APRSBeginner
APRS Without the Confusion
What APRS actually is, why your path setting matters more than your radio, and how to set up a tracker, an IGate, or messaging without annoying the entire region. Start here, then go deeper.
10 min read
13 guides
Guides
Written the way I wish I had found them: the mechanism first, then the settings, then the mistakes. No prior knowledge assumed.
DigitalBeginner
FT8, End to End
A complete FT8 setup: cabling, rig settings, WSJT-X configuration, the time-sync problem nobody warns you about, and how to not be the station everyone mutes.
12 min read
AntennasIntermediate
HF Antennas for Small Lots
Getting on HF from a townhouse, an apartment, or an HOA. Dipoles, end-feds, verticals and loops compared honestly — including what each one actually costs you.
12 min read
LicensingBeginner
How to Get Your Ham Radio License
The whole path from zero to a call sign: which license to start with, what the exam covers, what it costs, and what actually happens on test day.
9 min read
OperatingBeginner
Operating Practice: How to Be Easy to Work
The part no exam covers. Calling CQ, working a pileup, signal reports, identification rules, and the small habits that separate a good operator from a merely licensed one.
9 min read
HFBeginner
Your First HF Station
What to actually buy, in what order, and where the money matters. A working HF station on three budgets — plus the three things beginners consistently get backwards.
11 min read
APRSAdvanced
APRS Packet Anatomy: AX.25, TNC2, and Data Types
What is actually on the air. The AX.25 UI frame field by field, address encoding and the has-been-repeated bit, the TNC2 monitor format, and the full data type identifier table.
14 min read
LicensingBeginner
Passing the Exam: A Study Method That Works
The question pool is public, which changes how you should study. A concrete three-week method, the topics worth genuinely understanding, and test-day tactics.
8 min read
OperatingIntermediate
POTA: Your First Activation
Parks on the Air is the best on-ramp to portable HF. What you need, how the ten-contact rule works, how to self-spot, and how to avoid the mistakes that end an activation early.
9 min read
HFIntermediate
Reading Propagation: Which Band, Which Hour
Why 40 m works at night and 20 m in the day, what the solar numbers actually mean, and how to pick a band in ten seconds instead of tuning around hoping.
10 min read
APRSAdvanced
Decoding APRS Position Reports
The compressed base-91 format and Mic-E, decoded by hand. Exact byte offsets, the destination-address encoding table, and the arithmetic that turns printable ASCII back into coordinates.
15 min read
APRSAdvanced
APRS-IS: Servers, Filters, and Gateways
The internet side of APRS in full: the login handshake, q constructs and how they record provenance, the complete server-side filter language, and the rules an IGate must follow.
14 min read
APRSAdvanced
APRS Weather Stations: Packet Formats and Feeding the Network
The APRS weather report format field by field, the s-means-two-things trap, positionless versus positioned reports, and how to get a modern IP weather station onto APRS and CWOP.
13 min read
Nothing matches that.
Browse by topic
Getting Licensed
Choosing a class, studying efficiently, and what exam day actually looks like.
HF Operating
Building a first HF station, reading propagation, and working the bands.
Digital Modes
FT8, FT4, JS8Call and WSPR — setup, settings that matter, and etiquette.
APRS & Packet
From digipeater paths and IGates down to AX.25 framing, Mic-E, and the APRS-IS filter language.
Antennas & Feedline
Wire antennas that fit real lots, coax, grounding, and common-mode current.
Operating Practice
Calling CQ, pileups, logging, contests, POTA, and being easy to work.