Every QSL card below has been collected over the years by DX Engineering’s team of active operators who have a combined 1,000-plus years of amateur radio knowhow. It was this level of on-air experience that prompted DX Engineering to adopt the motto “Powered by Active Hams”—your guarantee that when you need assistance, you’ll receive informed help from operators who have built and maintained their own stations, filled stacks of logbooks, and busted through their share of pileups.

Here are a few activations to put on your calendar this month: 

Kosovo

Kosovo is scheduled to be on the air until Sept. 11 thanks to the Z68PX DXpedition by IZ2DPX on 60-6M in SSB and FT4/FT8.

In early 2018, hams had a rare opportunity to log ATNOs as part of “Mission Goodwill Kosovo,” Z60A, an event that kicked off the addition of the Republic of Kosovo to the DXCC list. It was the first ARRL-sanctioned activity from Kosovo, which was officially designated as a DXCC entity on January 21, 2018. Before going QRT on March 12, the 30-day Z60A DXpedition recorded 98,530 contacts, with 35,400 individual call signs from 174 DXCC entities.

Making this effort possible were amateur operators who traveled from near and far to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime activation. The event both celebrated Kosovo’s status as the 340^th DXCC entity and commemorated the tenth anniversary of its independence, which was declared in February 2008.

DX Engineering was one of the proud sponsors of this historic operation, providing a 26-foot Butternut HF9V 9-Band Vertical Antenna. DX Engineering has been the manufacturer of Butternut antennas since 2015. The company also provided its branded RG-8X PL-259 Low-Loss 50-ohm Coax Cable Assemblies.

Above is the Butternut HF9V 9-Band Vertical Antenna. Read these OnAllBands articles about the history of Butternut verticals and DX Engineering’s acquisition of the brand, and how one ham climbed to the top of the DXCC Honor Roll using Butternut antennas.

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, earned this QSL card for making contact with Z60A:

Grenada

MM8IJU as J38LD and GM5RDX as J38DX are scheduled to be operating from Grenada (IOTA NA-024) until Sept. 12. You can try to contact them on 80-6M in SSB and FT4/FT8.

Grenada is an island country in the West Indies located in the eastern Caribbean Sea, roughly 100 miles directly north of Venezuela. It has a population of around 117,000 and a total land area of 133 square miles, about the size of Atlanta. Most notably, Grenada is known as “The Island of Spice” because of its massive production of nutmeg and other seasonings (e.g., cloves, mace, ginger, cinnamon). In fact, Grenada produces one-fifth of the world’s nutmeg, making it the second-largest producer of this spice behind Indonesia, which accounts for a whopping 75%.

As the fall season gets into full swing and kitchens and coffeehouses everywhere fill with the smell of pumpkin spice, you’ll want to give a special thanks to the nutmeg farmers of Grenada. Watch this video about Grenada’s nutmeg industry.

Mark, W8BBQ, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received this QSL card from J3/PE1IGM in February 2011 (40M SSB).

Ogasawara

You’ll have a great chance to contact Ogasawara in the days ahead thanks to the multi-operator 160-6M JD1 activation from Chichijima, which is scheduled to run from Sept. 24 to Oct. 6. You can attempt to reach JA1UII as JD1BON, JI1LET as JD1BOK, JE1NVD as JE1NVD/JD1, and JI1CRM as JI1CRM/JD1 on SSB and FT4/FT8.

The 30 subtropical and tropical islands comprising Ogasawara Islands, also known as Bonin Islands, lie 620 miles south of Tokyo. There are about 2,000 people living on Chichijima, one of only two inhabited islands in the archipelago. The 9.1-square-mile island is 150 miles north of Iwo Jima. “Jima” is the Japanese word for “island.”

KB8UUZ made contact with Chichijima on New Year’s Eve 2015:

Visit DXEngineering.com for everything you need to upgrade your station to make sure you’re ready when DXCC entities like Grenada, Kosovo, and Ogasawara are on the air.

You’ll find transceivers, antennas; a wide selection of amplifiers from ACOM, OM Power, Icom, and others; CW keys and paddles; headsets and speakers; and much more.

Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!

The post It’s All in the Cards! QSL Cards from DXCC Entities QRV in September 2026—from Grenada to Kosovo appeared first on OnAllBands.

The board of the Portage County Amateur Radio Service (PCARS) in Ohio had the chance to ponder those questions back in 2008. We wanted to create a contest that would have particular appeal to hams in the Ohio Section. The contest would have a unique format that had not been tried before yet still be relatively simple to score and have low hurdles for participation. That is, almost anyone could take a shot at it.

Jim Aylward, KC8PD (SK) was the member who came up with the idea for Ohio State Parks On The Air (OSPOTA). Chuck, W8PT, was the OSPOTA Contest Chairman from 2008-13, and I (Tom, KB8UUZ) have been the OSPOTA chairman since 2014.

