Foundations of Amateur Radio

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Mechanical Filters Jul 30, 2017

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

The other day a whole new world opened up to me when I came across the idea that Voltage is the same as Force and Current is the same as Velocity. It all came about when I installed two mechanical filters into my radio. You heard that right, in my shiny solid-state radio, I added moving parts!

The purpose of this was to improve the way the radio ignores unwanted signals and as a result has an easier time hearing what it is you really care about. The radio already has filters built-in, but mechanical filters offer a cleaner output with less distortion across a wider range of temperatures. Another way is to say that - mechanical filters have a much higher Q.

Think of a pendulum swinging through oil, it's losing lots of energy for every swing and has a low Q. The same pendulum swinging through air retains most of its energy and has a high Q. The same is true for mechanical filters, less energy loss, better reproduction, better outcome for the things you want to keep and hear.

So how does this then work?

Turns out that our electrical theory with inductors, capacitors and resistors have mechanical equivalents, specifically mass, stiffness and damping. As I said when I started, Voltage is Force and Current is Velocity.

It turns out that all the maths we use to design electrical filters can also be used to design mechanical filters and 1946 Robert Adler from Zenith did exactly that. This worked so well that in 1952 the Collins Radio Company started manufacturing them and today we still use them in many different radios.

As an aside, you might be surprised to learn that the first filter that Robert Adler invented in 1946 was for a 455 kHz filter, which I could technically still use in my radio today, since the same Intermediate Frequency or IF is used.

The mechanical filter - vibrating bits of metal - resonate with specific frequencies, much like a tuning fork does, but your radio deals with electrons, not movement, so the electrical signal is first converted into movement by a piezoelectric transducer, a piece of material that distorts when you apply an electrical field and when you use it in reverse, distortion creates an electrical field.

So, you have a box with a wire at one end and a wire at the other and in between are two transducers and a bunch of mechanical resonators, much like a string of pearls on a necklace.

I mentioned earlier that mechanical filters have a much higher Q. An electrical Q might range between 100 and 500, the mechanical Q in 1946 using steel was several thousand and in today's filters using Nickel-Iron alloys, a Q of 10,000 to 25,000 can be achieved.

Without going into the maths, what is this Q really describing, other than the pendulum in oil and mechanical losses?

One way to explain Q is to say that it describes the "goodness" of a resonant circuit, the higher the Q, the better the circuit. In our case, "goodness" means that it resonates better where we want it to and not where we don't want it to.

Before you start wondering, why the letter "Q"? Turns out all the others were taken when K.S. Johnson was looking for a letter to describe the attributes of coils in 1920. Today we think of "Q" as Quality, but that's the cart before the horse.

Anyway, back to Amateur Radio. If you look at a theoretical filter, you'll see a lovely curve that lets through the bits you care about and ignores the bits you don't like, but when you then start looking at the real world where damping and resistance come into play, you'll soon learn that there are all manner of ugly spikes on this lovely curve.

A typical tuned electrical circuit will have artefacts, or distortions along the way, dipping down, instead of staying straight, or having an ugly peak when it should be smooth. This in turn results in something that you can hear, distorted audio where low frequencies are under or over represented and strange distortions occurring along the audio range.

It also means that adjacent signals, the ones you're trying to ignore get caught up in this same distortion and you'll hear some of those when you don't want them.

So when I say that a mechanical filter offers a higher "Q", it means a whole lot less distortion and a better representation of what's going on. As an aside, in transmit, a mechanical filter will also help contain the energy coming from your signal and transmit it where it's needed, rather than waste it where it's not helpful. As a QRP station, every little bit helps.

I just love this hobby, every turn is another surprise.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Contesting Protests Jul 23, 2017

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

For the most part of my Amateur Radio life I've been an active contester. I have spoken about why I love contesting and why I think it's an important aspect of this amazing hobby. Today I want to talk about how contests are run, specifically how complaints are handled and how we could improve.

I must at this time acknowledge that organisers are volunteers, just like many other Amateurs, giving of their free time, in this case, to manage and score a contest. Like much volunteering it's an invisible, sometimes thank-less and unenviable task, often akin to herding cats.

To set the scene, a contest is an organised activity run by one or more people or groups that has a published set of rules, a set of aims and objectives as well as the mechanics of things like on-air conduct, point scoring, etc.

