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EHAM QTH QRZ ARRL HRO ICOM KENWOOD YAESU ELBO ROOM COMMENTS
WEDNESDAY EDITION: Another steamy one here and all of New England... Long-Dead NASA Satellite Suddenly Emits Powerful Radio Pulse
Scientists from
Curtin
University
suggest the
signal might
have been caused
by an
electrostatic
discharge
(ESD)—a sudden
release of
built-up charge
on the
satellite’s
surface.
In a twist worthy of science fiction, scientists have detected a strange radio pulse from what appears to be a long-dead NASA satellite. On June 13, 2024, researchers at the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) observed a signal lasting less than 30 nanoseconds. The emission did not come from deep space, but from Earth’s orbit—specifically, from the location of NASA’s Relay 2 satellite, which has been silent since the 1960s. Relay 2, launched in 1964, followed its predecessor Relay 1, which was famous for transmitting the first live television signal from the U.S. to Europe and Japan. Read more – StratNews Global: http://bit.ly/4kVDh5D
TUESDAY EDITION; 86 degrees and humid at 9am, no ocean breeze....its going to be a low key day here on Cape Ann..LoTW is going offline for upgrades thru Field Day, good planning..... AMSAT-UK to Test Super Black Paint on CubeSatAMSAT-UK will partner with Surrey NanoSystems and a number of universities including University of Surrey to test a special black paint on an upcoming CubeSat deployment. When applied to a surface, the super black paint, Vantablack, is designed to absorb 98% of light. The goal of the partnership is to demonstrate potential solutions to reducing light pollution as it relates to astronomy.
The Jovian-1 CubeSat mission containing this experiment is scheduled to launch in 2026. More information will be available at the AMSAT-UK Colloquium taking place in October. Physicists use AI to hunt for UAPs and UFOs
Their new
interdisciplinary
method is
inspired by the
search for dark
matter.
An international team of physicists has developed a new methodology to aid NASA and other government agencies in their ongoing investigations into unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). The result is a novel strategy integrating a specially designed artificial intelligence program that was partially inspired by the physicists’ own hunt for elusive dark matter. More popularly known as unidentified flying objects or UFOs, UAPs aren’t necessarily considered as outlandish as they were decades ago. Setting aside the various theories that point to mysterious visitors from another planet, analysis increasingly centers on determining more worldly explanations. UAPs are often explained by classified experimental aircraft, astronomical events, or simply a case of mistaken drone identity. Meanwhile, a small percentage of sightings continue to baffle experts. Over the last few years, the US government has attempted to present a more transparent approach to its UAP research, while the military continues a campaign to destigmatize reporting sightings among its ranks. In November 2024, Congress held a publicly televised joint subcommittee hearing about UAPs featuring a former US Navy rear admiral and NASA administrator. While not without its fair share of criticism, these and similar events are shifting the overarching narrative around unidentified aerial phenomenon. Researchers like Matthew Syzdagis at the University at Albany have followed this evolving discourse for years. An associate professor of physics focused on dark matter, Syzdagis recently began collaborating with over 30 colleagues around the world to determine if this approach to hunting dark matter could be adapted to the search for UAPs. Their results, published this month in the journal Progress in Aerospace Studies, offer a new interdisciplinary methodology to review the past and future UAP sightings. “As this process moves forward, it’s critical that future study of UAPs follows a rigorous, repeatable method that can be tested and confirmed by other researchers,” Syzdagis said in a statement. “We aim to establish a roadmap for these efforts with this paper.” The team relied on an array of datasets and tools to build their framework, including publicly available Doppler weather information from the National Weather Service (NWS). The NWS data was used to corroborate observations from additional equipment and determine if any of them simultaneously recorded a given anomaly. They then utilized Cosmic Watch, a radiation-detection system, to assess if a target UAP observed by infrared cameras was accompanied by ionizing radiation. To help analyze the infrared data, Szydagis created a new software program called Custom Target Analysis Protocol (C-TAP) that utilizes machine learning alongside human verification to review individual camera frames on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Inspired by similar strategies used to scan for direct evidence of dark matter, C-TAP then flags and separates actual UAP observations from any digital noise. Finally, these results were overlaid with trigonometric calculations to exclude any known objects in the sky like satellites or the International Space Station. To test it all out, Szydagis and colleagues used their new methodology to review observable light and infrared images collected on a 2021 field expedition around Laguna Beach, California, amid a period of heightened UAP reports. In total, the team reviewed about one hour of triggered visible and night-vision video footage along with over 600 hours of infrared data and 55 hours of background radiation measurements. Of the multiple anomalies initially flagged, researchers were able to offer plausible and likely explanations for all sightings except for one—a collection of bright white dots inside a dark spot recorded across multiple videos. And even then, it seems unlikely that the UAP event was unique. “At this point, none can be classified as true anomalies, although further study of remaining ambiguities may alter this conclusion,” the study’s authors wrote in their conclusion. Moving forward, the team hopes their methodology will help more researchers around the world continue to vet UAP sightings on a scientific, unbiased