Planning on The Ham Radio Lab

Gearing Up for the Summer and Getting On Air

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Like many of you, the start of Spring (or maybe just a particularly inspiring QSO!) gets me thinking about what I want to achieve in our fantastic hobby. Amateur radio is such a vast playground, and it’s easy to get distracted by all the shiny new things or venerable old boat anchors!, just read a couple of my last posts for details. So going forward, I’m trying to be more focused and intentional on what I want to do and achieve. I’ve set myself three main goals, centered around organization, operation, and exploration.

The Ham Radio Packing Paradox: Overprepared for Adventure, Underprepared for Reality

Sun, 09 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

So recently I had to travel to Canada for a couple of weeks and I thought that since there is a operating agreement with Canada I would take some gear with me and maybe do an activation or two,

Fueled by memories of past failures, I went full survivalist-ham. I lugged a ton of gear, two radios, multiple antenna’s, enough battery power to run a small city, and a toolkit that could rebuild the entire rig from scratch. I even packed extra socks – essential for any operation, right?

2025 Winter Field Day Report

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Winter Field Day has come and gone, and while the bands might have been buzzing, my own experience was… well, let’s call it “educational.” It wasn’t the pileups or dx contacts I was envisioning, but rather a stark reminder of the importance of preparation. Along with a splash of reality on some of my own expectations and experience.

The Concept of Winter Field Day

You know how it goes, we all have those grand plans, picturing ourselves sending out our callsign from some frosty vista. My vision was no different, however, my execution left a little something to be desired. Let’s just say my “operational output” this year was pretty minimal.

Why this site?

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Why?

I’ve been thinking about a new hobby for a while now. I want something fun, that will help me learn a new skillset and hopefully be cost neutral to the home budget. Or not so expensive that my better half would notice on our bank statements.

I picked Ham Radio for a number of reasons but mostly because I actually tried the hobby way back in my younger days as a teenager. I wasn’t successful in getting my license then due to my troubles learning Morse Code. But the other parts of the hobby did appeal to my geek brain.