi Memorial VHF CW Contest on Sunday. During the weekend, the weather pattern changes to a more unsettled type, which remains dominant through the coming week. This will bring GHz band rain scatter, but also some strong winds at times. As we approach the Leonids meteor shower on the 17th we also have a smaller shower, the Northern Taurids, peaking this Thursday, so meteor scatter conditions should be above average. It is also worth the occasional check for Sporadic-E on FT8 on 10m and 6m. The Moon’s declination is high but starting to fall, going negative on Thursday, so Moon visibility windows will shorten. The Moon is at perigee next Saturday so path losses are low. 144MHz sky noise is low for most of the week. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

RadioKRISHNA byYogaNetwork
25/10/2020 Puntata 24 "Radionotizie" + Centro Vaikuntha Libro di Krsna capitolo 47

RadioKRISHNA byYogaNetwork

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2020 162:44


Radionotizie 24 Pop Shop Radio: September 12, 2020 Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Anthony Pavick, who shares the following recording and notes: Edition 1 of Pop Shop Radio as broadcast by Channel 292 in Rohrbach Waal in Germany on 6070 kHz at 1600 UTC to 1700 UTC on 12 September 2020. This was a rebroadcast of a show first broadcast on 9 September 2020 at 1800 UTC on same station and frequency. This recording is 'as received' via the WebSDR at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, and as such has all the wonderful static and interference you'd expect. Show is produced in British Columbia in Canada. + Centro Vaikuntha il Libro di Krsna Capitolo 47 + Ramananda in Cucina puntata 3 + Corso Pratico di Sopravvivenza 19 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/radiovrinda/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/radiovrinda/support

Ham Radio Crash Course
Incorporating Ham Radio Into Your Daily Life

Ham Radio Crash Course

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2020 84:30


Are there any things to consider when bringong ham radio into your life?   Today Josh talks about his thoughts on how to work ham radio into your every day life efficiently for the highest level of enjoyment!  We also talk about www.WebSDR.org and www.KiwiSDR.com. Also, Leah continues her journey in taking the technician license practice test. Getting started in ham radio: https://youtu.be/bSF-q_qaqqg Riley Hollingworth "One Big Knob" A GREAT talk by a radio great:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ydodo9hxiA Ham Radio Crash Course Merch: http://www.hamtactical.com Monthly newsletter, stickers, private content: https://www.patreon.com/hoshnasi Links to products in the video: https://www.amazon.com/shop/hamradiocrashcourse As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Current Shack Config: ICOM 7300: https://amzn.to/2sVdpOq SteppIR 3E Yagi: https://consumer.steppir.com/shop/horizontal-antennas/3-element-antenna-products/3-element-yagi-antenna-with-30-40-loop-dipole-adder/ ICOM 2730a: https://amzn.to/2JqrASg MFJ-4230DMP: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-4230DMP Podcast...................► https://www.podbean.com/site/search/index?v=ham+radio+crash+course Discord.....................► https://discord.gg/xhJMxDT Facebook.................►https://goo.gl/cv5rEQ Twitter......................► https://twitter.com/Hoshnasi Instagram.................► https://instagram.com/hoshnasi SnapChat..................► @Hoshnasi Music by, Sonic D: Soundcloud.com/sncd  Twitter.com/sncd Facebook.com/djsonicd Companies can send demo products to: Josh Nass  P.O Box 5101 Cerritos, Ca. 90703-5101

The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive
Pop Shop Radio: September 12, 2020

The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2020


Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Anthony Pavick, who shares the following recording and notes:Edition 1 of Pop Shop Radio as broadcast by Channel 292 in Rohrbach Waal in Germany on 6070 kHz at 1600 UTC to 1700 UTC on 12 September 2020.This was a rebroadcast of a show first broadcast on 9 September 2020 at 1800 UTC on same station and frequency.This recording is 'as received' via the WebSDR at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, and as such has all the wonderful static and interference you'd expect.Show is produced in British Columbia in Canada.

Foundations of Amateur Radio
First ever digital contact!

