Ham Links

[KE5ZRT]

Last weekend, at the Panhandle Amateur Radio Club (http://w5wx.org/)meeting, I gave a presentation on Amateur Radio related websites. I compiled the websites from numerous hams in our area who sent in their suggestions to the High Plains Amateur Radio Group (HPARG) Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hparg/), so I ended up with a very diverse list of websites containing a wealth of information for many aspects of amateur radio. I visited each of the sites and compiled a brief description of the site content, and then discussed each site during the club meeting. Afterwards, I added each of the links to the local ARES (http://panhandleares.org/)site that I maintain, so the sites would be readilly accessible to more people. I thought it would be neat to share these sites here too.


I hope you enjoy the Ham Links! Please feel free to add more!

Thanks to Brad Miskimen N5LUL, Raymond Winter W5RAW, Monty Denney KC5OMK, Jim Musgrove K5BZH, Bob Sanders N5TBD, and Dan McCabe WA8YYE

[KE5ZRT]

w5wx.org (http://w5wx.org/) The Panhandle Amateur Radio Club is a non-profit organization for the promotion and enjoyment of the Amateur Radio Hobby; fellowship with other panhandle operators; emergency preparedness and public service. The Club is affiliated with the American Radio Relay League, Inc. (ARRL).


http://panhandleares.org/ (http://panhandleares.org/) Amateur Radio Emergency Service–Serving the Texas Panhandle Area. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) ® consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national organization is eligible for membership in the ARES. The only qualification, other than possession of an Amateur Radio license, is a sincere desire to serve.


http://caprockintertie.org/about.html (http://caprockintertie.org/about.html) The Caprock Intertie Link System is an amateur radio repeater system linked across the Texas panhandle, the Oklahoma panhandle, and part of South Kansas. Besides rag chewing, the system is used by storm spotters, and for other special events in the area like the MS150 bike tour. You can listen to the system by clicking on the listen link at the top or bottom of the page.


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hparg/ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hparg/) The High Plains Amateur Radio Group is open to all hams and soon-to-be hams in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and Eastern New Mexico. This forum is for the exchange of ideas, operating tips, radio repair and restoration projects, personal buy, sell & trade ads, and just about any other amateur radio related topic. This is a place to help each other to be better operators and technicians and share your ham radio knowledge and enthusiasm.

[KE5ZRT]

http://www.hamradioinstructor.com/index.html (http://www.hamradioinstructor.com/index.html) Whether you're teaching a ham radio class or studying for your license on your own I hope you find this website useful. Includes study guides, PowerPoint presentations, Morse code study, Merit badge information,

[KE5ZRT]

www.qcwa.org (http://www.qcwa.org) QCWA-The Quarter Century Wireless Association was founded in 1947 to provide an organization for the pioneers of the hobby to gather. QCWA promotes friendship and cooperation among Amateur Radio operators who were licensed at least a quarter century ago, and are licensed today. Activities within QCWA range from the local -- belonging to or organizing a Chapter in your area. Local chapters are involved with all areas of Amateur Radio. -- to the national, when we meet for a National Convention each year in October -- to the international, during our two QSO Parties.


wa5tcz.com (http://wa5tcz.com/)It's called a "Sucker Stick Transmitter" because the loading and antenna coils were wound basket weave style on penny sucker sticks back in the 50's. The little transmitter is also sometimes called a "Slat Board Transmitter" because the chassis was made from slats cut from orange or apple crates.


kb6.com/your-novice-accent (http://kb6.com/your-novice-accent) article about procedures on CW


www.cq-amateur-radio.com (http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/) CQ is the magazine for active hams, with a focus on the practical. Every article is clearly written and aimed at involving you, the reader...whether it's a story of operating from some exotic location, an article to deepen your understanding of ham radio science and technology, or a fun-to-build project that will have practical use in your ham shack.


hallicrafters.net (http://hallicrafters.net/) This site is dedicated to all fans of vintage Hallicrafters radios! This is the home of all things HALLICRAFTERS -- equipment information, on-the-air HF Nets, email reflector, nostalgia, Hallicrafters Special Event Station W9WZE, shortwave listening (which is most enjoyable when using a classic Hallicrafters receiver), and other features.


www.collinsradio.org (http://www.collinsradio.org/)For the active Collins user, belonging to the CCA can be extremely beneficial. Our membership has a vast collection of printed matter relating to Collins Radio including both technical and promotional material. We also have an informal group of extremely capable "Senior Technical Staff Advisors" who work on a volunteer basis to help members solve what can be complicated technical problems encountered in Collins amateur products.


