Amateur Radio Blog
If you see figures regarding solar activity, you could conclude that we are very close to the start of a new solar cycle. That means within a few years my beloved 10 meter band will open up again for DX. But I have also been struggling for four years with Continue reading Review of the QRM Eliminator X-phase
Spring 2015, there could be a crisis on its way. I home from work to find out my next door neighbour installed two solar panels on his roof. A ‘DIY plug and play’ type which you only need to plug in the wall. Well, you probably know that solar panel Continue reading When the noise came banging in
Most modern high end transceivers come with a nice display showing you a bit of spectrum analysis. This bit of displayed spectrum can be very handy when looking for activity on one of the bands. Even more when you are active in contesting. I have been looking around for a Continue reading How to setup a panadapter for the Kenwood TS-480
Quite a long time ago since I posted on my blog. People around me know I had quite some issues past years with my wife’s health. She had a stroke in 2016 and things changed for our family. I had throttled down my job and quit as board member of Continue reading Upgrading the vertical for the lower HF bands
I have a license to operate all HF bands, but my Hustler 4BTV 4-band trap vertical only covered 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m. Now the 80 m band is the only band which allows me to work NVIS night and day across the region here, while 1 m is a Continue reading CG-3000 remote auto tuner on HF vertical review
It took me a while to do it, but I designed a new QSL card. I am intrigued with solar activity and the influence on HF propagation, so I took a spectacular photograph taken by the NASA SDO observatory in space. It’s a filament floating on the magnetic field lines on Continue reading New PA9X QSL card
The NCDXF and IARU founded the International Beacon Project. It consists of 18 beacons around the world. Each beacon transmits every three minutes, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. A transmission consists of the callsign of the beacon sent at 22 words per minute followed by four one-second Continue reading How to run an NCDXF IARU Beacon Monitoring station
If you have mobile devices like your smartphone, or you have a laptop, you probably run a wireless network. Concrete, bricks and metal will limit the range of your WiFi signal. Installing one or more WiFi repeaters guarantees a strong signal, but does not guarantee high speed. Here is why. Continue reading Why WiFi repeaters do not guarantee fast internet
Why ask an IT specialist how to extend your wifi range? Wifi is nothing else than a digital radio signal in the 2.4GHz or 12cm SHF band. You need a communication specialist to tell you the secrets, someone like the amateur radio operator who wrote this blog post. Here are Continue reading Solutions to improve your Wifi range
LED lighting is probably the most sustainable way of bringing light into your life. Power consumed by LED is only a fraction of that consumed by a conventional light bulb, with the same amount of light. And what about the lifespan. A quality LED can last a lifetime. Blue-ish white Continue reading LED lights, a sustainable radio disaster
I love HF and my QTH is not that good for harbouring a lot of antennas so I can work each band. I do have a trap HF vertical but it is a pain in the … Corrosion makes this antenna untunable to resonate.The ideal antenna would be a vertical Continue reading The liquid HF vertical for 10m to 40m
I am a big fan of the 10m band. An extra receiver would be nice to listen on 10m, so I can use the TS-480HX to listen across the HF bands. But with a second receiver, you probably need an extra power supply and extra space in your shack. A Continue reading Better DX hunting with a 14 US Dollar SDR receiver