Is there any HAM/Amateur Radio operator on TDF ??

[desai_amogh]

I was just wondering.. With so many techies on TDF, Is there any HAM / Amateur Radio operators here??

 

[RCuber]

I dont think there is anyone in TDF, I have been a member since 2003, but do not recall anyone mentioning Ham/Amature Radio in here. I did look into some info in college days but never got pulled into it.

 

[icebags]

i don't think there is, but i may try to get a ham license in future, even though not sure what to do with it.

 

[desai_amogh]

i don't think there is, but i may try to get a ham license in future, even though not sure what to do with it.

may be couple of last posts will help you what to do with it:
*forum.digit.in/graphic-cards/197946-fhd-question-vga-vs-hdmi-2.html#post2293982

 

[icebags]

well, i live in the 1st floor of a multistory apartment. so, if i go to roof and hang my wires for antenna purposes, its highly likely that other inhabitants will chase me out. :angry_NF:

besides that, chatting around the world is not actually a problem as long as the internet works. :grin_NF:

 

[desai_amogh]

well, i live in the 1st floor of a multistory apartment. so, if i go to roof and hang my wires for antenna purposes, its highly likely that other inhabitants will chase me out. :angry_NF:

besides that, chatting around the world is not actually a problem as long as the internet works. :grin_NF:

I too live in one and just moved from 1st floor to 3rd floor.. still have multiple antennas mounted. Internet and chatting is always there. Radio is a hobby. Just like ppl ride on bullets to Leh while flights are cheaper n safe..

 

[icebags]

right. thats why i want to get the license at some point of time, but i will probably never be able to invest on something like that bigazz rt set you have.

i wish our flat was on the topside of the building, then at least i could lay some wires on the west side , parallel to windows, without bothering the people on roof.

 

[desai_amogh]

right. thats why i want to get the license at some point of time, but i will probably never be able to invest on something like that bigazz rt set you have.

i wish our flat was on the topside of the building, then at least i could lay some wires on the west side , parallel to windows, without bothering the people on roof.

lol. I tell you [MENTION=44484]icebags[/MENTION] that set was a dream fulfilled after a decade. I have been making home brewed transceivers costing as little as thousand bucks and making contacts to Russia, gulf n many European countries. you can build CW n digital stuff and talk to Indians and neighbors for very cheap.. like 100 bucks n all . People push to extrems and make contacts to Antarctica n all on digital at 10 mili watt power, that's another face of the hobby.

I know some guys who make this stuff so well that they'll put the Icoms n Yeasu to shame. I am currently working on a Software Defined radio transceiver, if it works, it will be like owning one of the BEST transceivers in the world and costing 10% the cost of buying same grade commercial equipment.

For the antenna part, you can put up stealth single wire antennas from your window too. There are so many options available to hide antennas. For almost initial few years I just had a wire running around inside my room and listened in to so many countries and did a lot of stuff.

 

[icebags]

thats nice. have you tried connecting to one of those ham satellites isro launching these days ?

 

[Vyom]

ISRO launching satellites for ham radios?!!

I am living under a rock.

 

[desai_amogh]

A lot of people think HAM is an old hobby, but that's not true. There is a lot and lot happening in the digital domain. SDRs is one big part of it.

ISRO launched 2 satellites a month ago for Hams. One was MADE by CoEP (Pune) and other made by Sathyabama University (Chennai). There are numerous HAM radio satellite projects launched every other month all around the world. AMSAT is sucha a dedicated project. I am not a lot into satellites. I actually started this hobby with capturing weather images from NOAA satellites a decade ago. I still love capturing those images at the start of monsoon when the clouds are moving up north, its very beautiful. I have heard the CoE Pune satellite signal a couple of times. Many of my friends capture images transmitted by ISS all the time. Tracking and communicating to and through satellites itself is a big part of hobby for some.

I'm into homebrewing alot (making equipment at home, you can use to talk to people). I like to make things using least possible resources (parts, stuff scavenged from junk, etc) I also have a thing for High end SDR projects (I am already working on one). I also like making DX (stands for distant) contacts. Also into weak signal propagation.

