(You may have been directed here from www.ke0og.net) You’ve landed on my ham radio home page. I’m KEØOG, an Extra-Class ham radio operator. I’m active on HF, 2-meters, and 440 MHz. I use this page as an index to ham-radio-related material on this site.
What is ham radio? Watch this video from the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB)
Current Geomagnetic Conditions for HF Bands
This chart shows various geomagnetic indicies and what the sun looks like now. These indicies show what HF propagation is like right now. You can use data like this to help you find a good HF band for operations. You can refresh this page to get the latest data.
Courtesy Paul, N0NBH, www.hamqsl.com
Becoming a ham radio operator
- The three amateur (ham) radio license classes. Some background material on license grades, the difficulty of the test, and the operating privileges.
- Videos to aid your self study for your ham radio Technician Class license: Technician Class Ham License – On-Line Help for Your Self Study, which you can also access directly from
www.ke0og.net/training. The purpose of this series of videos is to talk you through the self study you’ll be doing with the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual. There’s one video for each section of the book, on the theory that it’s easier to study if someone’s given you a little overview. - A similar set of videos for General Class
- A similar set of videos for Amateur Extra Class
- Randy Cassingham’s intro to ham radio
- How much does it cost to become a Technician Class (entry level) ham?
- How much does it cost to upgrade to General or Extra Class and get on HF radio?
- What do I do once I become a ham?
- Wouxun KG-UV3D: Inexpensive Dual Band HT
- BaoFeng UV-5R+ ham radio — incredibly inexpensive dual-band handheld
- Programming the Wouxun KG-UV3D and the Baofeng UV-5R+
How I do it (which will be different from the way you do it, but it’s sometimes nice to have something to compare to)
- Using a rubber stamp to turn a spiral-bound notebook into a logbook.
- My new Yaesu FTdx3000. I review my new FTdx3000. Great radio!
- New addition to my shack: Oak Hills Research OHR100A 5-watt (QRP) CW 20-meter-only transceiver. See my notes and review here.
- Ten-Tec Jupiter: My 2001 review
- Ten-Tec Jupiter: what I think of it after ten years
- The 12 vdc system at KEØOG
- Hy-gain 14-AVQ—My First Amateur Radio HF Antenna
- The MFJ-993B IntelliTuner
- HF Antenna Repairs
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Getting the 80-meter Loop Back in Shape
- Creating antenna masts using chain link fence top rail
- My single point ground
Getting on HF with your General Class License – a look at station necessities
- Ham radio 40-meter dipole: your first antenna
- Ham radio power supplies: 12 vdc (or 13.8 vdc)
- ICOM 9100—New HF/VHF/UHF Radio
- Kenwood’s Ham Radio HF Lineup
- Yaesu’s Ham Radio HF Rig Lineup
- Icom’s Ham Radio HF Rig Lineup
- Tuning HF SSB Signals. Tuning HF voice signals (SSB) can be a little daunting the first time around. Here’s a video that shows you how.
Special Techniques
- Packet Radio
- APRS
- APRS (and motorcycling) with pictures of my APRS tracker
- APRS vs handheld GPS location discrepancies
- Using the Wouxun KG-UV3D with TinyTrak4 APRS unit. Provides costs for each item.
- Using the Baofeng UV-5R+ with TinyTrak4 APRS unit
- APRS: Making UI-View and Weatherlink Cooperate
- Interfacing the Byonics TinyTrak4 (TT4) with various handheld radios. Pays special attention to JP8.
- Software-Defined Radio
- A presentation I gave at the Nov, 2013, meeting of the Montrose (Colorado) Amateur Radio Club on software defined radio, specifically the FiFi.
- Fox Hunting (hidden transmitter hunting)
- Byonics PicCon Fox Controller
- Circuit diagram for hidden transmitter hunting (my Fantastic Fox Finder), circuit by Dave Sharpe, KIØHG
- Hidden transmitter hunting links and sites
- HF Digital Modes
- The JT-65 digital mode: my first QSO. (For some background, see this YouTube video in which Joe Taylor, Nobel Laureate, discusses his invention of JT-65, JT-9, and other digital modes.)
