Author: Kris – KZ7K

  • Yaesu FT-857D Review: A Great All-Bander Held Back by Its Own Menu

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. Still a Legit All-Bander I picked up the FT-857D for a great price and ran it in both the shack and the field kit, though it never rode in the Jeep. The reputation holds up. It’s a full HF/VHF/UHF all-mode radio, SSB, FM, and the data…

  • The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide

    The FT-857D is the radio I point people to when they want one box that covers HF, VHF, and UHF without carrying a second radio. It’s not the newest or the friendliest to program, but it earns its keep. This page rounds up everything I’ve written about it. Start Here Yaesu FT-857D Review: A Great…

  • I Bought a Yaesu FT-857D for a Great Price. Here’s Why I Sold It

    I picked up a used FT-857D for a great price, ran it for a while, and decided it wasn’t for me. Here’s what’s genuinely good about it and why I sold it and went back to the FTX-1.

  • Can You Encrypt or Scramble a GMRS Radio? The Legal Reality

    Some GMRS radios ship with a scramble button. That doesn’t mean using it is legal.

  • Tools Every New Ham Should Own for Basic Station Work

    Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. You do not need a full electronics bench to get started in this hobby, but a handful of basic tools will save you real frustration on your first antenna build or connector job. The Essentials A good wire stripper sized for the gauges you actually…

  • Installing a Coax Feedthrough Panel for Your Shack Wall

    Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Every antenna feedline has to get from outside to your radio somehow, and a proper feedthrough panel is a small project that solves weatherproofing, grounding, and cable management problems all at once, compared to routing coax through a cracked window or a hastily drilled hole.…

  • Choosing Wire Gauge for DC Power Runs

    Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Undersized wire on a 12V radio power run causes a specific, predictable problem: voltage drop, and it shows up as reduced transmit power, radios that reset under load, or a general feeling that your gear is not performing the way it should. Why Voltage Drop…

  • Fusing Your 12V Ham Shack: A Practical Guide

    Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. A 12V shack or vehicle radio setup without proper fusing is a fire risk waiting for the right circumstances, and the good news is that doing it correctly is neither expensive nor complicated once you understand a few basic rules. Fuse the Source, Not Just…

  • Crimping Powerpole Connectors the Right Way

    Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. A poorly crimped Powerpole connector is one of the more common sources of mystery intermittent power issues in a ham shack or go-kit, and the fix is almost always technique, not the connectors themselves. Use a Real Crimping Tool Pliers or a generic crimper will…

  • Anderson Powerpole Connectors: Why Hams Standardize On Them

    Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Anderson Powerpole connectors show up constantly in ham radio circles, ARES groups, and go-kits, and once you understand why, standardizing your own gear on them starts to feel less like a suggestion and more like an obvious decision. What They Actually Are Powerpole connectors are…

  • Antenna Height: How Much Does It Actually Matter

    Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Every ham has heard “get it up in the air” as antenna advice, and it is generally true, but the relationship between height and performance is more nuanced than just higher equals better, especially once you factor in what you are actually trying to work.…

  • Ladder Line and Open-Wire Feedline: When Balanced Beats Coax

    Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Coax dominates modern ham radio for good reason, but ladder line and open-wire feedline have not disappeared, and for a specific kind of multi-band wire antenna, they still solve a problem coax genuinely struggles with. Why Ladder Line Loses So Little Ladder line’s two parallel…

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