Ham Radio Guides
26 guides, starting with the three where being wrong has consequences.
The short answer
Start with RF exposure evaluation, antenna installation safety and station grounding. Those three are the only guides here where a mistake injures somebody or burns a house down. Everything after that is performance and operating practice.
Safety first, and it is not a formality
- RF exposure evaluation: what the FCC requires and how to do it The categorical exemption by power level is gone. Here is what replaced it, and how to satisfy it in an afternoon.
- Antenna installation safety: power lines, masts and falls The hazard is not the radio. It is the twenty feet of aluminium in your hands and the conductor above your head.
- Station grounding and lightning protection that actually works A bonded single-point entry panel, an arrester on every conductor, and a plug you can physically pull.
Getting on the air
The first contacts, and the etiquette nobody writes down but everybody notices.
- How to use a repeater: offsets, tones and what to say A repeater listens on one frequency and transmits on another. Everything else is detail.
- How to program a Baofeng: CHIRP, cables and the menu Do it from a computer. The keypad method exists for one channel in an emergency.
- How to make your first HF contact Answer somebody else first. Calling CQ into an empty band is the hardest possible start.
- Getting started with FT8: setup, sequencing and settings Fifteen second slots, a computer that knows the exact time, and a mode that decodes signals you cannot hear.
- Logging and confirming contacts: LoTW, eQSL and paper cards A contact nobody confirmed still happened. It just does not count toward anything.
- Field Day and portable operating events explained Portable operating is the fastest way to learn a station, because everything that can go wrong does, in daylight, with help nearby.
- How to work POTA: activating a park from scratch Ten contacts, one afternoon, and the easiest way in the hobby to get answered.
Antennas and feedline
Where almost all of a station’s performance actually comes from, and where the cheapest gains are.
- Your first HF antenna: what to put up and why The antenna decides how the station performs. The radio decides how pleasant it is to use.
- Putting up a wire antenna: rope, trees and tension The wire is the easy part. The rope, the branch and the tension are what decide whether it is still up next year.
- Antenna tuner basics: what it does and what it cannot fix It is a transmatch, not a tuner. It makes the radio happy. It does not make the antenna resonant.
- How to tune an antenna with an SWR meter Cut long, measure, trim in small steps. You cannot put wire back.
- Masts, towers and rotators: what each one costs to do properly Height is the best performance money can buy, and the most dangerous thing you will install.
- HOA and antenna restrictions: what the rules actually say Federal preemption protects you from your city. It mostly does not protect you from your deed.
- Apartment and HOA antennas that actually work A compromised antenna that exists beats a perfect antenna you are not allowed to build.
- Common mode current and RF in the shack The problem is current on the outside of the coax braid. More ground wire is not the answer.
The station itself
Power, noise, grounding and the physical shack. The unglamorous half that decides whether the radio is usable.
- Your first ham radio station: what to buy in what order License, antenna, radio, power, in that order. Reversing it is how people end up with a radio and nothing to plug it into.
- Sizing a power supply for a ham station Size for the transmit peak with margin, not for the average, and buy for continuous duty if you run digital.
- Portable power and batteries for field operation Capacity is the easy part. Fusing at the battery and charging with the right profile are the parts that go wrong.
- Radio noise and RFI hunting: finding what is ruining your receive Half of what you hear is yours. Turn off your own house first, then go looking.
- How to install PL-259 connectors properly The most common fault in any station is a connector somebody was in a hurry with.
- Mobile radio installation: power, mounting and antennas Power straight from the battery, antenna in the middle of the roof, and nothing in front of an airbag.
Everything else
Operating practice and the questions that come up once the station works.
- Reading SWR and fixing a bad match A number on a meter is a symptom. This is how to work out what it is a symptom of.
- HF propagation basics: why a band opens and closes The sun ionises the upper atmosphere, and the upper atmosphere bends your signal back down. Everything else is detail.
Holiday gift guides
Buying for an operator rather than being one. Three pages, sorted by budget and by how the recipient operates, every item checked against the live catalog.
- Gifts for ham radio operators Twenty-five ham radio gift ideas by budget, from an HF transceiver down to a bag of PL-259s.
- Ham radio gifts under $50 Twenty things an operator uses every session, all verified under the line, sorted by what they fix.
- The one big ham radio gift Eight big-ticket pieces that define a station, matched to how the recipient operates, with the calculators that settle it.
Related
- Getting licensed, which is where this all starts
- Calculators for antenna lengths, coax loss and RF exposure distance
- Station builds at four budgets
- Reference charts, including the band plan
Disclaimer Researched guidance for planning purposes, not professional engineering, electrical or legal advice. Antenna work, RF exposure, mast and tower work, grounding and battery handling all carry real risk that depends on your specific site and installation. Verify anything safety-critical against current FCC rules, the National Electrical Code and the manufacturer's own documentation, and hire a professional where the job calls for one. We research equipment from published specifications, regulatory documents and verified owner reviews rather than claiming hands-on testing we have not done.
