As Penny and I have settled into our home in Sonoma I’ve taken on an increasing interest in getting more active in Amateur Radio once again. Getting a station back on the air was a critical step. This new site is also part of that effort. I’ve never had an impressive personal station and that […]
The Japan Amateur Radio League sponsors the All Japan Districts (AJD) award. This was one of my earlier Amateur Radio awards and I think a pretty sharp looking one as well. Given the issue date I almost certainly made all of the required contacts from the University of Texas ARC station (W5EHM at the time, […]
I think the Rag Chewers Club (RCC) was the first Amateur Radio award I qualified for. To qualify, one need only provide evidence of having made a single QSO that lasted more than 30 minutes. The implication being that such a contact involves interacting with another Ham to cover more than the abbreviated signal report […]
The well known Worked All Continents (WAC) is a popular award that represents an easy entry into the pastime of Amateur Radio awards hunting. But the International Amateur Radio Union’s (IARU) version is not the only game in town. Like the popular Worked All Continents award, the Czech Radio Club’s S6S award does not require a […]
CQ Magazine’s Worked All Zones (WAZ) is one of the oldest, most prestigious and highly sought after awards in Amateur Radio. Their 40 zone dicing of the world is not the only way to carve up the Earth’s landmass. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) does the same thing with the planet using their ITU zones. […]
I’ve rolled out a new LogConv website to replace the pages that used to reside on this site. It’s still a bit threadbare, but more will be added in the future. LogConv is my simple utility which allows for the conversion of Amateur Radio log files from one format to another. Current file types supported […]
This is not an operating award in the most traditional sense. No contacts need be made to achieve it. But it does require radio reception and a certain skill called CW copying. For some time now the ability to accurately copy Morse Code has been removed as a requirement to obtain an Amateur Radio license. […]
The old saying that timing is everything applies to many facets of life. Sports, comedy, etc. But it also plays a critical role in Amateur Radio. We all know about the use of UTC to avoid issues of time zones for Hams spread around the world. But precise timing is critical for some of the […]
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) sponsors the Worked All Continents award and it’s an easy early step into DX award chasing for many Hams. Making things a bit easier is the fact that the continent of Antarctica is ignored for this award. Note the southernmost continent’s glaring absence from the world map on the […]
I just received a new operating award, Grupo DX Cuba’s the Diploma Caribe. To earn the award contacts must be made with a number of Amateur Radio stations around the Caribbean Sea. There are several classes of award, each requiring contacts with a number of unique countries. The different classes provide an easier and quicker […]
The University of Texas Amateur Radio Club (W5EHM at the time) set up a portable operation on the University of Texas at Austin campus in 1986 for Field Day in 1986. This was a short distance from its Ham Shack at the time.