Local school kids are kicking off their ‘Spring Break’. Meanwhile, the official first day of Spring 2025 arrived here with snow and sleet. What can...
Cambodia Active on QO-100
During a training event, the club station XU7AMO at the Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia was active for the first time in training mode via the...
DXCC CW
The mail lady delivered a small package from ARRL yesterday. It was my DXCC CW certificate. I filed that application online as soon as I...
VOA Defunded
Headline in The Moscow Times: ‘Today We Celebrate’: Kremlin and Russian Propaganda Rejoice as Trump Guts RFE/RL, VOA Moscow is elated by President Donald Trump’s...
Happy St. Patrick's Day
May your troubles be few, your whiskey smooth, and your days full of the kind of simple joys that can only come from a life...
Beware the Ides of March
The Ides of March is the day on the Roman calendar marked as the Idus, roughly the midpoint of a month, of Martius, corresponding to...
Whither Hamvention?
With Hamvention a mere nine weeks away, one can’t help but wonder how the economic downturn and general America First nastiness might impact attendance. After...
Tossed Salad
Years ago there was the Palm Pico paddle and hams drooled all over them at FDIM. Then there wasn’t, and much gnashing of teeth was...
Coffee Talk
Band conditions yesterday were as bad as I’ve seen them in a long while. It took me all of five minutes spinning the VFO to...
New Textbook Featuring GNU Radio
GNU Radio is the leading open-source software toolkit for developing SDR systems, an increasingly viable and even critical tool for a new generation of radio...
Reducing Attack Surfaces
My kids were chatting the other day about having received emails from their kids (my grandchildren) elementary school informing them that their systems had been...
Catching Up
We’ve been enjoying typical March weather in Indiana, something different every few hours. Rain and 50F one minute, clear and 20F the next. It has...
Working the Phone
The ARRL International DX Contest SSB took place last weekend. Having had little interest in chasing DX using phone to this point, my current DXCC...
Tariff War Risks Sinking World Into New Great Depression
The world economy could face a crash similar to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The world economy could face a crash similar to the...
End of Month Summary
February has been a productive month at the key. Not only did I manage to crash the DXCC CW barrier early in the month, I’ve...
ARRL International DX Contest, SSB
Coming up this weekend (March 1-2, 2025). Good luck! Complete rules. Contest Objective: To encourage W/VE stations to expand knowledge of DX propagation on the...
South Carolina QSO Party
I spent an hour in the South Carolina QSO Party yesterday. Ten contacts, all phone. The first time I’ve touched the microphone this year. Another...
Text Mode Browsing
Considering this is the year 2025, I probably spend way too much time in a terminal, on the command line. Old habits are hard to...
From the High Desert
A new feature film about paranormal radio pioneer Art Bell, W6OBB (SK) may be on the horizon. Apparently Paul Giamatti (John Adams, The Holdovers, Sideways)...
No Push-Button QSOs
I enjoyed reading the ZD7KYD DXpedition summary by KY8D, vacation style. A modicum of polite banter was both hoped for and expected. Minimalist QSOs of...
Sixty-Six
Today is my 66th birthday. They seem to be coming faster which is not necessarily a good thing. I am grateful for what is becoming...
International DX CW Contest
The plan was to hangout for several hours during the ARRL International DX CW contest this weekend in hope of snagging some needed DXCC. I...
QCWA Membership Special Offer
Quarter Century Wireless Association is offering an Introductory 90-day Full Membership for qualifying applicants for only $3.00. That’s right; three dollars! This offer is limited...
Breaking My Own Rules
Yesterday I worked KH0W on 10 meters. The Saipan CW Club. The Northern Mariana Islands. Another joyless ATNO for me as I discovered LoTW was...
Long and Winding Road
I have a friend, a good friend, who is twenty years my senior. Our lifestreams crossed when we both worked for Procter & Gamble in...
Very Low Earth Orbit
There’s a new race in space, but it’s not where you might think. It’s happening close to home – in the nearest bit of space,...
