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 […]
W8TMI: SOTA & POTA in the Bay Area with the Travel-Friendly Elecraft KH1
by Tim (W8TMI) I have been meaning to get to this write up for some time. Around Christmas 2024, my wife declared we would visit our friends in Hayward, CA, sometime in spring 2025. Our friends indicated that we should come in April to hopefully avoid the rainy season. This got my gears turning. I […]
Ham Radio Youth Insights: How to Help Your Peers Get Licensed
Getting your amateur radio license is quite a feat, especially if you’re a young person with little (to potentially no) technical background. You had to find out about the hobby and be motivated enough to learn about RF theory and other complex technical topics. You probably had to teach yourself how to study as well. […]