Diagnosing Antenna Failures After a Lightning Storm

Diagnosing Antenna Failures After a Lightning Storm

Lightning storms can be spectacular to watch from the safety of indoors, but for amateur radio operators, they can also be a silent disaster waiting to happen. Even if your station wasn’t directly struck, a nearby lightning event can introduce damaging voltages,...
Summer Heat & Radios: Avoiding Thermal Shutdowns

Summer Heat & Radios: Avoiding Thermal Shutdowns

Summer brings long days, better propagation, and more opportunities to get on the air from the great outdoors. But with sunshine comes a hidden threat to your rig—heat. Overheating can cause radios to shut down mid-QSO, behave erratically, or even suffer permanent...
Why Your SWR Meter Might Be Lying to You

Why Your SWR Meter Might Be Lying to You

Whether you’re new to amateur radio or have years of experience under your belt, the SWR meter is likely one of the first tools you learned to use. It’s a trusted piece of gear—used to measure the Standing Wave Ratio and determine how well your antenna is...

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