What we came up with in 2008 is a contest that not only met those requirements but combines some of the best elements of Field Day and a State QSO Party, provides public demonstrations of in-the-field communication abilities, and rewards the ability to make contacts within your own section/state. Even better, it is a template that can (and would) easily be adopted in any other state or section or even used for the basis of a nationwide event that the ARRL did in 2016 with the National Parks On The Air year-long event.  

OSPOTA is not affiliated with the now popular Parks On The Air® (POTA) program, which was started in 2017.

Putting Parks on the Air

The primary goals of OSPOTA are to have hams operate individually or as club stations from as many of Ohio’s state parks as possible and to highlight the beauty and diversity of each of the state parks that are spread throughout Ohio.

The format is straightforward: Individuals and clubs operate low- or high-power portable stations at Ohio state parks and attempt to make as many contacts as possible in an eight-hour time frame. They can contact any station anywhere. Other Ohio hams and non-Ohio hams can only contact park stations. Contacts are made in SSB and CW modes on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters, and the scoring is the same for each contact no matter the mode or band.

The magic is in the multiplier: the number of Ohio state parks you work. Unlike a State QSO Party, this puts a particular premium (even for all of the Ohio stations) on working other stations in the state. As a result, all of the Ohio state park stations will have to seriously consider the propagation characteristics of their antenna(s), in particular using Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) antennas.

PCARS tried to ensure that the date selected would not interfere with other events yet still be at a practical time of the year, allowing for Ohio’s weather and times of peak park attendance. The first Saturday after Labor Day (September 6 in 2008 was the first OSPOTA) was chosen because the weather would still be good while park use should be down a bit.

Participants are encouraged to make a weekend of it if they would like. Many of Ohio’s parks have excellent camping facilities while others have beautiful contemporary resort facilities that may be particularly appealing to the non-ham spouse. You know, “Honey, I planned a great weekend for us, and I will only be on the air for eight hours.”

Keep the Park in the Loop

As soon as we began discussing the event, we also made sure that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the state agency responsible for managing the parks, was fully informed about our plans. It took some emails and phone calls to satisfy them that the radio operations would not put any undue demand on park resources and to satisfy their curiosity about what we would be doing.

After the first year of the event, they came to recognize what a great way it is to publicize the excellence of Ohio’s state parks and to generate some additional off-season park activity. Some park visitors and even Ohio state park rangers stopped by groups that were active in the contest and made some contacts over the ham bands.

Want to Join in?

More information can be found at the OSPOTA website: www.ospota.org,  including contest rules, FAQs, log sheets, and entry submission forms. Awards are given to the top entries for individual and club stations operating from the parks in various categories, and for the top individual Ohio and non-Ohio stations.

Check out OSPOTA on Facebook here. And there is an IO Group for OSPOTA located at groups.io/g/OSPOTA/messages.

Be aware only electronic (Cabrillo files) will be accepted for entries. No text, pdf, csv, adif, bin, photos of logs, paper, etc. Comparing contest logs is somewhat automated and we need your log file in standard Cabrillo format.

As in the past, you can let us know which state park you plan on activating, and we’ll keep everyone informed. Fill out the new form for your planned park info here.

If you have questions or comments, please email to INFO@OSPOTA.org.

And for more information about Ohio state parks, visit the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website here.

Here’s hoping that we catch you on the air on Saturday, September 12, 2026, for the 19th annual OSPOTA contest! And for you Ohio hams, there’s still time to check out eligible locations in your area and make plans to join us for this fun event from one of Ohio’s beautiful state parks/

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Editor’s Note: Why is there a black squirrel in PCARS’ logo? Good question! Black squirrels had died off in Northeast Ohio and were reintroduced into the Portage Country area in 1961. Ten black squirrels from London, Ontario, were legally imported to the Kent State University grounds. Sixty-five years later you’ll find them scurrying up trees throughout the region. Perhaps you’ll share a picnic table with one during your OSPOTA activation!

The post Get Ready for the 19th Annual Ohio State Parks On The Air Contest appeared first on OnAllBands.

Editor’s Note: OnAllBands is pleased to post a series of articles written by accomplished amateur radio contester and DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist Kirk Pickering, K4RO. The articles, originally published in the National Contest Journal from 2008-11 and updated with current information, offer valuable insights for both contesters new and old.

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Spending considerable time tracking down RFI, I was reminded of how important it is to deal with the myriad unintentional radiators in and around the house. Several books have been written about RFI, and I suggest reading up on the subject in detail. I will attempt to cover the basics of finding and fixing RFI problems in the contest station and hopefully give you some idea where to start.

