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MONDAY EDITION: A great Field Day at the club, lots of hams showed up and the stations ran all night. We had Senator Tarr, a ham who belongs to our club, present us with a proclamation  certificate praising ham radio day in Massachusetts as well as the local Mayor made an appearance. The food was great, and we used the club facility due to rainy weather (we are pussy's) and it made the cleanup easy....

K1TT and W1TAT running FT8 for 2 points each a contact all night long....

 

FRIDAY EDITION: Field Day will be my activity for the weekend, weather looks a little iffy but that is what the drill is all about...operate in any conditions...

A Number of Microphones… er, Inductors, Rather

There’s a famous old story about [Charles Steinmetz] fixing a generator for [Henry Ford]. He charged a lot of money for putting a chalk X in the spot that needed repair. When [Ford] asked for an itemization, the bill read $1 for the chalk, and the balance for knowing where to draw the X. With today’s PCB layout tools, it seems easy to put components down on a board. But, as [Kasyan TV] points out in the video below, you still have to know where to put them.

The subject components are inductors, which are particularly picky about placement, especially if you have multiple inductors. After all, inductors affect one another — that’s how transformers work. So there are definite rules about good and bad ways to put a few inductors on a board.

However, in the video, air-core coils go through several orientations to see which configuration has the most and least interference. Using a ferrite core showed similar results. The final examples use toroids and shielded inductors.

One reason ferrite toroids are popular in radio designs is that coils made this way are largely self-shielding. This makes placement easier and means you don’t need metal “cans” to shield the inductors. How much do they shield? The orientation makes a little difference, but not by much. It is more important to give them a little space between the coils. Shields work, too, but note that they also change the inductance value.

While we like the idea of grabbing a breadboard and a scope to measure things, we want to point out that you can also simulate. If you didn’t understand the title, you probably don’t listen to Propellerheads.

Blog – Hackaday Read More

Satellite Communications Company AST SpaceMoble Seeks Use of 70 cm Amateur Band

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US has received a request from AST SpaceMobile to modify an existing license that would allow it to transmit within the amateur radio 70 cm band. Specifically, the company seeks the use of the 430-440 MHz spectrum to perform telemetry, tracking, and telecommand between ground stations and a constellation of 243 satellites in low-earth, non-geostationary orbit.

Based on activity within the AMSAT-DL forums, it's been suggested that AST SpaceMobile has interfered with the 70 cm amateur bands in the past. Communications Daily reported in 2023 that Germany required AST SpaceMobile to shut off operations when in radio range of the country. The government cited non-compliance with ITU regulations.

AST SpaceMobile is building a satellite constellation based cellular network that can utilize existing smart phones. The company is based in Midland, Texas, US and is publicly traded.

MYSTERY SIGNALS FROM THE GREAT BEYOND?

Rest in peace, NASA Relay 2 satellite. The spacecraft was one of two launched at different times in the 1960s by the US space agency to serve as experimental communication satellites. Unlike NASA’s Relay 1, which transmitted American TV signals into Japan and Europe, Relay 2 was used for barely a year. It stopped operations in 1965 and its transponders were believed to have died in 1967
The key word here is “believed” - because one year ago this month, researchers in Australia were certain they'd heard Relay 2 returning radio pulses to earth in much the same way some so-called "zombie" satellites, like the famous AMSAT OSCAR-7, have been known to do.
In this case, no seances or Ouija boards were necessary to understand this message from The Great Beyond. Some scientists theorize that the pulses came from the discharge of electrostatic energy, or ESD, that had built up on Relay 2 over time. Another theory is that its impact with a micrometeoroid released a cloud of plasma capable of sending such a signal.
Researchers plan to study both ESD and the micrometeoroid effect in the hope of a better understanding in the future. It's not about alien life or afterlife, then: Just breathing new life into solving more mysteries of space.

LIFESAVING SKILLS LEARNED ATOP SOME SOTA SUMMITS

As record-breaking fires consumed huge sections of the Canadian province of Alberta, Wade Smith VK1MIC, was preparing for an activation that would take him into the heart of the destruction. As captain of the communications brigade in the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Wade responded to Canada's request by traveling from Sydney with the Australian contingent. Wade added his specialised skills in air radio and dispatch to assist the joint Australian-Albertan Incident Management Team operating in the remote northern region of Alberta.
Facing the challenge of several large fires raging, Wade and his team handled more than 500 radio calls daily. The fire-fighting effort mustered more than 20 aircraft involved in operations across several large fires.
Wade, who is also the VK1 SOTA Association Manager, said his years of SOTA experience have served as great practice for staying focused, handling several stations at once and managing fast-moving communications pile-ups. He said " "These same skills are directly transferable to coordinating air operations under pressure." The fires posed hazards on the ground locally as well as for the air quality in much of North America. Weather experts attribute the conditions in the region to an ongoing trend of dry, warm conditions that have been worsened by the global climate crisis.

BE LISTENING FOR 13 COLONIES SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS

Just a reminder that the popular 13 Colonies Special Event runs from the 1st of July through to the 8th, UTC. Certificates are available at all levels of achievement. Shortwave listeners and hunters outside the US are welcome, Operators will be using all modes on all HF bands except for 60 metres. Be listening as well on 2 and 6 metres.
See the link in the text version of this week's Newsline script at arnewsline.org

SWEDEN'S GRIMETON RADIO STATION TO SEND JUBILEE MESSAGE

The Jubilee Year for the Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden is well under way, having begun last December. The highest point of the year, however, will come on the 2nd of July - the exact date, 100 years ago, that the station's 200kW alternator sent a message across the Atlantic Ocean for receipt by the US president, Calvin Coolidge. The message reached the receiving station in Riverhead, New York - on Long Island - and the president had a reply sent, praising the new broadcaster and sharing his hopes for good relations between Sweden and the US.
July 2nd is nearly here and the 100-year anniversary of that historic message is being celebrated with a telegram to be transmitted from the station on 17.2 kHz using CW at 0900 UTC. The station will be using the original callsign, SAQ, .
The broadcast can be heard on a receiver with VLF capability and will also be live streamed on YouTube.
In the meantime, hams wishing to make contact with the amateur radio station SK6SAQ in CW or SSB should be listening on 80, 40 and 20 metres.
Details are available at alexander dot n dot se (alexander.n.se)

YOUNGSTERS ON THE AIR CAMP GEARS UP IN EUROPE

Youngsters on the Air - also known this year as YOTA France - is getting ready for its 13th edition. The camp will be taking place at the Chateau de Jambville near Paris from the 18th through to the 25th of August. It is being hosted by the French national amateur radio society, Réseau des Émetteurs Français or REF.
Although the camp serves primarily youngsters from throughout IARU Region 1, guest campers will be welcomed from Regions 2 and 3. About 100 young amateurs attend these camps each year, participating as teams representing their countries. Previous YOTA summer camps have been held in such countries as Czechia, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, South Africa and Great Britain.

