Foundations of Amateur Radio

If you've ever been on the hunt for an antenna, and let's face it, in amateur radio that's pretty likely, you'll get information about the gain of an antenna. Often some…

In the past little while you've heard me talk about WSPR, Weak Signal Propagation Reporter and I've told you about signals I've heard across the planet. The longest dist…

In Volume 1 - Join the hobby - follow my initial journey through the community, what to buy when you start, how to participate in the comm…

There is a feeling of anticipation in the air, the year has started, there are so many different ideas bubbling through my mind that I feel like an excited puppy dog wag…

A week or so ago I watched a movie that was simultaneously the funniest and saddest movie I'd seen in a while. "Pecking Order". It follows members of the Christchurch Po…

What is amateur radio? What's not part of the hobby and what is?

The more you dig into this, the deeper the rabbit hole goes. I'll start with an analogy to set the scen…

There is a saying in my family, which I'll translate into English for you, "No Onno, it's not slippery."

This came about when I was ten or so and cycling with my grandm…

The social aspects of our hobby are a never ending feast of variety. Since the requirement for becoming an amateur is that you're interested, the assortment of people wh…

A little while ago I spent some time discussing how to test if your radio was on frequency. It generated lots of comment and email with various suggestions on other ways…

This morning I spoke with two amateurs on-air. Not that surprising, since I was hosting a weekly net called F-troop for new and returning amateurs. Both amateurs came on…

Today I'm here to tell you that I'm in the process of writing a book, actually seven of them, and to be precise, there's more of editing than writing, since I'm putting…

The frequency you listen and transmit on in a modern radio is derived from a crystal master oscillator, in my case 22.625 MHz. That master frequency is multiplied and di…

You know when you walk down the street and you lift your foot and all of a sudden you realise that you stepped in something and now it's stuck to your shoe?

I had that …

Last week I spent a little time talking about the Weak Signal Propagation Reporters network, or WSPR, pronounced Whisper. You might remember that I set up my radio to re…