How to find out if your common mode current choke really works

What is common mode current? It is the current that flows along the outer surface of your coax shield from your antenna back towards your radio. It can cause SWR problems, erratic behaviour of radio equipment and even RF shocks when you touch metal parts of your rig. A coax cable has three conductors! Due … Continue reading How to find out if your common mode current choke really works →

QRP On Deck

We had a little light snow today and the temperature was hovering just below freezing, but I wanted to get outside and check out one of my old QRP rigs. The radio of the day was my Hendricks PFR-3. The "PFR" stands for Portable Field Radio. The PFR-3 is (or was; I'm not sure if … Continue reading QRP On Deck →

Winter POTA Activations? No Problem!

Southern Ontario had a long, balmy Indian Summer this year. Indian Summer is defined as a warm period following the first frost. It was quite unusual to be able to continue Parks On The Air activations right into mid-November using exactly the same kit I used in the summer. But then winter came suddenly and … Continue reading Winter POTA Activations? No Problem! →

How to Turn a 20+ Year Old Yaesu FT-817 into a CW Mean Machine

It was my very first HF radio. A Yaesu FT-817; the original vintage before the ND version was introduced. I was very excited; it was the perfect solution to serve my passion for getting outdoors into the Big Blue Sky Shack to play radio. I had a lot of success. My outdoor antenna was a … Continue reading How to Turn a 20+ Year Old Yaesu FT-817 into a CW Mean Machine →

Modifying my DIY Loading Coil

I have been very pleased with my DIY clone of a Wolf River coil. It has served me well on multiple POTA activations for the last few months. But, there is always room for improvement! And, besides, hams love to tinker with their equipment to make it just that little bit better. The coil is … Continue reading Modifying my DIY Loading Coil →

The Dog That Knew Morse Code

When we refer to an amateur radio operator as "SK" we mean they are a Silent Key; they are deceased, gone to join the choir invisible, ceased to be, etc. The term derives from the days when most hams were CW operators. Their telegraph keys were no longer clattering and sending streams of dits and … Continue reading The Dog That Knew Morse Code →

A Two-Fer Deep in the Woods

Maybe it's just dumb luck that I live very close to several parks that have recently been added to the Parks On The Air entity list. In fact, if I lived just one city block away, where the Bruce Trail National Recreational Trail (VE-5628) runs along the street for a couple of kilometers, I could … Continue reading A Two-Fer Deep in the Woods →

Watts on Wheels

My portable operating station - which I use principally for POTA activations - is constructed in the form of a manpack inside a very rugged cotton canvas NATO-style rucksack. Nearly everything is hooked up, ready to go. I don't need to find a picnic table, the manpack has an internal frame just high enough to … Continue reading Watts on Wheels →

The Decline and Fall of RaDAR

One of the first things that attracted me to this hobby was operating in the great outdoors; or as I refer to it now, my Big Blue Sky Shack. I enjoyed erecting wire antennas out in the field and calling CQ to see if I could get any responses. That was in the days when … Continue reading The Decline and Fall of RaDAR →

Why I Log with Pencil and Paper

A fellow member of my club has very strong opinions about logging. He is an avid contester and uses N1MM for nearly everything - including POTA activations. At a recent presentation to club members he derided pencil and paper loggers and said "this is the 21st Century!" I wasn't offended; he said it in a … Continue reading Why I Log with Pencil and Paper →