Computer Issues
Miscellany
- Cool QSL cards from www.hamtoons.net. Jim is a cartoonist and can make colorful custom QSLs just for you. Here’s the one he sent me. He’s got a cool website worth looking at.
N2EST is a cartoonist and makes custom QSL cards. This is the card he sent me.
- App to create azimuthal maps based on where you live. Reader Rob, M6KOT, provides this link for those who want to make an azimuthal map based on your location. An azimuthal map shows the direction (azimuth) from your station to any place on earth and is handy if you want to know where to point your beam.
- Logging and QSLing for the Radio Amateur in the Electronic Age (narrated slide show). I gave this presentation on 20 Feb 2015 at a meeting of the Montrose Amateur Radio Club held in Olathe, Colorado. I added a narration to cover the main points and put it on YouTube.
- A list of things to bring next year for Field Day!
- Chronology of ham radio history, used for a presentation given at the Montrose Amateur Radio Club.
- Radio Frequency Interference in your Ham Shack: A Case Study
- A close-up view of an Electro-Bug Jr., apparently made in 1927
- ACP 131 lists all Q and Z signals. This is my old copy from when I was in the Air Force. I’ve put high-quality scanned, text-selectable pages here.
- An SET is a Simulated Emergency Test. I tried one out for the first time, and here are my notes to myself. They may help you be prepared too!
- Bob Schaeffer, KJØG, recalls early history of Montrose Amateur Radio Club
- Communicating is a critical element of preparedness (link to news article)
- Trebuchet for Punkin’ Chunkin’—Royce Seymour’s (AAØJD) 2010 PieceMaker at the Olathe (Colorado) Punkin Chunkin event
- And here’s Royce’s 2011 entry at the Olathe (Colorado) Punkin Chunkin event!
- Emergency Communications: Alternatives to Ham Radio
- NVIS Links from Dave Coombs, KØEUS
- Ham4Ham, a site set up by John Borchers, KC3ASE, for those interested in software development for ham radio.
On-the-air Activities on the Colorado Western Slope
- VHF/UHF Repeaters (voice)
- Standard packet radio, as found on 145.01 MHz
- APRS (Amateur Packet Reporting System), as found on 144.39 MHz
- HF NVIS
- The Montrose Amateur Radio Club (direct link to club website)
- 2010 Field Day with the Montrose Amateur Radio Club (photographs)
- 2010 Montrose Amateur Radio Club Field Day (video)
- A Montrose Amateur Radio Club antenna repair party. We repaired and upgraded the antennas for Field Day use.
- 2014 Field Day with the Montrose Amateur Radio Club (video).
- Near Real Time F2 Layer Critical Frequency (useful for NVIS propagation prediction—if the freq shown on the website is a bit more than the NVIS frequency you want to use, you’re in business. If less, well, try a lower frequency.
LDS (Mormon) Church ham-related activites
- Our monthly “First Sunday” net (anyone can join) Net more or less permanently in hiatus
Yes, I’d be very interested. I can do a supplemental video.
Dave,
I wanted you to know that I started my licensing journey in February (2019), earning my Technician license, then my General license in May, and just today (July 13, 2019) my Extra license. Your excellent, entertaining and informative Licensing videos were a key part of my learning process, clarifying key concepts and giving me the encouragement to trudge through the difficult parts. THANK YOU very much for all of the work you do and your dedication to the Amateur Radio community!
The CHIRP driver for the TYT TH-UV8000 series has just been released (7/12 build). I know this because I am the developer that wrote it!
In your online review of that radio there were a few settings that you mentioned you did not know what they did. After having gone through the radio in detail, I can now provide info if you have a means to update the video, perhaps just with text overlays. Let me know if you are interested.
