Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Our longest episode ever! Kay tells of their trip to Denver to sort through Bob Cooper’s material, and learns the story of HBO signal hacker Captain Midnight. Steve gushes about Bennett Z. Kobb’s book Wireless Spectrum Finder and “Irrational Exuberance in Amateur Radio” in Zero Retries 0162 this week – zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0162. Steve talks a bit about the weird unlicensed / Amateur Radio band at 902 – 928 MHz.
Bob Cooper Archive at DLARC (work in progress): archive.org/details/bob-cooper?sort=-addeddate
Shout out to Dan, the proprietor of Dr. Dan’s Vintage Audio Repair in Denver – drdanselectronics.weebly.com/#/. He worked with Kay find a good home for the electronics units that were part of the Bob Cooper collection that otherwise would have ended up in an electronics recycling bin.
Wireless spectrum finder: telecommunications, government, and scientific radio frequency allocations in the U.S., 30 MHz-300 GHz by Author Bennett Z. Kobb AK4AV archive.org/details/wirelessspectrum0000kobb
Primary theme of Zero Retries 0162 was “Irrational Exuberance”. zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0162
Dan Romanchik KB6NU:
Hackers On Planet Earth conference hope.net
Article – Back to the future: Are hackers the future of amateur radio? – kb6nu.com/back-to-the-future-are-hackers-the-future-of-amateur-radio
Article – Wanna work with satellites? Get an amateur radio license – kb6nu.com/wanna-work-with-satellites-get-an-amateur-radio-license
Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications archive.org/details/dlarc
Video version of this episode: archive.org/details/store-and-forward-3
Our longest episode ever! Kay tells of their trip to Denver to sort through Bob Cooper’s material, and learns the story of HBO signal hacker Captain Midnight. Steve gushes about Bennett Z. Kobb’s book Wireless Spectrum Finder and “Irrational Exuberance in Amateur Radio” in Zero Retries 0162 this week – zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0162. Steve talks a bit about the weird unlicensed / Amateur Radio band at 902 – 928 MHz.
Bob Cooper Archive at DLARC (work in progress): archive.org/details/bob-cooper?sort=-addeddate
Shout out to Dan, the proprietor of Dr. Dan’s Vintage Audio Repair in Denver – drdanselectronics.weebly.com/#/. He worked with Kay find a good home for the electronics units that were part of the Bob Cooper collection that otherwise would have ended up in an electronics recycling bin.
Wireless spectrum finder: telecommunications, government, and scientific radio frequency allocations in the U.S., 30 MHz-300 GHz by Author Bennett Z. Kobb AK4AV archive.org/details/wirelessspectrum0000kobb
Primary theme of Zero Retries 0162 was “Irrational Exuberance”. zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0162
Dan Romanchik KB6NU:
Hackers On Planet Earth conference hope.net
Article – Back to the future: Are hackers the future of amateur radio? – kb6nu.com/back-to-the-future-are-hackers-the-future-of-amateur-radio
Article – Wanna work with satellites? Get an amateur radio license – kb6nu.com/wanna-work-with-satellites-get-an-amateur-radio-license
Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications archive.org/details/dlarc
Video version of this episode: archive.org/details/store-and-forward-3






![Nick Kennedy, Atari Morse Code Keyer — interview
I was adding a batch of ham radio newsletters to the Internet Archives Digital Library of Amateur Radio And Communications, and I noticed the word Atari on one of the pages.
In the September 2019 issue of Solid Copy, the newsletter of The CW Operators Club, Nick Kennedy had written: Few hams who are both CW [morse code] enthusiasts and programmers of microcontrollers have been able to resist trying their hand at a keyer or two. I’ve done several in the past 30+ years, starting with one for the 6502 in an Atari 800 and on through PICs, AVRs and now...the Arduino.
So I contacted Nick, amateur radio call sign WA5BDU, to find out what his Atari project was all about.
First, a tiny bit of ham radio background: Morse code, that language of dots and dashes, can be sent over the radio waves using a Morse code key. Even if you know nothing about ham radio, I bet you picture a basic Morse code key: when tap the little lever, it makes an electrical connection that makes a sound. Thats called a straight key. Avid Morse code enthusiasts may prefer a fancier paddle key: with two levers, one for short beeps and one for longer ones. A keyer is a device that is connected between the paddle key and the radio: it allows the sender to control timing of the transmitted signals, and other factors.
Nicks software, WA5BDU Computer Keyer, turned his Atari computer into a keyer. He wired his Morse code paddle and his ham radio to joystick port 2. As he sent a message using his paddle, the Atari interpreted the signal, adjusted it as necessary, displayed the outgoing message on the screen, and sent the signal to the radio. Or, Nick could simply type on the Ataris keyboard to send Morse code messages, skipping the paddle key altogether.
Nick sent me the keyer program and source code — as well as a packet radio terminal program that he wrote, and a tank game written by his brother. Check the show notes for links to all of those.
Our interview took place on January 21, 2023.
Keyer software and source code at Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/keyer
Ham Terminal software (with source code) at Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/hamterminal
Various amateur radio software for for Atari 8-bit: https://archive.org/details/ham800
Nick interviewed by the QSO Today podcast in 2015: https://archive.org/details/qso-today-067
Nicks keyer article in Solid Copy:
https://archive.org/details/CWops_Solid_Copy_2019-09/page/15/mode/1up
Nicks web site: http://www.wa5bdu.com
Ad Astra magazine: https://archive.org/details/dlarc?query=ad+astra&sort date
Pat Kennedys tank game: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/236768-the-atari-interview-discussion-thread/?do=findComment&comment=5554832
Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications: https://archive.org/details/dlarc
Support Kays interviews on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/savetz Nick Kennedy, Atari Morse Code Keyer — interview](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SoGkbA5tsRk/mqdefault.jpg)



