News
GARA Open House
This Saturday at 1000 hrs GARA’s is holding its Open House at Hinshaw United Methodist Church, 4501 Gate City Boulevard (High Point Rd), Greensboro. Everyone is invited. See the Event page for directions.
This is the time to show off that special project you have been working on.
If you are a new ham or one that has been away from the hobby for a while, this is your chance to get caught up on what is new, and get answers to your questions.
GARA’s is trying something different this year. It’s holding its first members only swap meet during the open house. Bring ...
Audio Basics for Hams, Part 6 – All About EQ
Now that you have a good grasp on audio routing, it's time to move onto a more subjective topic, but one that will probably be one of interest for most people: equalization. Equalization is the ability to change the tonality, or sound, of an audio source by adjusting the relative strength of various frequencies. Before we get into this too deep, there are a couple of things that should be understood first: 1) EQing a sound isn't the only adjustment that can be made to alter how something is perceived by the listener, and 2) there are various ways to adjust EQ without ...
Audio Basics for Hams, Part 5 – A Few Suggestions, and Signal Routing, Part the Second
If you've hung around all of the previous parts of this series, you're probably starting to understand that getting a handle on audio is a little more complicated than plugging things up and hoping for the best. Getting things setup properly and working well takes time and experimentation, but it also takes knowledge and patience. With that in mind, this seems like a good time to take an interlude and make a few suggestions before before we jump into more mixer ideas. As I mentioned previously, these are my opinions, but they come from a decent bit of experience and ...
Audio Basics for Hams, Part 4 – Signal Routing
While it's perfectly fine to read each article a la carte, if you haven't had a chance to look at the previous articles about audio basics, it would probably behoove you to go take a gander at them when you have a chance. :) I'm explaining concepts all the way from the sound you make in the air with your mouth, through the audio mixer, and finally into your radio, so some of the earlier articles will be helpful for you to understand as the ideas progress. If you haven't been to them thus far, here are the links for your reading pleasure:
Audio Basics for Hams, ...
Audio Basics for Hams, Part 3 – Signal Chain
If you've read through the first two installments, you're pretty much an expert in microphones now :) . I think it's time to move up the audio path a little bit and start getting into ways you can route and process your audio. There's a good bit to this, so no doubt it will take a few more posts to get through it all, but I feel confident that it will be worth it in the long run. And please keep in mind that this is called "Audio Basics" so I don't intend on going into all of the nitty-gritty details that more advanced engineers might like. Sorry!
A microphone ...
W9HPX Presentation on Amateur Radio Digital Voice Modes
Hopefully you didn't miss the GARA meeting this past Monday evening because we were treated to an excellent presentation about the various types of popular digital voice modes by Charlotte Digital Radio Group member Roland Kraatz, W9HPX! If you weren't able to attend, or even if you were, you'll probably want to review Roland's slide deck since so much information was presented. Thankfully Roland has provided us with a PDF copy of the slides, and you can download it here:
Be sure to join us for the next GARA meeting on Monday, August 24, when our own Chris ...
Audio Basics for Hams, Part 2 – All About the Pattern
If you had a chance to read Part 1 of this series, you now have a decent understanding of what makes a mic tick and the different types of mics that are in general use. That's awesome, and it's definitely the information you need as a foundation to get a better understanding about mics and audio. But as Paul Harvey used to day, here is "...the rest of the story!"
We know that as a general rule, dynamic mics are good for higher sound pressures (volumes) and condenser mics provide better clarity, but there's more to knowing which mic to choose than just that. Audio ...
Audio Basics for Hams, Part 1!
This week we had a great discussion on our Sunday evening Technical Forum (every Sunday at 7:30pm EST on the 145.150 W4GSO repeater, BTW!) about audio gear that we use to improve the quality of the sound we transmit or receive. That got me to thinking that it might be nice to put together a series of posts about audio, the types of gear we use to manipulate audio, and other basics specifically related to our hobby. So here (hear!) it is! My plan is to divide ideas up into multiple posts so that we can explore the concepts in a little more depth than could be done ...
13 Colonies Special Event
Now that everyone has survived Field Day it's time to set our sights on the next event- the 13 Colonies Special Event Stations! If you've never worked this special event, it's a great time that comes with a fun reward at the end. The event is in honor of Independence Day and the birth of the Republic.
Starting Tuesday, June 30 and running through Sunday, July 5, there will be a total of 15 special event stations on the air on HF (and, in the case of Wm3PEN, on D-Star!). There will be stations in each of the original 13 Colonies, and two additional stations: one in ...
Get on the air this weekend!
Did you know that you can talk to people in other parts of the country, or even other parts of the world, without having your amateur radio license? You can! You just need to have an amateur give you a hand and operate the station for you. There's an awesome opportunity this weekend to do just that! Come out to Tannenbaum Park in Greensboro on Saturday, June 27 or Sunday, June 28 and visit our GOTA (Get On The Air) Station that we'll have setup for field day. Don't know where Tannenbaum Park is? Click here for a map.
We promise that you won't be disappoi...
