Category: UHF/VHF

  • 2 Meters: The Workhorse VHF Band

    2 meters does not get the DX glamour of the HF bands, but it is the band doing the most day-to-day work in this hobby: repeaters, nets, APRS, satellites, and simplex, all at once.

  • What Is a PL Tone / CTCSS Tone?

    If you have ever programmed a repeater and gotten silence, a missing PL tone is often the culprit. Here is what CTCSS tones are and how they work.

  • Configuring APRS on the AnyTone AT-D878UV II Plus

    The 878 will do APRS, both analog and DMR-APRS through the GPS revert channel, but it is not a one-button affair like the Kenwood. Almost everything worth setting has to happen in the CPS software first, then you fine tune on the radio itself. Here is the setup I actually use. Enable APRS and GPS…

  • The AnyTone AT-D578UV III Plus: Why I Own Three of Them

    One radio in the Jeep, one in the manpack, one in the shack. Here’s why the AT-D578UV III Plus earned three spots in my setup instead of one.

  • What Is P25 Digital? The Public Safety Standard Every Ham Should Understand

    P25 is the digital mode most hams have heard the most about and actually know the least about, mostly because almost nobody in ham radio actually transmits on it. It is not a hobbyist mode. It is the standard that runs the police, fire, and EMS radio traffic you probably scan or listen to, and…

  • APRS on the VGC VR-N76: Bluetooth KISS TNC Setup

    The VR-N76 does APRS completely differently than anything else in my lineup. Instead of an all-in-radio APRS engine like the Kenwood or AnyTone radios, it works as a Bluetooth KISS TNC that bridges to your phone or a laptop, where the actual APRS application lives. That is a real strength for flexibility, but it also…

  • Repeaters: How They Work, Why They’re Great, and Why They’re Not a SHTF Plan

    Repeaters turn a 5-watt handheld into a radio that can talk 40 miles. Here’s how that works, and why you shouldn’t bet your grid-down comms plan on one.

  • AllStarLink: Connecting Your Repeater or Node to the Internet

    EchoLink and IRLP aren’t the only ways to link a repeater or a personal node over the internet. AllStarLink takes a different technical approach, built on the same open-source telephony software that powers a huge share of the world’s VoIP systems. Built on Asterisk AllStarLink runs on Asterisk, the open-source PBX software originally built for…

  • Repeater Offsets and Duplex, Explained Simply

    Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. Offset and duplex are two of the settings that confuse new hams the most when programming a radio for the first time, mostly because the terminology is used loosely and the concepts get blurred together. They are actually simple once you separate…

  • Why the AnyTone AT-D878UV II Plus and AT-D890UV Are Still the Radios to Beat

    The 878 basically defined the affordable DMR handheld category. The 890 built on it. Here’s why both are still worth your money, plus how the BridgeCom Maverick and the rest of the field stack up.

  • Icom IC-2730A Review: The Dual-Band Mobile I Regret Selling

    Part of our New Ham? This Is Where You Should Spend Your Money guide. I ran an Icom IC-2730A in the shack, in my Jeep, and in my truck, all at the same time, for years. I don’t say that to brag about owning three radios. I say it because that’s exactly the kind of…

  • Setting Up APRS on the Kenwood TH-D75A

    The TH-D75A is the easiest APRS setup in my whole lineup, and it is not close. Built-in GPS, a dedicated APRS mode button, dual-band RX so you can watch a data frequency and talk on another, and a real screen to read packets on. No Digirig, no laptop, no companion app required. Here is how…

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