RAN Technology

Quantum Spectrum - a DSP option for SDRs

and maybe ALL radios (someday)

Documentary features Montana Hams

Build a Digital Oscillator and Complete Tube Transmitter for AM -- The R.A.N. Transmitter

At the Connections Museum in Seattle

the insane telephone technology that led to today's computers

Scranton AT&T Long Lines Microwave Tower

High Speed A/D Conversion in 1965, with a Vacuum Tube!

The Birth, Life, and Death of the Cosmophone

As told by the inventor, Butch Mason W6KAG. Recorded by K6VOI in 1970

Jean Shepard K2ORS, "Ham Radio" (aka "Heising Modulation")

originally broadcast Jan. 29, 1965

NE1S - Larry from Gray, Maine, operating a 1929 Hartley transmitter

Recorded 11/9/19 on 40 meters

Final Call for N8ECR (SK) - Midwest Classic Radio Net 12/8/18

Harry N9CQX and Bill K8DBN

How To Get Tech Help From Strangers On The Internet

Quantum Spectrum - a DSP add-on for low-end SDRs

As one who has been playing with small inexpensive SDRs since the days of the Softrock, I've been amazed by how well the simple yet very effective Quadrature Sampling Detector aka "Tayloe Detector" (named after it's inventor Dan Tayloe) actually works. Using calibrated equipment I've measured the Minimum Detectable Signal (MDS) at -122dBm using the same 3dB ... READ MORE

Posted: 06/159/2022
Comments: 0

WANTED: Bendix 3206

Power Supply/Mod/IF unit This is an odd and unusual piece of gear, it's got IF cans one one end and a dynamotor on the other! It's the back half of the receiver plus power supply and modulator for the Bendix 3801 HF system that was used on aircraft before the switch to VHF. The functions were split between the two units to save panel space. Click the image to e... READ MORE

Posted: 03/88/2022
Comments: 0

New droplet-based electricity generator

A drop of water lights up 100 small LED bulbs A team of engineers has figured out how to take a single drop of rain and use it to generate a powerful flash of electricity. The City University of Hong Kong researchers behind the device, which they're calling a droplet-based electricity generator (DEG), say that a single rain droplet can briefly generate 140 volts. Their findings were published in the latest issue of the highly prestigious ... READ MORE

Posted: 03/83/2022
Comments: 0

Russian soldiers uses Chinese portable radios

Baofung UV-82HP - unencrypted The Russian military has used civilian mobile phones and radios for their communications, including Chinese-made civilian handheld radio, during the ongoing Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.According to Defence-Blog.com, the Russian military is using the BaoFeng UV-82HP radios for communication within the frontline units currently stationed in Ukraine.The Ukrainian military manages to sei... READ MORE

Posted: 02/55/2022
Comments: 0

Amateur radio transmittting suspended in Ukraine

part of a 30 day emergency order Full information hereSee Feb. 27 update HERE.Some webSDRs now blocking the spectrum around UVB-76 to prevent monitoring of it. ... READ MORE

Posted: 02/35/2022
Comments: 0

Local IL Ham featured in newspaper article

W9JC, Freeport IL A former Honeywell work colleague and local ham friend was recently featured in a front-page story in the Freeport Journal StandardJohn does a nice job of explaining the relevance of Ham Radio in the 21st century:“Think about that little cell phone you carry around which is only a radio,” he said. “That all happened in the last 100 years. That’s one lifespan for many people... READ MORE

Posted: 02/33/2022
Comments: 0

This 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

the crystal set of the 21st century? In August, chipmaker Intel evealed new details about its plan to build a “mega-fab” on US soil, a $100 billion factory where 10,000 workers will make a new generation of powerful processors studded with billions of transistors. The same month, 22-year-old Sam Zeloof announced his own semiconductor milestone. It was achieved alone in his family’s New Jersey garage, about 30 miles ... READ MORE

Posted: 12/352/2021
Comments: 0

The Seasons Best Wishes

de KPH Yes, a holiday greeting card from the original KPH, Port Reyes CA. I don't have an exact date but I would guess late 50s or early 60s because it came from the estate of Roger Kaney (SK) who was W9AF when I knew him, but had been W9ZRU previously. Roger was a retired marine radio operator when I met him in the late 80s, and even then would "stand watch" at nigh... READ MORE

Posted: 12/348/2021
Comments: 0

Larry Sabella KA9BQR, SK

known for his trademark hat, a good guy Lawrence “Larry” Joseph Sabella, 84 passed away Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at Serenity Hospice and Home in Oregon, IL. Larry was born on April 26, 1937 to Daniel A. and Jean M. (Konieczka) Sabella in Chicago, IL. In 1961, he married the love of his life, Barbara N. Wise in Maywood, IL. Larry proudly served his county for 5 ½ years as a sergeant in the United States Army and Army... READ MORE

