I found a good website full of short tutorials on a wide variety of electronics and communications topics.  It's by Ian Poole G3YWX, a prolific author of electronics books.  Good educational reading material to browse while were "staying home".  Just as an example, I think his articles on propagation give a nice working-level overview without getting too deep into the physics. 

There's also a shopping page which just links to Amazon.

Here is the URL: https://www.electronics-notes.com/

73
Dave, VE3WI

It's very easy, send email to netmanager@gbarc.ca .

The software Packet-Radio TNC  http://uz7.ho.ua/packetradio.htm

http://uz7.ho.ua/modem_beta/user_guide_v105_EN.pdf

Years ago, it was fun to tinker with packet radio, I liked 300 baud on 80m, I had many qso's keyboard to keyboard, and the great thing about AX.25 is forward error correction or FEC. This means that what you send is retried till the checksum matches and your message is correct and complete. Gene VE3IJD had a packet BBS at his qth in Keady, we were on 2 meters so 1200 baud was used, and the system had a 9600 baud UHF link to Barrie VE3LSR via Bon VY2NX's place in Woodford. It brings back some fond memories.

At the time I had a Kantronics KAM dual port TNC which means I could use an HF rig and an VHF rig at the same time... it could even digipeat from one band to the other and it had a built in mailbox so others could leave messages. 144.390 simplex on vhf.

https://privat.bahnhof.se/wb758759/

Soundmodem

[*]AFSK 300, 600, 1200, 2400 bps
[*](D)BPSK 300, 600, 1200, 2400 bps
[*](D)QPSK 2400, 3600, 4800 bps
[*](D)8PSK 4800 bps

High-Speed Soundmodem

[*]G3RUH 4800, 9600, 19200 bps
[*]Manchester 1200, 2400, 3600, 7200 bps
[*]HAPN 4800 bps
[*]GOMX-1/3, Mobitex-NX (BeeSAT-2/4), AAUSAT-4, LilacSat-2 decoders

FDIM is a QRP conference put on by the QRP Amateur Radio Club Intl.  It's usually held in conjunction with Dayton.  Virtual conference date: Saturday 22 May 2021

Presentations:
Jerry Wolczanski KI4IO - Making an Antenna Coupler
Dr. Jack Purdum W8TEE - How to Select a Microcontroller for a QRP Project
Dave Benson K1SWL - Anatomy of a Transceiver; Building a Better Mousetrap
Han Summers G0UPL - Reach for the Skies: Extreme QRP at 35,000 Feet
Will Jourdain AA4WJ - All about the Icom IC-705
Dino Papas KL0S - Bench Setup Using Inexpensive Test Equipment
Tim Snodgrass KC0DN - Breaking Free of the Sunspot Cycle
Ashhar Farhan VU2ESE - sBITX - An Open Source SDR that YOU can hack!
(This last one should be interesting - Ashhar Farhan designed the BITX series of transceivers)

Registration is $10, registration closes 15 May at midnight CDT.  After you register you will get an email link to join the conference.

URL for registration: http://adatab.duckdns.org/QRPARCI/registration.cfm

73
Dave, VE3WI

Well another Ontario QSO Party is over. Conditions were not the greatest throughout the day but picked up towards the evening. Nothing heard on 15 and 10 and 20 was not the greatest either. Worked Paul VE3PQ on 80 Saturday evening and that was all of GBARC I came across.
Let's hope Field Day will improve although we'll still probably be operating on our own. 
Attached is my final count.

Attached Files

  2021OSO_party.pdf (Size: 7.25 KB / Downloads: 9)

Here is a link I came across on another forum. I don't know if FCC is concerned what goes on on the 27Mhz band but it seems not.
Check it out. https://youtube.com/watch?v=keN3K1TEvzM&feature=share 
I didn't think anyone would even consider building anything like that but I was wrong, there are more videos similar.
So where does FCC stand on that? Is 27 Mhz band self policing or do what you want on there?  

I've had some interesting 2 meter simplex contacts since I was first licensed. This year I promised myself to push the envelope a bit and put up a 2 meter beam antenna. I bought a used tower, which I hope to get up once covid restrictions are lifted and the weather warms, so have now purchased the 2 meter beam as well. The real fun of radio for me is trying new things.

Here's someone who, like me, likes to see how far he can get on 2 meter simplex. Aside from being fun, I think it would be great to establish a 2 meter simplex net. If the repeaters are down we can still talk simplex. If you like the idea send me a private message and we can get something going.

Got a couple of ferrite items from Palomar Engineers.  They included a useful tip sheet on combatting RFI.  It may be useful if you have an RFI problem to beat.  Scanned copy attached. 
73
Dave, VE3WI

Attached Files

  RFI.pdf (Size: 80.22 KB / Downloads: 11)

The embedded link will take you to an article which describes how a casino was hacked using an network / internet connected fish tank thermometer. It's not a joke, in spite of some obvious potential references to something fishy going on the network. However, the hackers made off with a database fully of names and information which should have been private and well secured.

What, you might ask, is the point of posting this story here? Simply put, this story exposes one of the many risks internet security experts must deal with when trying to maintain not only data, but also critical systems. The evolution of the IoT (The Internet of Things) technology can potentially make it easier to monitor and control various devices remotely. As an example of this, our propane tanks have an IoT transmitter that alerts the company when we run low on gas. This then allows them to schedule a fill up. We never have to manually check the tanks or call the company.

Such devices make life easier and more efficient, but they also, as was illustrated by the casino hack attack, offer a backdoor into an otherwise secure system. If then a casino database can be hacked, such an attack could be used to gain critical security information on things like controls for the North American Power Grid. Even a remarkably small point of entry could provide hackers with the ability to do enormous harm.

For those who dismiss the potential danger of  a cyber attack on the power grid, this story should at least give reason for a second thought. In today's connected world, a keyboard could be the most powerful weapon ever used in warfare. Put another way, if fish thermometers are vulnerable, so to might be virtually any system which can be accessed via the internet.

Casino Fish Tank Thermometer Hacked

The net was long at 90 minutes, however it was very enjoyable on this end.  Please give consideration to volunteering for net control duties.  I understand that net control is not for everyone, and therefore you can help by offering up topics for discussion during the net on this forum.  Thank you fellow club members, although I am a new ham and club member, it is great to see the participation on our Wednesday night net.  Stats for check ins - 15 check ins on 2m and another 15 on HF, see below.  Thanks to VA3EZN - Jim for kicking us off and wrapping us up...

Attached Files

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