basis. “Given the longstanding, global nature of the UAP/UFO question, [and] the air safety and security implications of their presence… studying and understanding these phenomena is of great and urgent importance,” added University at Albany physics professor and study lead author Kevin Knuth. MONDAY EDITION: I guess its hot everywhere but thankfully it's always 10 degrees cooler here on the island and being across the street from the beach helps... Local, County, and State Governments Proclaim Value of Amateur RadioThe Amateur Radio Service is of great value to communities around the nation. Through served agencies, the trained corps of technical and civic-minded operators provide a no-cost service to the public that has shown to be valuable before and When All Else Fails®. The 2025 hurricane season has been forecast to be above normal by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As we saw just last year in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, ham radio saves lives through volunteers who use their skills and equipment during emergencies by providing surface weather observations, relaying messages from shelters, and providing health and welfare information to concerned loved ones. “While ARRL Field Day is a fun, social, occasion to get together and get on the air, it also serves as an opportunity to test equipment in a way that it would be needed in a time of crisis. The same people who come to visit your site under blue skies are the community members who would be served in an identical manner during and after an emergency,” said ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop, W5DX. In recognition of the value of amateur radio, government officials at all levels have issued proclamations and citations across the country. On the ARRL amateur radio proclamations page, you can see the many official documents that have been sent to us at ARRL Headquarters. “We all know how great the ham community is, but seeing all the proclamations come in around Field Day gives perspective to the efforts of radio amateurs. To have a governor or a councilmember recognize June as Amateur Radio Month truly honors the impact hams have on their community,” said Harrop. LED Probe: A Smart, Simple Solution for Testing LEDsIf you’ve worked on a project with small LEDs, you know the frustration of determining their polarity. This ingenious LED Probe from [David] packs a lot of useful features into a simple, easy-to-implement circuit. Most multimeters have a diode test function that can be used to check LEDs; however, this goes a step further. Not only will the probe light up an LED, it will light up no matter which side of the LED the leads are touching. A Red/Green LED on the probe will indicate if the probe tip is on the anode or cathode. The probe is powered by a single CR2032 battery, and you may notice there’s no on/off switch. That’s because the probe enters a very low-current sleep mode between uses. The testing intelligence is handled by either an ATtiny85 or, in the newest version, an ATtiny202, though the basic concept and design are compatible with several other chips. All the design files for the PCB, the ATtiny code, a parts list, and a detailed explanation of how it works are available on [David]’s site, so be sure to check them out. Once you build one of these probes, you’ll want something to test it on, so explore some of the LED projects we’ve featured in the past. Blog – Hackaday Read More GB2RS Morse Practice web pageWhether you are just starting to learn Morse code or are already an experienced operator, the GB2RS Morse Practice web page is just what you need to brush up your skill! Created by GB2RS Newsreader Graham, G4JBD, you can select different sections of the latest RSGB news which are then played in Morse code at […] Radio Society of Great Britain – Main Site – Read More WEEKEND EDITION: In the next town over on the island, a nightmare of traffic jams, 5-10 k expected: The 250th Anniversary Reenactment of The Battle of Bunker Hill aims to accurately portray the events and faithfully represent the people involved in the conflict of June 17, 1775. Our mission is to celebrate and commemorate the actions and sacrifices of the men and women of all sides of the Battle of Bunker Hill through careful research, public demonstrations, civic engagement and educational outreach. ARRL Announces Logbook of The World® Systems UpgradeARRL’s Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) is the 2nd most popular benefit among members. It is also an extremely popular service internationally for non-members, as it is the primary means for providing confirmations for ARRL Awards, such as DXCC and Worked All States. As a part of the ongoing modernization of the ARRL systems infrastructure, LoTW will be receiving major upgrades to the operating system it is running on, the relational database system it uses to store and access logbook and awards data, and server hosting, where it will be fully migrated to the cloud. These changes will, among other improvements, ensure LoTW performance needs can be better met based on user demand. LoTW will be unavailable from June 27 to July 2, 2025, to complete these upgrades. We will bring LoTW back online if it is available sooner than July 2. Logbook of The World can be found at lotw.arrl.org. More information about the popular service is available at www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world. If you are a user of LoTW and not an ARRL member, please become a supporter of LoTW by making a $20 (or more) donation to the ARRL LoTW Fund or visit www.arrl.org/donate. Very 73, and see you on the air! David
A. Minster,
NA2AA
About
Logbook of The
World®
Amateur Radio
Newsline Report FRIDAY EDITION: Congratulations to the Mass StateJudiciary system, it cost them millions of dollars to convit her for driving under the influence with a one year probtion sentence.Way to go with my tax money.....Why your fingers wrinkle in water (and what it can reveal about your health)
ARRL is Hiring....good luck being the membership manager!ARRL is currently seeking to fill four roles at its headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. The four roles include:
Visit the ARRL website for more details.