THURSDAY EDITION: The club is all set for Field Day, we will run 2F from the club....looks like rain and we are not going to setup tents nad go the full route for the few that actually show up. The club will be comfortable and the kitchen is available for food....

How I Got An Old Ham Back On The Air

Created by Matt Penttila NA1Q

Local, County, and State Governments Proclaim Value of Amateur Radio

WEDNESDAY EDITION: Another steamy one here and all of New England...

Long-Dead NASA Satellite Suddenly Emits Powerful Radio Pulse

 

TUESDAY EDITION; 86 degrees and humid at 9am, no ocean breeze....its going to be a low key day here on Cape Ann..LoTW is going offline for upgrades thru Field Day, good planning.....

AMSAT-UK to Test Super Black Paint on CubeSat

AMSAT-UK will partner with Surrey NanoSystems and a number of universities including University of Surrey to test a special black paint on an upcoming CubeSat deployment. When applied to a surface, the super black paint, Vantablack, is designed to absorb 98% of light. The goal of the partnership is to demonstrate potential solutions to reducing light pollution as it relates to astronomy.

This high level of light absorption makes the coated surfaces appear extremely dark, helping to minimise the unwanted brightness from satellites that can disrupt the work of stargazers.

The Jovian-1 CubeSat mission containing this experiment is scheduled to launch in 2026. More information will be available at the AMSAT-UK Colloquium taking place in October.

Physicists use AI to hunt for UAPs and UFOs

An international team of physicists has developed a new methodology to aid NASA and other government agencies in their ongoing investigations into unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). The result is a novel strategy integrating a specially designed artificial intelligence program that was partially inspired by the physicists’ own hunt for elusive dark matter.

More popularly known as unidentified flying objects or UFOs, UAPs aren’t necessarily considered as outlandish as they were decades ago. Setting aside the various theories that point to mysterious visitors from another planet, analysis increasingly centers on determining more worldly explanations. UAPs are often explained by classified experimental aircraft, astronomical events, or simply a case of mistaken drone identity. Meanwhile, a small percentage of sightings continue to baffle experts.

Over the last few years, the US government has attempted to present a more transparent approach to its UAP research, while the military continues a campaign to destigmatize reporting sightings among its ranks. In November 2024, Congress held a publicly televised joint subcommittee hearing about UAPs featuring a former US Navy rear admiral and NASA administrator. While not without its fair share of criticism, these and similar events are shifting the overarching narrative around unidentified aerial phenomenon.

Researchers like Matthew Syzdagis at the University at Albany have followed this evolving discourse for years. An associate professor of physics focused on dark matter, Syzdagis recently began collaborating with over 30 colleagues around the world to determine if this approach to hunting dark matter could be adapted to the search for UAPs. Their results, published this month in the journal Progress in Aerospace Studies, offer a new interdisciplinary methodology to review the past and future UAP sightings.

“As this process moves forward, it’s critical that future study of UAPs follows a rigorous, repeatable method that can be tested and confirmed by other researchers,” Syzdagis said in a statement. “We aim to establish a roadmap for these efforts with this paper.”

The team relied on an array of datasets and tools to build their framework, including publicly available Doppler weather information from the National Weather Service (NWS). The NWS data was used to corroborate observations from additional equipment and determine if any of them simultaneously recorded a given anomaly. They then utilized Cosmic Watch, a radiation-detection system, to assess if a target UAP observed by infrared cameras was accompanied by ionizing radiation.

To help analyze the infrared data, Szydagis created a new software program called Custom Target Analysis Protocol (C-TAP) that utilizes machine learning alongside human verification to review individual camera frames on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Inspired by similar strategies used to scan for direct evidence of dark matter, C-TAP then flags and separates actual UAP observations from any digital noise. Finally, these results were overlaid with trigonometric calculations to exclude any known objects in the sky like satellites or the International Space Station.

To test it all out, Szydagis and colleagues used their new methodology to review observable light and infrared images collected on a 2021 field expedition around Laguna Beach, California, amid a period of heightened UAP reports. In total, the team reviewed about one hour of triggered visible and night-vision video footage along with over 600 hours of infrared data and 55 hours of background radiation measurements. Of the multiple anomalies initially flagged, researchers were able to offer plausible and likely explanations for all sightings except for one—a collection of bright white dots inside a dark spot recorded across multiple videos. And even then, it seems unlikely that the UAP event was unique.

“At this point, none can be classified as true anomalies, although further study of remaining ambiguities may alter this conclusion,” the study’s authors wrote in their conclusion.

Moving forward, the team hopes their methodology will help more researchers around the world continue to vet UAP sightings on a scientific, unbiased basis. 

“Given the longstanding, global nature of the UAP/UFO question, [and] the air safety and security implications of their presence… studying and understanding these phenomena is of great and urgent importance,” added University at Albany physics professor and study lead author Kevin Knuth.

 

MONDAY EDITION: I guess its hot everywhere but thankfully it's always 10 degrees cooler here on the island and being across the street from the beach helps...

Local, County, and State Governments Proclaim Value of Amateur Radio

LED Probe: A Smart, Simple Solution for Testing LEDs

If you’ve worked on a project with small LEDs, you know the frustration of determining their polarity. This ingenious LED Probe from [David] packs a lot of useful features into a simple, easy-to-implement circuit.

Most multimeters have a diode test function that can be used to check LEDs; however, this goes a step further. Not only will the probe light up an LED, it will light up no matter which side of the LED the leads are touching. A  Red/Green LED on the probe will indicate if the probe tip is on the anode or cathode.

The probe is powered by a single CR2032 battery, and you may notice there’s no on/off switch. That’s because the probe enters a very low-current sleep mode between uses. The testing intelligence is handled by either an ATtiny85 or, in the newest version, an ATtiny202, though the basic concept and design are compatible with several other chips. All the design files for the PCB, the ATtiny code, a parts list, and a detailed explanation of how it works are available on [David]’s site, so be sure to check them out. Once you build one of these probes, you’ll want something to test it on, so explore some of the LED projects we’ve featured in the past.

Blog – Hackaday Read More

GB2RS Morse Practice web page

Whether you are just starting to learn Morse code or are already an experienced operator, the GB2RS Morse Practice web page is just what you need to brush up your skill! Created by GB2RS Newsreader Graham, G4JBD, you can select different sections of the latest RSGB news which are then played in Morse code at […] Radio Society of Great Britain – Main Site – Read More

WEEKEND EDITION: In the next town over on the island, a nightmare of traffic jams, 5-10 k expected: The 250th Anniversary Reenactment of The Battle of Bunker Hill aims to accurately portray the events and faithfully represent the people involved in the conflict of June 17, 1775. Our mission is to celebrate and commemorate the actions and sacrifices of the men and women of all sides of the Battle of Bunker Hill through careful research, public demonstrations, civic engagement and educational outreach.