Celebrate
There was a lot of CW activity on the bands yesterday. I worked DL2025S again, on 15 meters this time. The 2025C ham radio event...
Reconnaissance Satellite
Spy Satellite You’ve Never Heard of Helped Win the Cold War IN THE EARLY 1970S, the Cold War had reached a particularly frigid moment, and...
Prologue
Mac Hodges has lived a long life for a guy just 30 years old. Friends call him an “old” soul, but he says “it’s not...
The Hydra-T Duality
Daniel Estévez, EA4GPZ decodes a commercial satellite from Hydra Space transmitting in the amateur satellite 435 MHz band using the same modulation, coding and telemetry...
Another Anniversary
Three years ago today was my last working day. After 42 years at the coalface, I terminated my employment and began my journey into the...
IC-7610 vs Elecraft K4D
In this video, Bob Nagy, AB5N compares the ICOM IC-7610 and the Elecraft K4D. This was of interest to me since I own both transceivers....
World Wide Award
This event generated a lot of activity on the bands. I replied whenever I happened across one of the WWA stations calling with a strong...
Friday, January 31, 2025
End of the month chores completed. Logs updated, back-ups made, that kind of stuff. My first month in the New Year using CW-only went reasonably...
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Here in Indiana we have endured a rather rough winter season. A Polar Vortex along with sky-high egg prices, when you can find them. Yes,...
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
I caught SM4OTI calling CQ on 10 meters this morning. He had a great signal on this end and we had a brief chat. His...
Saturday, January 25, 2025
I’ve been listening for Felix, DL5XL operating from Antarctica for the last several weeks with no luck. Not a peep. Then yesterday I saw him...
Friday, January 24, 2025
Did you know that this weekend is the annual Winter Field Day event? Emergencies are never scheduled. If you haven’t planned anything, you still have...
Thursday, January 23, 2025
News from the ARRL DXCC desk: The Programs & Services Committee and headquarters staff from the Radiosport Department are moving ahead with the creation of...
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
I live in East Central Indiana (EN70ge) in a small farming community. A mile or two north of here is another wide spot in the...
Monday, January 20, 2025
The polar vortex arrived. It was -1 degree when I woke this morning. The good news is it showed up without snow storms or wind,...
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Rain this morning, but right on the verge of snow. It’s 35F now and has been raining for several hours. It got up to 40F...
Friday, January 17, 2025
Awoke to generally poor band conditions which makes LoTW being down less of an irritation. My local DX cluster is down again too. Plus, I...
Thursday, January 16, 2025
The good news this morning was that when I tested my local DX cluster, it was back online following a couple weeks of downtime. Given...
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
I use Jekyll to manage my blog content. It’s been around a long time and is stable. It’s also highly configurable providing me with plenty...
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Circumlocution seems the order of the day when it comes to bad-mouthing ARRL. Or more correctly, the ARRL Board of Directors. I have a solution...
Monday, January 13, 2025
A fellow on one of the QRP mailing lists was asking if anyone had a TR-45L CW transceiver they would like to part with. This...
Sunday, January 12, 2025
Last night, hours after local sundown, I decided to try to work a few stations in the NAQP. The juice had already drained from 20...
Saturday, January 11, 2025
While I made no specific resolutions for this New Year, I have made a few decisions that sure look like resolutions given their timing. For...
Friday, January 10, 2025
I’ve had a Bluesky account since the service launched. I’ve been loathe to mention it here because having fled Twitter a few years ago, I...
Thursday, January 09, 2025
Good morning. Here in the US, it’s a National Day of Mourning for Jimmy Carter, the first former president to live to 100. That means...
Wednesday, January 08, 2025
Band conditions haven’t been great the last few days and my DX production has suffered because of it. Not helping is that my favorite DX...
Tuesday, January 07, 2025
People keep saying the ARRL needs to do something to goose up it’s membership numbers. Problem is, few have good ideas for how they should...