Truly Quiet Band

I remember my first time operating at W4AN, Bill Fisher’s place located in northern Georgia. There was a national forest for miles around, and there was no trace of line noise or other interference of any kind. I’m sure that the great antennas and hilltop location played a large role, but even the weakest of signals seemed to pop up out of an incredibly low noise floor. Bill mentioned something about how quiet things were that night, and how important that was to his station’s success. I remember driving home the day after the contest and wondering just how many of those noise-level QSOs were made possible by the quiet receiving location.

Back home at my own station, a closer inspection was in order. I was surprised to find several types of noise across every HF band. I heard power line noise, with its characteristic buzz. It was centered around harmonics of 60 Hz and often covered entire bands. There were little “birdies” and whistles which appeared at regular intervals across an entire band or even several bands. Lots of nice juicy frequencies were made completely unusable by warbling tones that wandered up and down the band, covering 3-5 kHz wherever they happened to land at the moment. Compared to W4AN’s place, half of my usable band segments were essentially useless, littered with all kinds of noise. Where was I to begin?

Editor’s Note: Take a moment to also read this OnAllBands article by Ward Silver, N0AX, “Troubleshooting Hum, Buzz, Crosstalk, and RF Pickup.”

Noise Is Everywhere

It turns out that hunting and eliminating noise sources is an ongoing process which really has no defined end point. With the advent of today’s computerized consumer marketplace, almost every device contains at least one oscillator, plus a noisy switching power supply. Unfortunately, this means that new noise sources continue to appear with each passing month. Population density also plays a role. I have noticed a significant increase in the noise floor where I live. A steady sprawl of housing developments has sprung up around what used to be a semi-rural environment. Each house may contain a dozen or more oscillators—from computers to TVs to cell phone chargers and so forth. It is impractical, if not impossible, to silence every noise source in a neighborhood.

Consider that RFI noise hunting is a bit like peeling an onion. You work on it one layer at a time, starting with the most troublesome sources, then working your way down into the noise floor from there.

Power Line Noise

After listening to all the different noises on the bands, I tried to determine which source appeared to be the worst offender. There was a loud buzzing sound on all of the bands above 10 MHz, and it was wiping out entire bands at a time. After asking some questions and playing the interference to a few of my contesting pals over the phone, the consensus was that I had the dreaded “power line noise” problem. Further reading revealed that this was a fairly common type of interference caused by high voltage arcing, which creates a spark gap transmitter.

Learning the probable cause was helpful, but I still needed to identify the source. AA4NU came to the rescue with his homebrew 130 MHz Yagi and VHF AM Aircraft receiver. I was able to walk around the neighborhood with the Yagi in search of the noisy telephone pole. (Yes, I still receive strange looks from the neighbors when doing this.) With a little bit of practice, I was able to find areas where the noise seemed to peak and narrowed down the search area to a couple of likely poles. After checking on several successive days, I was convinced it was not just an intermittent issue, and the pole was making a lot of noise every day. The next step was to contact the utility company, ask for their assistance with locating the exact source, then attempt to correct it.

Locally Generated RFI

The second-most troublesome source of interference I heard was a wide band drifting “warbling” sound. The noise was S7 to S9 in strength and covered about 3-5 kHz at a time. The warbles would drift up and down the bands, rendering random frequencies unusable at random intervals. Unfortunately, the interference was not audible at 135 MHz, so the noise-sniffer Yagi was not going to help. By process of elimination, I eventually determined that the noise disappeared when I unplugged the computer monitor.

The best way to determine if a noise is being generated locally within your house is to use a battery-powered radio connected to your antenna system. If your antenna relay system requires power, it will also have to be run from a battery. Shut down all power to the house using the main breaker. Make sure that any UPS or other battery-powered devices are disconnected and powered down. If the interference goes away, then you need look no further than your own home to find the source.

You’ve Got to Find It to Fix It

The two examples listed above are common problems but represent only a fraction of the types of interference sources. The main thing to keep in mind is that locating the source of the problem is the primary objective. I have found that one of the most helpful tools to have available is a handheld receiver covering the frequencies of interest. Several VHF-UHF handie talkies now include wideband HF receivers. The HT can be carried anywhere and be used to “sweep” a room’s electronic devices. When I hear a new RFI source at my station, the first thing I do is grab the handheld receiver and tune it to the same frequency as the interference. Then I go around the house trying to find the source.

An S-meter and attenuator are very helpful to zero in on the source once I get closer. Also, AM mode is a must for tracking down power line noise. New tools are available which allow a visual wideband inspection of noise sources. One of the current experts in the field of RFI sniffing is Don Kirk, WD8DSB. Don has contributed a lot of useful information on solving RFI problems. His work is invaluable.

Fixing the Interference

Once we have successfully located the source of the interference, the next step is to try to cure it. In the case of power line noise, there is not much the contester can do besides enlist the help of the utility company. Do NOT try to climb the pole or use a sledgehammer on it. The best approach is to not touch the pole at all; there could be loose hardware which could pose a safety hazard. Record the pole’s identification number (most have some such marking) and its location. Contact your utility company with the information and give them as much information as you can about the pole and your efforts to locate the problem.