A contester who decides to participate in a contest is expected to read the rules, abide by them and conduct themselves in an appropriate manner, that is, keep accurate logs, follow the log submission rules, etc.

What happens after the logs have been submitted to the organiser is rarely spoken about. There is an assumption that the results are published, that complaints are handled fairly and in a timely fashion and that the outcomes are fair for all participants.

In my experience, it's understood that if the rules don't specifically exclude a particular event, like say, using a Satellite contact during a VHF contest, those are fair game. Of course the response to such a thing is to update the rules to exclude that interpretation for the next contest.

So, there are rules for the contesters, but are there rules for the organisers? What happens if they don't do their part? What process exists then? What if the results take over a year to be published, or you witnessed cheating, or you submit a log that has a score that differs from the results? If you bring that to the attention of the organisers, what is a reasonable response and how would you expect the issue to be resolved?

In the past, any suggestion that there could be a place for a standard set of rules for organisers has been, in my experience, ignored or ridiculed with the notion that "We're all Amateurs here, stop taking things so seriously." In my opinion, that's not a reasonable response and it makes for uncomfortable interactions between contesters and organisers who are attempting to resolve a dispute in a civil way.

In sailing, where the participants are amateurs, as in non-professional sailors, contesting is alive and well. Most weekends see a sailing race on a local water and protests are common. A standardised set of rules exist to handle disputes in a formal manner and raising a protest flag is the beginning of a set of steps that ends up with a ruling.

In the case of contests in the Amateur Radio field, no such thing happens.

As an example, I have personally raised a protest with a contesting organiser and have spent the past months attempting to get the results updated to reflect my actual score. I'm patient and persistent, I document every step, but ultimately I'm at the mercy of the organiser. Their decision to handle my protest is entirely arbitrary. In my opinion, this is not how contesting should work. It should be a fair contest between stations to apply the rules and come to a score.

I've purposefully not named the contest or the organisers, since this is not specific to my protest. This is an issue that affects contests in Amateur Radio everywhere.

What about looking at the sailing community and learning about their protest procedures? Are there contests that you participate in that have a formal complaints process and how well does it actually work? Have you ever had a contest protest that needed adjudicating and how did it work out?

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Our Amateur License System is Obsolete Jul 16, 2017

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

Recently I made a point of coming up with three different names for License Classes in Australia. I proposed Low Power, Medium Power and High Power and then went on to suggest that this could also be a mechanism to update the framework that is Amateur Licensing in Australia. As it turns out, I'm told that this idea is mostly already active in the United Kingdom.

My idea started as a response to an increasing clamour for more privileges for Foundation Licenses. These calls include demands for digital modes and more power. I understand this demand, though I don't particularly share it.

I think that licenses evolve and the world in which they operate changes and that digital modes are an example of that.

I have a much bigger problem with the way that licensees are using their level of license to look down on those who have "only" achieved their Foundation or Standard call. I have personally been told that I should get rid of my silly license and upgrade and it's unusual to meet a new Amateur who doesn't straight off the bat ask me why I haven't upgraded yet.

I've seen the same behaviour toward Standard licensees and I think it's a fundamentally wrong attitude and approach to have.

In my opinion this is a hobby for participants to do what they want to do within the constraints that they have. For some that means getting a higher level of responsibility, for others it means spending time doing deep learning and investigating the boundaries of their achievement.

The notion that there are different levels of license is completely arbitrary and the idea that some are better than others is ludicrous in my opinion. Just because I have a Foundation License, doesn't mean that I am ignorant and just because others have an Advanced License, doesn't make them all-knowing or expert.

If that wasn't enough, the boundaries between license classes are completely subjective, drawn from historic demarcations between VHF and HF, between Build and Buy and between Morse-Code and Not. These lines are getting so silly that they have become meaningless, to the point of absurdity.

If I as a Foundation License holder can go to a shop and buy a Software Defined Radio, then update the software on that radio by using my skills as a programmer, I have fundamentally changed the way the radio operates, even-though I didn't once touch a soldering iron, or open the case. Our regulations have nothing to say on the subject, nor is there any sane way to police such an activity and nor should there be - this is an experimental hobby after-all.

