by Tony | Jan 29, 2025 | Amateur Radio, Expeditions/Roves, Satellites
I’ve made it to Turks and Caicos! After a relatively smooth travel day, we settled into our condo last evening. I was able to string up a quick wire on the porch and work a few stations on 30m FT8. More HF operations will happen this week in that style, likely in the...
by Tony | Jan 18, 2025 | Amateur Radio
My brother Andy, KK4LWR, and I decided to do a quick activation of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park the day after Christmas as we were both in Cleveland visiting our parents for the holiday. My goal was to test out my FT-817, QBV 20/40m vertical antenna, and my...
by Tony | Oct 12, 2024 | Amateur Radio, Projects
Our work amateur radio club, WA0RC, is very lucky in that we have been given a dedicated room for a club shack and have roof access. However, it is in what used to be a mechanical room, and as such, it is in the middle of the building with no windows. This means there...
by Tony | Aug 26, 2024 | Amateur Radio, Events, Expeditions/Roves
For this year’s Kansas QSO Party, I participated again as a 1×1 station, K0B, traveling around central Kansas. Unlike previous years, I decided to make only two stops and enter under the new “Expedition” category. This meant visiting one...
by Tony | Jul 29, 2024 | Amateur Radio, Projects
I recently bought an old FT-817 with the intent of using it to get back on the linear satellites. Upon receiving it, I found that no matter which connector I set the antenna output to (front or rear), it always transmitted from the rear SO-239 antenna connector. As my...
by Tony | Jul 22, 2024 | Amateur Radio, Projects
I’ve seen several ham radio clipboard mounting solutions aimed at portable operations like POTA and SOTA, so I thought I’d take a shot at making my own for my QRP Labs QMX, American Morse Equipment Mini-B Paddle, and NiMH battery pack (affiliate link). I...