Experience varies greatly from region to region, but forming a helpful alliance is your goal. Courtesy and patience tend to work far better than angry threats and abusive behavior.

In the case of other types of interference, we have a few more options available. Once we have located the offending piece of gear, the most obvious option is to replace the device or just unplug it during contests. Usually this is not an option—especially if the device is part of the contest station or something that other members of the household need to use while you are in front of the radio. The number one cure used by most hams today is some form of common-mode choke, usually constructed from ferrite beads or toroidal cores. Ferrite beads and cores are now available in a large variety of physical configurations and ferrite mixes. A lot of research has been done in this area, and the consensus seems to be that the type “31” Mix is the most useful at HF frequencies.

Note that the effectiveness of common-mode chokes at specific frequencies is directly related to the number of cable turns which pass through the ferrite material. The information published by K9YC and W1HIS are required reading to gain an understanding of common-mode chokes and why they matter.

Common Sources

Here are some of the RFI sources I have found over the years:

• Telephone pole arcing insulator
• Telephone pole lightning arrestor
• Track lighting
• Battery charger
• Anything with a switching power supply
• Ethernet routers (especially above 10 MBPS)
• Computers

See you on the bands, and don’t forget to submit your log to the contest sponsor. It helps you, helps the sponsor, and helps the sport of contesting.

The post Contesting 101: Radio Frequency Interference and the Contest Station appeared first on OnAllBands.

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Kerchow!

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Route 66, the legendary 2,400-mile highway connecting Chicago and Santa Monica, California. To commemorate this milestone, the Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club (W6JBT) in San Bernardino is hosting an operating event to celebrate a century of burned rubber since the road was established.

Route 66 On The Air, now in its 27th year, runs from Sept. 12-20 and will feature more than 20 amateur radio clubs situated along the historic route using 1×1 call signs. Visit the W6JBT website for more details as they become available for the 2026 event.

Last year, the event featured a unique aeronautical rover station (using the W6Y call sign). Bill Hartsell, N3WSH, flew his Cessna from Chicago to Santa Monica, allowing ground-based ham radio operators the opportunity to make contact with the plane mid-flight.

Because of high traffic on the airwaves, operators are asked to keep transmissions short and avoid prolonged rag-chewing so everyone gets a chance to make a clean sweep of all available stations. 

A Look Back

The event serves as a way for ham radio operators to “relive the ride” and celebrate the 100-year journey. With such a storied past, we figured it’d be interesting to once again take a trip down memory road.

Established in 1926, Route 66 was the first major project to link the West Coast with the nation’s heartland. It was known as the “Mother Road” or “America’s Main Street.” While images of old drum up picturesque views of a paved road through the desert, it was actually a mix of dirt, gravel, and paved segments until 1938 when it was completely paved thanks to funds through Great Depression relief programs. Route 66 was the first highway in America to be fully paved.

Route 66’s development was famously documented in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” which centered on the Dust Bowl and its impacts on the people living during that time. Many people traveled Route 66 to the West Coast looking for new jobs in the growing industries in California, according to History.com.

When World War II rolled around, Route 66 turned into an industrial and military corridor, moving troops and supplies. This meant motels and merchants saw an uptick in business from servicemen and their families. Route 66 also helped facilitate one of the largest wartime mobilizations ever as the masses used it to flock to Oregon, California, and Washington to join the war effort and get jobs in defense plants, according to the National Parks Service.

Once rationing restrictions were lifted after the war, more people joined in on traveling the historic road. Car ownership grew dramatically with more than 52 million cars registered in 1955, almost 30 million more than what was registered at the end of the war. Hey, people wanted to hit the road—especially since Disneyland had opened in California in July 1955. Back then it offered five themed lands with 20 different attractions.

Of course, the route was immortalized in Bobby Troupe’s “Route 66” song and the TV show of the same name. The show was about two down on their luck men working odd jobs as they looked for adventure on the road. But this success and popularity would be short lived because the same powers that made it into a popular road trip destination were the same that sent it into decline. President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956—a new network of five interstate highways (I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15, and I-10)—that would be built over the next three decades.

By 1984, the new interstates were completed, and Route 66 was officially decommissioned. While the route led through several smaller towns, connected using backroads, the interstates were designed to let people travel far distances in a short amount of time. There was no real need for it anymore, despite its connection to several important eras in American history.

That connection is what led advocates to fight to keep it alive, and six years later, Congress passed the Route 66 Study Act of 1990. This law recognized Route 66 as a symbol of American heritage—a physical representation of those who traveled it to find better lives for themselves. A special resource study was conducted by the National Park Service and eventually led to the creation of the National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, which helped local individuals, agencies, nonprofits, and others preserve the route, according to the National Park Service.