If I buy a radio in kit form and get it shipped to me, put it all together and turn it on, did I build something, or buy a commercially available radio? Where's the line between building and buying commercially available and what at the end of the day does it really matter?

What is so special about the 20m band that prevents me as a mere Foundation Licensee to access that band and what is so amazing about digital modes that make it that I'm not allowed to use it, even though all digital modes are really just analogue audio and there is no certification, training or assessment related to digital modes for any class of license?

My point is that the current licensing system is in my opinion obsolete, it's broken and the persistent baying from the sidelines by Amateurs who think that I'm demanding more privileges is getting tiresome. It's ludicrous to think that we should remain back in the 1970's, when Novice Licenses were introduced, perhaps while we're at it, should we go back to a spark-gap transmitter too?

The idea that your enjoyment in the hobby is affected by my privileges is absurd to the level of being offensive and if you're threatened by my participation in the hobby, it seems to me that I must be making valid points.

I don't want more privileges. I'm happy with what I have. What I want to do is make this hobby better, make it relevant, make it useful, make it accessible and make it stronger.

That's why I proposed to make three license classes, Low Power, Medium Power and High Power, to make some common-sense where none currently appears to exist.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Quick Fixes and Maintenance Jul 09, 2017

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

There is a time for everything. Mostly when it's most inconvenient, like in the middle of a rare contact, or while you're running a pile-up like you have never done before, or while you're getting a multiplier during a contest.

For two years I've been using an antenna on my car that on occasion has the ability to remind you of it's presence. In this case, there is a lead, a so-called wander lead, that runs from the base of the antenna to one of the various connectors that are spaced along the length of the antenna. In case you're wondering, it's an Outbacker antenna and it's the first antenna that actually worked on my car.

This lead has two banana-plugs on it, and those are connected to the lead with little screws which have an uncanny ability to come loose when you least desire it.

This ability of an item connected to your radio to make itself known to you is not limited to my wander-lead. I've seen the same behaviour on microphone connectors, interface adapters, baluns, speaker leads, power leads and the like.

Often you cobble together a quick fix and off you go again, doing what you were doing. Only the quick fix turns into "the fix" and nothing is ever actually fixed. I've been to many shacks where a quick fix has been applied that lasted days, weeks, months, sometimes even years, but at some point it will fail again, perhaps with disastrous results, like letting the magic black smoke out of your radio - and if you're not sure what I'm talking about, ask a friend, but the smell is memorable and often there is a matching invoice to pay.

During the week I did something novel. I remembered the last quick fix I did and instead of thinking: "I should do something about that", I actually went to my car, got out the antenna, pulled off the wander lead and actually fixed it, that is, got out a proper screw driver and actually tightened the screws. Mind you, as I'm thinking about it now, I have started to think about if I should solder the lead and remove the screws from the whole thing. I'll let you know how I go.

The point I'm making, badly perhaps, is that the hobby we are engaged in, Amateur Radio, is about more than making contacts and building stuff, it's also about doing maintenance and thinking about how to make your station safer, more reliable, more usable and fixing those niggling little things that will come and bite you at some point in the future.

Before I go, I should anticipate some responses which will be along the lines of: "Well, it was a quick fix, but it lasted for years." - good for you, you're a better fixer than I am. For the rest of us, have a good look at your station and think about some quick fixes you've applied.

I know I'd prefer to complete the QSO with that rare DX station, rather than have them vanish and later learn that their microphone packed up mid-contact.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

What's in a name? Jul 02, 2017

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

For a long time I've struggled with the way we differentiate between the different license classes in Amateur Radio. In Australia, the three levels of license are Foundation, Standard and Advanced. In the United States, they're called the Technician, General and Extra. In the United Kingdom they're called Foundation, Intermediate and Full.

These naming conventions convey that more and more is gained as you progress though the ranks, but they also convey that you are incomplete if you're not at the top of the food chain with an Advanced, Extra or Full license.

This naming convention is not universal. The license classes in the Netherlands are called the N or Novice Class and F Class, but generally they're referred to as the N and F classes and in Germany they're called Class A and Class E.

Of course if you're making a complaint about what something is called then coming up with a new name is one of the first things that you'll be asked and that has stopped me from even beginning to make this observation out loud, let alone spend some time talking about it.

Today I have a response to the question: "Well, if you don't like what it's called, what would YOU call it?"

