What Is a Valid QSO?

Ham operators make radio contacts on a routine basis. We call another station or another station responds to our call, we exchange some information, maybe chat for a while and then finish the contact, clearing out with our callsigns. Most of the time we clearly know whether we had a valid radio contact, commonly referred … Read more

Get Your General License, Colorado

The Technician Class License is the entry-level ham radio license in the USA. The next step up is the General Class License which provides operating privileges on the high-frequency bands. If you want to work the world with ham radio, you should seriously consider going for the General license. The Tri-Lakes Monument Radio Association is … Read more

Tips and Tools for Managing Logs

Lately, the majority of my radio activity has been SOTA and POTA activations, sometimes simultaneously. The logging requirements for the two programs are different so I often need to adjust the log file before submitting it. Even more common, I need to double-check and fix errors in my SOTA and POTA logs. Some of this … Read more

How About A Mic-Centric Mobile Transceiver?

Most automobiles don’t provide a lot of room for mounting ham radio transceivers. (Obviously, their design priorities are wrong!) Because of this, many ham transceivers have removable control panels that can be mounted on the dashboard and the main radio is installed somewhere else, such as under a seat. Midland radio is doing some interesting … Read more