2026-07-10 - Hamvention 2026 Takeaways: A Record Crowd - and a Signal for AMSAT, Brevard County ARES® Team Network, 2026 DARKWIRE, Drones Used As Airborne Relay / Nodes (Video), varaip — IP-over-VARA
Zero Retries is an independent newsletter promoting technological innovation in and adjacent to Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio as (literally) a license to experiment with and learn about radio technology. Radios are computers - with antennas! Now in its fifth sixth year of publication, with 3500+ subscribers.
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The final tally is in, and it’s a record. Dayton Hamvention 2026 drew 37,924 attendees to the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia — nearly 38,000 hams representing more than 40 countries and every U.S. state. That beats the 2025 record of 36,814 by roughly 1,110 visitors, about a 3% gain.
It’s worth pausing on what that number actually represents. 2026 is the third consecutive record-setting year: 35,877 in 2024, 36,814 in 2025, and now 37,924. Three years, three records, with the flea market and exhibit booths sold out months in advance.
The declining-hobby narrative meets the data
Walk into a typical club meeting, and you might think you’d wandered into a reunion of retired engineers. The age curve is real, and it isn’t going away on its own. But attendance and licensing tell a more interesting story than the demographics alone would predict.
The U.S. amateur population has remained above 750,000 FCC-licensed operators and has trended modestly upward over the past several years, not the steady attrition seen in many other industrialized countries. The headcount isn’t collapsing. If anything, it’s quietly being refreshed.
A bimodal hobby
The clear reading of the Hamvention floor is “bimodal”. On one side, we note the expected graying license base. On the other, however, we find a smaller but visibly rising cohort that the age curves miss entirely:
The maker and STEM crowd— Low-cost microcontrollers — Arduino, Raspberry Pi — and affordable software-defined radio have collapsed the wall between computer science and RF. This is a digital-first generation, comfortable with FT8, digital modes, and satellite tracking from day one.
University CubeSat and small-sat programs— A growing pipeline of students arrives already fluent in the language of spacecraft, telemetry, and ground stations.
The preparedness and off-grid community— A meaningful share of newer licensees treat radio as critical infrastructure rather than a weekend pastime — a steady stream of practical operators in their 30s, 40s, and 50s.
And the youth presence on the floor was unmistakable: kids building FM receivers, Scouting and 4-H integration, the Youth on the Air (YOTA) booth, and the Students on the Air (StOTA) Discord community turning out in person.
Here is the part that matters for AMSAT: **that second cohort is disproportionately interested in exactly what AMSAT does.** SDR, digital modes, telemetry, tracking, working a bird as it arcs overhead — for a maker or a CubeSat-curious student, satellite operation isn’t an obscure corner of the hobby. It’s the most exciting on-ramp we have.
What we do with the signal
The newcomers walking past the AMSAT booth are precisely the operators most likely to stay engaged for decades — if we meet them where they already are. That means accessible demos of live satellite passes, clear paths from “I have a handheld” to “I just worked a satellite,” and continued investment in the educational and university partnerships that keep the pipeline flowing. The cohort exists. AMSAT’s continuing focus is to convert curiosity into operators, and operators into members.
The real threat isn’t age.
If amateur radio faces an existential risk, it isn’t the average age of the license base. It’s the slow erosion of frequency spectrum to commercial interests and the rising noise floor from an ocean of consumer electronics that makes operating from home steadily harder. Those are fights worth having, and they’re fights in which AMSAT— with its direct stake in the bands our satellites depend on—has every reason to stay engaged.
…
Editor’s Postscript
My Thanks to Joe Kornowski KB6IGK for his (very rapid) permission to reprint his article here in Zero Retries.
I eagerly scanned through the rest of the 25 pages of this issue (it’s Zero Retries publication day), and beyond KB6IGK’s article, it was all Zero Retries Interesting. I’m enjoying my membership in AMSAT to have access to each new issue of AMSAT Journal behind the AMSAT paywall as soon as it’s published.
My “slow discovery” of NewTechHams over the past few years has been a lonely… “position” to promote within Amateur Radio. Here in Zero Retries I have posited for several years now that NewTechHams - which view Amateur Radio as a transactional activity (what can it do for me?) trend younger, more techie, prefer to experiment more in software than hardware, prefer digital modes, prefer to operate on VHF / UHF, etc., is a distinct and growing segment of Amateur Radio, that’s unnoticed by the vast majority of “mainstream” Amateur Radio (especially media).
Thus I was gratified to read KB6IGK’s article, which explained the rise of NewTechHams from AMSAT’s perspective. I’m (mostly) in violent agreement with him.
I offer the following “Zero Retries Perspective” on some points:
As I’ve explained in previous issues of Zero Retries that in my opinion, beginning in in 2026, AMSAT has become a lot more interesting with the election of Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA as AMSAT President, and better promotion near-future AMSAT satellite payloads that incorporate microwave, Software Defined Radio, and data modes (especially PACSAT), and hopefully a Amateur Radio payload at GEO. In his short time as AMSAT President, KO4MA has been much more open about “AMSAT behind the scenes”.
