Tag: uhf
-
Tactical Team Comms vs. SHTF Comms: Why You Can’t Copy-Paste the Playbook
Why the PACE-driven, locked-down comms plan of a tactical team doesn’t hold up in a grid-down scenario, and what your radio setup actually needs instead.
-
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…
-
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…
-
Building a Roll-Up Slim Jim Antenna for VHF/UHF
The Slim Jim is a J-pole’s flexible, packable cousin, built from ordinary twin lead and small enough to roll up and stuff in a jacket pocket. Here is how to build one.
-
Six Handheld Radios Compared: Kenwood TH-D75A, AnyTone AT-D890UV, VGC VR-N76, Wouxun UV-9P, Baofeng UV-5R Mini, and TIDRADIO H3
From a $30 pocket radio to a $700 D-STAR flagship, here’s how six very different handhelds actually compare on features, price, and who each one is really for.
-
Tropospheric Ducting and VHF/UHF Propagation Basics
VHF and UHF are supposed to be line-of-sight, limited to roughly the visual horizon and not much more. Then, occasionally, a 2 meter signal shows up from 400 miles away, and the explanation is almost always tropospheric ducting. How a temperature inversion creates a duct Normally, air temperature and humidity decrease gradually with altitude, and…
-
Building a 2m/70cm J-Pole Antenna
A J-pole is one of the best-performing, cheapest antennas you can build for 2m and 70cm, and the whole thing can be built from a length of ladder line or copper pipe in an afternoon.