Sun Coast Amateur
Radio Club Society - blog

early_computer_made_from_ferrite_cores

Early Computer Made from Ferrite Cores

https://ethw.org/Milestones:Parametron,_1954

swap_meet_aug_15

Swap meet Aug 15

VA7FI will be hosting a swap meet / coffee klatch at his place (rain or shine) on Saturday August 15th at 9:30. Everyone is welcome to bring anything they might be interested in selling / trading. I'll be selling a lot of equipment on behalf of Alan (see list and pictures below). More details will be sent via email.

Kenwood TS-570S HF + 6m Radio
Kenwood TS-440S HF Radio
Kenwood PS-50 Power Supply
Kenwood SP-520 Speaker
Kenwood TM-271A 2m Radio
Yeasu FT-2900 2m Radio
MFJ Deluxe Versa Tuner II
MFJ-281 Clear Tone Speaker
Brand new Signalink with receipt
MFJ-1728 Magmount 5/8 wave mobile antenna (for 2m and 6m?)
Homebrew HF fan dipole (5 bands?)
Odd and ends not in the pictures.

digipi_hotspot

DigiPi Hotspot

This is a really cool project, that might be of interest, it has Winlink capability too, also can run it on a PiZero 2W.

https://digipi.org/

Here is a link further down our feed for the AIOC cable.

https://scarcs.ca/blog/2026-03-16/aioc_all-in-one-cable

DigiPi is an easy-to-use amateur radio data transceiver hotspot for Raspberry Pi. All radio data modes are easily accessible over wifi via your phone or web browser. Make FT8, JS8Call, APRS and packet modes work like any other mobile phone app.

APRS WebChat interface

Send instant messages over the APRS packet network via your web browser

APRS Packet Radio Network digipeater

Repeat packets heard on 144.390 and 144.800(europe)

APRS Packet Radio network IGate

Bridge APRS Network to the Internet for email, sms, and other online services

APRS Map/Dashboard

Real-time animated tactical map of local APRS objects and traffic

Winlink email server

Listen for Winlink radio clients requesting to send/recieve email

Winlink email client

Pat, web-based inbox/outbox email interface ARDOP sound modem to connect to winlink servers world-wide on HF bands
Woad Winlink Android app connects to DigiPi via wireless TNC/KISS interface

WSJTX FT8

Ultra low signal-to-noise ratio contacts via web-browser/wifi/phone

JS8 Call

Ultra low signal-to-noise ratio keyboard-to-keyboard via web-browser/wifi/phone

FLDigi

CW, PSK31, RTTY, Contessa, FSQ, Hell, IFKP, MFSK MT63, Olivia, PSK, QPSK, 8PSK, PSKR, THOR, Throb, WeatherFax

Slow Scan TV

Send/receive images via web-browser/wifi/phone

AX.25 Networking

Radio connected network protocol used for winlink/node services
IP tunnel, with actual address on the internet (44.* for amateur radio)

Node Services

Run your own bulletin board, or messaging service
Connect to other nodes, via intermediate nodes

Node Services

Web-based bluetooth pairing for phone/tablet

the_absolute_magic_of_morse_code_that_still_connects_people_globally

The 'absolute magic' of Morse code that still connects people globally

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwye0dlzgejo

consultation_on_amendments_to_the_tower_siting_process

Consultation on Amendments to the Tower Siting Process

From ISED's Website:

ISED [...] is [...] initiating a consultation on proposed amendments to the antenna tower siting requirements [...] to reduce regulatory burden on tower proponents.

Here's a 47 minute long video discussion of the proposed changes:

What you can do:

Write a response echoing RAC and RAQI's position in electronic format (Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF).
Send it by July 16, 2026 to: spectrumoperations-operationsduspectre@ised-isde.gc.ca
Cite consulation #: DGSO-001-26

As all comments will be posted on the departmental website, those making submissions are responsible for ensuring that they do not contain confidential or private information.

Update

Here's more info from RAC's website published on June 15th.

next_level_rfi_story

Next Level RFI story

computer_hobby_movement_in_canada

Computer Hobby Movement in Canada

https://museum.eecs.yorku.ca/exhibits/show/hobby_canada/hobby_canada

quick_offline_ham_search

Quick Offline Ham Search

On my linux computer, I keep a csv file of the ISED ham database for when I need to quickly look up someone. Here are a few tricks to make the process really quick.