Here's what I came up with, if we're staying with three license classes, the three names I'd adopt are Low Power, Medium Power and High Power. The names are chosen to distinguish the power levels associated with the license which then also allows for another radical idea.

What if everyone had the exact same privileges and the only difference between the licenses was how much power you could use?

This in turn would require a person who moves from one power level to the next to learn specific skills. For example, RF safety with Low Power is completely different from High Power. Antenna efficiency has a completely different impact on a high power radio, than it does on a low power radio.

Interacting with high voltages doesn't happen with low power but you can bet your RF burn that it happens with high power.

EMR, or Electro Magnetic Radiation issues were the single largest hindrance to introducing more than 400 Watts into Amateur Radio in Australia. What if getting a High Power License came with a built-in EMR module and that the energy was built-into the licence system?

If all licenses were the same, except for the power output, it would mean that all Amateurs could experiment with new modes and invent new things and the only hindrance to such experimentation would be the imagination of the person using the radio.

We have artificial boundaries between the various classes of license which bear no relation to reality. In my opinion the boundaries hinder the progress of an amateur and external factors such as the changing of the solar cycle impact different license classes in different ways depending on when they got their license.

Skills that are gained could be gathered as points or modules and could incrementally allow the progression to higher power.

Of course, 100 Watts on 160m does not have the same impact from an EMR perspective as 100 Watts on 10 GHz, but I'm not advocating that the Low Power license is limited to 10 Watts across all bands, nor am I saying that a Medium Power License should have 100 Watts on every band. But there's no reason that the power level cannot be proportional to the amount of energy involved, rather than a fixed power output at the transmitter.

For my money, lets ditch this Foundation, Standard and Advanced system and move to Low Power, Medium Power and High Power.

Who's with me?

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Mobile experiments with high power. Jun 25, 2017

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

A little while ago I had the chance to use a mobile radio with high power. I used it to learn about the coverage of our local repeater, but also to hear what the effects were when two local radios were both using the same repeater and high power at the same time.

I made all manner of observations and wondered how much of what I observed was real and how much was a case of me adding two and two together and coming up with five. Immediately after I made those observations I received emails from around the globe explaining in great detail what was going on.

Suffice to say that there was some disagreement among the emails, but overall they lead to a few new things that I'd not considered.

One comment was that the two radios, not quite side-by-side, but in two cars nearby was similar to the operating environment of a repeater, that is a receiver and a transmitter sitting in close proximity. Initially I didn't cotton on to the analogy and it took several readings to understand, but the outcome is that, as I suspected, the receiver is being overloaded by a local transmitter which is putting out a big signal that is overwhelming the electronics in the receiver, something that a repeater deals with every time you key it up. The short version of this is called de-sensing. I'm still reading about how it exactly works on the inside, something for another day.

In a repeater the issue is dealt with by filtering the outgoing signal and filtering the incoming signal, making sure that only the desired information makes it to where it needs to go. Two random radios bolted to two cars don't have any such filtering and no way to reject the unwanted signals. Adding filters to both cars might fix the issue, but then we weren't trying to fix anything, just to learn what was going on.

Another thing I learnt was that FM receivers don't need an AGC, since the volume of a signal is related to how much it deviates from the central signal, not how much signal there is, which is why the microphone gain setting on your radio determines the volume, not the level of power. To be clear, enough of your signal needs to get to the other end for it to work, but after that, you're just wasting electrons. If you need a visual for that in FM the height of the signal doesn't matter once it's high enough, the wobble determines how much volume there is. In AM, there is no wobble, the height determines the volume.

Incidentally, if not enough of your signal gets to the other end, then your weak signal might be overtaken by another signal and the so-called "FM capture effect" happens, where the low signal gets effectively rejected in favour of the higher one.

Interestingly Amateur Radios can have an FM AGC which can be used to determine the signal strength, which makes your S-meter behave more like it does on HF, but if you recall, an S-meter is really a guess-o-meter since every manufacturer has their own "standard" and two radios are unlikely to experience the same S-level for the same signal. Don't misunderstand, I'm not maligning the S-meter, just pointing out that your S-5 and my S-5 are unlikely to be the same.