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2020 5:34


Foundations of Amateur Radio When you start life you learn early on the difference between being told about an experience and the actual experience. There's a saying that comes to mind, I use it regularly in my day job: In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, while in practice there is. I thought I'd do the quote justice to see where it came from, not from Einstein, who was three years old at the time it was coined and neither Yogi Berra or Richard Feynman had been born. Quote Investigator puts it in the Yale Literary Magazine of February 1882 and attributes it to Benjamin Brewster, but I digress. A little while ago the regulator in Australia altered the rules of engagement in relation to amateur radio for people holding the license that I do. All Australian amateurs are now permitted to transmit digital modes. Not that this should have been any impediment to the exploration of the receive side, but I had a few other things on my plate to try. Still do. Over the weekend I sat in my driveway with my radio and had the urge to see if I could actually do some PSK31, a digital mode that had a low entry barrier, since there were defined frequencies, and I could use a decoder on my phone. So, I set about doing just that. I had already programmed in the various frequencies into my radio the week before. I hadn't actually heard any signals, but that didn't deter me. I set about getting myself set-up for what I'm calling a driveway hack. Picture this. A folding table with my radio. A stool next to it with me on it. The radio connected to an antenna, a vertical that was attached to a neighbour's roof with a magnetic mount and my phone running DroidPSK. I was tuned to the 10m PSK frequency, had the volume turned up, holding my phone next to the speaker, watching the waterfall. Nothing. I called up a mate who had this all working and we set about trouble shooting my set up. He made some transmissions; nothing. I listened to the 10m beacon, loud and clear. He made some more transmissions, still nothing. Then we realised while I was switching back and forth between the beacon and the PSK frequency that his radio was set up for a different standard PSK frequency. Gotta love standards, there's one for every occasion. Changed my frequency and for the first time I could actually see stuff in the waterfall display on my phone. If you've never seen a waterfall display, it's a tool that helps visualise the signal strength of a chunk of spectrum over time. It's pretty nifty and a waterfall displays a lot of information. Starting with colour, the idea is that a colour represents a particular signal strength. Red for full signal, yellow for half, blue for the lowest detected signal and black for no signal. Fill in the gaps with the colours of the rainbow. If you represent a line made of dots with the start of the line at say 0 Hz and the end of the line at say 3 kHz, you could split the line into 300 dots, and each dot could be coloured to represent the average signal strength for a little 10 Hz slice of spectrum. If you wait a second, move the line you drew down and then measure again, you'd end up with two lines. The line from now at the top, the line from a second ago below it. If you do this every second, you'll end up with lines flowing off the bottom of the screen, the oldest lines at the bottom and the newest ones at the top. That is a waterfall display. Over time you'll start to recognise what a particular signal looks like on the waterfall and there are even modes where you can draw on the waterfall, but I'll leave that for another day. As I said, I could now finally see signals on my waterfall display. I'm not going to dig too deep here, because there's much confusion in the language surrounding all this and I intend to get the names straight in my mind before I express them here, but after figuring out that you have to tell DroidPSK which signal you want to decode, I finally managed to decode the transmission from my friend. After putting on some headphones and realising that the clicks I was hearing from my phone were actually artefacts from the speaker, I also managed to transmit a CQ signal which my friend decoded. He then acknowledged my callsign in his next transmission. So, I now have two screen shots, his and mine, showing that we both saw each other using 10m PSK31. There wasn't a signal strength exchange, mainly because I have yet to figure out how to determine that and where it's visible, but for all the things that matter, I managed a contact with PSK31 thanks to Randall VK6WR, very exciting! Since then I've started experimenting with decoding WebSDR, that's HF signals coming in via the internet and being decoded on my computer from the web audio. I'm still working on that, but there is so much to learn and play with and a transmitter isn't yet needed to have fun. I should mention that you can also decode satellite signals like this. Digital modes, just when you thought that the rabbit hole couldn't get any deeper. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

QSO Today - The oral histories of amateur radio
Episode 284 Michael Murphy WU2D

QSO Today - The oral histories of amateur radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 10, 2020 62:07


Michael, Mike, Murphy, WU2D, separates his professional and his personal radio and electronics life by building, using, and working with vintage radios made no later than the early 1960s. As a collector and builder of old time and military surplus radios,

