Using an Arduino to Upgrade a 1970s Ham Radio

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Al Williams WD5GNR writes on Hackaday about upgrading the vintage Icom IC-245 with an Arduino

Old radios didn’t have much in the way of smarts. But as digital synthesis became more common, radios often had as much digital electronics in them as RF circuits. The problem is that digital electronics get better and better every year, so what looks like high-tech one year is quaint the next. [IMSAI Guy] had an Icom IC-245 and decided to replace the digital electronics inside with — among other things — an Arduino.

Video and Media Post - https://hackaday.com/2021/11/27/ham-radio-gets-brain-transplant/

New Law Hits AIS Beacons

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New Law Hits AIS Beacons

A new law introduced by Beijing appears to have resulted in ships turning off their automatic AIS beacons (161.975 MHz or 162.025 MHz) when in Chinese waters

Since the start of the month, vessels from around the globe, from tankers to cargo ships, have disappeared from global tracking systems as they have entered some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes close to Chinese ports.

As the ships leave Chinese waters they reappear again.

By some estimates, tracking pings from ships near China have fallen by 90 per cent in just a few weeks.

On 1st November 2021, a new law came into effect in China restricting foreign access to any data – potentially including shipping data – deemed to have a bearing on national or economic security.

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10-year-old Radio Ham Launches his 3rd High-Altitude APRS Balloon

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10-year-old Radio Ham Launches his 3rd High-Altitude APRS Balloon

10-year-old radio amateur Max W0MXX has been building Amateur Radio APRS transmitter payloads to act as tracking beacons and launching them into the stratosphere

Max is a member of the Medway Balloon Society and has recently launched his third balloon flight WB-3.

In early June, Max launched “WB-2” which only captured about 30 seconds of video footage due to a hidden trash folder full of tests. WB-2 also required the help of a tree climber to retrieve the payload (where all the electronics and software are located).

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