In my observations, the current satellites aren’t intrinsically interesting, once you’ve experienced a few voice contacts via the “flying repeaters”. I think that to attract the NewTechHams into satellites and AMSAT membership, there needs to be a very strong emphasis on digital, digital, digital modes, like PACSAT. Digital voice via satellite is now entirely viable thanks to FreeDV RADE, and for the “flying repeaters” (providing FM), FreeDV’s “other” mode - BBFM. But the most interest by NewTechHams will be in data modes. Potentially, revive an old concept from a previous era of Amateur Radio satellites, gateway stations that allow participation with satellites via a local gateway without individual having to have their own satellite-capable stations.
Another very strong interest of NewTechHams is Open Source technology. With anything they choose to get involved with and use, especially something “recreational” like Amateur Radio space activity, they expect to be able to experiment and tinker with it. AMSAT’s perspective on Open Source has been evolving and improving, which is another reason I have changed my perspective about the organization.
There’s a lot of potential for AMSAT’s technology beyond actual satellites that it seems to be neglecting. One example is that I explained to KO4MA during our conversation at Hamvention 2026 that the (new) PACSAT project is kind of cutting-edge for packet radio technology, with the incorporation of four 1200 bps uplink channels (from memory…) on 2m, and one 9600 bps downlink channel on 70cm, with a robust and proven queuing mechanism for the four uplinks to be retransmitted. Especially with an integral BBS, a PACSAT unit would be cool to put on the air terrestrially.
Another example of an AMSAT product that I think would be well received outside of space use is AMSAT’s SDR Gen2 module: … a versatile, programmable GNU Radio transceiver/transponder designed for a 1U CubeSat footprint. The transceiver has 144 MHz – 6 GHz continuous coverage with 10 GHz coverage expected as well. The transceiver will support direct VHF, UHF, L, S, C, and X band operations in all modes – CW, SSB, FT8, NBFM, SSTV, FSTV, etc. and a downlink data rate of up to 1 MBps. This transceiver is being built to fly on GOLF and FoxPlus missions and will be both open source hardware and software. What Amateur Radio techie wouldn’t want to experiment with all of that in a single, proven unit?
It’s the slow erosion of frequency spectrum to commercial interests and the rising noise floor from an ocean of consumer electronics that makes operating from home steadily harder. Those are fights worth having… With all due respect to KB6IGK, no, that particular “fight” is not worth having, and if we try to fight this irrevocable trend, such as complaining about a solar panel installation next door that uses (RF noisy) microinverters on the back of the solar panels… Amateur Radio _will_ lose that fight. RF noise in Amateur Radio spectrum is an irrevocable result of modern life. We already accept (not that we like it) noise pollution, air pollution, light pollution (of the night sky), microplastics, etc. Fortunately, we in Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio space activities, especially with this coming new generation of Amateur Radio satellites, do have a solution for the issue of increasing RF noise in Amateur Radio spectrum - digital, digital, digital modes. With the use of digital modes, we can “ride through” such interference. We no longer use analog technology in mobile phones, television broadcasting, or other modern telecommunications. Just… go… digital.
I know it’s a controversial perspective within AMSAT, but I think that putting AMSAT Journal behind a paywall is a discouraging factor in considering AMSAT membership. Some of the most interesting, exciting, and useful writing about Amateur Radio space activity, and AMSAT’s role in that activity is invisible to those that otherwise might consider (paid) AMSAT membership and involvement. NewTechHams do their own research via the Internet, and if they cannot find “the good stuff” like AMSAT Journal, for them, it doesn’t exist.
Of all the current Amateur Radio organizations that have a charter to be doing Zero Retries Interesting activities in Amateur Radio - technological innovation in 2026 and beyond, I recommend AMSAT, and specifically, becoming a paid member of AMSAT, and serious consideration of donations beyond membership dues. Again, this is a recently changed perspective on my part because of AMSAT’s previous leadership being opaque, and the change in direction (my perception) of more technically interesting Amateur Radio satellites / payloads.
BCAT’s CTO, Sean Haga KD4WLE, Leads Development of Next-Generation Multi-Network Communications Infrastructure
Brevard County, Florida – The Brevard County ARES® Team (BCAT) continues to strengthen emergency communications capabilities throughout the Space Coast with significant investments in voice, digital, and data communications systems designed to support public service events, disaster response, and emergency management operations.
Leading many of these technical initiatives is BCAT’s Chief Technology Officer, Sean Haga (KD4WLE), who has been instrumental in designing and deploying the organization’s expanding communications infrastructure. Under his technical leadership, BCAT continues to integrate traditional amateur radio with modern IP networking and digital communications technologies, ensuring the team remains prepared for today’s increasingly complex emergency communications requirements.