ARRL Announces Logbook of The World® Systems Upgrade

Amateur Radio Newsline Report

RADIO SIGNALS HAVE 'UPWARD PROPAGATION' THROUGH ICE, STONE

SKEETER/ANCHOR: We begin this week with a scientific discovery about radio waves that researchers say defies the laws of physics. These signals didn't come from somewhere above - but from deep down below the surface of the earth. Kevin Trotman, N5PRE, tells us about this so-called "upward propagation."

KEVIN: Radio signals picked up by a NASA high-altitude balloon have been leaving scientists baffled. The balloon, part of NASA's experiment known as Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, or ANITA, was floating 40 kilometres above the continent, in search of neutrinos and other particles when its sensitive radio antennas unexpectedly picked up signals that were coming from someplace below - way below - the Antarctic's frozen surface. Physicists say that for that kind of reception to occur the radio waves would have had to have penetrated 6,000 to 7,000 kilometres, or 3,700 to 4,300 miles, of solid ice and stone.

Although the balloon project has since been retired, researchers continue to study these unexplained transmissions and recently published their findings in the journal, Physical Review Letters. The researchers say that by all models of physics, the signals should have been absorbed by the rock and gone undetected.

Scientists know that these are not neutrinos - the particles that they had expected - but are still trying to narrow down what kind of radio signals they're dealing with. Meanwhile, with the ANITA project retired, the next instruments to have a go at the mystery will be on board a work in progress:  A Pennsylvania State University team is building something bigger and, they hope, better: The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observation mission.

This is Kevin Trotman N5PRE

(GIZMODO, NEWSWEEK)

**''
ISLAND DXPEDITION WILL BE TRIBUTE TO SILENT KEY

SKEETER/ANCHOR: For one ham in the US, a return to a favorite DXpedition spot in the North Atlantic will have another purpose this year. It will serve as a tribute to a friend for whom that island was home. Andy Morrison K9AWM brings us that story,

ANDY: For Eric Williams, KV1J, his planned trip to St. Pierre & Miquelon Island, IOTA Number NA-032, is for a solo activation-- but even as he calls CQ as FP/KV1J starting on the 28th of June, Eric will not be totally alone. He will carry the memory of a local amateur who was his friend, Jean-Pierre Carrere, FP5CJ. Jean-Pierre, who was known in the ham community as a welcoming, helpful and personable radio operator, especially to visitors, became a Silent Key last September.

Eric will remain on the air through to the 14th of July and will participate in the IARU HF World Championship on the 12th and 13th of July. It is his 17th trip to the island in the North Atlantic, not far from Newfoundland.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(QRZ.COM)

**
TEEN CW CHAMP TRIES TO TOP OWN WORLD RECORD

SKEETER/ANCHOR: Here's one for the record books. A teenager from Romania is preparing to beat the world record he set last year for speed in copying callsigns sent in CW. It's set to happen this month in Germany, as we hear from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: Ham Radio 2025 at Messe Friedrichshafen, Germany, will have plenty to offer international visitors when the three-day event opens on the 27th of June. One scheduled event in particular is likely to draw a crowd as it showcases the achievement of Ianis Scutaru, YO8YNS, who set the world record in callsign receiving in Morse Code last year.

In a demonstration sponsored by the Romanian Federation of Amateur Radio, Ianis will attempt to beat that record before a panel of judges from Guinness World Records and the IARU. It forms part of a larger exhibit by the Romanian amateur radio group which is demonstrating high-speed telegraphy as its centerpiece.

In case you were wondering, at the age of 13, Ianis won a gold medal at the 20th IARU High Speed Telegraphy World Championship with a record-setting maximum copy speed of 1,126 characters per minute - an equivalent just exceeding 225 words per minute.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(LUCIAN YO8SLC)

**
CHICAGO RACE PUTS HAMS ON THE RUN

SKEETER/ANCHOR: This month, hams in the heart of Chicago showed a good bit of heart themselves during a popular half-marathon. Jen DeSalvo, W9TXJ, takes us there.

CAREY PINKOWSKI: We’ve seen a lot of things over the years with the ham operators. They're the most dependable way of communication.

JEN: For three and a half decades, Carey Pinkowski has been the race director of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, and in that time, he has watched his race grow from just a few thousand runners to over fifty-thousand finishers in 2024.

CAREY: At the marathon last year, we had close to 2,000 medical volunteers…

JEN: And of those, about 150 amateur radio operators coordinating medical treatment and transport. The partnership began in 2008 after a dangerous October heat wave cut the 2007 event short. On a course with all asphalt and no shade, water became scarce, and communication was lacking.

CAREY: We didn’t have cell phones!

JEN: Runner Kate Saccany, Kilo-Eight-Sierra-Lima-Foxtrot (K8SLF), was a participant in the Chicago Marathon that year, and like many hams, she was trained in emergency communications. It was after that event that she, Pinkowski, and other amateur radio operators devised a plan to put hams on the run. Sixty-eight hams helped out that first year in 2008, and since that time…

CAREY: They participate in our planning meetings and our operational design of things. A lot of it's geared toward emergency or crisis communications.

JEN: And it’s not just for the 26.2-mile race in October. On Sunday, June 1st, 40 hams assisted medical teams for the Bank of America 13.1, the half-marathon version. For their primary repeater, volunteer hams used a Yaesu DR-2X in analog mode with a “pace” of 25 watts off the rooftop of Chicago’s Historic Mount Sinai Hospital. The backup repeater had an inverted antenna mag mount and a world-class view, as it was housed atop Chicago's tallest skyscraper, the Willis Tower, in the ABC Chicago WLS-TV transmitter suite.

These special ham teams aren't unique to Chicago.
They also assemble for other World Marathon Majors such as Boston and New York.
They play an important role at the Marine Corps Marathon and several others across the globe.

So, when distance runners are in need of a hero,

CAREY: It's the ham operators that are there to save the day.

JEN: In Chicago, I'm Jen DeSalvo, W9TXJ

**
HAMS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN

SKEETER/ANCHOR: Let's face it: amateur radio can be hard work, especially lately with the sun sending some geomagnetic storms our way. Still, it's June and for many of us that signals a chance to have a little more fun in spite of it all. Geri Goodrich, KF5KRN, offers us a few options -- in a few modes.

GERI: Young hams around the world have once again declared this "Meme Appreciation Month," even though this activity actually runs through to the 15th of August. From Hungary to the Philippines, Canada and Austria, the popular activity of sharing icons and text is spelled out in the operators' clever callsigns used specifically for this event. Most participants use FT8 and SSTV.

