Hacking Away at D-STAR Hardware

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

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

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

Update on the Crossband Repeater Project

In a previous blog posting, I wrote about the construction of a portable VHF/UHF crossband repeater. I published the results of this project in my FM/Repeater column for the Fall 2008 issue of CQ VHF Magzine. I’ve adapted portions of the article to provide an update here. To deal with the issues of identification and … Read more

Golf November Tango

Amateur radio has a deep tradition of providing emergency communications during all kinds of disasters. Of course, some emergencies are more urgent and serious than others. The Golf November Tango frequency is an important frequency to always have programmed into your radio. Established as 146.55 MHz ( FM simplex, no CTCSS), the GNT Frequency is … Read more