Loved your review of the Vector Antenna Analyzer FA-VA5. You made assembling it easy. I’m not sure if you answer questions on this kit. It worked great until I tried to update the firmware to 1.09. I loaded the firmware and was getting ready to run it. I have the right com port as it asked for. Now I get an “ezbl communications error no target response”, and the display won’t stop blinking. I tried the forced reset to no avail. I’m stumped at this point, and don’t know where to go with it. I’m also running Java 7.0 on windows XP if that makes any difference. I’d appreciate any help you could give me. Thanks
Hi David I am looking forward to your review of the Anytown 878UV plus I have one and I am on my second push to talk button my experience with it is that the Bluetooth ptt buttons connection to the radio comes and goes and hope that you will give yours a good work out to see if it is stable thanks
The site really is https, but you have to put it in as a prefix because so much of the site was made prior to getting the certificate.
This is not a Ham radio comment but just a heads up. Your site is not https. which means it’s not secure. You don’t have SSL enabled. Google and other web browsers are soon to block sites like yours. And that would be a shame as your full of information that helps a beginner like me. Ask your web admin how to make your site secure. Good luck
Hi Dave,
It was a real treat to finally meet you at Hamvention in Xenia, OH last Saturday! I passed my Technician, General, and Extra License Exams in large part due to the course videos you produce and of course, your “Ask Dave” series. I now serve as President of my local Radio Club, (Radio Amateurs of Greater Syracuse). We regularly recommend your course videos to all of our members studying for their license upgrade. Thanks Dave, for all you do for Amateur Radio!
73!
Barry Burge KD4MCB
Hey Dave,
I see that you are somewhat of a train buff. Did you see they (U.P.) has refurbished the BIG BOY Steam locomotive engine in Cheyenne, WY and will be sending it back onto the tracks from their to Ogden, UT? They will be having a ceremony of some sort tomorrow morning and it will hit the tracks stopping at bunches of spots along the way for the next several days.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0S7P51PFm0
https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm
I enjoy your ham videos. Keep up the good work.
73
Glen, W8YP
Just an FYI, the etsy 3D printer gent you mention in the video about inexpensive morse keys (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Omz54912qk) no longer recognizes the discount code you show in the video.
Keep up the nice vids!
Dan
It’s not that simple. Look in the ARRL antenna book for the formulas.
Hi Dave!
I have a question about how to tune / trim an “Arrow J-Pole” (Here is a link to what I had copied/built):
“http://www.arrowantennas.com/osj/j-pole.html”
My question is how do you trim / cut it for a different Frequency range? This antenna is designed for the 2m ham band 144-148 MHz, I want to center it in the Railroad range 159.8100 Mhz – 161.5650 MHz. (actually I’m shooting for 160.4100 in my area).
I know I can use the formula ” find the minimum SWR Frequency and divide by the desired operating frequency, and then Multiply the present antenna length times the result which gives you the amount you mus remove from the antenna length to give you the desired 1.0:1 SWR at your desired Frequency.
Example: Measured SWR 1.0:1 @ 155.5000 MHz, and a desired SWR of 1.0:1 @ 160.5000
155.5000 / 160.5000 = 0.969
Present antenna length 19.250″
19.250 x 0.969 = 18.653″
19.250 – 18.653 = 0.597″
Cut 0.597 off of your antenna and you should achieve a 1.0:1 SWR @ 160.5000.
So, the question is, do I trim the same amount off of both the short and longer elements, or do I just trim the shorter 19.250 element?
Double-check all the connections to look for shorts or opens. The way you describe your system it should work. Have your friend go through it with you–it helps to have an extra pair of eyes. Good luck with the exam!
The transistor 1500w amps are new, so I doubt you’ll find much on the used market. They’re pricey. The technology for high powered amplifiers is undergoing change, and there are still some great tube amps you can buy with lots of bells and whistles for less money than the transistor amps. Take a look at the entire field and check reviews.
