Category: Radio Operations
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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…
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Packet Radio & AX.25: The Digital Legacy of Amateur Radio
Long before the internet became mainstream, radio amateurs were already sending digital data packets over the airwaves. Packet Radio — the packet-switched data network based on the AX.25 protocol — was the backbone of digital…
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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:…
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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…
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When the Capercaillie Displays, Radio Gets Tough
Today could have been so easy. On the way from Vienna to Carinthia, I wanted to quickly activate Kreuzeck OE/ST-243 near Scheifling — that was the plan. Weather check, perfect spot to park the car…
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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…
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Field Day: Amateur Radio Under the Open Sky — How to Plan a Successful Participation
When the days grow longer and the weather beckons us outdoors, many radio amateurs feel the excitement building: Field Day is approaching! Whether on an alpine meadow in the Austrian Alps, atop a hill overlooking…
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EME – Earth-Moon-Earth: Moonbounce on 2 m and 70 cm
EME – Earth-Moon-Earth: When the Moon Becomes a Reflector Imagine sending a radio signal from Earth to the Moon and receiving the echo back – a round-trip distance of approximately 768,000 kilometers. This is exactly…
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DXCC, WAZ, WPX: The Major Amateur Radio Awards Explained
Introduction: The Fever for the Certificate You just made your first DX QSO on 20 meters — Japan, with only 100 watts and a wire in the garden. Your heart is still pounding. You checked…
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Contests for Beginners: Why You Should Enter at Least One Contest
Introduction You’re sitting in the shack, turning the VFO, and suddenly on 14 MHz you hear a tangle of callsigns, lightning-fast exchanges, and cryptic numbers. “CQ Contest, CQ Contest, OE2S, Oscar Echo Two Sierra.” Then…
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QBlitz – Q-group quick trainer for radio amateurs
QBlitz is here! Our new Q-group quick trainer helps you learn the most important Q codes for amateur radio testing and daily radio operations – interactively, playfully and with a scientifically based learning method. What…
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BandBlick – IARU Region 1 band plan
BandBlick – IARU Region 1 Bandplan BandBlick is an interactive amateur radio band plan visualizer for IARU Region 1. The tool offers a clear representation of all amateur radio bands with their segments and types…
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QSO Buddy: Practice radio conversations interactively
You finally want to speak confidently into the microphone? QSO Buddy is your interactive trainer for amateur radio conversations (QSOs). Learn step by step how a typical radio conversation works – from the CQ call…
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First Contact – Learn shortwave propagation through experimentation!
You probably know this: You sit in front of the rig, turn the VFO and ask yourself – why is there nothing going on at 20m while the place is full at 40m? Or why…
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What is an SDR? An overview for radio enthusiasts
Software instead of hardware: The SDR principle A Software-Defined Radio (SDR) is a radio receiver in which a large part of the classic hardware is replaced by software. Instead of requiring separate devices for each…
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How far can I really get? Easily create RF propagation maps yourself
Planning radio coverage made easy – with Radio Mobile Online If you want to know how far your signal really reaches, Radio Mobile Online is a really powerful tool. The tool was developed specifically for…
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🏕️ Wavelog – the online logbook for portable radio operation
A flexible logbook that can be accessed at any time is particularly important for portable radio operations (e.g. POTA, SOTA, field days).With Wavelog, a modern, web-based amateur radio logbook is now available on oeradio.at, which…
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Setting up MSI2500 SDR (RSP1 Clone) on Ubuntu – step-by-step instructions
This guide shows how to get an MSI2500 based SDR receiver (like RSP1 Clones) running on Ubuntu Linux with GQRX. The instructions are also suitable for beginners without much Linux experience. What is the MSI2500?…
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Making SDR Accessible Worldwide: A Radio Amateur’s Guide to Cloudflare Tunnels
Or: How I learned to forget port forwarding and love the cloud 🙂 Introduction Dear radio amateurs! Tired of struggling with your router’s port forwarding settings? Annoyed by DynDNS services that give up at the…
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MeshCom: Your entry into a decentralized radio mesh network for radio amateurs
What is MeshCom? – a simple overview MeshCom is an open source project from the Institute of Citizen Science for Space & Wireless Communication (ICSSW), which aims to realize text-based communication via LoRa modules in…
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📱 Use HAMSIP with the iPhone – step by step for beginners
You want to make calls with your iPhone via HAMSIP? Here we will show you how to set up everything – from the VPN connection to the Hamnet to the finished telephony with a SIP…