Route 66 was thrust back into the spotlight in 2006 when Pixar released its mega-hit movie “Cars.” It centered around professional race car Lightning McQueen and his struggles to make the final race of the season while being stuck in a small town on Route 66. Voiced by Owen Wilson, McQueen’s most notable line is his catch phrase, “Kerchow!” The movie unexpectedly gave an adrenaline shot to the many small towns seemingly abandoned along Route 66. Many of them embraced the movie, painting murals and heavily featuring the characters in their towns. A new wave of tourism from fans of the movie came in as well, helping to keep the towns afloat.

In 2008, Route 66 was listed on the World Monuments Watchlist, which marks monuments that are endangered. And work continues to this day to preserve the magic that the road once brought to millions of people either looking for a new life in the west, working to ensure the protection of our country, or vacationing with loved ones.

Celebrate the 100th Anniversary with Summit Racing

Summit Racing, DX Engineering’s parent company, has cool Route 66 collectibles you can enjoy while you’re busy contacting stations along the route:

Enter “Route 66” at SummitRacing.com for more blasts from the past!

The post Get on the Air to Celebrate 100 Years of Route 66 appeared first on OnAllBands.

“The “Complete DX’er” and all his articles back in the ‘70s hooked me on CW Dxing,” wrote NG3Q. “Also expanded a love of geography and having my National Geographic atlas close by.”

Be sure to read parts 1 and 2 of this series:

• Gough Island, ZD9
• South Georgia Island

***

40 Meter Aficionado

The different high frequency bands (160 to 10 meters) plus the VHF band (6 meters) offer different challenges for DXing. Year round and throughout the sunspot cycle, 20 meters is the queen of the DX bands. If you want to work DX reliably, you need to have 20 meter capability. But the other bands have their attractions as well—and their own challenges—and many DXers favor one band or another.

My band of choice is 40 meters. For 40 meter afficionados, the band has its special charm. It is a band that under normal circumstances is a twilight and darkness band, and of limited DX value around the summer solar solstice. But the rest of the year the band is capable of good DX—and occasional real and very pleasant surprises—for those who know how to use it.

A well-sited Yagi offers a revelation to newcomers to the band who are used to using dipoles or verticals. Still, real DX can be worked using simple antennas. Your scribe managed to work all 40 CQ zones in one year on 40 meters, running 100 watts and a Butternut vertical. But with a Yagi, several more layers of DX become available, and the openings last significantly longer.

I love the challenge of the band. At the same time, I am an armchair traveler and a serious DXer. As far as I am concerned, the two go together hand in hand. I am a person who can look at a map and let my imagination soar, imagining the strange and wonderful places hinted at by the map. At the same time, I love competitive DXing in the institution of the DX Marathon. One of the real beauties of the DX Marathon is that it renews annually, so every year I get the thrill of working new ones for the year AND still feed my armchair travel addiction. A marriage made in heaven for me.

In Pursuit of Yemen on 40 Meters

It would be difficult to find a place more exotic than Yemen—a country lying at the bottom of the Arabian Peninsula, a home of ancient civilizations dating back 7,000 years! While the country has a huge history, in modern times it has become politically unsettled with a significant civil war. Post World War II, Yemen was occasionally on the air, mostly by European operators living in the country. None of them were terribly active, making it always a rare catch.

Around the year 2000, DXpeditioners tried to get permission from the country to mount a major operation, but all were denied because of the unstable political situation. But finally, in 2012, someone broke the code. The country was willing to issue a license, but only specifically for operation from Socotra Island, a Yemeni island about 200 miles from the mainland.

Socotra was— and is—totally removed from the problems of mainland Yemen. A sizeable team of experienced operators organized a DXpedition, using the call sign 7O6T. Operation was from late April into May. Equipment included amplifiers and Yagis for the higher bands. I was able to work them on 20 and 17 meters without too much difficulty, but for me the real prize would be to work them on 40 meters.

For one thing, I was working for an entry in the DX Marathon for 40 meter monoband, and in any case, 40 meters has always had a special place in my heart. It would be an all-time new one (ATNO) for me on the band. Working into that area of the world has always been one of the two toughest areas for me from my West Coast location, the other being inland central East Africa. And this operation was quite late in the season for optimum 40 meter propagation. Had it been in February or March it would have been much easier.

They were certainly on 40 meters and making an active effort on the band. But from my QTH, there was really only one opening—very late afternoon my time. And it was not a very good one. On top of that, they were not on 40 meters CW every day at that opening. Some days yes, some days no. And when they were on, it seemed like all of Europe was calling them—stations who would obviously have far stronger signals into Yemen than I would. Still, that is part of DXing. Some are easy, some are not. And this one was emphatically not!

