Each year on the 4th weekend of June, thousands of Amateur Radio operators operate during a 24 hour period primarily to simulate some sort of emergency scenario. Field Day can take many different forms. From a club setting up in a field with generators, to home stations running on grid power. For us, Field Day […]
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How To Program Yaesu’s FT5DR With Chirp In Linux
For the first time in several years, I was able to go the the 2023 Dayton Hamvention. If you have ever been, it is perhaps the best hamfest there is. If you did go to the Hamvention, did you get your Yaesu hat? I did – as well as my daughter, KC8GRS, and her two […]
My DIY Drive-On Antenna Mast For POTA Activations
I have been doing POTA activations for a few years now, and I have been using an antenna mast that attaches on to my Reese hitch. It which works well. It doesn’t go straight out like most mast mounts do for Reese hitches but rather off to the side of my Jeep. One of my […]
Funny Questions I Get From Non-Hams While On A POTA Activation
When activating a park, us regular POTA activators are quite used to getting funny looks, strange stares, and my favorite, funny questions that people ask. So I thought why not document them so all can be as entertained by them as I have. Some of them are deliberately funny, and quite creative! Funny Question #1 […]
How To Install Winter Field Day Logging Software For Raspberry Pi
With Winter Field Day approaching, having used K6GTE‘s excellent Field Day Logger on the Raspberry Pi, his Winter Field Day logging program, WFDlogger was the obvious choice for me. As with FieldDayLogger, WFDlogger works with Winkeyer. Which for me is a requirement for any contest logging software. This year’s Winter Field Day will be my […]
How To Repair A Broken Solar Panel
Having had solar panels on the roof of my home for the past several years has proven to be a worthwhile endeavor. With my particular installation I went with Enphase microinverters which I am pleased with. One of the things I like is the Enphase app on your phone. This allows you to look at […]
How To Suppress Voltage Spikes From A DC Motor With A Snubber Circuit
Being one who likes to be as self-sufficient as possible, I purchased a hand crank style grain mill. This augmented my weekly baking of Spelt bread. Now you are asking what does baking bread have to do with suppressing voltage spikes on a DC motor? That’s a fair question. Well the first time I tried […]
Can You POTA on 160 Meters? Lets Find Out!
Several months ago, someone on the Parks On The Air POTA Facebook page posed the question “Has anyone made a POTA activation on 160 Meters?” To be honest, I really haven’t given 160 Meters much thought, let alone for a POTA activation. So this got the wheels of thought churning in my head. 160 Meters […]
A POTA activation of North Bass Island By KE8ONI and WB8ERJ
Sometime in March of 2022, my friend, Kevin, KE8ONI, posted on the POTA Facebook page asking if anyone was interested in putting together a POTA trip to North Bass Island in Lake Erie. I quickly jumped in and said YES! Kevin and I first met on Facebook’s Parks On The Air group. About a year […]
Field Day Logging Software For The Raspberry Pi
I have been searching for a Field Day logging program for a couple of years that works on a Raspberry Pi and also works with Winkeyer. A lot of people like CQRlog, but it doesn’t seem to have the “flow” for me when entering QSO’s during Field Day. Another logging program that is used with […]