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THURSDAY EDITON: Well the little balloon keeps chugging, it can't decide whether to go to Mongolia or China....The repeater keeps kicking out with the amplifier in line, I am thinking thermal sensor which trips 3 fans in the Henry 100 watt amplifier. I went up with a heat gun and heated the shit out of it, no fans. I jumped the thermal switch, fans go on. I soldered a jumper in and will put he amplifier back inline, I hope the final transistors didn't suffer any damage but time will tell today. Always something....

I spend more time at the repeater site than I actually  use the damn repeater...

Club fills demand for ham radio training on Whidbey Island

When disaster strikes, knowing how to communicate across the airwaves is an invaluable skill.

When disaster strikes, knowing how to communicate across the airwaves is an invaluable skill that could end up being a big help in a crisis.

It’s also a hobby that provides plenty of opportunities for socializing and exchanging information.

But before getting into the ham radio scene, a technician license must be obtained.

In response to overwhelming interest generated by the recent emergency preparedness conference hosted by South Whidbey Fire/EMS, instructors from the Island County Amateur Radio Club are leading a three-day class in the Bayview fire station’s classroom. The classes run 6 to 9 p.m. June 6 and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 7 and 8. Participants will learn how to pass the exam — which will be administered Sunday afternoon — for the technician license.

“We’ve had people walk in having no interest whatsoever, pick it up and pass the test,” said Bob Keeton, one of the instructors.

He recalled one time when another instructor’s wife spent about an hour thumbing through the manual for the class while waiting in the parking lot. She walked into the classroom and passed the test that day.

“Not everybody can do that, but it’s also not a college final here,” Keeton said.

He encourages people to get the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual 5th Edition before attending the class so they can get some extra study time in. The book will also be available during the upcoming class.

To sign up, reach out to southwhidbeyprepares@whidbey.com to obtain the Google Form for registration or visit w7avm.org/training to fill out a form and specify the June class. The testing fee is $15.

Keeton, a retired police officer who lives in Oak Harbor, is the volunteer civilian coordinator for Island County Department of Emergency Management and amateur radio operators in case of a catastrophic situation such as the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. He has been helping members of the newly formed South Whidbey Prepares group to get their technician licenses so they can become part of the ham radio network.

Keeton has been doing amateur radio for the past 25 years, but said he is very new at it compared with a lot of other people in the county. Depending on budget, a person can spend anywhere from $25 to $2,500 on a ham radio. Some can be ordered from Amazon, while others come from specialty shops.

“New hams” are encouraged to come to a field day event June 28-29 at the Greenbank Progressive Club, where they will gather with others to simulate emergency radio operations. It’s also a contest to contact other groups doing the same thing in their communities across the U.S., Keeton said.

In case of “the Big One,” amateur radio operators can take care of themselves and neighbors by reporting damage and finding out what’s happening in other areas.

“Island County and specifically Whidbey could be a real mess,” Keeton said. “The bridge could be gone, probably will be gone.”

It also provides an outlet for people to express their needs and wants and to discuss their problems. But more than just being helpful in an emergency scenario, ham radio is a fascinating pastime.

 

WEDNESDAY EDITION: The balloon is still up and headed slowly towards Mongolia, quite a flight so far......

Northern Lights are a headache, and maybe even a danger, for amateur radio operators

Plenty of camera buffs and astronomy fans are excited about the possibility of seeing Northern Lights tonight,  June 2, but amateur radio operator are even more excited than that.

Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, occur after the sun produces an unusual amount of charged particles (known as a coronal mass ejection or CME)  in a geomagnetic storm. These particles hit the ionosphere, the charged layer of Earth’s atmosphere, and create interesting visual effects.

However, the CME also changes the ionosphere in unpredictable ways. Amateur radio, often called ham radio, bounces signals off the ionosphere, which allows operators to contact each other from thousands of miles away. During a strong geomagnetic storm – the current one is rated 4 on 1-to-5 scale by the National Space Weather Prediction Center – amateur radio is often disrupted, with operators unable to reach channels that are normally available. 

At the very worst, a strong geomagnetic storm can distort Earth’s magnetic field to the point that large conducting wires or antennas can have electric currents induced in them, putting equipment at risk. While this is extremely rare, the Contoocook Valley Radio Club has issued a caution that high-frequency-antenna owners may want to disconnect their rigs until the CME event has passed because of the possibility of damage.

Northern Lights are expected to be visible in much of New Hampshire on Monday night. They are best viewed well after midnight from a high point with an unobstructed view to the north.

Ham Radio Ireland Magazine

The following is from Steve (EI5DD), the editor of Ham Radio Ireland Magazine.

Ham Radio Ireland Magazine, a free E-Magazine is published every second month. It is Ireland's only independent freelance Amateur Radio Magazine geared towards all radio and electronics experimenters. Each month we strive to include all facets of the hobby and include CB, PMR 446, and POC radio information in addition to our regular Ham Radio articles.

Ham Radio Ireland has gone from strength to strength and we are reaching out to clubs and groups globally. Our Authors are not just form Ireland as we receive articles from many parts of the world.

Ham Radio Ireland Magazine isn't just about technical content. Our team of writers and editors are also passionate about the social and cultural aspects of the hobby, and we regularly promote activities of Radio Clubs all around Ireland and overseas.

Our magazine is distributed to social media sites and available for all to download. Our Magazine is free of charge. We are unbiased and inclusive. We are not affiliated to any club or society so there is no mutual backslapping we just get on with and enjoy the hobby!

Check out our Facebook Page Ham Radio Ireland.

Recently we have included links to a "Flip-Book" version of the magazine although we still retain our PDF repository on DocDroid.

Links to current and back issues in PDF format and, more recently in Flip-book format, may be found at https://galwayvhfgroup.blogspot.com/2022/06/connacht-regional-radio-newsletter.html

The editor is Steve Wright

New Bismuth Transistor Runs 40% Faster and Uses 10% Less Power

Recently in material science news from China we hear that [Hailin Peng] and his team at Peking University just made the world’s fastest transistor and it’s not made of silicon. Before we tell you about this transistor made from bismuth here’s a whirlwind tour of the history of the transistor.

The Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT, such as NPN and PNP) was invented by Bell Labs in 1947. Later came Transistor-Transistor Logic (TTL) made with BJTs. The problem with TTL was too much power consumption.

Enter the energy-efficient Field-Effect Transistor (FET). The FET is better suited to processing information as it is voltage-controlled, unlike the BJT which is current-controlled. Advantages of FETs include high input impedance, low power consumption, fast switching speed, being well suited to Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI), etc.

The cornerstone of Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology which came to replace TTL was a type of FET known as the Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET). The type of MOSFET most commonly used in CMOS integrated circuits is the Enhancement-mode MOSFET which is normally off and needs gate voltage to conduct.

A transistor’s technology generation is given with the “process node”, in nanometers (nm). This used to mean the size of the smallest feature that could be fabricated, but these days it’s just a marketing term (smaller is “better”). Planar CMOS MOSFETs were initially dominant (through ~28nm), then came SOI MOSFETs (28nm to 16nm), then FinFETs (16nm to 5nm), and now finally Gate-All-Around FETs (GAAFETs, 3nm and beyond).

All of that in order to say that this new transistor from [Hailin Peng] and his team is a GAAFET. It’s made from bismuth oxyselenide (Bi₂O₂Se) for the channel, and bismuth selenite oxide (Bi₂SeO₅) as the gate material. See the article for further details.

Keep in mind that at this point in time we only have a prototype from a lab and the gory details about how to mass-produce these things, assuming that’s even possible, haven’t yet been worked out. We have previously discussed the difficulty of manufacturing state-of-the-art transistors. If you’re interested in bismuth be sure to check out how to use bismuth for desoldering.

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TUESDAY EDITION: The balloon has escaped from Turkey and is on the road again towards Mongolia. A lot of fun for just a $100 investment....A colossal cloud of Sahara dust is smothering the Caribbean en route to the US, if band conditions weren't bad enough

Testing a Cheap Bench Power Supply Sold on Amazon

We’ve all seen those cheap bench power supply units (PSUs) for sale online, promising specifications that would cost at least a hundred dollars or more if it were a name brand model. Just how much of a compromise are these (usually rebranded) PSUs, and should you trust them with your electronics? Recently [Denki Otaku] purchased a cheap unit off Amazon Japan for a closer look, and found it to be rather lacking.

Major compromises include the lack of an output power switch, no way to check the set current limit without shorting the output, very slow drop in output voltage while adjusting due to the lack of a discharge circuit, and other usability concerns. That’s when the electrical performance of the PSU got tested.

Right off the bat a major issue in this cheap switching mode PSU is clear, as it has 200 mV peak-to-peak noise on its output, meaning very little output filtering. The maximum power output rating was also far too optimistic, with a large voltage drop observed. Despite this, it generally worked well, and the internals – with a big aluminium plate as heatsink – look pretty clean with an interesting architecture.

The general advice is to get a bench PSU that has features like an output power button and an easy way to set the voltage and current limits. Also do not connect it to anything that cares about noise and ripple unless you know that it produces clean, filtered output voltages.

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MONDAY EDITION: Looks like our balloon is stuck in Turkey, it must be enjoying the smoke from the hash pipes....

Semiconductor Simulator Lets Your Play IC Designer

For circuit simulation, we have always been enthralled with the Falstad simulator which is a simple, Spice-like simulator that runs in the browser. [Brandon] has a simulator, too, but it simulates semiconductor devices. With help from [Paul Falstad], that simulator also runs in the browser.

This simulator takes a little thinking and lets you build devices as you might on an IC die. The key is to use the dropdown that initially says “Interact” to select a tool. Then, the drop-down below lets you select what you are drawing, which can be a voltage source, metal, or various materials you find in semiconductor devices, like n-type or a dielectric.

It is a bit tricky, but if you check out the examples first (like this diode), it gets easier. The main page has many examples. You can even build up entire subsystems like a ring oscillator or a DRAM cell.

Designing at this level has its own quirks. For example, in the real world, you think of resistors as something you can use with great precision, and capacitors are often “sloppy.” On an IC substrate, resistors are often the sloppy component. While capacitor values might not be exact, it is very easy to get an extremely precise ratio of two capacitors because the plate size is tightly controlled. This leads to a different mindset than you are used to when designing with discrete components.

Of course, this is just a simulation, so everything can be perfect. If, for some reason, you don’t know about the Falstad simulator, check it out now.

 

For sale: Yaesu FT-950 like new...very few hours on it, a backup to the backup radio. Mike, bound manual, power cord- $500 firm- will not ship, pickup in Rockport, MA or at HRO Salem, NH by arrangement

 

WEEKEND EDITION: Position of balloon on Saturday morning, it must like Turkey, it can't get out of there....

Hamvention 2025 Sets Attendance Record

Hamvention has released attendance numbers for 2025, and once again, the premier ham radio event has set an attendance record. For 2025, the official attendance was counted at 36,814. Compared with 2024’s attendance numbers of 35,877, that’s an increase of 937 attendees over last year. This marks two years in a row of record setting attendance at Hamvention.

Source: Dayton Hamvention

Amateur Radio Daily – Read More

A Gentle Introduction to Impedance

Impedance matching is one of the perpetual confusions for new electronics students, and for good reason: the idea that increasing the impedance of a circuit can lead to more power transmission is frighteningly unintuitive at first glance. Even once you understand this, designing a circuit with impedance matching is a tricky task, and it’s here that [Ralph Gable]’s introduction to impedance matching is helpful.

The goal of impedance matching is to maximize the amount of power transmitted from a source to a load. In some simple situations, resistance is the only significant component in impedance, and it’s possible to match impedance just by matching resistance. In most situations, though, capacitance and inductance will add a reactive component to the impedance, in which case it becomes necessary to use the complex conjugate for impedance matching.

The video goes over this theory briefly, but it’s real focus is on explaining how to read a Smith chart, an intimidating-looking tool which can be used to calculate impedances. The video covers the basic impedance-only Smith chart, as well as a full-color Smith chart which indicates both impedance and admittance.

This video is the introduction to a planned series on impedance matching, and beyond reading Smith charts, it doesn’t really get into many specifics. However, based on the clear explanations so far, it could be worth waiting for the rest of the series.

If you’re interested in more practical details, we’ve also covered another example before.

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FRIDAY EDITION: The balloon left Greece and is touring Turkey if I have my geography right......

Amateur Radio Newsline Report

FCC EYES GIVING SATELLITES 20,000 MHz MORE OF SPECTRUM

NEIL/ANCHOR: We begin this week with changes the FCC has voted to make to the spectrum - specifically to accommodate satellite operations. Kent Peterson KCØDGY has the details.

KENT: The US communications regulator is hoping to move ahead with the assignment of more than 20,000 MHz of spectrum bandwidth to accommodate expanded satellite-based broadband service. The FCC voted unanimously at its May 22nd open meeting to explore such use across four spectrum bands: the upper portion of the 12 GHz band, starting at 12.7 GHz; the 42 GHz band, the 52 GHz band and four unused sections of the 75-110 GHz W-band totaling 18,000 MHz.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement after the vote that [quote] "each band is a potential game changer." [endquote]. The agency said that the amount of spectrum under consideration is greater than all the spectrum presently available for satellite broadband. He said the additional frequencies were ripe territory for so-called next-generation services.

It was unclear what impact, if any, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would have on the amateur radio service. The move was applauded by the Satellite Industry Association in a statement on its website.

This is Kent Peterson KCØDGY.

(FCC, TV TECH)

**
SOLO DXPEDITIONER HONORED FOR 61,000 QSOs

NEIL/ANCHOR: A French amateur has been recognized for logging 61,000 contacts while on DXpedition - by himself! Jeremy Boot G4NJH has that story.

JEREMY: Congratulations to Marek Lamachou, FH4VVK/F4VVJ, who logged more than 61,000 QSOs as the solo operator during a DXpedition on the island of Grande Glorieuse operating as FT4GL. The island is the largest in the French-controlled Glorioso Islands archipelago in the Indian Ocean and is 7th in the DXCC Most Wanted List.

