Friday, December 24, 2010

IC-7410 HF/6M Amateur Radio Base Station Transceiver - Coming Soon!

IC-7410 HF/6M Amateur Radio Base Station Transceiver -
Coming Soon!

Icom-UK have released details of the forthcoming IC-7410 HF/6M Amateur Radio Base Station Transceiver.
The new IC-7410 is aimed as a mid range rig for Amateurs who are looking to enjoy the HF bands.
The planned features of this model are as follows.
  • 100W HF+50MHz base station transceiver
  • All mode (AM / FM / SSB / CW / RTTY)
  • +30dBm IP3 class receiver circuitry (HF)
  • Standard 15kHz first IF filter, optional 6kHz/3kHz first IF filters (max. three filters total)
  • 36kHz IF 32 bit DSP, the same class as used in the IC-7600
  • 0.5ppm frequency stability
  • Built-in Antenna Tuner
  • USB interface for PC control and voice output
  • “Band edge beep alarm” helps users avoid off-band operation
  • Large B/W LCD screen, ergonomically designed controls
  • Integrated speech synthesizer
As yet, Icom-UK have no details about its price and availability, although they hope it will be available in the first quarter of next year (2011).

 From http://www.southgatearc.org

Friday, December 17, 2010

Amateur Radio App - For Hams on the Move

Ham Tracker
"Ham Tracker allows Radio Amateurs on the move to send location updates to APRS-IS (the Internet side of APRS) from their mobile device. Once sent, your position can be tracked using services such as aprs.fi. Don't worry though, you're in control of your privacy and can turn off the sending of position reports at any time.

"Ham Tracker makes it easy to send an email containing an aprs.fi tracking link for your callsign or a map link showing your current location. Use these to tell colleagues, friends and family where you are, letting them track your progress using a web browser without them needing to phone to ask.

"Ham Tracker doesn't even need to be running in the foreground on your device. You can simply install it, configure it, then forget it. The application will run quietly in the background, notice when your location changes significantly (in practice that's when your phone switches to a different cell on the mobile network), wake up, start sending position reports at regular intervals, notice when you've not moved much for a while, then go back to sleep. This approach only uses the device's GPS receiver when you're actually moving, so keeping battery use to a minimum."
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ham-tracker/
id406552499?mt=8

It's Over And Out For the Radio Amateurs

RED tape has forced an amateur radio club out of the school it has called home for a decade, according to a report in Wednesday's Halifax and Calderdale Evening Courier.
Halifax and District Amateur Radio Society has trained and broadcast from a physics lab at Rishworth School for the last 10 years. Now it is set to become homeless as the Ripponden boarding school tightens security in line with child-welfare regulations.
Society chairman Martin Cox described the move as "over-zealous" but added that he did not blame the school.
He said: "They have a duty of care to their pupils and have obviously been forced into a position where they felt we could no longer use their premises despite a long history of trouble-free activity.
You can read the full Evening Courier article at:
http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/It39s-over-and-out-for.6661140.jp

Thursday, December 16, 2010

ARRL Receives $1 Million Gift to the ARRL Endowment

In October 2010, the ARRL received word that that it is a beneficiary of the Charles and Iona Mathias Joint Trust. Dr Mathias, W8KGD, became a Silent Key in 2008 at the age of 93; Iona, his wife of 62 years, passed away in June 2010. The ARRL is one of five beneficiaries of the Trust that has an estimated value in excess of $8 million.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Two radio hams among new crew members for ISS

On 17 December, a new trio of flight engineers, which includes two licensed radio amateurs, are expected to arrive at the International Space Station following a 15 December launch.
They are US astronaut Catherine Coleman, KC5ZTH, the European Space Agency’s Paolo Nespoli, IZ0JPA and Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev

New ARRL Antenna Book

ARRL introduces book on selecting and using antenna tuners

Antenna tuners are devices often misunderstood in the Amateur Radio world.
While not every station requires an antenna tuner to transmit radio signals, without one an incompatibility between the transmitter and the antenna system can result in poor performance.
The ARRL Guide to Antenna Tuners: A Radio Amateur's Guide to Antenna Matching by Joel R. Hallas, W1ZR, will help you understand how to select the right tuner for your needs and how to use it in your shack.
The ARRL Guide to Antenna Tuners discusses the details of the different configurations and requirements of antenna tuners. It explores the design, construction and applications of the different types available.
You'll be able to determine if one is necessary in your station, what type of tuner is needed and where to install it for maximum improvement.
This book will give you a better understanding of your antenna system and the way it can be improved through the selection and use of the appropriate antenna tuner.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Show Status - Ustream Problems Continue

I have completed 24 shows now and views are increasing quickly.  I am still struggling with Ustream and discovered a new problem on the last show.  When I play a recorded video it either is choppy or there are green flashes.  I want to move to Justin.tv because I have heard there are less problems there.  I have tried Justin.tv and it seems to work pretty well compared to Ustream. The problem is that I am using Ustream's producer program to do my show which gives me a number of nice features. If I go to Justin.tv, I will have purchase software that gives me the features I get for free from Ustream.  Sooooo, I have joined Amazon.com as an associate to help pay for the software.  If you purchase from Amazon, please use the search link on the left here.  It will take you to Amazon and if you purchase something I will get a small commission.  It does not cost you anything more than just going directly to Amazon and I do not see who made the purchase.  So, please use the link and thanks for your support in advance.