Meanwhile, CW operators in the Straight Key Century Club have just wrapped up another round of the monthly RandomGram exercise, decoding randomly generated letter and number combinations. The 24-hour event began on Thursday, June 19th.

Finally, there's Hamword, in which amateurs sharpen their skills using Winlink by playing a game based on the wildly popular mainstream word-based guessing game - Wordle. This is the third year participants will be transmitting five-letter words to the HAMWORD station. It's a lively, highly competitive activity in which results are posted on a leaderboard.

For technical requirements and rules, see the websites in the text version of this week's Newsline script.

Don't forget that hams just WANNA have FUN!

This is Geri Goodrich, KF5KRN.
**

THREE CHARGED WITH THEFT OF RADIO STATION'S COPPER WIRING

SKEETER/ANCHOR: There's been a setback for yet another broadcast radio station that has been hit by copper-wire theft. Sel Embee KB3TZD brings us the latest.

SEL: Three men were arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, and charged with the theft of copper wiring from a local AM radio station, temporarily knocking it off the air.

Radio Ambiente, WGSF 1030 AM, the city’s first Hispanic radio station which had been broadcasting for 30 years, went silent on Sunday, May 18th. The station, which serves a regional audience, was able to return to the air this month after the FCC granted a license for its use of the on-site translator at 101.5 FM.

According to news reports, the station’s owner discovered copper wiring and copper components were stolen after he visited the transmitter towers to determine the source of the problem. Police said the transmitter building had been broken into. Copper wiring that ran underground to the radio towers had been cut - the copper cables and other components were missing. The station's owner, Sergio Butron, told local media that it appeared the thieves gained access after breaking through a chain-link fence and several locks. An engineer at the station said replacing the equipment will cost an estimated $170,000 on top of engineering fees.

Police report that three suspects were arrested less than a half-mile from the transmitter towers. The men were found with the stolen copper cables in front of a nearby house.

This is Sel Embee, K-B-3-T-Zed-D.

(RADIO WORLD, WREG MEMPHIS)


**

GRANT HELPS ADVANCE ALBERTA GROUP'S IP400 DIGITAL PROJECT

SKEETER/ANCHOR: The Alberta Digital Radio Communications Society has learned it can proceed with its IP400 Project by autumn, thanks to a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications that will permit the hiring of necessary technical personnel.

Many amateurs got a preview of IP400 at Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio. The data communications system was demonstrated using Raspberry Pi Zero H A T transceivers. "H A T" stands for Hardware Attached On Top. The system's goal is to deliver over-the-air data speeds of at least 100 kilobytes per second, a speed that far exceeds that of most current amateur radio data systems. According to the IP400 website, the project first aims to present an assembled node to developers, experimenters and others for testing.

(ARDC, IP400 WEBSITE)

**
WRTC ANNOUNCES WINNERS IN SPONSORED-TEAM BIDDING

SKEETER/ANCHOR: The World Radiosport Team Championship isn't taking place until next year but this season, there was a bit of competition before the big competition - and now there are two winners. Jason Daniels VK2LAW tells us who they are.

JASON: Organisers of the World Radiosport Team Championship have announced that two teams of seasoned DXpeditioners and contesters are going to the 2026 competition in the UK after placing the winning bids to secure a place in the running. All other competitors in this international Olympic-style radio event qualify by virtue of their contest records but these two sponsored teams -- one headed by Adrian, KO8SCA, and the other by Cezary, SP5Y -- secured spots as winning bidders in an auction. The minimum bid was 20,000 US dollars.

The opportunity to purchase spots in the competition is a way of helping the event with its substantial budget. All teams are bound by the same operating rules.

This is Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

(WRTC LIST)

**

WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, HA8PX, HA8LLH and YO5OED [Y OH 5 OH E D] will be active as TCØMAR from Marmara Island, IOTA number AS-201, from June 30th through to July 5th. Listen on 30, 20, 17 and 15 metres where the operators will be using CW, SSB and FT8. They may also be operating their personal callsigns with the TCØ prefix. QSL via their home calls.

Michel, F5LRL will be on the air holiday style as CN2DX in Morocco from the 25th of June through to the 30th of August using CW, SSB and FT8. Look for Michel on 40-6 metres, QSL via his home call.

Listen for the callsign TM5RE from Re Island, IOTA number EU-032, in the Bay of Biscay until the 22nd of June. It is being activated by the team of F2VX, F4WEO and F9IE holiday style using SSB, CW, FT4 and FT8. QSL via LoTW.

Eric, GM5RDX and Graham, 2MØIJU are using the callsigns J38DX and J38LD, respectively, from Grenada, IOTA number NA-024, from the 5th through to the 13th of July, operating mainly SSB with some FT8 on 80-10 metres. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
KICKER: REMEMBERING NEWSLINE'S BILL PASTERNAK, WA6ITF/SK

SKEETER/ANCHOR: We leave you this week with these final thoughts: Anniversaries aren't always for celebrating - and what follows here is one of those examples. Ten years ago, on June 12th, 2015, Newsline lost its cofounder, producer, writer - and friend, Bill Pasternak WA6ITF. We thought it appropriate that Jim Davis, W2JKD, one of Bill's original team members for 36 years, rejoin us this week to mark this very personal occasion for Newsline. Jim?

JIM: I first met Bill Pasternak in the early 1970s on a very popular 2-meter repeater while I was working as a DJ in New York City. We quickly discovered we shared many hobbies and interests. Bill was deeply interested in broadcasting and was also an accomplished multi-engine pilot. He and Sharon were newlyweds at the time, and my family enjoyed spending time with them at many social events organized by our local ham radio group.

But, as is typical in broadcasting, our careers took us in different directions and to different cities. Maybe it was karma, but both Bill and I eventually landed in Los Angeles—he had secured a job at the Fox TV station, and I joined KHJ Radio. It was wonderful to reconnect with my old friend.

Bill was incredibly ambitious. He had more hobbies than fingers and toes! He shared with me his vision of creating a newscast for the amateur radio community. In 1977, he brought that vision to life with the launch of the WestLink Amateur Radio News. Bill invited me to be one of the presenters. Little did I know that would be the start of a 36-year journey with what would eventually become Amateur Radio Newsline.

Over the next three decades, my career took me to many cities—Dallas, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles (again), Charleston, West Virginia, Daytona Beach, Grand Rapids, Long Branch, New Jersey, back to Daytona, then Sarasota, and finally Vero Beach. I had Mayflower Van Lines on speed dial!