Foundations of Amateur Radio
Fragility of Communication

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 13, 2019 4:35


Foundations of Amateur Radio Our day to day life is full of communication. We listen, although less and less, to the radio for news and entertainment, sometimes mixed together as food and games for the masses. We can communicate with family, friends and the rest of the global population using a telephone. With the internet as a transmission medium, we exchange text, sound and vision with impunity to anyone who stumbles across it on a mind boggling collection of outlets, websites, social media, email, streaming services to name a few. The vast majority of this kind of communication is a commodity, that means that with little or no training most of the population has access to this. Another aspect of this commodification is that it's reliable. It works most of the time, it's generally good quality, with little or no loss, as in, you speak into your phone and there's an extremely high chance for the other party to hear your voice. While there are occasions that calls drop out, or the audio is chopped up, it's more an exception rather than a regular occurrence. In stark contrast, amateur radio is none of those things. It's not a commodity, it's not reliable, it's a poor man's version of the ubiquitous mobile phone. As amateurs we know why it's not the same, for starters, to make contact between say Perth and Bermuda using amateur radio requires exactly two pieces of equipment. Your radio and theirs. Making this contact with a mobile requires that both ends have a phone. They'll also need a way to connect to the phone network, either a local base station or a telephone exchange, those in turn connect via many different ways to each other, including repeaters, relays, perhaps a satellite, a fibre optic cable or three, too many devices to count today. Extreme level of complexity. I'm mentioning this because it's simple to conclude that amateur radio is obsolete, but its just not true. With the lack of reliability associated with an amateur radio connection comes something that is unique to society today. Thanks to reliable communication, we have come to expect that all communication is reliable, even our experimental hobby, but if you spend any time on air at all you'll quickly realise that for amateur radio, we need to conduct ourselves with protocol, using specific procedures, phonetics, structured phrases, callsigns and the like to overcome some of the aspects of unreliability. Talking on the local repeater looks and smells like a mobile phone chat room, but it's not. It relies entirely on the participants collaborating to ensure reliable communication. Similarly, calling CQ on HF, requires that you understand that the other station isn't on the end of a telephone connection and that parts of what you're saying are going to be missing at the other end. Using phonetics, speaking slower, waiting longer and monitoring, all assist with making contact. If you're unsure about this, just listen in on a local net for regular confusion, or use an online receiver like WebSDR to hear what you sound like at the other end. To make things a little more interesting, every amateur band has a different failure mode. On 20m from one breath to the next, the path might close, on 80m you might get overwhelmed by noise, on 40m you might find yourself all of a sudden sharing the frequency with another station, both of you blissfully unaware of the other's existence. Communication in amateur radio is collaborative and there are common courtesy behaviours. If you're working a rare DX station, that's not a personal friend, don't start a whole conversation about your dogs, your medical issues, or the level of amazingness of your station. You're not alone in attempting to make the contact and they're not there for your personal enjoyment. Hogging the frequency is a sure fired way to acquire the ire of your fellow amateurs, especially in marginal conditions, where band conditions are rapidly changing. There is nothing like getting your feet wet by actually getting on air and making noise, but when you do, remind yourself that this is not a telephone and it's not perfect. Be mindful of your on-air conduct and you'll find a globe full of friends. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

