Speaker: Patrick Najlepszy ON4PN

Al meer dan 20 jaar digital voice bij de radio amateurs. Wat is het allemaal en welke invloed heeft het op radioamateurisme ? Wat is de technische evolutie, de netwerken… en het internet dat er blijkbaar noodzakelijk aan gekoppeld moet worden : meer internet en minder communicatie in de ether… Zijn we in een straatje gesukkeld waarbij we de radio-weg kwijt zijn ? Een evaluatie over wat digital voice met radio-amateurs doet en omgekeerd.

Speaker: Kristoff Bonne ON1ARF

When promoting amateurradio, most people think about our hobby as what most hamradio people do: making contacts, electronics, making antenna’s, hunting some far-away DXpedition station, contesting and so on. The presentation proposes a different way to promote amateurradio: amateurradio as a tool. There are quite a lot of people who already have a technical or scientific hobby, that just happens to include the use of some type of radio-technology. “Amateurradio as a tool” positions amateurradio as a “resource of knowledge on radio” to promote amateurradio in these communities.

Speaker: Franki ON5ZO

Thousands of years ago, a man threw a stone. Another man decided to throw another stone – but farther away. Competition is human and ham radio also has a competitive side: radiosports a/k/a contesting.

What is it? Why do we do it? How do we do it? And is it something for you?
ON5ZO has been passionately in love with this technical, social and entertaining aspect of amateur radio. He’s eager to introduce you to the world of radiosports.

Radio Technology (technical)

Speaker: Thierry Eggen ON5TE

Mains pollution by harmonics: a serial killer. How they are created and
disseminated, how to evaluate them with cheap means: a loudspeaker, a
PC and an old transformer. Some mitigations.

Speaker: Morgan Diepart ON4MOD

This talk will briefly present the company I work for (SDR-Engineering) which develops SDR- based hardware solutions for various industrial actors. I will then explain various problems that can be encountered when using software defined radios. Those explanations will be accompanied by demonstrations and examples to illustrate those problems pedagogically. I will then present and explain the PhD thesis I’m working on, which is about a filtering platform developed to help with some of the issues explained in the first part of the talk. In the last part of the talk I will also briefly present M17Netd a software developed to create IP links over RF using the M17 protocol. In its current state, this software works using Software-Defined Radios.

Speaker: Gilles Callebaut KU Leuven Campus Gent

The emergence of invasive hornets, particularly the Asian hornet, has led to significant challenges for beekeepers, who invest numerous hours in locating nests using labour-intensive methods such as wick pot techniques and expensive VHF equipment. Current tracking systems, operating within the 142-174 MHz range, are costly, cumbersome, and require manual antenna adjustments, making them impractical for widespread use. To address these issues, we propose a novel tracking system utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology.

Speaker: Thijs GUWAF

Meshtastic is a free and open-source wireless mesh communication system using the LoRa technology. Since it is running on microcontrollers, can be controlled using a smartphone, and (also) operates on unlicensed bands, it’s widely used for all kinds of applications, and certainly not only by radio amateurs. This talk will explain what it can be used for, how it works, and how to configure it to get the best performance. Furthermore, we will dig into the design of the routing protocol and discuss how it has been evolved over time, and why it is so hard to make it reliable at scale.

Speaker: Jurgen Vanhamel (ON5ADL)

On the development og a small beacon instrument (Radio Amateur Beacons aboard) nanoSatellites for the Investigation of the Ionosphere (RABSII) – in collaboration with TU Delft and radio-amateurs of RST (Sint-Truiden). A beacon system on 10m and 6m for assessing sporadic E in the ionosphere. Radio-amateurs are highly involved in modelling this sporadic E.

Speaker: Bernard Vandepitte ON4CGX

The presentation intends to show projects that are interesting for both radio amateurs and radio astronomers. Many amateur radio astronomers limit themselves to listening to the meteor beacons in Dourbes and Zillebeke as this can be done by relatively simple means. However, there are other interesting experiments that are actually not as difficult as one would expect at first sight. The aim of the talk is therefor to challenge both radioamateurs and radioastronomers to explore the wonderful world (and more) around us. Some projects at V/U/SHF can be achieved with very modest means but already allow you to receive radiosignals from 800,000 km away, or -when moving into the realm radio astronomy- from distances light years from earth.

Speaker: Maarten Reyniers KMI/IRM

C-band weather radars operate in a frequency around 5.6 GHz to detect precipitation within a range of up to 300 km. They achieve this by transmitting pulsed signals with peak power reaching 400 kW. In this presentation, we provide an overview of weather radar principles, including their inherent errors and limitations. We will also discuss interference from other radio transmitters operating in the same frequency band, like RLANs. Additionally, we will discuss lesser-known applications such as velocity measurements (Doppler function) and bird detection by weather radar.

Speaker: Hans Wagemans ON4CDU

In amateur radio, moon bouncing is a two-way communication method using the moon as a passive reflector. The presentation discusses the challenges, design considerations, system design, and hardware and software choices required to build a small moon bouncing station for the 10 GHz amateur band. Results will also be presented.

Moon bouncing is becoming more and more popular in amateur radio. This is due to digital modulation methods that are able to decode increasingly weak signals.

Speaker: TOG Hackerspace (Jeffrey Roe, EI7IRB)

Are you fascinated by space and want to learn how to receive data from satellites and weather probes? Join us in this TinyGS Station Workshop where you’ll build and program your ground station and antenna to receive data from space. This hands-on, beginner-friendly workshop is perfect for anyone interested in radio, electronics, IOT, antenna design, and space exploration.
The workshop does have a cost, but for that, you do get a complete hardware kit to take home.
More information on the workshop and how to register can be found via this link:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/hamcon-belgium-build-your-own-satellite-ground-station-tickets-1277853788079?aff=oddtdtcreator