Tag: beginner

  • Best HF Radios Under $1,000: A Buyer’s Comparison

    Part of our Where to Spend Your Money guide. I get asked some version of “what HF radio should I buy” constantly, and the honest answer depends heavily on budget. Under $1,000 is a real, well-served category with genuinely capable radios, not just compromises. I own three of the radios I am about to talk…

  • Clubs and Nets: Finding, Joining, and Running Them

    A radio is just a box until you plug it into a community. Clubs and nets are how most hams actually learn the hobby, find mentors, and have somewhere to check in when it matters. This is the map to everything on QSO Journey about finding, joining, running, and sometimes starting your own club or…

  • Handheld Radios (HTs): The Complete Guide

    A handheld is how most people start in this hobby, and for a lot of us it never really stops being the radio we reach for first. But “HT” covers a huge range of gear, from a $25 Baofeng to a $500 GPS-tagging DMR radio, and picking the right one (then actually programming and accessorizing…

  • Extra Class Deep Dive: Is the Upgrade Worth It?

    Part of our Getting Licensed guide. I hold Extra, and I will tell you upfront that the honest answer to whether you need it is usually no. That is not me talking myself out of my own license. It is just accurate. Extra is the smallest practical jump of the three upgrades, and most of…

  • How to Read a Repeater Directory Listing (RepeaterBook, TravelPlus)

    A repeater directory entry is dense with abbreviations. Here is what each field actually tells you.

  • General Class Deep Dive: What Changes When You Upgrade

    Part of our Getting Licensed guide. General is the upgrade that actually changes how you operate. Technician gets you on the air. General gets you onto HF in a real way, and for most people who caught the bug on 10 meters or borrowed a friend’s rig for a POTA activation, this is the license…

  • Setting Up a Personal Ham Radio Website or QRZ Bio

    A good QRZ bio is the first thing a lot of hams see about you. Here is what actually makes one useful.

  • GMRS Channel Guide: What Each of the 30 Channels Is Actually For

    Not all 30 GMRS channels work the same way. Here’s what’s actually different between them.

  • Take Your Ham Radio Exam Online

    Part of our Getting Licensed guide. You do not need to find a folding table at a community center on a Saturday morning to get licensed anymore. Remote testing has become a completely normal path into the hobby, and the software behind most of it is a pair of connected tools called HamStudy and ExamTools.…

  • Brandmeister vs. TGIF: Comparing the Two Big DMR Networks

    Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. If you’ve spent any time programming a DMR codeplug, you’ve run into these two names. Brandmeister and TGIF are the two networks that carry almost all of the DMR traffic hams actually talk on, and if you’re setting up a hotspot for…

  • EchoLink vs AllStarLink: Which VoIP Linking System Is Right for You?

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. Both EchoLink and AllStarLink let you talk to hams and repeaters anywhere in the world using nothing more than a phone or an internet connection. That’s about where the similarities end. I’ve ran both and after using them for a while I’ve got real opinions about where…

  • What Is QSO One (qso1.net)?

    Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. If you’ve been in any DMR or AllStarLink group lately, you’ve probably seen someone mention QSO One. It’s a free app for Windows and Android that gets you on several digital voice networks without a radio, a hotspot, or any hardware at…

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