The Communicator: November - December 2025

Welcome to the November-December 2025 edition of the SARC Communicator, your go-to guide for all things amateur radio in our vibrant RF neighborhood. This edition is a journey across the history, innovation, and fascinating activities of amateur radio.

As we transition from crisp fall days to the festive glow of holidays ahead, this issue looks at the enduring legacy of Émile Baudot, the pioneer of digital communication, and revisits the vital role of radio during the catastrophic 1917 Halifax Explosion. 

For satellite operators, discover how to seamlessly integrate SkyRoof with the Icom IC-9700 for LEO satellite operations, and check out our review of the past year in amateur satellites. 

Technical articles dive into RTTY as a viable emergency digital mode and explores the fascinating use of radio telemetry in insect tracking. We also have several articles on a current ‘hot’ activity, homebrew vertical antennas for Parks on the Air (POTA).  Finally, catch up on the excitement of the ARDF World Championship and a glimpse into the future of Software Defined Radio. 

There are articles for all levels of amateur radio and you’re sure to find something of interest.

Download Full resolution

Download smaller low resolution

View as a flip page magazine

Dive in for inspiration, connections, and the pulse of what makes our hobby of hobbies special. A special year-end thank you to our contributors and columnists. On behalf of SARC and SEPAR, we wish all of you a safe and happy holiday season.  

Stay engaged—our readership powers us forward!

Enjoy this final issue of 2025!

~ John VE7TI, Editor

Contents for this issue:

• The Rest of the Story: RTTY and Émile Baudot’s Enduring Legacy 4
• Radio's Role in the 1917 Halifax Explosion 8
• NARA NVIS Test 12
• The Lighter Side of Amateur Radio 13
• Repair and Repurpose 14
• Radiofrequency and Telemetry in Insect Tracking 24
• What’s New at DLARC — October 2025 28
• ARDF Canada World Championship 2025 in Lithuania 30
• Integrating SkyRoof with the Icom IC-9700 32
• RTTY; A viable emergency digital mode? 36
• Pile-Up Control System - Take control of the pile-up! 40
• Satellite Tracking: Looking back on 2025, and ahead into 2026 42
• Homebrew Mobile Antennas 44
• The genius logic of the NATO phonetic alphabet 46
• The North American QRP CW Club 48
• Simple QRP 9:1 Unun Construction 50
• The Dominator End-Fed Halfwave Antenna by KJ6ER 52
• The POTA PERformer vertical antenna revisited 60
• FreqBuddy: A Modern Web-Based Radio Frequency Database 69
• Ham Radio Outside the box: PERformer modifications 70
• A good idea for suspending radials 72
• A Portable Power Project 73
• Zero Retries 76
• Margaret Atwood on CW? 80
• When your hobby revolves around electricity... 82
• Back to Basics - Digital Modes 86
• Study Aids 89
• No-ham Recipes: Meatloaf with sweet tomato-mustard sauce 91
• Profiles of SARC members: Sheldon Friesen VE7SRF 94
• SARC Member donates digital nautical archive 97
• SARC 50th Anniversary the transformative role of SARC 100
• Peter Vogel VE7AFV: Profile in Tech, Science & Amateur Radio  102
• SARC General Meeting minutes 104
• The SEPAR Report 110
• We’re back on track! 115
• QRT: Is Amateur Radio an Old Hobby or a playground for explorers? 116
• HAM LEFTOVERS... 118
• A look back… at The Communicator—December 2015 120

Pile-Up Control System

PUCS: Take control of the pile-up!

by SANDER PD9HIX and ERWIN PA3EFR VAN DER HAAR

Every special event station (SES) operator knows the thrill — and the chaos — of a true pile-up. The excitement of dozens of stations calling you simultaneously can quickly turn into frustration when QRM, doubles, and missed calls clutter the frequency. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a way to bring order to that chaos without losing the fun of real-time operating?

Enter PUCS, the Pile-Up Control System, a fully open-source, web-based platform designed by and for radio amateurs. Born from the ingenuity of the Radio Scouting Fellowship PA3EFR/J, PUCS elegantly blends traditional ham ingenuity with modern AI-assisted software development. The result is a modular, flexible system that any club or individual can tailor to their own operating style — from large-scale SES activities to small club field days.