In those early days during the ’70s, Bill would gather the news, write a script, and call me on the phone (remember when long-distance was expensive?). He’d read the script aloud, and I’d type it as he spoke. Once finished, I’d head to a production studio to record and edit the script. Then I’d drive to the post office to air mail a 7-inch reel of tape to Los Angeles. Bill would splice in the actualities and transfer the final version to a 20-minute cartridge tape. That tape machine was set to auto-answer the phone line at Bill Ornstein’s home, distributing the news to the ham community.

As technology evolved, so did we. In 1981, Bill and I each bought Commodore 64 computers. With the addition of a telephone handset modem, we reduced the scripting process from hours to minutes. Reels of tape gave way to cassettes, and a decade later, digital audio revolutionized how Amateur Radio Newsline was shared on the Internet. While the delivery systems changed, one thing remained constant: our friendship and Bill’s unwavering commitment to this project.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of Bill’s passing. His legacy continues to resonate throughout the amateur radio community. Bill was a deeply spiritual man, and I believe he would be honored to know that the Amateur Radio Newslineteam continues to deliver this weekly missive with the same passion and purpose he instilled in it from the beginning.

They say we are known by the company we keep, and in Bill’s case, his presence and contributions to our hobby are truly enduring. I was personally honored to be part of his vision for 36 consecutive years.

This is my first time back behind the microphone since his passing. I find it poetic that Bill left us at age 73. In our world, that’s no coincidence.

73, my friend.

This is Jim Davis, W2JKD

FRIDAY EDITION: Congratulations to the Mass StateJudiciary system, it cost them millions of dollars to convit her for driving under the influence with a one year probtion sentence.Way to go with my tax money.....Why your fingers wrinkle in water (and what it can reveal about your health)

ARRL is Hiring....good luck being the membership manager!

ARRL is currently seeking to fill four roles at its headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. The four roles include:

• Membership Manager
• Advertising Sales Manager
• Production Coordinator
• Senior RFI Lab Engineer

Among the qualifications for each position is a desire for experienced radio amateurs, individuals who will thrive in a collaborative results-driven environment, and a commitment to advancing ARRL’s mission.

Visit the ARRL website for more details.

 

THURSDAY EDITION: Fogged in on the island this morning but the sun is going to burn through...

Crowdsourcing SIGINT: Ham Radio at War

I often ask people: What’s the most important thing you need to have a successful fishing trip? I get a lot of different answers about bait, equipment, and boats. Some people tell me beer. But the best answer, in my opinion, is fish. Without fish, you are sure to come home empty-handed.

On a recent visit to Bletchley Park, I thought about this and how it relates to World War II codebreaking. All the computers and smart people in the world won’t help you decode messages if you don’t already have the messages. So while Alan Turing and the codebreakers at Bletchley are well-known, at least in our circles, fewer people know about Arkley View.

The problem was apparent to the British. The Axis powers were sending lots of radio traffic. It would take a literal army of radio operators to record it all. Colonel Adrian Simpson sent a report to the director of MI5 in 1938 explaining that the three listening stations were not enough. The proposal was to build a network of volunteers to handle radio traffic interception.

That was the start of the Radio Security Service (RSS), which started operating out of some unused cells at a prison in London. The volunteers? Experienced ham radio operators who used their own equipment, at first, with the particular goal of intercepting transmissions from enemy agents on home soil.

At the start of the war, ham operators had their transmitters impounded. However, they still had their receivers and, of course, could all read Morse code. Further, they were probably accustomed to pulling out Morse code messages under challenging radio conditions.

Over time, this volunteer army of hams would swell to about 1,500 members. The RSS also supplied some radio gear to help in the task. MI5 checked each potential member, and the local police would visit to ensure the applicant was trustworthy. Keep in mind that radio intercepts were also done by servicemen and women (especially women) although many of them were engaged in reporting on voice communication or military communications.

Early Days

The VIs (voluntary interceptors) were asked to record any station they couldn’t identify and submit a log that included the messages to the RSS.

The hams of the RSS noticed that there were German signals that used standard ham radio codes (like Q signals and the prosign 73). However, these transmissions also used five-letter code groups, a practice forbidden to hams.

Thanks to a double agent, the RSS was able to decode the messages that were between agents in Europe and their Abwehr handlers back in Germany (the Abwehr was the German Secret Service) as well as Abwehr offices in foreign cities. Later messages contained Enigma-coded groups, as well.

Between the RSS team’s growth and the fear of bombing, the prison was traded for Arkley View, a large house near Barnet, north of London. Encoded messages went to Bletchley and, from there, to others up to Churchill. Soon, the RSS had orders to concentrate on the Abwehr and their SS rivals, the Sicherheitsdienst.

Change in Management

In 1941, MI6 decided that since the RSS was dealing with foreign radio traffic, they should be in charge, and thus RSS became SCU3 (Special Communications Unit 3).

There was fear that some operators might be taken away for normal military service, so some operators were inducted into the Army — sort of. They were put in uniform as part of the Royal Corps of Signals, but not required to do very much you’d expect from an Army recruit.

Those who worked at Arkley View would process logs from VIs and other radio operators to classify them and correlate them in cases where there were multiple logs. One operator might miss a few characters that could be found in a different log, for example.

Going 24/7

It soon became clear that the RSS needed full-time monitoring, so they built a number of Y stations with two National HRO receivers from America at each listening position. There were also direction-finding stations built in various locations to attempt to identify where a remote transmitter was.

Many of the direction finding operators came from VIs. The stations typically had four antennas in a directional array. When one of the central stations (the Y stations) picked up a signal, they would call direction finding stations using dedicated phone lines and send them the signal.

The operator would hear the phone signal in one ear and the radio signal in the other. Then, they would change the antenna pattern electrically until the signal went quiet, indicating the antenna was electrically pointing away from the signals.

The DF operator would hear this signal in one earpiece. They would then tune their radio receiver to the right frequency and match the signal from the main station in one ear to the signal from their receiver in the other ear. This made sure they were measuring the correct signal among the various other noise and interference. The DF operator would then take a bearing by rotating the dial on their radiogoniometer until the signal faded out. That indicated the antenna was pointing the wrong way which means you could deduce which way it should be pointing.

The central station could plot lines from three direction finding stations and tell the source of a transmission. Sort of. It wasn’t incredibly accurate, but it did help differentiate signals from different transmitters. Later, other types of direction-finding gear saw service, but the idea was still the same.

Interesting VIs

Most of the VIs, like most hams at the time, were men. But there were a few women, including Helena Crawley. She was encouraged to marry her husband Leslie, another VI, so they could be relocated to Orkney to copy radio traffic from Norway.

In 1941, a single VI was able to record an important message of 4,429 characters. He was bedridden from a landmine injury during the Great War. He operated from bed using mirrors and special control extensions. For his work, he receive the British Empire Medal and a personal letter of gratitude from Churchill.

