VHF/UHF

Mobile DC Power: One Fuse or Two?

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[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?

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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

A Notable 2m Radio Contact

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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

Innovation in Vehicle Labeling

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Twitter is such a wonderful source of knowledge and a great place to pick up amateur radio operating tips. I saw this post from Johnny/W5KV, talking about getting a 146.52 sticker for his truck. (146.52 MHz is the 2m National Simplex Calling Frequency.) I’ve written about these stickers here: Get Your Mobile Frequency Sticker On … Read more

New Book: VHF, Summits and More

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This book is about having fun with ham radio, primarily on the VHF/UHF bands. It covers the basics of VHF, with practical tips for getting on the air and “messing around with radios.”  Topics include FM, SSB, repeaters, equipment, band plans, phonetics, portable operating, Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations and more.