Vibroplex, which first manufactured and sold its signature Morse code “bug” key back in 1904, is the longest continually operating ham radio equipment provider on the planet, but that doesn’t mean the venerable company doesn’t have more than a few new tricks up its well-worn, rolled-up sleeves.

DX Engineering’s Rod Ehrhart, K8RR, caught up with Scott Robbins, W4PA, Vibroplex’s owner since 2009, at Dayton Hamvention 2024 to discuss the mAT-TUNER line of automatic antenna tuners, which the Knoxville, Tennessee-based company has distributed in the U.S. since 2019. Watch the video below:

Scott, W4PA, highlights two new mAT-TUNER offerings—mAT-50 Automatic Antenna Tuner and Coupler Packages and the 1500PRO Automatic Antenna Tuner, both available along with the entire mAT-TUNER lineup at DXEngineering.com.

The multipurpose, 1.8-54 MHz mAT-50 Automatic Antenna Tuner comes with either an Icom, Yaesu, or Kenwood coupler and corresponding control cable. This remote tuner has the capability of matching a variety of impedances and antennas including long-wires, dipoles, verticals, Yagis, whips, and virtually any coax-fed antenna. It features a maximum input power of 120W SSB/60W Digital.

Install the sturdy, weather-resistant tuner outside near the antenna. Then install the coupler inside near the transceiver to provide power for the tuner and control its operation. The tuner does not require a control cable between the remote tuner and coupler, making installation simple. The only required connection between the antenna tuner and coupler is one 50-ohm coaxial cable. Advanced technology employed in the tuner delivers stable performance and excellent anti-interference capabilities for convenient one-key tuning.

The mAT-50 can also be used as a universal tuner for all transceivers if a mAT-50-Y or mAT-50-M coupler is connected to an external DC power supply (not included) and a control cable is not installed. You can then operate the tuner manually.

The mAT-1500PRO Automatic Antenna Tuner is an upgraded version of the original mAT-1500 tuner. Improvements include reduced weight, high- quality housing, and additional interfaces for Yaesu, Icom, and Kenwood transceivers and their corresponding operating modes. This allows the tuner to be controlled directly from the transceiver, reducing the need for manual operation.

In addition, two antennas can be connected simultaneously, and the corresponding buttons for switching (in receive mode) are placed on the front panel for easy access. Other features include:

• Designed for modern transceivers with a frequency range of 1.8-54 MHz
• Rated for up to 1,500W SSB/800W Digital
• 16,000 memory locations
• Fast tuning—found values for a frequency are stored in the memory, enabling adjustments as quick as 100ms
• Loop-through of the PTT line makes it possible to loop in the power amplifier behind the tuner. The tuner interrupts the PTT line to the power amplifier during the tuning process. This avoids tuning with high power, greatly reducing the possibility of damaging the tuner relays.
• 6 to 1,000 ohms tuning range, which corresponds to an SWR range maximum of 10:1. This allows it to match all coax-fed antennas such as a G5RV with a balun at the transition between two-wire ladder line and coax cable, but also a wideband vertical antenna designed for the rated power.

See all mAT-TUNER automatic antenna tuners and accessories at DXEngineering.com, including the MAT-Y200 for Yaesu transceivers, the MAT-705PLUS for the Icom IC-705, and the MAT-180H for select Icom and Kenwood transceivers.

The post New Products Spotlight: mAT-TUNER mAT-50 and 1500PRO Automatic Antenna Tuners (video) appeared first on OnAllBands.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) accepted for public comment a Petition for Rulemaking filed by NextNav Inc., a licensee in the 900-MHz Location and Monitoring Service (LMS), to completely reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band and replace the LMS with high-powered 5G cellular and related location services.

The FCC Notice requested comment on the effects that NextNav’s proposals would have ...

11am Meet in the “Dungeon” in the Lowndes Emergency Services Annex of the Court House. Go to the 911 office door and press the 911 call button and tell them you are there for the HAM radio club meeting. Once in go left downstairs then to the right at the end of the hall. See Y’all There! 

An update a few days ago from the N5J team said that many callers were continuing to use an older version of WSJT-X that wasn’t compatible with the new SuperFox Hound mode that is being used. This, despite considerable pre-DXpedition press informing everyone that the software update would be required.

Apparently, complaints from enough stubborn hold outs are causing the team to capitulate on this point as they just announced:

“In response to the requests to run normal Fox Hound mode because some stations are having difficulty with the SuperFox mode, effective 00:00 UTC 16 August we will convert one of the two WSJT-X stations to the old Fox Hound method”.

I hope the real problem here is propagation related and not that radio amateurs are unable to upgrade their own software…

I get mail! Sounds like a cheesy movie title from 20 or so years ago. But I do get inquiries about some of the projects I have published or are shown on my websites or the you tube videos.

Field Programable Gate Array (FPGA)

was the skill to homebrew stuff. And by stuff I mean circuits, receivers, transmitters, accessories and the like. Oh, I can build kits all right - although as I age, my eyes aren't quite what they used to be, and SMD components can send shivers up and down my spine when they are microscopic. I can look at a schematic and make repairs. Heck, I did that for 22 years for a living. But to look at a schematic, and take a bunch of components and build a working whatever? I'm out of my league.

