by Michael Martens | Jul 28, 2016 | Ham Radio Q and A
A common question I receive is how is the best way to put an antenna up in a tree. Trees may not seem to be an obvious choice for supporting a vertical antenna, but offer a few advantages, like being readily available and they give you the ability to hide your antenna...
by Michael Martens | Jul 15, 2016 | Ham Radio Q and A
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Today we’re talking about the phonetic alphabet If you ever spent time on the HF bands, you’ve surely heard stations using words to spell out their callsigns or other pieces of information. This phonetic alphabet is one way amateur radio...
by Michael Martens | Jun 8, 2016 | broadcast
It was a rainy Saturday morning. I knew a whole lot wouldn’t get accomplished today, so when I was the posting from Wisconsin Public Radio reminding me about their open house that afternoon, it became the perfect opportunity to jump into the car and take a road trip....
by Michael Martens | May 14, 2016 | Ham Radio Q and A
As an active person that enjoys the outdoors one of the concerns I always have is changing weather conditions. Nowadays we can receive text alerts on our phones or carry a weather radar with us. But if we are outside of phone coverage or in a situation where...
by Michael Martens | Mar 17, 2016 | Ham Radio Q and A
Alright, you just got your amateur radio license and you’re itching to get on the air. But first you need a radio. What type should you get? As a volunteer examiner, I’ve been asked this question scores of times. It’s a common question of the new ham, and one that...
by Michael Martens | Mar 14, 2016 | Operating Events
Living in the upper Midwest, it is very seldom that I get to be the DX station or have the ability to run a pile-up. But one such event give me that opportunity, the annual Wisconsin QSO Party. For the 2nd Sunday in March the airwaves come alive with ham looking to...
by Michael Martens | Feb 24, 2016 | Getting started
If you’ve been exposed to amateur radio for any length of time, you’ll notice that the hobby has a language all of its own. Special words and phrases, Q codes and numbers- what do all these mean? The richness and diversity of the language of amateur radio has grown...
by Michael Martens | Dec 30, 2015 | Ham Radio Q and A
It’s the end of the year and time to look at what’s been popular on my blog. Year-end time triggers all sorts of look backs and retrospectives, so I thought that I would do the same by taking a look at the logs and figuring out what were the most popular articles from...
by Michael Martens | Dec 6, 2015 | Ham Radio Q and A
Are hams notoriously picky people to shop for? What is the average amateur radio operator interested in? Today on Ham Radio Q & A, I go through a list of gift ideas that just about any ham would love to see under the tree. This list has items at a wide range of...
by Michael Martens | Nov 18, 2015 | Ham Radio Q and A
So far the first five episodes of the Ham Radio Q and A show have generated quite a bit of interest and response. They’ve also spurred more than a few questions, so I thought I’d take a moment and follow up on a few of the questions asked. In the episode titled RF...
Recent Comments