Foreword

Experimenting. Homebrewing. Modifying. Most Amateur Radio operators enjoy doing things, whether it’s building a simple radio from a kit or handful of parts, integrating a new station accessory, or making a new antenna from a length of wire or aluminum tubing. Tune the ham bands, surf the web or pick up the latest issue of QST, and you’ll discover hams fiddling with a new piece of hardware or software and using it to improve station or operating capabilities — and then sharing their experiences with others.

In this book, Editor Leigh L. Klotz, Jr, WA5ZNU, leads a team of contributors who show us new ways to experiment — this time with the Arduino Uno microcontroller board or PICAXE and ATtiny microprocessor chips. These low-cost microcontrollers can be used in a variety of interesting and creative ham radio applications.

Most of the projects described here use a microcontroller combined with a few additional components or accessory boards — all of which are inexpensive and readily available. Software is open source and may be downloaded from this book’s website or from manufacturers’ websites. The examples and explanations in this book, along with online tutorials and support groups, put these projects within reach even if you are not an experienced programmer. Or perhaps you already have some experience, and one of these articles will provide ideas or building blocks for your own project — which you can then share with fellow hams.

Leigh and his fellow authors have close ties to the thriving worldwide community of Maker/DIY (Do It Yourself) experimenters who are using these tools for countless homemade applications and sharing information about them. See “Makers and Hams” by Dale Dougherty, founder of MAKE Magazine and The Maker Faire, and Leigh’s Preface in the following pages for an overview of how ham radio fits in with the broader DIY community. We hope you’ll join in and give it a try too.

David Sumner, K1ZZ

Chief Executive Officer

Newington, Connecticut

February 2013