So, the more I peel away from my little mobile experiment, the more I unearth in the wake of the experiment. Such is the joy of Amateur Radio. Be curious, investigate and learn.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Magic and Curiosity in Amateur Radio Jun 18, 2017

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

You know you've been at something for a while if you come across a topic that you want to dig into and discover that you already covered it in great detail a year ago. For me that topic was the "FM capture effect", which I covered in great detail a while back - the research says: "This happens, we know it happens, it happens under these circumstances, but precisely how, we're not sure."

I finished off with a quote by Arthur C. Clarke who wrote in 1973: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- by that definition, Amateur Radio and the "FM capture effect" is clearly magic.

For me Amateur Radio is about the constant quest of learning, the ongoing pursuit of explanation and understanding, the relentless curiosity that burns a hole in my mind waiting to get filled with information and knowledge about anything and everything.

In that same environment I am the holder of the beginner's license in Amateur Radio and that is the cause for some members of our community to scoff at my skills, to demand that I upgrade, to ridicule the level of licence that I hold and to brandish their higher level certificate of proficiency as a weapon against my meagre understanding of this hobby.

How is it possible that this irrational belief that one license is more valid than another can exist in a world where something as basic as the "FM capture effect" is not understood, not documented, not explained and not taught to those holding the summit of knowledge, the highest level of Amateur License?

I've been a student all my life and truth be told, that's true for most people I meet. There are a few people who know everything already, but the rest of us are able to understand that learning is a continual process. The level of license you hold has nothing to do with your ability to learn, your ability to understand or your ability to be a higher class of human.

A high level license is a privilege to incur a higher level of responsibility and acknowledgement that at some level you're able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Clearly for some it's the ultimate expression of their superiority, but for the rest of us it's a token that affords us extra access to radio spectrum and technologies.

One reason I'm raising this is because if you're a new entrant to our hobby, you might be confronted by Amateurs who demand that you update your license at their insistence, rather than your interest, which can lead to you leaving our community which is a regrettable and undesirable outcome.

Another reason I'm raising this is because there are many things in Amateur Radio like the "FM capture effect", phenomenon we know happen, but have little understanding about. These things have implications far beyond our hobby. For example, the mobile phone in your pocket, or the laptop on your knees or the wireless headphones on your head, all use technologies that are subject to the "FM capture effect" and understanding and research in our hobby can and will help the wider community.

So, don't let your lowly license deter you from learning, from participating, from being curious and researching things that interest you. Who knows, one day you'll add to the body of knowledge that we call Amateur Radio and we'll all be better off.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Using an Alex-Loop, very satisfying ... Jun 11, 2017

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

The quest for the perfect antenna is likely to be one of the things that you'll carry with you during your entire Amateur life. In the past I've explained how the perfect antenna cannot exist and that the amount of variation inside just one antenna is infinite, so there is lots to choose from.

One of my friends loaned me an antenna called an Alex-Loop. It's a so-called Magnetic-Loop Antenna and while the physics of the antenna is fascinating, I'm not going to go into it today. Suffice to say that there are hundreds of articles on the subject on-line and if you do dive in, read at least 20 or so before you decide that you understand how it works or how to build one.

Until I used the Alex-Loop, I'd been using antennas that are set-up for a single band, or ones that require switching between bands, or using long-wire antennas with an SGC antenna matching unit. I've also used so-called antenna tuners, a topic worthy of discussion some other time.

When you use your radio to pick a frequency, so too do you pick an antenna setting with a magnetic loop. In this case, the user-interface is a knob that changes a variable capacitor to make the antenna match between 7 MHz and 30 MHz. As I said, I'm not going into the physics of this, but the outcome of turning the knob is that at one point for each frequency, the sound coming from the radio will peak.

As you turn the knob on the radio, you also turn the knob on the antenna. The two go hand-in-hand and the experience is a pretty satisfying one. No need to switch bands, get out of your operating position, change the band on your antenna, or switch a coax switch to another antenna, or transmit to make the antenna matching unit do it's thing, or to peak the antenna tuner, nothing like that, just a simple turn of the dial will get you to where you need to go.

The reason I'm discussing this is because it's the first antenna I've used, and I have played with hundreds of them, that is able to match the user experience of turning the dial on your radio with turning the dial on your antenna.

So far, operating from my QTH, where the noise is an abysmal S9, I managed one contact, which I have to tell you was great. It wasn't earth shattering, not even that far or noteworthy, but as contacts go, it was very satisfying.