Marek was honoured at Hamvention by the Southwest Ohio DX Association as DXpeditioner of the Year. The association said that he had [quote] "gone above and beyond the norm to positively affect the DX community." [endquote] The DXpedition took place in May and June of 2024.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
RECORD ATTENDANCE AT HAMVENTION

NEIL/ANCHOR: If you were among those at Hamvention, like me, in Xenia, Ohio, in May, congratulations! You helped set a record. Organizers report that a record 36,814 amateur radio enthusiasts came to the fairgrounds for the annual forums, exhibits and of course, the flea market. The event was put together with the help of more than 700 volunteers. Plans are now in the works for Hamvention 2026 to be held on May 15th, 16th and 17th.

(JAMES GIFFORD. N8KET)

**

YASME GRANT WILL FIND RBN NODE ON SOUTH ATLANTIC ISLAND

NEIL/ANCHOR: A grant will fund the establishment of a new node for the Reverse Beacon Network in the South Atlantic Ocean. Jason Daniels VK2LAW tells us about it.

JASON: The world's most isolated settled island is adding an important amateur radio presence: A Reverse Beacon Network node. The node project is being given a supporting grant from the Yasme Foundation and will be hosted by Andy Repetto, ZD9BV, on Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. The Reverse Beacon Network comprises stations in different parts of the world that monitor the bands and send reports of what - and who - they hear. It is an all-volunteer effort.

This is Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
SILENT KEY: DICK JANSSON, KD1K, LONGTIME AMSAT VP FOR ENGINEERING

NEIL/ANCHOR: For years, AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, benefitted from the engineering talents of Dick Jansson, KD1K, whose professional career had included time spent at Sperry Corporation, Martin Marietta, the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and NACA, the forerunner of the US space agency NASA. In retirement, however, Dick focused his lifetime of skills on a variety of AMSAT spacecraft projects, including OSCARS 10 and 13 and the MICROSAT series. He eventually became AMSAT's vice president of engineering.

Dick became a Silent Key on May 13th.

Dick's longtime work with a variety of AMSAT spacecraft inspired his selection as recipient of the Technical Excellence Award at Dayton Hamvention in 1993. He had been a ham since 1972.

A memorial service is planned for Dick in Florida on June 4th. He was 94.

(AMSAT NEWS SERVICE)

**
SOUTH AFRICA LICENSES 48 NEW RADIO AMATEURS

NEIL/ANCHOR: In South Africa, 48 new ham radio operators are celebrating passage of the Radio Amateur Examination that they took in May administered by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.

The RAE, as it is known, has only given exams twice a year. According to various news reports, while 48 candidates passed the exam, 5 others did not.

The next exam is not scheduled until November.

(WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA, SARL)

**
OHIO TRAFFIC NET MARKS 50 YEARS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE

NEIL/ANCHOR: In one region of Ohio, a 50-year-old traffic net is celebrating its years of uninterrupted service to the community. We have those details from Stephen Kinford N8WB.

STEPHEN: No one can physically see this devoted community but its presence has been felt strongly throughout the Cleveland and North Central Ohio region for a half-century. The Burning River Traffic Net is still passing important traffic as it has done since its founding in 1975 as a 2m simplex net to deliver messages to recipients who lived outside the local telephone exchange, constituting a long-distance call at the time. Those messages include health and welfare updates, congratulations, emergencies and simple greetings. The net has since become repeater-based and meets every Monday, Thursday and Saturday at 9:30 p.m. local time. Members are called up on an as-needed basis on other days.

The Burning River Traffic Net is about to become visible and meet the community it has served for so long. The net, which is part of the ARRL’s National Traffic System, is inviting all hams and anyone interested in learning more about the net to be part of their anniversary celebration. It’s being held on the 21st of June at the Lorain County Metroparks Duck Pond Picnic Area pavilion at 1 p.m. local time. Net manager Keith Cook, KD8GXL, said [quote] “this is more than just a celebration of the past - it’s an opportunity to look forward to the next 50 years.” [Endquote]

This is Stephen Kinford N8WB.

(KEITH COOK, KD8GXL)

**
HAP HOLLY, KC9RP/SK, RECEIVES FINAL NEWSMAKER AWARD, POSTHUMOUSLY

NEIL/ANCHOR: With this week's report, Amateur Radio Newsline presents its final Newsmaker of the Year Award - and introduces a new award to reflect changing times. Newsline's editor Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT has the details.

CARYN: In 2019, Newsline introduced its Newsmaker of the Year Award in recognition of deserving amateurs who raised the profile of ham radio around the world via conventional media channels. The media universe has changed since then. We now communicate reliably via blogs, videos and other forms of social media with conventional media taking a backseat. Toward that end, we are replacing the Newsmaker award with Newsline's Influencer Award, shining a light on those who have had a measurable, far-reaching and positive impact on amateur radio. That award will be presented at year's end.

Meanwhile, it is fitting that we give our final Newsmaker of the Year Award to Hap Holly, KC9RP. Hap, a member of the Newsline family, left an imprint on the world via his Radio Amateur Information Network, or RAIN report, weekly reports he produced for three decades. Hap, who became blind at the age of 7, was an active and influential amateur for most of his 73 years. He became a Silent Key on February 24th of this year. As we remember him with pride and gratitude, we honor him for being the remarkable newsmaker that he was.

This is Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT.

**
'QUEENS OF THE MOUNTAINS' EVENT RETURNS

NEIL/ANCHOR: Be on the lookout for some YLs about to ascend the summits for a special SOTA event. One year after organizing their inaugural Queens of the Mountains activation, the YLs are back and they've gone global. Andy Morrison K9AWM has that story.

ANDY: True to its name, the Queens of the Mountains event is a challenge worthy of royalty. Paula K9IR and Amy AG7GP have brought the event back for its second year as YLs activate SOTA summits on June 7th and June 8th - and not only YLs around the world chase the activators; men are also invited to join in this year's chase. Anyone contacting 5 or more YLs on a SOTA summit becomes eligible for a certificate.

The biggest honors will go to the YL activators themselves who will be logging contacts and working toward any or all of six achievement awards, including one for a first-time SOTA activator. A special K1LIZ Memorial Achievement Award will be given to the YL with the highest number of achievement awards. Last year the event crowned Lorene W6LOR with the honor, which bears the callsign of top-achieving activator Liz Burns K1LIZ who became a Silent Key in February of 2022.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(SOTA REFLECTOR)

**
PROJECT EYES HAM RADIO ON GEOSYNCHRONOUS SATELLITE

NEIL/ANCHOR: The project is called "futureGEO," and it envisions ham radio on a geosynchronous satellite, as we hear from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: AMSAT-DL has sent a Request for Expression of Interest to various other AMSAT organisations and amateur radio associations for a proposed ham radio-focused project known as "futureGEO," operating from a geosynchronous satellite.

The group is hoping to receive proposals no later than the 30th of June. AMSAT-DL's request comes two years after the European Space Agency described its vision of having amateur radio on a geosynchronous satellite, designed to cover the north of North America and Europe, and which drew on proposals from AMSAT-DL and AMSAT-UK.

Meanwhile, a new satellite-based FM repeater comes online in June. On board the HADES-ICM satellite it will initially be active on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays .

It has an uplink of 145.875 MHz and a downlink of 436.666 MHz. Another repeater, HADES-R, already operates full time with a 145.925 MHz uplink and a 436.888 MHz downlink.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(AMSAT, AMATEUR NEWS DAILY)

**

JUNE IS 'AMATEUR RADIO MONTH' IN HAWAII

NEIL/ANCHOR: Every year, hams in the US and Canada observe the fourth full weekend in June as Field Day, considered the most important amateur radio weekend of the year. In Hawaii, however, amateur radio recognition will be going on a little longer: the state's governor, Josh Green, has proclaimed all of June to be Amateur Radio Month, in recognition of the 3400 hams operating in the Pacific region.The state has ties to wireless that go back more than 100 years, however. In 1914, its island of Oahu became home to a Marconi wireless telegraphy station. In 1916, the first transmissions were successfully sent to Japan from the US territory, marking the start of wireless communication between the two nations.

(HISTORY.COM, AMATEUR RADIO DAILY)

**
WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, the F4KIS radio club is on the air through to the 10th of June using the callsign TM41GM. The suffix stands for "greve des mineurs,” recalling the 1941 strike of 100,000 miners of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. This action was among the earliest acts of collective resistance to Nazi occupation in France. See QRZ.com for details about eQSL downloads.

Listen for the callsign HS3ØDXA which is on the air to mark the 30th anniversary of the Thailand DX Association, E28AC and E2X. Radio operators are calling CQ on all HF bands and on the 2-metre band through to the 21st of June. They will also be using various amateur radio satellites. QSL via HS6MYW.

Otis, NP4G, is on the air until the 2nd of June from St. Barthelemy, IOTA Number NA-146, using the callsign FJ/NP4G. QSL via LoTW only.

Operators are using the callsign HI99RCD to celebrate the 99th anniversary of the Radio Club Dominicano, HI8RCD, which was founded on June 12th, 1926. QSOs will be confirmed by email and via the logbook on QRZ.com

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
KICKER: PRIME TIME TV IS BACK ON BOARD THE ISS

NEIL/ANCHOR: Fans of Amateur Radio on the International Space Station will be happy to know that a popular TV show is returning - and coming soon to a shack near you. Ralph Squillace KK6ITB concludes this week's newscast with a report about this welcome comeback.

RALPH: Never mind what prime-time TV has to offer - hams who have been missing a chance to make contacts through HamTV will have something to celebrate soon. HamTV was the Digital Amateur Television transmitter operating on the Columbus module of the ISS until failure took it out of service in 2019.

Its repairs here on earth were completed and the newly invigorated HamTV was returned to the ISS via SpaceX CRS-30 in March of 2024. ARISS reports that astronauts will complete its reinstallation in late June in preparation for more contacts with schools around the world. HamTV uses the DVB-S protocol in the 13 cm band to transmit digital video and audio in MPG2 format.

THURSDAY EDITION: The little balloon is visiting Greece this morning. ....

2 meter antenna most hams could make.....I think!

WEDNESDAY EDITION: The balloon did a lot of traveling last night and so far today, it's over England!. Total cost of balloon, transmitter, and solar cells under $50.00....

13 Colonies Special Event July 1 – 7

In just a few weeks, one of the most popular summer operating events kicks off – The 13 Colonies Special Event. Now in its 17 year the event has grown from Special Event Stations making approximately 12,000 contacts in 2009 to last year making 292,496 contacts around the world. The Event runs from July 1 9:00 AM – July 7 Midnight Eastern (July 1 – 1300 UTC – July 8 – 0400 UTC).

This year Event organizers are recognizing the 13 Colonies Special Event founder Ken Villone, KU2US, who is passing the torch on to Tony Jones, N4ATJ. For the past 16 years Villone has lead the Event by working with state and bonus station coordinators. Then after the event he would print out individual certificates for thousands of people who made contact with the special event stations.

The Special Event consist of one station operating in each of the 13 Colonies (K2A – K2M) and three bonus stations (WM3PEN – Philadelphia, GB13COL – England, TM13COL – France) each representing their city, state, or countries role in America’s Colonial period.

Villone describes how the event got started:

“I had just finished participating in the ARRL Sweepstakes in 2008, and remarked how fun it was. I could not figure out why there were not more of these type special events on the air? So I decided to try my luck and create one for one year only to see what happens and to have some fun. I knew we had to offer a special QSL card and/or certificate plus have on hand a printer and supplies. The hard part was deciding what the event would commemorate and when to do this. I needed a theme that ALL could relate to! Also the event would have to be the type with multiple event stations involved, like the ARRL Sweeps.

Then it hit me! 13 Colonies states, during the 4th of July week and offer a certificate with the theme for the year. I made sure the theme was different each year with a different certificate design, to make it interesting and to also make the cert collectable. The theme would highlight some event or thing connected to the American Revolution. The event was held July 1st to the 4th, 2009, 4 days with no advertising except on QRZ. I had a hard time getting 13 different Ops, one from each Colony state but it worked out. All in all it was a success! We did over 12,000 contacts the first year. I decided we have a good thing going so I recruited another Op from each state and ran the event the next year in 2010. We did over 32,000 contacts in 2010, and had 26 state operators total. There was a 13 Colonies special event in 1962 but only lasted one year, according to my research. (I was 13 years old).”

Ham Radio operators and SWLs can participate in the event. Complete information about the call for each colony station and the bonus stations can be found on the event website 13colonies.us and they can follow us on Facebook – 13 Colonies Special Event Community. Stations need only make one contact with one of the participating stations or they can go for a Clean Sweep and work all 13 Colony stations and the 3 bonus stations. Each station offers a special QSL card for the event as well as a different certificate each year. Operators can keep an eye out for the special event stations by watching many of the dx spotting networks such as DXSummit.fi.

Mylar Space Blankets As RF Reflectors

Metalized Mylar “space blankets” are sold as a survivalist’s accessory, primarily due to their propensity for reflecting heat. They’re pretty cheap, and [HamJazz] has performed some experiments on their RF properties. Do they reflect radio waves as well as they reflect heat? As it turns out, yes they do.

Any antenna system that’s more than a simple radiator relies on using conductive components as reflectors. These can either be antenna elements, or the surrounding ground acting as an approximation to a conductor. Radio amateurs will often use wires laid on the ground or buried within it to improve its RF conductivity, and it’s in this function that he’s using the Mylar sheet. Connection to the metalized layer is made with a magnet and some aluminium tape, and the sheet is strung up from a line at an angle. It’s a solution for higher frequencies only due to the restricted size of the thing, but it’s certainly interesting enough to merit further experimentation.

As you can see in the video below, his results are derived in a rough and ready manner with a field strength meter. But they certainly show a much stronger field on one side resulting from the Mylar, and also in an antenna that tunes well. We would be interested to conduct a received signal strength test over a much greater distance rather than a high-level field strength test so close to the antenna, but it’s interesting to have a use for a space blanket that’s more than just keeping the sun away from your tent at a hacker camp. Perhaps it could even form a parabolic antenna.

