Foundations of Amateur Radio

This podcast began life under the name "What use is an F-call?" and was renamed to "Foundations of Amateur Radio" after 206 episodes. To mark what is effectively this, t…

Amateur radio is a living anachronism. We have this heady mix of ancient and bleeding edge, never more evident than in a digital mode called Automatic Packet Reporting S…

When you join the community of radio amateurs you'll find a passionate group of people who to greater and lesser degree spend their time and energy playing with radios i…

For decades I've been playing with every new piece of technology that comes my way. In amateur radio terms that's reflected in, among other things, playing with differen…

The other day I wanted to know what kind of communication was possible between my station and the station of a friend of mine. We want to do some experiments and for tha…

Mark Twain is often misquoted in relation to reports about his death, pithy as always, he said: "The report of my death was an exaggeration." Similarly the death of amat…

One of the many vexing issues associated with getting on-air and making noise is actually making that happen.

So, let's look at a completely restricted environment. An …

Over the past nine and a half years I've been hosting a weekly radio net for new and returning amateurs. Called F-troop, it runs every Saturday morning at 0:00 UTC for a…

The other day I was adding an item to my to-do list. The purpose of this list is to keep track of the things in my life that I'm interested in investigating or need to d…

When one WSPR receiver just isn't enough

The other day during a radio play date, highly recommended activity, getting together with friends, playing radio, seeing what …

Radio amateurs like to do new things, celebrate, remember, bring attention to, and overall have fun, any excuse to get on air. One of the things that we as a community d…

The idea of building a crystal radio occurred to me a little while ago. I committed to building one, supplies permitting, before the end of the year. I can report that I…

I'm looking at components. Not looking for, looking at. I have them sitting on the bench in front of me. A collection of six variable capacitors and six inductors. There…

Antenna testing in the field.

If you've been around amateur radio for any time at all, you'll know that we spend an awful lot of time talking about antennas. How they w…

Recently I made a commitment to building a crystal radio. That started a fevered discussion with several people who provided many helpful suggestions. This is the first …

One of the more fundamental aspects of long distance radio communication is the impact of the ionosphere. Depending on how excited the Sun is, what time of day it is and…

When you start playing with software defined radio, you're likely to begin your journey using something with a display that shows you a lovely waterfall, gives you a way…

In 1958 The Kentucky Engineer published an award winning student article by Copthorne "Coppie" MacDonald. He described a Slow-Scan T.V. System for Image Transmission. If…

My radio shack consists of two radios, identical, well, in as much as that they're the same model, a Yaesu FT-857d. Their memories are different, their microphones are d…

Yak Shaving ...

Not every adventure gives you an outcome. Today started with reading a thank-you email from a listener who shared their activities and wanted to express…