# yak (audio feeds) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 1 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover yak. Page: Feed: --- ## [Give yourself a break!](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260816.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-08-15 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Over the past weeks, actually, probably months, the push to talk button on the radio I use for my weekly discussion net has been acting up. In the middle of an over it would sometimes cut-out for no particular reason. Being mindful and pushing harder didn't seem to make a blind bit of difference and no amount of fiddling with the cable helped either. Today I finally… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260816.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Emergency response reality check](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260809.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-08-08 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Recently I explored the nature of amateur radio emergency response. I received a few replies providing an insight into the on the ground reality and it encouraged me to dig into this a little more. I'll start with some context. Early in my amateur adventures I became aware of the Wireless Institute of Australia's efforts in encouraging people to become familiar with… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260809.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [An emergency response](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260802.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-08-01 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Previously I've talked about one of the often lauded cornerstones of the amateur radio community, namely Emergency Response, and to be frank, I questioned then, as I do now, the reality of this, at the very least, perceived, foundational aspect of our global hobby. Before you get out the caps lock key, let me assure you that I'm aware of sporadic examples of heroic… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260802.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [CME, Wind, Flares, Flux and Geomagnetic Storms .. say what?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260726.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-07-25 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio When the Sun burps, something that it does regularly, the mainstream media starts talking about aurorae and optionally the end of the civilised world, not always as clinically as that. What's not talked about, let alone explained, is the nature of the solar burp. You've likely heard the terms Coronal Mass Ejection, or CME, Solar Flare and perhaps Solar Wind, Solar and… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260726.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [The power of patience and pacing](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260719.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-07-18 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio One of the more, let's call it challenging, skills to learn in amateur radio is the pace of the process. For many new amateurs I meet, face-to-face, on-air or online, the excitement to get started, to get on-air, to make a contact, to do something, anything, is contagious. It's absolutely delightful to hear the reports of victory and triumph in the face of adversity,… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260719.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [The things you hear when you least expect it.](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260712.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-07-11 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day a friend of mine mentioned in passing that they'd hooked their Home Assistant dashboard to an RTL-SDR dongle to listen to the various ISM bands. If that sounds like gibberish, let me elaborate. "Home Assistant" is a tool that, among other things, allows you to control devices throughout your house, think lights, vacuum cleaner, air conditioning, and power… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260712.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [What does expertise look like?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260705.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-07-04 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Over the years I've had the opportunity to operate my station with other amateurs in close proximity. From a community perspective, this is loads of fun; from a radio perspective it's been frustrating to put it mildly. For example if you're operating on say 40m and your friends are playing on 20m or 15m, if you're not careful, you'll all end up hating each other at the… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260705.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Failure is a dirty word](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260628.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-06-27 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio It's a curious thing, this hobby of ours, in that the more you want out of it, the more challenging it becomes. For example, you might start your journey with a VHF or UHF handheld radio, sometimes referred to as a Walkie-Talkie or a Handy, and you start listening to the local repeater, or you try to make contact with a friend. Then you discover that it doesn't always… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260628.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Building a new resource: How do you get into Amateur Radio?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260621.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-06-20 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I was asked a question on social media. Having answered this question several times before, I admittedly .. initially .. groaned, then provided the bare bones of a response. A little while later, I recalled that I had provided a detailed response to this same question, as it turns out, five years earlier on a different social media platform, so I added… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260621.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Telling Stories to Strengthen a Community](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260614.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-06-13 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio When was the last time you told a story? The hobby of amateur radio represents as diverse and disparate a group of humanity as I've come across in my life. While that might mark me as living a sheltered existence, I have been around the globe and experienced some of what life celebration looks like. One thing I never tire of is hearing stories from the people I meet,… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260614.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Ultra-Quiet Business Mini (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/v6HkWTqmWebP) _2026-06-13 · **Sponsored**_ Compact business mini, ultra-quiet for focused work. ## [Bald Yak 20: More Pi with the Soap](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260607.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-06-06 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The thing I think I love most about the hobby of amateur radio is the challenges it represents, not in terms of life or emotional ones, though I will admit that there's some of those .. in no small part due to the variety and complexity associated with being human and a member of the community, more in terms of figuring out how stuff works and then how much stuff there… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260607.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Bald Yak 19: SoapyAudio adventures](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260531.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-05-30 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Previously I've talked about a piece of software called SoapyAudio. It's part of the toolkit called SoapySDR which in turn is part of a whole ecosystem called the Pothos framework, coordinated by Pothosware, founded by Josh Blum. I'm mentioning this for two reasons, first to give credit to Josh and the many contributions he has made to the Software Defined Radio… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260531.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Why not use LoTW?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260524.