Net Opening & Purpose
Net Control: Carl (K0WLY) opened the directed net from his home in Saratoga Springs.
Purpose: To bridge traditional ham radio homebrewing with modern maker culture, acting as a community incubator for creating, hacking, and building custom gear.
Structure: The net consists of four designated segments: Check-ins, the Bench Report, Crowd Sourcing, and the Magic Smoke Award.
Roll Call & Check-Ins
Carl called for stations to provide their call sign, name, location, and whether they had a bench report. The following operators checked in:
Wade (KK7RRW) – Lehi. (Initial traffic check: No traffic).
Andrew (NV9N) – Eagle Mountain. (Initial traffic check: No bench report or traffic).
Noji (KN0JI) – Orem. (Initial traffic check: Confirmed he had big traffic to share).
Stan (KC7XE) – Pleasant Grove. Stan noted this was his very first time checking into this specific net. He stated he loves building kits, experimenting with gear, and was there to listen, learn, and eventually share his own projects.
Upcoming Event Traffic: Annual Ham Radio Fair
Noji shared the official details for the club's major upcoming summer making event:
Logistics: The Annual Ham Radio Fair takes place this coming Thursday night at 6:00 PM at Pheasant Brook Park in Lindon.
Station Setups: The park will feature interactive demonstrations including setups for digital modes, solar-powered operation, single-sideband (SSB), and multiple antenna variations. The new club Ham Net will also be originating live from the park location.
The Ugly Antenna Contest: The event includes the night of the "ugly antenna contest," where the winner receives a grand prize. Andrew (NV9N) asked if there was a required frequency range for the entries. Noji clarified that antennas can be designed for any legal amateur radio frequency, but the builder must prove it successfully operates over a distance of at least one block. This rule deliberately rules out ultra-low-power micro-QRP tricks (like pushing 1 milliwatt from just a foot away).
Maker Net Booth/Presence: Carl asked if it would be better for Maker Net participants to set up individually or group together. Noji loved the idea of "corralling" everyone against a single wall or area to showcase their homebrew widgets and gadgets collectively. He noted the only potential issue is that large entries for the ugly antenna contest might become too unwieldy to fit into a tight maker area, so they will play it by ear and leave the layout choice up to individual preference.
The Bench Report
Carl (K0WLY):
Code Keyer Fix: Carl spent time troubleshooting a spacing bug between two code keyers where text ran together on a single line without breaks. He successfully changed the configurations so that the keyer automatically inserts a standard word space when a pause of 7 to 9 dits is detected.
Antenna Reel: He fully assembled the 3D-printed parts for an end-fed antenna reel mentioned the previous week. However, it is missing the connector component that the antenna hooks up to. He needs to order that part before bringing the finished reel to the fair.
Fair Giveaways: He is 3D printing a bulk supply of PL-239 and PO-259 connector covers and caps to place in a dish on his table for fair attendees to take for free.
Crowd Sourcing & Group Projects: QMX Radios
Carl brought up a Slack channel proposal from Kyle (AJ7KY) regarding a potential group build activity for "QRX" (QMX) radios.
Andrew (NV9N) researched the radios and noted they are compact, $100 to $150 HF radio kits. He noted that Kyle likely wants a highly portable setup to use for his regular mountain-climbing Summits on the Air (SOTA) activities.
Stan (KC7XE) stepped in to offer his extensive experience, noting he has built a couple of QMX radios, is highly active on the QRP Labs Groups.io support site, and would gladly help anchor the group build.
Build Complexity & Technical Insights: Stan explicitly warned the net that the QMX is not an easy kit and classifies it as an advanced build due to its small, tight layout. Carl mentioned hearing a podcast stating that experienced electronics builders often have more trouble with these kits because they assume they know what they are doing and skip steps, whereas beginners closely follow every instruction.
Kit Options: Stan explained that all surface-mount (SMT) parts come pre-installed on the boards, meaning builders only solder the through-hole components and wind several custom toroid coils. He highly recommended the group look into the QMX+ (QMX Plus) variant, noting it has a slightly larger circuit board, supports more bands, and is physically easier to construct while using the exact same circuitry. Stan also noted that extra items like custom 3D-printed microphones, external tuners, or tiny keys are often homebrewed to complement the small radios.
Technical Discussion: Mobile Log entries
Wade (KK7RRW) introduced a technical dilemma he worked on regarding an optimal solution for logging amateur radio contacts while driving mobile.
Wade's Scripting Project: Wade prefers logging directly into QRZ.com, but its standard interface is completely unoptimized for mobile phone screens when stopped briefly at traffic lights or parking lots. To solve this, Wade (an iPhone user) is programming a custom script using JavaScript and CSS via an iOS app that loads external files to completely strip away and reformat the QRZ webpage layout. It targets rapid data entry by optimizing buttons specifically for 2-meter and 70-centimeter mobile operations.
The API Dilemma: Noji suggested using QRZ’s XML interface and automated APIs to build a standalone custom logging program. Wade responded that while QRZ has a full API, accessing it requires a paid QRZ subscription. Wade expressed frustration at needing to pay a subscription fee just to utilize an external API when QRZ already provides a free, built-in logger that simply lacks small-screen formatting.
Voice Recognition & Python Workarounds: Stan suggested that mobile logging is the perfect use-case for a dedicated voice-recognition application that parses keywords and frequencies directly into a form. Carl shared a trick he recently discovered using Android Auto, where he used a console voice command to ask Gemini to search a call sign. Gemini pulled up the operator's data, read it aloud, and permanently saved the lookup transaction into his Google account history. Carl also admitted that he pays for the QRZ subscription exclusively to run a custom local Python script and proxy host that automatically pulls names and tracks check-in data live without losing connection during the weekly Maker Net.
Abandoned Experiments: Wade shared a previous mobile logging attempt he abandoned: he programmed a quick button on his speaker microphone to record audio directly to his radio's memory card (and later his phone), intending to have an AI engine parse the audio logs later to extract QSO details. The system failed because normal conversational radio traffic routinely omits vital log data like exact frequencies or transmitting power levels. To make it work, Wade had to awkwardly say things like "Nice to talk to you on 146.78 as I'm transmitting with five megahertz" so the AI could catch it, which made outside operators wonder what he was doing.
Net Closing & Magic Smoke Award
Magic Smoke Award: Carl called for any submissions for the weekly award, which honors project builds that physically failed or suffered damage during the week. No failures were reported by the check-ins.
Late Check-ins: Carl called for any final late check-ins, but none were heard.
Net Adjournment: Carl closed the session, thanking the participants for keeping the spirit of homebrewing alive. He reminded everyone to send project write-ups, links, or photos to k0wli.ham@gmail.com to be featured on the companion blog located at uvarkmakernet.blogspot.com. He also directed members to the UVARC Slack workspace's dedicated maker section. The net officially closed at 7:33 PM local time, returning the repeater to normal amateur use.