BTW, i heard couple of days ago that the space craft to Jupitor called JUNO too had a contact with Amateur radio operators from earth.

Did you know, the MH370's last signals were captured/decoded or recovered by a company/software run/made by an Amateur radio operator. Infact, you can track any aircraft right now going above your head to around 60-80 kms distance. I have done that too

There is really a lot going on in this hobby, a lot more than I can write here, you can realize only when you dive into it.

 

[Vyom]

A lot of people think HAM is an old hobby, but that's not true. There is a lot and lot happening in the digital domain. SDRs is one big part of it.

ISRO launched 2 satellites a month ago for Hams. One was MADE by CoEP (Pune) and other made by Sathyabama University (Chennai). There are numerous HAM radio satellite projects launched every other month all around the world. AMSAT is sucha a dedicated project. I am not a lot into satellites. I actually started this hobby with capturing weather images from NOAA satellites a decade ago. I still love capturing those images at the start of monsoon when the clouds are moving up north, its very beautiful. I have heard the CoE Pune satellite signal a couple of times. Many of my friends capture images transmitted by ISS all the time. Tracking and communicating to and through satellites itself is a big part of hobby for some.

I'm into homebrewing alot (making equipment at home, you can use to talk to people). I like to make things using least possible resources (parts, stuff scavenged from junk, etc) I also have a thing for High end SDR projects (I am already working on one). I also like making DX (stands for distant) contacts. Also into weak signal propagation.

BTW, i heard couple of days ago that the space craft to Jupitor called JUNO too had a contact with Amateur radio operators from earth.

Did you know, the MH370's last signals were captured/decoded or recovered by a company/software run/made by an Amateur radio operator. Infact, you can track any aircraft right now going above your head to around 60-80 kms distance. I have done that too

There is really a lot going on in this hobby, a lot more than I can write here, you can realize only when you dive into it.

Wow man... That was a very interesting and insightful post!!
Thanks for sharing.

 

[desai_amogh]

Wow man... That was a very interesting and insightful post!!
Thanks for sharing.

I have been on this forum for a long time.. and just realized the other day, that with so many techies, there could be some who are into this stuff too.

 

[icebags]

There is really a lot going on in this hobby, a lot more than I can write here, you can realize only when you dive into it.

these satellites are somehow access restricted to hams, or free broadcasts ? i guessed people would not require a license for receiving stuff.

what antenna you use to link with the sats, a normal doordarshan / dth antenna does work ?

edit: read the link, thanks.
plz post a few more of those beautiful pics, if you may.

Wow man... That was a very interesting and insightful post!!
Thanks for sharing.

i have faith in you dear, if you want, you may open a satellite linking station at your home. :smile_NF:

 

[desai_amogh]

these satellites are somehow access restricted to hams, or free broadcasts ? i guessed people would not require a license for receiving stuff.

what antenna you use to link with the sats, a normal doordarshan / dth antenna does work ?

edit: read the link, thanks.
plz post a few more of those beautiful pics, if you may.

HAM Sats are not access restricted. One can not transmit anything access restricted on Amateur radio bands. Most of these Sats are research and learning Nano or Micro Sats. For students and others to learn the tech. Some are dedicatedly created by some countries (Hams there) for HAMs to communicate over vast regions, to create backup links in case of emergencies (like what happened in Chennai, Nepal, Latur, etc). Amateur radio is used a lot across the world for emergency communication when most other modes fail, not a lot in India though as Army is posted immediately in such situations and impacts are not as frequent and large compared to Storms in US, etc. But Its picking up in India too these days.

No, You dont need license to receive. only Transmission requires License.