Sunday, January 05, 2025
I refilled the bird feeders Saturday and enjoyed watching the little creatures eat their fill. My ham shack is located in a sun room addition...
Saturday, January 04, 2025
Woke to 10F with clear skies this morning. The temperature in the shack had fallen to 45F, the coolest I’ve seen it in here. I...
Friday, January 03, 2025
I got my first scare of the K4 era yesterday when I noted a sudden high SWR on ten meters. I checked the antenna and...
Thursday, January 02, 2025
Well I’m not the kind to live in the past, The years run too short and the days too fast, The things you lean on...
Wednesday, January 01, 2025
Happy New Year! Survive until ‘25 was a popular mantra. Now what? The 2024 blog posts have been archived and the new files for 2025...
Look Ahead
As 2024 winds down there has been the usual year-end accounting work to wrap up. All of the logging chores for the year have been...
The RFzero
The RFzero™ has been developed for radio amateurs, RF enthusiasts and everyone else who wants to extend their Arduino skills in combination with RF. The...
Too Quickly
The big day has drawn to a close and the house is unusually silent. All four of our kids and their spouses, plus our six...
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays!
ISS Slow Scan TV Transmissions
Space Station Slow Scan TV Transmissions Just in time for the holidays and New Year, ARISS is planning an Slow Scan Television (SSTV) event from...
Grant to Restore and Modernize USS Hornet
Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) is a private foundation that exists to support amateur radio and digital communication science and technology. Hornet Amateur Radio Club’s...
Straight Key for the Holidays
With the year winding down and only a week until the fat man flies, I’m gently settling into the holidays using nothing but a straight...
Framework 16 Expansion Bay
Back in the summer I bought a new Framework 16, the DIY high-performance 16” notebook. After I installed Ubuntu 24.10, it’s become my daily driver...
6GHz Band
The FCC has adopted new rules to expand very-low-power device operations across all of the 6-GHz band alongside other unlicensed and Wi-Fi-enabled devices. FCC Opens...
CQ Magazine Legacy
I was always a big fan of CQ Magazine. It was the first periodical I found when searching for more info on ham radio way...
DXCC Note
In the aftermath of the Great Hack of 2024 the ARRL managed to get LoTW operational after a few months of recovery efforts. What wasn’t...
Home Sweet Home
I installed the just released, R36 firmware on my Elecraft K4 transceiver this morning. This new production release is apparently welcome news for many enthusiasts...
Spilling Tea
A few interesting things to share, firehose style: Web Power Switch Pro from Digital Loggers. ⁍ Slick new K-POD accessory. ⁍ The 2025 DX Marathon rules have...
Retention Limited
While perusing the 2023 ARRL Annual Report I was struck by something President Rick Roderick, K5UR wrote: According to an ARRL study, three-quarters of Technician-class...
Weekly BATC Net
I enjoy the weekly BATC net that takes place every Thursday afternoon (my time). The net is conducted via QO-100 and is not directly accessible...
Cold Snap
We always visit a local tree farm on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to pick out a Christmas tree. Today was no different. It was a...
Casus Belli
Sometime over the last week I exceeded 2,000 contacts logged this year. Spit in the ocean for much more active operators, but another milestone for...
Parabellum
Couldn’t stir up even the slightest ambition in the CQWW CW this weekend. Spent a few hours instead on FT-x. The bands were in good...
On Amateur Licensing
Many subjects are verboten in the amateur radio world. So many in fact, it’s surprising we have anything to talk about at all. One particular...
First Snow
We enjoyed our first snow of the season yesterday. 2-3 inches of the fluffy white stuff fell over the entire day. Some say there will...
Glitch in the Matrix
About a month or so ago a strange thing began happening with my iPhone. When I looked at the photo album collection, occasionally there would...
Updated POTA Hunting Stats
The quest to work activators in a thousand unique parks continues, slowly. I’ve been casually hunting POTA parks for a few years when I decided...
