Bob K0NR

FCC Considers Changes to Amateur Radio Licensing

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The FCC has invited public comments on two proposals to change the licensing requirements for amateur radio operators. Both of these proposals are aimed at attracting and retaining new amateur radio licensees. Tyro The first one is the “Tyro” license proposal from Gary/AD0WU that creates a new license class with minimal licensing requirements and operating … Read more

Top Ten FT8 Advantages For Slackers

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We just got back from a very enjoyable trip to Roatan Island that included 8 friends vacationing together. The snorkeling and beach time were lots of fun. We stayed at the Seaside Inn, highly recommended. Of course, I took along some ham radio gear and made radio contacts from the island using the Slacker DXpedition … Read more

SOTA News: Joyce/K0JJW Is Half A Goat

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Recently, my SOTA Activating Partner and Spousal Unit Joyce/K0JJW racked up more than 500 activating points for Summits On The Air (SOTA). This is halfway towards the coveted Mountain Goat award, so naturally this is referred to as Half Mountain Goat. Steve/WG0AT noticed this achievement and created this certificate for her. She has activated 108 … Read more

The Myth of VHF Line-Of-Sight

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When we teach our Technician License class, we normally differentiate between HF and VHF propagation by saying that HF often exhibits skywave propagation but VHF is normally line-of-sight. For the beginner to ham radio, this is a reasonable model for understanding the basics of radio propagation. As George E. P. Box said, “All models are … Read more

ARRL CEO Howard/WB2ITX Speaks

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The new CEO of the ARRL, Howard Michel /WB2ITX spoke at the Ham Radio University event on January 5, 2019. The video below is worth watching to hear Howard’s thoughts on the role of the ARRL. The first 26 minutes are good, but the Q&A session that follows suffers from no audio coverage of the … Read more