Category: Amateur Radio
DX for Beginners: First Steps into Long-Distance Contacts
Japan, Australia, South America — all reachable with your own antenna from the roof? DX operation, meaning radio contacts over great distances, is the pinnacle of the hobby for many radio amateurs. The good news: in…
MeshCom vs. Meshtastic: LoRa Mesh Networks for Radio Amateurs
Text messages without the internet, without mobile networks, without infrastructure — simply device-to-device across kilometres? What sounds like science fiction has long been reality with LoRa mesh networks. Two projects dominate the scene: Meshtastic , the…
QRP Operation: Around the World with 5 Watts
Five watts of transmit power — less than an LED light bulb consumes — and making contacts across thousands of kilometres? That's the fascination of QRP, operating with reduced power. What sounds like a limitation turns…
Yaesu FT-290R: 2.5 Watts of Pure Addiction
There are radios you buy. And there are radios that find you. My Yaesu FT-290R belongs to the second category. I was scrolling through willhaben (Austria's Craigslist) one evening, no plan, just browsing, and there it…
RTL-SDR for Beginners: Discover the World of Radio for 30 Euros
Track aircraft, receive weather satellite images, listen to amateur radio, monitor ships on the Danube — all with a USB stick costing around 30 euros? Welcome to the world of Software Defined Radio. The RTL-SDR is…
HAMNET in Austria: The Data Network for Radio Amateurs
What if radio amateurs had their own data network — independent of the internet, independent of commercial providers, operating on amateur radio frequencies with data rates of up to 200 Mbit/s on backbone links? That's exactly…
Icom X-026: New Concept Radio to Be Unveiled at Hamvention 2026
On 20 April 2026, Icom announced a new project via its official channels: the X-026. A concept mock-up set to be shown as a world premiere at the Dayton Hamvention from 15 to 17 May 2026.…
ITU-R M.1042-4: What the New Emergency Communications Recommendation Means for Amateur Radio
On 19 February 2026, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) adopted Recommendation ITU-R M.1042-4 — Disaster communications in the amateur and amateur-satellite services . It is the first revision since 2007. Nineteen years of silence, then an…
Amateur Radio by the Numbers: Demographics, Trends, and the Future of the Hobby
Is amateur radio dying? The data paints a more nuanced picture. All figures backed by primary sources.
Youth and Amateur Radio: Why the Hobby Is Exciting for Young People
Update 24 May 2026 – Corrections based on reader feedback and article ratings: Based on your ratings and feedback, we have clarified the following points: afukurs.oevsv.at is not an online learning platform for self-study, but a…
Solar Cycle 25: The Best Bands for DX in 2026
We are living in a special time for amateur radio. Solar Cycle 25 has exceeded all predictions and is delivering propagation conditions that many radio amateurs have not experienced in decades. If you are not active…
D-Star - much more than just voice
Guest post by Alex, OE8HAM: Why D-Star is much more than just voice — image transfer, Bluetooth chat, GPS tracking, voice recorder and the Doozy app for the ID-52 plus.
