Author: Kris – KZ7K
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Organizing Your Ham Shack: Cable Management and Desk Layout
A tangle of coax, power cables, and USB leads behind the desk is how most shacks start out. Here is how mine actually got organized, and stayed that way.
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The Xiegu G90: The Complete Guide
The Xiegu G90 is the radio I hand to people who ask me where to start with portable HF and don’t want to spend FT-891 or FTX-1 money to find out if they like it. It’s a 20 watt QRP transceiver with a genuinely useful built-in antenna tuner, and it’s small enough that it changes…
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Setting Up a Peltor ComTac Headset with Your Radio for a Tactical Kit
How I wired my Retevis/Ailunce HD2 into a Peltor ComTac V headset for my tactical kit, and how to adapt the same four-piece chain to whatever radio you’re running.
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ARES vs RACES: How Emergency Communications Are Actually Organized
Nearly every EmComm post on this blog assumes a general familiarity with how volunteer emergency communications are organized. ARES and RACES are the two structures actually behind most of it, and they are not the same thing.
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RigExpert Stick Pro Review: Why I Love It, Plus How It Compares to the Rest of the Lineup
My honest take on the RigExpert Stick Pro after putting it to work on antenna projects, and a breakdown of how it stacks up against the rest of RigExpert’s analyzer lineup.
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EchoLink and IRLP: Linking Repeaters Over the Internet
Before DMR and Fusion linked repeaters digitally over dedicated networks, EchoLink and IRLP were already connecting hams worldwide over the ordinary internet. Both are still very much alive.
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Diagnosing and Killing HF Noise: Solar Panels, Switching Supplies, and Powerline Interference
Modern HF noise has a different profile than it did twenty years ago. Solar inverters, switching power supplies, and LED drivers have replaced a lot of what used to be quieter analog electronics, and tracking down the source takes a methodical approach. The modern usual suspects Solar panel systems, particularly the DC-to-AC inverters, are one…
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Building a 1:1 Common-Mode Choke for HF
RF in the shack, unstable SWR, mystery noise: a lot of it traces back to common-mode current on your coax. A choke is a cheap, quick fix.
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The Yaesu ATAS-120A: My Take on This Motorized Mobile Antenna
An overview of the Yaesu ATAS-120A active tuning mobile antenna, including how it works, what it covers, and how it performs on my Jeep paired with an FT-891.
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What a Real SHTF Communications Plan Actually Looks Like
Most people’s SHTF comms plan is a radio in a drawer and a vague hope it’ll work when it matters. Here’s what an actual plan looks like, and why it’s mostly about people and documentation, not gear.