Hi Dave,
Just a short note to sincerely thank you for your website and the countless hours you have spent making your instructional videos. The ARRL manuals are great but for those of us with a non-EE background, watching your invaluable videos made the lightbulb come on more times than I can count. So many Ah-Ha! moments when a particular concept finally clicks. I really cant thank you enough-I recently passed my Amateur Extra exam and can honestly say I could not have done it without you. You are a true credit to the Amateur Radio Service.
Thank you so much and 73s sir!
Ted Jacobson
KK6CSO
Hi Dave,
I would appreciate any recommendations you could offer to help guide my selection of a new or gently used amplifier for my Flex Radio 6600 with GPSDO. I am looking for a 1500 W PEP linear solid-state amplifier with automatic tuning that is under $4500. I would like to avoid amplifiers that contain tubes because of the potential difficulty of finding replacements as time goes by. Please let me know if you think of this concern is causing me to overlook some excellent amplifiers. Thank you for your help.
Hi Dave, sitting at home going over ques. and ans. for the General exam tomorrow. Thanks to you and a lot of information I’ve picked up on U tube shows I think I’ll be o k. Got the manual just about worn out over the last month. I have a question about a home made J pole ant. I have it mounted about about 20 / 21 feet to the J part. I have a $25 Boufang right out of the box. A friend of mine talked in the yard on simplex with stock ant. and we could talk. I hit the repeater about 12 mi. from the house o k . and could here him on his base. I hooked up to the J pole ( which shows about 1.3 swr) and went through the repeater to his base but could not hear him at all on my radio. I’m wondering if my ant. is not good or the radio is not working any more. I haven’t talked to another ham but him on my handheld. If I get my general tomorrow he will let me borrow a good radio to try it out. Also I will get me a good multiband ant. to set me up a home station. Hope to catch you tomorrow on live chat. Wallace KI5DER, Biloxi, Ms.
Thank you. Good luck with your studying! 73, Dave
Hi Dave,
It looks like you just hit 50,000 subscribers on your YouTube channel. Congratulations, and keep up the great work! Im a new ham already studying for my extra license and your video is what got me to take the next step.
73s
Jason
KC3MZM
Hi Ken, sorry to hear about the radio. Have you tried the factory reset instructions from the manual? If you are still able to program the radio, look to see if the function key got defined as something else, and program it back to be the function key. Good luck with your radio! 73, Dave
Hi
I recently purchased a tyt 8000 D.
After my neighbor programmed it the function key stooped working. Please help us reset the radio. Btw I’m a big fan.
Thank you
Dave, I just used your information and that from W4EEY to pass my General. I held a Technical Plus (or at least that’s what it used to be called indicating I passed a 5 wpm code copying test) for many years but wasn’t very active on 2m. Actually I do mostly SWLing.
I am on fixed income, so my funds are not infinite and I am careful as to where I spend it. I have found your information to be more than worth my time in helping me in my “ham path”.
73
Gary KC8IQZ
Mr. Casler,
I just wanted to drop you a quick line and tell you thanks for your many wonderful, informative and educational videos you have posted on YouTube. They have been a great help to me not only in rekindling a long held interest in this hobby but also for the education I’ve received through the Technician and General class license course series. Today I sat for my exam and not only passed element 2 but went on to pass element 3 in one sitting! As I only have just passed the exams today, I have no received my call sign from the FCC yet but I am looking forward to that as well as the Baofeng UV-5Rx3 that I ordered this afternoon. I’m already looking forward to diving into the HF bands soon but I have a little more research to do before that jump (as well as another paycheck or two). I also joined the Lewisville Amateur Radio Association (W5LVC.org) and I’ve already met many wonderful people and gotten a ton of great getting started help there.
Thank you again for all you do for this hobby and hope to see you on the air soon.
Mike Weston
Lewisville, TX
David, good luck with your studies. The choice of a handheld is a highly personal decision. See what your local club members are using–if you get something like that, you’ll have others around you to help you with the rig. 73, Dave
Hi Dave,
Working my way towards Technician Test next month – Using your videos and the ARRL Manual to study. Do you have any new recommendations for a starter HT radio? The TYT UV 8000E you reviewed looked good. Is it FCC certified? The 8000D seems to be . . .
