Author: Kris – KZ7K

  • Building a Field Day Station That Doesn’t Fall Apart at Hour 20

    Field Day is a 24-hour event, and a lot of stations that look great at hour two are falling apart by hour twenty. Building something that actually holds up takes different planning than a quick POTA activation. Power that lasts the full event Battery-only setups that work fine for a two-hour activation will run dry…

  • Ground Plane Verticals for 2m and 70cm: A Simple Build

    A quarter-wave ground plane vertical is the simplest antenna you can build for VHF and UHF, just one radiating element and a set of radials off a connector. Here is how to put one together.

  • The Petition That Could Finally Give Technicians a Reason to Explore HF

    ARRL’s RM-11828 petition would give Technician licensees limited HF phone and digital privileges. Here’s what it proposes and where it stands with the FCC in 2026.

  • FT-891 CAT Control Setup with Ham Radio Deluxe

    Getting the FT-891 talking to Ham Radio Deluxe over CAT control through the Digirig DR-891, including driver and port settings that actually work.

  • Why Filter Width Matters, and Good Starting Points for SSB and Digital Modes

    The IF filter is one of the most underused controls on a modern radio. Here is what it actually does, and where to set it for SSB, CW, and digital modes.

  • Common G90 Problems and How I’ve Solved Them

    Part of our The Xiegu G90: The Complete Guide. The G90 is a budget radio and it occasionally acts like one, but most of the complaints I see online are either fixable in five minutes or aren’t really problems, they’re just the tradeoffs that come with a 20 watt QRP radio. Here’s what I’ve actually…

  • NBEMS and Practice Nets: Building Digital Mode Muscle Memory

    Knowing how to run a digital mode and knowing how to pass real emergency traffic on one are two different skills. NBEMS exists to bridge that gap, and the practice nets built around it are how you actually build the muscle memory before you need it for something that matters. What NBEMS actually is NBEMS,…

  • Ailunce HD2 Review: A Great EmComm Handout Radio, With a Warning

    I use the Ailunce HD2 as a preprogrammed EmComm handout radio, but there’s a documented spurious emissions problem you need to know about before you buy.

  • Setting Up Your First Meshtastic Node: Hardware and Firmware Basics

    Meshtastic is one of the cheapest ways to get into off-grid messaging. Here’s what hardware to buy and how to get your first node flashed and talking.

  • Sample Winter Field Day Planning

    Part of our Emergency Communications and Preparedness pillar Winter Field Day is approaching quickly, and planning is officially underway. Winter Field Day (WFD) is a prime opportunity to test our emergency communications capabilities, operating skills, and portable gear under challenging conditions. Whether you are planning to operate for a full 24-hour shift, drop by for…

  • NVIS vs. Vertical DX Antennas: Two Completely Different Jobs on the Same Bands

    Same bands, opposite goals. Here’s how NVIS and vertical DX antennas actually differ, and how a low-mounted 40m EFHW can blanket a state like Arizona.

  • 2 Meters: The Workhorse VHF Band

    2 meters does not get the DX glamour of the HF bands, but it is the band doing the most day-to-day work in this hobby: repeaters, nets, APRS, satellites, and simplex, all at once.

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