Foundations of Amateur Radio

Foundations of Amateur Radio

The other day I was asked a question on social media. Having answered this question several times before, I admittedly .. initially .. groaned, then provided the bare bones of a response. A little while later, I recalled that I had provided a detailed response to this same question, as it turns out, five years earlier on a different social media platform, so I added another response that included the link to that answer. It all still felt very incomplete and inadequate and I couldn't leave it alone.

Which leads me to the anxiety generating question and my response to it.

Here goes: "[h]ow do you get into amateur radio? Is there like a 101 guide you could link me?"

This is a question I've been answering for quite some time. Searching for the word "start" across the titles of my podcasts, there's 17 articles on the topic.

So, having searched previously and fruitlessly for something resembling a universal answer, this to disclaim that I didn't look again and perhaps someone else has done something about it, I started a new project, because of course I did. I named it: "Getting Started in Amateur Radio" and published it on my GitHub repository.

The intent of the project is to give the visitor a gentle introduction to the hobby, provide some idea of why you need a license, how it's different from things like the Citizen's Band, how you'll be starting on a life-long journey and introducing the concept that each country is slightly different. Think of it as an onramp into the hobby and our community.

To deal with those, essentially legal differences between countries, I also consulted the International Telecommunications Union, the ITU, and created a folder structure of Regions and within it a folder for each country that the ITU as a United Nations specialised agency recognises. Before you ask, Yes, I'm aware that the UN doesn't recognise some countries that you might. I don't know how the International Amateur Radio Union, the IARU, our global representative body deals with that. If you know, get in touch.

Since I'm based in Australia, I started with populating the information there. It contains some information about the regulator, representative bodies, callsigns, links to more information and hopefully initial information sufficient to "find" the community. It's still a work in progress, but it gives a good idea of the intent.

Now comes the hard part. You.

My log processing tool, "awstats", tells me that there are 209 different countries in my logs that represent you listening, reading and sharing my articles. So, I daresay that between all of us there is enough to cover pretty much all of the globe and with it, personal knowledge on how to become an amateur in your country.

So, as one amateur to another, let's get on-air and make some noise! Let's try and document what's needed to become an amateur in your country. Please supply issue tickets, patches, emails, whatever you like, to get the information pertinent to your experience into one central place, so next time someone asks any of us: "How do you get into amateur radio?", there's a place we can share, that you contributed to and that contains the information pertinent to anyone who'd like to play.

Look forward to hearing from you.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Foundations of Amateur Radio

When was the last time you told a story? The hobby of amateur radio represents as diverse and disparate a group of humanity as I've come across in my life. While that might mark me as living a sheltered existence, I have been around the globe and experienced some of what life celebration looks like.

One thing I never tire of is hearing stories from the people I meet, each unique and worthy of my time and consideration. Over the years, in the context of broadcast radio and subsequently producing amateur radio news for over seven years, I've had the opportunity to interview people and record their stories and share them with the world.

There are stories I keep retelling and others I'll never share, depending on what I've been entrusted with.

I'm mentioning all this because I think that our stories are what makes us a community, a group of humans with different lives who have a common itch to scratch, conveniently labelled "Amateur Radio".

With social media increasingly manipulated into highlighting and emphasising our differences, it's good to remember that we can use it to celebrate our common ground, glued together by this crazy, beautiful, rewarding, frustrating and experimental hobby we share.

So, next time you get on-air, behind a keyboard or rub your finger on glass, remember, we can share our stories and be richer for the experience.

I should point out that the nature of the stories we tell each other is dependant on you. While telling tales with embellishment is attractive, I rather think that it's remarkable, all on its own, that we can use minuscule amounts of energy, captured by a piece of random wire to communicate with someone on the other side of the world, so much so, that glitter is rarely required.

You don't need to feel compelled to narrate your life story either, although that's entirely up to you. I'd encourage you to share your adventures, one story at a time, to inspire those around you to embark on their next journey of discovery.

And if you're shy and you're not sure how to start, start small, one story at a time, practice makes perfect.

Also, if your circuit board narrative smells of chicken, you're holding the wrong end of the soldering iron.