Expanding Linked Repeater Coverage
BCAT’s linked amateur radio repeater network continues to provide reliable wide-area communications across Brevard County, giving operators the ability to coordinate activities across multiple locations during training exercises, public service events, and emergency operations. The interconnected system provides increased coverage, redundancy, and operational flexibility while enhancing communications resilience when it matters most.
Growing GMRS Communications
In addition to its amateur radio infrastructure, BCAT has expanded its linked GMRS repeater system, providing another valuable communications platform for team members and partner organizations. The growing GMRS network offers an additional layer of interoperability and supports training, community outreach, and emergency preparedness activities.
Modern Auxiliary Communications Equipment
BCAT has also deployed a new fleet of Auxiliary Communications (AuxComm) radios, improved interoperability and ensuring volunteers are equipped with reliable, standardized communications equipment. These additions enhance field deployment capabilities while supporting seamless coordination during emergency activations and public service events.
Continued Investment in AREDN® Mesh Networking
The organization continues its commitment to expanding the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN®) throughout Brevard County. BCAT’s growing high-speed microwave mesh network provides resilient IP connectivity capable of supporting voice, video, messaging, situational awareness, and network services independent of traditional communications infrastructure.
This expanding network represents a critical component of BCAT’s long-term vision for emergency communications, enabling agencies and volunteers to exchange information rapidly even when conventional systems become unavailable.
Advancing Packet Radio, BPQ, and VARA Digital Communications
BCAT continues to invest heavily in packet radio, BPQ networking, and VARA HF/VHF digital communications, expanding resilient messaging capabilities throughout Central Florida and beyond. Through the development of a modern packet radio infrastructure, high-speed VARA connectivity, and Winlink services, BCAT is building dependable digital pathways capable of supporting emergency traffic when internet connectivity is unavailable or compromised.
A key milestone in these efforts is the deployment of BCAT’s new BPQ Live web interface, providing operators with a modern, browser-based portal for accessing packet radio services. The interface streamlines access to packet messaging, bulletin boards, node information, network monitoring, MHeard statistics, and Winlink-related services, making packet radio more accessible to both experienced operators and those new to digital emergency communications.
The BPQ Live platform represents a significant step forward in modernizing packet radio operations while preserving the resilience and independence that have long made Amateur Radio digital communications an essential emergency communications resource. Combined with Winlink, VARA, and the organization’s expanding packet network, BCAT is creating an integrated digital communications ecosystem capable of delivering formal emergency messages, resource requests, situational reports, and operational information across multiple communications paths.
First Deployment of Multi-Site Tactical Communications Plan
During a recent operational deployment, the Brevard County ARES® Team successfully implemented its first multi-site tactical communications plan, utilizing tactical call signs across multiple operating locations while integrating Winlink messaging into the operational workflow.
The deployment demonstrated BCAT’s ability to coordinate voice and digital traffic simultaneously across multiple communications platforms while maintaining organized message flow between field operators and command locations. The exercise represents a significant milestone in the team’s ongoing commitment to developing interoperable communications capabilities that mirror modern emergency management practices.
Building for the Future
The Brevard County ARES® Team remains committed to expanding volunteer training, enhancing communications infrastructure, and fostering partnerships that strengthen emergency preparedness throughout Brevard County. By combining traditional amateur radio with modern digital technologies, including linked repeaters, GMRS, AREDN® mesh networking, packet radio, VARA, and Winlink the team continues building a communications ecosystem capable of supporting communities when reliable communications are needed most.
As technology continues to evolve, the Brevard County ARES® Team remains focused on providing dependable, innovative, and interoperable communications solutions that serve the citizens of Brevard County during emergencies, disasters, and community events alike.
About the Brevard County ARES® Team
The Brevard County ARES® Team (BCAT) is a State of Florida 501(c)(3) nonprofit volunteer organization of licensed Amateur Radio operators dedicated to providing emergency communications, technical innovation, training, and public service throughout Brevard County, Florida. Working in cooperation with served agencies and community partners, BCAT develops and maintains resilient communications systems—including voice, digital, data, and mesh networking technologies to support emergency response, disaster recovery, and community events while advancing the Amateur Radio Service. Visit www.n4tdx.org for more information.
I wasn’t familiar with the term AuxComm - apparently there is a formal definition. auxcomm.radio:
AUXCOMM encompasses amateur radio, RACES, CERT Team communications, citizens band, and other non-public safety communications services. AuxComm is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Incident Management System. AUXCOMM stands for Auxiliary Communications and often considered a Primary Emergency Communications asset which is overseen by qualified amateur radio licensed personnel.
This announcement (and system) is really refreshing in that it’s a balance of traditional voice (repeater) technologies coupled with modern data technologies.
