Ever stared at a waterfall full of FT8 traffic and gotten not one decode? Before you blame the antenna, check the least glamorous thing in the shack: your PC clock. FT8, FT4, and the rest of the WSJT-X family need your computer within about one second of real UTC. Drift past that and the decoder…
Category: Ham Radio
A catch-all category for whatever.
VirtualFlex?
If you run the 4O3A “Genius” stack — Power Genius XL, Tuner Genius XL, Antenna Genius XL — next to a FlexRadio, you know how slick the integration is. The amp, tuner, and switch all follow the radio over the network automatically: change bands and the whole stack re-tunes and switches antennas without you touching…
LP-100A Monitor — a free, cross-platform companion for the vector watt meter
If you’ve got a TelePost LP-100A on the bench, you already know it’s more than a power/SWR meter. It’s a vector watt meter — it measures the actual complex impedance your rig is looking into, not just how much power is bouncing back. The trouble has always been seeing all of that on a modern…
Building a Modern Monitor for the Elecraft W2
I run two Elecraft W2 watt meters in the shack for 4 TX paths: 2m-440 mobile, 2m transverter on my Flex, 70cm transverter on my Flex, and one dedicated to my 6m Loop. It’s a beautifully accurate instrument, but the front panel display is somewhat course in the data it displays. The Elecraft W2 Utility…
80 Meter Full Wave Loop
The full wave loop may be the single best antenna a ham can deploy for multiple band operation.
An SDR Spectrum Analyzer?
If you have shopped for test equipment for ham radio use you know that Oscilloscopes and Spectrum Analyzers are not inexpensive. Spectrum Analyzers can be especially hard to justify. So I was interested by the fact that SDRplay includes free software that will turn it’s SDRduo (And some other models) into a software Spectrum Analyzer….
18 Months with an Icom 7610
In February 2020 I ordered an Icom 7610. This article is about what I like, what I don’t like, and my overall opinion on the radio. If you are interested in this radio, you will find some excellent information and resources herein.