KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

History

Amateur radio videos: Fast Fourier Transforms, worldwide ham populations, homebrew one-tube CW transmitter

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The most important algorithm of all time

The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is arguably the most important algorithm of all time. Whether it is or not, it’s certainly the most-used algorithm. I found it interesting that one of the first applications of the FFT wasn’t in communications at all, but rather for detecting underground nuclear explosions.

Worldwide ham radio operators (2000-2022)

A visual depiction of how the number of amateur radio operators have changed since 2000. What’s amazing to me is how the number of radio amateurs has declined in Japan. Watch it on YouTube to see how the author came up with the numbers.

A QRP one-tube CW transmitter (with an Arduino-based oscillator)

One of the attractions of amateur radio—to some at least—is that it includes both the most modern technology (FFTs) as well as those that have been around for 100 years or more (vacuum tubes). Here’s an example of the latter.

Amateur radio in the news: Hammarlund, ham radio on the ISS, two kids work the South Pole

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Now, that’s a soldering iron! Worker at the Hammarlund Mars Hill plant assembles a variable capacitor.

Ham radio operators honor legacy of Mars Hill company

During the 1950’s and ’60’s, when the Hammarlund Manufacturing Company had a factory just west of Mars Hill College, the town could have been considered a world center of advanced electronic technology. With a company motto of “Quality Without Compromise,” almost 90% of American WWII wartime military electronic equipment employed Hammarlund capacitors. They also built U.S. Navy search radar installed on aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers.

Hammarlund was one of the three leading brands of radio communications equipment at the time, along with Hallicrafters and Collins Radio. These three companies dominated in providing state of the art electronics equipment to the U.S. military, large and small corporations, and to private individuals who had the means and taste to own the very best.

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Living in space can get lonely. What helps? Talking to random people over ham radio

The International Space Station cost more than $100 billion. A ham radio set can be had for a few hundred bucks. Perhaps that explains, in part, the appeal of having one of humankind’s greatest scientific inventions communicate with Earth via technology that’s more than 100 years old.

NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock, Expedition 24 flight engineer, used a ham radio system in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station in 2010.(NASA)

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Two Kids, a Ham Radio, and the World at Their Fingertips

CLARK, NJ – A brown house with lots of glass panels, hidden in overgrowth for years, situated across from Manny’s Diner on Raritan Road, was recently demolished and will soon be replaced by apartments. In the 1950s, the house was home to Jules and John Madey, two brothers who grew up spending hours in their basement using a ham radio that one day connected with a navy substation in the South Pole.

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