Ham Radio 101: ARRL Field Day—The Importance of the Exercise
What is Field Day? It is an event where hams in the United States and Canada attempt to contact as many stations as possible on the 160-, 80-, 40-, 20-,15- […]
An Amateur Radio Blog by DX Engineering Technical Articles
Field Day / HAM Radio 101 / Technical Articles
Field Day / Technical Articles
Preparing for ARRL Field Day 2023 (Part 1): How Are Your Coaxial Cables Looking These Days?
Could there be anything about ham radio less exciting than a coaxial cable? If your heart skips a beat and your eyes widen at the sight of the latest SDR […]
Technical Articles
Working Through and Managing Pileups During Park and Summit Activations
Park and summit activating has grown in popularity over the past few years. Indeed, it’s to the point that pileups are not at all uncommon. Here in the U.S., I […]
Technical Articles
Getting the Most from Portable HF Antenna Systems
Portable operating—in parks, on islands, atop summits—has become delightfully popular over the past few years. It’s not hard to figure out why, either. You get to combine visiting new places, […]
Technical Articles
Five Mistakes New Ham Operators Make (Bonus Article, Part 6): Searching for the Magic Bullet
Our society seems obsessed with the “all-in-one” concept. Last Father’s Day we purchased a pen that had 22 functions. I have a jump box in my Jeep with nine functions. […]
Technical Articles
Ham Radio Emergency Preparedness: Winter Field Day
Winter Field Day (WFD) is a communications exercise loosely modelled after ARRL Field Day. It is held the last full weekend in January. This may not be too bad for […]
Technical Articles
Ham Radio 101: Soldering Tips
Learning how to solder using proper techniques is a fundamental skill every ham should master. Whether you’re attaching connectors to a coaxial cable or constructing a balun, knowing how to […]
Technical Articles
WARC Bands: What are They and How Can I Take Advantage of Them?
If you’re new to ham radio, you’ve certainly been inundated with a flood of acronyms and codes from A to Z, or APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) to ZUJ (a […]
Technical Articles
QRP Operation: How Low Can You Go?
This game could go on forever. In my previous articles I talked about portable operations. We looked at things like Field Day, International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend, Parks on the […]
Technical Articles
Are ATUs Necessary for a Field Radio Kit?
In Parts One and Two of our field antenna series we looked at a sampling of resonant and non-resonant field antennas. One of the practical differences between resonant and non-resonant […]
