Blog
Activation Report: Lake Scott SP (POTA US-2352 + DM98)
After setting out on my first new satellite activation of a Kansas State Park since 2020, I am back home with two new parks in the bag on my mission to operate satellites from them all. It was an exhausting ~36 hours of overnight Amtrak train rides, a couple hours of...
Fixing LiFePO4 Batteries That Won’t Charge
As is the seemingly the craze in ham radio, I recently picked up several LiFePO4 batteries of varying capacities to use with my Yaesu FT-991a. I was able to get these as part of the Amazon Vine program, so there is no particular reason I chose the models in question:...
2022 Kansas QSO Party Report
Another Kansas QSO Party is in the books! I had a great weekend traveling through southern Kansas activating six counties along the way as 1×1 W0P. I used the same setup as described in my 2022 Field Day Report except I operated from the backseat of my car instead. I...
2022 CQ WW VHF Contest Report
For my first CQ WW VHF contest, I decided to try my hand at some VHF roving. I set out to hit four grids around the Kansas City area using my Par Electronics 6m Moxon, Diamond 5 element 2m yagi, Max-Gain Systems mast, new Yaesu FT-991a, and new 10 Ah and 16 Ah LiFePO4...
DIY Yaesu FH-2 Keypad
After buying my Yaesu FT-991a and using it for Field Day, I realized that some functions are a bit annoying to control. In particular, getting the voice keyer going requires the display to show the specific recording buttons for operation. This blocks the waterfall as...
Ham Radio Airborne Mobile Setup
Since I got my pilot license back in 2016, I’ve been wanting to bring the radio in the cockpit for some airborne mobile ops. Although I did set up some APRS tracking of me flying once, I’ve been putting off figuring out all the logistics of some basic 2m operation in...
2022 Field Day Report
For Field Day this year, I decided to run a solo HF operation from Tuttle Creek State Park (K-2353) in Manhattan, Kansas. At Dayton Hamvention, I bought a Yaesu FT-991a to use for HF and VHF/UHF given that my recent interests have been a lot of car-portable and roving...
2021 Kansas QSO Party Report
For my first time participating in the Kansas QSO Party, I decided to operate as W0V, a 1x1 rover station activating several counties at different state parks around Wichita. By operating from state parks, I figured I'd have decent locations to operate from that would...
W0V 2021 Kansas QSO Party Plans
For my first Kansas QSO Party, I'll be operating as a rover station under the special event call sign W0V on 20m and 40m SSB and FT8. I'll be traveling to the Wichita area hitting up five counties throughout the weekend. I am also planning for each of my operating...
2021 Field Day Report
For the first time in several years, I decided to participate in a club Field Day operation. I headed to down Orlando, Florida to operate with WD4WDW, the Disney Emergency Amateur Radio Service (DEARS), of which my brother (KK4LWR) is the current club president. They...
2021 June VHF Contest Report
After my experience in the 2020 June VHF contest, I decided to participate again this year with a better setup and more dedicated effort as a Single Operator Portable (SOP) station. After searching for good campsites around eastern Kansas, I booked a campsite at Fall...
March 2021 Satellite Operations Gear
At the time of posting, I'm actually in the midst of changing my satellite gear so it is no longer my current setup. That said, I wanted to document it before I forgot about it and pass along my thoughts in case anyone else finds the information useful in the future....
Powering a Ham Radio with USB Power Delivery
A while back, I built a cable to power 12V devices (in my case a Kenwood TH-D74 HT) using the QuickCharge standard available in some USB power adapters. This allowed me to use a USB charger to charge my HT rather than bringing a dedicated wall wart which helped save...