Category: Operating
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Contest Calendar 101: ARRL, CQ WW, and the Contests Worth Your Weekend
Hundreds of contests happen every year, and most of them aren’t worth your time. Here’s a guide to the handful that actually matter and when they happen.
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Building the Ultimate POTA Go-Bag
A good POTA go-bag is the difference between setting up in ten minutes and fumbling around a picnic table for forty five. Here is what actually lives in mine.
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Setting Up N1MM+ for Your First Contest
N1MM+ is the free logger most serious contesters run. Here’s how to get it installed, configured for your station, and ready before the contest starts, not during it.
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Contesting 101: Why Bother, and How Cabrillo Logs Work
Contesting turns a normal weekend on the radio into a fast paced game of finding and working as many stations as possible. Here is why it is worth trying, and how your log actually gets submitted.
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Gray Line Propagation and the Layers of the Ionosphere
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.
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DXing 101: Working Rare Entities Without a Big Antenna Farm
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.
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VHF/UHF Contesting: Why Grid Squares Matter More Than You Think
VHF and UHF contesting runs on a completely different currency than HF: grid squares, not countries. Here’s how it works and why it rewards different skills.
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Choosing Your HF Band: NVIS for Regional Nets, and What Works for DX
NVIS and DX work want opposite things from your signal. Here’s which HF bands and antenna heights suit regional coverage versus chasing distant contacts.
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Split Operating and Pileups: How DXpeditions Actually Work
Calling a DXpedition on their transmit frequency almost never works. Here’s how split operating and pileups actually function, and how to get through one.
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The Solar Cycle and How It Shapes HF Propagation
The sun runs on an 11-year cycle, and where we are in that cycle has a huge effect on how far your HF signals travel. Here is how it works.
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POTA and SOTA: Taking Ham Radio Into the Field
Parks on the Air and Summits on the Air are two of the most popular activities in ham radio. Here is what they are, how to get started, and the apps and sites you will use.
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Maidenhead Grid Squares: What They Are and Why They Matter
That six-character code hams trade during contacts, like DM43 or EM12ab, is a Maidenhead grid square, a compact way of encoding location that shows up everywhere from VHF contests to satellite passes.
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