The operation was winding down—their departure date fixed. I had heard them three or four days on the opening, always weak. If I had had a one-on-one shot with them we could have had a QSO. That was not going to happen. Their signal was at best a 449. As their last days wound down I was getting more and more anxious. At least for the last few days of their stay they were on 40 meter CW during my minimal opening. Of course, I was waiting on them late every afternoon, hoping somehow for a chance.

I tried calling them with the few tricks I had, but to no avail. The only good news was that they finally seemed to have Europe pretty well worked out, with much smaller pileups of European stations calling them. And I was pretty sure all the big guns in Europe on 40 meters had already worked them—now I was more likely competing with the “100 watts to a dipole” crowd.

Finally, it came down to their last day of operation. Was I nervous? Let’s just say the thought passed through my mind that I really ought to consider getting a life, but then it passed and I adjusted my headphones… Ahhh. There they were. 449 maybe…honestly, probably 339, working split, up one. I could hear European stations calling them. There didn’t seem to be very many of them. Maybe I did have a chance?

I checked their sunrise and sunset times. Pretty ugly, really. Their sunrise was an hour before my sunset. 40 meters much prefers late twilight to pre-sundown, and the same for sunrise, though at sunrise the band will hang open a bit longer. But they did have advantages—a beach with a saltwater takeoff and, presumably, a dead quiet location.

Anyhow, I was hearing them with pretty good copy, except their signals were starting a slow fade as they were being bathed more and more in sunlight. I was thinking how their situation was not that different from my morning openings. Then a thought flashed through my head: morning openings sometimes include unusual long path and crooked path openings. Naaaahhhh. But wait. They were starting to fade anyhow, closing the door on any chance I had of a contact. What did I have to lose?

I turned the antenna to long path, skeptically listening to their frequency. And after nulling out as the antenna swung round to the new bearing, their signal started coming up! When the antenna reached the long path bearing, they were 569!!! My heart in my mouth, I called. He came back to a German station. I called again and he responded to a French station. I called again. And then I heard the most beautiful music ever—the music of the spheres: “W9KNI W9KNI 5NN 5NNK.” Wow! Wow! I sent him a “5NN TU” and got a very clean “R 73.” I sat back, stunned. I had just worked Yemen! It was clearly him, and five minutes later he was gone, totally faded out. The next morning, I logged into Clublog and checked the log submissions. There I was—in the log! (And it is still there to this day.) Finding my call was almost as exciting as working him. Validation!

The log online showed that the operator I had worked was WD5COV. At the time, I knew nothing about him. I found out that on DXpeditions he is considered an especially valuable operator for the low bands, thanks to his ability to copy and work weaker signals in noisy conditions.

I had the good fortune to meet him in person a few years later at a West Coast DX Convention in Visalia, CA. I told him the circumstances around the contact and how exciting it had been for me. To my considerable pleasure and surprise, he remembered that QSO as well, being as it was very much out of the ordinary and a surprise to him as well at the time.

If there is a moral to this experience, it would be this: Never give up on one you need as long as they are on the air. If you call them, they may not come back to you. But if you don’t call them, they won’t come back for sure.

The post Legendary DXer Bob Locher, W9KNI, Presents Tales from a Serial Sniper Part 3: “Yemen on 40 Meters” appeared first on OnAllBands.

If you’ve never participated in a State QSO Party, we suggest reading these OnAllBands articles for the basics of these fun events that challenge you to reach as many counties as possible (often rare ones) within a state.

• Ward, N0AX: “State QSO Parties—Great HF Practice”
• Sean, KX9X: “State QSO Parties—Low-Pressure Contesting”

Outdoor operating enthusiasts will want to read this excellent article by John, WG8X, on “Combining Parks on the Air with Contesting,” including State QSO Parties.

Whether you’ll be activating a county or chasing across the state to achieve a clean sweep, you’ll find everything you need at DXEngineering.com to get maximum excitement out of State QSO Parties. Choose from transceivers, antennas, CW keys and paddles, the DX Engineering GO Portable Polo Shirt, and much more.

Here are a few more contests to make it a September to remember:

IARU Region 1 Field Day, SSB: Sept. 5, 1300Z to Sept. 6, 1259Z. This annual event presents an excellent opportunity for clubs to test their low-power portable operating capabilities; experiment with design, construction, and deployment of antennas; and use alternate means of power.

All Asian DX Contest, Phone: Sept. 5, 0000Z to Sept. 6, 2400Z. Sponsored by the Japan Amateur Radio League, this annual event is for both Asian and non-Asian stations making SSB QSOs on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters.

ARRL EME Contest: Sept. 5, 0000Z to Sept. 6, 2359Z. The object of this annual event is to work as many amateur stations as possible via the earth-moon-earth path on any authorized amateur frequency above 50 MHz. September 5-6 is designated for 2.3 GHz and up. Oct. 31-Nov. 1 and Nov. 28-29 are for 50 to 1296 MHz.

