HAM Radio 101

HAM Radio 101

Ham Radio and “International Goodwill”

One of the great things about Ham Radio is its ability to bring people together. If the propagation is right, an operator in Iowa can reach across the Atlantic to […]

ARRL POTA Parks on the Air logo
HAM Radio 101

POTA (Parks on the Air) Overview

If you enjoy operating in the great outdoors, Parks on the Air℠ (POTA) provides opportunities to advance your portable deployment skills, win awards, rag-chew with like-minded Hams, and take in […]

HAM Radio 101

Ham Radio 101: What is Point and Shoot?

Also known as point and click.  A refinement of the search and pounce operating method which is supported by most major logging software programs. With this method, the operator clicks […]

HAM Radio 101

What is the WRTC (World Radiosport Team Championship)?

Soccer has the World Cup. Baseball has the World Series. Ham Radio has the WRTC—the quadrennial World Radiosport Team Championship. While you won’t see it on ESPN, Hams in the […]

ARRL general Class License Manual
HAM Radio 101

Introduction to General Class License

We’ve talked a great deal in our Word of the Day column about what you can do with an Amateur Radio Technician Class License, including operating in the popular 2 […]

HAM Radio 101

What is Category Shopping?

The practice of deciding which category to submit your contest score in after the contest is over, and after information on (claimed) scores of potential competitors is public. The purpose […]

YASME foundation logo
HAM Radio 101

The Yasme Foundation: Origin and Overview

Today’s Word of the Day column salutes the Yasme Foundation, an organization celebrating its 60th year of forging new frontiers in the world of Amateur Radio. Led by Dick Spenceley, […]

HAM Radio 101

Ham Radio 101: What is a Call Sign?

For today’s Word of the Day, we go back to the basics. What is a call sign? After passing your Amateur Radio licensing exam (in the U.S), the FCC will […]

HAM Radio 101

Word of the Day: D-STAR

D-STAR is today’s Word of the Day in honor of the DX Engineering employee radio club, N8DXE, converting its analog repeater on 146.985 to D-STAR.  Developed in the late 1990s […]

DX Engineering radial plate and hardware
HAM Radio 101

What is a Radial Plate?

If you’re an Amateur Radio operator with a ground-mounted vertical antenna, today’s Word of the Day needs to be firmly entrenched in your Ham vocabulary—radial plate. A radial plate is […]