amateur radio Articles


License to talk upgraded

After nearly 20 years with a Technician class ham license, I've finally taken (and passed) the test to upgrade my license to General class. Next step is to try for my Extra class in an attempt to upgrade before my 20th anniversary as a ham next year.

CW beats SMS (that's Morse code beats Texting)

It's been a while since I posted anything to the HAM section of this site, so I'm happy to pass on this story from Make:Blog about a contest held on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno putting CW (Morse code) against SMS (cell-phone short-message service). Not surprising to people …


Boeing granted spectrum by ITU for Connexion

A press release from Boeing announces that the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) has extended acceptable use of existing spectrum so that the company may use it for their Connexion high-speed internet services for aircraft. The ITU has extended the secondary mobile satellite service allocation at 14-14.5GHz to include aeronautical …

DirecTV/Dish get $180M in anticipated damages

In what may be a first, the Orlando Sentinel reports that a Sacramento, CA man has been found guilty of attempting to defraud DirecTV and Dish through scheming to sell satellite decoding equipment. The amazing thing is that he will be paying back a $180M settlement at $500/month for …

Google suit dismissed on first amendment grounds

An article in CNET reports that the lawsuit by rival search advertising seller SearchKing has been thrown out of court. The suit contended that Google had intentionally removed links from the sites that SearchKing is trying to draw traffic to and that this was somehow illegal. The court, however, found …

Thank heavens for uncommon names

I've always liked my name. First, lots of people compliment it. Second, everybody remembers it (although this is a distinct disadvantage when I can't remember their names). But, now I can add a new reason: it's such an uncommon name, there are no terrorists with it and I am therefore …


EchoMac brings EchoLink to the mac

For Amateur Radio enthusiasts who are interested in communicating using voice over the internet, check out EchoMac from Dog Park Software. It integrates with the EchoLink service (available for PCs originally) and seems to work pretty well. Particularly nice for those of us wimps who only have our technician's license …