I travelled to Whitehorse, Yukon, to visit VY1CO for the ARRL CW Sweepstakes in November 2022. Read the article that appeared in the Jan.-Feb. 2023 edition of National Contest Journal.
Read MoreLong weeks of poor conditions from the Pacific Northwest still left room for a few great openings to Europe and Japan. As the 2021 Es season winds down, we recap how it all went.
Read MoreEarly 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.
Read MoreThis 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 […]
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreAs we prepare for CQ 160M CW in a week, attention turns to transmit antennas for Top Band (1.8Mhz).
Read MoreTo improve the signal-to-noise ratio on 160M and 80M, many radio contesters and DXers use separate low-noise receive antennas. This alone can make the difference between “working them” and not even hearing them.
Read MoreFor the active contester, seeing your performance moment-by-moment ranked against the performance of other participants can be a real motivator. Welcome to online scoreboards!
Read MoreA quick word on the Northern Lights, when to look up (what conditions create them), and how to enjoy these awesome night sky displays with a radio or a camera.
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