THURSDAY EDITION: Fogged in on the island this morning but the sun is going to burn through... Crowdsourcing SIGINT: Ham Radio at WarI often ask people: What’s the most important thing you need to have a successful fishing trip? I get a lot of different answers about bait, equipment, and boats. Some people tell me beer. But the best answer, in my opinion, is fish. Without fish, you are sure to come home empty-handed. On a recent visit to Bletchley Park, I thought about this and how it relates to World War II codebreaking. All the computers and smart people in the world won’t help you decode messages if you don’t already have the messages. So while Alan Turing and the codebreakers at Bletchley are well-known, at least in our circles, fewer people know about Arkley View. The problem was apparent to the British. The Axis powers were sending lots of radio traffic. It would take a literal army of radio operators to record it all. Colonel Adrian Simpson sent a report to the director of MI5 in 1938 explaining that the three listening stations were not enough. The proposal was to build a network of volunteers to handle radio traffic interception. That was the start of the Radio Security Service (RSS), which started operating out of some unused cells at a prison in London. The volunteers? Experienced ham radio operators who used their own equipment, at first, with the particular goal of intercepting transmissions from enemy agents on home soil. At the start of the war, ham operators had their transmitters impounded. However, they still had their receivers and, of course, could all read Morse code. Further, they were probably accustomed to pulling out Morse code messages under challenging radio conditions. Over time, this volunteer army of hams would swell to about 1,500 members. The RSS also supplied some radio gear to help in the task. MI5 checked each potential member, and the local police would visit to ensure the applicant was trustworthy. Keep in mind that radio intercepts were also done by servicemen and women (especially women) although many of them were engaged in reporting on voice communication or military communications. Early DaysThe VIs (voluntary interceptors) were asked to record any station they couldn’t identify and submit a log that included the messages to the RSS.  The hams of the RSS noticed that there were German signals that used standard ham radio codes (like Q signals and the prosign 73). However, these transmissions also used five-letter code groups, a practice forbidden to hams. Thanks to a double agent, the RSS was able to decode the messages that were between agents in Europe and their Abwehr handlers back in Germany (the Abwehr was the German Secret Service) as well as Abwehr offices in foreign cities. Later messages contained Enigma-coded groups, as well. Between the RSS team’s growth and the fear of bombing, the prison was traded for Arkley View, a large house near Barnet, north of London. Encoded messages went to Bletchley and, from there, to others up to Churchill. Soon, the RSS had orders to concentrate on the Abwehr and their SS rivals, the Sicherheitsdienst. Change in ManagementIn 1941, MI6 decided that since the RSS was dealing with foreign radio traffic, they should be in charge, and thus RSS became SCU3 (Special Communications Unit 3). There was fear that some operators might be taken away for normal military service, so some operators were inducted into the Army — sort of. They were put in uniform as part of the Royal Corps of Signals, but not required to do very much you’d expect from an Army recruit. Those who worked at Arkley View would process logs from VIs and other radio operators to classify them and correlate them in cases where there were multiple logs. One operator might miss a few characters that could be found in a different log, for example. Going 24/7 It soon became clear that the RSS needed full-time monitoring, so they built a number of Y stations with two National HRO receivers from America at each listening position. There were also direction-finding stations built in various locations to attempt to identify where a remote transmitter was. Many of the direction finding operators came from VIs. The stations typically had four antennas in a directional array. When one of the central stations (the Y stations) picked up a signal, they would call direction finding stations using dedicated phone lines and send them the signal.  