Thanksgiving weekend is shaping up to be active on the High Frequency (HF) bands. It’s time to fire up your HF radio and log some new contacts thanks to the beginning of Solar Cycle 25 and sunspot AR2786 rotating towards earth. AR2786 is a sunspot twice the size of earth. It’s the first large sunspot…
Author: K0LWC
Nearly 2000-mile record-setting contact on 433Mhz in South Atlantic
Propagation is a fun thing — especially when you’re talking thousands of miles on UHF! On October 16, 2020 a 1,950 mile contact was made on 433Mhz FM between the Island of St. Helena (U.K.) and Plumstead, South Africa. The two stations involved in the contact were Garry, ZD7GWM and Tom, ZS1TA in South Africa….
Hamshack Hotline: The ham radio “bat phone”
Hamshack Hotline (HH) is a dedicated Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) network that is free to amateur radio operators around the world. The goal of the Hamshack Hotline is not to replace the traffic that is carried over RF, but rather augment it when conditions are diminished or otherwise busy. You’ll find phones in personal ham shacks, EOCs,…
Solar Cycle 25 has officially begun
Ham radios operators around the world rejoice — Solar Cycle 25 has officially begun! The Royal Observatory of Belgium has reported the solar minimum likely occurred in December of 2019. The solar minimum marks the lowest point of sunspot activity and is the official start of a new cycle. Amateur radio and shortwave enthusiasts alike have…
KDKA special event station begins operations Nov. 1
2020 marks the 100th anniversary of Pittsburgh radio station KDKA. KDKA would evolve from private point-to-point communication to being known as the first commercial radio station in the United States after airing the Harding-Cox presidential results on November 2, 1920. And the rest they say, is history. The success of the KDKA broadcast and of…
FCC will take away another ham band in 2021
Say goodbye to another amateur radio band. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has ruled that it will revoke amateur radio privileges on the 3300-3500 MHz (9-cm Microwave band). The FCC will auction the band to wireless telecom companies to support 5G rollouts across the United States. The dates when amateur radio privileges will “sunset” have…
What is SWR and why is it important for ham radio?
SWR, also known as Standing Wave Radio, is an important concept for ham radio operators. SWR is what allows us to know whether our antenna is performing as designed. If you have a good SWR reading, you can rest easy knowing your antenna is receiving and transmitting the best that it can. What is SWR?…
USFS portable repeater vandalized in Rocky Mountain backcountry
Vandals took aim at an unlikely target last week in Grand County, Colorado. Firefighters’ battling the 14,000+ acre Williams Fork wildfire suddenly noticed their radios stopped working. The size of the fire is so large simplex communication wasn’t feasible. The U.S. Forest Service deployed a portable repeater to allow firefighters in the field to communicate…
Baofeng saves the life of ham radio operator
Ham radio is often portrayed as irrelevant. A dying hobby in the age of the cell phone. Ham radio operators know nothing could be further from the truth. One operator who would be the first to back that up is Alden Summers Jones, KC1JWR, from Vermont. During the Summer of 2020, Alden decided to take…
M17 project aims to kill off DMR, YSF and D-Star on ham bands
One of the most significant challenges digital has in ham radio is the multiple modes across manufacturers. D-Star, DMR, C4FM, P25 are all on the amateur bands across the United States, but could these digital modes we all know and use come to an end? If a new startup project has anything to say about…