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  • Airband and Public Safety Scanning with an SDR

    An RTL-SDR dongle replaces a dedicated scanner for airband, and gets you most of the way there on trunked public safety systems too.

  • Running a Public Service Event: Parades, Races, and Marathon Comms

    Part of our Clubs and Nets guide. Public service events are one of the most underrated ways to get real, practical net experience without waiting for an actual emergency to force you into it. Marathons, charity walks, parades, and bike races regularly rely on ham radio volunteers for course communications, and it is one of…

  • VE Session Day-Of: What Actually Happens During Your Exam

    Part of our Getting Licensed guide. I run VE sessions regularly, and the single biggest source of test-day anxiety I see is not the material itself. It is not knowing what the actual process looks like. So let me walk through exactly what happens from the moment you show up to the moment you have…

  • Automatic Control vs Remote Control Under Part 97

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. Part 97 defines several categories of station control, and automatic control versus remote control is a distinction that matters a lot more than most hams realize, especially for anyone running a repeater, a hotspot, or a remote-operated station. What Remote Control Means Remote control means a control…

  • How ExamTools and Other Online VE Platforms Work Behind the Scenes

    From the VE side of the screen, here’s what an online testing platform is actually doing during a session.

  • Mentoring a New Ham: How to Be a Good Elmer

    Part of our Clubs and Nets guide. Elmer is one of those ham radio traditions that everyone talks about fondly and almost nobody explains well. It just means a mentor, someone experienced who takes a new ham under their wing and helps them actually get on the air instead of just passing a test and…

  • Winter Field Day: A Dedicated Guide

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. Winter Field Day gets treated as a footnote to the June ARRL Field Day, and I think that undersells it. It is run by the Winter Field Day Association rather than ARRL, it happens on the last full weekend of January, and cold weather changes enough about…

  • RadioID.net and DMR ID Registration: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. Before you can transmit on DMR, whether through a hotspot or a repeater, you need a DMR ID. This trips up a lot of new hams because unlike a callsign, it is not something the FCC assigns you automatically. It is a separate registration you have to…

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