Ham Radio

[Mike in Dayton]

I was licensed in 1970 with the call WB8GXB. After my dad passed away I picked up his call W8RKO. Dad was licensed in 1953.

I am still active today from 630 meters (472 KHz) up through 440 MHz. Experiment on 10 GHz sometimes. I also maintain the repeater systems for the Montgomery County Amateur Radio Emergency Services.

For those that use the KiwiSDR network for listening, I have a receiver on that network. You will find it under my call. Make sure "band" is set to "all". For those that are not hams but want to listen to shortwave or even the AM broadcast band the Kiwi network is ideal. Learning a foreign language and want to listen to something from the country of interest? Check the Kiwi map for a receiver in that location. For example, learning Japanese ? Connect to a receiver in Japan and listen to the broadcast band. Only speak English? Many countries have English speaking broadcasts. Interesting to listen to the news from the other side of the world.

For the Kiwi map go to https://kiwisdr.com/public and click on the MAP button. You can see what countries are active. Zoom in and click on the markers for a particular receiver. From the main page you can search. Best to search on a state or country rather than a city. A receiver in a big city may actually be located in the surrounding area and listed as such.

I noticed something interesting as I was typing this. There were a few receivers in China. They are no longer on the map. Interesting.

The receivers are good up to 30 MHz. There were two that had aircraft converters. One near Moscow and the other in Japan. Looks like only Japan is online now.

I use this network to listen to my own signal to check propagation around the world. Note there is a couple seconds delay in the audio if trying to listen live.

The receivers are privately owned so don't be surprised if the map changes over time. Most of the receivers can accept up to four simultaneous users on different frequencies.

Mike
W8RKO

[AmateurKiltsmen]

I was licensed in 1970 with the call WB8GXB. After my dad passed away I picked up his call W8RKO. Dad was licensed in 1953.

I am still active today from 630 meters (472 KHz) up through 440 MHz. Experiment on 10 GHz sometimes. I also maintain the repeater systems for the Montgomery County Amateur Radio Emergency Services.

For those that use the KiwiSDR network for listening, I have a receiver on that network. You will find it under my call. Make sure "band" is set to "all". For those that are not hams but want to listen to shortwave or even the AM broadcast band the Kiwi network is ideal. Learning a foreign language and want to listen to something from the country of interest? Check the Kiwi map for a receiver in that location. For example, learning Japanese ? Connect to a receiver in Japan and listen to the broadcast band. Only speak English? Many countries have English speaking broadcasts. Interesting to listen to the news from the other side of the world.

For the Kiwi map go to https://kiwisdr.com/public and click on the MAP button. You can see what countries are active. Zoom in and click on the markers for a particular receiver. From the main page you can search. Best to search on a state or country rather than a city. A receiver in a big city may actually be located in the surrounding area and listed as such.

I noticed something interesting as I was typing this. There were a few receivers in China. They are no longer on the map. Interesting.

The receivers are good up to 30 MHz. There were two that had aircraft converters. One near Moscow and the other in Japan. Looks like only Japan is online now.

I use this network to listen to my own signal to check propagation around the world. Note there is a couple seconds delay in the audio if trying to listen live.

The receivers are privately owned so don't be surprised if the map changes over time. Most of the receivers can accept up to four simultaneous users on different frequencies.

Mike
W8RKO

WebSDRs are what gave me a head start in the hobby, there’s so many of them, I may check yours out later.

Nice J38 btw

[Pleater]

dah di da dit di di dit (CS) followed by the call sign for the station being called.

dah di di dit dah (BT) was another bit of shorthand.

dah di dah is K which is used for 'over'

I've always had a mind that hoovers up everything and anything, useful or not.

Anne the Pleater

[tuathanach]

I also have a license, though I have not been active in several years. My father was a ham, and after he passed, I got his call sign. I will probably do it again at some point, but life and other things have interfered.

I used to wish I could power the radio from a battery and recharge the battery from solar panels so that I was not dependent on the power grid. I can easily do that now, but I just haven't gotten back to it.

[Couper]

Back when I was a teen (a half century ago) I had in interest in amateur radio. I knew most of the techie stuff but never advanced with learning code. Now that I'm retired I may have to look around to see if that interest can be kindled anew.

[tuathanach]

Back when I was a teen (a half century ago) I had in interest in amateur radio. I knew most of the techie stuff but never advanced with learning code. Now that I'm retired I may have to look around to see if that interest can be kindled anew.

Well, I would never want to discourage someone from learning Morse code, but the requirement to be proficient in Morse code was dropped some years back. I would guess that most new hams do not know Morse code.

The person who said that Morse code can sometimes get through when nothing else can is exactly correct, but knowing Morse code is no longer required. There are a lot of helps on the network to prepare you for the exam.

Go for it! Get your license!

[fw_kilt]

Been licensed since 1957 (WN2HVB), WB0ZRY (1976) and now KB7SR (1980). Operated - CW, AM, SSB, FM, packet, digital. Still somewhat active and a kilt wearer.

[timemeddler]

USA ham, run mostly 2 meters but, I do occasionally run a swan-500c on 40 meters off a 1/4 wave vertical. Then I've got an alinco running an extended double zepp on 10 meters, which can tune down to 20 meters reasonably.