220 lines
11 KiB
HTML
220 lines
11 KiB
HTML
<h1 id="awesome-radio-awesome">Awesome Radio <a
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href="https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome"><img
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src="https://cdn.rawgit.com/sindresorhus/awesome/d7305f38d29fed78fa85652e3a63e154dd8e8829/media/badge.svg"
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alt="Awesome" /></a></h1>
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<p>A curated list of awesome radio resources. Inspired by awesome-*.</p>
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<p>I recently pulled out my CB radio and installed it in my truck. This
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inspired me to create an open source repository of all the radio related
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resources I found helpful and my notes on the subject.</p>
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<p>This project is aimed at hackers who enjoy all aspects of radio
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communication. While a lot of this technology isn’t usable by citizens
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and is heavily regulated by the FCC, just knowing anything about it is
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special. I’ve been interested in learning the ins and outs of radio, as
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well as hearing stories, new and old.</p>
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<h2 id="general">General</h2>
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<h3 id="links">Links</h3>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio">Radio
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(wikipedia)</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_spectrum">Radio Spectrum
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(wikipedia)</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skywave">Skywave (skip)
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(wikipedia)</a></li>
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<li><a
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href="http://www.windytan.com/2014/02/mystery-signal-from-helicopter.html">Mystery
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signal from a helicopter</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://hackaday.io/project/1538-PortableSDR">Portable
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SDR</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.hamqsl.com/solar2.html">N0NBH’s
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Solar-Terrestrial Data</a> - Current solar-terrestrial data, with
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explanation of their influence on HF propagation and propagation
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forecast.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="cb">CB</h2>
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<p>Citizens band radio, or CB, is a two way radio spectrum dedicated to
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open use by anyone for almost any purpose. In the US and many other
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countries, it does not require a license to operate. CB consists of 40
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channels between 26.965 MHz and 27.405 MHz with channel 09 being
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dedicated to emergencies.</p>
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<p>CB is more popular among truckers and radio enthusiasts, but its
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usefulness does not stop there. It’s great for long distance travel on
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popular trucking routes. You can tune to channel 19 (an unofficial
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trucker’s channel) and get real time traffic updates, alternate routes
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and accident warnings.</p>
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<p>Given a good antenna that’s properly tuned, a typical range to expect
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out of your CB is about 2 - 5 miles (3.2 - 8 kilometers).</p>
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<h3 id="general-use">General Use</h3>
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<p>I’ve found a lot of my information on Jeep and trucker forums. From
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my own experience, it seems about half the CB transmission I hear
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include a handle of some kind. I also hear a lot of swearing, so I
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wouldn’t sweat accidentally letting a “fuck” or a “shit” go.</p>
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<p>CB is public. Very public. That seems like a “no shit” kind of thing,
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but with the current generation pretty much only using cell phones, it’s
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easy to forget that using something as “primitive” as a CB radio is
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essentially <a
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href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_band_radio#Working_skip">broadcast
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to the world</a>.</p>
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<p>Truckers tend to use channel 19. This is a good channel to monitor
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for traffic conditions.</p>
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<p>Channel 9 is for emergencies only. No general chatter on this
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channel. If you are broke down, or your car catches fire, besides
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calling 911, this is a good channel to transmit on for help.</p>
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<p>Around Portland, I hear a lot of chatter on channels 6, 17 and 28.
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These are good channels for entertaining conversation.</p>
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<h3 id="swr">SWR</h3>
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<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_wave_ratio">SWR</a>,
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or Standing Wave Ratio is a measurement of efficiency when connecting
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your antenna to your radio.</p>
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<p>Optimum ratio is 1:1, although you’ll probably end up with 1.3:1 or
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so. Anything higher than 2:1 should be considered a no-no since it can
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damage your radio and give poor transmission. Read up on <a
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href="http://www.rightchannelradios.com/tuning-cb-antenna-adjusting-swr">how
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to tune SWR</a>.</p>
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<h3 id="installing-a-mobile-cb">Installing a mobile CB</h3>
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<p>Installing your CB right is key to A) not damaging your radio
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hardware and B) getting good range and quality on both the receiving and
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transmitting ends.</p>
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<p>Following the advice in the following articles will ensure you have a
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quality setup.</p>
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<h3 id="links-1">Links</h3>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://www.rightchannelradios.com/">Right Channel
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Radios</a> - Good online shop for parts, radios, antennas and
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mounts.</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.cbslang.com/">CB Slang</a> - mostly humorous,
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but kinda helpful.</li>
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<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CB_slang">CB Slang
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(wikipedia)</a></li>
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<li><a
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href="http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/cb-radio-etiquette-jeep-trail-1169815/">CB
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Talk and etiquette</a></li>
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<li><a
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href="http://cbradiomagazine.com/Articles/How%20to%20Shoot%20Skip.htm">Skip</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.somethingawful.com/news/cb-handles/">Silly CB
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Handles</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.advancedspecialties.net/cb-radio-faq.htm">CB
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FAQ</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=7731">Frequency
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Table</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="sdr-software-defined-radio">SDR (Software Defined Radio)</h2>
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<p>Software Defined Radio is a way to define components that are
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typically hardware, such as filters and amplifiers, as software. It has
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been around for a while, but with the cost of digital electronics needed
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to run SDR becoming increasingly cheaper, we are seeing a rise in hacker
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folk playing and building with SDR.</p>
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<p>I would like contributors for this section.</p>
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<h3 id="links-2">Links</h3>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://gqrx.dk/">Gqrx</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://sdrsharp.com">sdrsharp on .NET</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h3 id="hardware">Hardware</h3>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Recommended starter hardware</strong> On the low end, <a
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href="http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr">RTL-SDR</a> is a
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super-cheap usb dongle, around which a thriving community has been
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founded.</li>
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<li>On the other side of the cost spectrum, <a
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href="http://www.pervices.com/">pervices</a> makes some really
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high-throughput, PCIe devices for when you need to log all the traffic
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ever. The software and community support for this is less good, though
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(for which you can blame <span class="citation"
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data-cites="outofculture">@outofculture</span>).</li>
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<li>You can also browse through the <a
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href="https://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki/Hardware">big
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list</a> of all compatible hardware.</li>
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<li>Antennas are their own body of options and tradeoffs, about which I
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know nothing.</li>
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</ul>
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<h3 id="software">Software</h3>
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<p>Depending on the hardware you’re using, it may ship with some demo
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software to play around with. This is great for just getting a chance to
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see some waves and start to get an idea of what’s possible. Otherwise,
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<a href="https://gnuradio.org/redmine/">GNU Radio</a> is going to where
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you’ll spend your time. It’s mainly just a library, but it also has a
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supporting gui for combining processing blocks that then outputs python.
