Anticipation abounds: 2021 6M sporadic-E season

May 5, 2021

Early indications are that 6M will have a good summer this year. For those new or getting back to 6M activity, here’s the current state of affairs.

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Recap: FT4 DX and NAQP RTTY February

March 2, 2021

The final weekend of February brought three pretty active contests — CQ 160M SSB, FT4 DX contest, and the NAQP RTTY.

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Recap: 2021 ARRL DX CW worst-ever outing

February 22, 2021

From the outset, Aurora levels were elevated and the K-index was bobbing around 3 or 4, forcing the A-index into the 20s. Want to hear signals on 20M with aurora? Listen in…

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Recap: 2021 WPX RTTY

February 16, 2021

Brief European opening on 20M and a hopping 80M band were highlights of WPX RTTY this year.

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Recap: BCQP and EU DX contests

February 8, 2021

The weekend of February 6 and 7 presented its share of challenges and opportunities for making contacts. Too many options may have worked against any one contest.

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Matching transformer for “loop on ground” and Beverage antennas

February 2, 2021

This is a companion piece to the post “Hearing through the noise on the low bands“. Why bother? After years of thinking about it, in early 2021 I finally got serious about building some proper matching transformers for my short Beverage wire antenna along the property line and a loop on the ground laying on […]

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Zone Zero: February packed with activity

February 1, 2021

The month of February promises something for everyone, as several major international contests and some pretty neat regional activities fill the calendar. We’ll take a look at what’s on the near horizon in this episode of Zone Zero.

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Zone Zero: Top Band action in CQ 160M CW

January 26, 2021

The latest edition of the Zone Zero radio contesting podcast takes a look at the upcoming CQ 160M CW contest, and the antennas used for transmitting and receiving at a modest station that produces plenty of fun in the contests.

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Recap: 2021 BARTG RTTY Sprint

January 24, 2021

The British Amateur Radio Teleprinter Group’s annual 24-hour “Sprint” teletype contest was its usual challenge and a lot of fun.

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Transmit antennas for a 160M contest

January 23, 2021

As we prepare for CQ 160M CW in a week, attention turns to transmit antennas for Top Band (1.8Mhz).

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