www.twitter.com (http://www.twitter.com/) Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting (http://twitter.com/invitations/suggestions). Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations.

www.73s.org (http://www.73s.org/) 73s, the social network for ham radio operators! Some people explain 73s as the FaceBook™ for Hams and we're flattered. Before you comment on the domain, we realize that hardcore Hams have an issue with the plural form of 73 and equate it to meaning "Best Regardses" but we were lucky to find this domain available!

http://www.hamradionation.com/home.php (http://www.hamradionation.com/home.php) A place where you can find other users that all share a common interest Amateur Radio. Invite your friends, find new friends or find some of your past contacts. You can upload pictures of your radios and shack if you like or just check out others’ shacks, share your logs and contacts with others and compare your DX contacts and a lot more.


http://openroadsradio.net/modules/Jig/index.php (http://openroadsradio.net/modules/Jig/index.php) The only place on the net where RV camping and Ham Radio are served on the same plate


http://www.ac6v.com/ (http://www.ac6v.com/) 700 AMATEUR RADIO TOPICS - 6,000 LINKS & 133 PAGES - From ANTENNAS to ZONES


http://www.rigpix.com/ (http://www.rigpix.com/) A 2.2 GB source of information and pictures of radios, accessories and more. This is the original, officially online since 2000-04-11

[KE5ZRT]

www.QRZ.com (http://www.QRZ.com) QRZ. Ham radio news, information, forums, contact logs, and callsign lookup

http://www.vanityhq.com/ (http://www.vanityhq.com/) Includes a vanity callsign availability database, list of recently issued callsigns, vanity application data, also includes a ham locator to help you find hams in your neighborhood—The ham locator didn’t work very well for me—it only showed me where my wife was!

http://www.ae7q.com/ (http://www.ae7q.com/) AE7Q’s Amateur Radio Database Query Tools-Vanity license and application databases

http://www.hamdata.com/ (http://www.hamdata.com/) “The most accurate amateur radio callsign server on the web.” Need to know if a callsign is available? Just enter it here. If the callsign isn't found, then it is available.

[KE5ZRT]

www.arrl.org/lotw (http://www.arrl.org/lotw) Logbook of The World – LoTW is an exciting way for Radio Amateurs to confirm two-way contacts they have made and use the confirmations as credit toward various awards. Because Logbook of The World uses double blind comparison, users cannot see what other users have uploaded unless there is a matched QSO.

www.eqsl.cc (http://www.eqsl.cc/) eQSL.cc is the first and only global electronic QSL card exchange for amateur radio operators and SWLs. It is designed to be the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to exchange QSO confirmations, eliminating the cost and time that regular QSL cards have required for the past half century. This company is registered in the state of Texas.

http://www.n3fjp.com/ (http://www.n3fjp.com/) Amateur Contact Log is an easy to use general logging program that has many great features including tracking of worked all states, counties and countries. The rest of our programs are easy to use "contest specific" applications.

[KE5ZRT]

http://www.dxwatch.com/ (http://www.dxwatch.com/) dxwatch.com is a web site intended for amateur radio DX enthusiasts. Our mission is to publish a website which can work as a real DX tool. We try to offer the most advanced web cluster and some DX tools.

http://hamcall.net/dxspots (http://hamcall.net/dxspots) Ham Call DX spotting, includes customizable filters

http://www.dxsummit.fi/DxSpots.aspx (http://www.dxsummit.fi/DxSpots.aspx) Last 25 DX spots - reloaded every minute

http://www.obriensweb.com/sked/ (http://www.obriensweb.com/sked/) DX Spotting

[KE5ZRT]

http://www.amateurlogic.com/blog/ (http://www.amateurlogic.com/blog/) Amateur Radio informational video blogs

http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm (http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm) A computer simulated video displaying the construction of the International Space Station from 1998 to present

[KE5ZRT]

http://myamateurradio.com/ (http://myamateurradio.com/) “Creating Elmers, one podcast at a time” Educational

http://lhspodcast.info/ (http://lhspodcast.info/) (Linux in the Ham Shack) “Linux, Open Source, and Ham Radio for Everyone”

http://www.soldersmoke.com/ (http://www.soldersmoke.com/) Radio experimenters discuss workbench projects

http://rfpodcast.info/Podcast/ (http://rfpodcast.info/Podcast/) The amateur radio podcast was created to help get information on amateur radio out to the new ham and the ham that wants to find out about different aspects of the hobby they are thinking about trying out.

