Hey, My Yaesu Beeps When I Transmit!

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I own a variety of Yaesu ham radio transceivers and like them a lot. Except for that one little annoying feature that the FM rigs have: WIRES. About once every two weeks, one of the local radio hams gets on the repeater with a DTMF beep at the start of every transmission. We’ve come to … Read more

When All Else Fails or SHTF?

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A while back, Dan KB6NU noted the increasing number of preppers getting involved in ham radio. Preppers are people who are actively preparing for emergencies, natural disasters and disruption of social order. In our Technician license course, we’ve noticed an increase in the number of people identifying themselves as preppers. Of course, amateur (ham) radio has a long history of … Read more

Farewell, Rooster

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Many of you have gotten to know Rooster and Peanut, through the videos by Steve WG0AT, the Alpha Goat. Some of you have been fortunate enough to meet the goats in person, which is always a real treat. I blogged about Steve and his goats a number of times, see this posting that highlights one of … Read more

A Great Bag for the FT-817

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One of my favorite rigs is the Yaesu FT-817, the QRP transceiver that covers HF through 70 cm. I use it for mountaintop VHF, including Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations. At Pacificon, I came across this bag by AMP-3 which is custom designed for the FT-817. David KF7ETX did a great job designing this … Read more

Lost Island DX Society Mysteriously Reappears

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As reported here in this blog, the Lost Island DX Society has been missing in action for over a year. Various rumors propagated around the internet and amateur radio community concerning what happened to these LIDS. Recently, the Fi-Ni Report came to life and reported that the LIDS are actively planning (or at least discussing) working the … Read more

Digital Voice at Pacificon

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Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending the Pacificon amateur radio convention in Santa Clara, something I have been trying to do for several years now. It is a great event, with good technical programs and a super venue. The most interesting presentation I saw was the one on digital voice (DV) technology by Bruce Perens … Read more