VHF/UHF

SWR and Return Loss – There’s an Ap for That

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For the RF/microwave enthusiasts out there, you may recall the old HP Reflectometer Calculator that does conversions between SWR, Return Loss and calculated mismatch uncertainty. Well, fast forward to the 21st century and this same functionality can be found in an iPhone ap. Agilent Technologies has a free ap available on iTunes that does these … Read more

Announcing the Colorado FM Sprint

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The Colorado FM Sprint is a short and simple VHF contest that runs in parallel with the ARRL June VHF QSO Party. Basically, it’s a chance to have some fun on the VHF bands for not-so-serious contesters. Sponsored by:  Colorado ARES and the Colorado VHF Group (KØYB) Direct any questions to k0yb@qsl.net This contest is … Read more

Hacking Away at D-STAR Hardware

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We’ve been looking at optimizing the performance of the D-STAR repeater here in Monument (W0TLM, 446.8875 MHz), so I’ve been searching the web for information on what other groups have uncovered. Not surprisingly, there has been some creative reverse-engineering and re-engineering of the ICOM D-STAR repeaters. Here’s a summary of some Good Stuff that I … Read more

2009 June VHF QSO Party Results

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The results of the June VHF contest have been published online and in the December issue of QST. I operated from our cabin in DM78, near Trout Creek Pass with temporary antennas up for 50 MHz and 144 MHz (3-element Cushcraft Yagi on 50MHz and a 2M9 on 144 MHz)  It was mostly a two … Read more

AMSAT Focuses on LEO Cubesat

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AMSAT has recognized that they need to get some new hardware flying in space and is now focused on getting a small LEO satellite developed. AO-51 (originally called ECHO) has been a very popular satellite and one of the few clear successes from AMSAT in recent years. It appears that the AMSAT engineering team has … Read more