Morning DX Patrol
Band conditions weren’t very favorable in the pre-dawn hours this morning though a few nuggets of gold were found. I struck out on 40 CW...
Amateur Satellite Marks 50 Years
Longest-serving satellite OSCAR-7 marks 50 years in orbit Launched on November 15, 1974, OSCAR-7, a micro satellite, continues its mission 50 years after its launch,...
Field Day 2024 Results
ARRL reports over a million contacts made during Field Day 2024… Results are published, and the numbers are in. They paint a picture of a...
Veterans Day
“We remember those who were called upon to give all a person can give, and we remember those who were prepared to make that sacrifice...
Old Friend Arrives
An ‘Old Friend’ arrived this week. That is the direct conversion transceiver kit from Midnight Design Solutions (designed by K1SWL). I ordered the same day...
VIM Developer Receives Posthumous Award
Bram Moolenaar is best known for developing VIM, a powerful, screen-based text editor. Released in 1991, Vim was originally a port of the Stevie editor...
You can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em
We attended an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio last week. The crowd enjoyed the game, at least until the visiting team kicked it into...
Days of Our Lives
Life continues it’s march to some conclusion here. We are past the leaf-peeping season in this area. Nothing but dark oranges and browns left to...
Letting Go
Amateur radio is imbued with hundreds and hundreds of organizations representing the many varied interests of its adherents. These seem to grow like weeds in...
SolderSmoke and the vagaries of life
Chatting with a friend yesterday when the subject of the SolderSmoke podcast came up. It seems there is some possibility of that long-running program going...
Spiced Cider
My ham shack exists in what was touted to be a “sunroom” when the realtor showed the house to us. It’s a new addition to...
Weekend Preparation
I took some time off from using the digital FT modes. 40 days and nights away from the keyboard. It was good to get time...
Another Wireless Pioneer
Walter Massie, a Remarkable Wireless Radio Pioneer It was a cold, windswept February night in early 1905. Only a small amount of warmth made its...
Chasing Bigfoot
I worked W7T yesterday who was calling “CQ BF” on 20 meters which got me just curious enough to call him back - and then...
Radio as Art
I’ve been a ham forever. I thought I’d lost interest in radio, but it turned out that I’d only lost interest in post-modern radio. It’s...
Freeze Warning
Enjoying a steaming cup of Earl Grey with a splash of milk along with a bowl of danish cherry tobacco in a Peterson free-hand pipe...
Columbus Day
Happy Columbus Day - chilly in the Heartland this morning, 44F now headed up to 58F for a high today. Autumn has arrived. Plenty of...
Lost in Space
Old Sol has been spewing some of its angry energy towards Earth again with the result being yet another Northern Light show here in parts...
Day of Discovery
We have been enjoying the nice autumn weather in these parts. 70 degree days, dry with very low humidity, endless sunshine, and 40 degree nights....
67th International Airstream Rally
Tuning on 20 meters this morning looking for weather traffic related to the hurricane set to make landfall in Florida, I caught special event station...
Marsh Island NA-120
I heard K5M calling CQ yesterday on 20 CW and returned the call. Turns out a small operation was taking place on Marsh Island thanks...
C21MM Expedition to Nauru
Our team (T2C in 2023 and P29RO in 2022 and other activities in the years before COVID) has decided to announce its next DXpedition. We...
QSL Cards - Let's Fix This
Having convinced myself that QSL cards are indeed an important detail in our daily amateur radio lives, the question becomes how can this practice be...
QSL Cards - Historical Markers
Thanks to those who replied with comments about part one of this series about QSL cards. The consensus seems to be that broadcast stations initiated...
QSL Cards - In the Beginning
Just a few years after CW displaced King ‘spark’ as the radio amateur’s mode of choice, Mac Anderson began to build his first radio station....
Rainy Day People
It’s been raining all morning, nice and gentle, so far. Made sleeping-in an extra hour too easy. The parched lawn is soaking every bit of...