The operator would hear the phone signal in one ear and the radio signal in the other. Then, they would change the antenna pattern electrically until the signal went quiet, indicating the antenna was electrically pointing away from the signals. The DF operator would hear this signal in one earpiece. They would then tune their radio receiver to the right frequency and match the signal from the main station in one ear to the signal from their receiver in the other ear. This made sure they were measuring the correct signal among the various other noise and interference. The DF operator would then take a bearing by rotating the dial on their radiogoniometer until the signal faded out. That indicated the antenna was pointing the wrong way which means you could deduce which way it should be pointing. The central station could plot lines from three direction finding stations and tell the source of a transmission. Sort of. It wasn’t incredibly accurate, but it did help differentiate signals from different transmitters. Later, other types of direction-finding gear saw service, but the idea was still the same. Interesting VIsMost of the VIs, like most hams at the time, were men. But there were a few women, including Helena Crawley. She was encouraged to marry her husband Leslie, another VI, so they could be relocated to Orkney to copy radio traffic from Norway. In 1941, a single VI was able to record an important message of 4,429 characters. He was bedridden from a landmine injury during the Great War. He operated from bed using mirrors and special control extensions. For his work, he receive the British Empire Medal and a personal letter of gratitude from Churchill. ResultsBecause of the intercepts of the German spy agency’s communications, many potential German agents were known before they arrived in the UK. Of about 120 agents arriving, almost 30 were turned into double agents. Others were arrested and, possibly, executed. By the end of the war, the RSS had decoded around a quarter of a million intercepts. It was very smart of MI5 to realize that it could leverage a large number of trained radio operators both to cover the country with receivers and to free up military stations for other uses. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the FCC had a similar plan. The BBC did a documentary about the work the hams did during the war. You can watch it below. Blog – Hackaday Read More
WEDNESDAY EDITION: The sad tale of TenTec continues...They want $500 up front and $3750 for a radio that looks like a homebrew radio. I owned TenTec and swore by my Omni6+ and Omni7 but wouldn't go near that outfit now... Ten Tec Phoenix ClubThe Phoenix club is intended to garner support for the relocation of Ten Tec to the new Dishtronix factory in Dayton, Ohio. The Ten Tec Model 594 Phoenix is an all new from the ground up dual direct digital down conversion (DDC) software defined radio (SDR) sporting a number of innovative and unique at this time features. It costs a tremendous amount of money to secure critical parts for such a machine. For example there is, per unit costs of $125 in each of two ADCs, $75 in each of two FPGAs, $100 in the DSP, $100 in the display which tallies over $600 per unit already, not including circuit boards, coils, capacitors, resistors, other semiconductors, switches, inductors, finals, heatsinks, connectors, buttons, knobs, controls and sheet metal parts, not to mention packaging, labor, royalties, or overhead. We are asking prospective customers to commit a $500 dollar deposit to buy the radio by joining the Phoenix club. This commitment is not because the company is insolvent. It is frankly to protect me, Mike Dishop, N8WFF, the owner of Ten Tec from you changing your mind. What do I mean? Many companies take deposits for new products. Alpha has always taken a deposit when ordering an amp. I have taken checks but never cashed them before. What I’ve found is that sometimes customers back out if I have not cashed the checks and I’m left holding the bag for the expensive parts I’ve bought until another order comes in. The Phoenix is a big investment in parts, nearly the biggest I’ve ever made. By taking the deposit on a non cancellable order basis I’m assured you will write me the check I need to cover this investment. The $3750 introductory price doesn’t have a lot of margin and we really need to sell every one of them quickly at that price. So what do you get with your Phoenix club membership?
In making the Phoenix club we at Ten Tec want to foster a more personal relationship with you and share more visibility with you of what we are doing, and give you an opportunity to have more input at Ten Tec. We are offering you an exciting opportunity to be a part of not just a new radio but a new company essentially and an opportunity to network with other Phoenix club enthusiasts. By selling
membership in a club
we avoid several
complications and
possible
entanglements in the
process. As we
expect prices to
rise and lead times
to extend, you may
want to even
consider buying two
or more radio/
memberships and to
sell one at a profit
once you have them.