The BCAT network is an interesting integration of different Amateur Radio data communications technologies at different tiers of technology / capability / speed:
An apparently well-developed Packet Radio network,
VARA HF and FM - reasonably fast, highly reliable data communications via HF and VHF / UHF,
AREDN - High speed, native TCP/IP, via microwave
Web technology - “BPQ Live web interface”,
Winlink as Internet email interface
Kudos to BCAT CTO Sean Haga KD4WLE and the rest of the BCAT team. They’re doing all the right things!
Regional Network of VarAC or SafeComLink Nodes?
Frustratingly… I think… that in the past two weeks I read about another EMCOM group that had built up a regional data communications network as a network of either VarAC (Amateur Radio) or SafeComLink (Commercial / Government) nodes. But apparently I didn’t bookmark that story, and now I cannot find a reference to it. If a Zero Retries reader can provide a pointer to that group / network / story, please let me know and I will write that up in a future issue of Zero Retries.
Pasadena, Jun 2, 2026 by Oliver Dully (K6OLI), District Emergency Coordinator, ARES LAX Northeast
The 2026 DARKWIRE Exercise, conducted on May 30, 2026, successfully demonstrated the critical role of amateur radio in maintaining hospital communications during a total infrastructure collapse. We are pleased to provide this report detailing the technical achievements and collaborative efforts that ensured stable situational awareness for our hospital partners.
Exercise Scenario: “The Digital Quake”
The exercise was built around an escalating “Dark Wire” scenario. It began with a simultaneous cut of major fiber optic cables, triggering a widespread internet and cellular outage across Southern California. The crisis deepened with a cascading power grid failure, forcing hospitals to switch to generator power, followed by civil unrest. The final inject was a powerful M 6.3 earthquake in the San Fernando Valley, which added physical structural damage and a massive surge in trauma patients to the existing utility failures.
…
Key Successes
…
4. High-Speed, Congestion-Free Digital Transmissions The implementation of the new offline HTML forms (which export data as tiny JSON files) worked exactly as intended. Because the file sizes were so microscopic, it prevented radio traffic jams and “pileups” on the frequencies, allowing operators to send their forms almost instantly.
…
Operational Results and Technical Milestones
Our operators successfully maintained a stable communications network using VHF/UHF digital modes
throughout the operational period. The following data reflects the high volume of critical traffic processed:
VARA Chat Digital Traffic (JSON): 33 JSON forms were successfully transmitted via VARA Chat, providing high-speed, error-free data. These included:
LA County & ICS-213 Resource Requests: Critical requests for diesel fuel and Starlink terminals.
HAvBED Reports: Real-time facility status and bed availability updates.
Capacity Polls: Two comprehensive surveys capturing hospital preparedness and emergency service status.
Winlink Digital Messaging: A robust total of 53 Winlink messages were processed:
6 JSON via Winlink: Provided as a fallback for high-priority data.
47 Winlink Messages: Comprehensive traffic including Check-ins/Check-outs, Welfare messages for out-of-area contacts, and USGS “Did You Feel It?” earthquake reports.
Real-Time Situational Awareness:
APRS Hospital Service Level Reporting: Operators utilized PinpointAPRS to provide hourly visual status updates (Green/Yellow/Orange/Red) directly on the map, allowing for immediate visual assessment of hospital service levels across the region.
It’s cool to see EMCOM via Amateur Radio VHF / UHF being brought into the 2020s by using modern data communications technology like VARA FM and the tiny files resulting from using (local) HTML forms. Since they’re “just text”, it’s probably a bit more efficient to send that text as a chat element rather than queuing it up as a file.
When a network like this is set up appropriately to let the data communications system work (and handle the contention issues of a busy channel), there’s no need for manual intervention such as a (human) net control on a separate supervisory voice channel as a “traffic cop” managing who and when data transmissions can be sent.
It’s unstated in this sitrep, but pretty much mandatory for a scenario such as this to have worked as well as it did, but all the stations have to be able to hear each other reliably - no hidden transmitters.
My thanks to Franco Venturi K4VZ for bringing this development to my attention for inclusion in Zero Retries.
Drones Used As Airborne Relay / Nodes
Obviously, don’t treat a YouTube video as authoritative - I don’t. But a recent YouTube video clarified something I had been wondering about - that in a drone swarm, was it feasible to use some of the drones, operating at higher altitudes, as relays to establish a long-distance link? Apparently, yes, at least per this video:
I used the “Ask about this video” feature to find the particulars about drone-to-drone communications relay:
Find the section about relaying between drones
and this is the output:
The segment discussing the use of relay drones for this long-range mission occurs between **(02:02 - 05:20)**.
Key details regarding this process include:
* **The Role of Relay Drones:** Ukrainian forces utilize *Warog TRN* relay drones to maintain signal connectivity over long distances. Because the FPV drones use **5.8 GHz** video transmitters for minimal latency, they require these relays to be positioned approximately every **5 km** (02:35 - 03:11).
