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Skip to primary sidebar Skip to footer HOME Study Guides Teach a One-Day Tech Class W8SRC Repeater Guide Advertise Hire Me Amateur Radio Software Award goes to developers of OpenWebRX and OpenWebRX+ May 10, 2024 By Dan KB6NU 1 Comment The Amateur Radio Software Award (ARSA) committee is pleased to announce that they have selected OpenWebRX , a project led by Jakob Ketterl DD5JFK, and OpenWebRX+ , a project led by Marat Fayzullin KC1TXE, as the winners of the 5th annual Amateur Radio Software Award. The award recognizes software projects that enhance amateur radio and promote innovation, freedom, and openness in amateur radio software development. These projects allow access to radio reception from around the world, whether they are ham operators, shortwave listeners or somebody curious about radio waves. The committee is impressed with the ease of installation, simplicity of use, and overall features that are provided. The history of these projects showcase the benefit of open source software. OpenWebRX was originally created by András Retzler but due to the demands of his career he decided to discontinue its development. Jakob Ketterl took over the OpenWebRX project and continues to maintain and improve OpenWebRX. Marat Fayzullin’s OpenWebRX+ builds on top of Jakob Ketterl’s OpenWebRX adding support for additional communication modes and advanced features. Both projects are currently separate, allowing implementers of hosting sites to choose between the simple core version or the enhanced version, while allowing the developers to focus on their projects goals. Jakob Ketterl plans to use the award money to purchase new hardware for the build system of the OpenWebRX project. Recently he added a number of avionics related modes (ADS-B, VDL2, HFDL), a new decoder for DAB (European digital broadcast standard), the ability to decode RDS / RBDS, and a new experimental data interface in the form of MQTT that is intended to allow third-party processing of the information that is received via OpenWebRX. Marat Fayzullin’s goal for OpenWebRX+ is to support as many communication modes as possible without the need of tweaking multiple pieces of software. In his own words: In a way, I view OpenWebRX+ as a real-life ‘tricorder’ for the radio spectrum.” The ARSA committee is already looking forward to next year’s award and welcomes input and nominations for future awards. Filed Under: Software Tagged With: open source , OpenWebRX , SDR Amateur radio in the news: A teen’s passion for radio, a ham’s view of the Boston Marathon, pico balloon makes it to Italy May 7, 2024 By Dan KB6NU Leave a Comment A Stroudsburg teens’ passion for radio [Stroudsburg, Monroe County, PA (WBRE/WYOU)] In this week’s Here’s to You Kid segment, 28/22 News met a young ham radio operator. It’s not only his hobby, what he does also involves helping save lives. Samuel Thrall, W3GZ, has a passion for radio. 14-year-old Samuel Thrall, W3GZ, is a member of the Eastern Pennsylvania Amateur Radio Association (EPARA.) He passed three levels of the FCC Amateur Radio Licensing exam and now helps at the Monroe County Public Safety Center. What interested him in ham radio in the first place is simple. The scientific aspect of it is very interesting because it’s a technology we use on a daily basis. Our phones are all powered by radio just with computers built into them,” Samuel explained. …read more and watch the video As a ham radio operator, Lacy, of Middleburgh, had interesting perspective on Boston Marathon [Middleburgh, MA] There are an estimated half a million spectators along the Boston Marathon course in any given year. If you’ve run the race, you know what a half-million voices stretched over 26.2 miles of Massachusetts roads sound like. Of the over 9,000 volunteers that work Boston, over 300 serve as the voice of the marathon in their own way, but also serve as the eyes and ears. For the last two years, Matt Lacy of Middleburgh has been one of them. On Monday, he took up his assigned station at Mile 11 as one of the amateur (ham) radio operators who play an important role from start to finish by providing a communication network that supplements the other public safety personnel and resources vital to this massive enterprise. For the ham radio folks, it’s the premiere public service event, the chance for us to get the experience doing one of these events, having to report to whatever levels we need to, working within the confines of whatever section of the course we’re on,” Lacy said on Wednesday. …read more TAG students launch solar-powered balloon [Iowa Falls, IA] Riverbend Middle School TAG (Talented and Gifted) students launched a solar-powered balloon on April 5 from the school, after a presentation and help from amateur ham radio operator Jim Emmert of Pella. The balloon named PENS-p22 traveled across Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, the Atlantic Ocean, Morocco, Algeria the Mediterranean Sea, Italy, and the Adriatic Sea. The pico balloon” launched by the students made it all the way to Italy. I am constantly on the lookout for guest speakers, fascinating projects or unique things that we could learn about,” TAG teacher Amanda Fjeld said. I value exposing students to new topics and projects of any kind. I am constantly brainstorming ideas and often ask others for engaging project ideas. My friend Jen, who is from Pella, told me about Jim’s Solar Balloon program, so I reached out to him. I was especially excited because I lack knowledge in the world of solar technology and weather patterns but want to expose students to more science-related opportunities.” Emmert is a retired teacher who lives in Pella and travels to different schools teaching students about amateur radio, earth science, balloons, and GPS technology. He also launches Pico balloons and gives predictions and tracking to the students. Our students spent about three hours on the morning of April 5 learning and launching the balloon,” Fjeld said. It was one of the few times I have had all of the students in TAG in 6th, 7th and 8th grade come together on one project, so it was encouraging to see them interact and work together.” …read more Filed Under: Amateur Radio in the News , Emergency Communications / Public Service , Kids Tagged With: balloon , Boston Marathon , IA , MA , PA Operating Notes: The sun giveth and the sun taketh away May 6, 2024 By Dan KB6NU Leave a Comment The good news about this point in the sunspot cycle is that the sun is more active, meaning that in general, band conditions are pretty good. Except when they’re not. According to the NOAA : There are several types of space weather that can impact HF radio communication. In a typical sequence of space weather storms, the first impacts are felt during the solar flare itself. The solar x-rays from the sun penetrate to the bottom of the ionosphere (to around 80 km). There the x-ray photons ionize the atmosphere and create an enhancement of the D layer of the ionosphere. This enhanced D-layer acts both as a reflector of radio waves at some frequencies and an absorber of waves at other frequencies. The Radio Blackout associated with solar flares occurs on the dayside region of Earth and is most intense when the sun is directly overhead. This seems to be happening frequently in the last week or so. You can go to the NOAA site or SolarHam to learn more than you probably want to know about this. Radio blackouts are no fun, but they’re especially disappointing if you’ve hauled your gear out for a POTA activation. I went up to the Island Lake Recreation Area (US-3315) on Saturday afternoon and fought the conditions for a while. I was also competing for calls from the Indiana , New England , and 7th Call Area QSO parties. I started out on 20 meters, but after making only five contacts, I decided to try 17 meters, where I was able to scratch out a couple more. I then tried...