Ignite talks are fast, fun talks about just about any topic you can think of. You get 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. I’ve just volunteered to give an Ignite talk here in Ann Arbor on Thursday, November 7. The working title for the talk is “Ham Radio: Do they still do that?”
I’ve been working on the slides this morning, and here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
- Herman Munster photo
- Whenever I tell someone that I’m an amateur radio operator, the first question I get is, do they still do that?
- When they think about amateur radio, they conjure up images like this one from the 1960s.
- Graph showing the growth of amateur radio licensees
- That’s nowhere near the current reality, though. There are now more than 750,000 licensed radio amateurs, and we’re doing all kind of cool things with radio technology.
- Cubesats
- Explosion of amateur radio satellites
- Simple equipment needed to work the satellites
- QO-100
- First amateur geo-stationary satellite
- Walmart Parking Lots on the Air
- WMPLOTA is one of the crazy things that satellite operators do.
- WG0AT on a summit somewhere
- Summits on the Air (SOTA)
- W8TAM at a beautiful Michigan state park
- Parks on the Air (POTA)
- Me operating position at the Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse
- Lighthouses on the Air
- FlexRadio 6400M
- Of course, we still do “traditional” kinds of ham radio things, but the equipment is a lot more sophisticated.
- Computer driven, software-defined radio
- Remote operation on an Android phone
- FT8 screen shot
- The digital modes have tak
- AREDN mesh network
- The WiFi in your home is actually radio, and some of the frequencies that your WiFi router uses are in amateur radio bands. Amateur radio operators use modified WiFi gear to set up wide-area networks to support emergency communications or public service events.
- Tornado
- Working with the Washtenaw County Emergency services, amateur radio operators are on the lookout when severe weather threatens.
- UBITX photo
- Ham radio operators were arguably the first hackers, and we’re still hacking away. This is one example of how we use Arduinos in building our own amateur radio equipment.
- Another example of hardware hacking??
- GNU Radio example
- Ham radio operators also do software hacking. GNU Radio is a free, open-source, software-development toolkit that provides signal-processing functionality that enables developers to implement software-defined radios and signal-processing systems.
- ARROW/UMARC Field Day photo
- We have two great clubs here in Ann Arbor – ARROW and the UM ARC.
- Want to get into amateur radio? Contact me: cwgeek@kb6nu.com
- My mission is to help people have fun with amateur radio. I conduct classes in and around Ann Arbor, have written a series of study guides for the amateur radio license examinations, and love helping folks get started in amateur radio. How can I help you?
It’s still a little sketchy, and as you can see, I don’t have anything for slide #18 yet, so I’d love to get your input on this. Please feel free to comment below or email me directly.
No comments:
Post a Comment