* **Contingency Strategy:** The mission employs a chain of three relays at different altitudes. The primary drone flies at **1,800 ft**, while backups fly at **700 ft** and **330 ft** to evade detection and maintain signal if a primary relay is destroyed (04:38 - 05:12).
* **Operational Resilience:** During the mission, when the first relay was hit by a Russian *Jirean 2* missile, the backup relay system automatically activated to ensure the attack drones could still receive commands (02:02 - 03:40).
I had known that this was feasible… possible… but I didn’t know if it was practical. Apparently it’s not only practical, but common, and well developed to the point of failover capability if… when… one of the relay drones is disabled. There’s a brief snippet in this video where the drone is not only relaying, but using a flat panel directional antenna to do so.
So… tie this development together with ScaleRF’s (eventual) follow on products to the initial QuadRF - low cost, easily hackable phased array antenna systems for the 5 GHz band. For drone-to-drone relay networks, instead of a flat panel directional antenna on a drone (that’s a big wind load and thus hard to keep aimed), you can use the much smaller, and much easier to maintain a high gain point to point link (you’re steering the beam electronically rather than physically), such a “solid state directional antenna” would, in theory, work better than the flat panel antenna. If you don’t think this is feasible, note that all the capabilities of the QuadRF to date are being done on a Raspberry Pi 5 - relatively light, relatively cheap, relatively power efficient.
Fast forward a couple of years. Need a quick tactical network? Repeater? Need to improve your receiver range? Field Day / Meadow Day? Winter Field Day? Put the radio - HF / VHF / UHF and the antenna(s) on the drone and downlink / uplink the I/Q to your laptop.
I can imagine that “communications relay drone” will very quickly become just another product available from “Ukraine Industrial Drones, TOB”.1
varaip is a cross-platform userspace daemon that exposes a virtual network interface (Linux TUN, macOS utun, Windows Wintun) and tunnels IP packets over a VARA soft-modem ARQ session, giving you TCP/IP connectivity between two amateur-radio stations. It works with both VARA FM (VHF/UHF FM) and VARA HF (HF SSB): the two modems share the same TCP command/data protocol, so the same driver drives either. VARA HF adds a channel-bandwidth command — set it with --bw (see the flags table).
It connects to a locally running VARA modem over its TCP command/data ports, manages the radio ARQ session (connect/listen, flow control, reconnect), and pumps IP packets between the OS network stack and the radio link. By default it runs as a transparent TCP proxy (--mode pep) that keeps the chatty TCP ACK stream off the half-duplex air; a classic raw tunnel mode is also available (see Modes).
This is pretty cool, and further evidence of the utility of VARA (especially VARA FM) in Amateur Radio. This reminds me of the utility of the Icom ID-1 in transferring TCP/IP (actually, Ethernet) data over a half-duplex radio link. It would be really interesting to see this in action.
The author provides some real world guidance of using varaip:
Nature of the link
VARA is a half-duplex, single-carrier ARQ modem. Like PACTOR, only one station transmits at a time and the link “turns around” (changeover) whenever the direction of data flow reverses. Every changeover costs real time — keying delay, sync, and ACK exchange. This shapes everything about how IP behaves over it:
Bulk, one-directional transfers are the best case. A large file moving mostly one way lets VARA keep transmitting, ramp its modulation up, and amortize changeovers. Expect steady low-kbps throughput.
Chatty, bidirectional, interactive traffic is the worst case. A protocol that ping-pongs small messages forces a changeover in each direction and spends most of the airtime turning the link around instead of moving data. Interactive latency is measured in seconds, not milliseconds.
Yep. That’s going to be a showstopper for netheads - seconds of latency.
It would be really cool to see this ported to the Mercury data modem as a transparent TCP/IP bridge2.
Over on GitHub, developer Jens Engfors has released Cascade-SDR, a free and open source web-based receiver app designed specifically for RTL-SDR dongles. Cascade-SDR uses a Python backend that owns the dongle and handles all the DSP, paired with a browser frontend for the UI, waterfall, audio, and maps. The two communicate over a WebSocket, which means you can run the backend on a Raspberry Pi or mini PC and access it from any browser, phone, or tablet on your network.
Cascade-SDR has a live waterfall and spectrum scope view, with click-to-listen demodulation for WFM, NFM, AM, SSB, and CW, complete with RDS decoding, FM stereo, and a Morse decoder. CascadeSDR also includes a wideband Sweep mode, a channel Scanner, IQ recording and replay, and a built-in antenna helper that tells you how to set up the RTL-SDR.com dipole kit for your tuned frequency.
It also supports decoding of various digital modes, including ADS-B, AIS, APRS, ACARS, DAB+, NOAA APT weather satellite images, SSTV, POCSAG/FLEX pagers, and 315 to 915 MHz ISM band devices like weather stations and TPMS sensors. However, to decode most of these modes it is necessary to install various decoder software that it is dependent on such as dump1090, AIS-catcher, direwolf, welle-clide, multimon-ng, and rtl_433.
