Sunday, February 08, 2026
Welcome to the third edition of our weekly digest! We are tracking the peak of Solar Cycle 25 and highlighting some incredible local and global engineering projects.
🔝 Top Links of the Week
1. ARRL Becomes Supporting Partner for America250 The ARRL has officially joined “America250” to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026. The partnership includes the “Year of the Club” initiative and a special “Worked All States” operating event. Read more on ARRL
2. FOSDEM 2026: SDR & DSP Devroom HighlightsThe premier open-source conference just concluded in Brussels, featuring cutting-edge talks on “wSDR” (web-based SDR processing), ZigRadio frameworks, and machine learning for DSP. Explore the FOSDEM Schedule
3. Emergency HAM Network in Coastal Karnataka The NITK Surathkal has established a robust emergency communication network using HAM radio to support disaster management. The project includes mobile units mounted on electric cycles. Read the full story on The Hindu
4. New 60-Meter Frequencies Now Available As of February 13, 2026, new frequencies in the 5 MHz (60-meter) band are available to US amateurs following recent FCC approvals, though they come with updated power restrictions. Check the frequency details
5. (tr)uSDX: Pocket-Sized Multimode QRP TransceiverUpdated for February 2026, the (tr)uSDX remains a favorite for portable ops. This 5-band transceiver fits in your pocket and can run on just 5V USB power for emergency contacts. View the Tech Update (PDF)
6. Hands-Free “bbTalkie” ESP32 Communicator A fascinating DIY project using ESP-NOW for direct device-to-device voice communication. It utilizes neural network-based voice detection to eliminate the PTT button entirely. See the project on Hackaday
7. Building a Light That Reacts to Radio Waves Ever wanted to “see” the RF environment? This project uses a HackRF One and a Raspberry Pi Zero to turn 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals into a dynamic LED light show. Explore the build
8. Loop on the Ground (LOG) Antenna ExperimentsVE3PRU shares his successful results using a small ferrite toroidal core and magnet wire to create a high-performance, low-noise receive antenna for the HF bands. Read the ONTARS Technical Report
9. HamSCI 2026: Citizen Science Workshop Registration is open for the 9th annual Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) workshop. This year’s focus is on using amateur observations to study the ionosphere during solar peaks. Register at HamSCI
10. Remote Radio: The DARC “Remote” ProjectGermany’s DARC has launched a nationwide initiative to make the hobby more accessible via high-quality radio stations that can be controlled remotely from anywhere in the world. Read more on Friedrichshafen News
11. Open Source GNSS/SBAS Receiver: GRIPP A new software-defined radio-oriented GNSS receiver architecture has been released. Built in C and inheriting from Pocket SDR, it offers an open-source path for high-precision positioning. Technical Paper on MDPI
12. Solar Update: High Activity in Region 4366 The sun is waking up! Recent reports show high solar activity levels dominated by sunspot region 4366, providing excellent, if sometimes volatile, DX conditions on the higher bands. Get the Latest Solar Data
Want to contribute? If you found an interesting circuit, a new SDR software, or a helpful radio blog, please email me or leave a comment below. Your link might be featured in next Sunday’s digest!
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Have an interesting item related to:
- Ham Radio & DXing
- SDR
- Homebrew Circuits
- Antennas & Propagation
- Digital Modes & Software
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