Beyond Your Local Repeater: 15 Things to Do with a Technician License
You studied hard and passed the test—congratulations, you’re a Ham Radio operator! With that new Technician license in hand you can now get on the air. But what, exactly, does […]
An Amateur Radio Blog by DX Engineering Technical Articles
HAM Radio 101 / Technical Articles
Products & Product Reviews / Technical Articles
New DX Engineering RT4500HD Heavy-Duty Rotator Undergoes Extensive Testing
On a cool, foggy morning in early October, DX Engineering Operations Manager Cory Gibson, W3CDG, and fellow team members watched as a hard-hatted tower expert ascended near the top of […]
Technical Articles
Troubleshooting Hum, Buzz, Crosstalk, and RF Pickup
Hams are typically less precise in their use of technical terms than are professional engineers and technicians. Nowhere is this more true than in descriptions of signals contaminated with unwanted […]
Technical Articles
Long-Duration HF Contesting Tips: Looking Beyond Your Equipment…Tips on Coming Out on Top
Contests come in a lot of shapes and sizes, from domestic sprints lasting a few hours to weekend-long, 48-hour worldwide DX contests. The difference can be as great as between […]
Technical Articles
DXing with a Handheld: What You Need to Know
When Hams consider handheld transceivers (HTs), they usually think about short-distance communication. The first type of communication is simplex (direct communication between two radios) that you might use to keep […]
Technical Articles
Technician Training, Club Fun: The FM Simplex Contest
Technicians comprise about half of the licensed Ham Radio population in the United States. While there’s a lot of stuff you can do in ham radio with a Tech ticket, […]
Technical Articles
The Rise of Digital Modes: The Changing Face of Ham Radio
Change in Amateur Radio operation modes often comes slowly due to the need to change equipment. Two major changes in the history of Amateur Radio that vividly illustrate this include […]
Technical Articles
Contesting Equipment Guide: Small Upgrades that Can Make a Big Difference
So you have a station, you’re operating in the contests, and looking to move up the score listings— excellent! But what to do? Is there a BNR (Big New Radio) […]
Technical Articles
Backpack QRP Basics: Creating a Backpack QRP Station
A common train of thought in Ham Radio is you need to have a giant station in order to have fun and be successful. While there is no doubt that […]
FT8 / Technical Articles
FT8—What Is It and How Can I Get Started?
I am guessing that most of you reading this have either heard about FT8 from fellow Hams or heard it on air as that strange repetitive buzzing sound between the […]