What Makes You Happy
Ep. 13 Ham Radio

What Makes You Happy

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2019 32:26


In this week's episode, we explore my newest hobby, ham radio. Featuring interviews with ham operators, a prepper, and a podcaster fascinated by hobbies (not me), we will dive in the deep end to discover what ham radio is all about. It may seem like an outdated technology from a bygone era, and like stamp collecting or knitting sweaters, is a pastime that really serves no purpose today beyond some mental stimulation. While this couldn't be further from the truth, we will investigate these topics in depth. Feedback: https://goo.gl/forms/qqH5WMOSKIFBeClA2 Table of Contents: 00:00 Intro 00:50 My New Hobby - Ham radio 01:15 What is ham radio? 01:30 How did I get into ham radio? 03:00 Unparalleled communication 03:15 Jeff Corbett, Prepper 09:45 Why is it fun? 14:00 Nets 14:45 On the air with the weekly CARS (Cuyahoga Amateur Radio Service) net 18:45 How to get started 20:00 Elmers 21:25 Radios 22:00 Listen a lot (www.webSDR.org) 23:25 Time for Your Hobby with Alex 27:30 ARRL 28:15 Contact Dovid with questions (dovid@clevelandcreativeoutlet.com) 28:45 Happiness Fact (1) 29:50 Inspirational Quote (2) 30:35 Last Week's Challenge 31:30 This Week's Challenge 32:10 Closing Thoughts Sources: The regret you feel for not taking an action often lasts longer than the regret you feel from taking action and failing. (Markman, Art. "When Do You Regret Actions and Inactions?" Psychology Today. December 30, 2016. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201612/when-do-you-regret-actions-and-inactions) “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt Resources: Listen for free - www.webSDR.org Baofeng UV-5R - https://goo.gl/2xxjbM Time for Your Hobby (podcast) - https://timeforyourhobby.wixsite.com/podcast Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) - www.arrl.org Amateur Radio Subreddit - www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/ For more What Makes You Happy?, read our blog, www.ClevelandCreativeOutlet.com/wmyh What Makes You Happy? is a project by Cleveland Creative Outlet, a video production company. You can learn more and see their work at www.ClevelandCreativeOutlet.com. You can reach out to them on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ClevelandCreativeOutlet Hosted By: Dovid E.Z. Stern [Ph. (216) 526-6641, Em. dovid@clevelandcreativeoutlet.com, URL www.clevelandcreativeoutlet.com] A wide array of equipment can be used for ham radio. The infamous Baofeng UV-5R. Cheap beyond belief, but an inferior product. My anniversary photo this year. On the left you can see my the transceiver my father loaned to me.

RadioKRISHNA byYogaNetwork
LISTEN SHORTWAVE WITH ME websdr_recording_start_2019-02-16T17_53_35Z_3975.0kHz

RadioKRISHNA byYogaNetwork

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2019 39:32


Episode 289 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yoganetwork/message

RadioKRISHNA byYogaNetwork
LISTEN SHORTWAVE WITH ME websdr_recording_start_2019-02-16T12_31_22Z_7345.0kHz

RadioKRISHNA byYogaNetwork

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2019 29:24


Episode 287 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yoganetwork/message

RadioKRISHNA byYogaNetwork
LISTEN SHORTWAVE WITH ME websdr_recording_start_2019-02-16T13_59_33Z_6070.0kHz

RadioKRISHNA byYogaNetwork

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2019 27:35


Episode 288 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yoganetwork/message

RadioKRISHNA byYogaNetwork
LISTEN SHORTWAVE WITH ME websdr_recording_start_2019-02-17T09_08_18Z_6070.0kHz

RadioKRISHNA byYogaNetwork

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2019 44:45


Episode 290 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yoganetwork/message

Mike Dell's World
From the iPhone Only using Bossjock – NaPodPoMo 12 – MDW272 – Mike Dell's World

Mike Dell's World

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2017


Facebook Twitter LinkedIn A little bit about the party we had yesterday and some Ham Radio stuff. The IOOK net is on 7.185mhz (7185khz) on Sunday Morning at 10:30am – Listen for WA8ZWJ as net control and my call is K8LMJ. You can listen online at WebSdr.org. Try to pick a receiver somewhere in the eastern US for the best chance at hearing anyone from the International Order Of Krazies group. (iook.org) Episode number 12 for #NaPodPoMo (National Podcast Posting Month)

Mike Dell's World
From the iPhone Only using Bossjock – NaPodPoMo 12 – MDW272 – Mike Dell's World

Mike Dell's World

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2017


Facebook Twitter LinkedIn A little bit about the party we had yesterday and some Ham Radio stuff. The IOOK net is on 7.185mhz (7185khz) on Sunday Morning at 10:30am – Listen for WA8ZWJ as net control and my call is K8LMJ. You can listen online at WebSdr.org. Try to pick a receiver somewhere in the eastern US for the best chance at hearing anyone from the International Order Of Krazies group. (iook.org) Episode number 12 for #NaPodPoMo (National Podcast Posting Month)