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TUESDAY EDITION: Above is a screen shot of the launched balloon, the straight line is the night flight- no sun so the transmitter is silent...

Club member email:

PRC319 Loaner Program

You have probably seen my PRC319 in action…

https://www.eham.net/article/48934

PRC319 Loaner Program:

This PRC319 is a Free 'Loaner' available to any ham in the USA.

It is Not For Sale.

   If you have been wanting to try one out, or use it for a club presentation, here is your chance.
   If you are not familiar with the 319, you can watch the video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCXb2M66fro

or read g0ozs's web site at: https://g0ozs.co.uk/mdwiki/clansman/#prc319.md

The 319 is a fixed frequency, channelized HF radio, so there is no tuning around. It runs CW, SSB or Data at 5W or 50W.
If you want to borrow it, I will send you the PRC319 Loan Agreement.

When it becomes available, I will notify you and you will then send me $100for initial shipping. You must pay for the shipping both ways (about $200 in total).

I will refund any excess shipping fees.
You can borrow it for up to 90 days.

Alternate Plan: You can reserve it for your 2-week vacation to Colorado and pick it up in COS and deliver it or ship it back.

Pick it up, use it for POTA/SOTA's and return it all free

Sorry, no shipments can be made outside of the CONUS.  (Not available to FL, AK, HI, or PR).
The radio comes with an Electronic Message Unit (EMU), Antenna Tuner, Handset, Satchel, Battery, Charger and an 8-foot whip.

You must use your own key/keyer.  

 It can only ship UPS because of the battery restrictions.

You must have a General or higher-class FCC license and be listed in the FCC database.
I don’t think you will be able to work DXCC/pm this year, the conditions have been poor.

This 319 was donated to the '319 Loaner Program' by Clare Owens Jr, N2RJB, Apex, NC. and accessories by Al G8LIT.

Reply direct to   

W0RW777@gmail.com

Paul Signorelli   W0RW

Colorado Springs, CO 80905

 

MEMORIAL DAY EDITION: The sun is out and the local parade is on, it ends in the cemetery with a speech and a rifle salute to the lost hero's....

HamTV Installation on ISS Scheduled for June

ARISS reports that HamTV is scheduled to be installed on the International Space Station in late June.

Originally installed in 2013, HamTV has been inactive since the equipment failed in 2019. HamTV has previously been used to facilitate school contacts with ISS astronauts.

Source: ARISS

Amateur Radio Daily – Read More

Inside Starlink’s User Terminal

If you talk about Starlink, you are usually talking about the satellites that orbit the Earth carrying data to and from ground stations. Why not? Space is cool. But there’s another important part of the system: the terminals themselves. Thanks to [DarkNavy], you don’t have to tear one open yourself to see what’s inside.

The terminal consists of two parts: the router and the antenna. In this context, antenna is somewhat of a misnomer, since it is really the RF transceiver and antenna all together. The post looks only at the “antenna” part of the terminal.

The unit is 100% full of printed circuit board with many RF chips and a custom ST Microelectronics Cortex A-53 quad-core CPU. There was a hack to gain root shell on the device. This led to SpaceX disabling the UART via a firmware update. However, there is still a way to break in.

[DarkNavy] wanted to look at the code, too, but there was no easy way to dump the flash memory. Desoldering the eMMC chip and reading it was, however, productive. The next step was to create a virtual environment to run the software under Qemu.

There were a few security questions raised. We wouldn’t call them red flags, per see, but maybe pink flags. For example, there are 41 trusted ssh keys placed in the device’s authorized_keys file. That seems like a lot for a production device on your network, but it isn’t any smoking gun.

We’ve watched the cat-and-mouse between Starlink and people hacking the receivers with interest.

Blog – Hackaday Read More

New Book Release: Using the Baofeng® Radio.....is this a joke?

Five Oddest Op Amp Applications

You think of op amps as amplifiers because, no kidding, it is right in the name. But just like some people say, “you could do that with a 555,” [Doctor Volt] might say, “you can do that with an op amp.” In a recent video, you can see below, he looks at simulations and breadboards for five applications that aren’t traditional amplifiers.

Of course, you can split hairs. A comparator is sort of an amplifier with some very specific parameters, but it isn’t an amplifier in the classic sense.

In addition to comparators, there’s a flip flop, a few oscillators, and a PWM audio over optical transmitter and receiver. If you want to test your understanding of op amps, you can try to analyze the different circuits to see if you can explain how they work.

Op amps are amazing for analog design since you don’t have to build up high-quality amplifier blocks from discrete devices. Even the worst op amp you can buy is probably better than something you have the patience to design in a few minutes with a FET or a bipolar device. Fair to say that we do enjoy these oddball op amp circuits.

Blog – Hackaday Read More

Highlights from 2025 Dayton Hamvention

Amateur Radio Newsline Report

REPORT: US UNPREPARED TO HANDLE MAJOR SOLAR STORM

JIM/ANCHOR: We begin this week with word that a US task force, by its own admission, is ill prepared to cope with the wide-ranging impact of a solar storm. This news comes on the anniversary of the Gannon Storm - the most powerful geomagnetic storm to hit the earth in two decades. Here's Randy Sly W4XJ.

RANDY: A US government task force established 11 years ago to handle space weather emergencies has demonstrated that it is incapable of successfully managing such a crisis, according to a recent report task force members released earlier this month. Several critical failures came to light at the conclusion of a two-day drill conducted in early May to assess US agencies' readiness in such a crisis. The drill staged a simulated crisis of several CMEs hurtling toward earth, creating widespread power and communications outages, radio blackouts and radiation hazards for NASA astronauts on a lunar mission.

This was the first exercise of its kind for the task force, which is known by the acronym SWORM, which stands for Space Weather Operations Research and Mitigation. Member agencies include the US Department of Homeland Security and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. According to the report, government agency protocols were shown to be weak and without effective interoffice coordination. Those challenges were called especially critical because warning for the impact of an incoming coronal mass ejection can be as long as a few days or as short as half an hour.

The report praised the exercise for identifying these issues and called for, among other things, development of an advanced warning system and sophisticated space-weather satellite systems. A link to the report is in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

This is Randy Sly W4XJ.

[DO NOT READ: https://www.jhuapl.edu/sites/default/files/2025-04/Space-Weather-TTX-Report-Summary-v3-FINAL.pdf ]

(SPACE WEATHER OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MITIGATION; POPULAR SCIENCE, LIVE SCIENCE)

**
ON-LOAN DMR KIT STARTS YOUNG UK HAMS ON THEIR JOURNEYS

JIM/ANCHOR: When you’re first starting out in amateur radio, you can’t borrow confidence in getting on the air but now in the UK you can borrow something that’s almost just as helpful. Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us about a new program created especially to help hams under the age of 18 who are just starting their radio journeys.

JEREMY: The DMR project launched recently by the Radio Society of Great Britain is a way to provide opportunity - and radio equipment - for young new amateurs to become accustomed to making QSOs on a regular basis. The Outreach Team’s new DMR kit contains DMR handheld transceivers and hotspots to borrow for as long as three months at no cost. Accompanying the equipment, of course, is the opportunity to use it - and the RSGB’s team will also be hosting regularly scheduled youth nets to give as many participants as possible a good start. Licensed hams or school groups with at least one licensee are eligible to apply to use the kits.

Meanwhile, the society is also encouraging teachers to establish school clubs and to become amateurs themselves. Funding from the Radio Communications Foundation will cover the cost of up to nine teachers’ exams.

Additional details are available at rsgb dot org dot UK (rsgb.org.uk)

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(RSGB)

**
ANTENNA AUCTION RAISES FUNDS FOR SCHOLARSHIP

JIM/ANCHOR: Pieces of an antenna once atop New York City's Empire State Building have found new homes - and the auction held for them has done a lot of good, as we hear from Jen DeSalvo, W9TXJ.

JEN: You might say that this was one high-profile antenna that got some great reception: The remaining 16 elements of the Empire State Building's 32 element Alford Antenna attracted lively and profitable bidding at a charity benefit auction in April. According to a report on the Radio World website, a total of $7,549 was raised for the Society of Broadcast Engineers' Ennes scholarship fund.

The antenna, which was installed on the Manhattan skyscraper in 1965, was decommissioned in 2019. At one time it served as many as 16 FM broadcast stations. The individual elements weigh about 100 pounds, or 45 kilograms, each but thanks to this successful auction, they will carry even more weight in helping support the careers of future broadcast engineers.

This is Jen DeSalvo, W9TXJ

(RADIO WORLD)

**
STUDENTS GET FREE ONLINE LESSONS ABOUT WEATHER SATELLITES

JIM/ANCHOR: A free online course is teaching students why weather satellites remain an important resource to preserve our quality of life. Sel Embee KB3TZD tells us about those lessons.

SEL: Even as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is halting support for a number of its weather satellites, the importance of these collectors of data and imagery from space remains key to understanding our changing climate. Students in grades 8 through 12 here in the US are getting an opportunity to learn more about these satellites and their contributions to the study of long-term climate behavior through a free online series offered by the AMSAT Youth Initiative.

The coursework is designed to let students progress through the material independently. The first installment is called "An Introduction to Satellite Meteorology," and will be followed by the next release in June. Future topics include Wildlife and Natural Resources, Navigation, Climate Change and Pollution Control.

Visit buzzsat-dot-com, that is b-u-z-z-s-a-t-dot-com (buzzsat.com), to see more details about the course.

This is Sel Embee, K-B-3-T-Zed-D.

(AMSAT NEWS SERVICE)

**
LONGTIME ELECTRONICS SUPPLIER SHUTS DOORS IN US

JIM/ANCHOR: Another business that was a reliable supplier of electronics for ham radio operators has closed its doors. We have those details from Jack Parker W8ISH.

JACK; Since it was founded in Florida in January of 1972, Marlin P. Jones & Associates gained a loyal following among amateur radio operators looking for everything from power supplies to electronic switches and other components.

The family-owned business closed its doors on the 9th of May and announced on its website that it would no longer be taking phone calls after the 23rd of the month. Its remaining inventory was purchased by another company in Florida - Skycraft Surplus.

Positive reviews of the company’s customer service and the quality of its products reflect the satisfaction that hams and other purchasers of electronic components received after doing business repeatedly with the company, which was also known as MPJ & Associates.

The company's website gave no reason for the closure. A statement said simply: [quote] “It has been an honor to have done business with you.” [Endquote]

This is Jack Parker W8ISH.

(MPJ & ASSOCIATES, EHAM.NET)

**
SPECIAL EVENT FOLLOWS TRAIL OF 19TH CENTURY EXPLORERS

JIM/ANCHOR: Just as the American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark tied the landscape of the early North American West together via their travels in the early 19th century, more than 30 ham radio clubs in 16 states are carving out a trail of communications along that same route. Radio operators are calling CQ from May 31st through to June 15th in the Dakotas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky and other states that were eventually established within the explored territory.

The special event, Lewis & Clark Trail On the Air, has expanded since its launch in 2022 with the Clark County Amateur Radio Club in Vancouver, Washington state. Now it encourages chasers to try for contacts of one club in each of the 16 states - or one of two bonus stations who are representing the Jefferson Indian Peace Medal. The explorers handed these medals out to the chiefs of tribes they encountered during their expedition. For information about certificates or participating clubs, visit the website L C T O T A dot org for details (LCTOTA.org)

(LCTOTA.ORG) through Allstar, in Morrisville Pennsylvania and Fall River Massachusetts.
**

LUXEMBOURG ISSUES POSTAGE STAMP FOR IARU's CENTENARY

JIM/ANCHOR: Luxembourg's postal service is joining the celebration of the IARU's 100th birthday, as we hear from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: One hundred years ago, Radioamateurs du Luxembourg was among the organisations representing radio amateurs from 23 nations at the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union in Paris, France.

Celebrating the centenary and showing pride in Luxembourg's role, the Post Philately of Luxembourg has issued a postage stamp and a matching postal card marking the anniversary. The stamp will be released in the weeks ahead and will be available for purchase at the Radioamateurs du Luxembourg booth at Ham Radio Friedrichshafen in June. Until then, pre-orders can be sent via email to the address that appears in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org.

**
SPECIAL EVENT OPERATORS RECALL HISTORIC JOHNSTOWN FLOOD OF 1889

JIM/ANCHOR: A devastating flood in the late 19th century left its mark on western Pennsylvania. Amateur radio operators are on the air as a reminder of this painful history of the Johnstown Flood. Here's Travis Lisk N3ILS with details.

TRAVIS: In a community 60 miles east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the disaster has come to be known as the Great Flood of 1889. What began on May 31st of that year ultimately claimed more than 2,200 lives in the western part of the state. The deadliest dam burst in US history followed several days of heavy rainfall, as more than 20 million tons of water rushed uncontrollably into the heavily populated valley. Johnstown, in Cambria County, had the misfortune to be just 14 miles downstream from the dam.

It had 30,000 residents, many of whom were crushed by the sudden, unexpected rush of flood waters.

This is history that is personal to many in the region and amateur radio operators are no exception. They will be on the air starting on Saturday the 24th of May through to the 6th of June, operating from the Johnstown Pennsylvania Flood Museum calling CQ. They are using the callsign N3N and will be on HF and 2 meters. The special event is taking place in cooperation with the Cambria County Pennsylvania Emergency Services and Skywarn Storm Spotters of Western Pennsylvania. Emergency responders know well: Tragic flooding revisited the region again in 1936 and 1977 but neither of those floods compared to this one, which is considered the kind of storm that happens once every 1,000 years.

This is Travis Lisk N3ILS.

(EDDIE MISIEWICZ, KB3YRU; HISTORY.COM)

**
DEADLINE NEARS FOR 'YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR' NOMINEES

JIM/ANCHOR: If you have delayed nominating a candidate for the Bill Pasternak Memorial Young Ham of the Year Award, don't wait much longer. The deadline for nominations is the 31st of May. If you know a promising young amateur who is 18 years of age or younger here in the continental United States, let us know. If they have talent, promise and a commitment to the spirit of ham radio they might just be this year's award winner. Find application forms on our website arnewsline.org under the "YHOTY" tab.