Results

Because of the intercepts of the German spy agency’s communications, many potential German agents were known before they arrived in the UK. Of about 120 agents arriving, almost 30 were turned into double agents. Others were arrested and, possibly, executed.

By the end of the war, the RSS had decoded around a quarter of a million intercepts. It was very smart of MI5 to realize that it could leverage a large number of trained radio operators both to cover the country with receivers and to free up military stations for other uses.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the FCC had a similar plan.

The BBC did a documentary about the work the hams did during the war. You can watch it below.

Blog – Hackaday Read More

 

WEDNESDAY EDITION: The sad tale of TenTec continues...They want $500 up front and $3750 for a radio that looks like a homebrew radio. I owned TenTec and swore by my Omni6+ and Omni7 but wouldn't go near that outfit now...

Ten Tec Phoenix Club

The Phoenix club is intended to garner support for the relocation of Ten Tec to the new Dishtronix factory in Dayton, Ohio.

The Ten Tec Model 594 Phoenix is an all new from the ground up dual direct digital down conversion (DDC) software defined radio (SDR) sporting a number of innovative and unique at this time features. It costs a tremendous amount of money to secure critical parts for such a machine. For example there is, per unit costs of $125 in each of two ADCs, $75 in each of two FPGAs, $100 in the DSP, $100 in the display which tallies over $600 per unit already, not including circuit boards, coils, capacitors, resistors, other semiconductors, switches, inductors, finals, heatsinks, connectors, buttons, knobs, controls and sheet metal parts, not to mention packaging, labor, royalties, or overhead. We are asking prospective customers to commit a $500 dollar deposit to buy the radio by joining the Phoenix club. This commitment is not because the company is insolvent. It is frankly to protect me, Mike Dishop, N8WFF, the owner of Ten Tec from you changing your mind. What do I mean? Many companies take deposits for new products. Alpha has always taken a deposit when ordering an amp. I have taken checks but never cashed them before. What I’ve found is that sometimes customers back out if I have not cashed the checks and I’m left holding the bag for the expensive parts I’ve bought until another order comes in. The Phoenix is a big investment in parts, nearly the biggest I’ve ever made. By taking the deposit on a non cancellable order basis I’m assured you will write me the check I need to cover this investment. The $3750 introductory price doesn’t have a lot of margin and we really need to sell every one of them quickly at that price.

So what do you get with your Phoenix club membership?

1. A $500 gift certificate / merchandise credit to be used as a deposit on your new Phoenix transceiver Model 594, or redeemable for other merchandise from Ten Tec, Alpha or Dishtronix.
2. Shipping in the lower 48 states at no charge
3. A nice membership certificate thanking you for being instrumental in the relaunch of Ten Tec in the new Dayton facility
4. Your name and call on a Phoenix Club plaque to be displayed inside the Ten Tec lobby thanking you for your participation in the relaunch of Ten Tec in Dayton
5. Guaranteed pricing and delivery of one of the first 100 Model 594 transceivers.
6. Mike’s personal gratitude for supporting our dream of continuing Ten Tec’s legacy.
7. Occasionally a news letter email regarding progress of things here in Dayton.
8. Whatever other nice things I (Mike) can think of to do in the future like preferential pricing on new orders, or first dibs on new products, etc.

In making the Phoenix club we at Ten Tec want to foster a more personal relationship with you and share more visibility with you of what we are doing, and give you an opportunity to have more input at Ten Tec. We are offering you an exciting opportunity to be a part of not just a new radio but a new company essentially and an opportunity to network with other Phoenix club enthusiasts.

By selling membership in a club we avoid several complications and possible entanglements in the process. As we expect prices to rise and lead times to extend, you may want to even consider buying two or more radio/ memberships and to sell one at a profit once you have them. A question was asked what will happen if we don’t get 100 memberships sold. We will simply order
enough material for what we have orders for when the cut off date comes. When will you receive your new radio? We intend to begin manufacturing and shipping in the 4th quarter of 2025. Like all things this could change due to circumstances beyond our control. If we have the parts and labor we will ship radios! Please be patient. We will do everything we can to fulfill the orders as fast as we possibly can. Some people have expressed concern about the deposit if the radio does not happen. First this radio IS happening short of the death of Mike or Konstantine. If radios are unable to be shipped within one year of advertised delivery you may request a refund of your deposit and cancel you Phoenix Club membership.

Get news as it is released here: https://groups.io/g/TentecPHOENIX

How to join:

1. 1. Please contact sales@tentec.com with your name, call, email address, telephone, and shipping address.
   2. After receiving an acknowledgement, print a copy and mail with your deposit check to:
      • Dishtronix Inc. / Ten Tec Company
      • PO BOX 24222
      • Huber Heights, OH 45424

That’s it – you are in!

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MODEL 594 PHOENIX – coming soon

PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATION

SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE

GENERAL:

GENERAL COVERAGE: 300 KHZ-55 MHz, Specifications guaranteed in Amateur bands.

SUPPLY VOLTAGE: 13.8V ± 15%

FREQUENCY ACCURACY: ± 5 Hz @25 C

FREQUENCY STABILITY: ± 0.5 PPM over operating temperature range

DIMENSIONS (HWD): 4.14 x 9.06 x TBD inch, 105 x 230 x TBD mm, (excluding connectors)

FRONT CONNECTORS: Headphones, Mic: 1/8th inch stereo plug 2 x USB2

REAR CONNECTORS: RF: 2 x SO-239. Accessory Connector, Band Data Connector, Power Connector. HDMI connector, USB3 connector, Predistortion input

RECEIVER:

SINGLE ADC: Two receivers in same band (Main and Sub)

(with SECOND ADC option) Two receivers in any band

MDS (Preamp off / on): -117 dBm / -134 dBm, ± 3 dBm typical

ADC OVERLOAD POINT: +4 dBm without attenuation.

BLOCKING IMD (Preamp off/ on): 120 / 121 dBm typical

RECEIVE CURRENT: < 2A

TRANSMITTER:

POWER: 5-100W ± 1dB

DUTY CYCLE: Continuous SSB/CW, 50% AM, FM, PSK/digital

TX BW: 300 Hz-6KHz, adjustable

FM DEVIATION: ± 5KHz

HARMONIC & SPURIOUS EMISSION:

1-30 MHz: < -50 dBc @ 100W

30-55 MHz: -60 dB @ 5-100W, -43 dBc < 5W

THIRD ORDER IMD: -60 dB below PEP, minimum

ADAPTIVE PREDISTORTION: Internal, and sample port from external amplifier

TX / RX RECOVERY TIME: < 20 ms

RISE AND FALL TIME: 5 ms

CW OFFSET: adjustable

CW KEYER SPEED: 5-50 WPM, Adjustable weighting/

CW KEYER: Curtis Mode B, USB Keyboard

CW MEMORIES: 10

TRANSMIT CURRENT DRAIN: 20A Typical

ANTENNA TUNER:

TYPE: Reversible L network

MATCHING FREQUENCY RANGE: 160-10m, no 6m.

