OK so. I had been planning to update my little #smallWeb #indieWeb site with a new #Now post.

And then... I kept writing... and writing...

So if you're interested in any of the following:
- a complete newbie's take on a #HamRadio prep course, and
- how this relates to junior high physics classes, and also
- learning #Chinese (普通话) again after over a decade of taking a break -

maybe it'll be of interest to you 😄

https://robyn.digital/2026/02/on-learning-new-and-old-things-ham-radio-standard-chinese/

#languageLearning

OK so. I had been planning to update my little #smallWeb #indieWeb site with a new #Now post.

And then... I kept writing... and writing...

So if you're interested in any of the following:
- a complete newbie's take on a #HamRadio prep course, and
- how this relates to junior high physics classes, and also
- learning #Chinese (普通话) again after over a decade of taking a break -

maybe it'll be of interest to you 😄

https://robyn.digital/2026/02/on-learning-new-and-old-things-ham-radio-standard-chinese/

#languageLearning

Charlie "Red" #NJ7V @nj7v_ talks Homebrew #AmateurRadio #HamRadio with Tony #EI5EM on this week's episode of APDZ "All Portable Discussion Zone

https://youtu.be/IxskluUWT9Q?si=ro5SfSairfOuqV30

Charlie "Red" #NJ7V @nj7v_ talks Homebrew #AmateurRadio #HamRadio with Tony #EI5EM on this week's episode of APDZ "All Portable Discussion Zone

https://youtu.be/IxskluUWT9Q?si=ro5SfSairfOuqV30

Compare the Amateur Radio Software Award (nominations open) with the ARRL’s student coding contest. The former is for recognizing existing “software projects that enhance and adhere to the spirit of amateur radio: innovative, free and open” vs unpaid student labor for iOS apps that become property of the ARRL.

https://arsaward.com/award-nominations.html

#ARRL #OpenSource #software #HamRadio #AmateurRadio #ProtectStudents

Compare the Amateur Radio Software Award (nominations open) with the ARRL’s student coding contest. The former is for recognizing existing “software projects that enhance and adhere to the spirit of amateur radio: innovative, free and open” vs unpaid student labor for iOS apps that become property of the ARRL.

https://arsaward.com/award-nominations.html

#ARRL #OpenSource #software #HamRadio #AmateurRadio #ProtectStudents

Antartica Activity Week 2026

Unfortunately I had to skip the 8:30 to 10:30 timeslot this morning, night was short due some needed repairs. For today, two more activities are planned - note that frequencies have changed:

18:30z - 18:50z 14115kHz CW/SSB
20:00z - 20:30z 14115kHz CW/SSB

I will call the first five minutes in CW, and then switch to SSB after answering all calls. This is due the ARRL WW CW Contest right now, so the CW segment on 20m will be occupied.

Unfortunately the announced FT8 Activity between 1:00 and 2:00z won't happen tonight, as I need some sleep 😴 No worry, I will provide more opportunitis on that band in the next couple weeks, also in CW, as the results from last night were surprisingly strong signals.

Sundays schedule so far:

09:00z - 10:30z 10110KHz CW and 14115kHz SSB
15:00z - 16:00z 24910kHz CW and 14115kHz SSB
18:30z - 18:50z 14115kHz CW and SSB
20:00z - 20:30z 14115kHz CW and SSB

Looking forward working you!

#hamradio #dp0pol #amateurfunk

Antartica Activity Week 2026

Unfortunately I had to skip the 8:30 to 10:30 timeslot this morning, night was short due some needed repairs. For today, two more activities are planned - note that frequencies have changed:

18:30z - 18:50z 14115kHz CW/SSB
20:00z - 20:30z 14115kHz CW/SSB

I will call the first five minutes in CW, and then switch to SSB after answering all calls. This is due the ARRL WW CW Contest right now, so the CW segment on 20m will be occupied.

Unfortunately the announced FT8 Activity between 1:00 and 2:00z won't happen tonight, as I need some sleep 😴 No worry, I will provide more opportunitis on that band in the next couple weeks, also in CW, as the results from last night were surprisingly strong signals.

Sundays schedule so far:

09:00z - 10:30z 10110KHz CW and 14115kHz SSB
15:00z - 16:00z 24910kHz CW and 14115kHz SSB
18:30z - 18:50z 14115kHz CW and SSB
20:00z - 20:30z 14115kHz CW and SSB

Looking forward working you!

#hamradio #dp0pol #amateurfunk

It's ham radio volunteer testing Saturday in the southeast metro — and that means LP-sized pancakes at the North Pole restaurant in Newport, suburb of St. Paul.

