Our Picks

A great tool to lookup your amateur radio 'neighbors'.

An interesting article on the new Kenwood 710G installed on the ISS.

http://k0lwc.com/new-ham-radio-onboard-the-iss-is-on-the-air/

 

The signals listed on this page are used by and sometimes created by amateur radio enthusiasts and operators, including many experimental digital modes. You can find plenty of these signals in amateur frequency bands.

Click the name of a signal to see more detailed information, possible decoding, and additional sound and waterfall samples.

https://hamprojects.wordpress.com/2020/09/06/raspberry-pi-for-ham-radio/
I'm not sure if this topic has been covered elsewhere.
The above link provides a set of tutorials on virtually every aspect of RPi use by hams today with emphasis on setup and use of a variety of common apps such as WSJT-X, FLDigi, etc.  Including discussion of SSH, Putty, etc.
It is truly an A to Z tutorial.  I highly recommend downloading all the sections, seven in all; ~15MB.
If you have never powered a RPi, or plugged in a mouse, this will get you going.  If you are a power user (not me, I'm just learning!), you will find some new and challenging applications.
Bruce,
KN4GDX

It happened in Maryland, USA in 1900, just south of Washington D.C.

Decided to use my VHF antennas to grow some basil for my wife's amazing pesto sauce.

HOW IT WORKS
When a user connects to www.time.gov on a computer or mobile device, the Javascript in the client's browser checks the local clock on the device and then requests the time from a NIST server, which has been synchronized with UTC(NIST). When the packets containing the NIST time stamp arrive at the client's browser, the device clock is checked again and compared to the first check of the local clock. The result is a measurement the round-trip delay of requesting/receiving the time stamp. It is estimated that one-half of the round-trip delay happens in each direction. The time on the clocks shown on the web page have been corrected for the estimated one-way path delay of the timestamp from the server to the client and the server delay. Your device's clock is also shown, with the error compared to NIST time.

Just curious what people would put on their wishlist if they were given a US $10,000 gift certificate to buy kit or single item to add to their shack? What would you spend it on??

I just bought two analog WWV clocks. I'm not having great joy. In trying to debug, I came across an interesting manual published about a decade ago by the Federal Government. It is a recommendations manual for manufacturers. I thought I would post it because it offers interesting insight into how the WWV system works.

GOVPUB-C13-71f9d4fb5d44634208278dab58e0be09.pdf

How did you fare during Field Day 2020? Did you meet up? Did you operate portable? Did you go 1D?

As for myself, we ended up in the field. I operated with the Randalstown/NIH group at Washington Monument State Park. We operated under N3IC as a 3A. We practiced mask-wearing, most of us, anyway. We did have one rogue, but he was respectful of distancing. I feel confident that we were safe.

Setup-wise, I attempted to setup my 40-meter, four-element, wire beam but I was not as successful as I would have hoped. Many lessons learned for next year 🥴

Sotabeams Antenna Wire Winders: read the reviews if you need to wind light wire, frankly they're quite amazing.

We are Main Trading Company. We are a real brick and mortar retail store located at 2707 Lamar Ave in Paris Texas (about a hundred miles North East of Dallas). We are Christine and Richard Lenoir. 

We Started in 2009 when Richard Lost his job in sales due to a stuggling economy. We Started selling on ebay. We would drive to DFW and bring back small pick up loads of surplus and closeouts. Our neighbors were really proud of us when we received our first truckload delivery at our home! In just a few short months the volume got out of hand and our living room and patio looked like a warehouse. We rented a small store front in Beautiful downtown Paris Tx in June of 2009. We out grew that location and moved across the street to 139 Bonham st. In January 2010. Times got even tougher when Christy lost her job as a radio announcer. She came on full time as well.

Craig left Seattle, sailing down the West coast of America for the first time in August of 2011. That trip ended up lasting one year, returning to Seattle via Mexico and Hawaii. A second trip lasted three years, sailing from Seattle to Mexico, French Polynesia, Niue, Tonga, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand and then back to Seattle, again via Hawaii.