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Once you’re more comfortable, you can also just use GNURadio to do any
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device tuning, setup and i/o, and then use numpy for the signal
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manipulation math.</p>
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<p>Just visualizing and manually inspecting a signal is a valuable part
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of learning how to work with them. <a
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href="http://www.baudline.com/">Baudline</a> is a janky old thing, but
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it’s the best there is. Be forewarned that learning the UI won’t come
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easily to anyone.</p>
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<h2 id="amateur-radio-a.k.a-ham-radio">Amateur Radio (a.k.a Ham
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Radio)</h2>
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<p>The hobby of Amateur Radio has a long and proud tradition. The very
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first radio amateurs were true pioneers of radio technology. Amateurs
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‘invented’ and refined much of the early radio technology and were the
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first to transmit music, radio plays, and information to the handful of
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people who had the new fangled radio receivers.</p>
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<p>After World War II the hobby of amateur radio flourished. Radio clubs
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sprang up in schools all over the world and kids went home each night to
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build some new contraption, or have a chat with someone over the
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wireless. These young people became the mainstay of the technical
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professions and developed much of the modern technology we use today.
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(<a href="http://www.wia.org.au/licenses/foundation/about/">WIA</a>)</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio">What is Ham
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Radio?</a></p>
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<h3 id="links-3">Links</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>American Radio Relay League - <a
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href="http://www.arrl.org/">ARRL</a></li>
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<li>The Wireless Institute of Australia <a
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href="http://www.wia.org.au/">WIA</a></li>
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<li>Radio Society of Great Britain - <a
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href="http://rsgb.org/">RSGB</a></li>
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<li>Pakistan Amateur Radio Society - <a
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href="http://www.pakhams.com/">PARS</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.iaru.org/">The International Amateur Radio
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Union</a></li>
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<li><a
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href="http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-transponder-will-accompany-japanese-asteroid-mission-into-deep-space">Japanese
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asteroid mission</a></li>
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<li><a
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href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow-scan_television">Slow-scan
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Television</a></li>
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</ul>
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<p>I would like contributors for this section.</p>
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<h3 id="amateur-radio-license">Amateur Radio License</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>In the <a href="http://www.arrl.org/getting-licensed">US</a> there
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are three license classes—Technician, General and Extra.</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.wia.org.au/licenses/foundation/about/">The
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Foundation Licence</a> in Australia.</li>
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<li>[Foundation Licence]
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(http://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/for-students/foundation/) in the
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UK.</li>
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<li>In <a
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href="http://www.pakhams.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=92">Pakistan</a>
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first you apply for SWL (Short Wave Listener) membership and then you
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are eligible to <a
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href="http://www.pta.gov.pk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=466%3Aamateur-wireless-license&catid=138%3Aguidelines&Itemid=349">apply
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for the HAM License</a>.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="public-health-and-safety">Public Health and Safety</h2>
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<p>Police and fire in the United States typically communicate over
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trunked radio. This makes it hard to scan using normal reciever without
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trunk tracking abilities. See more in the <a
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href="#trunking">trunking</a> section.</p>
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<h3 id="trunking">Trunking</h3>
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<p>While not strictly specific to public health and safety, it is
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usually the first thing that comes to mind when talking about trunked
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radio.</p>
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<p>Trunked radio is a form of digital-two-way communication where
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multiple organizations can share a small spectrum of real frequencies
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without hearing another organizations conversations. A user can choose a
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logical channel or group and the base station will find an empty
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frequency to transmit on.</p>
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<h3 id="links-4">Links</h3>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://www.project25.org/">Project 25</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_25">Project 25
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wikipedia</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunked_radio_system">Trunked
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Radio wikipedia</a></li>
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</ul>
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<p><a href="https://github.com/kyleterry/awesome-radio">radio.md
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Github</a></p>
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