MATCHING RANGE 10:1 SWR typical

REMOTE CONTROL:

Full Remote Station Control using Client/ Server architecture.

Embedded web server with no external software ready to go out of the box.

 

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A brief history of modern Ten Tec and how the Phoenix came about.

Many of you know Ten Tec was acquired by RF Concepts who liquidated most of Ten Tec’s production assets such as the circuit board assembly equipment as well as the tool and die, machine, plastic injection molding and sheet metal shops. They shifted everything to a complete outsourcing model and ran fire sale and liquidation pricing, squeezing Ten Tec like a big, fat orange until there wasn’t even any pulp left, then declared bankruptcy leaving the remaining assets to RKR which was formed as what appeared to be a debt liquidation company. There were some IP issues which opened a dialog between N8WFF and the owners who indicated they just wanted a way to recover some of their money and had no interest in ham radio business. They were about to auction everything off at Ten Tec because it was too far away to deal with. I loved Ten Tec and believed in Ten Tec so against better judgement I offered to purchase the entire thing as it was. Jan 1 2016 Ten Tec officially became a subsidiary of Dishtronix, Inc. Every radio that could be built from parts had been built and there was no money to buy new parts because creditors would not have anything to do with Ten Tec. Fortunately I had cash to put in to bail out their unfulfilled commercial contracts which enabled me to get Ten Tec back to an operational status. I also started repairing the backlog of radios that had been sitting a couple of years there and got all of them back to their owners. I kept repairing radios usually for a couple of hundred dollars, a loss
when you consider a Tech might work two or three days on some of them, and started supplying parts again, also at a loss, just to support the good will of the Ten Tec customer base. It was OK because I was making money in other areas which I could subsidize the ham radio customers. I managed to get RX340 and RX331 production restarted and had just began with the introduction of the Omni VII+. I had successfully cleaned up the mess that was Ten Tec and had them on stable financial footing. Then COVID hit and the rug was pulled completely out from under us. One of the chip factories burned down and without those chips we were unable to build new radios as we had intended. I was faced with a real dilemma. Completely redesign existing radios with the obstacle of not having the original team, having to used antiquated and poor performing layout software and to rewrite man years of code using obsolete and unsupported development environments which were no longer available – OR – do a new radio.

I procrastinated for a time expecting the parts shortages would solve itself. It did not however. Ham radio is a very small and insignificant, even non existent market as far as chip makers are concerned. For many years we benefited from and built on the chips developed for analog cell phones and analog television. When those industries went digital, the demand for analog mixers and IF chips dried up. Further when televisions and monitors went to LCD the high voltage market of capacitors, etc dried up. The manufacturers saw COVID as an excuse to purge all unprofitable components from their catalog and that is exactly what they did. Not only were the parts we needed not coming back, they are NEVER coming back. Redesign is the only choice left.
I decided rather than to try to reinvent the past to go with something new. During all this transitioning, someone from Europe approached me about a partnership for a new short
wave radio he was developing. I was very impressed but found that he was actually the marketing guy and not the technical guy who actually developed the radio. Those two eventually parted ways and the connection went silent. A year or two later, I don’t exactly remember when, Konstantine, the technical guy, contacted me about a potential partnership on a new kit he had developed. It was very impressive and really a work of art considering one man had done most of it. We had long discussions about what it would take to become a Ten Tec and many technical exchanges under non disclosure, etc. Unfortunately we couldn’t reach an agreement that would work for everyone and we agreed to just disagree on some things and lost touch. I could clearly see that war was coming and that it would be brutal and tried to warn Konstantine to get out, but he dismissed it saying this sort of thing happens all the time. War came and the connection went silent for a long time. Then one day, I received information from my friend telling me he was hiding in the forest outside Kiev, and that the war was far worse than the news media was telling us. Grave yards were overflowing with no one to bury the dead and any man under 65 was being abducted right off the street and pressed into trench warfare at the tip of a gun in his back. He didn’t want all his work to just disappear and said I was the one person he knew who understood and appreciated all that he had done, and was deserving because I was ethical and had not stolen from him, and did I want it for free to carry on, yes or no? I of course accepted but said “Why didn’t you let me know sooner? Maybe I can help..”, He had also sent me a picture of his family and absolutely adorable 5 year old daughter. I made my mind up right then and there that this adorable little child wasn’t going to grow up without a daddy in a hell hole, because you know what happens to children in that situation.

I mobilized every resource I had. Making phone calls to people in places that might help. We planned extraction missions by sea and by air, but how do you extract a 5 year old underwater? In the end he filed some special paperwork and it took a long time to get approved. Maybe some of my calls helped with that. I started a prayer chain too and there were MANY hams praying for that family to be delivered. Eventually he got approval to leave. On the day he got to the border the papers didn’t help. The crossing guards held him up for almost 8 hours and were not going to let him out. Then a miracle happened. The guards started acting like they were drunk and confused and couldn’t understand what was going on. One of those frustrated, dazed and confused guards waved to him and he was across the border family and all! I later told him what had happened, that the power of so many prayers moved the Holy Spirit to confuse those guards and let his family cross. Anyone reading, scoff if you will but never doubt the power of the Holy Trinity. Today that little girl and her family are doing just fine. My motivations are not to become rich or build an empire, but to be able to help those who really need it, because I know first hand what it is like to want help and to need help and for no one to be there. We can’t take material wealth to the grave. Wealth however IS a tool we can use to help other people with. What we do take is what we learn from one another by helping each other. I could make a lot more money using my skills to make things to kill each other with, but I prefer to make things that can help each other and that make each other happy. That is the spirit behind the Phoenix – to make a positive difference and we hope you will use it that way. As an engineer I hope to leave the world a better place than I found it.