PUCS can be seen operational at pucs.pa3efr.nl

From Normandy to the Netherlands

The idea for PUCS was sparked during an SES operation on the beaches of Normandy, where operators of TM80DDAY overheard multiple Australian colleagues discussing a private sign-up system for QSOs. Intrigued but unable to obtain the software, Erwin PA3EFR and his team decided to build their own version — and then share it freely with the world. With the help of AI tools and some Python wizard Barry, PC1K, PUCS was born. It was much later when Erwin decided to develop PUCS within his own environment.

Today, PUCS is freely available, fully documented, and open to anyone willing to experiment. It’s more than just software — it’s an invitation to collaborate, learn, and contribute to a smarter way of managing pile-ups.

What Makes PUCS Unique

At its heart, PUCS is a distributed system consisting of two parts:

• Frontend (commercial hosting): This is the public entry point where operators register their callsigns to join the queue. Think of it as a digital “waiting room” — transparent, fair, and visible to everyone.  
• Backend (local PC): Here’s where the magic happens. The backend checks QRZ.com logbooks every minute, automatically removes callsigns that have already been worked, and provides an admin dashboard to manage the queue, export logs, and adjust settings on the fly.

The system uses Python’s Flask framework, SQLite databases, and SocketIO for real-time updates — all standard, well-documented technologies familiar to many technically minded amateurs. It’s simple enough for a club to host on a modest PC, yet robust enough to handle large SES events.

Open Source, Open Spirit

PUCS is more than a tool — it’s a philosophy. The creators explicitly invite others to modify, enhance, and restyle the system to their own preferences. Whether you want to change the interface colors, add logging features, integrate digital modes, or redesign the operator dashboard, the code is yours to explore. There’s no hidden agenda, no locked components — just open code and open collaboration.
All scripts, examples, and documentation are available on GitHub:

https://github.com/PA3EFR/PUCS

Why You Should Try It

PUCS is a perfect project for your club’s next technical workshop. It offers practical lessons in networking, APIs, databases, and web hosting — all wrapped around a real amateur radio application. 
Beyond that, it promotes fairness in pile-ups, gives weaker stations a chance to make contact, and even allows SWLs to log their participation.

So fire up your soldering iron if you must, but this time, your “kit” is made of code.
Download PUCS, make it your own, and bring calm to your next pile-up.

As Erwin, PA3EFR, says: “Ask AI as your friend for support — and enjoy your own moments of challenge!” On behalf of the Radio Scouting Fellowship PA3EFR/J we look forward to see you on our PUCS screens at a next special event occasion.

~ Sander PD9HIX

It's our 50th Anniversary!

Commemorative VHF Net check-in 

Tuesday 7 October at 8 pm (PST)

SARC will be hosting its usual net at 8 pm (Pacific time) on Tuesday, October 7 on frequency 147.360 MHz +600 KHz, tone 110.9 Hz for a special commemoration of the society’s founding on Tuesday, October 7, 1975.   

Members and non-members are invited to check in.  We'll also be connecting to IRLP reflector 9005 for any stations who wish to join from outside our repeater’s footprint.  You can connect a repeater or your personal device by dialing node 9005.  

You can read about SARC's history at The Communicator Digital Edition: The Communicator July - August 2025

We encourage SARC members, past students, non-members, and readers of The Communicator to check in on this historic net and we hope to commemorate our 50th anniversary with a record number of check ins.

~

The Communicator September - October 2025

Back With a Fall Issue

This publication, "The Communicator" from Surrey Amateur Radio Communications (SARC), serves as a bi-monthly electronic periodical for amateur radio operators. It covers a wide array of topics, including historical figures in radio. This month Jonathan Zenneck and Edwin Armstrong. In this issue we also provide technical explanations of radio propagation phenomena such as the Gray Line and solar indices, and practical guides for amateur radio activities like building antennas. We take a closer look at specific radio equipment (Baofeng, Icom, and Anytone), and engaging in digital modes like FT8. 

The Communicator also features emergency preparedness strategies, and the diverse interests and community focus within amateur radio. Furthermore, it touches upon innovative developments like the Linux Handie Talkie (LinHT) and the importance of in-person technical conferences for knowledge exchange.

Now read in over 165 countries, this issue brings you 130 pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and around the globe. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

Download the September-October 2025 Communicator in 

LARGE or SMALL format, or read it on-line like a magazine

Previous Communicator issues:

Search for past Communicator issues

We now have a comprehensive searchable index back to 2007
HERE.  

