Issue 53 March 21st, 2015

Colorado Governor signs Amateur Radio antenna bill into law
Friday the 13th turned out to be a lucky day for Colorado hams, as Gov John Hickenlooper signed into law an Amateur Radio antenna bill that mirrors the PRB-1 federal pre-emption policy.
ARRL

The tallest towers in the world
Name the tallest structures in the world. You're almost certainly not thinking of TV towers. But dozens of nearly anonymous towers around the United States, most in small rural communities, dwarf all but the tallest man-made structures in the world.
Medium

Strongest geomagnetic storm of Solar Cycle 24
It didn't take long for the VHF bands to start filling up with auroral signals as 6m diehards soon discovered that something was amiss.
VE7SL

Ubuntu Hams
The Ubuntu Hams Team exists to bring together Amateur Radio Operators and developers of Amateur Radio packages who use Ubuntu.
Ubuntu

Why you should learn to love Ham Radio
When I joined as a squeaky-voiced 12-year-old in the 1990s, it was like discovering the Internet before the Internet.
PopularMechanics

TNC-Pi: TNC-X for Raspberry Pi
TNC-Pi is a special version of TNC-X designed to interface directly with the Raspberry Pi computer. It can connect to the Pi either via the Pi's serial port, or via the I2C protocol.
TNC-Pi

FUNcube team has received two million packets of telemetry data
FUNcube-1 (AO-73) was launched on November 21, 2013 and since then radio amateurs and schools have been receiving the telemetry packets and passing them to AMSAT UK.
AMSAT UK

Minimalist VHF Software Defined Radio
Our next step will be to mix this signal to VHF and add a PA to produce 1 Watt of signal on 2M, to support our VHF FreeDV work. Please contact us if you can help us with a VHF PA design!
Rowetel

1st contact as a licensed Ham made via satellite
There probably are not any other 8 year olds who can claim that!
Vimeo

Tower demolition
This video features the demolition of a 300' cable head end tower in Jackson, MN. Built in 1953, it did not want to fall over.
YouTube

RUMlogNG now available
RUMlogNG is the next-generation of Thomas' (DL2RUM) excellent RUMlog logging software and incorporates logging, rig control, Winkey support, DX Cluster, LoTW/eQSL/Clublog, support for HamQTH or QRZ.com XML lookups, award tracking, QSL printing, integration with Fldigi for digital modes, and much more.
Mac Ham Radio

CQmaps: Professional maps for Amateur Radio
At CQmaps, you will find that all the maps offered have been drafted with the utmost care and precision gained from 10 years of experience as a Geographic Information System (GIS) Analyst and cartographer.
CQmaps

Baofeng FF-12P (UV-5X)
A clip on YouTube suggested that the UV-5X / FF12P scans faster. This proves to be true: the FF-12P outperforms all other Baofeng radios I own, including the GT-3 Mark II. Scan speed is about 5-6 channels/sec.
PD0AC

SSTRAN AMT3000 AM transmitter kit
The AMT3000 can be configured to work with the supplied simple wire antenna, which will essentially broadcast AM to radios throughout your home, or it can be configured for a Part 15 compliant outdoor base-loaded vertical antenna which will extend your range up to 3/4 of a mile, should your shack be down the road or in an outbuilding.
The SWLing Post

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