Category: radio
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2022 News Flash – Yaesu FT-818ND Discontinued
As 2022 draws to a close the amateur radio community was in a bit of shock as Yaesu announced that production of the FT-818ND will cease as well as the FTM-400XDE. Greater minds than mine have paid homage to a classic: K4SWL at QRPer.com OH8STN recounts his feelings here A thread on the SOTA.uk board…
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Papa’s Got a Recycled LEO-Bag! It’s In The Bag – Part 2
No apologies to the godfather of soul, James Brown! Maybe my favorite JB quote is about “show business”, and I paraphrase: It isn’t Show Business, Its Show, and Business! So, on with the show… When it comes to portable full-duplex stations for linear LEO satellites there are plenty of examples to show you the way.…
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LEO Learning Curve
Note: I got caught by COVID and am isolating, so now I’m getting caught up on blogging. Also focusing on keeping my wife safe and healthy while I get through this. It sux. No fun. I’m off the sats for a while while I recover. On with the blog. Recap: My setup is a Yaesu…
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Full Duplex Satellite, It’s in the Bag – Part 1
Opening Salvo directed at amateur radio transceiver manufacturers: The lack of affordable full-duplex all-mode radios is why I have to write this. You would think the shack in a box (SIAB) market segment would have at least one or two full-duplex-capable radios. You would be wrong. Buying new? You can buy the Icom IC-9700 VHF/UHF…
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CQ Satellite!
I took the plunge into operating the amateur radio linear satellites a few weeks back and it has been a fantastic experience. My plan here on the blog is to share a few “blow by blow” accounts about what worked and what didn’t, what I have improved and how, and what’s next. Phase One –…
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Satellite Communications and the Void
I often call Amateur Radio “the void” because it is an almost bottomless pursuit. I’ve been licensed for 30 years now and was lucky enough to fall in with an active ham radio club in Farmington, Connecticut, the Insurance City Repeater Club. They met at the Red Cross offices near UCONN Medical and that meant…
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The Well Tuned Eggbeater
I’m taking some initial steps toward working satellites this fall, and part of that crossed paths with dialing in my APRS setup, which led to me working the ISS digipeater with my homebrew copper cactus. While that worked, I was having deep fades and dropouts due to the vertical polarization of the J-Pole being incompatible…
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That went about as well as I expected
About a year ago I really thought I would be making my blog a vibrant living thing. But here’s the reality: You know those people who buy gym memberships and never go to the gym? This is like that except without the drain on my personal credit, and without the guilt. For myself and many…
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SW Radiogram, 13 hours later.
Last night I copied SW Radiogram out of Pennsylvania on 9625kc and it was marginal to say the least. That station is always difficult to copy here in RI because it can sit just inside of normal HF single-hop distance. 13 hours later I caught the next broadcast, this time out of WRMI Miami, FL…
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SW Radiogram under Very Poor Conditions
The earth’s atmosphere was impacted by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) early on November 2, 2021. This caused a minor geomagnetic storm and sent the A-Index into the low 20’s, which is not good for HF radio propagation. This is an absorption index and the effects are akin to throwing a lead blanket over the…
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