Sun Coast Amateur
Radio Club Society - blog

tunnable_plasma_beam_antenna

va7fi@undisclosed.example.com (va7fi) — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 01:22:01 +0000

Tunnable Plasma Beam Antenna

Researchers have demonstrated a technique that uses a laser to produce a plasma beam antenna capable of transmitting radio waves.

“The plasma beam antenna looks like a lightsaber and is tunable, meaning we should be able to transmit across a broad range of frequencies,” says Prya Darshni, corresponding author of a journal article on the work and a Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University.

mercury_vara_alternative

va7fi@undisclosed.example.com (va7fi) — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 01:18:11 +0000

Mercury (VARA alternative)

Mercury is a Free and Open Source transport layer that uses OFDM to transmit digital messages over HF (same as VARA does). You might remember hearing of OFDM when we played around with Rattlegram two years ago... Because VARA is closed sourced, the way that RF layer of Mercury is not compatible with VARA. However, the API layer is.

Mercury is still experimental so it hasn't been integrated into Winlink yet, but hopefully soon.

Here's a good presentation with demo and Q&A by KM6LYW. It's over 42 minutes long so I recommend watching it at 1.5x speed.

Update: Nov 11

xara was an open source implementation of VARA. It got discontinued on Nov 8. There are speculations that it was built by reverse-engineering VARA, which is illegal.
According to this reddit thread, VARA will break compatibility on Jan 1, 2027.
Data2G is another digital HF mode that doesn't try to be compatible with VARA, but competes in terms of speed and reliability.

ised_stops_mailing_certificats

ve7zdh@undisclosed.example.com (ve7zdh) — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 00:35:33 +0000

ISED Stops Mailing Certificates

From RAC's email notifications:

On 28 October 2026, ISED ended the printing and mailing of certificates for Radio Amateurs. From that date, the only way any Radio Amateur or club can obtain their certificate is to download a PDF from the ISED website and print it yourself.

To access your ISED account, visit: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/amateur-radio-operator-certificate-services/en/my-web-profile

quansheng_uv-k10

va7fi@undisclosed.example.com (va7fi) — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 00:20:35 +0000

Quansheng UV-K10

Quansheng has a new radio and the feature list looks pretty impressive:

APRS (Optional)
Si4732 Receiver (Optional)
Multi-Band TX/RX
AM/FM/SSB/CW Reception
High Power Output
RGB Display | Multiple Color Options
Bluetooth Programming
2500mAh Battery
Dual Type-C Charging

From the Tiengu website, it looks like the price is roughly $100 USD without the optional APRS and Si4732 Receiver, but I couldn't figure out a way to add those options to the cart.

I wrote about the Quansheng UV-K5 I got last year and how I flashed a different firmware on it. I'm not sure if that'll also be possible with the K10, and as of today, Chirp doesn't seem to support it either.

uv-k10_pro.png

va7fi@undisclosed.example.com (va7fi) — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 00:19:40 +0000

fire_dispatch_frequencies

va7fi@undisclosed.example.com (va7fi) — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 22:26:22 +0000

Fire Dispatch Frequencies

On the Sunshine Coast, when a tree falls on the power lines, the fire department always gets called first to investigate. During a wind storm, listening to their radio communications gives a lot of information as to the severity of the issue. Here are some of the frequencies they use.

Initial Dispatch Call

The first thing that happens is that Dispatch calls the appropriate Fire Department on a frequency of 149.290 MHz. They seem to be using two distinct notes at the beginning of the transmission to direct the call to the appropriate fire department.

After the notes finish playing, Dispatch will say their message twice, which will include the address and a description of the issue.

Fire Department Response

After the initial dispatch call, the fire department will call dispatch back on their own frequency to acknowledge the call and ask for more information if needed.

Here's the list of frequencies and tones used:

Area	Frequency (MHz)	Tone (Hz)
Gibsons	154.980	107.2
Roberts Creek	154.070	114.8
Sechelt	155.565	131.8
Halfmoon Bay	154.980	146.2
Pender Harbour	154.070	162.2
Egmont	154.980	100.0

You'll notice that there are really only three distinct frequencies shared between six areas. The tones are what's preventing the wrong area from hearing the wrong conversations (that and their distance).

Tac

The tactical simplex frequencies are used by the fire personnel to coordinate their efforts. Most of them are the same frequencies with different tones.

Here's the list of Tac 2 frequencies:

Area	Frequency (MHz)	Tone (Hz)
Gibsons	153.860	127.3
Roberts Creek	153.860	127.3
Sechelt	155.565	127.3
Halfmoon Bay	153.860	127.3
Pender Harbour	153.860	127.3
Egmont	153.860	127.3

And the list of Tac 3 frequencies:

Area	Frequency (MHz)	Tone (Hz)
Gibsons	154.070	167.9
Roberts Creek	154.070	167.9
Sechelt	154.070	167.9
Halfmoon Bay	154.070	167.9
Pender Harbour	154.070	167.9
Egmont	154.070	114.8

Scanning

On my radio, I scan between three frequencies to listen to the Roberts Creek Fire Department:

149.290 MHz to hear the dispatch call.
154.070 MHz with a tone squelch of 114.8 Hz to hear the fire department's reply.
154.070 MHz with a tone squelch of 167.9 Hz to hear the fire department's discussions on Tac 3 (they don't seem to be using Tac 2).

I tried simply using 154.070 MHz without the tone, but I could hear Pender Harbour from time to time.

If you live in a different area, let me know which frequencies you find useful in the comments.

Sun Coast Amateur Radio Club Society - blog