Meanwhile I'll persist with the recalcitrant SoapyAudio software in search for the final missing puzzle piece.. Ha! .. to make this infernal contraption do what I can imagine, if only that cursed Yak would stand still, but that's a story for another day.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Foundations of Amateur Radio

The thing I think I love most about the hobby of amateur radio is the challenges it represents, not in terms of life or emotional ones, though I will admit that there's some of those .. in no small part due to the variety and complexity associated with being human and a member of the community, more in terms of figuring out how stuff works and then how much stuff there is.

I was first licensed in 2010 and since then I've attempted to document the experience of being an amateur and discovering just what that might mean.

This week has been interesting, if not quite as productive as I was hoping for. I spent a full day working on SoapyAudio, you might recall, it's one of the potential puzzle pieces in my Bald Yak project.

I can report that it compiles fine on a Raspberry Pi 2, and when I get a moment I suspect that it will also work just fine on a Pi Zero.

When I got to the point of packaging it all up, I spent hours trying to get my head around the Debian packaging system. For reasons I don't understand, nobody appears to have written anything that monitors the standard 'make install' step, save for one project called 'checkinstall' which has some serious bugs, like overwriting the system password file, and is not recommended.

While in the middle of that adventure I discovered that SoapySDR and associated modules, utilities and support tools are already packaged in Debian. I'll confess that I emulated a stunned mullet when I noticed that.

While this might mean that I essentially spent three days shaving a Yak for apparently no good reason, it did allow me to discover that SoapyAudio is currently receive only, but adding transmit doesn't look like an unsolvable problem.

I still don't know why I went down the compilation steps but it allowed me to peruse the source-code which helped discover how some of this hangs together and I'll hasten to add that my understanding is currently incomplete at best, but that's par for the course. After discovering the existing packaging I installed 'soapyremote-server' on the Pi and it worked out of the box .. something which I'm happy to say is a regular occurrence with Debian packages, perhaps this is why packaging is so complex, another thing to investigate as time permits.

I then added an external USB sound card with the audio going into the rear DATA socket of my FT-857d, and together with the CT-62 compatible USB CAT cable, that's Computer Assisted Tuning, allowing remote control of the radio, the Pi was ready to be the network interface to my copy of GNU Radio.

Well, not quite.

There's some secret incantations that I have still to divine, but thanks to random forum posts with hints at how to format the command string required, I'm making progress. GNU Radio can see the Soapy Server, has passed the checks to control the radio, which happens behind the scenes thanks to Hamlib, but stumbles on the audio card side of things. If it weren't for other life affirming activities in my diary, I would be reporting success, but I can tell you that I can taste it.

Now, why does this make me excited?

Well, it means that I can now use my FT-857d across the room, technically across the Internet even, to receive and process RF within GNU Radio. You might recall that this is one of the stated aims of this whole endeavour.

In terms of "50 things to do with an SDR", this one will end up in the "Listen to conversations on the 2-meter amateur radio band" pile. While it's not particularly exciting to listen to the local repeater across the room, something which I can do by turning up the volume or getting a long headphone lead, it represents a small milestone in the pursuit of my Bald Yak project which aims to create a modular, bidirectional and distributed signal processing and control system that leverages GNU Radio. It's called Bald Yak because by the time I'm done, the Yak is likely well and truly shaved.

So .. micron by micron I'm getting closer.

Also, "like a stunned mullet" means to be dazed and uncomprehending, feel free to use it in public.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Previously I've talked about a piece of software called SoapyAudio. It's part of the toolkit called SoapySDR which in turn is part of a whole ecosystem called the Pothos framework, coordinated by Pothosware, founded by Josh Blum. I'm mentioning this for two reasons, first to give credit to Josh and the many contributions he has made to the Software Defined Radio ecosystem and second, to indicate that there's several moving parts here.

SoapyAudio is a module that connects an audio device, like a microphone or a speaker, more on that in a moment, to a tool called SoapySDR. This allows you to connect to that device, either directly, or over the network, from within any Soapy compatible SDR tool, like Cubic SDR, SDRangel, Quisk and SDR++ to name a few.

Said differently, you can use the SoapyAudio module to pretend that your sound card is a Software Defined Radio, and use the associated SDR tools to use it. While interesting in and of itself, the idea comes into focus if you consider that you could connect your analogue radio to the sound card and now you have actual radio frequencies coming into your card, which you can use as an SDR.

