I have been trying to figure out a way to increase some usage on our local repeaters. I have a 2 meter and a 70cm repeater fairly close by. I have no problem hitting them from my shack on low power. But my antennas are 50-plus feet in the air. When I switch to a […]
N2YCH: Hiking the Hanging Hills for POTA and SOTA
by Conrad Trautmann (N2YCH) Back in late 2023, I wrote about a joint POTA/SOTA activation I did here in Connecticut. It was the first one of the four peaks in the SOTA program in the Hanging Hills range in Southern Connecticut, W1/HH-0002, which is also Sleeping Giant State Park, US-1717 in the Parks on the […]
Pedestrian Mobile Ham Radio: You Can Take It With You
Most hams think of mobile operation as getting into a vehicle, turning on the radio, and heading down the road. Choosing portable operation means carrying a radio, battery, and antenna to a campsite, park, mountain, or other convenient operating location. But many of us forget another option: pedestrian mobile (PM) operation. Pedestrian mobile means operating […]
SHS POTA Rove: A Bug-Out Morning at Fort Dobbs State Historic Site (US-6839)
by Thomas (K4SWL) On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, I needed to make a trip to Raleigh, North Carolina. That evening, I was giving a presentation to the North Carolina State University Amateur Radio Society. I had been invited by the Raleigh Knightlites, a QRP club based in Raleigh, to give a presentation about field radio […]
A New Ham’s Guide to Overcomplicating Everything – How Well Does My Station Work in the Field?
by Josh Stringer (VE3YTX) Being a new ham, I’m constantly coming across technical questions that I don’t know how to answer. Recently I’ve started going to my local POTA park and activating using CW (I’m currently working on my first Kilo!). I’d set up my end-fed half-wave in a tree and start sending CQ, having […]
New Amateur Radio Products for October 2026 at DX Engineering
Including four new DX Engineering branded products to upgrade your station *** OnAllBands has been working hard to cover all the new products now available at DX Engineering. The influx of fresh offerings is a good indication about the health of amateur radio, as innovators continue to find ways to enhance our enjoyment of the […]
Moo-ving Between Bands: An HF/VHF/UHF SOTA Activation on Bearwallow Mountain
by Thomas (K4SWL) On Thursday, October 1, 2026, I had an opening in my schedule that I wanted to fill with a little SOTA. It was a spectacular day here in Western North Carolina, and I knew I had just enough time to activate a summit that wouldn’t require too much driving or hiking. I […]
It’s Time for a Field Kit Inspection!
by Thomas (K4SWL) For many of us here in North America, it’s been a pretty brutal winter–bitter cold temperatures, snow, ice, and all the things that tend to keep us from hitting the field as often as we’d like. I know quite a few operators who simply put their radios back in their field kits […]
Strategies Beyond Recruitment–a Plan to Engage Newly Licensed Hams
The ham radio community as a whole recognizes the urgent need for more young faces and youth operators to help our hobby thrive and grow. In my conversations with others, I realize that both clubs and individuals understand the need to recruit. The issue is not with spreading awareness; we need to share ideas and […]
Ham Radio and Morse Code in Popular Culture: From Zombies to Bringing Hope
Ham radio always seems to find its way into popular culture, and we here at OnAllBands love every single minute of it. To us, it’s a great reminder of just how important the hobby is. So, with that in mind, we found three ways amateur radio has recently made it into the pop lexicon. “The […]