Bob K0NR, Author at Above Average Terrain

Don’t Mess With The Field Day Rules

6 April 2020 by Bob K0NR

Given the Chinese/Wuhan/COVID virus situation, many hams are anticipating a change to their ARRL Field Day operation. I’ve also seen a number of proposals to modify the FD rules to allow for a different kind of operation. I appreciate that kind of thinking outside the box but I think it is misguided. One of the … Read more

Your First (and Second) Ham Transceiver

22 March 202021 March 2020 by Bob K0NR

We recently completed a Technician License class that produced a herd of new ham radio licensees. This always leads to a discussion of what radio should I get? Often, this is centered on the idea of getting a handheld VHF/UHF radio to get started. That is a good first move. However, for many new hams … Read more

Mobile DC Power: One Fuse or Two?

9 March 20207 March 2020 by Bob K0NR

[My apologies. I fumble-fingered WordPress and published a draft version of this article that was incomplete. This is the corrected version. ] Sometime during the 20th Century, I learned that fuses (or circuit breakers) are used in electrical circuits to prevent catastrophic failure. Fuses open in response to an electrical fault that causes excessive current … Read more

What About the Yaesu FT-4XR?

6 March 20205 March 2020 by Bob K0NR

The Baofeng UV-5R established a new price point for an entry-level handheld transceiver and quickly became the “easy choice” for a newly licensed Technician. It is a very impressive piece of technology for the money (about $30). However, it is well known that the UV-5R struggles to meet the FCC Part 97 emission requirements. The … Read more

So You Think You Have a Big Antenna

24 February 2020 by Bob K0NR

Many hams put up some pretty impressive antenna farms with large towers and big arrays. I have a small tower up at the cabin but it is quite puny (about 30 feet) compared to these more serious stations. I like to check out big antenna installations, especially the big commercial towers, as we travel around … Read more

A Notable 2m Radio Contact

9 January 2020 by Bob K0NR

For the 2019 CQ Worldwide VHF Contest, I did a modest effort on 6 meters and 2 meters using mostly SSB and FT8. I operated from our cabin (DM78av). We had some good sporadic-E propagation on 6m which enabled some long-distance contacts to the east. Then I noticed that 2 meters was also open so … Read more