Fog of Incompetence
All of hamdom has by now seen the video (16:10) where one ARRL Director revealed a few additional details surrounding the cyber attack on the...
The Old Friend
A message popped up on the QRP-L mailing list yesterday from Dave Benson, K1SWL with news of a new offering from the former Small Wonder...
Seasons Change
I remember not long after my Dad turned 80 he decided it was time for a new roof on his house and I recall him...
Requiem for a Ragchew
Based on the listed bios of most radio amateurs, chewing the rag is a favorite pastime. Or at least the desire for a good “rag-chew”...
Elecraft Adventures
Having the KX3 out and in operation for a few days this week was a bad idea. Using it always reminds me of how good...
QRP Fun
I caught a message about the Run for the Bacon event being last night. I’m not a member of the Flying Pigs but I was...
Farmer's Market
We have a lovely Farmer’s Market here in Yorktown every Friday evening during the summer months. An easy walk from my house. I thought last...
Friday the 13th
Here’s hoping you’re not superstitous on this Friday the 13th, the first of two Friday the 13ths (the other one is in December) in 2024....
Unplugged
I spent some time yesterday deleting every social media account I can recall ever having. That’s not really a big deal when you consider I...
Reboot
From chapter one of CALLING CQ, written by Clinton B. DeSoto and published in 1941: Calling CQ! Calling CQ to any amateur radio station!” A...
Too Much Tech
Imagine if you will… In the year 2030, Forest Adams was in a car accident that left him comatose for an entire decade. To everyone’s...
Weekend Reading
Revisiting why hyperlinks are blue I found myself enjoying my morning coffee, reading through hate mail from my first article, as one does. I sifted...
No Static at All
Nothin’ but blues and Elvis and somebody else’s favorite song… The Beginnings of FM Radio Broadcasting In the early and mid-1930s, radio communication was confined...
Just 100 Years Ago
The search for life in the cosmos has been an ongoing human interest for the ages, but since the advent of radio, the way we...
75 Years of Traffic Handling
The National Traffic System has been around for 75 years. From the current (September) NTS Letter, Bud Hippisley W2RU writes in the first of a...
Saint Paul Island CY9C
I haven’t been chasing the CY9C operation this time around. I already had St. Paul Island in the log on 40 CW from a previous...
Squirrels and Upgrades
Was in the shack this morning enjoying the cool weather (49F) with all the windows cranked wide-open when suddenly a transformer on a power pole...
AnandTech Shuts Down
End of the Road: An AnandTech Farewell Editor-in-chief Ryan Smith: It is with great sadness that I find myself penning the hardest news post I’ve...
Happy Labor Day
We’ve come to the end of another summer. I know it’s not officially over just yet, and I have no doubt that another wave of...
Mercury Lite Amplifier
Happy September! I saw a rumor last night concerning the popular KM3KM product line. Nothing reported on their web site yet, but the rumor is...
Nauru
Even with the solar cycle humming along nicely it can feel like a long time between elusive ATNO’s, though sometimes serendipity lends a hand when...
Corn Sweat
I live on the outskirts of town in Central Indiana, out here surrounded by tall corn on every side this time of year. Happy in...
G-QRP Celebrates 50 Years
It was in September 1974 that George Dobbs G3RJV started the wheels turning to make the G-QRP Club a reality. Fifty years later, the Club...
End of Another Era
When I was a kid I had two ways of making a buck. I mowed yards and I delivered newspapers. In those days, the throbbing...
Forty-Six
My wife and I celebrated our 46th anniversary this weekend. It sounds like a long time, and it is, but to us it seemed to...
Million Dollars
I’m not certain what to think about the recent ARRL bulletin that provided more details about the cyber attack and subsequent million dollar ransom payment...
Scatter Shots
48F when I woke this morning. This foretaste of autumnal awesomeness is simply too good to be true for August in Central Indiana. It’s been...