A question was asked
what will happen if
we don’t get 100
memberships sold. We
will simply order Get news as it is released here: https://groups.io/g/TentecPHOENIX How to join:
That’s it – you are in! MODEL 594 PHOENIX – coming soon
PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATION SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE GENERAL: GENERAL COVERAGE: 300 KHZ-55 MHz, Specifications guaranteed in Amateur bands. SUPPLY VOLTAGE: 13.8V ± 15% FREQUENCY ACCURACY: ± 5 Hz @25 C FREQUENCY STABILITY: ± 0.5 PPM over operating temperature range DIMENSIONS (HWD): 4.14 x 9.06 x TBD inch, 105 x 230 x TBD mm, (excluding connectors) FRONT CONNECTORS: Headphones, Mic: 1/8th inch stereo plug 2 x USB2 REAR CONNECTORS: RF: 2 x SO-239. Accessory Connector, Band Data Connector, Power Connector. HDMI connector, USB3 connector, Predistortion input RECEIVER: SINGLE ADC: Two receivers in same band (Main and Sub) (with SECOND ADC option) Two receivers in any band MDS (Preamp off / on): -117 dBm / -134 dBm, ± 3 dBm typical ADC OVERLOAD POINT: +4 dBm without attenuation. BLOCKING IMD (Preamp off/ on): 120 / 121 dBm typical RECEIVE CURRENT: < 2A TRANSMITTER: POWER: 5-100W ± 1dB DUTY CYCLE: Continuous SSB/CW, 50% AM, FM, PSK/digital TX BW: 300 Hz-6KHz, adjustable FM DEVIATION: ± 5KHz HARMONIC & SPURIOUS EMISSION: 1-30 MHz: < -50 dBc @ 100W 30-55 MHz: -60 dB @ 5-100W, -43 dBc < 5W THIRD ORDER IMD: -60 dB below PEP, minimum ADAPTIVE PREDISTORTION: Internal, and sample port from external amplifier TX / RX RECOVERY TIME: < 20 ms RISE AND FALL TIME: 5 ms CW OFFSET: adjustable CW KEYER SPEED: 5-50 WPM, Adjustable weighting/ CW KEYER: Curtis Mode B, USB Keyboard CW MEMORIES: 10 TRANSMIT CURRENT DRAIN: 20A Typical ANTENNA TUNER: TYPE: Reversible L network MATCHING FREQUENCY RANGE: 160-10m, no 6m. MATCHING RANGE 10:1 SWR typical REMOTE CONTROL: Full Remote Station Control using Client/ Server architecture. Embedded web server with no external software ready to go out of the box.
A brief history of modern Ten Tec and how the Phoenix came about.Many of you know
Ten Tec was acquired
by RF Concepts who
liquidated most of
Ten Tec’s production
assets such as the
circuit board
assembly equipment
as well as the tool
and die, machine,
plastic injection
molding and sheet
metal shops. They
shifted everything
to a complete
outsourcing model
and ran fire sale
and liquidation
pricing, squeezing
Ten Tec like a big,
fat orange until
there wasn’t even
any pulp left, then
declared bankruptcy
leaving the
remaining assets to
RKR which was formed
as what appeared to
be a debt
liquidation company.
There were some IP
issues which opened
a dialog between
N8WFF and the owners
who indicated they
just wanted a way to
recover some of
their money and had
no interest in ham
radio business. They
were about to
auction everything
off at Ten Tec
because it was too
far away to deal
with. I loved Ten
Tec and believed in
Ten Tec so against
better judgement I
offered to purchase
the entire thing as
it was. Jan 1 2016
Ten Tec officially
became a subsidiary
of Dishtronix, Inc.
Every radio that
could be built from
parts had been built
and there was no
money to buy new
parts because
creditors would not
have anything to do
with Ten Tec.
Fortunately I had
cash to put in to
bail out their
unfulfilled
commercial contracts
which enabled me to
get Ten Tec back to
an operational
status. I also
started repairing
the backlog of
radios that had been
sitting a couple of
years there and got
all of them back to
their owners. I kept
repairing radios
usually for a couple
of hundred dollars,
a loss I procrastinated
for a time expecting
the parts shortages
would solve itself.
It did not however.
Ham radio is a very
small and
insignificant, even
non existent market
as far as chip
makers are
concerned. For many
years we benefited
from and built on
the chips developed
for analog cell
phones and analog
television. When
those industries
went digital, the
demand for analog
mixers and IF chips
dried up. Further
when televisions and
monitors went to LCD
the high voltage
market of
capacitors, etc
dried up. The
manufacturers saw
COVID as an excuse
to purge all
unprofitable
components from
their catalog and
that is exactly what
they did. Not only
were the parts we
needed not coming
back, they are NEVER
coming back.