Posted: 12/340/2021
Comments: 0

May all your Christmases glow in the dark!

wishing you a very Mecky Christmas! A dark shot of the John Meck T-60 transmitter provides a warm glow for 2021's Christmas greetings!CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE... READ MORE

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Posted: 09/267/2023
Category: Technical
Comments: 0

Hot to simulate vacuum tubes in LTSpice

LTSice is a powerful simulation tool that is provided free by Linear Technology Corp. It comes with a complete library of passive and common analog solid-state components but if you want to use it to simulate vacuum tubes, it doesen't work as-is. Even though triode and pentode symbols can be found in the "Misc" folder, they are just schematic symbols and... READ MORE

Posted: 07/208/2023
Category: Friends Remembered
Comments: 0

Merv Schweigert, K9FD (SK)

Comments from Robert Nickels W9RAN, July 27, 2023:There is nothing worse for a ham radio operator than to see a beloved friends callsign with the letters "SK" behind them. Yet sadly, that's what happened on July 23, 2023, when I learned of the passsing of Merv Schweigert, K9FD. While many of our ham radio interests were different - Merv was a... READ MORE

Posted: 01/19/2023
Category: Vintage Ham Radio
Comments: 0

"Winter Projects"

I know many of us who enjoy restoring and repairing vintage gear look forward to winter when there is less competition for time and energy, and a chance to really make a dent in our "to be fixed" piles. A couple of years ago I set time aside for "Heathkit Singlebander Week" and went through every one of them I had, with the result that they're all working ... READ MORE

Posted: 11/330/2022
Category: Vintage Ham Radio
Comments: 0

The Galaxy COMM2

Leo Meyerson had been in the ham radio retail and manufacturing business for over 25 years, and by 1970 he was ready to retire. His son took over the WRL distribution and retail business but the Galaxy Electronics manufacturing operation was sold to his long-time friend Andy Andros WØLTE, founder and president of Hy Gain Electronics in nearby Lincoln NE. The CB radio eleme... READ MORE

Posted: 10/304/2022
Category: Historic
Comments: 0

Don Taylor of the Yukon, and the Trappers Sched

Most of the articles on this site are about hams, or ham radio. This one is not about a ham but about a man who built as much a reputation through HF radio as any ham on top of the BPL ever did. Don Taylor is one of those rugged independent-minded people who thrive on a lifestyle most of us couldn't even imagine - as a trapper in Canada's Yukon wildernes... READ MORE

Posted: 09/252/2022
Category: Historic
Comments: 0

KYW-KFKX - Linking Broadcasting Stations by Shortwave

Most radio fans know the history of KDKA but maybe not "the rest of the story".In November 1920 the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company began operation of a radio broadcasting station, KDKA, in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, often described as the "Pioneer Broadcasting Station of the World." KDKA is generally considered to be the first commercially... READ MORE

Posted: 09/251/2022
Category: Historic
Comments: 0

AT&T Scranton LongLines tower

The microwave network constructed by AT&T Long Lines and other telecommunications companies in the past 50 years were engineering masterpieces using state-of-the-art technologies and some were designed to withstand nuclear attack during that Cold War era. This is a non-hardened site on top of a mountain in upstate New York that existed long enough for graffiti taggers t... READ MORE

Posted: 07/183/2022
Category: Vintage Ham Radio
Comments: 0

The Pioneer 530

made by JAARS for Wycliffe Bible Translators In 1917 a missionary named William Cameron Townsend went to Guatemala to sell Spanish Bibles. But he was shocked when many people couldn’t understand the books. They spoke Cakchiquel, a language without a Bible. He believed everyone should understand the Bible, so he started a linguistics school (the Summer Institute of Linguistics, known today as SIL) that trained people to do Bible ... READ MORE

Posted: 05/129/2022
Category: Historic
Comments: 0

The Elgin National Watch Company Time Broadcasts

the story of W9XAM Visitors to the Elgin National Historic area along the Fox River in Elgin Illinois may not realize they are at the site of a famous shortwave radio station - W9XAM - the time signal station operated by the Elgin Watch Company.Elgin was the only watch company maintaining an observatory that observed, recorded and broadcasted time from the stars correct to the hundredths of a second. Located a... READ MORE

Posted: 04/105/2022
Category: Vintage Ham Radio
Comments: 0

The Mosley Commando II

Made in England and scarce even there The Mosley CM-1 receiver is quite well known and not especially hard to find in the US even though it was the only radio produced by the company that has been well-known for antennas since 1939. Or is it...?A full-page ad (advert for you on the other side of the pond) appeared in the RSGB Bulletin in 1963 for a nice looking and very capable SSB transmitter called the "Commando II&... READ MORE

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