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.

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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.

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