Cascade-SDR runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux/Raspberry Pi. The readme includes instructions on installing the software on the various OS platforms.
AI-Disclaimer: This software has used Claude for development.
Cascade-SDR Screenshot
This is Zero Retries Interesting because of the low cost of the RTL-SDR.com Software Defined Radio receivers and that this can be used on Raspberry Pi, and uses a browser as the display, and the display and receiver / server can be separate units running over a network.
Wojciech Kaczmarski SP5WWP on the M17 Foundation website:
This year’s Friedrichshafen booth was busier than ever, with noticeably higher visitor traffic than last year. Many visitors encountered M17 and the wider open-source amateur radio ecosystem for the first time. The Nokia 3310 demonstration running OpenRTX+libm17 proved to be an excellent conversation starter, while the LinHT display allowed visitors to explore the project’s evolution and preview the upcoming Revision C hardware.
Throughout the event, we answered countless questions about LinHT and discussed why open hardware and open protocols matter in amateur radio. We often compared LinHT and M17 to Linux: unlike proprietary digital voice systems and commercial radios, they give users complete insight into (and control over) the technology they use. This is especially significant when one wants to use this technology for education purposes – the code and hardware can be inspected and analyzed by anyone. Many visitors were particularly interested in the possibility of running an open-source TETRA RF stack on our hardware, especially the SX1255 full-duplex hotspot.
We were also pleased to share the exhibition hall with our long-time neighbors from OpenRTX, continuing the strong collaboration within the open-source amateur radio community.
Another highlight of the event was being interviewed by a prominent amateur radio journalist Tobias DL3MHT (a co-host of The European Ham Radio Show). During the interview, we discussed the ongoing development of LinHT, its role within the M17 ecosystem, and our vision for open hardware in amateur radio.
We also had the opportunity to meet Vivian Xu, BI6KSS, from Retevis in person after nearly five years of corresponding by email. Although the language barrier made detailed technical discussions challenging, it was a pleasure to finally put a face to the name. We hope this meeting will strengthen our collaboration and eventually lead to Retevis sharing the schematics for some of their new radio models with us, which would be a valuable step toward supporting their gear within the OpenRTX/M17 open-source ecosystem.
We were delighted to meet so many people interested in our work. If you’d like to help us continue developing open hardware and open-source amateur radio technologies such as LinHT and M17, while also making our visit to Friedrichshafen next year possible, please consider supporting the foundation with a donation.
Interview with the LinHT Development Team
M17 Project (Wojciech Kaczmarski SP5WWP) on Mastodon (@m17_project):
LabCat (Tobias DL3MHT) uploaded his interview with the LinHT development team: Wojciech SP5WWP, Vlastimil OK5VAS, and Andreas OE3ANC. Check it out :-) ^SP5WWP
The above YouTube embed is supposed to start at 16:37, skipping to the LinHT team interview.
On 2021-07-09, I published Zero Retries 0000, thus this issue begins Zero Retries’ sixth (!) year of publication. The Zero Retries email subscriber base on Substack seems to have settled in at around 3500+. (It’s been (unusually) stable at that number for the last several months.)
When I began Zero Retries, I didn’t expect it to have this long a run. When I was imagining Zero Retries then, it seemed like there was perhaps a year’s worth of “Zero Retries Interesting” topics to discuss. While I did imagine publishing weekly for a few months to clear out the “backlog”, afterwards I’d convert to publishing biweekly or monthly.
To my amazement, then, and continuing to the present day, “Zero Retries Interesting” things keep happening that continually justify publication of weekly issues. A former employer described their company as “a hobby that went terribly, terribly wrong”, and Zero Retries is kind of like that, only a “hobby that took over my retired life, but in a good way”.
As I relate in a story in this issue, the perspective on Amateur Radio that I related in Zero Retries 0000, that Amateur Radio is inexorably changing to a more technical activity - use of Software Defined Radio, digital modes becoming predominant, networking becoming mainstream (again), etc. seems more prominent in Amateur Radio with each passing month. My one regret with Zero Retries is that inevitably I spend more time writing than I do experimenting with Amateur Radio or just operating on the air… which I hope to rebalance, at least in part, in Summer 2026.
I had an email exchange with an a trusted advisor this week and they offered their perspective that some of the technologies / modes / projects / products that I project here in Zero Retries that will become mainstream… aren’t likely to so, in their opinion. They just don’t see enough movement in some (many?) of those.
But to that trusted advisor’s general point, that I’m sometimes overenthusiastic in my advocacy… yep, guilty as charged!Much of what I discuss here in Zero Retries isn’t on the leading edge, it’s on the bleeding edge of Technological Innovation in Amateur Radio.
