HF Archives

External Battery Setup for the FT-891 in the Field

May 21, 2026

The FT-891 has no internal battery, so here’s how I power it in the field off the LiFePO4 box and what current draw actually looks like.

Getting the Most from the G90’s Built-In Antenna Tuner

May 18, 2026

Part of our The Xiegu G90: The Complete Guide. The built-in tuner is one of the main reasons I recommend the G90 to people building their first portable HF kit. It’s not just a checkbox feature. It’s genuinely one of the better internal tuners I’ve used at this price point, and it changes what you…

My HF Radios: Four Radios, Four Very Different Jobs

May 17, 2026

This is probably the most expensive post I’ve written. Here’s a rundown of the four HF radios I actually own and use, and what each one has earned its keep doing.

Common IC-7300 Mark II Problems and How to Solve Them

May 16, 2026

The actual problems that have come up running the IC-7300 Mark II, and what fixed each one.

Xiegu G90 for Portable Ops, and How It Stacks Up Against the FT-891

May 15, 2026

20 watts, a built-in tuner, and a waterfall display in a radio you can hold in one hand. Here’s how the G90 does in the field, and where it wins and loses against the FT-891.

G90 POTA Field Kit Walkthrough

May 14, 2026

Part of our The Xiegu G90: The Complete Guide. People ask me why I still reach for the G90 for POTA when I own an FTX-1 and an FT-891. The honest answer is size. The G90 is genuinely small, and once you’ve hiked a mile in with a radio on your back, you stop thinking…

Setting Up the Xiegu G90 for Digital Modes: Digirig, WSJT-X, and Your First FT8 Contact

May 14, 2026

The G90’s ACC port handles CAT and audio for digital modes, but it takes the right cable and a few menu tweaks to get clean FT8 out of it. Here’s the full setup.

6 Meters: The Magic Band, Explained

May 13, 2026

6 meters earned its nickname honestly. It behaves like HF one day and VHF the next, and nobody can fully predict when it will do either.

Gray Line Propagation and the Layers of the Ionosphere

May 13, 2026

The ionosphere is not one uniform layer bending signals back to earth. It is several, each behaving differently, and the boundary between day and night creates one of HF’s strangest propagation tricks.

DXing 101: Working Rare Entities Without a Big Antenna Farm

May 12, 2026

You don’t need a tower and a beam to chase DX. Here’s how to actually start working rare countries with a modest station, and where your time is best spent.

The Yaesu FTX-1: Field Radio, Base Station, or Both?

May 12, 2026

Yaesu’s long-awaited FT-817/818 successor splits into two configurations: a lightweight Field Head and a 100W Optima setup. Here’s how each one performs.

Securing Your IC-7300 Mark II on the Network: Firewall and Port Forwarding Basics

May 11, 2026

What I actually did to secure remote access to my IC-7300 Mark II before opening anything up beyond my home network.

Category: HF