About Antennas. I use a VHF Ground Plane all the time, Its always there on my terrace. I use it for all kind of VHF comm activities I do. Sat communication needs different antennas for better results. I make all the antennas I need. I made a QFH antenna specifically for NOAA weather sat reception. But its parked since I moved few months ago. This was made using simple cable tv cable and PVC water pipes. I also made a Slim-Jim portable antenna using an old tv cable (flat type, used for doordarshan in early days) from junk. Making antennas itself is a big part of hobby for some

This article appeared in one site just couple days ago about our club activities in Pune. Many students who were actually part of the CoE SAT are part of our club (its just a an informal group, we do have namesake officials like president and all, im too some official but cant remember the post now . Its a hobby only)

i have faith in you dear, if you want, you may open a satellite linking station at your home. :smile_NF:

I dont think its possible to make a satellite linking station for you guys. but there are some options. You can track satellites using softwares like Orbitron or This website and then receive/listen to their signals using WEBSDRs. Its like a radio and antenna setup in US or Russia or some country and you hear the signal in India. through the internet. This is just the tip of digital domain/technology I was talking about in earlier posts.

This FB group here has regular weather satellite image postings by many hams around the world. Look for posts from MAX VAT my friend Mahesh Vhatkar (VU2IIA) has a setup in Mumbai (i believe) for automated capture and posting for these images from satellite while they pass over his QTH (his home location). He also has a dropbox folder to auto upload this images, but i couldn't find it just now. He also auto-posts these images on Mumbai hams yahoo group.

There are so many websdrs around the globe, one is in India too at websdr.in. ON right now. Not all the websdrs have 2 meter (VHF band) reception capabilities, but few do and you can track the Indian satellites (using their LAT/LONG) and listen when the sat passes over the websdr location. other SDRs you can listen to hams talking, transmitting images, chatting doing propagation reporting and other stuff on different bands.

sorry if im putting too much info around here. too much reading and writing. . But this is really to the point. Bandwidth wastage he he

 

[icebags]

I dont think its possible to make a satellite linking station for you guys.

well, he can at least link NOAA weather sat for some weather forecast pictures, using your QFH antenna, only if he moves that big weight of his. this is kind of half linking, isn't it.

i actually thought of listening to stuff before, but the thought of winding coils makes me sick. first because i am not sure where to get those insulated wires & cores at reasonably cheap prices, and next i don't have an inductance meter yet.

so, how do you make your filters and where you get the ingredients from ?

 

[desai_amogh]

well, he can at least link NOAA weather sat for some weather forecast pictures, using your QFH antenna, only if he moves that big weight of his. this is kind of half linking, isn't it.

i actually thought of listening to stuff before, but the thought of winding coils makes me sick. first because i am not sure where to get those insulated wires & cores at reasonably cheap prices, and next i don't have an inductance meter yet.

so, how do you make your filters and where you get the ingredients from ?

I think He's already got his own QFH antenna in Mumbai. He cant use my QHF antenna, there is now way transfer the signal from my QFH antenna to his receiver setup. I dont thing I fully understood what you meant by half linking.

For Coils, first of all you dont need to wind much coils for listening. you can even use a simple broadcast receiver, make a lil BFO and sync them at the desired frequency to listen to HF SSB ham transmissions. I made an LC (inductance + capacitance) meter last year. before that I simply wound coils, sweep a signal across the coil with known frequency and amplitude and measure the output using a cheap mulitmeter, plot a graph and it showed me approximately which frequency the coil was for. I wild then just add turns or unwind turns to get to the desired frequency. Its pretty simple then it sounds.

For the satellite thing, do check this little USB dongle called RTL SDR. It costs about 20$ (about 1-1.5k INR). It's Available on ebay.com starting from i think $8. Its a HDTV dongle hacked by amateurs for RF SDR reception. I have been using this for about 4 years now and its REALLY REALLY cheap and good for satellite and other such work.

RTL SDR should be your starting point if you are too worried about antennas, winding coils, and all those issue you are currently stuck with. Infact this guy Mahesh is also using an RTL SDR dongle to power is auto upload station.

 

[icebags]

about a month ago though, i went to electronics market and asked for AM radio parts + pcb for learning and experimenting purpose, but all those shop walas gave me a look and said no one listens to AM these days, all listen to FM. :zombie_NF:

anyways i am thinking of winding up solid core wires on an 1 or 2 inch diameter pvc pipe sooner or later. will try to tune with a variable cap.

 

[quagmire]

RTL-SDR is getting a lot of attention these days.. Inexpensive way to experiment with amateur radio.. Anyone tried this?

I want to badly, but alas no time..