Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
First, I need to admit that I am an HF slacker. My first love in ham radio has always been VHF and higher and I have always treated HF as something secondary. I am not sure why but if I figure it out, I will let you know. Lately, my HF antenna (a powerful device … Read more
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently launched a survey of time/frequency users. See the ARRL announcement here. This is a pretty simple survey asking about how you use WWV, WWVH, time.gov, etc. If you use these services, you should probably fill out the survey. Along the way, I realized that NIST offers … Read more
As previously reported, I’ve been tuning up my APRS gear and have several stations (usually) on the air: K0NR home station, K0NR-1 Trout Creek Pass digi, K0NR-5 smartphone and K0NR-7 VX-8GR handheld. Someone asked me “What’s the purpose of this APRS stuff, anyway?” I wasn’t sure what to say, so I answered with… The Universal … Read more
There was an interesting exchange on the AMSAT-BB email list last week. Dave KB5WIA noted a strange signal on the AO-51 satellite: I just thought I’d relay a bit of QRM I observed on AO-51 on this morning’s 3/16/2011 1322z pass. The bird was totally quiet (just a nice carrier) for the first 5 minutes … Read more
The ARRL just filed a Petition for Rule Making with the FCC concerning a specific modulation format called TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access). This issue has been simmering in the community of repeater operators but I suspect that most hams have no idea what this is about. It so happens that the land mobile industry … Read more
Just this past week, I read the following exchange on one of the many ham radio email lists I subscribe to: Greetings Group, I have a rat shack universal DC adapter for my charger. It is rated at 12 volt 500 mA. On the bottom of the [radio brand] charger it specifies 450 mA. My … Read more