Setup

Instead of using my browser to download the file from ISED (http://apc-cap.ic.gc.ca/datafiles/amateur_delim.zip), I run this script, which:

Downloads the zip file to my ~/Ham folder
Changes the extension to csv
Deletes all the files I don't want

ised.sh

#!/bin/bash
 
DIR=$HOME"/Ham"
 
echo "Downloading Amateur Archive from ISED website:"
wget --report-speed=bits http://apc-cap.ic.gc.ca/datafiles/amateur_delim.zip -P $DIR 
echo
 
echo "Unzipping archive:"
cd $DIR
unzip amateur_delim.zip
 
echo "Changing extension to csv"
mv amateur_delim.txt amateur_delim.csv
chmod 644 amateur_delim.csv
 
echo "Deleting amateur_delim.zip, lisezmoi_amat_delim.txt, and readme_amat_delim.txt"
rm amateur_delim.zip lisezmoi_amat_delim.txt readme_amat_delim.txt
echo
echo
 
echo "Done.  Note that the custom separator is:   ;"
echo

To look up the file, I added this line to my alias:

alias hamsearch='cat ~/Ham/amateur_delim.csv |grep -i '

Usage

To update my local file, I only have to type this into the terminal:

ised.sh

To look up something, I only have to type this into the terminal

hamsearch [Search Term]

Examples

You can search for a callsign:

hamsearch ve7aaa

VE7AAA;Arthur Ellwood;Abrahamson;760 OXFORD PLACE;CAMPBELL RIVER;BC;V9W7Y7;A;;C;D;;;;;;;

Or search for any strings in that file. Use '' if there's more than one word.

hamsearch 'vancouver general'

VA7LGH;Ernest;Mix;436 CARDIFF WAY;PORT MOODY;BC;V3H3T1;A;B;;D;;Vancouver Coastal Health Amateur Radio Group;c/o VCH Emergency Management - Vancouver General Hospital;855 West 12th Avenue, JPPS1, Room 1769;VANCOUVER;BC;V5Z1M9
VA7PRH;Ernest;Mix;436 CARDIFF WAY;PORT MOODY;BC;V3H3T1;A;B;;D;;Vancouver Coastal Health Amateur Radio Group;c/o VCH Emergency Management - Vancouver General Hospital;855 West 12th Avenue, JPPS1, Room 1769;VANCOUVER;BC;V5Z1M9
VA7RHS;Ernest;Mix;436 CARDIFF WAY;PORT MOODY;BC;V3H3T1;A;B;;D;;Vancouver Coastal Health Amateur Radio Group;c/o VCH Emergency Management - Vancouver General Hospital;855 West 12th Avenue, JPPS1, Room 1769;VANCOUVER;BC;V5Z1M9
VA7SGH;Ernest;Mix;436 CARDIFF WAY;PORT MOODY;BC;V3H3T1;A;B;;D;;Vancouver Coastal Health Amateur Radio Group;c/o VCH Emergency Management - Vancouver General Hospital;855 West 12th Avenue, JPPS1, Room 1769;VANCOUVER;BC;V5Z1M9
VA7SMH;Ernest;Mix;436 CARDIFF WAY;PORT MOODY;BC;V3H3T1;A;B;;D;;Vancouver Coastal Health Amateur Radio Group;c/o VCH Emergency Management - Vancouver General Hospital;855 West 12th Avenue, JPPS1, Room 1769;VANCOUVER;BC;V5Z1M9
VA7VCH;Ernest;Mix;436 CARDIFF WAY;PORT MOODY;BC;V3H3T1;A;B;;D;;Vancouver Coastal Health Amateur Radio Group;c/o VCH Emergency Management - Vancouver General Hospital;855 West 12th Avenue, JPPS1, Room 1769;VANCOUVER;BC;V5Z1M9
VA7VCS;Ernest;Mix;436 CARDIFF WAY;PORT MOODY;BC;V3H3T1;A;B;;D;;Vancouver Coastal Health Amateur Radio Group;c/o VCH Emergency Management - Vancouver General Hospital;855 West 12th Avenue, JPPS1, Room 1769;VANCOUVER;BC;V5Z1M9
VA7VGH;Ernest;Mix;436 CARDIFF WAY;PORT MOODY;BC;V3H3T1;A;B;;D;;Vancouver Coastal Health Amateur Radio Group;c/o VCH Emergency Management - Vancouver General Hospital;855 West 12th Avenue, JPPS1, Room 1769;VANCOUVER;BC;V5Z1M9

extremely_low_frequencies

Extremely Low Frequencies

https://computer.rip/2026-05-09-extremely-low-frequencies.html

html_offline_logger

html Offline Logger

HamBook (Full Web) is a super lightweight logger “program” that requires no installation. It's a single html file with almost 6000 lines of code that runs offline in your browser of choice. It has the ability to import/export ADIF and Cabrillo files.

I played around with it for a bit this morning to see if it could be used as a net logging program (I think it could, but with a few limitations).

I opened the file in a text editor and did a bit of “Find & Replace” to roughly translate some key terms from French to English. Here's my modified copy if anyone is interested in playing around with it a bit: hambook_en_v1.5.html.zip

echolink_webapp

Echolink WebApp

Looks like it's possible to run Echolink right from the browser:

https://webapp.echolink.org/

meshcore_split

MeshCore Split

There's some internal stuff going on in the MeshCore team. It's worth reading this blog post. I've updated the links on our MeshCore page to point away from the .uk site.

project_nomad

Project NOMAD

Project NOMAD is a self-contained, offline knowledge and education server.

Sun Coast Amateur Radio Club Society - blog