Many Technician class amateurs miss out on fun and skills learning of traffic handling because they reside in areas of the country where local traffic nets on VHF repeaters don’t exist. The Virtual NTS Training Net (VNTN) seeks to address this problem with the creation of a Zoom-based local traffic net that can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection.
One of the really annoying things about ham radio is the sheer number of different cables and connectors out there. With USB alone, there are four or five common ones, and let’s not even talk about all the other connectors for the variety of wall warts.
Reach into your power cord stash and you’ll see a variety of plugs: four- and six-pin, barrel connectors, banana plugs, T-connectors, and many more. It makes you wonder:
Do these manufacturers enjoy the misery they inflict by forcing all these cables and connectors onto the world?
When I got my amateur radio Technician license in March 2019, most of my family were not licensed, the exceptions being my mom, who had held her Technician class license since her middle school years, and my grandfather, who had an Advanced license. However, neither of them was very active, aside from the occasional listen in on an 80-meter net here and there by my grandfather.
Despite their lack of activity, the fact that some in my family knew what amateur radio was gave me an advantage in the radio community right off the bat. They were willing to take me to local club meetings, Field Day setups, and countless other events that some parents might have taken one look at and turned away from. In fact, one of these outings, and a particularly significant one at that, provided some of the biggest reasons that I stayed involved with amateur radio.
Jeff and Joe Geerling provide a quick but insightful overview of the FCC’s DELETE, DELETE, DELETE docket, offering their thoughts on its implications—especially from Joe’s perspective as a broadcast engineer. Their discussion is a great starting point for understanding how these regulatory changes could impact radio and wireless communications.
In a Public Notice titled “In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete,” issued on March 12, 2025, the FCC is soliciting public input on any FCC rules in any service that members of the public believe should be deleted or modified “for the purpose of alleviating unnecessary regulatory burdens.” This is the latest in a series of similar proceedings going back to 1996, when the Communications Act was amended to require the FCC to periodically review its rules.