While out cruising, and using a variety of GRIB viewers on a regular basis, Craig had become dissatisfied with what was available. With a background in Computer Graphics and Computer Science, and with 20 years of professional software development in those areas, he felt that there was a possibility of creating a new, modern GRIB viewer that would be able to be much more informative while being highly responsive.

Craig started work on LuckGrib while sailing on his yacht, s/v Luckness, in New Zealand during December, 2014. Version 1.0 of LuckGrib was released on the Apple Mac App store in early August, 2015.

LuckGrib takes full advantage of the multiple CPUs offered by modern hardware, as well as the high performance graphics hardware they contain, their GPUs. By efficiently utilizing the available hardware, LuckGrib is able to produce high quality renderings of the weather, in real time. GRIB files are loaded almost unbelievably quickly. When stepping between different time intervals in a GRIB file, the changes are animated at a high frame rate, yielding smooth transitions. All of this speed and quality helps you to understand the GRIB file content and how it changes over time.

Want to build an awesome off-grid solar power system? My videos will teach you everything you need, no experience necessary 🙂

I'm curious to find out a bit more about net attendance both in the HF and the VHF/UHF space. Discuss and answer the poll!!

Not all beginnings start with happiness. A tragic accident that took the life of a family member was the motivation that started MyMedic. Several years ago a normal day turned dark after a car accident occurred. Bystanders without First Aid equipment or training watched for 40 minutes as a family member of ours bled to death. That’s how long it took EMS services to arrive on scene due to the remote location the accident had taken place. Help is further than you may think.

As a family we came together and started MyMedic with one objective in mind, to save lives. Our goal is to prepare everyone with equipment and training for the unexpected emergency.

We discovered that most people are not prepared for emergencies. It’s an unfortunate reality. Life can be gone in an instant, but if you had the power to prevent a loss, you would take it in a heartbeat. Whether you’re driving to and from work, enjoying the great outdoors, or staying home, the solution is peace-of-mind knowing that you have instant access to a MyMedic First Aid Kit.

Bioenno Lithium Iron Phosphate LIFEPO4 Batteries

"Dear Customer,
You are the main reason and incentive for our work, so we will always endeavor to meet your needs quickly and efficiently. Be sure we will always strive to offer the best deals and ensure your satisfaction when you shop with us. In case of any problems, questions, complaints or suggestions, please contact me directly. I will be glad to assist you. My email is erwin@RadiohausAmerica.com
Erwin Hübsch Neto, PY2QI | KK4CGD

The SWLing Post is a community of shortwave radio and amateur radio enthusiasts sharing shortwave radio reviews, news, broadcasting, pirate radio, numbers stations, interviews, and much more.

If you have any questions or comments, please respond within the blog posts or obtain our email address (via Captcha) on our Contact page.

Contributors/Authors

The primary contributor on the SWLing Post is Thomas Witherspoon (K4SWL / M0CYI). He has been a passionate supporter of shortwave radio and international broadcasting most of his life.

Additionally, the SWLing Post has other contributors (identified in each article when applicable) and occasionally employs a professional editor.

Become an SWLing Post contributor/writer

If you would like to share your story or article on the SWLing Post, simply email us your proposal (thomas [ at ] swling.com). We’re all about sharing our passion and love of radio, so we are happy to share your articles.

If you’ve been a reader for long, you’ll see that the majority of our articles focus on the world of shortwave, mediumwave, and amateur radio. We tend to stay on-topic here.

We only ask that the work be your own original writing and that any short quotes or passages taken from other work are correctly cited and documented. In other words, we strictly prohibit plagiarism. We require the same of any images you use to support your article–either they must be your own image or you have written permission to use them.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!

Sponsorship

We have begun a sponsorship program and will serve relevant and non-obtrusive ads on our various SWLing.com sites. In the beginning, it will be by invitation only. If you would like to promote your product, company or service on our sites, please contact us for information. Please note: if your organization is not directly associated with shortwave radio or international broadcasting, do not bother to inquire about sponsorship. We want our ad content to enhance our site offerings, not detract from the reader experience.