Is there something newer, better that I am missing? There is so much out there. DMR, GPS, etc.
My first ever “73” is offered to you, David
Kenny, you might be safer to transmit into a dummy load, then have a short antenna on the radio under test. I don’t trust attenuators unless they’re lab grade with lab grade cables and everything perfectly grounded. Not much signal needs to find its way around the attenuator to completely overload the receiver. Hope that helps. 73, Dave
Hi Dave……I can’t afford to purchase a real comm tester unit, way too expensive for my budget. I need a way to generate microvolts for testing radios. I was wondering if using a HF radio (power output 1 watt or so) fed into a variable attenuator (adjustable 0 – 82 dB) and then fed into malfunctioning radio, might work? Would this be safe and also generate the microvolts needed for testing? As long as I can get an acceptable input level, I suppose it doesn’t need to be exact. I just need to be able to trace the signal through the radio. Any other suggestions for doing same would be greatly appreciated, too!!
Thanks
Kenny
KD4HQQ
What you are seeing is the factory calibration mode. Contact hfsigs.com using the email address on the page and ask what to do to get it out of calibrate mode.
Hi Dave I saw ur video about the bitx40. I’m wondering if u can help me. I put mine together and the display say calibrate when turned on, any ideas what’s causing it.
Gary
AE1CT
Try one of your suggestions and see how it works. When you have multiple factors present that can affect antenna performance, often your best bet is simply to try things.
How are you, Dave? ANOTHER Q for ASK DAVE..
So. our house has a metal roof. on which a short (~1.5 m ) TV-mast is mounted (sans antenna) at its peak, at about the roof’s center; there is also a chimney (not yet used).
My (still flexible) plan is to:
1. mount a (6 m – 23 cm) discone atop that mast… &
2. find ways to ways to use it to also support 1 end of an HF wire antenna, eg:
– a Sloper: HF wire would extend over the backyard, eg, down to 3-conduits, duct-taped together – over their entire length (= 4 m) to form a “DIY vertical support,” secured to a well-planted metal fence-post, w/ guying to keep it from bending / falling L or R, in wind..
BTW, I could replace the 3x conduits with 3x larger-dia. 6 m drainage pipes (also PVC) & similarly duct-taped ’em together, to get the back end up 2 m more than the conduits would.
Alternatively: A shorter Inverted-V with its center atop that mast: 1 leg to a tree in front yard; the other to a metal shade-cloth frame, between back of house & back yard.
What would you do, in a similar situation? Any other comments welcome.
Thanks, Dave & 73
Dave I want to thank you for all of your efforts in advancing the hobby for newcomers like me. I was able to successfully complete all three of my tests, in one testing session, thanks in great part to your training videos. I combined them with hamstudy.org and the ARRL manuals and pass. I have also learned a great deal from your “ask Dave” series. Please keep up the great work and thank you!
Hi Dave!
I used your videos a couple of years ago to study for my technician and general class license. Thanks for everything that you put into those! I know for sure when I decide to work on my extra, I’ll be back for more of your videos!
I remembered you are a motorcyclist as well. I saw your video going over Engineer’s Pass.
I am back on two wheels myself finally after 10 years of not riding. This time I’ve found myself on a Vstrom 650, and have quickly learned that I want to do more of this adventure riding thing. What better way to combine so many hobbies all into one?! Riding, camping, hiking/exploring, and now I’m adding radio on top of it all. I’m wanting to do things like SOTA, APRS, Winlink, and maybe even limited voice contacts through my Bluetooth helmet system too.
Have you done any motorcycle mobile installs, and/or made videos about it?
Right now I only have my new Kenwood TH-D74 to experiment with, but I plan on building a com box for the bike with my TM-D710, and eventually a 857d for HF too. Though the HF won’t be a bike mounted antenna, just along for the ride and used as a portable field set up at campsites and the like.
Thanks again!