But also some of what I discuss here in Zero Retries is actually “the wave of the present”, not even the wave of the future. One example is Amateur Radio data networks, some of them based on Packet Radio technology, and many not, such as AREDN, HamWAN, VarAC (as a network system), and MeshCore are active in my places (worldwide). As in present day, not “rising” or “emerging” or “soon”.
Here’s the secret business model of Zero Retries - Irrational Exuberance about Technological Innovation in (and adjacent to) Amateur Radio. Zero Retries only exists because I was frustrated that only a very tiny bit of the technological innovation that I was seeing occur in Amateur Radio was being mentioned in the vast majority of Amateur Radio media. To me, that was boring same old, same old. Thus starting an independent publication like Zero Retries to feature technological innovation in Amateur Radio, even a token effort would be better than the few tiny mentions of technological innovation that were (then) being mentioned in the vast majority of Amateur Radio media. With fortuitous timing, Substack came along as my ideal publishing system - I could write, hit publish, and “a system” took care of the rest - managing the fights with email delivery, payments, web hosting, etc.
Along the way I discovered that there were a lot of folks that had the same perspective as I did, that the most interesting part of Amateur Radio was the technological innovation that was possible, and occurring in Amateur Radio, and finally they could read a dedicated publication about that. To those of the 3500+ email subscribers, and the extended community beyond those that choose to be an email subscriber, that have reached out to me that Zero Retries really resonates with you, Thanks! As any author will relate, mostly they write to scratch their own itch… but of no one seems to care about what you write, a lot of the fun and motivation goes out of it. Thus the ample positive feedback of the past five years of publishing Zero Retries is very much appreciated.
Not Much (Zero Retries Interesting) Heard From HAM RADIO 2026
I was kind of surprised that I haven’t heard of any Zero Retries Interesting “new” news coming out of HAM RADIO 2026. The M17 Foundation apparently had a good conference with lots of exposure, especially the LinHT in progress.
The only other thing of note that I heard was that there was another planning meeting for “FutureGEO”, a possible Amateur Radio payload at GEO that might bridge between Amateur Radio Operators in North America and Eurasia.
But I haven’t done much research either, digging into the vendor list from HAM RADIO 2026, or spending some dedicated time watching YouTube videos from HAM RAIO 2026 such as the one immediately above. I wasn’t aware of that YouTube channel, but now subscribed in the Zero Retries YouTube channel and added to the Zero Retries Interesting Videos playlist.
If you Zero Retries readers are aware of any Zero Retries Interesting developments / announcements, products, etc. from HAM RADIO 2026, please let me know.
Thinking More About the MorseNexus DitStorm Cypher
For some reason, since then, the idea of having and using a DitStorm Cypher has grown on me. A couple of Zero Retries readers that brought the DitStorm Cypher to my attention feel that the manufacturer’s claims for it to be the best such unit for automated CW decoding and display are valid.
That said, undoubtedly there are approximately a gazillion approaches to machine decoding and displaying CW. I remember reading about microprocessor based CW decoders back in the early days of microprocessors in Amateur Radio in 73 in the late 1970s, now more half a century in the past. Thus there’s ample prior art. But what’s mildly compelling about the DitStorm Cypher is that MorseNexus is making CW / Morse Code much more prominent than “just another mode selection on the HF rig”. At first, MorseNexus’ approach was a bit of a novelty. But admirably, they’ve kept at their central premise of “Good CW operation with no tears” and have continued to improve their products.
And, admirably, MorseNexus has continued to improve their marketing of the company and their premise. It was interesting when they pivoted from their original company name of PreppComm to MorseNexus - the new name just sounds cooler and more high tech. Put simply, MorseNexus is doing a good job at making CW / Morse Code operation sexy in Amateur Radio again. Unlike the hard work and (sometimes, really) heartbreak (some people take it really seriously) of trying to “get your code speed up”, with the DitStorm Cypher, you need not fear that you’re not going to be good enough when you “wade into CW”. The DitStorm Cypher is, from accounts, a well engineered, capable appliance to do the heavy lifting of CW decoding and display, especially if you don’t have the requisite skills for it.
I think what triggered these musings was listening to the hosts on the Ham Radio Workbench podcast extoll how much fun they have with using CW on Parks On The Air (POTA) activations, and reading other folks like Jeff Davis KE9V about his almost exclusive use of CW. That “world” on Amateur Radio HF is largely foreign to me as I simply haven’t tried to develop my CW receiving and transmitting skills.
Thus, it’s tempting to think about getting a DitStorm Cypher… and with it just plunge into the world of expert CW operators on the Amateur Radio HF bands.
I know - I’d just be “pointing the money gun” at what many consider to be a human skill. But so was cursive writing for much of our human history, and we don’t do much of that any more either. From my way of looking at the issue of CW… with the DitStorm Cypher, I’d just be using technology that, much like radio technology in general does, amplifies my human abilities through the use of technology.