Redesign is the only
choice left. I mobilized every resource I had. Making phone calls to people in places that might help. We planned extraction missions by sea and by air, but how do you extract a 5 year old underwater? In the end he filed some special paperwork and it took a long time to get approved. Maybe some of my calls helped with that. I started a prayer chain too and there were MANY hams praying for that family to be delivered. Eventually he got approval to leave. On the day he got to the border the papers didn’t help. The crossing guards held him up for almost 8 hours and were not going to let him out. Then a miracle happened. The guards started acting like they were drunk and confused and couldn’t understand what was going on. One of those frustrated, dazed and confused guards waved to him and he was across the border family and all! I later told him what had happened, that the power of so many prayers moved the Holy Spirit to confuse those guards and let his family cross. Anyone reading, scoff if you will but never doubt the power of the Holy Trinity. Today that little girl and her family are doing just fine. My motivations are not to become rich or build an empire, but to be able to help those who really need it, because I know first hand what it is like to want help and to need help and for no one to be there. We can’t take material wealth to the grave. Wealth however IS a tool we can use to help other people with. What we do take is what we learn from one another by helping each other. I could make a lot more money using my skills to make things to kill each other with, but I prefer to make things that can help each other and that make each other happy. That is the spirit behind the Phoenix – to make a positive difference and we hope you will use it that way. As an engineer I hope to leave the world a better place than I found it. With my friend safe we decided to do a new radio using what he has accomplished as a starting point and Phoenix was born. We decided to develop an entirely new what Ten Tec calls the SPU (Signal Processing Unit) which is a plug in DSP module utilizing a quad core ARM processor operating at 1.3 GHZ with integral DSP cores and GPUs, 1GB RAM, 32GB EMMC memory, Bluetooth, Wifi and 1GB Ethernet PHY, HD HDMI, etc. A new front panel layout was done as well as a new display carrier with a native 1920 x 1280 High Definition AMMOLED (similar to OLED) display. The ADC and FPGA were modified to be a dual channel system. N8WFF has designed a new version of the Orion II preselectors and a new transmit power amplifier chain based on the Eagle. Low pass filters and antenna tuner from the Eagle are adopted as well as the VFO knob, while Argonaut 6 knobs help on the concentric controls with construction and distribution techniques from the Omni 7+. We took the best that Ten Tec ever did in anything that I could use and joined it with what is probably the most technologically intense signal processing unit ever built for a civilian radio, and we present it to you as the Phoenix. Named in authentic Ten Tec fashion for the Greek mythological Fire Bird which rose from the ashes to rebirth, just as Ten Tec is relaunching after all the unfortunate events of the last near decade. We, the designers and builders of the Phoenix feel we have delivered something as powerful, or more powerful than any of our competitors in a form factor smaller and lighter than theirs and at a significantly lower price. It is fast, it is beautiful, and it sounds good. It is also fully remotable right out of the box with nothing to add. When you buy a Ten Tec you are not just buying a radio, you are helping fund our mission to help those in need, to assist those less fortunate, to offer a hand up, not a hand out to anyone needing it. We manufacture everything, circuit board assembly etc. in our own facility that we own and improve with lots of power necessary for manufacturing and proper antistatic flooring and other facilities necessary to really do the job right. Before Ten Tec was liquidated, we made metal cabinets for most of the products in ham radio, and we endeavor to bring that back offering manufacture of circuit boards up to finished products and distribution for hams with a dream of a product but no way to get it too market. We support America First, pro First Amendment, backed and guaranteed by the Second Amendment. I am the guy who developed and brought you high power legal limit plus reliable solid state amplifiers over two decades ago with my Prometheus DX2400L1 amplifier and the Hermes board which became the basis for the Apache Labs SDR which was my concept but I was not allowed to work on it because I was a commercial guy. With your backing and my new facility in Dayton I will be able to bring more new technology to ham radio. I work with the best engineers in the world because they reach out and find me and find a home for kindred spirits, a place where exceptional talent is appreciated and encouraged instead of suppressed. If we can’t give you something better, why would we bother? We have stiff competition from the Japanese and Chinese with their near infinite funding. It is up to you, the customer to decide who shall lead the communications technology race. Without your funding we can’t compete and will go away. It is that simple. When you buy a Ten Tec, you bring our next generation radios that much closer to reality while getting a solid performer you can use daily in your station. Ten Tec has a long history of innovation and bringing you technical firsts and with your support we will continue to do so. I’ve come this far with no financial backing or support. Imagine what I might do with 100 of you behind me, or 1000 of you, or 10,000 of you. What kind of difference could Ten Tec make then? HAM RADIO International Amateur Radio Exhibition June 27-29One of the largest amateur radio events in Europe takes place June 27-29 in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The event is HAM RADIO, an International amateur radio exhibition expecting to host more than 11,000 visitors, 400 exhibitors, and 100 lectures. The theme for 2025 is “REMOTE RADIO – CONNECTING THE WORLD”
Tickets are available along with a list of exhibitors and lectures. Learn more at the HAM RADIO website.
