Little Pistol Low-Band Antennas
Some of the biggest challenges presented to the Little Pistol, especially one who wants to become a Medium Gun, are the low bands. This generally means 10 MHz and lower, […]
An Amateur Radio Blog by DX Engineering Technical Articles
Antenna Tech / Technical Articles
Technical Articles
HF Propagation at the Equinox
All things being equal… Here comes fall, the time of year when the northern hemisphere emerges from the summertime HF doldrums. At the same time, the southern hemisphere hams are […]
Technical Articles
The Path to 488: The GridMaster Award for Satellite Operators
Those new to satellite operating are generally thrilled when they finally talk to another person through an object orbiting in space. As the number of contacts starts to grow, many […]
Antenna Tech / Technical Articles
Tuning Your Dipole Antenna Installation
You’ve gone to great lengths to make sure your antenna is cut for the proper frequency using the 468/MHz formula. You’ve measured twice and cut once, yet the SWR readings […]
Technical Articles
Operating on the Low Bands–160 and 80 Meters
There are very good reasons why you should use the 160 and 80 meter bands. They are usually the least likely to fail under adverse propagation conditions. In times of […]
Technical Articles
Ham Radio to Go: Portable Hamming
Yes, you can take it with you. Today’s smaller transceivers and accessories allow you to operate from anywhere, whether it’s a cabin at the lake, a weekend at Uncle Joe’s, […]
Technical Articles
How to Choose a Wattmeter
Got Meter? Choosing the Right WattmeterRF inline power meters, or wattmeters, are used by many hams to measure the power flowing from the transceiver to the antenna–and also in the […]
Technical Articles
Making the CI-V Connection
CI-V stands for Computer Interface V (V representing the Roman numeral for 5 ). This is Icom’s name for its rig interface to a computer or to another rig. Other […]
Technical Articles
How to Use RF Gain, Noise Blanker, and Other Transceiver Features to Improve Copy
There will always be some kind of ambient noise on the HF bands. It may be either man-made (QRM) such as pulse noises from vehicle ignitions or natural (QRN) like […]
Technical Articles
Choosing a Coax Switch
When it comes to ham radio, one radio is never enough. The same thing goes for antennas–multiple bands usually mean multiple antennas. Soon, you’ve got a maze of coax connections […]