WAE DX Contest, SSB: Sept. 12, 0000Z to Sept. 13, 2359Z. The German Amateur Radio Club (DARC) invites amateur operators worldwide to participate in this Worked All Europe contest. The RTTY portion of the contest is scheduled for Nov. 14-15. Read complete rules here.

Ohio State Parks On The Air: Sept. 12, 1400Z to 2200Z (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET). Before the POTA program grew to the size of your average sequoia, an active amateur radio club in the Buckeye State planted the seed for bigger things to come by initiating the first Ohio State Parks On The Air (OSPOTA) special operating event in 2008. Flash forward 18 years and the event—along with portable operating in general—continues to blossom like autumn ragweed in a Ravenna field.

The Portage County Amateur Radio Service (PCARS, K8BF) developed and still sponsors the event, which encourages hams to activate state parks in Ohio the first Saturday after Labor Day. There are 76 parks that can be put on the air for the 2026 edition.

Learn much more about Ohio State Parks On The Air from its longtime chairman and DX Engineering technical writer, Tom, KB8UUZ, in his OnAllBands post later this month.

Also, don’t miss the flora, fauna, frequencies, and fun of Wisconsin Parks on the Air, Sept. 19, 1600Z to 2300Z, sponsored by the Fox Cities Amateur Radio Club, W9ZL.

ARRL September VHF Contest: Sept. 12, 1800Z to Sept. 14, 0300Z. Amateurs in the U.S. and Canada will be trying to work stations in as many 2 degree x 1 degree Maidenhead grid squares as possible using authorized frequencies above 50 MHz. Stations outside the U.S. and Canada may only work stations in the U.S. and Canada. All legal modes are permitted, including CW, SSB, FT8, MSK144, FM-Only, PSK31, FSK441, and JT65.

QRP Afield: Sept. 19, 1500Z to 2100Z: Hosted by the QRP Club of New England, this low-power event rewards operators based on power levels and location.

ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest: Sept. 19, 0900Z to Sept. 21, 0759Z. North American amateurs will attempt to contact as many stations in as many different locations as possible in North America on bands from 10 GHz (3-centimeter) through Light. Amateurs are encouraged to operate from more than one location during this event. Contesters may enter in either “10 GHz Only” or “10 GHz and Up” categories.

For those interested in 10 GHz operation, you’ll find the Icom IC-905 VHF/UHF/SHF All Mode Base/Portable Transceiver at DXEngineering.com. The rig boasts operating capability up to 10 GHz with the optional CX-10G Transverter (sold separately).

CQ World Wide DX Contest, RTTY: Sept. 26, 0000Z to Sept. 27, 2359Z. This annual event attracts more than 15,000 RTTY enthusiasts from around the world.

Masonic Lodges on the Air: Sept. 26, 1400Z to 2200Z. “The idea for the Masonic Lodges on the Air Contest grew out of the realization that many Freemasons have a love for Amateur Radio,” according to the event’s official website. The idea is to see how many Masonic Lodges you can contact in a day on 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters SSB. You do not need to be a Mason to participate, but organizers ask that you get permission from your local lodge to contest from their property.

AWA Amplitude Modulation QSO Party: Sept. 26, 2000Z to Sept. 27, 2400Z. Sponsored by the Antique Wireless Association, this event is designed to “promote and encourage the use of amplitude modulation on the amateur radio bands” and to “enjoy the friendly atmosphere and pleasant audio quality of AM communication,” per the AWA website. Participants will try to make contacts using the amplitude modulation mode on 160, 75, 40, 20, and 10 meters. From its website, the vision of the AWA is to “preserve and share the history of technology used to communicate and entertain from the first telegram to today’s wireless text messaging.”

State QSO Parties

• Tennessee: Sept. 6, 1700Z to Sept. 7, 0300Z
• Colorado: Sept. 12, 1400Z to Sept. 13, 0359Z
• New Jersey, Sept. 12, 1400Z to Sept. 13, 0200Z
• Texas: Sept. 19, 1400Z to Sept. 20, 0200Z, and Sept. 20, 1400Z to 2000Z
• Iowa: Sept. 19, 1400Z to Sept. 20, 0200Z
• New Hampshire: Sept. 19, 1600Z to Sept. 20, 0400Z and Sept. 20, 1200Z to 2200Z
• Washington State Salmon Run: Sept. 19, 1600Z to Sept. 20, 0700Z, and September 20, 1600Z to 2400Z (find more details on the Salmon Run official website)
• Maine: Sept. 26, 1200Z to Sept. 27, 1200Z

The post Guide to September 2026 Ham Radio Contests—State QSO Party Edition appeared first on OnAllBands.