**
WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, Dave, G4WXJ, will be on the air as ZC4RH from the British Sovereign Area on Cyprus, IOTA number AS - ØØ4, from the 14th through to the 20th of June. Dave will be using CW, SSB, FT8 and FT4 on 40 through 6 metres. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

Emir, OE1EMS, is using the callsign E77DX from Sao Vicente Island, IOTA number AF - Ø86, in Cape Verde. He will be participating in the CQ WW WPX CW contest on the 24th and the 25th of May. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

A team of operators using the callsign VU7T can be heard from Lakshadweep Islands, IOTA number AS - Ø11, in the Arabian Sea. They will remain active through to the 28th of May on the HF bands. They will also be using the QO - 100 satellite. QSL via MØXUU.

JS6RRR, JI3DST/6, JJ5RBH/6, JR8YLY/6 are on the air from the Miyako Islands, IOTA number AS - 079, until the 18th of June, using CW, SSB and digital modes on 80 through 6m. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

(DX NEWS, DX WORLD)

**

KICKER: TIME FLOWS ON, THANKS TO 'FOUNTAIN" OF UNPRECEDENTED ACCURACY

JIM/ANCHOR: Have you got a second? Well, it only takes a second - actually, a few minutes - for our final story, which introduces an important new atomic clock that's been put to work at the official US headquarters of timekeeping in Colorado. Here's Kent Peterson KCØDGY.

KENT: Keep your eye on the clock, especially if you've been recording your QSOs like the rest of us, in Coordinated Universal Time. A new atomic clock at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has been operating since April at NIST's Boulder, Colorado offices. It will soon have a bigger job as part of a group of timekeepers around the world that assists with the calibration of UTC. Known as NIST-F4, the clock is still awaiting certification by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures before that can happen.

Until then, its unprecedented precision is already hard at work defining the official time here in the United States.

Its creators call it a "fountain" of precision because the cloud of cesium atoms inside the clock oscillate at a rate of more than 9 billion times per second, rising and falling in the same way water does in a fountain. Its resonant frequency is 9 billion, 192 million, 631 thousand 770 hertz - to be precise. That is the frequency that sets the standards for all other clocks.

FRIDAY EDITION: Well it blew pretty good last night on the island, 50mph gusts but the antenna farm lives thru another one...

JUST IN: Amateur Spectrum Addressed in US House Reconciliation Bill

Milwaukee's 'ham radio' hobbyists are keeping amateur broadcasting alive

When radio first emerged, it was the Wild West of communication technology. Pioneers in the industry learned firsthand how to wrangle the power of this new tech by tapping into the radio frequency spectrum. These radio enthusiasts — or "hams" — set up their own amateur radio stations to communicate with other hobbyists around the world.

Locally, the Milwaukee Radio Amateurs' Club and Ham Radio Outlet serve as hubs for a dedicated community of aficionados who are keeping ham radio alive in the digital age. Journalist Tea Krulos wrote about them in this month’s Milwaukee Magazine, and he joins Lake Effect’s Joy Powers to share more. He says ham radio is almost like an early form of social media.

"In the same way that you might be curious about connecting with other people online, this was kind of a spin of the roulette wheel," he says. "You never knew who you were going to talk to, but you could have these conversations with interesting people all over the country and the world."

Through his grandfather, a carpenter who loved to tinker with radio equipment in his spare time, Krulos has a personal connection to the ham radio community. He says his grandparents' home had a room dedicated to radio equipment that Krulos' grandfather called his "ham shack."

"I have this fond memory of walking through the hallway," he says. "And I would hear this very distinct sound of my grandfather snoring because he had fallen asleep while talking on the radio and the sort of staticky crackle of people talking in the background."

THURSDAY EDITION: We are waiting for the NorEaster to hit later in the day, no big deal with no snow and just rain...Buy bitcoins they said....

An F-35 stealth fighter flying in Texas sent classified data to an air base 5,000 miles away in Denmark

The US defense contractor Lockheed Martin said one of its F-35 stealth fighters sent classified data from Texas to a command center about 5,000 miles away in Denmark, calling this a milestone and a successful demonstration of how systems work together.

Danish military F-35s flying out of Fort Worth exported the data via DAGGR-2, made by Lockheed’s Advanced Development Programs, also known as Skunk Works. The command-and-control system then passed the classified information through commercial satellite communications to Denmark’s Skrydstrup Air Base.

In a statement on Monday, Lockheed said that “this is another success in a series of Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) demonstrations proving the F-35’s ability to serve as a powerful force multiplier, enabling allied forces to rapidly deploy ready-now capabilities to connect systems across the battlespace.”

Read more – Business Insider: https://bit.ly/4dLldZf

Make Your Own Telescope, Right Down To The Glass

WEDNESDAY EDITION: I am off to Burlington Lahey with the wife for yet more testing by another specialist....I hope the Mexican Air Force doesn't try a training mission up to New York....

In Memory of Ed Smylie, Whose Famous Hack Saved the Apollo 13 Crew

Some hacks are so great that when you die you receive the rare honor of both an obituary in the New York Times and an in memoriam article at Hackaday.

The recently deceased, Ed Smylie, was a NASA engineer leading the effort to save the crew of Apollo 13 with a makeshift gas conduit made from plastic bags and duct tape back in the year 1970. Ed died recently, on April 21, in Crossville, Tennessee, at the age of 95.

This particular hack, another in the long and storied history of duct tape, literally required putting a square peg in a round hole. After an explosion on the Apollo 13 command module the astronauts needed to escape on the lunar excursion module. But the lunar module was only designed to support two people, not three.

The problem was that there was only enough lithium hydroxide onboard the lunar module to filter the air for two people. The astronauts could salvage lithium hydroxide canisters from the command module, but those canisters were square. Ed and his team famously designed the required adapter from a small inventory of materials available on the space craft. This celebrated story has been told many times, including in the 1995 film, Apollo 13.

Thank you, Ed, for one of the greatest hacks of all time. May you rest in peace.

Header: Gas conduit adapter designed by Ed Smylie, NASA, Public domain.

Blog – Hackaday Read More

Hamvention 2025 Wrap-Up

By Cale K4HCK

Another Hamvention is in the books and this year's event was absolutely worth the 6 hour drive to reach the amateur radio promised land. From new radios, to connecting with internet friends face-to-face for the first time, there was a lot to be excited about. This year, Nate (N8FOO), the ham originally responsible for me getting into the hobby was willing to brave the long road trip and tag along with me. A road trip is always easier with good conversation and someone keeping an eye out for abandoned long-lines towers.

Hermes Project

One of the most compelling projects that we came across at the show was the Hermes project from Rhizomatica. Talking with this group was refreshing. The project aims to get dead simple, yet capable communications hardware into rural areas that don't have reliable internet or cellular service. The goal is to keep communities connected.

What really stands out with Hermes is the focus on simplicity when it comes to building a solution. The transceivers are built around an extremely simple interface that is unsurpassed in the world of amateur radio. Tap to send a message, type out the message to send, and tap once more to send the message. Perfect for their end users relying on a tool to survive.

Oh, and they're working on an Open Source replacement for VARA.

Meshtastic

One of the more exciting pieces of technology that I was anxious to see in action was the amateur radio adjacent Meshtastic project. They even had a special firmware set up just for the convention. However, I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of activity. While it worked well and I was able to exchange a couple messages, there just weren't that many nodes. Maybe 2 dozen or so? I was expecting exponentially more. I'll be curious to hear what others experienced.

DX Engineering and Summit Racing

We finally saw the crossover that ham radio and racing enthusiasts have been waiting for with a joint display from Summit Racing and DX Engineering. Maybe a race spec Miata outfitted with ham gear next year?

Zero Retries and IP400

IP400 was on display alongside the MMDVM group. It was exciting to not only see this project functioning, but to see it come together in a relatively short time span. Steve Stroh (N8GNJ) and Martin Alcock (VE6VH) have been pushing hard to get to this point and I'm excited to see what the next 6 months bring. But beyond IP400 we had the chance to spend some time with Steve Saturday night and just talk about all kinds of different aspects of amateur radio and technology. We did our best to solve all the problems, from figuring out how to light up dark repeaters to the best path to modernize the premiere publishers of amateur radio content.

No one else is doing the in-depth exploration of cutting edge technology in the world of ham radio like Steve is. Zero Retries should be required reading for all hams interested in the future of ham radio.

Hamvention Awards

Once again I was invited to attend the Hamvention Awards Banquet and once again it was a surreal experience. A number of exceptional hams were honored. We had the chance to speak with Dr. Kristina Collins (KD8OXT) who was presented the Hamvention Technical Achievement Award for her work helping to develop the HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station Network. We also spent a few minutes with Julio Ripoll (WD4R) the recipient of the 2025 Special Achievement Award. He was instrumental in getting an amateur radio station into the National Hurricane Center in Miami back in 1980. I mentioned my experience with hurricane Andrew when living in Miami in 1992 and learned that Julio designed the repairs to the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant which sustained damage after a direct hit from Andrew. Incredible stories and the people behind them are uncovered at the awards banquet. Thanks to Michael Kalter (W8CI) and the awards committee for such incredible access. Hamvention is providing a great service by calling out and honoring the best of the amateur radio community.

AI and Amateur Radio

We haven't yet seen AI become as pervasive in the world of Amateur Radio as it has become in the tech sector, but there were two notable points of progress to relay coming out of Hamvention. The first point has been well published, but it's worth calling out again that RADE is a digital voice mode that is built with assistance from LLMs and the result is quite possibly some of the highest quality digital audio over low-bandwidth RF available.

The other point is not as widely known. The TAPR booth was showing off a project from the Time-Nuts (aka Time Lords) in which the entire Time-Nuts email mailing list (going back 30 years) was combined with additional Time-Nuts documentation and indexed by an LLM. The result was a locally running instance of an AI assistant capable of returning answers relevant to any question related to precise time keeping. Hopefully this tool will be available to a wider audience, soon. We're likely to see more examples of libraries of information being made available in similar fashion.

Amateur Radio Has a Bright Future

In the end, Hamvention illustrates the strong community that makes up amateur radio. If you can look past the surface level aspects of the hobby that most of us are well familiar with, there's an incredible amount of people working really hard to advance this hobby for the next generation. One of the most encouraging sights at Hamvention was the group of college students huddled around the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Program booth. The numbers were strong. Between the younger generation simply showing up and the older generation working to foster relationships with newer hams, the hobby is in good hands.

TUESDAY EDITION: After 5 hours on yesterdays hospital trip I am taking the day off from everything, we have another appointment on Wednesday for more testing. My wife is going thru it all, God bless her...French defense firm CILAS has unveiled a portable laser rifle, the HELMA-LP — a system that could become a critical asset on tomorrow’s battlefields. Few armed forces have a more urgent need for such capabilities than Ukraine’s.

Amateur radio spirit continues all over world, but gathers at Xenia’s Hamvention (Ohio)

Thousands yet again flocked to Xenia this weekend for the annual Dayton Hamvention, arguably the world’s largest gathering of amateur radio enthusiasts.

Asked what brings thousands of “hams” back to the Dayton region every single year, Hamvention General Chair Brian Markland said it’s the people on the other side of the radio, wherever they are in the world.

“There really doesn’t seem to be a very good modern equivalent to it,” he said. “We are, at heart, explorers in this world, but we’re exploring it through radio. Rather than hiking, rather than boating, rather than climbing ice, we explore the world through radio.”

Hamvention has been held annually since 1952, save for a two-year pause during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more – Dayton Daily News: https://bit.ly/4jXun6Y

Tracking the Sun? Nah!

If you want solar power, you usually have to make a choice. You can put a solar panel in a fixed location and accept that it will only put out the maximum when the sun is properly positioned. Or, you can make the panels move to track the sun.

While this isn’t difficult, it does add cost and complexity, plus mechanical systems usually need more maintenance. According to [Xavier Derdenback], now that solar panels are cheaper than ever, it is a waste of money to make a tracking array. Instead, you can build a system that looks to the east and the west. The math says it is more cost effective.

The idea is simple. If you have panels facing each direction, then one side will do better than the other side in the morning. The post points out that a tracking setup, of course, will produce more power. That’s not the argument. However, for a given power output, the east-west solution has lower installation costs and uses less land.

Letting the post speak for itself:

East-West arrays are simple. They consist of parallel strings of PV modules that are oriented in opposing directions, one facing East and the other West. The current of the whole array is the summation of these string currents, effectively letting East-West arrays capture sunlight from dawn till dusk, similar to a tracked array.

So what do you think? Are solar trackers old hat? If you want one, they don’t have to be very complex. But still easier to just double your panels.

Blog – Hackaday Read More

MONDAY EDITION: I am taking the xyl to Burlington Lahey for more testing at 930am, I bet the ride down RT128 takes two hours in commuter traffic....I will update the page when I get home.,,I am still wondering how a 300 foot Mexican Naval ship ran into the Brooklyn Bridge. I saw pictures on tv, it looks like  floating piñata....Why does Mexico have a naval vessel, they can't even control the border and the cartels own the police and military....and why the hell is the Mexican Navy cruising around the Brooklyn Bridge? I bet they use Baofeng for communications....

What Happened to WWW.?

Once upon a time, typing “www” at the start of a URL was as automatic as breathing. And yet, these days, most of us go straight to “hackaday.com” without bothering with those three letters that once defined the internet.

Have you ever wondered why those letters were there in the first place, and when exactly they became optional? Let’s dig into the archaeology of the early web and trace how this ubiquitous prefix went from essential to obsolete.created by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in 1990. Running on a NeXT workstation employed as a server, the site could be accessed at a simple URL: “http//info.cern.ch/”—no WWW needed. Berners-Lee had invented the World Wide Web, and called it as such, but he hadn’t included the prefix in his URL at all. So where did it come from?

