Category: Amateur Radio
When Your First QSO Goes Up in Smoke — and It's Not Even Your Radio
The year is 2025. OE8LUA is a freshly licensed ham and a total rookie when it comes to choosing the right equipment..... In May, OE8KSM was kind enough to lend me an RT-95, and through other…
When One Person Brought a Local Chapter Back to Life
There was a time when the Hermagor district was radio-silent. Amateur radio operators existed, yes, but the local chapter ADL805 was little more than a name on paper. An organisational unit without life, an entry in…
EMC Guide: Finding and Fixing Interference
EMC — Electromagnetic Compatibility — is one of the biggest practical topics in radio operation, whether amateur radio, CB, PMR, or other radio services. Whether the S-meter on 40 m constantly reads S7 with nobody transmitting,…
Yagi Antennas for VHF/UHF: Building Your Own Directional Antenna
The Yagi-Uda antenna — usually just called "Yagi" — is the most widely used directional antenna in amateur radio. It focuses energy in one direction, increases gain and range, and suppresses interference from the sides and…
AI-Powered Noise Reduction: Cleaner Signals with Machine Learning
Noise is the eternal enemy of the radio operator. Whether QRM (man-made interference) or QRN (natural noise) — the fight for clean signals is as old as amateur radio itself. But in recent years, artificial intelligence…
SSTV and ATV: Sending Images and Video over Radio
Amateur radio is not just voice and Morse code — for decades, radio amateurs have also been sending images and even live video over the airwaves. From the International Space Station to local ATV repeaters: image…
Cloud Logging 2026: Online Logbooks for Ham Radio Compared
The paper logbook has had its day — but where should your QSOs go? The answer increasingly is: the cloud. Online logbooks offer automatic QSL confirmations, real-time statistics, award tracking, and access from anywhere. But the…
Sporadic E on 2 m and 6 m: VHF DX Through Ionospheric Surprises
It happens suddenly and without warning: on the 6 m band, stations from 1,500 km away appear at S9+ — and a few minutes later, everything's gone. Welcome to the fascinating world of Sporadic E propagation…
Vertical Antennas for HF: Fundamentals, Types and Practice
If you want to work DX and have limited space, a vertical antenna is hard to beat. Thanks to their low radiation angle, verticals send their signal flat over the horizon — exactly where the ionosphere…
Magnetic Loop: The Balcony Antenna for Radio Amateurs
If you live in a rented flat or apartment, you know the problem: a Yagi on the roof? Not a chance. A dipole in the garden? What garden? For many radio amateurs in urban areas, the…
Planned Antenna Workshop or an Unplanned Field Day?
What was originally planned as a structured antenna workshop ultimately turned into what radio amateurs love most: a vibrant field day full of hands-on practice, exchange and genuine radio enthusiasm. Several of our newly licensed and…
Sending and Receiving QSL Cards in Austria: All Options Compared
When radio amateurs in Austria want to exchange QSL cards, the ÖVSV QSL bureau is usually the first thing that comes to mind. But the range of options for sending and receiving contact confirmations has grown…