TUESDAY EDITION: I am out the door early getting my wife to the hospital for a CT scan in prep for her lung procedure tomorrow, a biopsy of the lump in her lung... SAQ Grimeton On the Air for 100th Anniversary July 2ndOn July 2nd, Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its inaugural transmission. Officially inaugurated on Juy 2nd, 1925, the 200kW Alternator made contact with Long Island in the US.
Callsign SAQ will be on the air on VLF 17.2 kHz CW on July 2, 2025. First Transmission
Second transmission
A test transmission will occur on July 1 between 13:00 – 16:00 CEST. Tickets are available for those wishing to attend in person. Transmissions will be streamed on YouTube. The amateur radio station SK6SAQ will be on the air as well:
Source: The Alexander association Ham Radio Reports Fire; Helicopter Crew Extinguishes Just in TimeAmateur radio operators preparing for a contest sponsored by ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® used ham radio to report a forest fire just before winds picked up. By John Ross,
KD8IDJ With the help of amateur radio operators, a potential wildfire was averted in California on June 12. Amateur “ham” radio is a thriving technical hobby with members active all over the world. Hams often operate from remote locations, and several of them wound up in the right place at the right time while preparing to participate in the 2025 ARRL June VHF Contest. Robert "Bobby" Debevec, W6IWN, and Jacob T. "Jake" Graham, KC7WXD, both ARRL members from the Reno, Nevada area, were hiking on the Grouse Ridge Trail in California, a section of the Tahoe National Forest. In addition to getting ready for the contest, they had hoped to also activate several Summits on the Air (SOTA) locations. Their day of using the Amateur Radio Service for recreation was going well until they saw smoke near the Black Buttes area and had to use it for its utility value. Debevec captured the event on video, and posted it to his YouTube channel. “I was surprised to see smoke ahead of us,” said Graham. “As we got closer, it was clear there had been a lighting hit several days ago and we could also see flames.” Wireless service is spotty in portions of the eastern Sierra, and they didn’t have a cell signal, so Debevec used his handheld ham radio to report the fire on a nearby repeater. In just seconds, Dan Patterson, W6AI, responded back. He was monitoring the Nevada County Amateur Radio Club linked repeater system in Grass Valley, California, and heard the call. He took the GPS coordinates from Graham and notified the U.S. Forest Service. “We were monitoring the U.S Forest Service and it only took about 10 minutes for them to dispatch a helicopter to the area,” said Graham. “We watched four firefighters rappel down followed by a pack of equipment. The pair then walked closer to the area and started talking to the crew, who thanked them for the report. “They put the out the fires but radioed for a helicopter water drop, before they left on foot, with the gear, to a nearby pickup site,” added Debevec. After the firefighters left, the winds picked up dramatically. Had that happened earlier, the outcome could have much worse. Amateur radio serves communities before and When All Else Fails®, and having a thriving group of trained operators active in amateur radio allowed it to facilitate emergency communications that saved the day.
My Alinco 330 power supply which I have never hut off for over 7 years finally needed a a fan replacement, I couldn't believe how much dust was inside the cabinet. It was on the floor next to my bed powering the Yaesu FTM400....The fan was just $10.00 on eBay delivered, still waiting for it. 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 DesignerFor 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.
HAMS YOU MIGHT KNOW- ALIVE AND SK K1TP-
Jon....Editor of As The World
Turns....
SILENT KEYS Silet Key
KA1BXB-Don...Regular
on 3900 mornings....just
don't
mention
politics
to
him,
please! |