Hopefully in the not too distant future I'll be able to find some time and go to a more RF quiet location and have some more fun.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Getting an elusive contact ... fly-fishing style. Jun 04, 2017

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

There's a phrase that I use quite often, "Get on air and make some noise!"

In terms of Amateur Radio that makes people think that I mean that they should turn on their radio, pick a band and call CQ, for hours. I can tell you now, if you're a QRP station, this is going to be a frustrating experience unless you're lucky or happen to be located in a place where other Amateurs want to talk to you, like an uninhabited island, or a low-tide reef, or some other place on the DXCC most wanted list.

I liken operating a low power or QRP station to fly-fishing. To get a fish takes patience, skill and persistence. Would you start fishing in an industrial sewer in the hope that you catch something, or would you attempt to learn something about the fish that you're trying to catch, before seeking out its hiding place and throwing out a bait?

Operating your Amateur Station should be more of the baiting and less of the industrial sewer.

So what does this look like in your day-to-day operation of your station?

Well, for starters you'll need to figure out where all the other Amateurs are. You can do that by listening for other stations, or by finding automatic beacons and seeing if you can hear them. That takes care of the first problem, is it at all possible to catch anything here?

The next challenge you're faced with is when to find these stations. You'll need to do some reverse investigation. If you're trying to contact the other side of the globe, it's likely that the station you're looking for is going to be asleep when you're awake. So, calling a station during your lunch break is likely to mean that it's midnight over there. So, pick a time when they're likely to be awake, the beginning or the end of their day, which happily coincides with the grey-line, when the sun is just on the horizon, when radio propagation goes through some magical transformations.

If you call on a Wednesday, it's likely that they're also in the middle of their work week, so think about how to plan for this. If it's a public holiday, check to see if they have one too, or plan for operating during the public holiday at the other end. If there is a large Amateur Radio contest at the other end, you might find that your station is desirable as a contact, or the opposite might be true, so check that out.

Of course, I'm not able to cover all the variations of this and it will be specific to your station, so spend some time planning and learning about what a contact might look like.

Now, if you take this advice to the extreme, you'll end up never getting on air and calling CQ, which means that you'll never get a serendipitous contact, nor will you capture the exception where an insomniac operator is trolling the bands to talk to someone, which would be a shame, so, do your homework, learn about when and where to operate and in the mean-time, get on air and make some noise!

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

What if the Radio Spectrum was a data souce? May 28, 2017

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

The evolution of Amateur Radio is a constantly changing landscape. I've previously described the transition from spark-gap to surface-mount and the ongoing progression of inventiveness that brings this amazing hobby together with the leading edge of science and technology.

If you think of software defined radio as a linear increment on the radio scale you'll end up where we see some of the manufacturers today are placing their bets. You'll find a radio that has knobs and buttons like a traditional radio, but behind the scenes there is a computer and a new way of accessing the radio spectrum.

A little further along the scale is the proverbial black-box, often with a single button to power it on, a few connectors for antennas and a network connection to get information to a computer. The software on the computer often attempts to resemble a traditional radio with similar controls and the combination of the box and the computer with the software running makes for an Amateur station.

If you have no rules for how the user must interact with the radio, you might come up with interactive waterfall charts that display the radio spectrum as a graph, showing frequency along the horizontal axis, time across the vertical axis and colour as a measure of signal strength.

Each of these experiences are attempting to achieve the same purpose, making the radio spectrum available to the station operator.

If you completely decouple the concept of radio from this and look at the spectrum as a source of data, then processing that data, often in real-time, becomes less constrained by the limits of our current perceptions of how a radio works and moves into the realm of data science.

To give you a concrete example, if you've scanned a photo on your computer and are confronted by little dots of dust, there is software available to remove that dust and re-create the image in much the same way as the original might have been. The process is called noise reduction. That same process could also be used to process radio spectrum, or audio.

There are many concepts that exist outside radio that can be used in this new world. You could do live analysis of the bands, determine which signal had the best chance of getting to the intended recipient, you could decode information spread across multiple bands, with bandwidth use that could be measured in gigahertz, rather than kilohertz.

With the limits of your mind as the only barrier, what other inventions might be arriving at our doorsteps in the near future?

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

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