by Michael Martens | May 8, 2019 | Amateur Radio
This is a common question asked by hams, new and experienced alike: where is everybody. When you turn on the local 2 meter repeater, more often than not it’s nothing but crickets. I’m sure you can relay the stories about how the repeaters would be active 24/7- there...
by Michael Martens | May 2, 2019 | broadcast
Recently I was at the Madison Amateur Radio Association’s annual swapfest in Stoughton Wisconsin. My wife, Christine, likes to come along to many of these shows as she often stumbles upon some interesting non amateur radio related item. This year’s swapfest was no...
by Michael Martens | Apr 23, 2019 | emcomm
Yaesu’s FTM-400XDR is an very popular dual band mobile radio that features some extremely sophisticated APRS features. APRS, or the Automated Packet Reporting System is a real-time tactical mode that allows you to transmit your geo location and send and receive short...
by Michael Martens | Apr 16, 2019 | Ham Radio Q and A
First off I want to thank everyone for watching and subscribing to my channel over on Youtube. In the last month it passed the milestone of the one million video views mark. We’re also pushing towards 15,000 subscribers, so if you enjoy watching these videos, you are...
by Michael Martens | Apr 2, 2019 | Amateur Radio
I recently did a presentation at a local amateur radio club about DMR or Digital Mobile Radio. They were looking at various digital modes and felt that I was an expert on the subject. While I’m not quite sure about that, I did do a few videos on getting started with...
by Michael Martens | Mar 20, 2019 | Reviews
Well today I’m with Joe KD9CGX and we’re setting up the Chameleon P-Loop 2.0 Mag-Loop Antenna, It’s a little bit warmer today than it was for our last– Well, 35 degrees warmer than the last video. Yeah, but we got about five feet of more...
by Michael Martens | Mar 13, 2019 | emcomm
When you start wiring your ham radio shack, the problem you run into is that there are never enough power connections. One solution of course are the multi tap power distribution bars like MFJ or West Mountain radio sells. These bars have fused connections and multi...
by Michael Martens | Mar 11, 2019 | Ham Radio Q and A
February has been a challenging month. We received over 53 inches of snow last month alone and over 70 inches from the season. This is a far cry from what we are usually accustomed too, especially for a community that doesn’t live within the great lakes snow belt. But...
by Michael Martens | Feb 27, 2019 | Getting started
My videos are enjoyed by both amateur radio operators and prospective hams alike. So much so, that I repeatedly get similar questions and inquiries on how to get your ham radio license. So today we are going all the way back to square one and I’ll outline the five...
by Michael Martens | Feb 26, 2019 | 2 meter
Slow Scan or SSTV is a method of sending still pictures or images over the airwaves. Most frequently you will find SSTV operations on the HF bands, notably on 20 meters, but there is also a bit of SSTV activity on the 2 meter band, especially when the International...
Recent Comments