Tag: 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.

  • 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.

  • 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…

  • Why the 1.25 Meter (220 MHz) Band Is Worth a Look

    The 1.25 meter band is one of ham radio’s best-kept secrets. Because so few radios cover it, it stays quiet and open. Here is why that is an opportunity.

  • Simplex Calling Frequencies and Etiquette: 146.52 and Beyond

    146.52 MHz gets programmed into practically every 2 meter radio sold, but a lot of new hams never get a clear explanation of what it’s actually for or how to use it without annoying everyone listening. What 146.52 actually is 146.52 MHz is the nationally recognized 2 meter simplex calling frequency in the US, meaning…

  • 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.

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