Lately I haven’t been doing a lot of iPhone and iPad development in my spare time, so I haven’t also been writing a lot of blogs about software development.
The reason for all of this can be found almost 30 years ago!
I used to be very much interested in CB radio (27 mc). For those of you that don’t know what this is, wikipedia describes it as; a system of short-distance radio communications between individuals on a selection of 40 channels within the 27 mhz (11 m) band. I used to play around with this when I was between 12 an 15 years old.
Previous October (2011) a friend of mine started to play around with CB radio and he got me also involved again in this. After this we started talking about getting the amateur radio license. The license is like a grown up version of CB radio and is actually a lot of studying electronics, electronic circuits and the dynamics of electro magnetic fields, propagation, (types of) antennas and the inner workings of transceivers. My friend is canadian so it’s a bit difficult for him to take a (Dutch) license exam. For me it was a bit easier, so the end of October I got the study material from the Veron (Radio Amateur Organization in the Netherlands) and studied several hours every day in November.
The 8th of december I took the official government N license exam and I had 0 mistakes; I aced it! The end of December I registered my call sign (PD1CA) with the Agentschap Telecom in the Netherlands. After this I made a quick website ( www.pd1ca.nl) and started to make the airwaves “unsafe” with my second hand bought Yaesu FT-817 and Yaesu FT-897D transceivers!!
There is still a lot to learn although I think the license study prepared me good for my start in the radio amateur / HAM radio world. I started my quest for the perfect antenna, took my first steps in digital HAM radio (PSK31, RTTY etc..) and am making my first contacts around the world talking to a lot of people even with the limitations I have with my CEPT Novice license (N License).
The next step will be making iPad and iPhone software for HAM radio, and I’m looking forward to starting this.
Combining my new and my old hobby would be perfect!!!
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Sounds like we have some similar interests! I’ve been building mobile apps (with Xamarin) and will be taking my amateur Technician exam in just a few days to explore radio and electronics more. I’d love to control a ham radio from a smartphone or tablet either with Bluetooth or wired connection between the two devices, chat with satellites from my iPad, build mesh networks, …
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your comment and I’m sorry for the late reply!
Hope all went well with your Technician exam? Did you get the license and are you now active in “the hobby” as radio amateurs are calling it?
I made a few apps now with Xamarin, for HAM Radio and am planning to make a few more. Maybe a multi platform one using Xamarin Forms and / or MvvM. So I’m sill busy with the hobby and lately also a lot more with Xamarin! 🙂