Foundations of Amateur Radio
The joy of Amateur Radio

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2016 3:18


Foundations of Amateur Radio Last week over dinner I was chatting with a friend about Amateur Radio in a discussion about things that take your fancy. I was attempting to explain what it specifically was about this hobby that keeps me coming back. I talked about invention, about exploration, about fishing and catching that elusive station, but looking back over that discussion it occurred to me that none of that is what "does it" for me. Sure, those things are part of it, but it's not what makes me turn on my radio, what has my face light up in delight or allows me to get out of bed in the middle of the night to explore the bands. A brief phone call with another Amateur to wish him Happy Birthday twigged me to what's going on. He asked me: "What's new in your world?", and my answer, innocuous at best was: "Well, last weekend I heard a Japanese station from my QTH." In the past I've mentioned that I've made many contacts with Japan, looking at my log, 63 of them, on 10m and 15m, so the fact that I heard Japan wasn't particularly special. I don't recall the band on which I heard the station, so that's not it either. What was different was that I heard it at home, my QTH. The place where there is S7 or higher noise all the time, where I cannot put up a full antenna and make do with a dipole in the garage and a single band vertical on the roof. Looking back at the conversation it occurred to me that what I like about Amateur Radio is the unexpectedness of it, the surprises that come your way, like little gifts waiting to be unpacked. It reminded me of a journey coming back from a club meeting last year when I spent the time going through the entire frequency range of my radio. There's quite a bit to visit. The radio in the car does 100 kHz through to 56 MHz as a single range, then has several other ranges. My hand-held is capable of 500 kHz through 999 MHz. Between the two I have the ability to pick up most of the stuff that's around. If that's not enough, there are many online radio receivers to connect to using all manner of different tools, the simplest to get running is probably WebSDR, where you visit a web-page and pick out the frequency you want to hear. All this RF activity is happening all around us all the time. There's the local Top-40 radio station, the talk back shows, the local community stations, single frequency specialist broadcasters, the local public transit authority, etc. etc. You never know what you're going to find and what you're going to hear. Many Amateurs I speak to started off as short-wave listeners. I had a short-wave radio when I was growing up, but it never much did anything for me. Now that I'm an Amateur and I understand what's happening to make those distant signals arrive at my ear, I'm becoming the short-wave listener I never was. That's what I like about Amateur Radio. Unexpected gifts being shared across the globe from people, cultures and experiences that bring us all together. For me, Amateur Radio is about the thirst for curiosity, the never ending supply of wonder and the joy in hearing them arrive un-announced at my doorstep. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Radio Free Caemlyn
RFC: 5 Minutes of 10000 kHz

Radio Free Caemlyn

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 19, 2015


A five-minute recording of 10000 kHz as heard on the webSDR located at the amateur radio club ETGD at the University of Twente. Recorded at 12:20pm UTC on 20 July, 2015.

What use is an F-call?

What use is an F-call? If you've ever sat at home wanting to listen to HF but you're radio is out of commission, worse still, you haven't yet got a radio, or your antenna is a project in progress, I stumbled on a way to have your cake and eat it too. I was hunting for examples of a pile-up and I'd found in the past radios that had been hooked up to the Internet that you could tune and listen to. Today I stumbled across something of a different magnitude altogether. Something called Software Defined Radio on the Web, or websdr. A group of amateurs at the Technical University of Twente put up the worlds first websdr in 2007. It was conceived in an attempt to connect the 25m radio telescope in Dwingeloo to the world, for radio amateurs doing Earth Moon Earth or EME contacts, it snowballed from there. So, now you can go to websdr.org, pick from a list of 40 receivers around the planet and listen to what ever frequency is within the station's range. The Twente receiver does 0 to 29MHz, there are UHF, VHF and GHz receivers to be found. The software runs a Java Applet that sits in your web browser displaying either a waterfall or spectrum scope and you can see the whole band at the same time. On your normal radio, you tune to 7.093 and have a listen. If you hear nothing, you move the dial and try again, rinse and repeat until you hear a station calling CQ. With SDR, you can see all frequencies at the same time. The software allows you to switch between modes, so you can decode the signal as AM, LSB, USB, FM, CW, what ever you want. You can set the bandwidth and play with the tuning, all while others are doing the exact same thing on their computer with what ever frequency they're using. Your own radio does one frequency at the time, SDR does them all at the same time and you can zoom in and out, scan around and find the elusive 10m contacts. With one look at the display you can see if 10m is active right now, or if it's a dead duck. The web site again is websdr.org, check it out, use it to tune your pile-up skills for the next contact, or use it to find a station you like, turn on your own radio and have a QSO. Nothing stopping you from turning on several, all tuned to the same frequency and see what the propagation around the world is like either. I'm Onno VK6FLAB