Want to try something new? We're experimenting with AI.

Google LM has created a link. Try it HERE

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is October 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at communicator@ve7sar.net

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

The Table of Contents for the September - October 2025 Communicator issue:

• The Unsung Pioneers: Jonathan Senneck 4
• A look at Edwin Armstrong’s contribution to broadcasting 6
• Field Day and Cross-Border Microwave Activity 7
• The Northern California DX Foundation: Decrypting solar indices 8
• Propagation Profile: Exploring the Gray Line in Radio Propagation 10
• News You Can’t Lose: Rescue team locates and rescues 12
• Page13—News You Can Lose: Mystery in Back Yard 13
• Radio Ramblings: Aircraft Radio Systems 14
• Another RFI Tracker 29
• Sniffing RF Noise with an Oscilloscope 29
• A Bridge Too Far... For Now! 30
• An AM Radio Transmitter Suitable for in-home broadcast 32
• ISED Releases New Documents for Amateur Exams 34
• Getting Started: Beginner's guide to the FT8 mode 36
• Using the Baofeng Radio: Your Guide to a Handheld Radio 37
• iCOM Special Interest Group: RFI & Noise reduction - USB cable 38
• WA5VJB’s "Cheap Yagis": Looking for a 1.2 Ghz solution? 41
• RigPi: Probably compatible with your rig 422
• The AnyTone 878 portable receives a major firmware update 44
• Ham TV again from the International Space Station! 46
• After 14 attempts our first circumnavigation of a pico balloon! 47
• The PERformer: 2024 ARRL QST Antenna Design Competition 50
• But, does it PERform? 59
• Ham Radio Outside the box: Testing the “PERformer” 60
• The Zenith Satellite Tracker 62
• Another Simple Morse Code Trainer: It uses only 7 parts 63
• High Altitude RF Adventures 64
• Hamshack Hotline Orphans invited to apply at Hams Over IP 69
• Zero Retries: The Linux Handie Talkie 70
• Ham on a Bike: Snatched a big one working my grey line 75
• Foundations of Amateur Radio: A POTA procedural proposal 76
• Listening to local RF via a web browser 78
• Back to Basics: Understanding decibels in Amateur Radio 80
• Crossword 83
• Danger in St. Elmo 84
• No-ham Recipes: Chili Con Rotini 85
• Profiles of SARC members: Michael Papp WB6GJE 88
• The SEPAR Report: Emergency Program: Net Strategies 92
• A new beam antenna for the OTC 95
• QRT: Building Your Own Antennas 96
• HAM LEFTOVERS... 98
• A look back at The Communicator—October 2015 100

The Communicator July - August 2025

A Big One to Last the Summer

We're coming up to our club's 50th Anniversary and this is another big issue, with a look back at our history, great articles, and our regular columnists.

Now read in over 165 countries, this issue brings you 130 pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and around the globe. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

Download the July - August 2025 Communicator in 
LARGE or SMALL format, or read it on-line like a magazine

Previous Communicator issues:

Search for past Communicator issues

We now have a comprehensive searchable index back to 2007
HERE.  

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is August 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at communicator@ve7sar.net

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

The Table of Contents for the July - August 2025 Communicator issue:

• The Unsung Pioneers - Some lesser-known early Amateur Radio experimenters and the dawn of wireless communication 4
• Some Early Surrey Amateur Radio Club History 7
• Telus Donates Tower/Trailer to SARC! 10
• News You Can’t Lose: The Centennial Gleissberg Cycle 12
• Page13—News You Can Lose: The Lighter Side 13
• Amateur Radio History In the Province of British Columbia 15
• Radio Ramblings: The Grab Bag 18
• Amateur Radio Contesting... But is your log accurate? 27
• Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications 30
• Remote WAN Operation and the Perils of CG-NAT Drive 32
• Six Meters: The SARC 50.070 MHz beacon 34
• Spooltenna Product review 36
• (ISED) Releases New Documents for Amateur Exams 39
• You’ve got the Power!! Monitoring your voltage 40
• Reinventing Spark Gap Radio 42
• 7300 SIG: Efficient SD Card Management 48
• Antenna Adventures: A compact 2m/70cm J-pole that wasn’t 52
• Fence Solar - Add a back-up power source 54
• The first interstellar software update: Voyager 1 58
• Update on the VE7NFR Pico Balloon 60
• AMSAT Designates SO-125: A New FM Repeater Satellite 61
• SkyRoof: New Amateur Satellite Tracking Software 62
• CQ: International Dog & Cat Days Special Event 63
• A Comprehensive Guide to Crafting an Engaging QRZ Bio 64
• Ham Radio Outside the box: An Improved Tank Circuit 67
• Top Ten Steps For successful portable QRP operation 70
• Small Pistols of Ham Radio Contesting 73
• The RSGB Looks at Morse Code 73
• "Too Many Antenna? What You Talking About Willis?" 74
• The World of CW - VE9KK Looks at a Contest Keyboard 76
• Zero Retries: Repeaters Are For Voice, Digipeaters Are For Data - NOT! 78
• K0NR: What’s In Your Rubber Duck? 84
• Foundations of Amateur Radio: What's really happening at the IARU? 86
• Back to Basics: The Common Mode Choke 89
• No-ham Recipes: BBQ Chicken Marinade 93
• Profiles of SARC members: Fred Orsetti VE7IO 96
• Another SARC Founder: Ralph Webb VE7OM 100
• Here is a great new callsign search site 103
• SARC-SEPAR Field Day 2025: 3F at our Training Centre 104
• The RAC Canada Day Contest: Celebrating Canada’s 158th 107
• I have switched PDF readers! 108
• CQ WPX (CW) Contest: Using VB7MAN 109
• The New Look of Our Website 110
• Friends Lost... 111
• SARC General Meeting Minutes: May 2025 112
• SARC Annual General Meeting Minutes: June 2025 115
• The SEPAR Report: Field Day 2025 120
• QRT: OM, YL, and XYL: Are they still appropriate? 124
• Ham Leftovers... 127
• A look back at the Communicator—July 2015 128

The Communicator May-June 2025

Another full issue

Its a big issue, and great articles, along with our regular columnists.

Now read in over 165 countries, this issue brings you 120+ pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and around the globe. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

Download the May-June 2025 Communicator in 
LARGE or SMALL format, or read it on-line like a magazine

Previous Communicator issues:

Search for past Communicator issues

We now have a comprehensive searchable index back to 2007
HERE.  

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is June 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at communicator@ve7sar.net

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

The Table of Contents for the May-June 2025 Communicator issue:

• The Rest of the Story: Pavel Schilling .............................................4
• NEW! A Complete Search Engine for The Communicator ..............7
• News You Can’t Lose: ..................................................................12
• News You Can’t Lose: Some enjoyable listening ahead! ..............12
• News You Can Lose: ARRL New Taxes for DX QSOs ..................13
• Mentoring Young Hams .................................................................15
• Post Special Event Summary: Operation Manna: .........................18
• Manna@80: The more unique contacts made by VB7MAN ..........24
• Radio Oranje and the ‘Kraut Sieve’ ...............................................25
• Radio Ramblings: Computing Science and Amateur Radio ..........28
• Computing Science and Amateur Radio ........................................28
• A LoRa-Based Mesh Network for Emergency Communication .....39
• A Heathkit “Cantenna” Deep Dive ................................................41
• Testing “Cantenna” oil ....................................................................43
• Making a Better Heathkit "Cantenna" ............................................46
• Another Notable Manna/Chowhound 80 Contact ..........................48
• Exploring the iCOM IC-7300's Internal Antenna Tuner ..................49
• Automatic Antenna Tuners & Couplers ..........................................52
• Electronic Keyers & Keyer Paddles ...............................................53
• Transients and Spikes on Power-line Voltage: ..............................55
• So... What is an MOV? ..................................................................57
• Testing MOVs ................................................................................59
• A Cheap and Light Weight HF Antenna .........................................60
• SO-124 [HADES-R] Satellite .........................................................61
• Tracking the ISS with an Arduino-Based System ..........................63
• Wondering where you can be heard? ............................................64
• A Reference for Coaxial Cable ......................................................65
• YADD: Maritime HF Activity Revisited ...........................................66
• The Mystery of the Mis-keyed Callsign ..........................................69
• Exploring Digital QSL Cards with DigiQSL: ...................................70
• How to Operate Pedestrian Mobile ................................................72
• Ham Radio Outside the Box: 25 Years a Ham ..............................75
• 2m: Weak-Signal Performance of Common Modulation Formats .79
• Zero Retries: An Introduction to the IP400 Network Project ..........82
• KB6NU: Buttons Are Back, Baby! ..................................................85
• KB6NU: Single sideband and a HAMNET update .........................87
• Foundations of Amateur Radio: .........................................................
• What is the difference between a Dummy Load and an Antenna? 88
• No-ham Recipes: Chinese Chicken in Sauce ................................91
• Back to Basics: A Balancing Act ....................................................92
• Profiles of SARC members: Jaspal Bagha VA7JB ........................98
• The Contest Contender: CQ WPX SSB ......................................102
• The Contest Contender: The 2025 ARRL Rookie Roundup ........104
• VB7MAN Participates in an International Microwave Party .........105
• High School Communications Course Update ............................113
• SEPAR Report: Winlink reestablished in the SEPAR program ....115
• QRT [Opinion]: The FCC Policy Statement .................................118
• Ham Leftovers... ..........................................................................121
• A look back: May 2015... .............................................................122

