Happenings ERMINAZ-2 Satellites in Orbit - a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted off from Vandenberg in California after a slight delay. On board: three small satellites developed and built in Bochum: With the PocketQubes ERMINAZ-2U, ERMINAZ-2V, and ERMINAZ-2X from the space organization “AMSAT-Deutschland,” or AMSAT-DL for short, satellites from Bochum have reached orbit for the first time. They were developed, built, and certified for spaceflight at the satellite laboratory located in the radome of the Bochum Observatory. SkyRoof → N3FJP AC Log Plugin - logger plugin for SkyRoof by VE3NEA that sends your satellite QSOs directly to N3FJP's Amateur…
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Seasons are changing, and it’s not just the weather. My interest in HF has been waning like the current solar cycle. But it’s not just the propagation; it’s the growing quantity of automated bots and contests where cheating has become the accepted norm. How is it the ARRL CEO put it recently? “Cheating is ubiquitous in amateur radio.” To be certain, the events of the latest WRTC (or any other contest scandal) don’t impact me as I don’t participate in that side of the hobby. Still, it feels kinda slimy, and the fact that almost no one seems outraged has…
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Happenings WSJT-X 3.2.0 introduces a new mode, JTTY, along with new capabilities in Q65, MAP65, and QMAP and a large number of improvements and bug fixes. JTTY, a new digital mode for fast RTTY-style contest exchanges and other keyboard-to-keyboard communication. JTTY has an operational feel similar to RTTY but far better weak-signal performance and a very low error rate. It can transmit at any time rather than in fixed T/R periods. Its 4-tone GFSK waveform uses 1.888-second frames and about 127 Hz of bandwidth. Function keys F1-F8 provide contest-style exchanges, and messages can be queued while transmitting. Signal subtraction and…
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I believe any difficulty in attracting and retaining new amateur radio enthusiasts comes down to a shortage of a very particular kind of imagination, not curiosity in general, which I don’t think is in decline, but the sprawling, restless kind that used to define who ended up sticking around. The retention problem is real: thousands of new licenses are issued every year, yet the pool of active operators only seems to shrink. Sometimes it sticks, but more often these days people get in and soon look for the exit. That in itself isn’t a problem. There’s nothing wrong with someone…
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Click here to register for ZRDC 2026 We are excited to announce the registration for our second Zero Retries Digital Conference (ZRDC 2026) is now open! This year’s conference will bring together Hams and people interested in the technological innovations in Amateur Radio to explore and listen to expert speakers, regarding various topics pertinent to digital communications. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in engaging sessions, and connect with colleagues from across the industry. In the next few weeks, we will be compiling our list of speakers and will update that list in Zero Retries weekly until the roster…
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The name for the festival of the Autumn Equinox in Druidry is Alban Elfed, which means ‘The Light of the Water’ The Wheel turns and the time of balance returns. Alban Elfed marks the balance of day and night before the darkness overtakes the light. It is also the time of the second harvest, usually of the fruit which has stayed on the trees and plants that have ripened under the summer sun. It is this final harvest which can take the central theme of the Alban Elfed ceremony – thanking the Earth, in her full abundance as Mother and…
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Happenings Doug Hendricks, KI6DS co-founder of NorCal, the Northern California QRP Club, became a Silent Key this week. Confirmation received for the CY0S - Sable Island March '26 activation. Not the first time I've worked Sable, but first confirmation on 30 meters. Persistent and unusually low sunspot activity is severely degrading 10 meter propagation, moderately degrading 12 meter propagation, and mildly degrading 15 meter propagation. No meaningful increase in sunspot activity is forecast until at least November (via W3LPL). A Wham on the Moon - the Moon has a new crater, called McGetchin. NASA calls it a once-in-a-lifetime thing (via…
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Steve, K9ZW recently summarized his visit to the W9DXCC convention near Chicago. I think he did an excellent job detailing the experience and what he took away from the event. When it comes to ham radio blogging, Steve has been hitting it out of the park lately, and it comes at a good time given the general malaise that has settled over the blogosphere. Perhaps other ham bloggers have grown weary in the work, others have given up altogether. The half-life of a ham radio blog has always been incredibly short; Steve’s has been a notable exception. I’ve been to…
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My biggest time sink had grown to become YouTube. It’s the algorithm. It just kept upchucking what it thought I should watch. Video after video, engaging but ultimately useless. I could burn through the better part of an entire evening watching absolute junk leaving me feeling like I’d just wasted what could have been a productive evening. I hate life in the algorithm. And then I discovered I could turn off YouTube’s search history and recommendations entirely. Now when I visit YouTube I’m presented with a clean slate, a completely blank page. No recommendations, no algorithm. That leaves it up…
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Happenings The remarkably long daily streak of making at least one QRP CW contact each day came to an end at 11,654 days when popular Western Pennsylvania radioman John Shannon, K3WWP was hospitalized for several months this summer. John co-founded the North American QRP CW Club more than 20 years ago. "Coming up with a new company motto that encapsulates over 25 years of service to the amateur radio community wasn’t easy" - 'Powered by Active Hams' was the moniker chosen by DX Engineering. Read all about it. Hurricanes: Typically at this time of year, there would have been three…
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