Over-the-horizon (OTH) radars continue to plague various amateur radio bands. Those operating on exclusive ham radio allocations have been complaining for years, but military systems have a blanket waiver to use amateur radio frequencies. The latest edition of the International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System (IARUMS) newsletter reports that a radar in northern Iran — likely military — has been operating 40 meters (6978 – 7022 kHz). Several Russian and Chinese OTH radars have become mainstays in the ham bands. While these sort of signals are operating on exclusive amateur radio allocations, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Convention essentially gives military stations free reign in the spectrum. Article 48 says, “Member States retain their entire freedom with regard to military radio installations.” Member states are countries that have agreed to follow the Convention, and that is not a given.
The Convention goes on to say, however, “Nevertheless, these installations must, so far as possible, observe statutory provisions relative to giving assistance in case of distress and to the measures to be taken to prevent harmful interference [emphasis added], and the provisions of the Administrative Regulations concerning the types of emission and the frequencies to be used, according to the nature of the service performed by such installations.”
According to IARUMS, the Iranian OTH radar was centered on 7000 kHz using amplitude modulation on pulse (AMOP) at 81 sweeps per second. Recordings of military transmissions are available on the SIGIDWIKI signal identification site.
The South African Amateur Radio League (SARL) News reported this week that radio amateurs in Europe and South America have reported major interference from Russian OTH radar stations on several parts of 40 meters — with 12 kHz-wide signals. The radar transmissions have been heard on 7064, 7109, 7170, and 7190 kHz.
Several European IARU member-societies have already sent complaints to their respective telecommunications regulators.
Source:ARRL
Review
New from Astron is a 30-amp Power Supply with PowerPoles and 2 USB ports on the front panel. Let’s take a First Look at this! Connectors: [AC] IEC320-C14, [DC] 2 USB ports, 2 Anderson Power Pole ports, 1×2-Wire Terminals Rea... Read more
VHF
AMSAT’s Engineering and Operations Teams have announced that AO-109 (RadFxSat-2/AMSAT Fox-1E) is now open for amateur use. AMSAT advises operators to use efficient modes for making contacts, such as CW or FT4, because issues with the satell... Read more
Equipment
New Firmware Updates for the IC-705, IC-7300 and IC-9700 SDR Transceivers
Icom has released updates for its latest range of Amateur radios. The updates are available for the IC-705, IC-7300 and IC-9700 SDR transceivers. The... Read more
EL/AZ 3D Printed Antenna Rotator – Testing !
“One of the Youtube viewers made a comment a few weeks ago asking about my rotator project. Their comment inspired me to finish it. This project... Read more
ICOM IC 7300 Ham Radio Go Box, It’s Final Form?
“The go box is portable operation ready. How did I do on the wire mangement? What is its final config? Check it out and tell me what you think.... Read more
Bob Heil, K9EID – Manufacturers Showcase
“We are with Bob Heil, K9EID with Heil Sound on this weeks episode of the Manufacturers Showcase” Read more
XIEGU X6100 HF TRANSCEIVER | FULL MODE | SDR RADIO
X6100 is an ultra-portable shortwave transceiver. It adopts the SDR software radio platform architecture of excellent performance, which carries power... Read more
My Ham Radio Go Box Wiring And Setup
“Today I’m putting together my ham radio go box. It featutes an ICOM IC-7300 and Alinco DR-135. The box also includes a West Mountain Radi... Read more
XIEGU X6100 – HF/50MHz Full-mode Ultra-portable Transceiver
X6100 inherits the compact and high performance characteristics of the X series.As a new generation flagship ultra-portable transceiver, it still achi... Read more