As it turns out, the www prefix largely came about due to prevailing trends on the early Internet. It had become typical to separate out different services on a domain by using subdomains. For example, a company might have FTP access on http://ftp.company.com, while the SMTP server would be accessed via the smpt.company.com subdomain. In turn, when it came to establish a server to run a World Wide Web page, network administrators followed existing convention. Thus, they would put the WWW server on the www. subdomain, creating http://www.company.com.

This soon became standard practice, and in short order, was expected by members of the broader public as the joined the Internet in the late 1990s. It wasn’t long before end users were ignoring the http:// prefix at the start of domains, as web browsers didn’t really need you to type that in. However, www. had more of a foothold in the public consciousness. Along with “.com”, it became an obvious way for companies to highlight their new fancy website in their public facing marketing materials. For many years, this was simply how things were done. Users expected to type “www” before a domain name, and thus it became an ingrained part of the culture.

Eventually, though, trends shifted. For many domains, web traffic was the sole dominant use, so it became somewhat unnecessary to fold web traffic under its own subdomain. There was also a technological shift when the HTTP/1.1 protocol was introduced in 1999, with the “Host” header enabling multiple domains to be hosted on a single server. This, along with tweaks to DNS, also made it trivial to ensure “www.yoursite.com” and “yoursite.com” went to the same place. Beyond that, fashion-forward companies started dropping the leading www. for a cleaner look in marketing. Eventually, this would become the norm, with “www.” soon looking old hat.

Of course, today, “www” is mostly dying out, at least as far as the industry and most end users are concerned. Few of us spend much time typing in URLs by hand these days, and fewer of us could remember the last time we felt the need to include “www.” at the beginning. Of course, if you want to make your business look out of touch, you could still include www. on your marketing materials, but people might think you’re an old fuddy duddy.

Using the www. prefix can still have some value when it comes to cookies, however. If you don’t use the prefix and someone goes to yoursite.com, that cookie would be sent to all subdomains. However, if your main page is set up at http://www.yoursite.com, it’s effectively on it’s own subdomain, along with any others you might have… like store.yoursite.com, blog.yoursite.com, and so on. This allows cookies to be more effectively managed across a site spanning multiple subdomains.

In any case, most browsers have taken a stance against the significance of “www”. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge all hide the prefix even when you are technically visiting a website that does still use the www. subdomain (like http://www.microsoft.com). You can try it yourself in Chrome—head over to a www. site and watch as the prefix disappears from the taskbar. If you really want to know if you’re on a www subdomain or not, though, you can click into the taskbar and it will give you the full URL, HTTP:// or HTTPS:// included, and all.

The “www” prefix stands as a reminder that the internet is a living, evolving thing. Over time, technical necessities become conventions, conventions become habits, and habits eventually fade away when they no longer serve a purpose. Yet we still see those three letters pop up on the Web now and then, a digital vestigial organ from the early days of the web. The next time you mindlessly type a URL without those three Ws, spare a thought for this small piece of internet history that shaped how we access information for decades. Largely gone, but not yet quite forgotten.

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WEEKEND EDITION: Rain, thunder, and lightning this morning, another reason not to launch the boat today.

Amateur Radio Roundtable to Broadcast Live from Hamvention

A special two day live webcast will take place at Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio on Friday and Saturday. For hams unable to attend Hamvention in person, Amateur Radio Roundtable will provide multiple video feeds and reporters covering the event. The live stream will be active both May 16th and 17th from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern time. Viewers can watch on the W5KUB YouTube channel or w5kub.com. A live chat will also be available.

ARRL Coverage of 2025 Dayton Hamvention – Friday, May 16

Friday was opening day at 2025 Dayton Hamvention® and it was a day of superlatives — huge crowds coming through the gates, standing room only at “Salty Walt” Hudson’s portable antenna forum, and more as hams from across the country and around the world descended on the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio for the first of three days of total immersion in all things ham radio.

At the many booths that make up the ARRL Expo area, crowds were constant, and sentiments were similar among the employees, board members, and volunteers who staffed them. ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, was in the meet and greet area and talked with ARRL members nearly non-stop the whole day.

At the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) booth, ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, said “It’s busy. I love it! Hamvention is an awesome opportunity to talk to hams, find out what’s going on in the field, and share ideas,” adding, “It’s a unique opportunity to hear about problems and successes and try to help get issues resolved.” He also noted that informal conversations with influential visitors can often have far-reaching benefits.

Across the aisle at the ARRL Foundation booth, Development Operations Manager Christine Lessard, KC1TDM, said she “enjoyed connecting with clubs that have received club grants and answering questions about scholarship programs.” Lessard added that “It’s exciting to talk about all the good that the Foundation does for the amateur radio community.”

Read more

American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources – Read More

Amateur Radio Newsline Report

IARU OUTLINES RE-ENGINEERED VISION, ELIMINATING REGIONAL ENTITIES

DON/ANCHOR: Our top story this week is the International Amateur Radio Union. Marking 100 years of representing member countries around the world and coordinating frequencies and other concerns, the organization enters its second century with one big change on its mind. We have those details from Graham Kemp VK4BB.

GRAHAM: Imagine, for a moment, an IARU without separate entities known as Region 1, Region, 2 and Region 3. Imagine a total restructuring that would create a single global entity, erasing the discrete regions separated by oceans, languages and cultures.

The IARU has announced that it is considering just that and has released a proposal to unite the independent regions as one, combined with the International Secretariat, to streamline decision-making, to better coordinate shared concerns and to bolster membership in regions where it is declining. The IARU's administrative headquarters is presently based at the ARRL in the United States.

The IARU has released guidance on potential restructuring to help the organization meet modern challenges. The proposed changes would combine the 3 separate regional organizations into a single global entity.

The proposal (PDF) outlines a number of areas where the currently independent, regional organizations struggle. Problem areas include declining membership, duplication of resources, lack of coordination, and other various inefficiencies. The changes are designed to establish a number of benefits:

This overwhelming change would not happen overnight, of course. The IARU will be asking member societies to vote after they have reviewed the consultation on restructuring, which is available on the IARU website. Any changes that are approved would not take place before next year.

This is Graham Kemp VK4BB.

(IARU)

**
UNIVERSITY IN ROME LOGS QSOs TO WELCOME NEW POPE

DON/ANCHOR: If you were lucky enough to work HV5PUL in Rome recently, you were part of this small university-based station's celebration that a new pope had been elected. Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us about the activation.

JEREMY: Two days after the conclave of cardinals had elected Pope Leo XIV, amateur radio station HV5PUL - the Pontifical Lateran University - was on the air in the Vatican City State in the heart of Rome, celebrating. The station's administrator, Luca Della Giovampaola, IWØDJB, reported that traffic was lively on 20 metres SSB and 17 metres FT8. He said that the simple 100-watt station logged an estimated 400 contacts in four hours. Propagation was challenging and so, with the exception of one Japanese station , all the contacts were within Europe.

It's not often a new pope is chosen nor that HV5PUL is put on the air. Luca said the callsign is active mainly on Saturdays in connection with special occasions, such as the opening day of the university's academic year -- and of course, the election of a new pope.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(LUCA DELLA GIOVAMPAOLA, IWØDJB)

**
HISTORIC TURNOUT FOR BANGLADESH HAM RADIO EXAM

DON/ANCHOR: Amateur radio test-taking hit an all-time high among candidates in Bangladesh recently. John Williams VK4JJW is here to explain what happened.

JOHN: A record number of candidates showed up to take Bangladesh's amateur radio exam on Friday, May 9th, a total estimated at more than 900 participants. The Amateur Radio Society of Bangladesh said on its website that [quote] "this remarkable figure represents the highest number of participants ever recorded for an amateur radio exam in Bangladesh's history." [endquote]

Weeks of preparation had gone into preparing candidates for the exam by offering online seminars as well as in-person training and workshops. There was also a field day as well as classes in basic electronics and antenna-building. The amateur radio society said there was great support from the Bangladesh Vespa Community, a community-service group of motorised-scooter enthusiasts - many of whom also took the exam, which was organised by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

It was not yet known how many of the candidates were successful in getting their licence.

This is John Williams VK4JJW.

(AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY OF BANGLADESH)

**
SILENT KEY: THE QSO RADIO SHOW'S TED RANDALL, WB8PUM

DON: Ted Randall, WB8PUM, host and founder of the QSO Radio Show heard on shortwave stations WTWW and WRMI passed away on Sunday, May 11th after a long illness. Born Ted Randall Klimkowski in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, Ted graduated from Robichaud High School in 1969. Ted was a broadcast engineer in Detroit and, later, Nashville. His sons, David and Matt, are also engineers.

Ted was known for his deep voice and velvety delivery on the QSO Radio Show. If it was of interest to amateurs, Ted covered it. He also covered the paranormal. He said "if it flies over your head and can't be identified or goes bump in the night, we talk about it." He did several live shows from just outside the gates of Area 51 in Nevada.

Ted was a huge supporter of the Amateur Radio Newsline Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Young Ham of the Year award. During his live broadcasts from the Huntsville Hamfest, the QSO Radio Show was usually the first stop after the presentation for a sit down on air with Ted. He also did live broadcasts from the Dayton Hamvention.

For several years, the Ham Nation television audio was simulcast by Ted on WTWW.

He is survived by his wife Holly and two sons. Fittingly, he was 73 years of age.


**
ARRL'S RENEWED CALLS TO FCC INCLUDE PLEA FOR TECHNICIANS' HF PRIVILEGES

DON/ANCHOR: The FCC's recent request for suggestions about eliminating or modifying any and all regulations has become an opportunity for the ARRL to renew some of its recent proposals to the regulator, as we hear from Andy Morrison K9AWM.

ANDY: The ARRL has renewed an earlier plea that the FCC grant HF privileges to Technician class radio amateurs. The revival of this proposed change is prominent on a long list the league has drawn up for the commission, responding to the federal government's goal to eliminate certain FCC regulations or guidelines. The league is asking that Technicians gain phone privileges on 80 metres, 40 metres and 15 metres along with RTTY and digital privileges. This is not the only previous petition the league is pressing for as part of the commission's announced changes. It is also asking that sub-band boundaries be adjusted on 80 and 75 metres to correct what it calls an "imbalance" that doesn't reflect the increased presence of digital operations. The ARRL is also underscoring its belief that baud rate and bandwidth limitations should be eliminated on certain amateur LF and VHF/UHF bands. This FCC initiative was announced in its Further Notice of Proposed Rule making in 2023.

The FCC initiative was contained in its Docket Number 25-133 which has been referred to as the "Delete, Delete, Delete" docket.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(RADIOWORLD, FCC)

**
HAMS EXEMPT FROM SOUTH CAROLINA LAW BANNING HANDHELDS

DON/ANCHOR: There's good news for hams in South Carolina, where a new law will ban most handheld devices from use behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. Kevin Trotman N5PRE has those details.

KEVIN: South Carolina is about to become the 32nd state in the US to exempt amateur radio operators from a law that bans drivers of motor vehicles from using hand-held devices.

After it is signed into law by Gov. Henry McMaster, the measure is to take effect on September 1st. Although it prohibits drivers from using portable computers, GPS receives, mobile phones, electronic games or other communication devices, the bill exempts operators of amateur, citizens bad, commercial and emergency radios.

Members of the state Senate and House of Representatives passed different versions of the Hands-Free and Distracted Driving Act earlier this year - overwhelmingly. They recently agreed to resolve the differences in both versions and send it in its final form, to the governor.

A similar law in Iowa - also with a ham radio exemption - is set to take effect on the 1st of July, joining a growing number of states around the US.

This is Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

(SCSTATEHOUSE.GOV; WYFF CHANNEL 4, WIS-TV)

**
HAMS EXEMPT FROM DISTRACTED-DRIVING LAW THAT BEGINS JUNE 5

DON/ANCHOR: A similar law takes effect on the 5th of June in Pennsylvania, where drivers will be banned from using handheld mobile devices while behind the wheel of a moving car. As with many distracted-driving laws passed recently, this law also exempts amateur radio operators and emergency responders. The measure is known as Paul Miller’s Law, bearing the name of the 21-year-old man struck and killed by a motorist distracted by a phone in 2010.

**
NOMINATE OUR NEXT YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR

DON/ANCHOR: Nominations close on the 31st of this month for Newsline's Bill Pasternak Memorial Young Ham of the Year Award. Do you know a promising young amateur who is a potential candidate? Consider nominating an amateur radio operator 18 years of age or younger here in the continental United States. If they have talent, promise and a commitment to the spirit of ham radio they might just be this year's award winner. Find application forms on our website, arnewsline.org, under the "AWARDS" tab.

**

PROJECT KUIPER LAUNCHES ITS FIRST SATELLITES

DON/ANCHOR: After a series of delays that pushed its first satellite launch well past its target date of early 2024, Amazon's new broadband internet constellation project has moved ahead with its first liftoff. We have those details from Kent Peterson KCØDGY.

KENT: The broadband internet constellation known as Project Kuiper is on its way at last, following the launch on Monday, April 28th of its first 27 satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Amazon envisions its long-anticipated $10-billion project as a direct challenge to the massive SpaceX Starlink network, which dominates the market, as well as Eutelsat OneWeb, AT&T and T-Mobile. Ultimately Project Kuiper will send 3,236 satellites into low-Earth orbit, making its global broadband service accessible to rural and underserved regions.

A mandate by the US Federal Communications Commission requires Amazon to deploy 1,618 - or half - of its satellites by the middle of next year. Analysts speculate that the company may seek an extension on that date as a result of the delays.

This is Kent Peterson KCØDGY.

(AMSAT NEWS SERVICE, REUTERS)

**
AMSAT SETS OCTOBER DATE FOR SYMPOSIUM, MEETING

DON/ANCHOR: October seems like a long way off but to planners of the 43rd Annual AMSAT Space Symposium & Annual General Meeting, it's just around the corner. Organizers have already sent out a "save the date" notice for the weekend of October 16th and have published a general schedule that runs for four days. Meetings and presentations will be hosted at the Holiday Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport North in Arizona, convenient to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

The board of directors will meet on Thursday the 16th of October and again on Friday the 17th of October, the same day that the symposium presentations will begin. The annual general meeting will be on Saturday, the 18th of October. The morning of Sunday, the 19th of October - the closing day - has been set aside for the members' breakfast. More specific details will be made public as soon as they become available.

