Tag: operating
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Common G90 Problems and How I’ve Solved Them
Part of our The Xiegu G90: The Complete Guide. The G90 is a budget radio and it occasionally acts like one, but most of the complaints I see online are either fixable in five minutes or aren’t really problems, they’re just the tradeoffs that come with a 20 watt QRP radio. Here’s what I’ve actually…
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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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What Is CAT Control?
CAT control lets your computer and your radio talk to each other, reading and changing frequency, mode, and more. Here is what it is and why it matters.
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Every HF Mast I’ve Owned, and What I Actually Learned From Each One
Seven masts, seven very different jobs. Here’s what held up, what bent like a candy cane, and which one I’d actually recommend for your setup.
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Contesting with the IC-7300 Mark II: Menu and Setup Tips for Faster Runs
How I set up the IC-7300 Mark II for a contest weekend, from the HDMI-fed external monitor to logging integration that keeps the run moving.
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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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IC-7300 Mark II Care and Feeding: Cooling, Cleaning, and Long-Term Reliability
Basic maintenance habits that keep the IC-7300 Mark II running reliably after heavy contest and digital mode use.
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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.
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Getting the Most from the Mark II’s Built-In Antenna Tuner
How the IC-7300 Mark II’s internal automatic tuner actually behaves, what it can and can’t fix, and how to get fast, reliable matches from it.
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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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