With my friend safe we decided to do a new radio using what he has accomplished as a starting point and Phoenix was born. We decided to develop an entirely new what Ten Tec calls the SPU (Signal Processing Unit) which is a plug in DSP module utilizing a quad core ARM processor operating at 1.3 GHZ with integral DSP cores and GPUs, 1GB RAM, 32GB EMMC memory, Bluetooth, Wifi and 1GB Ethernet PHY, HD HDMI, etc. A new front panel layout was done as well as a new display carrier with a native 1920 x 1280 High Definition AMMOLED (similar to OLED) display. The ADC and FPGA were modified to be a dual channel system. N8WFF has designed a new version of the Orion II preselectors and a new transmit power amplifier chain based on the Eagle. Low pass filters and antenna tuner from the Eagle are adopted as well as the VFO knob, while Argonaut 6 knobs help on the concentric controls with construction and distribution techniques from the Omni 7+. We took the best that Ten Tec ever did in anything that I could use and joined it with what is probably the most technologically intense signal processing unit ever built for a civilian radio, and we present it to you as the Phoenix. Named in authentic Ten Tec fashion for the Greek mythological Fire Bird which rose from the ashes to rebirth, just as Ten Tec is relaunching after all the unfortunate events of the last near decade. We, the designers and builders of the Phoenix feel we have delivered something as powerful, or more powerful than any of our competitors in a form factor smaller and lighter than theirs and at a significantly lower price. It is fast, it is beautiful, and it sounds good. It is also fully remotable right out of the box with nothing to add.

When you buy a Ten Tec you are not just buying a radio, you are helping fund our mission to help those in need, to assist those less fortunate, to offer a hand up, not a hand out to anyone needing it. We manufacture everything, circuit board assembly etc. in our own facility that we own and improve with lots of power necessary for manufacturing and proper antistatic flooring and other facilities necessary to really do the job right. Before Ten Tec was liquidated, we made metal cabinets for most of the products in ham radio, and we endeavor to bring that back offering manufacture of circuit boards up to finished products and distribution for hams with a dream of a product but no way to get it too market. We support America First, pro First Amendment, backed and guaranteed by the Second Amendment. I am the guy who developed and brought you high power legal limit plus reliable solid state amplifiers over two decades ago with my Prometheus DX2400L1 amplifier and the Hermes board which became the basis for the Apache Labs SDR which was my concept but I was not allowed to work on it because I was a commercial guy. With your backing and my new facility in Dayton I will be able to bring more new technology to ham radio. I work with the best engineers in the world because they reach out and find me and find a home for kindred spirits, a place where exceptional talent is appreciated and encouraged instead of suppressed. If we can’t give you something better, why would we bother? We have stiff competition from the Japanese and Chinese with their near infinite funding. It is up to you, the customer to decide who shall lead the communications technology race. Without your funding we can’t compete and will go away. It is that simple. When you buy a Ten Tec, you bring our next generation radios that much closer to reality while getting a solid performer you can use daily in your station. Ten Tec has a long history of innovation and bringing you technical firsts and with your support we will continue to do so. I’ve come this far with no financial backing or support. Imagine what I might do with 100 of you behind me, or 1000 of you, or 10,000 of you. What kind of difference could Ten Tec make then?

HAM RADIO International Amateur Radio Exhibition June 27-29

One of the largest amateur radio events in Europe takes place June 27-29 in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The event is HAM RADIO, an International amateur radio exhibition expecting to host more than 11,000 visitors, 400 exhibitors, and 100 lectures. The theme for 2025 is “REMOTE RADIO – CONNECTING THE WORLD”

One of the advantages of remote operation is that it allows amateur radio operators who are unable to set up a station and, in particular, an antenna at their place of residence, to operate. In the event of a disaster, remote stations can be used as emergency radio stations, replacing destroyed but essential communication structures. In educational settings, they can help to teach amateur radio technology to students, with minimal technical effort required.

Tickets are available along with a list of exhibitors and lectures.

Learn more at the HAM RADIO website.

 

TUESDAY EDITION: I am out the door early getting my wife to the hospital for a CT scan in prep for her lung procedure tomorrow, a biopsy of the  lump in her lung...

SAQ Grimeton On the Air for 100th Anniversary July 2nd

On July 2nd, Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its inaugural transmission. Officially inaugurated on Juy 2nd, 1925, the 200kW Alternator made contact with Long Island in the US.

The king of Sweden, Gustav V, the inventor of the amazing 200kW Alternator and the massive six tower antenna, Ernst F.W. Alexanderson, as well as the vice president of Radio Corporation of America, David Sarnoff was there, together with several other prominent guests. The large and shiny Alexanderson Alternator was put to life and a message to the American president Calvin Coolidge was transmitted to the receiving station at Riverhead, Long Island NY, USA. The american president replied and assessed the new radio installations as crucial for relations between Sweden and the USA.

Callsign SAQ will be on the air on VLF 17.2 kHz CW on July 2, 2025.

First Transmission

• 10:20 CEST (08:20 UTC) Live YouTube broadcast begins
• 10:30 CEST (08:30 UTC) Start-up of the Alternator
• 11:00 CEST (09:00 UTC) Transmission of a message

Second transmission

• 14:20 CEST (12:20 UTC) Live YouTube broadcast begins
• 14:30 CEST (12:30 UTC) Start-up of the Alternator
• 15:00 CEST (13:00 UTC) Transmission of a message

A test transmission will occur on July 1 between 13:00 – 16:00 CEST. Tickets are available for those wishing to attend in person. Transmissions will be streamed on YouTube.

The amateur radio station SK6SAQ will be on the air as well:

• 3 517.2 kHz CW
• 7.017.2 kHz CW
• 14.017.2 KHz CW
• 3.755 kHz SSB
• 7.140 kHz SSB

Source: The Alexander association

Ham Radio Reports Fire; Helicopter Crew Extinguishes Just in Time

My Alinco 330 power supply which I have never hut off for over 7 years finally needed a a fan replacement, I couldn't believe how much dust was inside the cabinet. It was on the floor next to my bed powering the Yaesu FTM400....The fan was just $10.00 on eBay delivered, still waiting for it.

MONDAY EDITION: Looks like our balloon is stuck in Turkey, it must be enjoying the smoke from the hash pipes....

Semiconductor Simulator Lets Your Play IC Designer

For circuit simulation, we have always been enthralled with the Falstad simulator which is a simple, Spice-like simulator that runs in the browser. [Brandon] has a simulator, too, but it simulates semiconductor devices. With help from [Paul Falstad], that simulator also runs in the browser.

This simulator takes a little thinking and lets you build devices as you might on an IC die. The key is to use the dropdown that initially says “Interact” to select a tool. Then, the drop-down below lets you select what you are drawing, which can be a voltage source, metal, or various materials you find in semiconductor devices, like n-type or a dielectric.

It is a bit tricky, but if you check out the examples first (like this diode), it gets easier. The main page has many examples. You can even build up entire subsystems like a ring oscillator or a DRAM cell.

Designing at this level has its own quirks. For example, in the real world, you think of resistors as something you can use with great precision, and capacitors are often “sloppy.” On an IC substrate, resistors are often the sloppy component. While capacitor values might not be exact, it is very easy to get an extremely precise ratio of two capacitors because the plate size is tightly controlled. This leads to a different mindset than you are used to when designing with discrete components.

Of course, this is just a simulation, so everything can be perfect. If, for some reason, you don’t know about the Falstad simulator, check it out now.