This works because SoapyAudio also includes Hamlib support, which in turn means that you can send commands like: Set the Frequency, or Set the Mode, to your radio using Hamlib, better yet, if you do this within your SDR software, all this happens behind the scenes.

Now, before I dig in too much more, I mentioned a microphone and speaker. When you connect your radio to a computer, the microphone or line-in socket is used to receive audio from the radio, it leaves the radio and enters the computer via the microphone and gives you the ability to receive audio, alternatively, when you connect the computer speaker to the radio, it leaves the computer and enters the radio, to transmit audio. Right now I see no evidence that SoapyAudio supports the ability to transmit, and the ecosystem overview shows the module in a different location than the other radio modules.

It might well transpire that none of this is going to work long-term, but the point of this is to learn how it works and to get an understanding of how data flows back and forth. Ideally, I'd end up with a module that would integrate into GNU Radio using the existing SoapySDR integration, but I'm nowhere near that, and my ongoing computing challenges keep banging me in the face, so small steps.

If you're not quite sure how this is supposed to work, your radio is connected to your computer using audio in and out, as well as a serial or USB connection. The computer is running SoapyAudio which uses Hamlib to control the radio and uses SoapySDR to send and receive both control and radio signals through a tool called soapy-server, which I think will all run on a cheap Raspberry Pi which is in turn is connected to the network to another more beefy computer running GNU Radio and the SoapySDR module, allowing you to both control the radio over the network as well as receive and transmit.

Well .. at least that's the plan.

In order to bring that grand idea closer to fruition, I've just spent the past two days putting together a set of instructions, in the form of a Dockerfile, to attempt to help make that happen. I'll note upfront that this is a work in progress and there were plenty of trips to the local Yak Shaving compound to sharpen my blades, but I think by now you'll understand that this is par for the course.

I'm sharing all this with you because in amateur radio and in any complex endeavour, progress is made by making small incremental improvements. We're up to the 19th, or 20th, if you count the introduction of my Bald Yak series and so far I have only very little tangible assets to show you. I suspect that this is going to be the case for some time to come.

Perhaps my journey should be viewed as a way to pursue the things you're interested in and document your progress along the way, rather than a journey towards a product that you can install tomorrow morning after you've had your morning coffee.

If all that made your head explode, don't worry, you're in good company. I embarrassed myself in front of all the HamSci community the other day when I proposed to use a spectrogram to capture and understand Ionosonde data, rather than raw IQ. I still don't know what I was thinking.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Foundations of Amateur Radio

The other day I witnessed a fellow amateur attempting to guilt another into using LoTW with comments about how their QSO partner would appreciate confirmation via the service, even if they didn't care for it.

Before I continue, if you're unfamiliar, when two amateurs make a contact, or a QSO, with each other, then there's generally a log entry at both ends to record the event. Some amateurs, myself included, save up these contacts and count how many continents, countries, states and other entities are recorded in the log.

Several amateur radio organisations allow you to claim an award for such a record. However, before they accept your word for it, they require confirmation of the contact, something that the amateur community refers to as a QSL. To recap, a QSO is the contact, a QSL is the confirmation of that contact.

Traditionally this was achieved with postcards, known as QSL cards, transported across the globe through various postal services, and coordinated by so-called QSL bureaus, often run by the amateur radio peak body in each country.

With the advent of the Internet, much of this process has turned electronic. LoTW is an example of an electronic QSL service, run by the ARRL, the American Radio Relay League. It's not the only such service, but today I'm looking specifically at the Logbook of The World, or LoTW.

As I said, LoTW is not the only service and anyone telling you that you must use it is selling you something. Now, that's not why I don't use it, and again, you're free to, but you're not required to.

For me there are several issues with LoTW.

Having used it for a period, I feel comfortable in expressing some of its shortcomings, but I note that the last time I used it was almost a decade ago. I'll acknowledge that things might have improved or changed, but I have no evidence to suggest that it did.

Let's start with how it works. You create a log in a specified format, using an application called TQSL you sign that log, ostensibly linking your identity to that log, then you upload that signed log to LoTW and wait for confirmations of contacts with other LoTW users.

