Amateur Radio Daily

Amateur Radio Daily is an aggregate of notable news happening in the world of Ham Radio.

HamTV Returns to International Space Station

March 27, 2024

SpaceX CRS-30 recently returned the HamTV system back to the International Space Station after the system was sent back to earth for repairs in 2019. The Digital Amateur Television (DATV) equipment powering HamTV is typically used in conjunction with school contacts to send video and audio of the contact events to viewers on earth.

HamTV was originally operational in 2013 but failed 6 years later in 2019. With the equipment back on board the ISS, AMSAT expects the equipment to be operating in the coming weeks.

The British Amateur Television Club (BATV) has extensive documentation related to HamTV, including how to receive the DVB-S protocol transmitting from the ISS.

Source: AMSAT open_in_new

GNU Radio Conference 2024 Call for Participation

March 26, 2024

GRCon24 is calling for participants to submit projects, presentations, papers, and posters for GNU Radio Conference 2024. This year GRCon24 will take place in Knoxville, Tennessee September 16-20.

GRCon 2024 celebrates and showcases the substantial and remarkable progress of GNU Radio and its usage in a diverse field of applications and industries.

Source: GNU Radio open_in_new

TAPR Hamvention Forum Schedule

March 24, 2024

TAPR has published the topics of their upcoming forum schedule at Hamvention 2024. The following presentations will be made on May 17, 2024:

  • Frequency Control for Next Generation SDRs
    Accurate and stable frequency control is important to the quality of results for radio-based space science experiments. John’s presentation discusses some of those requirements, and low cost frequency references to help meet them.
    By John Ackermann (N8UR)
  • Using ezDV to get on the air with Digital Voice
    How-to guide to using ezDV with a standard transceiver to get on the air with digital voice.
    By Mooneer Salem (K6AQ)
  • Introducing the TAPR/HamSci Magnetometer
    Description and deployment of the TAPR Magnetometer.
    By Dr Hyomin Kim (KD2MCR)

Additional topics may be viewed on the TAPR website.

Source: TAPR open_in_new

Omaha Red Cross Winlink Exercise This Weekend

March 21, 2024

The Omaha Red Cross Station, W0EQU, will be conducting a Winlink exercise on Saturday March 23rd, 2024. Participants are asked to send messages over RF to W0EQU via HF or VHF RMS gateways.

The purpose of the exercise is to develop Winlink traffic handling capabilities and send properly constructed Winlink messages using standard templates.

Additional details may be found on the exercise webpage.

Source: American Red Cross Nebraska/Iowa Region open_in_new

POTA Begins Park Prefix Updates

March 20, 2024

Update 3/25/2024
China is once again participating in the POTA program after resolving a simple misunderstanding due to language barriers.

In an effort to reorganize the Parks on the Air (POTA) database in a way that meets ISO standards, POTA has begun rolling out changes to the way park entities are prefixed. Beginning with the United States and Puerto Rico, parks previously coded with a K prefix will now be listed with a US prefix. For example, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail was previously K-4556 and is now US-4556. Additional prefixes will be updated in the coming days.

While the changes are largely seamless from a systems perspective, activators will be required to use the new prefixes when uploading logs. Logging software supporting POTA will also need to be adjusted.

From a political perspective, the prefix change has resulted in China choosing to no longer participate in the POTA program due to the ISO3166-2 standard recognizing Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan as top-level entities.

The timeline of prefix changes may be viewed here.

Source: Parks on the Air open_in_new

SatNOGS Logs 9 Million Satellite Observations

March 19, 2024

The 9 millionth observation from the satellite monitoring network SatNOGS was logged in February.

SatNOGS is a global network of satellite ground stations capturing millions of observations from varying low-earth orbit satellites since 2014.

Source: SatNOGS open_in_new

AO-73 Back in Eclipse Mode

March 18, 2024

AMSAT reports that FUNCube (AO-73) is once again operating in eclipse mode after spending several weeks in safe mode. The satellite was placed in safe mode in late February to give its batteries a rest.

Source: AMSAT open_in_new

Microwave Activity Day

March 16, 2024

On Saturday, April 6, 2024, between 08:30 – 12:30, the West Carleton Amateur Radio Club (WCARC) will be having a Microwave Activity Day (MAD) on the grounds of the Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum. The Diefenbunker is at grid square FN15xi.

MADs are events when amateur radio operator microwave enthusiasts get out into the field and set up their portable stations to test, align, and hopefully establish two-way communications with other microwave aficionados. They offer an opportunity to amateurs who are curious about microwave operations to learn more. All are welcome. We hope to see you there!

Source: West Carleton Amateur Radio Club open_in_new

Halifax Resolves Special Event

March 13, 2024

By Barry Evans (N4WFU)

Amateur radio operators from surrounding areas will assemble at Halifax, North Carolina on April 11-13, 2024, to activate special event station N4C. They will operate several Ham stations, using voice, cw (morse code), and digital modes, to communicate with as many other hams, around the world, as possible. This activity is to commemorate the signing of The Halifax Resolves, which occurred on April 12, 1776.

The Halifax Resolves was the first written instrument, in existence, leading to US independence from England. It was approved unanimously at the Fourth Provincial Congress gathered at Halifax, NC. It authorized the NC delegates, being sent to the Continental Congress, to vote for, and encourage other colony’s delegates to support independence from England. This led to the US's Declaration of Independence being adopted and signed on July 4, 1776.

Hams around the world that make contact with this special event station, can request a QSL card confirming the contact, by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:

Barry Evans, N4WFU
P. O. Box 1533
Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870

A certificate suitable for framing is also available for a donation of 5 US dollars to offset its cost. If possible, please include an address label if requesting the certificate.

Source: N4WFU open_in_new

HamCation Sets Attendance Record

March 11, 2024

From HamCation PR:

From February 9 to 11, 2024, the Orlando Amateur Radio Club hosted the 77th annual Orlando HamCation at the Central Florida Fairgrounds and Expo Park in Orlando—an 87-acre lakefront fairground. HamCation enjoyed splendid weather throughout the weekend, with temperatures hovering around the mid-seventies and no rainfall. This year's attendance reached a record high of 25,321, making 2024 the largest attendance in HamCation history.

We would like to express our gratitude to all the visitors and vendors for their participation in this fantastic show.

Source: HamCation open_in_new

Submit a Story

Do you have a story to share with the ham radio community? We want to feature your amateur radio related story, event, project, or anything else related to the world of ham radio.

Submit your story