Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
I’ve been referring to the VHF FM as the utility mode for quite a while now. I picked this up from Gary Pearce/KN4AQ when I inherited the FM column from CQ VHF magazine (no longer being published). Gary recently filled me in on the origin of this term, which he captured in his first FM … Read more
Normally at the end year, I list the five blog posts that got the most hits during the year. It turns out that this list does not change a lot from year to year. For completeness and consistency, these are the top five posts for 2017, in rank order: Choose Your 2m Frequency Wisely , … Read more
For my day job in the test and measurement industry, I get involved in measurement solutions for wireless communications. Right now, the big technology wave that is about to hit is known as 5G (fifth generation wireless). Your mobile smartphone probably does 4G or LTE as well as the older 3G digital mobile standards. For … Read more
Many small electronic devices have switching regulators in them that can generate a bunch of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). This is not my first encounter with RFI-spewing devices. See this article about a automotive 12V-to-USB adapter giving me trouble: This Interference Seems To Follow Me Everywhere I recently bought a couple of adapters that are … Read more
The General License provides access to regional and worldwide communications on the HF bands, greatly expanding your ham radio fun!
Joyce/K0JJW and I had intended to hike Pikes Peak this year for a Summits On The Air (SOTA) activation but somehow the plan never came together. I still had my eye on it as a drive-up activation before the end of 2017. The road to the summit is open year round now but closes frequently … Read more