KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

Digital Communications

Videos: 44 years of 44Net, Linux HT, Super Rybakov antenna

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44 Years of 44 Net

44 years ago, Hank Magnuski, KA6M, asked for some IP addresses for ham radio experimentation. He was assigned a /8 block, or 16,777,216 addresses. We now know this block addresses as 44Net.

The Linux HT

Can you really run Linux on an HT? Yes! Watch this video and see how it’s done.

The Super Rybakov

This talk by Max, G4SDX, to the Halifax & District Amateur Radio Society introduces a hands-on build of the “Super Rybakov” – an improved version of the classic end-fed vertical antenna. This looks like a great limited space antenna with efficient, multiband, HF performance.

Zero Retries Digital Conference to be held on Saturday, September 13, 2025 in Everett, WA

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I should have posted this sooner. My bad. If you’re in the Northwest and are interested in digital communications, please consider attending this conference in person. If you’re not, you can still sign up to attend the sessions virtually. There’s even an option for your club to attend virtually….Dan

We are pleased to invite you to the Zero Retries Digital Conference (ZRDC) that will be on Saturday, September 13, 2025 at the Edward Hansen Conference Center in Everett, WA. Due to the pandemic and other reasons, there has not been an in-person Amateur Radio digital conference for several years or any known plans for upcoming conferences. With GNU Radio hosting their conference at the same venue the week prior to ZRDC, Zero Retries seized the opportunity to bring back the in-person Amateur Radio Digital Conference to the Pacific Northwest. However, if people are unable to travel, there are alternative means to participate on the conference page link below and on the registration form.

About Zero Retries

Zero Retries is a unique independent newsletter that promotes technological innovations in Amateur Radio. The Editor, Steve Stroh N8GNJ, writes the majority of the newsletter with an occasional submission by one of his readers. Steve refers to Amateur Radio as, literally, a license to experiment with and learn about radio technology. He often jokes, but is serious, that radios are now computers… with antennas.

About the ZRDC

Planned presentations and demonstrations will be designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of the participants with topics such as but not limited to the IP400 Networking Project, M17 Digital Voice/Data system, MMDVM-TNC data system, ARDC’s 44Net VPN, software defined radio (SDR) and AREDN, HamWAN and other Amateur Radio microwave networking.  Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with peers, and discover innovative technologies that are shaping the future of Amateur Radio. A call for papers has been sent, which will provide the opportunity to learn from leading experts. The ZRDC 2025 will highlight the resilience and adaptability of the Amateur Radio community in the Pacific Northwest by embracing new platforms and technology that continue to foster the passion for radio communication.

In closing, I have created various ticket prices and multiple ways to participate. Please share this information as you see fit with others that might be interested. I have included the links below for registration and the conference. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your time and consideration and hope to see you at the conference.

Sincerely,
Tina Stroh KD7WSF
Business / Conference Manager
[email protected]

Zero Retries Newsletter
https://www.zeroretries.org

Zero Retries Digital Conference 2025
https://www.zeroretries.org/p/conference

Registration for ZRDC 2025
https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/7852x9m

Random stuff: Make your first CW contacts, subscribe to the ORI newsletter, FD publicity

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Get the ORI newsletter

Open Research Institute, Inc. (ORI) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) research and development organization which provides all of its work to the general public under the principles of open source and open access to research. Their projects include, but are not limited to, amateur radio projects. The amateur radio projects include Ribbit, a new digital text messaging mode for VHF/UHF simplex and repeater communication, and RF BitBanger, a low-power high-frequency digital radio.

To stay informed on these and other projects, go to https://www.openresearch.institute/newsletter-subscription/ and subscribe to their newsletter. On that page, you’ll also find links to back issues.

Field Day gets many mentions

This year, Field Day got more publicity this year than any year that I can remember. My Google Alerts was almost overflowing with links to stories in local newspapers. One of the stories that got mentioned a lot was “Colorado’s ham radio operators are ready for an emergency—just don’t call them amateurs.” It’s worth reading.

 

TAPR Mini-DCC Video Now Online

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TAPR held what they called a virtual Digital Communications Conference, or “mini-DCC,” on Saturday, December 9. The recording of this event is now on YouTube, but you can play it right here, if you like.