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-05-23 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I witnessed a fellow amateur attempting to guilt another into using LoTW with comments about how their QSO partner would appreciate confirmation via the service, even if they didn't care for it. Before I continue, if you're unfamiliar, when two amateurs make a contact, or a QSO, with each other, then there's generally a log entry at both ends to record… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260524.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Some days are like running in place ...](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260517.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-05-16 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Recently I discovered that the antenna that I had connected to my WSPR or Weak Signal Propagation Reporter beacon was not a 40m antenna, instead, it turns out to be a 15m antenna. The how and why of that mix-up isn't particularly helpful, so instead I set out to remedy the situation. Step one was simple, go into the garage and pull out the antennas and check if I had… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260517.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Keeping track of your adventures](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260510.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-05-09 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio About a year ago I set upon a new adventure, to determine if the dummy load I own, traditionally seen as a device that doesn't emit any RF, to determine if it was in fact imbued with the ability to absorb RF, rather than share it around like an antenna might. At this point you might be shaking your head, but this wasn't embarked upon lightly. I had spent several years… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260510.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Dealing with Complexity](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260503.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-05-02 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Several years ago, I forget exactly when, I was gifted a device called a "Wio Terminal". It's a micro-controller in a box with a screen, buttons, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a boat load of sensors, ports and more. It's intended for experimentation and truth be told, exactly the right gift for a geek like me. It even has rubber feet to stop it from sliding off the desk, well,… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260503.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [What does amateur radio bring to your life?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260426.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-04-25 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I went for a walk around the block for the first time in a while. It's something I did for a time and then for several reasons, mostly to do with health, didn't. For me it's the mental equivalent of having a shower with the added benefit of not having to dry my hair, in other words, it's a place I go to with the intent of generating shower thoughts.… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260426.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [You don't need an excuse to make noise!](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260419.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-04-18 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I came across a post on mastodon.radio by Keith W6KME announcing the resumption of the Micro Field Day, spelled using the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet, Mu. This was news to me, since I didn't know they'd stopped, let alone existed at all. Being the curious type, I stopped to investigate and discovered an initiative that could, and in my not so humble… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260419.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [What's in an S-unit?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260412.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-04-11 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day fellow amateur Randall VK6WR raised an interesting question. Using his HP 8920A RF Communications Test Set, which you might recall from our adventures in measuring radio harmonic power in 2023, that report is on my Github repository, but I digress, Randall wondered if the signal strength he was seeing on several radios were the same and discovered that in… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260412.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Where is the spark .. gap?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260405.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-04-04 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The thing I love most about this amazing hobby of amateur radio is the sheer size of the community and the depth of knowledge that comes with it. Case in point, the other day I mentioned the spark gap transmitter at Grimeton in Sweden. A few hours after releasing my comments into the void I received a message from Paul SA7CND who lives, wait for it, 153 km from the… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260405.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Find it on Amazon (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/AeRWx3O9tB2j) _2026-04-04 · **Sponsored**_ Open the Amazon product listing to see details and availability ## [Bald Yak 18: Everything Everywhere All at Once?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260329.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-03-28 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I was playing around with RDS, or Radio Data System, it's a digital signal that's often embedded in a commercial broadcast FM transmission. Among other things it contains information about the station, its content, frequencies and potentially other useful information, such as traffic alerts. If you recall I've been working on 50 things to do with a… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260329.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Bald Yak 17: Adventures in Radio Data Systems](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260322.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-03-21 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio While spending some quality time discovering what I don't know about GNU Radio, I explored the notion of attempting to at least understand a little more about how an FM signal works. Depending on your background, the letters FM mean different things. In amateur radio it's a way to encode information, generally audio, using something called frequency modulation. Outside… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260322.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Bald Yak 16: How do you decode FM?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260315.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-03-14 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio How do you make a hole? That's a pretty straightforward kind of question, and by the time this sentence is finished, there's going to be at least as many answers as people who considered it. I didn't supply any parameters to this hole, so answers could include shovels, collapsing space, fire, a drill, or any number of other interesting approaches. If I narrowed it down… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260315.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [One step forward ... three steps back.](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260308.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-03-07 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Still excited from my minor victory in discovering a missing puzzle piece associated with the project I'm working on, I spent the past week introducing my head, if not literally, at least figuratively, to the surface of my desk in a traditional head-desk troubleshooting move that you might be familiar with. I suppose it's an improvement on the "Bear with a Toothache"… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260308.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Bald Yak 15, Playing with Radio .. now with software](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260301.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-02-28 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio A little while ago I discussed a lovely article by programmer, artist, and game designer "blinry" called "Fifty Things you can do with a Software Defined Radio". This week it occurred to me that I could use their article as a framework to further explore my Bald Yak project. If you're unfamiliar, the Bald Yak project aims to create a modular, bidirectional and… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260301.