(AMSAT NEWS SERVICE)

**
AWARD RECOGNIZES WSPR RADIO "DETECTIVES"

DON/ANCHOR: DUBUS, a magazine that is popular with amateurs around the world who focus on VHF and higher frequencies, is posing a challenge -- and offering a reward. It involves a little radio detective work, as we hear from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: The international ham radio magazine for enthusiasts operating VHF and up has announced it will award a prize this year to a radio operator studying the scientific validity of global passive WSPR radar in locating aircraft. The theory came to prominence following the use of WSPR log data in the search for the doomed Malaysian flight MH370, which disappeared in 2014 en route to Beijing.

The journal, which publishes four times a year in English and German, has created this award to mark the 75th anniversary of the DARC and the 100th anniversary of the International Amateur Radio Union. The total prize award is 7,500 euros - the equivalent of $8,450 US - and is in three categories: 1,500 Euros, or $1,600, for proof involving large passenger or cargo aircraft; 2,500 Euros, or $2,800, for proof involving smaller aircraft; 3,500 Euros, almost $4,000 for proof involving helicopters.

Studies should be submitted in either English or German and in PDF format to the email address that appears in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org by the entry deadline of 31st of December. [DO NOT READ: DUBUS@t-online.de ]

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH

(DUBUS)

**
WORLD OF DX

Morten, LA9GY, is using the callsign 3DAØGY while operating holiday style from Eswatini from the 22nd of May through to the 2nd of June. Morten will be using CW and some SSB, concentrating on 20, 15 and 10 metres. He may also operate on other HF bands. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

Listen for OT25EPIC, the special callsign of the Antwerp Port Contest Club, ON8APC, which is on the air to promote this year's edition of the Antwerp Port Epic cycling race. The callsign will be on the air between the 10th of May and the 9th of June, which is the day of the race. QSL via ON8JJ.

The International Amateur Radio Club at ITU headquarters in Geneva is using the callsign 4UØITU from the 16th of May through to the end of the year. This is to mark the 160th anniversary of the International Telecommunication Union.

Jose, HP2AT, is using the special callsign H82AT, to mark his 35th anniversary in amateur radio. He is on the air through to the 31st of December. Paper cards are not available. See QRZ.com for details.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**

KICKER: WHEN THE "STATION IDENTIFICATION" IS A BINARY STAR SYSTEM

DON/ANCHOR: We end this week's newscast with the story of some mystery radio signals that are mysteries no more. Thanks to researchers, there's been some "station identification." We learn more from Travis Lisk N3ILS.

TRAVIS: Think of them as the dynamic duo of the universe: No, they're not caped crusaders but a red dwarf star and a white dwarf, a dead star. Together, they have been sending a steady radio pulse every two hours for at least 10 years.

Scientists have heard their transmission but until recently no one knew the source of the sounds, which appeared to emanate from the direction of the Big Dipper. This past spring, the signals were found to come from a binary system - two stars - that send the pulse by repeated contact between their magnetic fields. Researchers cracked the mystery with the help of a low-frequency array radio telescope. The discovery debunks the long-held belief that only highly magnetized neutron stars known as magnetars, can emit such pulses.

This challenge to the old way of thinking opens up the chance to explore other mysteries and binary systems.

Researchers call this binary star system ILTJ1101 [EYE ELL TEE JAY ONE ONE ZERO ONE]. Although it sounds like a very large and exotic callsign for this long-distance transmitter, it's not. Still, with all those steady, regular signals over the years, this pair surely deserves some kind of operating award.

FRIDAY EDITION: It was lousy out yesterday so I spent 4 hours or so playing with the Yaesu 950 adjusting the many menu settings. I am not a fan of the Yaesu menu system but overall I got it playing pretty well. I notice the rx audio has a little too much bass and there are not  a lot of menu items to change the rx sound (plenty on the tx side with  eq settings)....overall a nice radio, I will play on transmit today as soon as I get the LDG cable from HRO to connect the auto tuner.

ARRL Reconsidered MAY 12, 2025 ~ RADIOARTISAN

A friend of mine asked recently if perhaps our angst over ARRL was misguided. There is a segment of hams that will hate the ARRL for any reason, often stupid, irrelevant reasons. I still encounter people who are angry about incentive licensing or claim the ARRL is against CW despite running daily CW bulletins. Naturally we should be angry over nefarious activities like canning directors for questionable conflict of interest claims or running shadow boards, but perhaps the decline of ARRL and its membership numbers is just due to the overall decline in the number of people interested in participating in organizations, and out of their control. We see it everywhere, from churches, to fraternal community organizations, to ham clubs with many withering away due to lack of interest. To an extent, I think he’s right. If you were a maker of buggy whips in the early 1900’s, your ox was undoubtedly going to get gored with the advent of the automobile. Amateur radio itself is in a bit of decline. If the demand for an organization to support something just isn’t there, there isn’t much an organization dedicated to that thing can do. But I’d also argue the answer is a bit more complicated and nuanced.

Let’s break down what ARRL is to people. I think there are two buckets: those who see it as a magazine and publication company / content provider and those who see it like the “NRA of amateur radio”. From a magazine and publisher perspective, they have fallen behind. Magazines are dying and ARRL continues to hold tight to the “we publish a monthly periodical” way of publishing. They haven’t embraced any real sort of new electronic media; the app the publications are on is just a replacement for paper. Complicating this, there are a lot of members who feel stiffed they don’t get a paper copy in their hands each month, at least not without paying more for it. Another problem with ARRL’s magazine model and magazines in general is they just can’t compete with the breadth and timeliness of the Internet, like social media, groups, websites, or good ole email reflectors. Take me, for example. I like to build stuff. Is it likely the one article they’ll have in QST next https://blog.radioartisan.com/2025/05/12/arrl-reconsidered/ 1/4 5/13/25, 9:53 AM ARRL Reconsidered – Radio Artisan month will strike my fancy? Maybe, but probably not. I’m on a few QRP Groups.io groups. I see several postings a week that interest me and often cause me to jot stuff in my design notebook. If I’m a creator and have some great new thing to show the world, am I going to wait six months for my article to get published? No, I’m going to get it out on the Internet in some form or fashion and interact with other like-minded people who want to talk about this new great thing.

In the world of “ARRL is a magazine subscription”, they have fallen short, clinging to an old, outdated model. ARRL could have also embraced and even owned amateur radio social media and integrated this in with a content publication strategy, but they totally missed the boat on this, too. The time to do this would have been back when QRZ.com changed from selling CDs to a Slashdot-clone amateur radio site and eHam was trying to be the same thing with a lousily-colored and formatted website. Both sites early on showed just how toxic mismanaged social media could be, and ARRL could have beat them all and done it much better. But they didn’t, and later they didn’t even attempt to have a notable, focused presence on social media like Facebook. They kept within their sandbox of QST and field staff shaking hands at dwindling hamfests. Then there’s the segment that considers ARRL the NRA of amateur radio. They advocate, protect, lobby, and provide services. The NRA peddles fear, fear that “they” are going to take “your” guns away. It’s how they rile up and motivate membership and keep, or rather kept the dollars flowing in so Wayne LaPierre could live the good life. But beyond lobbying and money scandals they offer everything a gun owner might want. What does ARRL peddle? Preservation. They promise to preserve amateur radio and the status quo, and occasionally raise some funds with spectrum defense.

 Why does ARRL still run the antiquated NTS, or push emcomm so much? Why aren’t they really involved with digital standards or pushing open systems and software? It’s easy to do what you’ve been doing for decades, and hard to do something new. You can buy a brick paver with your name on it that will adorn the back patio at HQ, and will let future generations of hams know of your kind generosity long after you’re SK and forgotten. ARRL is like amateur radio formaldehyde. Ham radio may eventually die, but they’re going to keep it from rotting. However, it will smell a bit funky.

 The Maker movement is the bridge to the future of amateur radio. Makers are tinkerers, like amateur radio used to be. They are essentially amateur radio operators without the radios, FCC licenses, and the “historical baggage” of their hobby, like amateur radio (we gotta do emcomm, “we provide a service to the public”, “we got to make up reasons to ham like ‘I need to collect all 50 states’ “, etc.). You look at their publications and websites and they’re just full of energy and ideas. Makers don’t need cringey magazine covers with a teenage girl awkwardly posing, touching the VFO knob of a rig she’s never used. They don’t have gatekeepers like amateur radio, where 2/4 https://blog.radioartisan.com/2025/05/12/arrl-reconsidered/ 5/13/25, 9:53 AM ARRL Reconsidered – Radio Artisan one has know some code to be a “real ham”.

They don’t care if you have purple hair, or if you have an in-y or an out-y, or both. They don’t care if you sleep with someone with an in-y or an out-y. Or both. Interest and curiosity alone is enough to validate one as a Maker, and there’s no pecking order based on what tests you passed, how many 59s you exchange on a weekend and there are no “collect all X” of something as a rite of passage. Makers like new cutting-edge hardware and old, antiquated (“retro“) hardware just as much. They’ll even combine both and make things like a Raspberry Pi driving old Nixie tubes. Why? Because they can. Most makers may never have touched a ham radio, but on a philosophical level they get why one would want to pump Morse code through a satellite, or take four diodes, a DDS module, and an audio amp chip and make a direct conversion receiver. ARRL continues to this day to fail to recognize the opportunity we have with Makers.

While the changing winds over the decades may have made ARRL unneeded or obsolete, I’d still call what has happened a failure of leadership, and it was preventable. With a for-profit company there is a life cycle graph that looks something like a hill. Companies start up, grow in adolescence, mature and reach a peak, get over the hill, and later die. A skillful business leader will recognize where an organization is at in the cycle and “re-invent” the business after a peak to create a new upswing, and a new, higher peak. I think the same applies to a non-profit like ARRL. The current CEO naturally can’t take all the blame, in righting the ship but he doesn’t seem too interested (https://www.kb6nu.com/another-arrl-member-lost/).

 We could probably trace ARRL failures in leadership all the way back to the 70s. In recent ARRL history there was only one innovator CEO, and he was unceremoniously canned. It was said he was unconventional and a bit disruptive; that was exactly what ARRL needed, and still needs today. While all ARRL CEOs were undoubtedly successful in business in their careers, I sense most were looking for a sort of “retirement position” as an ARRL CEO, pulling a paycheck but not having to really bust their butts or make waves. Until ARRL gets out of the business of preserving itself as an ongoing entity, the organization will continue its journey into irrelevancy

Hacky Shack? The TRS-80 Model I Story

The 1970s saw a veritable goldrush to corner the home computer market, with Tandy’s Z80-powered TRS-80 probably one of the most (in)famous entries. Designed from the ground up to be as cheap as possible, the original (Model I) TRS-80 cut all corners management could get away with. The story of the TRS-80 Model I is the subject of a recent video by the [Little Car] YouTube channel.

Having the TRS-80 sold as an assembled computer was not a given, as kits were rather common back then, especially since Tandy’s Radio Shack stores had their roots in selling radio kits and the like, not computer systems. Ultimately the system was built around the lower-end 1.78 MHz Z80 MPU with the rudimentary Level I BASIC (later updated to Level II), though with a memory layout that made running the likes of CP/M impossible. The Model II would be sold later as a dedicated business machine, with the Model III being the actual upgrade to the Model I. You could also absolutely access online services like those of Compuserve on your TRS-80.

While it was appreciated that the TRS-80 (lovingly called the ‘Trash-80’ by some) had a real keyboard instead of a cheap membrane keyboard, the rest of the Model I hardware had plenty of issues, and new FCC regulations meant that the Model III was required as the Model I produced enough EMI to drown out nearby radios. Despite this, the Model I put Tandy on the map of home computers, opened the world of computing to many children and adults, with subsequent Tandy TRS-80 computers being released until 1991 with the Model 4.

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Hamvention: Thousands flocking to Xenia this weekend for amateur radio show (Ohio)

The world’s largest amateur radio convention returns to the Greene County Fair and Expo Center this weekend, with a slate of new and classic experiences for ham radio fans of all ages.

Hamvention brought over 35,000 amateur radio enthusiasts and over 700 volunteers to Xenia last May, and organizers have seen “equally exciting” ticket sales for 2025. For comparison, the population of the entire city of Xenia is only about 25,000.

Hamvention will be held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this weekend at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center. Gates open at 9 a.m.

The theme for 2025 is Radio Independence, said General Chair Brian Markland, which he said ”celebrates the freedom and resilience that have always defined amateur radio. From the earliest spark transmissions to today’s global digital modes, hams have pushed the boundaries of innovation, service, and community.”

Read more – https://bit.ly/3S8y8KD

THURSDAY EDITION: Good morning hamdom, I am bringing home a Yaesu FT950 and going to try it out on cw and ssb and see how it performs...

Triggering Lightning and Safely Guiding It Using a Drone

Every year lightning strikes cause a lot of damage — with the high-voltage discharges being a major risk to buildings, infrastructure, and the continued existence of squishy bags of mostly salty water. While some ways exist to reduce their impact such as lightning rods, these passive systems can only be deployed in select locations and cannot prevent the build-up of the charge that leads up to the plasma discharge event. But the drone-based system recently tested by Japan’s NTT, the world’s fourth largest telecommunications company, could provide a more proactive solution.

The idea is pretty simple: fly a drone that is protected by a specially designed metal cage close to a thundercloud with a conductive tether leading back to the ground. By providing a very short path to ground, the built-up charge in said cloud will readily discharge into this cage and from there back to the ground.

To test this idea, NTT researchers took commercial drones fitted with such a protective cage and exposed them to artificial lightning. The drones turned out to be fine up to 150 kA which is five times more than natural lightning. Afterwards the full system was tested with a real thunderstorm, during which the drone took a hit and kept flying, although the protective cage partially melted.

