Secret Spy Radio Stations

10/02/2024

New projects with Leonardo DRS Naval Electronics!

DRS LARGO

Nine Thermal Chambers, including an 8’x8’x6’ Walk-in Chamber
Seven vibration tables

Outdoor test range including a 40’ tower with calibrated optical delay line

A Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR) and 103K square feet of space for the material management activities, plus nine vertical storage units

Radar and sensing test equipment

Orbit FR 959 software for our anechoic chamber
A full complement of test equipment, incorporating network/signal analyzers and signal generators

Circuit Cards
Numerous custom designed and fabricated test fixtures
Two Teradyne test units

Facility Highlights:

The Largo 113,000 sq-ft facility is fully updated and houses a rigorous test and development environment for our microwave and RF integration expertise including L, S, C, X, K, Ka, Ku Radar and Sensor Assembly.

Anechoic Test Chamber – Near Field Range and Compact Antenna Test Range

Outdoor Test Range – 3 Node Comms network, RF Transponder(s), and Optical Alignment

Environmental stress screening

The Leonardo DRS Naval Electronics business unit is the largest and most successful complex manufacturing supplier to the U.S. Navy, providing engineering, assembly & testing, logistics, and depot support in addition to our manufacturing services.

We have over 600,000 square feet of manufacturing and test space across eight locations. All of our naval electronics manufacturing facilities are low-cost, high-quality production centers with a lean management and engineering teams providing on-time deliveries.

There is over 403K Sq-ft of flexible space dedicated to the management, production, and repair of electronic equipment. The Leonardo DRS facilities are designed to be reconfigurable to allow flexibility in layout for production orders. These facilities are segregated into lean work cells designed to produce specific product types, supporting each step of the production process. Furthermore, industrial engineers configure work cells to create efficient product flow and minimize product handling and movement.

07/24/2024

Autonomous Flight Vehicle Termination

NEW PROJECT

The SG901-1229 AFTU is an autonomous flight vehicle termination system designed to support the July 2017 Congressional mandate of automated range safety systems. It utilizes configurable software-based rules and data redundant GPS/IMU navigational inputs to make flight termination / destruct decisions using redundant units. It provides a lower cost, more flexible flight safety system usable at all ranges and non-range locations.

07/24/2024

In Search for Amelia Earhart, Finding the Last Signal

LULU Worldwide Publication Available Now!

This book presents an analysis of using radio direction finder bearings obtained by Pan American Airways (PAA) direction finder (DF) sites, at Wake Island, Midway Island, and Mokapu Point at Oahu, Hawaii, and by a temporary U. S. Coast Guard DF site at Howland Island, during the search for Amelia Earhart in July 1937.

All bearings were taken on signals heard at night, on or near 3105 kHz, Known as the Earhart night frequency.

06/18/2024

The amateur radio event of the year is just a few short days away, June 22-23. Hundreds of thousands of hams around North America and beyond will participate in the beloved operating event. If you’re still looking for a place to go, use the Field Day locator tool at www.arrl.org/field-day-locator.

As clubs and individual operators make their last-minute checks on gear (have you checked all of your cables and jumpers?) ARRL Contest Branch Manager Paul Bourque, N1SFE, wants to remind organizers to check on the human factors in a good operation. “This is a good time to call everyone who said they wanted to come out and operate at Field Day and make sure they can still come,” he said.

Bourque noted that June is a busy time of year for family obligations and a reminder check-in could be helpful to both clubs and operators. “You also want to make sure you have enough water and sunscreen around, or to have people bring some. It could be very hot depending on where you are, and you’ve got to take care of the most important aspect of the event: the people,” he said.

The June 2024 issue of QST magazine has a special Field Day section, which includes a checklist of all of the ARRL and Radio Amateurs of Canada Sections that count. “Print that out and take it with you. Use it as a fun checklist,” said Bourque.

There’s always a debate as to the purpose of ARRL Field Day. “It is part emergency communications exercise, part social gathering, part open house for ham radio – it is what the local club makes of it. No matter what goal your activation has, ARRL hopes it is a safe, fun, and rewarding event for each club,” said ARRL Radiosport and Regulatory Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ.

Find more information, the complete rules packet, and information on submitting logs at www.arrl.org/field-day.

05/06/2024

https://www.sparton.com/products/sonobuoys/

New Product Testing with partnership with SPARTON!

A tactical sonar system for transmitting submarine activity, the sonobuoy is a core technology for anti-submarine warfare.

05/06/2024

NEW PRODUCT TESTING:

4FS & SPARTON

The AHRS-M2 is a next generation Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS) that delivers industry leading heading accuracy. The AHRS-M2 is a fully temperature compensated, micro-sized, light weight, low power AHRS product with a revolutionary built-in adaptive-calibration mode.

Sparton AdaptCalTM utilizes a proprietary calibration algorithm that provides continuous, automatic, 3D adaptive in-field calibration with hard and soft magnetic interference compensation. Instead of requiring the traditional, and complex, “12-point” calibration, the AHRS-M2 learns while in use, continuously calibrating the platform’s magnetic properties.

The AHRS-M2 is ideal for SWaP-C requirements as it weighs 7 grams in a small form factor and has a low power consumption of 60 mW and using only 16 mW in Sleep Mode.

Also new with the AHRS-M2 are the state-of-the-art AdaptNav IIITM sensor fusion algorithms that allow the system to provide accurate attitude and heading outputs. This feature includes full 360° tilt compensation in real-time even when subject to highly dynamic operating environments and transient magnetic interference.

“The AHRS-M2 is a game changer,” said Jim Lackemacher, Group Vice President of the Engineered Components and Products Segment. “No other MEMS-based inertial sensor system provides the accuracy and performance in this size and weight. But it’s the adaptive-calibration capability that is truly revolutionary and we’re excited to be at the forefront of this advance in technology.”

