Tag: review
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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…
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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…
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Pi-Star vs. WPSD: Why I Switched My DMR Hotspots
Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. I ran Pi-Star for a long time before switching over, and now every hotspot I own runs WPSD. Both projects do the same underlying job, but a couple years of running both back to back has made the differences pretty clear to…
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RT Systems Programming Software: What It’s Good For (and Where I Skip It)
RT Systems is the programming software I reach for on most of my radios, but not all of them. Here is where it earns its keep and where I switch to manufacturer software instead.
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The Yaesu FC-80 Tuner for the FTX-1 Field: Does What It Says
My take on the Yaesu FC-80 automatic tuner for the FTX-1 Field Head. It’s not a G90-level internal tuner, but for a 3:1 mismatch it performs quite nicely.
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NanoVNA: The Budget Antenna Analyzer That Punches Above Its Price
A real vector network analyzer used to mean a serious piece of lab equipment costing thousands. The NanoVNA put most of that capability in your hand for under 100 dollars. Here is what it actually gets you.
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Ailunce HD2 Review: A Great EmComm Handout Radio, With a Warning
I use the Ailunce HD2 as a preprogrammed EmComm handout radio, but there’s a documented spurious emissions problem you need to know about before you buy.
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IC-7300 Mark II vs Icom’s Higher-End Radios: When You Actually Need More
Where the IC-7300 Mark II tops out, and what actually justifies stepping up to something like the IC-7610 or IC-7851.
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The Buddipole BuddiHex: A Field Day 2026 Field Report
A 6-band hex beam that set up fast, blew past my expectations, and reminded me exactly why it’s a special-event antenna and not a weekly one.