Tomorrow starts Manna/Chowhound Weekend

Manna@80! 

Operations Manna and Chowhound were lifesaving food drops to Northwest Holland 80 years ago, just prior to the end of World War Two. Over 20,000 people had died from starvation and a colder than normal winter. Allied pilots and support staff from the UK, the US, Canada, Poland, and Australia dropped over 7,000 tons of food behind enemy lines. 

There are 10 special event stations operating in these countries Friday, April 25 through Sunday, April 27. If you contact 4 or more, a special event certificate will be issued. Check QRZ.com for any of the following callsigns or Manna80.radio on the web where the stations’ current operating frequencies are available via HamAlert.

​

Participating stations:

Netherlands

1. PH80MAN: Operating from drop zone Duindigt near The Hague.

The UK

2.  GB80MAN: International Bomber Command Centre

3. GB8MAN: Royal Air Force Station Binbrook

4. GB80CHO: 100th Bomb Group Museum in Thorpe Abbots


The United States

5. W4C: Boca Raton Amateur Radio Assn


Canada

6. VB7MAN: Surrey Amateur Radio Communications in Surrey, BC

7. VB6MAN: Calgary Amateur Radio Club at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta

8. VE1MAN: Pictou County ARC in Picton, Nova Scotia


Australia

9. VK80MAN: Bull Creek Aviation Heritage Centre Perth, Australia


Poland

10. SN80MAN: The SP5KAB Radio Club

We hope to make contact with you.

 ​

~ John VE7TI

A very special eleventh team will join us for MANNA@80!

More Operation MANNA News

Operation Manna and Operation Chowhound were humanitarian food drops to relieve the famine in Holland behind Nazi lines late in World War II. 20,000 people had died from starvation and 980,000 were malnourished. Many had survived by eating pets and spoiled food. Some even eating tulip bulbs leading to poisoning. 

Allied forces air crews from the U.K., Canada, the U.S., Australia and Poland participated. From these countries there will be ten Amateur Radio stations participating in a special event commemoration.

Now for the very special part! 

We will be joined in our commemoration by a very special team. Trevor Brook G3WBQ, and his Dad Dr. Maurice Brook, will operate a station from Dorking, UK.

Dr. Maurice Brook was a Navigator on Lancaster’s with 625 squadron and flew the operation Manna missions. Dr. Brook is 100 years old, it is a massive honour to have him take part in this event for us at the International Bomber Command Centre and for all of the teams around the world. We can't thank him and Trevor G3WBQ, his son, enough.

Dr Brooks story in the IBCC digital archive

Muriel and Maurice Brook at the opening ceremony of
the International Bomber Command Centre in 2015.

Dr Brook still remembers Operation MANNA well:

• “Children in the streets and our aircrew chocolate with handkerchief parachutes to be thrown from the rear turret.”

•  “The German Command had refused a request, through the Red Cross, to allow army lorries to cross the border with food supplies. When asked to allow safe passage to an air drop they had also refused. Nevertheless, we were told that we were not to fire unless fired upon.”

•  “We were below church spires and just above chimney pots.”

• “As we swept over the houses and streets we could see adults and children waving excitedly, Some were weeping, soon so was I, as I still do when reminded. You could have recognised anyone, we were so low.”

• “We saw German machine gunners swing their weapons towards us and we did likewise to them, but no one fired.”

If you need more information about this special event, please visit: About Operation Manna / Chowhound

73

~ John VE7TI