Foundations of Amateur Radio

This week I'm going to talk about a Digital Mode you can use with any Amateur License, or even without an Amateur License. You can set-up your radio, hook it to a comput…

The other day a friend of mine asked a really silly question.

How come when I point my YAGI at a direction for a station using the great circle, the signal is there but…

In the past I've talked about what kind of station I have, how I tend to operate and what kind of tools I use in my day-to-day running of an Amateur Radio station. This …

The way we connect our antenna to our radio depends on a number of different factors. If you've come through the ranks recently, like I have, it's probable that you've o…

The art of keeping your station organised and accessible has much to do with choosing wisely which bits to keep and which bits to throw. That's part of the story, but th…

Today I have a confession to make. Looking back it's clear that once your brain goes down a certain path, it's easier to follow the path than to find an alternative one.…

You've always been taught that VHF communications are line of sight and that the height of your antenna determines how far your 2m communication might go. So if I tell y…

There is so much stuff associated with Amateur Radio that your family might be forgiven in thinking that your hobby is all about being in the middle of a junk-yard surro…

The other day a fellow Amateur was relating their experience in the hobby. They spoke of interference, jamming, breaking in over the top of contacts and generally being …

The other day I was asked about what antenna should you get as your first one. This question is pretty simple, but the answer is likely much less so.

You might recall t…

The other day I was browsing through the Amateur Radio Syllabus for Foundation Licensees, as you do, you know, when you're bored out of your mind, or in my case, looking…

Previously I've explained how Radio-teletype or RTTY works from a technical perspective. If you recall, it uses a technique called Frequency Shift Keying, or FSK to enco…

The continued discussion in our community about Digital Modes got me thinking about what a Digital Mode actually is. At the most fundamental level, it's about encoding i…

Having a Digital Mode in your shack appears to be a special privilege, at least in some parts of the world. If you'd like to learn all there is to do with using a Digita…

The other day a whole new world opened up to me when I came across the idea that Voltage is the same as Force and Current is the same as Velocity. It all came about when…

For the most part of my Amateur Radio life I've been an active contester. I have spoken about why I love contesting and why I think it's an important aspect of this amaz…

Recently I made a point of coming up with three different names for License Classes in Australia. I proposed Low Power, Medium Power and High Power and then went on to s…

There is a time for everything. Mostly when it's most inconvenient, like in the middle of a rare contact, or while you're running a pile-up like you have never done befo…

For a long time I've struggled with the way we differentiate between the different license classes in Amateur Radio. In Australia, the three levels of license are Founda…

A little while ago I had the chance to use a mobile radio with high power. I used it to learn about the coverage of our local repeater, but also to hear what the effects…