Category: Operating
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GMRS Repeater Etiquette: Courtesy Tones, Timeouts, and Not Being That Guy
No exam means no built-in etiquette lesson. Here’s the unwritten rulebook for using GMRS repeaters well, from courtesy tones to knowing when to yield.
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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.
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Award Categories Should Be Single-Mode: Why FT8, SSB, and CW Don’t Belong in the Same Bucket
Mixed-mode awards flatten the very different levels of difficulty behind FT8, SSB, and CW. Here’s why DXCC on phone is a mountain compared to the digital express lane.
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My First POTA Activation: What I Wish I Knew Beforehand
I had the gear, I had the callsign, and I still made almost every rookie mistake possible on my first Parks on the Air activation. Here is what I would tell myself beforehand.
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Training Your Family or Group on the Communications Plan
A plan nobody’s practiced is a theory. Here’s how to actually get a family or group comfortable using the communications plan, without turning it into a chore nobody wants to do.
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How to Test Your Antenna and Radio’s Real Reach with WSPR, PSKReporter, and Other Tools
Your SWR meter tells you the antenna is happy. It doesn’t tell you whether anyone can hear you. Here’s how to use WSPR, PSKReporter, and reverse beacons to measure where your signal actually lands.
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Field Safety: Weather, Wildlife, and Working Alone on POTA and SOTA Activations
Most POTA and SOTA activations go fine. The ones that do not usually involve weather, terrain, or being alone somewhere nobody knows to look for you. Here is how to actually plan around that.
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Meshtastic Messaging: Channels, Roles, and Group Chat Best Practices
Meshtastic messaging gets messy fast once more than a couple of people are on a network. Here’s how to structure channels and node roles so it stays usable.
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Private, Secure, or Obscure? What Part 97 Actually Lets You Do With Your Comms
FCC Part 97.113 bans encoding messages to hide their meaning, but that still leaves a lot of legal room for OPSEC, signal obscurity, and data integrity. Here’s how privacy, security, and obscurity actually break down across analog, digital voice, and data modes on the ham bands.
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VOACAP and Propagation Prediction: Planning a Contact Before You Make It
Knowing the solar cycle is favorable is one thing. Knowing which specific band will actually reach a specific location at a specific hour is another. VOACAP and similar tools try to answer that second question directly.
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Contest Logging Software: N1MM+ vs. N3FJP
Both are free, both are widely used, and both will log a contest correctly. The real difference between N1MM+ and N3FJP comes down to complexity versus simplicity.
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ARRL Field Day and Winter Field Day: What They Are and When They Happen
A plain-language look at ARRL Field Day and Winter Field Day: what each event is, when they run, and what you actually do out in the field.
Categories
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