Articles written by: Mark Haverstock, K8MSH

Chameleon Loop Antenna
Technical Articles

Hams on the Go Part II—Making Practical Decisions Away from Home

In Part I of Hams on the Go, we discussed the basics of what you need to get on the air when you’re mobile. Now it’s time to look at […]

Antenna Tech / Technical Articles

Tuning Your Dipole Antenna Installation

You’ve gone to great lengths to make sure your antenna is cut for the proper frequency using the 468/MHz formula. You’ve measured twice and cut once, yet the SWR readings […]

dx engineering 160 meter antenna
Technical Articles

Operating on the Low Bands–160 and 80 Meters

There are very good reasons why you should use the 160 and 80 meter bands. They are usually the least likely to fail under adverse propagation conditions. In times of […]

Class C Diesel Motorhome
Technical Articles

Ham Radio to Go: Portable Hamming

Yes, you can take it with you. Today’s smaller transceivers and accessories allow you to operate from anywhere, whether it’s a cabin at the lake, a weekend at Uncle Joe’s, […]

mobile ham radio in the console of a car
Products & Product Reviews

Guide to Creative Mobile Radio Mounting Solutions

Today’s vehicles aren’t very ham radio-friendly. The days of having a big dash with empty space underneath are gone, so you need to get a bit more creative. If you’re […]

MFJ SWR wattmeter combo gauge
Technical Articles

How to Choose a Wattmeter

Got Meter? Choosing the Right WattmeterRF inline power meters, or wattmeters, are used by many hams to measure the power flowing from the transceiver to the antenna–and also in the […]

rear view of a ham radio
Technical Articles

Making the CI-V Connection

CI-V stands for Computer Interface V (V representing the Roman numeral for 5 ). This is Icom’s name for its rig interface to a computer or to another rig. Other […]

icom ham radio IC-7300 screen
Technical Articles

How to Use RF Gain, Noise Blanker, and Other Transceiver Features to Improve Copy

There will always be some kind of ambient noise on the HF bands. It may be either man-made (QRM) such as pulse noises from vehicle ignitions or natural (QRN) like […]

Hamplus antenna switch box
Technical Articles

Choosing a Coax Switch

When it comes to ham radio, one radio is never enough. The same thing goes for antennas–multiple bands usually mean multiple antennas. Soon, you’ve got a maze of coax connections […]

Icom IC705 ham radio
Technical Articles

Using the Icom IC-705 in the Field

Now that summer is here and the pandemic is winding down, grab some radio gear and head outdoors. It’s the season for portable operations and finally getting out of couch-potato […]