As you may know, Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. This means that it will no longer provide technical assistance, feature updates or security updates. This has prompted me to bite the bullet and convert the Windows box I use in my shack to Linux.| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Design analog chips. According to the website, this freely downloadable book is “a comprehensive introduction to CMOS and bipolar analog IC design. The book presumes no prior knowledge of linear design, making it comprehensible to engineers with a non-analog background. The emphasis is on practical design, covering the entire field with hundreds of examples to explain the choices. Concepts are presented following the history of their discovery.”| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Wow!| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Give them an iPad and download some Morse Code apps?| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Just for fun, ham radio in Lego World. It’s amazing how much work went into this. (Thanks to Bob, K0NR, for the link to this video.)| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Margaret Atwood.I like to read nonfiction by great writers. So, when I found the book, Burning Questions and Occasional Pieces by Margaret Atwood on the shelf at the Ann Arbor District Library, I picked it up. Margaret Atwood–for those of you who don’t know her–is a renowned Canadian author, perhaps most well-known for her book, The Handmaid’s Tale, which has been adapted for both film and TV.| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
From my Twitter feed: Scouting, Arduino, prototypes| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
hackaday @hackaday| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
A week ago, Mike, WH6YH, ordered one of my One-Day Tech Class DVDs. He wrote:| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Eye on Education: Bishop Ryan HS Competes in School Roundup. For the first time, Bishop Ryan school is getting competitive with their ham radio, entering into the “School Club Roundup” competition. “The idea here is to talk to high schools, middle schools and universities all over the world on it the same week,” said Joe Ferrara, a Bishop Ryan teacher.| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
On reddit, svkairos posted “Just for giggles, I asked ChatGPT (5) how to best promote amateur radio to the younger generation. ” Here’s what it had to say:| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Tom W3ROK says | KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
I often hear hams lament that their communities show little interest in amateur radio. While this may be true, these hams have to realize that community involvement is a two-way street. To get communities involved in amateur radio, amateur radio needs to be involved with the community.| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
The Amateur’s Code was originally written by Paul M. Segal, W9EEA in 1928. One of its tenets is:| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Ham operators talk with Rotarians. The Elizabethtown (NC) Rotary Club met on Wednesday and learned about amateur radio from operators J.T. Bryan and Mac MacCallum. Bryan told the group that, in the late 1800s, folks were building and learning how to use amateur radios. In 1912 Ham radio as we know it, began to develop. People had a need for a way to communicate and to bridge the distance with folks who were far away especially during times of natural disaster. Bryan said some folks got togeth...| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
A couple of months ago, Dinesh, AB3DC, and I were talking about our IC-7610s. Both of these radios were early production units and the displays exhibited the “image retention” problem. (Oddly, even though it was widely discussed when the IC-7610s first came out, I wasn’t able to find anything on the internet describing the problem, […]| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Two more QSLs for my collection of QSLs from stations whose call signs spell words. Bill writes, “A pleasure to chat, Dan. You tolerated my return to the cootie [key]. It’s a fun challenge.” Scott is the man behind QTH.Com, a web hosting service. I maintain the CWops website, which is hosted on QTH.Com, and […]| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
A couple of days ago, I got an email from SWR Magazine, announcing their fifth edition. SWR is a publication produced by a group in Puerto Rico, including Editor Jose Candelaria NP4ET, Technical Editor Juan Montivo WP4OV, and Assistant Editor Serafin Martinez KP4FIE. This is the first issue that I’ve seen of this publication, and […]| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
This is a QSL from a POTA contact. Dick writes, “Thank you, Dan. I was QRP with my QMX+ in Wisconsin.” I’m bending the rules a little with this card. My rule is to not include QSLs that aren’t confirming a contact. In this case, though, Christopher was in one of my Tech classes. And, […]| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Last week, the ARRL sent out a member bulletin, exhorting hams to contact their U.S. representative and senators and urge them to pass H.R. 1094 and S. 459, the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act. According to Congress.Gov, this bill limits the adoption and enforcement of private land use restrictions (e.g., rules of a homeowners’ association) […]| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
It’s that time of year again – ARDC is now accepting applications for the next cohort of volunteers. They are looking for qualified individuals to serve on their existing committees, including: Grants Advisory Committee (GAC) – reviews grant applications. Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) – works on 44Net-related projects and policies. Grants Evaluation Team (GET) – […]| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Defending our spectrum A blog post by Michelle, N5NYV, on the Open Research Institute (ORI) website does a nice job of describing the latest attempt to encroach on the 70 cm band. Michelle writes; The amateur radio community has achieved a significant but limited victory in protecting the 430-440 MHz band from commercial satellite encroachment. […]| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Here are three things that I’ve had open tabs for in my browser for a week or more…….Dan| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Yours truly hunched over my KX3 at a picnic table at Grand Mere State Park. Photo: Dinesh, AB3DC.A couple of months ago, Dinesh, AB3DC, and I were talking about our IC-7610s. Both of these radios were early production units and the displays exhibited the “image retention” problem. (Oddly, even though it was widely discussed when the IC-7610s first came out, I wasn’t able to find anything on the internet describing the problem, although there were several posts with the warranty repair n...| www.kb6nu.com
My operations are encouraging me to finally learn about antenna modeling. The reason for this is that I don’t think that I’m doing as well as I should on 20 meters. I’m thinking that’s because I’m using a 66-ft., i.e. a full-wave, doublet in an inverted-V configuration and that might have some weird antenna pattern. Perhaps if I modeled the antenna, and could get an idea of the pattern, I could orient it in some way that will give me better result. That, or just come up with some ot...| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
First POTA of 2024!| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
For this episode, I joined Martin Butler M1MRB, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT, Edmund Spicer M0MNG and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the following topics:| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
One of the cool things about Parks on the Air (POTA) is that the simple exchange and lack of rules is encouraging some operators to try their hand at CW. Not only are some of newer operators working POTA, they’re also making regular CW QSOs as well. This is great for all CW ops as it increases activity on the bands.| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Last week, I taught my fourth one-day Tech class at DEFCON. DEFCON, as some of you may know, is one of the premiere hacker/cybersecurity conferences.| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
About five years ago, I joined the Rotary Club here in Ann Arbor, MI. As I had, by this time, served as president of our local amateur radio club, I began comparing how our Rotary Club operating to how our amateur radio club operated. What a huge difference! The members of the Rotary Club were committed and really got things done. The members of the ham radio club, on the other hand, showed practically no commitment at all, had to be coerced into doing much of anything, and when they did, the...| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
A proposal to make it less expensive for older members to become Life Members (#40,41). The motion reads, “The ARRL establish a reduced-rate, revenue-neutral Life Membership program for individuals age 70 or older, with cumulative annual membership of 25 years or more, at an initial rate of $750.” To me, this seems too little and too late. I’m not sure that many 70-year-olds are going to find this an attractive offer, since they’re going to have to live until they’re 85 for this to ...| KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