Expanding on this experiment, NTT imagines that a system like this could protect cities and sensitive areas, and possibly even use and store the thus captured energy rather than just leading it to ground. While this latter idea would need some seriously effective charging technologies, the idea of proactively discharging thunderclouds is perhaps not so crazy. We would need to see someone run the numbers on the potential effectiveness, of course, but we are all in favor of (safe) lightning experiments like this.

If you’re wondering why channeling lightning away from critical infrastructure is such a big deal, you may want to read up on Apollo 12.

Blog – Hackaday Read More

 

WEDNESDAY EDITION: Great club meeting this morning followed by a nice lunch at the Elks on the Ocean with a few hams...

ARRL Renews Defense of the 902-928 MHz Amateur Radio Band

Hells Gate radio club wants equipment back

Amazing Oscilloscope Demo Scores The Win At Revision 2025

Classic demos from the demoscene are all about showing off one’s technical prowess, with a common side order of a slick banging soundtrack. That’s precisely what [BUS ERROR Collective] members [DJ_Level_3] and [Marv1994] delivered with their prize-winning Primer demo this week.

This demo is a grand example of so-called “oscilloscope music”—where two channels of audio are used to control an oscilloscope in X-Y mode. The sounds played determine the graphics on the screen, as we’ve explored previously.

The real magic is when you create very cool sounds that also draw very cool graphics on the oscilloscope. The Primer demo achieves this goal perfectly. Indeed, it’s intended as a “primer” on the very artform itself, starting out with some simple waveforms and quickly spiraling into a graphical wonderland of spinning shapes and morphing patterns, all to a sweet electronic soundtrack. It was created with a range of tools, including Osci-Render and apparently Ableton 11, and the recording performed on a gorgeous BK Precision Model 2120 oscilloscope in a nice shade of green.

If you think this demo is fully sick, you’re not alone. It took out first place in the Wild category at the Revision 2025 demo party, as well as the Crowd Favorite award. High praise indeed.

We love a good bit of demoscene magic around these parts.

Thanks to [STrRedWolf] for the tip!

Blog – Hackaday Read More

TUESDAY EDITION: We are selling a Yaesu FT950, very low op time for the club, I thought I would go over and try it out and take some pictures. I think instead of eBay I will use Craigslist and try to sell locally.

Train With Morse Master

Morse code can be daunting to learn when you’re new to the game, particularly if you need it to pass your desired radio license. However, these days, there are a great many tools to aid in the learning process. A good example is the Morse Master from [Arnov Sharma].

The Morse Master is a translator for Morse code, which works in two ways. You can access it via a web app, and type in regular letters which it then flashes out as code on its in-built LEDs. Alternatively, you can enter Morse manually using the physical key, and the results will be displayed on the web app. The Morse key itself is built into the enclosure using 3D printed components paired with a Cherry-style keyboard switch. It’s perhaps not the ideal solution for fast keying, with its limited rebound, but it’s a quick and easy way to make a functional key for practice purposes. If you want to go faster, though, you might want to upgrade to something more capable. We’d also love to see a buzzer added, since Morse is very much intended as an auditory method of communication.

We’ve seen some other great Morse code trainers before, too. If you’ve trained yourself in this method of communication, don’t hesitate to share your own learning tips below.

Amateur radio, a hobby for all ages

Meet 10 year old licensed radio operator Ivan Fry

A COLUMN By Bob Confer, pictured is Fry

Last week, during an episode of WNY Tonight, my guest organization was the Lockport Amateur Radio Association. Among LARA’s members joining me in the studio was Ivan Fry, who became a licensed radio operator last year.

Everyone who watched the television show was captivated by the 10 year-old — his interest and knowledge of the science and technology of communications is exceeded only by the energy and skill with which he speaks. I saw that same impact last month at Royalton-Hartland’s science fair, at which he took first place. He was busy all evening speaking to throngs of kids and adults alike about radio science, many of whom kept going back to learn more.

To see that youthful energy and how he uses it to attract others to a pursuit that some might think is home to old men using old technology is awesome, especially since he comes from one of the generations of people who are “digital natives”, that is, those born or brought up during the era of digital technology who are familiar with and reliant upon computers and the internet.

The web and the ubiquitous smartphone have, in a way, made the world a smaller place. They allow us to log on to Facebook and Instagram to share messages around the globe or use a device that’s in everyone’s pockets to call or text family and friends. But, as Ivan knows, there’s still a place for the joy afforded by ham radio (which is another name for the hobby). It’s exciting that you can use a small box of electronics and a wire antenna to talk to complete, but welcoming strangers, on every continent, in every neighborhood, and from every background.

You might be familiar with amateur radio by its presence in pop culture.

The movie “Frequency” starring Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid had a plot based on a geomagnetic storm that allowed a ham radio operator to talk to his deceased father decades earlier, which then allowed them to change the course of history. Tim Allen’s character on the sitcom “Last Man Standing” was an amateur radio enthusiast and it played a part in quite a few episodes of the show.

You might also recognize amateur radio from its presence in the community.

If you’ve taken part in events like the Ride for Roswell you’ve seen an army of men and women with handheld and mobile radios serving as communications support and observers for the riders. Perhaps you’ve seen the folks from LARA showing off their ability to communicate worldwide at the Niagara County Fair. Or, maybe you’ve heard news reports of hams connecting communities during hurricanes and other events that gut other forms of communication.  

Getting licensed to take part in all this is an easier task than it used to be. Nearly 20 years ago, the Federal Communications Commission abandoned the Morse code requirements for its permits, an obstacle that had proved difficult to many and had prevented them from entering the hobby. Now, you just need to pass a written exam, knowing radio and electrical theory as well as the FCC’s rules and regulations. There are plenty of study guides available and most of them actually provide the hundreds of possible questions and answers that the 35-question exams pull from. You take the exam under the watchful eye of local hams. When that time comes, information about the exam times and locations — and amateur radio in general — can be found at the website of the American Radio Relay League (www.ARRL.org).

Back in 2011, I got my radio license (KC2ZZW) from the federal government after decades of participating in other radio pursuits like CB radio and listening to the police scanner or shortwave radio. With my modest low-power station I’ve talked to more than 85 countries and half of our states. 

I also use ham radio, specifically VHF frequencies, as a lifeline. In some areas where I enjoy the great outdoors in New York (like Allegany County and the Adirondacks) there is questionable or no cell coverage, but my tiny walkie-talkie can reach ham radio repeater systems listened to by area hams in those regions. That offers peace in mind and preparedness for any sort of emergency you can encounter in the wilderness.

If you’d like to learn more about amateur radio locally, visit LARA’s website at www.lockportara.us or attend their June 7th Hamfest in the heart of Niagara County where you can meet radio enthusiasts and get into the hobby by taking the licensing exam (you have four weeks to study) and buying used but excellent equipment.

Give it a try. Amateur radio is a hobby for all interests and all ages — from the young ones like Ivan to the old guys like me.

 

MONDAY EDITION: Sunny start here on the rock...

Hi jon,

Just a few days until the Biggest Hamfest on Earth opens its doors.  The Dayton Hamvention is May 16-17-18.  We'll have our usual huge display in the Marconi Building a.k.a. Building #3.  If you're at the show, it would be my pleasure to say hello to you in person.  We're still doing some last minute prep, so this will be a short newsletter and we won't be shipping any orders until we return and get things unpacked and sorted out.

It's no secret that a very large percentage of Ham Radio equipment is imported from other countries.  For several months the news has been full of stories on tariffs.  The situation seems to change on a near-daily basis.  Fortunately, I've been able to get nearly all of my stock for Dayton before they took (or take) effect, so I've not had to raise prices yet.  But as of now it looks like that will change as I restock after the show.  In short -- this may be your last and best chance to get things at existing prices.

It's a big show, and if you want to see as much as possible, it takes some planning.  Here are my top 10 tips for getting the most out of Hamvention.  In fact, most of them apply to just about any large Hamfest.

1.  Make a list of companies and forums you want to visit.  My good friends at PC Board have a complete listing of both indoor and outdoor vendors here. Note that booth numbers correspond to buildings or flea market areas.  For example, we'll be in booths 3503, etc. in Building #3, also called the Marconi Building.  Split your list in three categories -- (a) must see, (b) really want to see, and (c) would like to see.  Knock off the must see first, then tackle the others. 

2.  If a booth is just too crowded, don't spend a lot of time waiting to talk to someone. Move on to your next stop.  Booth traffic starts to drop off after about 2-3PM and you'll have an easier time then.  Of course, remember it's ALWAYS worth waiting at the Quicksilver Radio Booth ;-)

3.  Noon 'til 1:30 or so is peak time for lunch.  Eat a bit earlier, or later, and you're likely to encounter much shorter lines at the food trucks.  Don't forget to pack water and snacks, or be prepared to pay typical concession stand prices for them.  If you need medication during the day, have that with you.  No sense hiking back to your car to get it.  And pack a bottle of your favorite pain reliever, too.  A headache or sore feet can really kill your enjoyment of the show. There are just a very few real restrooms on site, but last time there were plenty of Porta-Potties that seemed to be well maintained throughout the show.  A small pack of baby wipes or similar might be handy to have.

4.  Be prepared for the weather.  It might pour rain.  It might be blazing hot and sunny.  It might be damp and chilly.  It might even hail.  And all of them might occur over just a few hours!  A hat, sunscreen, umbrella, and light jacket should be in your pack.

5.  You're going to be on your feet -- a lot.  Unless you're used to standing for long periods, your "dogs will be barking".  One of the best tips I've ever heard is to bring a second pair of shoes and socks, and switch them halfway through the day.  Believe me, it will almost feel like you have a new pair of feet.

6.  Bring plenty of cash.  While the larger commercial dealers probably accept credit cards, many in the flea market will not.  Try to get used bills.  If you have to get crisp new ones out of the ATM, take a minute to give each one a "crumple".  That makes them much less likely to stick together.  Especially early in the day, it may not be easy for a dealer to make change for a small purchase with a large bill.  And most (like me) always appreciate small bills to make change for others.

7.  If you do plan to use a credit or debit card, let your bank know in advance.  Banks have ever more stringent anti-fraud practices in place, protecting both you and them.  You may typically use your card for a tank of gas and a trip to the grocery store once a week at home.  If you suddenly make a flurry of purchases in a short period of time, far from home, your bank may well flag and suspend the card.  There should be a customer service number on the back of your card.  Make sure you can read it!  Even so, cell phone service at the Fairgrounds was less than ideal last year and I'm unaware of any change in that regard.

8.  Take advantage of the opportunity to learn.  There are forums galore, covering just about every aspect of our great hobby.  They'll be presented by experts in the field, and you'll get the chance to meet fellow enthusiasts as well.  The same is true for shack accessories -- in many cases, you can speak directly with the folks who designed and manufacture it.

9.  Take a minute to thank the hundreds of volunteers who make the Hamvention possible.  I can't imagine how many hours of their time it takes to put on a show like this.  At the very least, they deserve a big round of thanks.  Similarly, most vendors put a huge effort into their Dayton booths.  Without them, there's no show.  Let them know you're glad to see them.  And (I know it sounds a bit self-serving) keep them in mind year-round as you plan your purchases.  I don't see either Amazon or E-Bay on the vendor list!

10.  Whether you go expecting to have a great time, or you expect to find a lot of shortcomings, you're probably right!  So ignore that very small minority of Negative Ninnies.  Yep, there will be a few glitches.  If you let that ruin your Hamvention, shame on you.  With Ringling Brothers' Circus now closed, this is the Greatest Show on Earth.  Enjoy all it has to offer, and take home some wonderful memories along with some new toys.

11.  Bonus tip -- stop by my booth, #3503 etc in the Marconi Building, for a free smile or two.  And please do say hello.  I always really enjoy seeing you in person and hearing what's on your mind.     

Johns Hopkins University to Hold ARRL Teachers Institute

A session of the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology (TI) is being hosted this summer by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland. This marks the first time a major research university has hosted the ARRL program.

The TI program is expanding significantly in 2025. Already, an institute was held on Staten Island, New York, to mark the first regional session….

Read more- American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources – Read More

The following are updates from recently published newsletters focused on ham radio.

Ria's Ham Shack: A preview of Dayton Hamvention
Ham radio's biggest annual event. This week I talk about activities at Hamvention in Ohio - what I plan to do and things you can do.
Ria's Ham Shack

Random Wire Review: Issue 130
Issue 130 leans into M17, covering an M17 radio, connecting to Kansas City Wide, configuring WPSD, and getting started free on M17. A beautiful new full-duplex AllStar node is available.
The Random Wire

Zero Retries 0201
Amateur Radio Isn’t Having All The (Radio) Fun, New Types of New Amateur Radio Operators… and Their Expectations, Langstone (V2) VHF / UHF Software Defined Radio Project, and more!
Zero Retries

Experimental Radio News 12
Satellite selfies, drilling with millimeter waves, mobile phone rescues, a hypersonic glider, and more.
Experimental Radio News

Radio Silence [068]
Do you sometimes wish that you can tear down your entire amateur radio station and start again? Not me, it was perfect.
73 from G5DOC

The Communicator May-June 2025 [PDF]
Mentoring Young Hams, Operation Manna, Computing Science and Ham Radio, Making a Better Heathkit Antenna, and more.
The Communicator

The Logger's Bark May 2025 [PDF]
Lamptenna 3, Numbers Stations, How FT8 Works, and more.
The Logger's Bark

WEEKEND EDITION: Thanks to HRO Salem for the info below.....

Dear Ham:

Coming to Hamvention this year?  We hope you are.  The weather is predicted to be good.

Here’s a copy of our latest newsletter with an article about the Hamvention Radio Station we set up for you on AM1620 that you can listen to for news, weather, traffic and fun on the way in each day.  You can see the station in action at Booth 1002 in Building 1, when you come by. This year the radio program features answers to some “Way Too Easy HAM Radio Questions” that you will have fun answering. Most of the answers are…well…way too easy!

And, of course you can see the latest "The Lowdown" 630-meter antenna and accessories while you are there.

Hope to see you in the City of Hospitality – Xenia, OH – next week!