[KE5ZRT]

http://www.omiss.net/Facelift/ (http://www.omiss.net/Facelift/) OMISS, or “Old Man International Sideband Society,” has been operating list-type awards nets on the General Amateur bands since 1981. Want to get your WAS quickly? This is a great place to get it done. Do you like to work lots of stations for unique awards? We have several challenging awards to work for, each with an attractive certificate to hang on your wall. Do you like contesting? We hold an annual QSO Party and invite the whole Amateur community.

http://www.northamericantrafficandawards.net/ (http://www.northamericantrafficandawards.net/)Our nets maximize the contacts YOU make on the net. No waiting around for 2 or 3 hours to log only 1 or 2 contacts. There are no rigid rules here. We go with the flow! NCS has complete discretion on how each session is run and will adapt to the circumstances, special stations, newcomers, etc. as they present themselves.

http://hflink.com/ (http://hflink.com/) On the 26th of June 2007, HFN, the ham radio Global ALE High Frequency Network was born. It has been alive and on the air ever since. This is the first time a ham radio net has ever functioned continuously on all 8 major HF bands simultaneously 24/7/365. The main purpose is Emergency / Relief Communications, and the focus is to provide a framework to help the various Emcomm and relief organizations of the world inter-operate better with each other on HF.

[KE5ZRT]

http://batlabs.com/ (http://batlabs.com/) If you want to make the most out of your Motorola equipment, follow the link you like the most! NOTE: Most of the information in here has come from service manuals which you can order directly from Motorola (1-800-422-4210) for a reasonable price (usually). We are fed up with people on the "net" trying to rip others off by charging outrageous prices (Motorola included) for stuff you can build for a few dollars.

http://bfn.org/~bn589/antenna.html (http://bfn.org/~bn589/antenna.html) N3DNO's Antenna calculator. This is a very simple, very handy site to calculate antenna dimensions for a dipole, a 3 element yagi, or a vertical antenna

http://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/ (http://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/) So, you want to build a repeater? The Repeater Builder's Technical Information Page™ is an informational help site by Kevin Custer W3KKC. This is the largest repeater information site in the world!

http://www.ve3sqb.com/ (http://www.ve3sqb.com/)VE3SQB Antenna Design Programs: Antenna Design Programs--With surface mount technology and micro circuitry, most hams no longer build their own equipment. One area that is still open to amateurs is in antenna building. For a hundred years the amateurs have made more breakthroughs in antenna design than the professionals.

http://www.usrepeaters.com/ (http://www.usrepeaters.com/) This website is under reconstruction

http://www.k1ttt.net/software.html (http://www.k1ttt.net/software.html) Available FREE! Software, Propagation Predictor (MS-DOS & MS-Windows), CT Log Statistics extractor, CT Log busting, PacketCluster DX Spot Statistics, PacketCluster DX Spots to Homenode.lst, and many more

http://www.radioing.com/hamradio/antcalc.html (http://www.radioing.com/hamradio/antcalc.html) eHam Radio Antenna Calculator-This site calculates antenna dimensions for a wire dipole antenna

http://www.ac6v.com/antprojects.htm (http://www.ac6v.com/antprojects.htm) AC6V's Homebrew Antenna Links. These antenna projects were gathered from the internet, therefore the author does not endorse any of the projects, and you are on your own.

www.rfcafe.com/references/electrical/coax-chart.htm (http://www.rfcafe.com/references/electrical/coax-chart.htm)coax reference chart

http://www.mods.dk/ (http://www.mods.dk/) Here you will find modifications of many types of HAM radios, microphones, power supplies, modems etc. You can find how to modify a radio to receive and transmit out of range, you can find how to modify a radio to use high speed packet modems, and how to modify the radio/modem to get better performance.

[KE5ZRT]

randl.com (http://randl.com/) Distributor: R&L Electronics 1315 Maple Ave Hamilton, Ohio 45011

www.texastowers.com (http://www.texastowers.com/) Distributor: Texas Towers A Division of Texas RF Distributors, Inc. 1108 Summit Avenue, Suite #4 Plano, TX 75074

www.belden.com (http://www.belden.com/) Distributor: Belden is the brand customers count on the most for the best product performance and expert care and advice--whenever and wherever they need to transmit a signal. Belden offers thousands of wire and cable products such as multi-conductor, paired, coaxial, flat and optical fiber cables, plus portable cordage, molded cable assemblies, hook-up and lead wire.

[Andy N1ORK]

Lots of good info here Chris. Thanks!

[KF5BET]

Oh my gosh. Looks like a LOT of great reading material for the next few years. Thanks Chris...I Don't know where to start!

[KE5ZRT]

Oh my gosh. Looks like a LOT of great reading material for the next few years. Thanks Chris...I Don't know where to start!

I spent two weeks going through all of it!:whistle: