Category: Blog

Saturday, April 6, 2024, Moritz Wacker from San Diego, was visiting Death Valley, California. Newly licensed since March 2024, Moritz thought he would bring a radio with him to possibly make some “contacts” over the air. However, it turns out that bringing the radio with him would actually serve a…

Sure, we live in a “connected” society today. You have your cell phone and your car may have some method of communication. But what happens when you find yourself in a situation where service is unavailable? It could happen to anyone at any time. We’ve all heard the cliché, “when…

Most common question asked by folks looking to get started in ham radio is, where to begin. First, the basics. There are a total of 412 questions in the current Amateur Technicians license exam pool. These questions are divided into 10 “main” categories. They are: NOTE: Every four (4) years,…

Participated in my first ARRL Rookie Roundup Contest (SSB) and my last, as a “rookie”. Contesting is an opportunity to make as many contacts as you can within a specified window of time. Depending on the contest, this could be anywhere from 30 minutes, to 48-hours or more. The ARRL…

This was my very first antenna build. It was a lot of fun and took less than an hour to build. This one was based off of the instructions provided by Joe Leggio (WB2HO). If you are looking to build one yourself, you can find the step-by-step instructions here. http://theleggios.net/wb2hol/projects/rdf/tape_bm.htm.

One of the privileges you have, once you acquire your General class license, is to become a VE (Volunteer Examiner). When an individual takes their ham test, the test must be monitored (proctored, if you will) by a team of VEs. Each test must be scored and certified by three…

One of the most enjoyable aspects of ham radio, at least for me, is POTA. Whether you are hunting or activating, this activity has something for everyone. You can sit at home and hunt POTA activators and earn awards you didn’t even know existed. That’s right! There are awards you…

Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020. My wife had just completed baking several individual lemon cakes and we were delivering them around town to friends. Aware that we in a severe thunderstorm and tornado watch, as the last cake was being delivered, the rain began. We headed for home. The rain…

Did you know that the National Weather Station radar systems can not see what is happening on the ground? The most sophisticated radar systems can still only see down to approximately 4000ft.. There’s a lot of predictions that go into weather reporting, based on a lot of data from the…

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