APRS app

I have found three APRS apps for iPhone/iPodTouch using APRS in some form. One is just re-directing to an APRS web site available for every one. Other services in that app need subscriptions, which are free on other web sites! Before you buy an app it is wise to read reviews or find info on the web if possible. An other APRS app is more focused on messaging than maps. The app PocketPacket is the best developed one for the moment as I see it. The screen dumps are from the PocketPacket. The left one is part of the set-up screen. I have here set my position manually. After connection to an APRS server the packet flow can be observed as shown in the right screen dump.

This is the zoomable map showing APRS stations nearby my QTH connected to my chosen APRS-IS server in the set-up page. You can click on the stations on the map for further information. One very nice feature with the PocketPacket app is that it has an in-built TNC! The left screen shows an APRS packet string that I have received from a nearby digipeater. The input was made by placing the iPod Touch external mic close to the loudspeaker of an Yaesu FT-857 transceiver tuned to 144.800 MHz. For the moment you cannot connect with your own APRS station. This will be developed later on the developer told me. At the end of my blog page you can see my latest APRS positions.

PSK31 app

PSK31 is popular form of narrow-band modulation and low transmit power text communication aid on the radio amateur HF bands. Now you can do this with an iPod Touch and the app I-Psk31!

Below is short video showing how I did receive a CQ from F5PEZ in France. This was on the 10 MHz band today. I just put an external microphone to the iPod Touch close to the loudspeaker of a Yaesu FT-857D transceiver´s loudspeaker. It was a little tricky to tune in the PSK31 signals and I did not try to send my own PSK31 signals.

Ham apps with tones

There exist several apps with test tone generator functions. This FreqGen app is simple to use. Read here. I did find this app useful i.e. to start up a FM repeater with a 1750 Hz tone call. The modern FM rigs has this function in-built, but sometimes it is hard, without the manual, to remember how to do it and of course when using a radio without this function. In the video below you can see and hear when I used this app to start the FM repeater SK0RDZ, some 60 km away from my home QTH, on 145.650 MHz with a 1750 Hz tone call. The microphone of an Yaesu FT-857D was held near the iPod Touch gen 3 loudspeaker.

Another app that I have found useful is the DTMF Pad for generating DTMF tone pairs. Normally you use a microphone with DTMF buttons i.e. to access FM repeaters all over the world via the EchoLink system. But if do not have such a microphone this app is very handy. In the video below you can watch how I used this app to randomly access a repeater connected to the EchoLink system. I just held the transceiver´s microphone close to the loudspeaker of my iPod Touch gen 3. The repeater I used for this demonstration was SM0HGS/R (node 7485) on 145.725 MHz in Stockholm, Sweden and KD0IZY in New London, Iowa, USA was randomly accessed.

Spy radios

Yesterday I went, with my two small grandchildren, to the nearby library in Handen Center, Haninge. They have a nice reading corner for the small ones. They also have the Nordic amateur radio magazines. Of course, after parking the children, I went to the magazine department. And there was the September issue of NRRL´s magazine with its cover photo above, by Sindre Torp LA6OP, of a real spy radio station.This station, in custody of the Norwegian CIA, was used a long time by a Norwegian spy from 1948 to 1967. The radio was camouflaged to look like a US made station but it was built in the Soviet Union.

Is it possible to build an exact copy of a Paraset today asks Johnny, SM7UCZ himself on his web site. I have seen and touched his first replica of the WW II the secret agent Paraset radio. This time he is building an exact one! I can strongly recommend visiting his site. Photo above by Johnny, SM7UCZ.

When building an exact replica you need a spotwelding machine. What do you do if you don´t have one? You do as Johnny, SM7UCZ does. Build your own! Have look here on his spotwelding project. The text is in Swedish, but that does not matter. I think you will understand how he did it by just looking at the photos. Photo above by Johnny, SM7UCZ

K1JT interview in CQ

Joe, K1JT is my ham radio idol! What he has done for the radio amateur community is outstanding. He is continuously developing new ways for radio communication between radio amateurs by means of digital technology. And this is freely accessible for all. His JT65 software made it possible for me to have my first moonbounce QSO on 1296 MHz last year. Maybe one, like Joe, has to be a Nobel Laureate to develop this magic. In the CQ magazine October issue there is an excellent interview with Joe. A more, in technics, deeper digging interview is provided by CQ here.

Three years ago my friend and moonbounce teacher Sven, SM5LE and I participated in the International EME Conferance i Wuerzburg in Germany. K1JT was there demonstrating how effiecient his WSJT software is. Maybe you can recognize him among the "lunatics" in the photo above. Now on December 10 another radio amateur will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in Stockholm, Sweden. It is George E. Smith, AA2EJ. Read about him on the ARRL site here.

Morse hamapps

There exist many iPhone/iPod apps with different sorts of morse applications. The cw training program Ham Morse by AA9PW is outstanding. Cost is only 5 USD. Read more here.


The Morse Code Decoder from HotPaw can decode audio cw. This is good for training and also for decoding high speed cw. To use it you must have an iPhone or an iPod Touch with a mic input. Price for this one is also only 5 USD. Read more here.

A test I did with these two cw apps was to run the Ham Morse on one iPod Touch connected to a loudspeaker and a second iPod Touch connected to a mic and running the Morse Code Decoder. This worked flawless. See video below.



And then today I tested the Morse Code Decoder with an iPod Touch listening, via an external mic, on a Yaesu FT-857D on the 7 MHz band. See video below.


Some days ago I did load the Morse Code Decoder and could not resist that at once to try it. I tuned the 80 m band and some high speed cw stations were easily decoded. Suddenly the word paraset came up on the iPod screen. It was SM6AAL on the the Swedish west coast in QSO with an SP2 station. And SM6AAL was using his 5 W WWII Paraset home-built replica spy station. I had a wire on my balcony and without a tuner and with a very high WSWR, only God knew how high, I called him with my FT-857D/20 W. After several calls he came back with a report and we did complete a QSO. For him down in the noise and by me with my usual S8-9 disturbancies at my QTH here near Stockholm. I got an e-mail from Bertil, SM6AAL with a photo of his spy station. Woow what a station!

TextTV - A hamapp for iPhone/iPod Touch

Ham oriented applications for iPhone/iPod are increasing. Some are free and most of them are cheap to purchase. I do own an iPod Touch, 3rd generation with a mic input. If you have access to a WLAN you can have a lot of fun with it. I call this type of apps "hamapps". I will present some of this hamapps i have tested or regulary use. The first one out is textTV from Throwlab. I am not sure but I think ThrowLab is a Finnish company. With their textTV app you can watch teletext TV pages from some broadcasters in Europe. I do not know if teletext is in use only in Europe, but most broadcasters in Europe still have this service. Before Internet this was a very useful service and I think it still is because it is a free service and so easy to use. This app is not oriented towards amateur radio, but the Finnish broadcaster YLE (Yleisradio) since many years has pages devoted to amateur radio. On page 590 there are 12 (!) sub pages with ham info incl. on-line dx cluster reports. Hat off for YLE!


Teletext pages can be accessed from English BBC1, BBC2, Swedish SVT, TV3 and TV4, Norwegian NRK, Danish DR1 and DR2 and Finnish YLE. The app costs 0.99 USD.