Bill Baker
Information Station Specialists
616.772.2300 x102
theRADIOsource.com

Amateur Radio Newsline Report

FCC TO PUSH FOR US-BASED TESTING OF SOME IMPORTED ELECTRONICS

NEIL/ANCHOR: Our top story this week is all about electronics that are made for the US market but tested overseas. The US regulator is preparing to change where that testing can – and cannot – be done. Here’s Kent Peterson KCØDGY with the details.

KENT: The FCC plans to tighten its requirements for the testing of electronic devices manufactured in countries such as China before they can be sold to US consumers. The commission will review an order this month that bans device-testing conducted by labs that are [quote] “owned, controlled or directed by entities that pose national security risks,” according to a statement by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. He identified China as one example of such a country,

He said it was important that US-based labs begin taking on the responsibility to certify such equipment. According to Carr’s statement, Chinese labs test about three-quarters of all electronics sold in the US.

The commission will consider the new order at its open meeting on May 22nd.

**

WEATHER-BALLOON WASTE CHALLENGES AUSTRALIAN COAST

NEIL/ANCHOR: Never mind space junk from decommissioned satellites. Right here on earth, pieces of weather balloons have been found littering one beach in Australia. John Williams VK4JJW brings us up to date.

JOHN: Remnants of latex rubber weather balloons and foam boxes with scientific instruments washed up recently on the southwest coast of Victoria, where they were discovered by beach patrol crews. According to local media, the half-dozen or so balloons were carrying a radiosonde to measure temperatures, wind speed, wind direction and relative humidity. The balloons had been launched from Tasmania for a research project hosted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the US Department of Energy. The launch site on the northwest tip of Tasmania is considered the location of the planet's purest air, making it a preferred spot for scientists' climate studies.

Heath Powers, the project's operations manager, said in an Australian Broadcasting Corporation report that scientists are testing more eco-friendly ways to conduct these studies without creating such an impact on marine life.

This is John Williams VK4JJW.
,
(AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA)

**
WEATHER-WATCHING SATELLITES ENTERING END-OF-LIFE STAGE

NEIL/ANCHOR: In a little more than a month, the US will stop supporting three satellites in its important group of weather observers. Sel Embee KB3TZD tells us what that means.

SEL: Three US government weather-watching satellites have been scheduled to formally enter the end-of-life stage on June 16th by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA has announced that the satellites - 15, 18 and 19 - which are part of the Polar Operational Environmental Satellites, or POES system, will no longer be updated or repaired.

As quoted in the blog USradioguy.com, NOAA said that this means signals will continue to be transmitted but should not be used by anyone for purposes involving safety or other critical matters. Hobbyists will still be able to download weather satellite imagery either via Automatic Picture Transmission on 137 MHz with a V-dipole antenna or via High Resolution Picture Transmission on 1.7 GHz with a tracking dish antenna.

Like the other POES satellites, this trio had provided data that was used in monitoring the environment, forest fires, volcanic eruptions and global vegetation.

This is Sel Embee, KB3TZD.

(AMSAT, USRADIOGUY BLOG)

**
HAMVENTION PREPARES FOR OPENING DAY

NEIL/ANCHOR: As the days wind down towards opening day of Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio, organizers report brisk ticket sales and the hope to match or exceed last year's attendance of more than 35,000 guests over the three days. A team of 700-plus volunteers will be there starting on May 16th to make everyone welcome. This year's theme is "Radio Independence" and for three days it will pervade the four meeting halls where the forums are taking place.

Tickets can be purchased at the box office outside the main entrance gate. For additional details visit www.hamvention.org

The ARRL is also encouraging visitors to download the Hamvention app which includes the full program and affiliated events. Find the link to download the app in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

[DO NOT READ: https://www.tripbuilder.net/html5/arrl/multi_home.php ]

(JAMES GIFFORD, N8KET)

**
NEW GRANT BOOSTS DIGITAL LIBRARY OF AMATEUR RADIO & COMMUNICATIONS

NEIL/ANCHOR: Thanks to an infusion of money from Amateur Radio Digital Communications, the massive collection at the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications can keep growing - and growing. Randy Sly W4XJ has those details.

RANDY: The collection of digitized newsletters, magazines and online media at the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications keeps on growing — and now the library has something else to add to its hefty collection: a second grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications, the group that provided the original grant that first helped bring this library of amateur radio's international history to life.

Kay Savetz, K6KJN, the library's curator, said in the Zero Retries newsletter that the funding will permit the free library's continued operation for another two years. He said phase two of the library's operation will include acquiring and digitizing material from the California Historical Radio Society and the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention. The library's most recent acquisitions include the Wireless Institute of Australia's Amateur Radio Magazine from 1933 through 2012 and dozens of new issues of the DX Bulletin.

Still celebrating the support, Kay wrote in the newsletter: [quote] "Excuse the mess, there’s still confetti all over the floor of DLARC World Headquarters." [endquote]

This is Randy Sly W4XJ.

(ZERO RETRIES NEWSLETTER, AMATEUR NEWS DAILY)

**
THREE INDUCTED INTO CQ AMATEUR RADIO HALL OF FAME

NEIL/ANCHOR: The CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame, which is now overseen by Hamgallery, has announced the trio of inductees for 2025. We hear more about them from Travis Lisk N3ILS.

TRAVIS: The three newest CQ hall of famers, who were chosen following a nomination process that ended in April, include one Silent Key.The inductees are Wayne Overbeck, N6NB, who became a Silent Key last month, Angel M. Vazquez, WP3R and Jim Breakall, WA3FET.

Wayne, who became a Silent Key on April 18th of this year, was well known as a co-creator of the Quagi antenna, which is part-Yagi, part-quad. A top-performing contester, he was honored as Radio Amateur of the Year at the Dayton Hamvention in 1980 for his years of contributions to ham radio. Wayne was an educator and a former vice director with the ARRL's Southwestern Division.

Angel, who was named Amateur of the Year at Dayton Hamvention in 2021, had worked at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico since 1977. He had served as head of telescope operations and was the lead operator for 2010 moonbounce project at Arecibo -- a project that included, among others, fellow hall of fame inductee Jim Breakall. Angel works as the Puerto Rico Coordination Zone Administrator, managed by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Jim is a professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Pennsylvania State University and a leader in cutting-edge antenna technology. He is credited for his work with the Numerical Electromagnetics Code used in antenna analysis. A prolific author and busy contester, Jim has been involved in antenna designs at Arecibo and the HAARP facility in Alaska.

For more details about the recipients visit hamgallery.com

This is Travis Lisk N3ILS.

(HAMGALLERY.COM)

**
HAM2K PORTABLE LOGGER RECEIVES SOFTWARE AWARD

NEIL/ANCHOR: Congratulations to the winner of the 2025 Amateur Radio Software Award. If you do a lot of portable operating, you may already be very familiar with this program and its developer. Andy Morrison K9AWM tells us about them both.

ANDY: Ham2K Portable Logger has been a mainstay in the field for a growing number of portable operators since its development by Sebastian Delmont, KI2D. The Amateur Radio Software Award committee has chosen to honor the free downloadable logger, citing its [quote] "intuitive, user-friendly interfaces and a suite of convenient features." [endquote] The software's support of Worldwide Flora & Fauna, Summits on the Air, Parks on the Air and the ARRL Field Day has helped grow its popularity. Details about the logger can be found at polo dot ham2k dot com (polo.ham2K.com).

Meanwhile, mark your calendars for the 7th through the 17th of November, when the committee will activate special-event stations K6A K6R and K6S - that spells ARS for Amateur Radio Software - to honor this year's winner and to solicit nominees for next year's award. The international award  is given for open-source software projects that promote innovation and freedom in amateur radio.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

**
NOMINATE OUR NEXT YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR

NEIL/ANCHOR: Nominations close on the 31st of this month for Newsline's Bill Pasternak Memorial Young Ham of the Year Award. Do you know a promising young amateur who is a potential candidate? Consider nominating an amateur radio operator 18 years of age or younger here in the continental United States. If they have talent, promise and a commitment to the spirit of ham radio they might just be this year's award winner. Find application forms on our website arnewsline.org under the "YHOTY" tab.

**
APRS POSTPONES MAY SUMMIT, RESCHEDULES FOR FALL

NEIL/ANCHOR: The APRS Foundation's inaugural education summit, originally scheduled to take place in May, has been postponed until the autumn of this year. The nonprofit group is developing a full day of programming that is geared to both seasoned operators and beginners - anyone interested in using the Automatic Packet Reporting System.

Discussions about packet radio will include the fundamentals but will also address cutting-edge applications and what's in store for the future. Best of all, guests can attend the online seminars and interactive Q&A sessions right from their home QTH.

Registration details will appear on the foundation website at aprsfoundation.org when they are available.

(APRS FOUNDATION)

**
IMAGE TRANSMISSION A HIGHLIGHT OF DISASTER TRAINING

NEIL/ANCHOR: The mountainous terrain of the Indian state of Nagaland is daunting - but it is never more daunting than in an emergency when communication cannot afford to fail. An amateur radio training program has been helping state officials train in the latest communication technologies, as we learn from Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

JIM: Open Source Classes for Amateur Radio, also known as OSCAR India, has been working with the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority to sharpen responders' communication skills. In the most recent session, held in late April, participants celebrated a first for responders in the region in northeast India - they successfully used radio signals for image transmission, using the callsign AT2NE. District project associates who work for the disaster management authority were able to see the benefit of this image-transmission mode. They also received training in antenna-building and Morse Code.

OSCAR India's convenor, Nilkantha Chatterjee, VU2OII [Vee You Two Oh Eye Eye], told local media [quote] "This demonstration proves radio's vital role when modern networks fail. While we have conducted similar transmissions elsewhere, bringing this capability to Northeast India's unique landscape is particularly rewarding." [endquote]

This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

(NAGALAND POST)

**
CITY POLICE STATIONS PREPARE TO ADD AMATEUR RADIO

NEIL/ANCHOR: In West Bengal, India, law enforcement officials in one city are adding amateur radio shacks to police stations. Now they are busy getting volunteers trained and licensed to use them. We have an update from Graham Kemp VK4BB.

GRAHAM: Two months of ham radio training began in late April for civic volunteers who assist at the 26 police stations throughout the city of Barrackpore. The sessions are being conducted by Srayan Mondal, VU3ZHF, Pashupati Mondal, VU3ODQ, Dipak Chakraborty, VU2TLW and Jayanta Baidya, VU2TFR -- all members of the West Bengal Radio Club.

The training is designed to prepare the volunteers for the exam leading to the ham radio certificate from the Ministry of Telecommunications. Radio shacks are expected to be set up at each of the 26 police stations and the police central office.

The police commissioner told local media that adding wireless communication to the various modes used by law enforcement will be especially helpful for disaster response.

This is Graham Kemp VK4BB.

(TIMES OF INDIA, AMBARISH NAG BISWAS, VU2JFA)

**
SPECIAL STATIONS CELEBRATE MAJOR HAM EXPO IN JAPAN

NEIL/ANCHOR: The Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 is a major event by the Japan Amateur Radio League that showcases cutting-edge technology and focuses on training and education for the ham community. JARL is inviting hams around the world to get involved in the months ahead, as we hear from Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

JASON: Members of the Japan Amateur Radio League are showing their support for the Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 in a big way: For the 184 days, they are calling QRZ with the callsign 8K3EXPO. The expo opened on April 13th with the first QSOs made by JARL president Koji Morita, JA5SUD. Volunteers throughout the organisation will continue the activation until its conclusion on the 13th of October.

According to the expo website, all the radio equipment for this station is being operated remotely, utilising optical fibre. A radio booth is set up next to one of the expo halls in the East Gate Zone and linked to the antenna tower elsewhere on the site.

Not everything is happening on site. At the same time the 8K3 station is on the air, the mobile station JA3XPO is also being operated by JARL. This is a special callsign that has been re-activated 55 years after its first use at the previous Osaka Expo in 1970. The mobile operation will travel to the six prefectures in the Kansai region.

Of course, if you think this expo is a big deal, wait until next year when JARL marks 100 years since its founding.

For additional information about the expo, see the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

[DO NOT READ: https://www.expo2025.or.jp/en/ ]

This is Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

(JARL)

**
WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, listen for callsigns with the special prefixes 4X77 and 4Z77 until the 10th of May. Hams in Israel are celebrating the 77th anniversary since the founding of the Israel Association of Radio Communication and the establishment of the State of Israel. See QRZ.com for more details.

Kasimir, DL2SBY, will be using the callsign HBØ/DL2SBY from Liechtenstein from the 11th to the 18th of May. Listen for him on the HF bands and on 6 metres. See QRZ.com for details.

The callsign II3IARU [EYE EYE THREE IARU] is being activated by Alex, IV3KKW to mark the 100th anniversary of the IARU and the 75th anniversary of IARU Region 1. He will be on the air until the 18th of May. QSL via his home callsign.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

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KICKER: A PULSAR PACKS A PUNCH INTO OUR GALAXY

NEIL/ANCHOR: Finally, we hear about a distress call that came in via radio - but this wasn't exactly a local call or even a conventional DX call. How about.... 26,000 light-years from Earth? Ralph Squillace KK6ITB goes the distance with this story.

RALPH: It's known as the Snake, the nickname by which astronomers identify one dense, elongated filament in the center of our Milky Way galaxy. It apparently has suffered fractures in two places. As best as scientists can tell, a fast-rotating neutron star known as a pulsar collided with the Snake at a not-too-shabby 1–2 million miles per hour and caused a fracture that disrupted the Snake's magnetic field, releasing radio emissions from the site of the impact.

NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory and the MeerKAT radio array in South Africa studied the Snake, which is 230-light-years long, to get a better picture of what scientists compare to fractures in bones. Radio astronomers combined their findings with those of an observatory in San Agustin, Mexico and recently released a paper in the Monthly Notices of the London-based Royal Astronomical Society describing the event. Scientists study filaments such as the Snake to understand their roles in how stars are formed.

Whether the Snake can heal is another question altogether. Cosmic veterinarians don't make long-distance house calls.