All of the talks are included in this 4+ hour video. They include (with the times at which they start):

  • 14:00 – TAPR Issues and Updates, Dave Larsen KV0s
  • 26:50 – Moving to High Throughput Interfaces, Dave Witten KD0EAG
  • 53:50 – GERT: A Low-Cost GNSS Frequency Reference, John Ackerman N8UR, George Byrkit K9TRV
  • 1:09:45 KA9Q-Radio: Update and Demonstration, Phil Kart KA9Q
  • 2:12:30 Digital Voice Over HF: Codec2 and FreeDV, Walter Holmes K5WH
  • 3:15:15 Introducing ezDV, Moorer Salem K6AQ
  • 3:54:00 ESP32-APRS Tracker, APRS Mini-Tracker, and LoRA, Jason Rausch K4APR

These talks are all pretty interesting and worth watching if you’re interested in some of the new things going on in digital communications.

TAPR to hold mini Digtal Communications Conference on Saturday, December 9

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TAPRUnable to hold its traditional, in-person Digital Communications Conference (DCC) this year, Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR) will hold a one day online Mini-DCC on December 9 followed by the annual TAPR membership meeting. So mark your calendars for Saturday, December 9, from 1700 to 2230 UTC (1200 to 1730 EST, 0900 to 1430 PST). Login details for the meeting will be available on the TAPR website prior to December 9.

Planned presentations include:

*    TAPR SDR Development Progress and Challenges by David Larsen, KV0S

*    Developments in ka9q-radio by Phil Karn, KA9Q

*    An Open Source Wideband HF Receiver Design by David Witten, KD0EAG

*    An Inexpensive GPSDO for HF Receivers by John Ackermann, N8UR

*    Current Open Source Digital Voice Techniques by Walter Holmes, K5WH

*    A Low Cost FreeDV-based ESP32 Radio Interface by Mooneer Salem, K6AQ

*   ESP32 APRS and LoRA Hardware by Jason Rausch, K4APR

The annual TAPR membership meeting will occur following the presentations.

ICQ Podcast Episode 393 – Radio Tips to Start 2023

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In this episode, I join Martin Butler M1MRB, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT, Edmund Spicer M0MNG and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. We discuss:

Amateur radio videos: Intro to digital communications, putting up a hex beam, Begali paddles

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Here are some more great YouTube videos I’ve come across lately. This first one is a pretty good introduction to all the digital modes we, as radio amateurs, can operate.

I’ve been thinking about putting up a hex beam here for a while. The only reason I haven’t done it yet is because I’m thinking about moving.

Have I ever mentioned that I’m a Begali fanboy?

MicroHAMS Digital Conference 2021, Saturday, April 24, to be streamed to the web

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The MicroHAMS Digital conference 2021 taking place Saturday, April 24. This year’s MHDC will be presented again as a virtual and streamed only event. There will be NO REGISTRATION necessary ahead of the event, but they will welcome your donations to offset the cost of streaming.

The list of topics and speakers is being finalized. Please check the site for updates.

MicroHAMS Digital Conference 2021
https://www.microhams.com/mhdc/

MicroHAMS YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcuTgZcwgZDiGAMImUJKfJA/videos

TAPR 2020 Digital Communications Conference videos now online

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The The 39th Annual TAPR/ARRL Digital Communications Conference (DCC) was held on September 11 and 12, 2020. Like nearly all conferences this year, it was a virtual conference, and the sessions were recorded and are now online.

They’re on YouTube in two loooong videos. The Friday sessions are here, while the Saturday sessions are here. I would have embedded the videos here, as I usually do with YouTube videos, but these are not embeddable.

Since these are just two long videos, finding a particular talk can be a little tricky. What you need to do is to refer to the schedule, find the talk that you want to hear, then fast forward to that spot on the video.

So, for example, if you want to hear “HF Propagation Measurement Techniques and Analyses” by Steve Cerwin, WA5FRF, you’ll note that the talk was supposed to start at 9:30 am EDT, or approximately 30 minutes into the video. It actually starts at the 36:42 mark.

The rest of the talks seem to be pretty much on schedule. The talk, “A Pedestrian Approach to Mordor: Cognitive Radio: from Data Flow to Finite State Machines” by Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, was scheduled to start about 5 hours into the program on Saturday, and indeed it starts at about the 5:00 mark in the Saturday video.