 



 



 

GPS Visualizer is an online utility that creates maps and profiles from geographic data. It is free and easy to use, yet powerful and extremely customizable. Input can be in the form of GPS data (tracks and waypoints), driving routes, street addresses, or simple coordinates. Use it to see where you've been, plan where you're going, or quickly visualize geographic data (scientific observations, events, business locations, customers, real estate, geotagged photos, etc.).

What is beeing displayed on DJ2LS RFMap?
Realtime RF Spots of the last 24 hours
Spots which are transmitted inside a radius of 200km of your location

What are the data sources?
Spots from DXCluster ( https://www.dxcluster.co.uk/ )
Spots from WSPR ( http://wsprnet.org/drupal/ )
Spots from PSKREPORTER ( https://pskreporter.info  )

Which modes will be displayed?
Everything, whats beeing reported by hams

How many spots are in the database?
More than 1.000.000 for 24 hours

Is every country available?
Yes, but depends on spot reports of hams
Most common areas are USA, Europe, Asia, Russia

Is there an auto refresh?
Yes, data will be refreshed every 60 Seconds without reloading the entire webpage

Which visitor data will be stored by DJ2LS?
Nothing. 
Yes, Nothing!

If you are here for the first time, my name is Tamitha Skov. You may recognize me from TV shows I've done for The History Channel and The Weather Channel. I've been featured in Popular Science Magazine. I even do regular Space Weather broadcasts on TWiT TV. I want to open your world to a new kind of weather that's going to become very important to your daily life sooner than you think. Sound hard to believe? Think of all the technology we take for granted, like GPS and traffic apps on mobile phones, robotic drones and UAVs that have begun flying above our heads, high-altitude airline flights, satellite internet, satellite phones, Direct TV, even Sirius Radio -- all of these things are affected by Space Weather. As we become more reliant on smart, wireless technologies, our dependence upon Space Weather grows. Even today, emergency radio communications used by disaster relief agencies like the Red Cross depend upon what Space Weather is doing. Imagine, with no power and no cell phones, not being able to get through to your loved ones when its most important. Yet despite our growing reliance on Space Weather, very few people are even aware of it. I want to change all that. Im working to make credible Space Weather forecasts as common as the weather forecasts you see on the evening news. I would love for you to join me on this journey!

A variety of map based tools including topographic profiles. Check it out!!

Dr. Albert A. Greenfield, an obstetrician, was about to retire for the night. He sat in his pajamas in a small room off his bedroom in Potomac, flipping through medical journal on pediatric and adolescent gynecology.

Two blocks away, his friend, Richard W. Hayman, was tuning the dials of his ham radio. He had just been talking to someone in Japan because he is planning a trip there in May.

You can read about it: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=92807

In the early 1960s my Dad purchased an antique, roughly 1940s era, Philco console radio. It had a shortwave band and a pretty good built-in loop antenna. I discovered HCJB in Quito Ecuador and was hooked on the magic of radio.

Morse code, however, with the records of the time, completely eluded me. The theory was fine but I just could not get the code. I did continue with shortwave listening and really enjoyed collecting QSL cards from around the world.

After my U.S. Air Force stint, I ended up in Merriman Nebraska where a kind ham helped me with the code and gave me the exam for the Conditional Class License, since we were well over 125 miles from an FCC examination location. My first call sign was WBØJXY in 1973. My activities were a few CW contacts, building some gear, and experimenting with 2 meter quad antennas.

On moving to Michigan and working for Heathkit, I traveled to the Chicago FCC office and took the exam for Advanced Class. With that, my new call sign was KB8CE in 1978. At that time my activities were RTTY with teletype machines.

After a long hiatus, I passed the Extra Class exam in 2006 and managed to snag the call sign K5ND. My early activity was running QRP CW and then entering a few contests mostly to chase DX. That transitioned to an entirely new approach to RTTY and contesting. Right now I’m focused on VHF-UHF contesting as a rover as well as satellite operations.