Tossed Salad
N1EA relays news that Schurr Morse Keys is now Bergsiek Morse Keys. Stefan Bergsiek has taken over Schurr Morse keys from Gerhard Schurr and continues...
Capitulation
An update a few days ago from the N5J team said that many callers were continuing to use an older version of WSJT-X that wasn’t...
The Road Ahead
Band conditions have been so abysmal that I didn’t even turn the radio on yesterday. As it turns out, too much solar maximum isn’t necessarily...
Dog Days End
Woke to 53F again this morning and it’s shaping up to be another beautiful day in the Heartland. Windows all open and it’s almost chilly...
Bonus Days
Up before the sun and in the shack with the windows wide-open. It’s 54F here this morning with a high of 76F and sunny skies...
Dewey, Truman, and the ARRL
ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA titled his most recent (September 2024 QST) Second Century editorial, Dewey Defeats Truman! a throwback reference to the exaggerated death...
Jarvis and the SuperFox
I got word that the Jarvis N5J operation got underway last night and first thing this morning saw that they were QRV on 17 meters....
Rapidly Shifting Sand
The last post was about the new SuperFox digital mode. Today I want to speculate (spout crazy notions) on where this could lead us without...
Enter SuperFox Mode
WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc5 and later includes a new mode for DXpeditions that’s been called SuperFox and is intended to dramatically improve rates and performance. Instead of...
DX Marathon - Keeping Score
Just like that, and it’s time to tear another page from the calendar. Between taking time off from radio for a few weeks and dodging...
Pocket Transistor Radio
It’s probably been since the late 1970’s when I last owned a battery powered, pocket-sized transistor radio. Yesterday I ordered the brand new XHDATA D-220...
Calibration Issue
I spent the last month with the ham radio gear shut down and the feed lines disconnected. This, after hitting it a little too hard....
Catching Up
Some catching up seems in order. It’s been a busy month with too much work in the yard for this old retired guy. The heat...
Field Day 2024
It’s a good thing my plans for Field Day were more modest than usual else I might have been disappointed. It has become my habit...
Reality Distortion Field
Field Day is this weekend. I have operated the event from my backyard using battery power for many years, but this time around I’ll be...
Summer Reading
While it’s yet a few days before the official first day of summer, the oppressive heat wave that will soon cover most of these United...
NORAD Checks With Balloon Hobbyist Groups
NORAD has learned to check hobbyist websites to identify balloons since the US military shot down three unidentified objects in 2023. After dubious shootdowns, NORAD...
LoTW Downtime Monthly Status
With more than a month of continuous downtime the only thing funny about the situation is the continued chorus of those insisting, “the data is...
Framework Laptop 16
I have been keeping an eye on the devolopment of Framework Laptops for months, so when I received an email yesterday declaring, “Framework Laptop 16...
AMSAT Mail Alias Service to End
In case you missed the news, the AMSAT mail alias service will be terminated on August 1st, 2024. The popular feature permitted mail directed to...
Wayne Green. Spirit Guide.
Wayne Green was a radio amateur and entrepreneur born in the halcyon days of hobby radio. A veteran of the Second World War, he saw...
Daylight's Computer Tablet
I ordered a new tablet a few days ago, and it’s not an iPad. Surprised? Daylight Computer is a new manufacturer with hopes of shaking...
The Future is Here
Just a week ago I wrote about the rapidly changing future for amateur radio emergency services due to the growth of wireless internet access provided...
Harbinger
The 3G0YA Easter Island DXpedition has concluded. The operation was QRV from 18-Apr-2024 thru 06-May-2024 and ended with more than 140,000 contacts having been made....
Footnotes from Oz
I worked VK6AS this morning on 20 meters. This was the second time working Dr. Smith, the first being about eight months ago. He’s located...
Cornbread Road. Again.
I recently uploaded the Cornbread Road audio series to the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications. DLARC is a project of the Internet Archive...
Bob Heil, K9EID SK
I’ve held off writing about the passing of Bob Heil until now. We weren’t close friends, I only met him in person once, at the...