I look at the creations of Dave AA7EE or Bob W3BBO and I just wistfully whistle to myself. To have the prowess and ability to build a receiver or transmitter from scratch, have it work AND look beautiful too? God didn't gift me with that kind of talent.  And that's OK, I guess. I just muddle around with the few things I can make, which are usually non-electrical and always would look nicer if someone else had built them.  

Which brings me to last night. I needed a solution for my American Morse DCP paddles. I took them with me to FOBB, but stopped using them part ways into the event. I was hand holding them, and my big meaty paws were causing problems. I have the tension and contact spacing set so that this thing feels pretty much like a touch paddle. The problem is that it's so small that when I would hold it in one hand and key with the other, the holding hand would mess things up by accidentally creating extraneous dits and dahs.

I want to use them for the Skeeter Hunt, but realized that I need some kind of base. That would allow me to handle it better. But what could I use? I went down to the shack and started hunting around. I didn't have any wood or metal blocks laying around that would be useful, but then my eyes landed upon and old Velamints tin that had been sitting on the shelf for years. A possibility?

I took a punch and made a tiny hole in the lid. Then I went into my parts drawers looking for a screw and nut skinny enough to go through the hole in the paddle, but long enough to reach into the case. After rummaging around for a while, i found what I needed.

I'll go to a sporting goods store on Saturday and will purchase some of those small and round split bead sinkers that are used for fishing. I'll pour a few packets into the tin and will put some tape around the edges to make sure it never accidentally opens, "spilling the beans" as it were. That should make the base heavy enough for table top use without making it too heavy.

Just like my drive on mast holder, it's no work of art, and it's no ingenious design, but it works and I guess that's all I can ask for. 

And perhaps I won't even get the chance to use the paddles this Sunday, anyhow. I may just be operating the Skeeter Hunt from the shack, if at all. 91% chance of thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon. Yuck!

The other place I haven't been having any luck is listening for N5J - the Jarvis Island DXpedition. When I get home, they seem to be concentrating on 15 and 17 Meters. Not only can I not hear them, I can't hear the pileup, either!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Up to now I have always used FT8 rather than FT4, especially with QRP.  FT4 is quicker, but not as sensitive as FT8. I can imagine with Es out of season, FT4 might catch some openings that FT8 might miss. 

This would apply for other types of propagation too where very brief openings might occur. I can imagine some F2 DX openings might be very fleeting. FT4 might catch these. I am not sure how many monitor FT4, but I imagine far fewer than FT8. 

One useful future WSJT-X enhancement would be automatic detection of FT8 and FT4 speeds so stations could use either modes in either slots. 

As you know the facet of amateur radio that I most enjoy is QRP.  However, I sometimes wonder what having high power, a tower and a big beam would be like.

In a recent 70cm contest I noticed one station working Scotland and France when I could not even hear them! I can imagine that 1000W, a big beam, and a tall tower would certainly help!

More and more we are losing human interactions.

I can think of several examples: you ring up (almost any business) to be greeted with an AI message like "say in your own words what you want to talk about". With a poor voice I find it almost impossible to be understood. Many supermarkets are replacing checkouts that have humans with auto-tills where you just scan barcodes. You try to talk to your bank and get sent to a call centre on the far side of the planet where you are just a number. Most website chats are just AI bots, not humans.   It goes on and on.

Human beings like talking with human beings. 

For some lonely people it is the only human interaction they get. In my view we are going backwards as a society. Less and less we are able to speak with each other.

I do not submit a log for this but enjoy the activity. It is much easier to copy and work DX on 70cm FT8 than SSB. After working a couple of locals, I was RX only for the rest of the evening and  copied stations all over from France 🇫🇷  Netherlands 🇳🇱 and Germany 🇩🇪 as well as the British Isles. Not bad with 2.5W and a 2m omni antenna.

The map shows the stations copied - with a 2m omni antenna!

 Solar flux is 248 and the SSN 194. A=12 and K=2.

Over on the YouTube channel "SecPGH" a talk by Grey Fox titled "Introduction to Software Defined Radio For Offensive and Defensive Operations" has been uploaded from the BSidesPGH 2024 conference. BSidesPGH 2024 was a security conference held in Pittsburgh, PA, USA on July 25.

The talks are generally about network security, however, Fox's talk is all about RF security topics and software defined radio. In the talk, he introduces SDR, and devices like the Flipper Zero and demonstrates various basic examples such as receiving FM from a handheld radio and ADS-B.

Next, he goes on to demonstrate security topics such as showing how to capture and analyze signals from a 433 MHz security alarm using an RTL-SDR and Flipper Zero, and how to jam frequencies and replay captured signals. Finally, he demonstrates WiFi cracking with the help of Kali Linux and Flipper Zero with WiFi dev board attached.

Over on YouTube "Sam's eXperiments logs" have uploaded a video showing how he was able to succeed when using TEMPESTSDR to eavesdrop on HDMI cables with his SDRplay. TEMPESTSDR software combined with a software defined radio allows a user to eavesdrop on TVs, monitors, and more by wirelessly receiving their unintentional RF emissions and recovering information from those emissions. In many cases it is possible to recover live images of the display, clear enough to read text.  

Sam's video explains the challenges he faced with signal strength due to the highly effective shielding of his HDMI cables. To get around this Sam shows how he unshielded his HDMI cables for the test. This is good news for privacy, as it shows how effective shielding can be at stopping these kinds of attacks. He then goes on to show the results he obtained which show text being read from his screen.