Here's Pepper. His white-tipped tail might form a question mark, but he has all the answers.

#HamRadio #DogsOfMastodon #pancakes

It's ham radio volunteer testing Saturday in the southeast metro — and that means LP-sized pancakes at the North Pole restaurant in Newport, suburb of St. Paul.

Here's Pepper. His white-tipped tail might form a question mark, but he has all the answers.

#HamRadio #DogsOfMastodon #pancakes

IEEE Spectrum: Explore the Stratosphere With a DIY Pico balloon

A tiny ham-radio transmitter lets you track a balloon globally

https://spectrum.ieee.org/explore-stratosphere-diy-pico-balloon

#hamradio #wspr #arduino #diy #balloons

IEEE Spectrum: Explore the Stratosphere With a DIY Pico balloon

A tiny ham-radio transmitter lets you track a balloon globally

https://spectrum.ieee.org/explore-stratosphere-diy-pico-balloon

#hamradio #wspr #arduino #diy #balloons

A colleague showed me this awesome website where you can connect to people's SDR (Software Defined Radio), tune to some frequency, and listen to the broadcast.

If you are, like me, interested in amateur radio and radio transmissions in general but don't have the equipment, check this out:

https://rx-tx.info/

If checked the map at https://rx-tx.info/map-sdr-points to find a nearby station.

#amateurradio #hamradio #sdr

Tidbit from a local ham: they went to Big Bear in a bus over the weekend for a ski trip with the local ski club, but the bus got stuck in a parking lot because the diesel fuel froze (apparently you have to have the right formulation to avoid freezing). And he never managed to get to the slopes. And one of the folks he went on the trip with fell over and died while they were checking into the condos (!). #hamradio #chatter

Tidbit from a local ham: they went to Big Bear in a bus over the weekend for a ski trip with the local ski club, but the bus got stuck in a parking lot because the diesel fuel froze (apparently you have to have the right formulation to avoid freezing). And he never managed to get to the slopes. And one of the folks he went on the trip with fell over and died while they were checking into the condos (!). #hamradio #chatter

So I just fired off an article on a fun #electronics #hamradio #physics research side project I'm quite excited about, and to shorten the time waiting for the reviewer feedback, I thought I'd tell y'all broadly what it's about.

It's about reflections in radio systems.

The question I'm addressing is what happens when a transmitter is for example connected to an antenna via a transmission line like a coax cable, but the antenna is somewhat mismatched and some of the energy is reflected at the antenna and coming back towards the transmitter.

The cliché answer would be that a properly power matched transmitter has 50 Ohms of output impedance and thus it will reabsorb all the returned waves. You see, the reflection coefficient formula for a 50 Ohm cable is Gamma=(Z-50)/(Z+50), and for Z=50 this just gives zero.

It turns out (and has been known by those who care about these kinds of details) that this is generally not the case for radio frequency power amplifiers.

The point I am making in my article is that it is even more not the case 😊
In general, whether and how waves are reflected or absorbed by the signal source can not only depend on how much drive the transmitter receives, but also on the relative timing of the wave coming back. 1/n

So I just fired off an article on a fun #electronics #hamradio #physics research side project I'm quite excited about, and to shorten the time waiting for the reviewer feedback, I thought I'd tell y'all broadly what it's about.

It's about reflections in radio systems.

The question I'm addressing is what happens when a transmitter is for example connected to an antenna via a transmission line like a coax cable, but the antenna is somewhat mismatched and some of the energy is reflected at the antenna and coming back towards the transmitter.

The cliché answer would be that a properly power matched transmitter has 50 Ohms of output impedance and thus it will reabsorb all the returned waves. You see, the reflection coefficient formula for a 50 Ohm cable is Gamma=(Z-50)/(Z+50), and for Z=50 this just gives zero.

It turns out (and has been known by those who care about these kinds of details) that this is generally not the case for radio frequency power amplifiers.

The point I am making in my article is that it is even more not the case 😊
In general, whether and how waves are reflected or absorbed by the signal source can not only depend on how much drive the transmitter receives, but also on the relative timing of the wave coming back. 1/n

Tech Minds:
FT2 IS THE FASTEST DIGITAL MODE EVER CREATED!

#ham #radio #SDR #HamRadio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izx6nkLpoOA

Tech Minds:
FT2 IS THE FASTEST DIGITAL MODE EVER CREATED!

#ham #radio #SDR #HamRadio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izx6nkLpoOA