So, perhaps sometime this Fall / Winter, you’ll hear N8GNJ in the CW portions of the HF bands calling CQ.
N8GNJ Column In May / June 2026 Issue of The Communicator
Voice Repeaters (and Net Operations) Migrating Into the 21st Century
HF Digital Capabilities Improve
Software Defined Radio Advancements
and more.
As always, I strongly recommend the entire issue, which, as I always posit, is easily the equal of any other Amateur Radio magazine with a great mix (as always) of Amateur Radio content - introductory, history, operational, technical (my favorite), and humor… and a recipe or two! Honestly, I don’t know how other Amateur Radio magazines, that are only accessible behind a paywall, compete given that The Communicator is available exclusively online, and is free to read worldwide.
Kudos, as always, to The Communicator’s amazing Editor, John Schouten VE7TI.
ZRDC 2026 Ho!
Zero Retries Digital Conference (ZRDC) 2026 will be here before we (I) know it.
Tina KD7WSF (and I) continue to be impacted by Tina’s recent surgery and her resulting lack of mobility and impact on her overall office productivity. By this issue, we had hoped to finalize some details about ZRDC 2026 that we could publish… but we didn’t.
Rest assured that such details are coming very soon, such as registration details, confirmed speakers, call for papers, etc. We both think that the change in venue to the Bay Area, California, USA, overlapping with Pacificon 2026, and the many exciting technological innovations in Amateur Radio that have / will occur in 2026 will culminate in ZRDC 2026 being an even more exciting and impactful event than ZRDC 2025. Thanks for your patience!
Weekends Are For Amateur Radio!
As is the usual season, we’re now receiving no rain and mild temperatures for the past two weeks. It’s been (welcome) light overcast / broken cloud cover which has kept the temps comfortable, especially at night (we’re still sleeping with windows open and under a comforter).
Although I have one big yard work project promised, beyond that, the weekend should indeed be mostly about time in N8GNJ / Zero Retries Labs for Amateur Radio, sunny, mild, with all of the big shop doors open.
Have a great weekend, all of you co-conspirators in Zero Retries Interesting Amateur Radio activities!
My ongoing Thanks to: Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything! Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus Fiona and Shreky Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editors In Training
Founding Members who generously support Zero Retries financially: Founding Member 0000 - Steven Davidson K3FZT (Renewed 2025, 3rd year!) Founding Member 0001 - Randy Smith WU2S (Renewed 2025, 3rd year!) Founding Member 0002 - Chris Osburn KD7DVD (Renewed 2025, 3rd year!) Founding Member 0003 - Don Rotolo N2IRZ (Renewed 2025, 3rd year!) Founding Member 0004 - William Arcand W1WRA (Renewed 2025, 3rd year!) Founding Member 0005 - Ben Kuhn KU0HN (Renewed 2025, 3rd year!) Founding Member 0006 - Todd Willey KQ4FID (Renewed 2025, 3rd year!) Founding Member 0007 and 0010 - Merik Karman VK1DF / VK2MKZ (Renewed 2025 x2, 3rd year!) Founding Member 0008 - Prefers To Remain Anonymous 08 (Renewed 2025, 3rd year!) Founding Member 0009 - Prefers To Remain Anonymous 19 (Renewed 2025, 2nd year!) Founding Member 0011 - Rick Prelinger W6XBE (Renewed 2025, 2nd year!) Founding Member 0012 - Ryan Tolboom N2BP (Renewed 2025, 2nd year!) Founding Member 0013 - Newton White N4EWT (Renewed 2026, 2nd year!) Founding Member 0014 - Joe Hamelin W7COM (Renewed 2026, 2nd year!) Founding Member 0015 - Rich Stocking N7OP (Renewed 2026, 2nd year!) Founding Member 0016 - Prefers To Remain Anonymous 77 (New 2025) Founding Member 0017 - Phil Karn KA9Q (New 2025) Founding Member 0018 - Prefers To Remain Anonymous 95 (New 2025) Founding Member 0019 - Prefers To Remain Anonymous 0108 (New 2025) Founding Member 0020 - Prefers To Remain Anonymous 110 (New 2025) Founding Member 0021 - Prefers To Remain Anonymous 111 (New 2025) Founding Member 0022 - Prefers To Remain Anonymous 112 (New 2025) Founding Member 0023 - Prefers To Remain Anonymous 116 (New 2026) Founding Member 0024 - Rob Bowser (SPOOLTENNA) (New 2026) Founding Member 0025 - Dave Stewart K7XST (New 2026) Founding Member 0026 - Prefers To Remain Anonymous 32 (New 2026)
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It wasn’t clear if “Warog TRN” was a description of a type of drone, or an actual product name. Thus this corporate name is entirely imaginary, as far as I’m aware. I made it up for this article.
Was getting worried there but I see it still came out on Friday (PDT), again enjoyed the great info.