Tom

TRR Show Number 0024 - Grundig 650 Shortwave Radio

TRR Show Number 0023 - MFJ-1812 Scanner/Receiver Antenna

TRR Show Number 0022 - Radio Shack Center Load Antenna

Saturday, November 20, 2010

New Stealth Antenna Book

A new book by Steve G0KYA on amateur radio 'Stealth Antennas', which was launched at the Newark Hamfest in the UK, is now available to buy from the RSGB. It will also be available from the ARRL in due course.

It looks at a host of stealth antennas, including indoor dipoles, magnetic loops, stealth verticals, flagpoles, birdhouses and others.

It also looks at more esoteric designs like the EH, Microverts, microloops, Isotrons, plus lots of case studies from around the world.

There are details on safety, minimising RFI, ununs, baluns, EFHW matching, the Rybakov – even a zig-zag portable dipole that fits in a folder.

TRR Show Number 0021 - DX QSO's Maps

TRR Show Number 0020 - MFJ HF/VHF SWR Analyzer

Five new Amateur Radio Satellites in Orbit

FASTRAC-1, FASTRAC-2, NanoSail-D2, O/OREOS and RAX were launched at 01:24 UT on Saturday Nov 20, reports of the signals are needed.
So far signals have been reported from FASTRAC-2 (Emma), O/ORES and RAX.
Nominal Frequencies:
- FASTRAC-1 "Sara Lily" 437.345 MHz FM AX.25 1200bps
- FASTRAC-2 "Emma" 145.825 MHz FM AX.25 1200bps
- RAX-1 437.505 MHz
- O/OREOS 437.305 MHz
- Nanosail D2 0.5 sec beacon every 5 sec on 437.275 MHz.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Understanding LF and HF Propagation Free Ebook

Steve G0KYA and Alan G3NYK, of the Radio Society of Great Britain's (RSGB) Propagation Studies Committee, have released a free ebook called 'Understanding LF and HF Propagation'

In 2008/2009 Steve and Alan wrote a series of features on LF and HF propagation for the RSGB's "RadCom" magazine.

The features consisted of a month-by-month look at each HF band in turn, showing the reader the propagation modes behind each band and explaining some of the technicalities of ionospheric propagation.

Check out their very informative webpage at http://www.g0kya.blogspot.com/

Sunday, November 7, 2010

NanoSail-D launches this month.

NanoSail-D, carrying an Amateur Radio beacon on 437.305 MHz, is planned to launch November 20 on a Minotaur-4 HAPS rocket.

NanoSail-D will be in a low earth orbit at 9 degrees inclination. It will carry a 437.305 MHz 1200 bps AX25 beacon with one 1/2 second burst every 5 seconds.

The orbit will be elliptical, 685 km apogee and 340 km perigee, degrading to 200 km at which time it will de-orbit.

December launch for Eagle-1 ham radio satellite

The Eagle-1 Pocket Qub form factor Amateur Radio satellite is slated for launch on December 16, 2010.

The satellite is just 178x56x56mm and is planned to deploy from the satellite Edusat along with other Pocket Qubs.

The mission is to test a deorbiting mechanism and verify space qualification of the radio and solar cells. Proposing a simplex UHF operation with 9k6 bps AX25 packet downlinks.

Planned launch is from Yansy in Russia on a DNEPR launcher on Dec 16, 2010.

Monday, November 1, 2010

New Scanner - GRE PSR-700 EZ Scan-SD

The GRE PSR-700 EZ Scan-SD is a new approach to scanner listening. This radio solves the problem of increasingly complicated scanner programming. The PSR-700 combines the simplicity and a familiarity of a portable media player with the power and sophistication of a state-of-the-art scanning receiver. It provides unprecedented ease of use, especially for the beginner. The PSR-700 includes a 2GB SD card with a special on-board library containing the entire USA database for all known analog trunking systems and many conventional frequencies. So no matter where you are in the USA, you can easily and instantly access the analog trunking systems and conventional frequencies of interest. Frequency coverage includes:  25-54, 108-136.99, 137-174, 216-512, 764-781.99, 791-796.99, 806-960 (excluding cellular bands), 1240-1300 MHz. Frequency step: 3.125, 5, 6.25, 7.5, 8.33, 10, 12.5 and 25 kHz. Operates from two AA cells (not included) or USB 5 VDC. 2.3 x 5 x 1 inches 6.7 oz. Requires a PC with Windows 2000, XP, Vista or Windows7. Includes a PC USB data cable. If you are using rechargeable AA cells (not included), you can charge them internally via the supplied USB cable.
Use the Amazon link on the left to check out the going price.

2nd Amateur Radio Station to be Activated on ISS

The original VHF and UHF Ericsson handheld radios in the Russian segment of the ISS, originally used for ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station), have been approved by NASA for use in the US segment of the space station.

When the Ericsson radios are installed in the Columbus module it will become the second Amateur Radio station aboard the ISS. A new power cable for the Ericsson radios is being delivered to the ISS.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Free Easy to Read Scanner Radio Manuals

Having problems reading and understanding the manual that came with your scanner radio?  Check out this website for easy to read manuals for your scanner radio.  Thanks to Mark for all his hard work.+

http://marksscanners.com/index.shtml#software

Listen to Scanner Radios for Free

Here is a great website that allows you to listen to scanner radios all over the US.

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/

More Free Shortwave Radios

Another great site for using a super shortwave radio for free.

Check out this website.. http://beta.remotehams.com/online.html

GlobalTuners - Use other peoples shortwave radios.

GlobalTuners provides access to remotely controlled radio receivers all over the world. You can listen to and tune the receivers after you have created a (free!) account. You can also share your own receiver on GlobalTuners and benefit from some privileges.

Check it out at http://www.globaltuners.com/home.php