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [How to go about documenting your setup?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260222.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-02-21 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio How to go about documenting your setup? Possibly the single most important thing that separates science from "fiddling around" is documentation. Figuring out how to document things is often non-trivial and me telling you that "unless you wrote it down, it didn't happen" only goes so far. If documentation isn't your thing, what about "I broke something and I don't know… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260222.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Transmitting into a dummy load .. for a year .. on purpose.](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260215.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-02-14 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Just under a year ago I started an experiment. I set-up a beacon for WSPR, or Weak Signal Propagation Reporter, transmitting at 200 mW into a dummy load using eight bands between 80m and 10m. I also set-up an RTL-SDR dongle, connected to an external 20m HF antenna and made it monitor 18 amateur bands between 630m and 23cm. I left this running 24/7 for most of the year,… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260215.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [How to become a radio amateur today?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260208.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-02-07 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day a fellow amateur revealed that they qualified for membership of the QWCA, the Quarter Century Wireless Association .. twice over .. there may have been some innocent whistling involved. During the ensuing discussion it emerged that it all started with a crystal radio set built together with dad, which triggered a whole lot of memories and made me consider… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260208.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Building a shack: Part 8 - Will it ever end?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260201.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-01-31 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Building a shack makes a number of assumptions about your situation and to make it abundantly clear, it's not the only way to enjoy the hobby of amateur radio. Visiting clubs locally and remotely, being a member of a club, visiting other amateurs, setting up your station in a suitcase or a backpack, on a bicycle, in a car, on a bus, or in a boat are some of the many… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260201.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Building a shack: Part 7 - Powering your shack](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260125.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-01-24 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio On your amateur radio journey, you'll likely discover that many transceivers run on 13.8 volt DC, give or take. For example my FT-857d requires 13.8 volt plus or minus 15 percent, with a negative ground, and a current draw of 22 ampere, more on that later. In other words, the power supply needs to be between about 11.7 and 15.9 volts, the same voltage that runs most… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260125.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Home Internet From Space (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/uWOu9614ebAJ) _2026-01-24 · **Sponsored**_ Residential satellite internet that brings connectivity to homes beyond conventional networks ## [Building a shack: Part 6 - Noise](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260118.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-01-17 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Noise la la la la la hinders if I were a rich man effective a noise annoys an oyster communication but a noisy noise annoys an oyster more. Or said differently, when you're trying to communicate, something that the hobby of amateur radio does in spades, you'll need to deal with a phenomenon called noise. This noise comes in different forms, but the effect is the… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260118.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Building a shack: Part 5 - Antenna Shenanigans](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260111.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-01-10 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Putting your station together is best described as a juggling act, since you'll discover that everything depends on everything else and the more you plan, the more you learn and the more variables become apparent, none more so than with the selection of an antenna. Antennas are endlessly variable. To give you a taste, imagine a loop of wire, shaped like a circle. As… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260111.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Building a shack: Part 4 - coaxial cable alternatives](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260104.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2026-01-03 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio When you start the process of getting your hobby off the ground, either for the first time, or after a hiatus, you might be left with the impression that the only way to "do amateur radio" is to have a shack, a place where you can set-up your gear, and connected to that gear using coax, one or more antennas. While that's a common scenario, it's not the only one at your… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20260104.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Building a shack: Part 3 - the ingress of coaxial cable](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251228.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-12-27 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio One of the potentially trickier aspects of putting together your shack is connecting the radio to the antenna. On the face of it, the challenge is limited to making sure that you have mating connectors on both ends, but when you actually start implementing this you'll run into several other considerations. The very first one as I said is the connector. Every amateur… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251228.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Building a shack: Part 2 - How much space do you need?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251221.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-12-20 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio When you start on the journey of putting together a shack, in whatever form that eventually takes, you'll need to figure out how much space is required. Of course, no matter what you choose, it's never enough, but you have to start somewhere. Ultimately a shack is a work in progress. As an aside, I'm using the word "shack", but that is really an amateur concept, so… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251221.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Building a shack: Part 1 - Setting the Scene](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251214.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-12-13 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Recently it occurred to me that I haven't been using HF in my shack for much longer than I'd care to admit. Over the years I've spoken about my shack and how it's set-up, more on that shortly. I effectively went off-air when I decommissioned the computer that was running tools like "fldigi" and "WSJT-X". Mainly because it was too slow, for example, taking a good minute… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251214.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Bald Yak 14, choices and software flexibility](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251207.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-12-06 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Let's start with an observation, I'm a geek, have been all my life. Since my early teenage years that evolved as a predilection for computing. As you might already know, I became a radio amateur to essentially get away from computing. The reality turned out to be something else entirely. I discovered that the time of combining radio and computing had already begun when… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251207.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [I have a problem .. with logging.](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251130.