Tag Archives: Ham Radio

Announcements, News

Price, Size and Availability: a Kenwood TS-990S update

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There is still very little known about the yet-unreleased, highly-anticipated Kenwood TS-990S HF transceiver, but we’ve confirmed just a few details from a contact at Kenwood…

The TS-990S will be similar in size to the Kenwood TS-950SDX 200W. (Photo: Universal Radio)

Size:

The TS-990S will be the size of theTS-950SDX 200 watts, and have a similar footprint.

Price:

The TS-990S is expected to retail in the $5,000-6,000 US range.

Availability:

No promises on ship dates yet…but they have confirmed that the new rig will be on display at the 2012 Dayton, Ohio, Hamvention.

To be clear, Kenwood did not confirm the model number of TS-990S; it was implied.

Check back with QRPer.com as we will post early photos from Dayton.

Conferences, Events

OzarkCon QRP Conference April 13-14, 2012

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OzarkCon is a fun and informative QRP conference held every year in Branson, Missouri. This year, the conference is being held at the Stone Castle Hotel and Conference Center on April 13 and 14th. Registration and room rates are very reasonable.

You can register for OzarkCon 2012 online.

OzarkCon at a Glance (via their website):

  • Large Dinner Banquet the first evening with after Dinner Speaker
  • Kit Building Session
  • Dummy Load QSO Party with Prize – work KØN
  • Open Music Session (pick’n & grin’n, Bluegrass, Country, Western) both nights
  • Vendor Tables – Kits, Parts and more…
  • Swapfest Tables
  • QRP flea market & vendor fair open all day Saturday
  • Wackey Key Contest with Awards
  • Homebrew Contest with Awards by Category
  • Day long presentations on leading edge activities or technologies
  • Drawings for Door Prizes, Door Prizes and more Door Prizes
  • Private Breakfast Saturday morning
  • Branson Attractions and Restaurants
Articles, News

Ham Radio Licenses at an All-Time High

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(Source: Fox News)

The newest trend in American communication isn’t another smartphone from Apple or Google but one of the elder statesmen of communication: Ham radio licenses are at an all time high, with over 700,000 licenses in the United States, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

Ham radio first took the nation by storm nearly a hundred years ago. Last month the FCC logged 700,314 licenses, with nearly 40,000 new ones in the last five years. Compare that with 2005 when only 662,600 people hammed it up and you’ll see why the American Radio Relay League — the authority on all things ham — is calling it a “golden age.”

“Over the last five years we’ve had 20-25,000 new hams a year,” Allen Pitts, a spokesman for the group, told FoxNews.com.

Read the full article at Fox News.

Homebrew, Morse Code

The perfect key to use when you’re in a pinch.

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I think this homebrew key by Laurent Dumas (F8BBL) is simply amazing. It’s portable, easy to make from spare parts lying about the house and can serve you well if you’re in a pinch. (Sorry, I just can’t use this pun enough).

Admittedly,  I think there would be some serious operator fatigue if you tried to use this key in a contest. But for emergencies–it certainly fits the bill!

If you can’t see the embedded video below, simply click this link.