Category: Technology
Towers and Masts: Planning and Installing Antenna Supports
In amateur radio there is a simple, almost uncomfortable truth: height beats power . If you put your antenna a few metres higher and more in the clear, you often get more out of the band…
Receive Antennas for Low-Band: Beverage, K9AY and Flag Antennas
On the low bands — 160, 80 and 40 metres — a DX contact is rarely decided by transmit power, but by the station's ability to hear . Atmospheric noise (QRN) is so high here that…
Digirig Mobile: The Compact Digital Interface for Portable Operation
Anyone who wants to run FT8 , JS8Call, WSPR , or Winlink in the field knows the problem: a laptop, a transceiver, and between them a tangle of cables — USB sound card, CAT cable, PTT…
Receiving and Decoding Weather Radiosondes: Tracking High-Altitude Balloons with RTL-SDR
Every day, thousands of weather balloons rise around the world, equipped with radiosondes that measure temperature, air pressure and humidity – and transmit their measurements by radio to the ground station. With an inexpensive RTL-SDR dongle…
futureGEO: The Future of Geostationary Amateur Radio Satellites After QO-100
Since February 2019, QO-100 on Es'hail-2 has proven that geostationary amateur radio satellites work — and work brilliantly. Thousands of radio amateurs across Europe, Africa, and Asia use the narrowband and wideband transponders daily for SSB…
Learning CW in 2026: Modern Training Methods with Apps, Web Tools, and AI
Morse code is the oldest digital mode in amateur radio – and one of the most fascinating. CW (Continuous Wave) works with minimal power, gets through where other modes fail, and has a worldwide community that's…
Aviation Radio and ADS-B: Tracking Aircraft with RTL-SDR
Alternative: HackRF PortaPack with Mayhem Firmware If you already own a HackRF PortaPack , you do not need a separate RTL-SDR dongle: The Mayhem firmware includes a fully functional ADS-B receiver built right into the device.…
HAM RADIO Friedrichshafen 2026: Europe's Largest Amateur Radio Exhibition
From June 26 to 28, 2026, Europe's largest and most significant amateur radio exhibition will take place in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance – HAM RADIO. For Austrian radio amateurs, it's the must-attend event of the year:…
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…
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…