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-11-29 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The first step in solving any problem is recognising that there is one. In my case the name of that problem is "logging". Specifically the storage and collection of my amateur radio contact logs. Just to be clear, the actual process of logging is fraught .. what do you log, as in, which pieces of information are germane to the purpose of logging, do you log your own… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251130.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [How to make our hobby and community resilient?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251123.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-11-22 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I was stuck in traffic behind a vehicle proudly proclaiming that it was "electric". I'd seen the model before, just never connected it with being available as an EV. I wondered how many other cars on the road turned out to have added an "electric" option to their line-up and how that evolution had just quietly, inexorably occurred. It started me thinking… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251123.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [A new year with new services to the public .. in 1905](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251116.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-11-15 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Recently I spent some quality time digging into the origins of a word in common use. In doing so, I contacted the Postal Museum in the United Kingdom and received a lovely reply that included a photo of a document in their archive. The document, a Post Office Circular from Friday, December 30, 1904, number 1641, introduces a new service offered by the Post Office. Let… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251116.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [What do you call that .. radio?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251109.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-11-08 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio If you use a word often enough it starts to lose its meaning. The other day, during breakfast, well, coffee, whilst playing one of our start-the-day with a smile word games, the word "RADIO" turned up. I grinned and pointed out that this was my favourite word, to which my partner mentioned that in Italian, it's referred to as "La Radio", which made us both wonder where… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251109.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [On the origins of the RF circulator](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251102.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-11-01 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Recently I explored the use of a radio device aptly described by a fellow Aussie Electronics Engineer, "ozeng", as "Absolute witchcraft." .. I'm talking about an "RF circulator", one of which is sitting quietly on my desk, roughly 60 mm square, 30 mm thick, weighing in at just under half a kilogram, unexpectedly with a 200 year history. Let the spelunking commence ..… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251102.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Going around in circles, one-way.](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251026.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-10-25 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I saw a post by fellow amateur Gary N8DMT who mentioned an "RF circulator" and a PlutoSDR in the same sentence. Amplified by a response from a fellow Aussie Electronics Engineer, "ozeng", who helpfully added a link to a Wikipedia article about circulators, it finally twigged that I had such a gadget in my possession and for the first time I realised how I… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251026.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Bald Yak 13, Monitoring the Sun .. small steps](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251019.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-10-18 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I received an email from Frank K4FMH asking me about an idea I'd worked on some time ago, namely the notion that I might monitor solar flux at home using a software defined radio. At the time I was attempting to get some software running on my PlutoSDR and got nowhere fast. Before I continue, a PlutoSDR, or more formally an ADALM Pluto Active Learning… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251019.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [When your hobby revolves around electricity ...](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251012.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-10-11 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I went on my first POTA or Parks On The Air adventure, this time I was on my own. If you recall, my power company announced yet another planned network outage and I felt that I could use this time without electricity to my benefit, for a change. As is traditional, I did all the prior planning to prevent pretty poor performance. I made a list, checked that… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251012.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Preparing for an outing](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251005.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-10-04 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio Recently my local power company notified me of a planned network outage, that's code for, we're turning off the power and your choice is to deal with it. If you've been paying attention, you'll note that this is not the first time this has happened in recent times. On this occasion I want to make a difference and actually use the day wisely. Coincidentally, the 750th… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20251005.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Where is the fun in that?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20250928.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-09-27 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The pursuit of amateur radio is a glorious thing. On the face of it you're forgiven if you think of it as a purely technical endeavour. Far be it for me to dissuade you from that notion, but permit me to expand into other areas that rarely get a mention when we discuss this amazing hobby. It's the place where you go to communicate with other people, who live a… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20250928.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Playing with Radio](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20250921.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-09-20 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I came across an article written by programmer, artist, and game designer "blinry" with the intriguing title: "Fifty Things you can do with a Software Defined Radio". Documenting a weeks' worth of joyous wandering through the radio spectrum it explains in readily accessible terms how they used an RTL-SDR dongle to explore the myriad radio transmissions… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20250921.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [Amateur Radio has literally changed my world view](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20250914.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-09-13 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I went for a walk, I know, shock-horror, outside, daylight, nature, the whole thing, in a local national park, for the first time in too many years. Almost immediately I noticed that this would be an excellent location for an activation. If you're not familiar, it's an amateur radio excuse to set-up a portable station in a new location, in this case,… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20250914.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3) ## [How small is small?](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20250907.foundations-of-amateur-radio.txt) _2025-09-06 · Foundations of Amateur Radio_ Foundations of Amateur Radio I've owned a Yaesu FT-857d radio since becoming an amateur and at the time I was absolutely blown away by how much radio fits inside the box. It's smaller than most of the commercial radios I'd seen when I bought it. I came across a video by Michael KB9VBR, the other day showcasing a wooden cigar box with a complete, well, almost complete POTA, or Parks On The Air,… [Listen](http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/20250907.foundations-of-amateur-radio.mp3)