aa9pw

New delivery - time to see if we can bring the FT-900 into the 21st century!

With Field Day coming up, I’ve updated the Morse code generator on the website to include an option to practice Callsigns with the field day exchange (class and section) - see screenshot.

The number of transmitters is random (1-20) as is the class (A-F), the section is randomly selected from the appropriate options based on the region of the callsign.

Let me know if this works OK and if it can be improved to be more useful as folks gear up the big event!

Simon.

I’m a great fan of movies and documentaries, I came across this today, I haven’t watched it all yet but so far it is very nicely done and I think it’s going to be a very interesting piece on ham radio as seen through the eyes of various Montana hams.

HAM - Official Documentary (2022) HAM is a short documentary that follows a group of Montanan amateur radio enthusiasts that show the fading but loyal community of amateur radio, explore what...

Very nice article on Morse code in the recent Smithsonian magazine.

Looking to Ditch Twitter? Morse Code Is Back Reviving a 200-year-old system, enthusiasts are putting the digit back in digital communication

I’m in the final stages of some changes to the main AA9PW website, moving it to a different platform and changing (and simplifying) a lot of the underlying code. All the existing content and tools like the Morse generator will still be there, plus it should be a lot faster and more robust (no more Wordpress hacking!).

I’ve put a screenshot of the upcoming home page and a mobile friendly view of the Morse generator page. This should all go live later this week if I can get all the pieces lined up.

Anyway, just a heads up in case you pop in and everything looks different!

Simon.

It seems I’ve had this book for a while! circa 1996 it would seem!

The main AA9PW website may be experiencing some difficulties at the moment - the hosting provider is moving servers and it seems to be messing things up. The main test prep site (app.aa9pw.com) should be working as normal. Hopefully the main website will be back up soon.

AA9PW

Hope everyone is hanging in there given the current situation. Great article from the BBC about how ham radio is helping people stay in touch in the UK.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-52442553

How amateur radio is connecting people during lockdown More people are taking to the airwaves to stay connected. What's the appeal of amateur radio?

I’m making progress on getting things working again and I’m taking the opportunity to update and upgrade some of the underlying tech.

I have amateur practice exams working, I haven’t got the Morse code practice back on line as yet, I’ll look at the Commercial practice exams tomorrow.

Thanks for your patience as I get things back in order, expect things to be in flux over the next few days as I get things connected up and work on the site layout.

Cheers!

Simon, AA9PW

As many have noticed, something changed on the server today and the site is currently down and showing some PHP MySQL errors. I’m aware of the issue and will be looking at it later tonight and hopefully will get things back up soon. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Simon, AA9PW

My apologies for taking so long to do this but the latest Technician question pool is now available on the site. This version came into effect on July 1st 2018 and is valid until June 30th, 2022. The question pool is the most recent NCVEC 2nd errata. Please let me know if there are any issues that crop up with mis-formatted questions or anything else.

Cheers,

Simon, AA9PW.

Happy New Year to everyone, best wishes for 2018 and have a great time on the air!

Ham radio in action in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/27/us/puerto-rico-maria-ham-radio-operators-trnd/index.html

Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico When Hurricane Maria knocked out power and phone services, volunteer "ham" radio operators lept into action to support rescue and recovery communications.

Ham Radio at the Hardrock 100m ultra run in the San Juan mountains of Colorado this weekend.

Hardrock Ham Radio Live Webstream

Latest Extra question pool is now available.

It's taken me a few weeks to get this in place but the most recent extra question pool that went live on July 1st is now available. The figures are unchanged from the previous pool but I've updated them and I think they look a little better than the previous versions.

Let me know if you come across any issues, sometimes the odd question gets messed up on conversion from Word to the file format I use for the site.

Cheers!

Simon, AA9PW.

Happy New Year - I hope everyone has an excellent 2015!

Ham Morse v1.450 is now available in the app store for all your morse code practice needs!

http://ad.apps.fm/IyXuy2FT3dl7SODeqLMi-_E7og6fuV2oOMeOQdRqrE20SJCokXWU5m_TeUewVTKZVR-v-frhq0l0BDb4zaoOD5M147AraQHEENQY7H9KfpUSAjb5aQOHOPFKQxPQhcnE

New features: Support for common accented letters for european users, morse tone now goes down to 220Hz to support studies that have show that using tones in the 250-300Hz range can improve the ability to copy morse code in noisy signal conditions.

Bug fixes - addressed the jittery scrolling issue that appeared with iOS 8.

Ham Morse

New version of Ham Morse is currently under review in the App Store - takes advantage of the larger screen sizes (iPhone5+), has a bug fix for the erratic scrolling seen in iOS8 plus a few other additions (common european characters, wider audio tone range, random blocks of characters have variable lengths).

I'm also getting an initial iPad version ready to go as a 'universal app' (the same app will work on iPod/iPhone and iPad), this is a screenshot of a rough early version. The layout is very similar to the iPhone at this point, I think this will change to make better use of the extra size and functionality on the iPad. My goal at the moment is to get an initial iPad-friendly version available using the current style and then redo both the iPhone and iPad versions to be more in tune with the modern iOS7+ look and feel.

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!

73's, Simon, AA9PW

This article was on the front page of my local newspaper today, great example of ham radio and Colorado's statewide repeater system (http://www.colcon.org) at work:

http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_26198354/boulder-county-hiker-thankful-rescuers-and-ham-radio

Boulder County hiker thankful for rescuers and ham radio operators: 'I was lucky' Boulder resident Bill Eberle has been a licensed ham radio operator since his teen years and says he never goes on a hike into the Colorado wilderness without his portable radio.

I have just updated the Technician question pool to the latest version - valid from July 1st 2014 through June 30th 2018. Please let me know of there are any issues!

Simon, AA9PW.

Morse code wine from Down Under!

I have fixed the 'No Figures' bug which was still returning questions with figures in the Technician Exam - please let me know if anyone notices any further problems.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to my fellow ham radio operators and their families, best wishes for 2014!

The river in downtown Boulder is still very high, lots of silt everywhere.

Great work done by ARES and others around here these past few days.

http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-provides-critical-communication-in-colorado-flooding-response

I came across some old time morse keys at the Greeley Freight Station museum this weekend. Here are a few photos of their HO gauge layout too.