Features of AHRS-M2:

• AdaptCalTM provides continuous, automatic, 3D adaptive in-field calibration with hard and soft magnetic interference compensation

• Integrated AdaptNav III™ provides real-time noise characterization and active gyro drift compensation for superior heading, pitch, and roll performance in electrically and mechanically noisy environments

• Static Heading Accuracy, 0.2° RMS

• Small form factor, weighs 7g

• Very low power consumption, 60 mW, and Sleep Mode functionality, 16 mW

• Powerful user programmable sensor customization apps via NorthTek™ Forth interpreter

• High resolution, low noise magnetometers

• Advanced sensing technology (tri-axial magnetometers and MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes)

• Magnetic and True North heading, pitch, and roll measurement

• Full 360° rollover capability using quaternions or rotation matrix

• “Figure of Merit” real time heading error indicator

• In-field calibration point selection and distribution indicator

• Quality of in-field calibration indicator

• Centripetal acceleration correction

• Supports multiple communication protocols

Visit www.spartonnavex.com for additional product information and to purchase the full line of Sparton Navigation and Exploration products.

05/03/2024

Field Day
JUNE 22-23

is ham radio's open house. Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio's science, skill and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933 and remains the most popular event in ham radio.

LOCATION: 29° 9'58.16"N 81° 9'45.59"W

Ormond Beach Radio Club

04/30/2024

NEW MESH RADIO DEVELOPMENT

SOL8SDR2x1W-U (CLAMSHELL) 1.98-2.70GHz Dual 1W
Tx/Rx Transceiver

The SOL8SDR2x1W-U is a compact single-board Software Defined Radio Transceiver with 2x1W RF output power. Leveraging DTC’s industry-leading MeshUltra MANET Mesh waveform and also capable of operating as a unidirectional COFDM Transmitter or Receiver, the SOL8SDR2x1W-U is ideally suited for integration into long range UxV applications. The SOL8SDR2x1W-U also includes a rich set of interface options incuding Ethernet, serial and dual USB as well as an on-board headset audio interface. The SOL8SDR2x1W-U also offers the option of USB-C powering direct from a suitable end user device or USB-C battery (USB PD compliant).

04/18/2024

World Amateur Radio Day!

Every April 18, radio amateurs worldwide take to the airwaves in celebration of World Amateur Radio Day. It was on this day in 1925 that the International Amateur Radio Union was formed in Paris.

Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short wave spectrum — far from being a wasteland — could support worldwide propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, Amateur Radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside,” the IARU’s history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to support Amateur Radio worldwide.

Just two years later, at the International Radiotelegraph Conference, Amateur Radio gained the allocations still recognized today — 160, 80, 40, 20, and 10 meters. Since its founding, the IARU has worked tirelessly to defend and expand the frequency allocations for Amateur Radio. Thanks to the support of enlightened administrations in every part of the globe, radio amateurs are now able to experiment and communicate in frequency bands strategically located throughout the radio spectrum. From the 25 countries that formed the IARU in 1925, the IARU has grown to include 160 member-societies in three regions. IARU Region 1 includes Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Northern Asia. Region 2 covers the Americas, and Region 3 is comprised of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific island nations, and most of Asia. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has recognized the IARU as representing the interests of Amateur Radio.

Today, Amateur Radio is more popular than ever, with more than 3,000,000 licensed operators!

World Amateur Radio Day is the day when IARU Member-Societies can show our capabilities to the public and enjoy global friendship with other Amateurs worldwide.

04/18/2024

TODAY IS "World Amateur Radio Day"

2024 World Amateur Radio Day is April 18
ARRL_WARD_Poster_8.5x11_English.jpgWhat: 2024 World Amateur Radio Day

Who: All amateur radio operators worldwide

When: Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 0000 UTC until Friday, April 19, 2024 at 0000 UTC

Where: A global event covering all regions of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)

Why: World Amateur Radio Day, held on April 18 each year, is celebrated worldwide by radio amateurs and their national associations which are organized as member-societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). It was on this day in 1925 that the IARU was formed in Paris. American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim was its first president.

The theme for 2024 is "A Century of Connections: Celebrating 100 years of Amateur Radio Innovation, Community, and Advocacy"

Amateur radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short-wave spectrum could support long-distance radio signal propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, amateur radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside,” the IARU’s history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to promote the interests of amateur radio worldwide and to protect and enhance its spectrum privileges. Today, the IARU is a federation consisting of more than 160 national amateur radio organizations in as many countries and separate territories. The International Secretariat of the IARU is ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® in the United States.

On World Amateur Radio Day, all radio amateurs are invited to take to the airwaves to enjoy our global friendship with other amateurs, and to show our skills and capabilities to the public.

How: World Amateur Radio Day is not a contest but rather an opportunity to “talk” about the value of amateur radio to the public and our fellow amateur colleagues. It is also a great opportunity to talk about your radio club and amateur radio in local media as a lead-up to ARRL Field Day (held each year during the fourth full weekend in June) and another ham radio related activity in your community – such as volunteers who serve in local emergency communication readiness including the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service®.

04/11/2024

A poster promoting 2024 ARRL Field Day has been released on the Field Day web page, www.arrl.org/field-day. The two-sided informational poster features this year's theme "Be Radio Active". It includes a space for clubs to fill in information about their planned activation so that members of their community can come visit the site.

More resources for promoting 2024 ARRL Field Day are being developed and will be available soon. ARRL Field Day always occurs on the fourth full weekend in June.

This year, it happens on June 22 - 23.