Issue 44 January 17th, 2015

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Ham radio to FCC: don't let Marriott mess with our bands!
Amateur radio operators are weighing in on the hotel industry's petition to the Federal Communications Commission asking for authority to "manage" Wi-Fi hot spots used by hotel patrons.
Radio Survivor

RadioShack prepares bankruptcy filing
Struggling electronics chain, in talks with lenders, could file as soon as next month.
MarketWatch

ARES volunteers in Ohio activate following loss of 911 services
Communication was established on 75 meters with several county Emergency Coordinators. The EOC also was able to link up with the Stark County 2 meter repeater, some 135 miles away.
ARRL

Adjusting Baofeng squelch, first results
The actual effect on the squelch varies from model to model. The UV-82 and GT-5 for example stay more sensitive than the Sainsonic GT-3/MKII/TP versions.
PD0AC

Minimodem: General-purpose software audio FSK modem
Minimodem is a command-line program which decodes (or generates) audio modem tones at any specified baud rate, using various framing protocols.
Kamal Mostafa

Where cellular networks don't exist, people are building their own
Ninety thousand of the town's pesos—a bit over $6,000—are invested in the equipment lashed to the top of the tower, in a town where many residents get by on subsistence agriculture.
Wired

What you should know about getting an FCC license for flying FPV
Don’t let getting a Ham license stop your FPV ambitions. Getting a license is easy, and maybe even a little bit fun.
Jamie and Adam Tested

Bouncing a signal through the NO-44 satellite
Just recently, Patrick has been experimenting sending APRS packets through the old NO-44 satellite.
amateurradio.com

Why OS X?
I usually have about 30 seconds to convince the other radio amateur that Amateur Radio on OS X is a viable and worthwhile endeavor.
Mac Ham Radio

Crowdsourcing yields a more accurate picture of rainfall and snowfall
Citizen scientists involved with the CoCoRaHS project advance their knowledge of atmospheric science while reporting precipitation data that is used by the National Weather Service and other agencies
National Science Foundation

This phone charger will wirelessly keylog your boss
Arduino tool sniffs wireless Microsoft keyboards
The Register

Receiving the FO-29 amateur satellite with RTL-SDR
In this video YouTube user Roland Zurmely (PY4ZBZ) shows communications with the FO-29 amateur satellite using his RTL-SDR and a 6 element UHF Yagi antenna.
rtl-sdr.com

SkyPi-40: SDR for Raspberry Pi
SkyPi-40 features synthesized digital QRP operation over the entire 40 meter band. Evolving open-source software already supports: WPSR, RTTY, and CW.
RadWAV

WaveGuide: Real-time HF propagation conditions for iOS
Utilizing data from popular DX clusters like PSK Reporter, DX Watch, and Reverse Beacon Network, WaveGuide plots real-time propagation conditions on a global map.
WW1X

On the effectiveness of aluminium foil helmets: An empirical study
We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals using a $250,000 network analyser.
MIT

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by KK4HSX. Thank you for reading. 73