Category: Amateur Radio
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Amateur Radio as a Hobby: What to Expect and What Does It Cost to Get Started?
You’re interested in amateur radio but not sure what to expect? Don’t worry — you’re not alone. Every year, hundreds of people in Austria discover this fascinating hobby. Whether you want to talk to stations around the world on shortwave, stand on a mountain summit with a handheld radio, or send digital data across thousands…
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D-STAR vs. DMR vs. C4FM vs. M17 vs. TETRA: The Ultimate Comparison of Digital Voice Systems in Amateur Radio
The world of amateur radio has changed. If you switch on a handheld transceiver today, the choice is no longer just between FM and SSB — you’re facing a jungle of digital voice systems. D-STAR, DMR, C4FM, M17, TETRA: five acronyms, five different philosophies, five communities. But which system is actually right for you? We’ve…
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arcOS – The Linux Distribution for Ham Radio
Plug in USB stick, boot, operate. arcOS is a live Linux system with Fldigi, JS8Call, WSJT-X, Winlink, APRS and SDR – built for radio amateurs. Plug & play with Digirig Mobile. Comparison with other ham radio distributions.
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Emergency Radio Exercise Klagenfurt: Four Lighthouses, Four Dates in March
The Magistrate of Klagenfurt is running an emergency exercise: on four dates in March, emergency operations will be practised at four different “lighthouses”. Radio amateurs are explicitly invited to participate. The dates Date Time Monday, 10 March 2026 07:30 – 13:00 Tuesday, 11 March 2026 07:30 – 13:00 Tuesday, 17 March 2026 07:30 – 13:00…
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Memory Channels Processor – Never Type Repeater Data Manually Again
Let’s be honest: who hasn’t spent an entire evening typing repeater data into a new radio? Frequency, offset, CTCSS tone, name… channel by channel. Fifty repeaters later, your eyes are tired, your fingers are stiff, and you wonder: does it really have to be this way? Then comes the next radio. Or a firmware update…
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OERadio Meshmap – All Meshtastic Nodes at a Glance
A real-time map for the Meshtastic network in Austria and Europe – open, live, and without tracking. We’ve all been there: your Meshtastic node is running, happily transmitting away – and then you wonder: can anyone actually see me? Where are the other nodes? And how far does my signal really reach? That’s exactly what…
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OERadio Goes Mesh – The Path to a Dedicated MQTT Server
How we connect Meshtastic nodes via the internet – and how you can join in. Meshtastic is brilliant. Small LoRa nodes that communicate without internet, without a provider, and without monthly costs. Locally via radio, point to point, as it should be. But what if two nodes are 200 kilometres apart? Even the best antenna…
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Together Instead of Against Each Other
Thoughts on the culture of amateur radio — from someone who hasn’t always got it right himself. Amateur radio thrives on diversity: tinkerers, contesters, DXers, outdoor operators, SOTA activators — and yes, eccentrics too. Some sing on the frequency. Some tell stories. Some might “annoy” someone else. But as long as nobody deliberately interferes or…
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Meshtastic in Carinthia: Three Nodes, a Solar Panel, and Surprising Range
Hello everyone! Hermann here, OE8HSF, from Knappenberg near Hüttenberg – at a good 1,000 metres above sea level. You probably know the feeling: you stumble across a topic on the internet, think “I’ll just have a quick look” – and three weeks later you’ve got three nodes on your terrace, a BME280 sensor on a…
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MFJ-1982MP: 42 Metres of Wire, 9 Bands, One Happy Ham
You know the feeling? Standing in the garden, 42 metres of wire in one hand, coffee in the other, wondering: where is all this supposed to go? That is exactly how my adventure with the MFJ-1982MP started. An end-fed antenna that promises to cover everything from 80 to 6 metres. I set it up, measured…
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The OE8RADIO Dog Runs Through Carinthia – APRSRunner: Build Your Own APRS Runner
He knows no boundaries. No mountains. No rivers. No lakes. The OE8RADIO dog is on the move in Carinthia, spreading the good word – at a solid 80 km/h, straight across the landscape, through forests, over mountain peaks and right through Lake Wörthersee. Obstacles? He doesn’t know them. Breaks? He doesn’t need them. He just…
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BandWacht – Automatic Band Monitoring for Radio Amateurs
BandWacht is a new open-source tool for automatic band monitoring for radio amateurs. The software connects to any WebRX receiver on the internet, analyses the spectrum in real time, and notifies you immediately when activity is detected on a monitored frequency. The goal: Never miss a QSO again. BandWacht is currently in Beta (v0.1.0) and…
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OE8CKK APRS Service – Smart APRS Services Straight to Your Radio
The OE8CKK APRS Service is an interactive APRS service for radio amateurs that delivers a wide range of information directly to your radio via APRS message – no smartphone app, registration, or internet required. Everything works directly over the air to your radio. The service runs server-side and responds to APRS messages sent to the…
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oeradio.at – Your Radio Dashboard for Carinthia and Beyond
oeradio.at is more than a website – it’s a live dashboard for everyone who’s into radio. Whether you’re a licensed radio amateur, CB radio operator, or PMR user – right on the homepage you can see at a glance what’s happening in the radio world: propagation conditions including the 11m band, DX spots, satellite passes,…
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OpenHamClock – The Amateur Radio Clock for Browser and Shack
With OpenHamClock, there’s a modern, open-source tool that provides radio amateurs with a wealth of information at a glance – right in the browser. The project combines a world map, DX cluster, propagation data, satellite tracking, and much more in a single interface. What is OpenHamClock? OpenHamClock is a web-based amateur radio clock, inspired by…
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FT2 – The New High-Speed Digital Mode: 4x Faster Than FT8\!
Every radio amateur knows FT8. Since February 16, 2026, there is a new player: FT2 with only 3.8 seconds per cycle – 4x faster than FT8\! Developed in Italy with AI assistance.
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POTA Austria – Your Line to the OE POTA Team
If you know us, you know: POTA is all about getting out into nature with your radio. Whether at a mountain lake, in a national park or simply at the edge of a forest – the main thing is being outdoors and on the air. New Contact Address We now have a dedicated email address…
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wiki.echtcool.net – Karl’s Workshop on the Web
There are radio amateurs who operate. And there are radio amateurs who build, measure, solder, mill, program, repair – and then document it all properly. Karl from Tretram, OE8JHK, clearly belongs to the second category. Auf seiner Seite wiki.echtcool.net Karl collects his projects – from a church tower clock to a satellite station, from a…
