Episode XXII: Interview with Marek Farkaš, aka Noobish, on all things FMDX.org

The VHF DX Podcast

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to DXers everywhere!

By far the most innovation in our hobby right now is coming from the FMDX.org open source project, which includes the fantastic firmware improvements for the TEF6686 portable and the FM DX Webserver. There's now 157 active servers worldwide, including hotspots in Europe, Australia, and emerging regions like India and Chile.

The effort is pulling in a noticeably youthful community of VHF DX'ers.

In the latest episode of the VHF DX Podcast, Bryce and Nick spoke to one of the driving forces behind it all, Marek Farkaš, aka Noobish!

From his home in the Czech Republic, Noobish gave us some amazing insights into himself, the FMDX project, and what's to come. We've included links to relevant portions of the project and also at the end of the description that we encourage all DX'ers to check out.

Among some of the highlights of our conversation with Noobish:

• Growing up in Slovakia
• The origin of his nickname!
• How his girlfriend, Ester Vlčková, enlightened Noobish on what this zany hobby actually is. Ester is also is an avid DX'er and part of the FMDX.org community.

• Noobish's own amazing FM DX setup, including the antennas on the cover photo of this episode.
• What led to joining in with Sjef Verhoeven, PE5PVB, with TEF6686 firmware updates and the community
• Forming the OpenRadio Discord
• How the FM DX Webserver project became more popular than he ever expected
• How to buy the right TEF receiver and the Headless TEF project
• How the TEF6687 chip is more sensitive for RDS decodes
• Future projects, including the DAB+ Webserver, using the TEF6689 chip for possible IQ output

Noobish also details some of the outstanding FM tropo he and other European DX'ers received in November.

If any of these innovations intrigue you, we'd suggest supporting the FMDX.org community, as Noobish explained any donations go directly toward development efforts!

We'd also recommend checking out our conversation with Sjef in March about the TEF firmware and the project.