Signing is a process where you add information to a file that proves to the recipient that the log was created by you and wasn't modified in transit, which requires that you have a file called a certificate, which is created and sent to you via email by the ARRL, after they've authenticated you.

So, first of all, in my opinion, the level of security is absurd and exceeds that of my bank, or my tax department.

In addition, proving your identity comes with hurdles if you're not in America where an amateur who registers receives a postcard with an authentication code, made possible by the central database held by the FCC.

For everyone else, the ARRL requires that you: "must send a copy of his/her Amateur Radio operating authorization in addition to a copy of one other government-issued document indicating his/her identity", via the post, snail mail, stamp, envelope, the whole thing.

I'd also like to observe that at no time has the ARRL linked your identity to your email address, since they haven't asked for it at any point in the verification process.

If that's not enough of a security nightmare, in Australia and other parts of the world, amateurs no longer hold a personal license, instead they are members of a so-called class license. There's no public record stating my ownership of my callsign, just that it's allocated. With increased privacy concerns, this is happening elsewhere too.

In other words, proving that you are who you say you are is getting increasingly difficult and even if you did, you're sending that information to the ARRL, who you might recall paid a ransom to hackers who infiltrated their network. I've asked and never received a response about what actually happened to the information they continue to hold in relation to me, well that and an email from 2013 which states that "Data is never removed from LoTW."

Even so, let's say that you are comfortable sending your information to the ARRL, the process of signing a certificate requires renewal on a regular basis and if you manage to forget, you have the privilege of starting all over again.

Let's move on. It's important to remember that this process is to confirm a radio contact between two radio amateurs in order to get a piece of paper to hang on your wall saying that you did so. How do you know that the person you made contact with on-air is the same person who confirmed your contact? Radio isn't authenticated in any way, why should the confirmation be? Remember, before the Internet, this was done with postcards.

Security and authentication aside, there's plenty more issues. I hold the callsign VK6FLAB. Several times a year, that callsign is permitted to be AX6FLAB. I like to operate portable in many different locations. Sometimes I sign "/QRP" for low power, generally if the other station is very high power and they're struggling, adding QRP can sometimes act as an incentive to complete the contact. Sometimes I sign Portable, or Mobile, depending on the situation and when I'm moving, I'm not in a specific location.

Why am I raising this you ask?

Well, turns out that you need to make a new location for every single one you're operating from. You also need to register each callsign and each variation, since apparently VK6FLAB and VK6FLAB/QRP are two different stations and if I sign with AX6FLAB, I need to request another certificate.

So, this is increased convenience .. apparently.

Then there's the argument that you're missing out.

Let's get this straight. As far as I can tell, the bulk of LoTW users are American. For me, a contact with America is a single log entry to add to my continent and country list. Tell me again why I should care about this when I'm not in America? There's a list of 340 DXCC entities, which you can buy from the ARRL for $5.95 plus shipping, because of course in this digital age there's a shipping charge.

In other words, this is the ARRL attempting to own the notion of confirming contacts between radio amateurs and in my opinion, being obnoxious about it.

Here's another issue.

If this was really so marvellous, why hasn't any other peak body adopted the Logbook of The World for their system? Why is there not a WIA version, an RSGB one and for each of the various countries who have closed their local QSL bureau due to lack of funding, since the postal burden on them has exploded to become nonviable?

I think that LoTW is a solution looking for a problem, peddled by people who have something to sell and while there was a time that it might have been bleeding edge, that ship has sailed. You're free to use it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

If you have never stepped into this, alternatives to explore include ClubLog, eQSL, QRZ, OQRS and plenty of print on demand QSL card services. And if you're searching, apparently QSL is also Queensland Sugar Limited, so pay attention.

I should also mention that there's SOTA, Summits, POTA, Parks and other On The Air services that will happily take your log and confirm contacts.

Here's a thought, how about we use the fediverse to federate and decentralise the process, or perhaps we might use something as mundane as email.

If you want to use LoTW, by all means, go right ahead, but I won't and if I knew how, I'd get the ARRL to remove all my records from it, mind you, I'd have to trust them at their word, because I can't log in to check.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB