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RFC Show Notes Episode 050

00:00 Notice HR-607 has been introduced into Congress which will reallocate most of the 440MHz amateur radio band to Public Safety broadband network. Please read this and take action! 02:04 Song “Dropping Out of School” by Brad Sucks, from the album “Out of It”. 04:20 Introduction In the studio to answer a lot of feedback…

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Danger! Spectrum threat to 70 cm band

From:ARRL Members Only Web site www.arrl.org> To: andycarstarphen@yahoo.com Sent: Wed, March 2, 2011 7:26:30 PM Subject: March FLASH Newsletter Attention all Radio Amateurs! A FLASH message from the West Gulf Division Director, David Woolweaver, K5RAV Your assistance to defend one of our amateur bands is urgently requested. Please read and follow through on the requested…

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What is the point in being a good Ham any way?

I was thinking about my amateur radio experiences over the years and things I have done to improve my skills and knowledge of amateur radio and it dawned on me “what is the point of being a good Ham anyway?” I will give you a good example from my own experience. I have tried nearly…

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LHS Episode #057: Fumbling Your Foo Dog

In this very late episode, Linux in the Ham Shack gets back to some basics. For those listeners who haven’t been around ham radio that much, we take a look at some of the basic concepts of radio communication. Then, we get all up in arms about how long our…antennas are. Explore with us some […]

Linux Mint 7 – Refreshing!

This is a Repost of an article by Bill KA9WKA. Enjoy. Let me start with a few disclaimers:  I like Red Hat and it’s various derivatives.  I’ve never much cared for Debian, and I still think Ubuntu is a bit over-rated. And, I’m not a Gnome fan; I like KDE.  I know why I have…

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What good is a packet BBS

I was watching the tweets go by on Twitter the other day and somebody ask the question “ What good is a packet BBS anyway”. That makes me a little sad. When I was freshly licensed Packet was the king of digital modes on VHF and above. It was also one of the top three…

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What the Heck is NTS?

This is the second in a series of Articles I am writing to try and demystify emergency and disaster communications. This time we will talk a little about the National Traffic System. What is the National Traffic System? The Public Service Communications Manual tells us: “The National Traffic System is a means for systematizing amateur…

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RFC Show Notes Episode 049

00:08 Opening Theme “Hand-Picked” by John Williams, from the album “Long Ride Home” 01:01 Introduction This episode recorded while mobile. 01:50 Announcements Note the new website address is http://rfpodcast.info/Podcast. While you’re there, click the Amazon link for your purchases there, as that helps support the podcast. No feedback this episode as we’re mobile. 02:30 Topic…

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What the heck is ARES?

This is the first of what I hope will be a series of articles to try and cover the basics of the three heads of public service communications. ARES, NTS, and RACES all have their strengths and weakness. Hopefully these articles will help you to understand how these three heads function as one to cover…

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So that’s you best argument against D-Star?

I like D-Star. I have found it very useful for some of my amateur radio work. The biggest argument I hear about D-Star is that it is proprietary. The codec is locked down so nobody can use it. The chips can’t be obtained. The radios cant be worked on and they are over priced. I…

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