We woke up bright and early Wednesday morning to check in all of the attendees (competitors, referees, spectators, etc.). As the first of the competitors started arriving around 9 am, I quickly realized we’d need to store much more luggage than we initially thought. As with almost every hotel, check in to the individual hotel rooms wasn’t allowed until 3 pm. That meant we needed to hold not only the typical amount of luggage that everyone would have for a week of travel, but also an entire station’s worth of equipment for every set of competitors.

Despite our serious Tetris-playing efforts, the storage room for luggage overflowed, and we ended up lining one of the walls in the main check-in room with suitcases.

After a full day of getting event attendees registered and checked in, we all went to dinner. Afterward, some of us got ready for the Ham Widows Ball, a lesser-known tradition at the WRTC. It was started by the partner of an active contester who realized that many XYLs were being dragged along to the WRTC every few years without any way to get to know each other. He started the Ham Widows Ball to give the XYLs a way to enjoy the event even if they weren’t interested in amateur radio. The ball is always held on the first night of the WRTC, allowing attendees to become acquainted and then take part in the excursions and late-night chats for the rest of the week together.

While I’m not exactly the target audience of the Ham Widows Ball, I did decide to attend (plenty of women with amateur radio licenses do) and had a great time. After the ball, I headed out to the common area and spent the rest of the evening chatting with those who were still there before heading to bed.

The evenings at the WRTC are somewhat similar to the Contest Super Suite at Dayton. After dinner, everyone gathers together and spends the rest of the evening chatting until around midnight or 1 am. Unlike the Super Suite where many of the same people attend year after year with only slight variations, the group at the WRTC is different every time it’s held.

All of the volunteers woke up on Thursday knowing it would be a jam-packed day. We started by checking in a few more attendees before directing the approproate people to the competitors and referees meeting. While that was taking place, we were starting to get everyone organized onto shuttles for the excursions they had booked. The excursions during the event are a great way to fit some sightseeing into an otherwise schedule-packed trip. There were options to visit various cities and Bletchley Park, home of the RSGB National Radio Centre and location where the Enigma WWII codebreakers served. On Thursday evening, we had the opening ceremony, which was one of the highlights of the week. It was followed by the opening dinner/banquet. We ended the night with a musical demonstration that incorporated Morse code.

Friday was just as busy. You could feel the excitement and tension building. Everyone was shuttled to their sites so they could set up and test their equipment, making sure any issues were resolved before the contest started on Saturday. Later in the afternoon, everyone came back for one last night of socializing before the contest. The energy and anticipation levels were very high. After a few hours of chatting with everyone we all headed to bed so we would be well rested for the next day and for the contest!

In part three of my WRTC series, I’ll be covering the contest portion of the week, so be sure to stay tuned to OnAllBands!

The post Ham Radio Youth Insights—My Week at WRTC 2026 UK Part 2 appeared first on OnAllBands.

If you participate in Parks On The Air® (POTA), World Wide Flora & Fauna (WWFF), or one of the various state park contests, PoLo definitely deserves a closer look. By the way, the operating activities I just mentioned are only the tip of the iceberg. PoLo does so much more! One of the things that initially caught my attention was PoLo’s support for POTA.

Here are a few features I didn’t know that I needed.Some of them that I’ve discovered probably won’t matter to everyone. Others, however, can be surprisingly useful.

Record Weather & Solar Conditions

I’ve gotten into the habit of recording the weather when I arrive at a park. PoLo makes this easy. Enter WEATHER in the call sign field and PoLo will display the current weather conditions and record them in the log.

Similarly, entering SOLAR displays the current solar conditions and adds that information to the log.

These aren’t features that are going to make or break an activation, but I like having that information in my log. Months later, it can be interesting to look back and see what the conditions were like during an activation.

SEED Command

If you’re experimenting with PoLo, you probably don’t want to mess around with one of your existing logs. No problem. Simply enter SEED followed by the number of contacts you want in the “Their Call” field.

For example, entering SEED 20 will create 20 randomly generated contacts in your log. This is particularly useful if you’re learning the program, demonstrating it to someone else, or simply want to experiment with the various features without risking one of your real logs.

Change Mode or Frequency

If you’ve used N1MM, you’ll recognize this next one. To change the mode or frequency in PoLo, just type it into the “Their Call” field. I find this easier than using the dedicated field.

That’s what I like about PoLo: It gives you a couple of ways to change the more frequently used settings.

Spotting

Though PoLo will definitely work offline, you’ll want to connect to the internet for this next one. PoLo allows you to spot yourself from the keyboard by typing SPOT followed by whatever you’d like to show up in the comment field with your spot (e.g., “poor condx here” or “QRT”). It will send the spot to all the programs you have configured.

I use it to spot to both POTA and WWFF.

Call Stacking

Call stacking is something I’ve not used a lot, but from talking to friends and reading online, it sounds like a great feature for both the SSB and CW operator. It lets you enter multiple call signs from a pileup and work them one by one. You enter them all, placing a double slash between each call. Each time you press Enter, the last call sign entered is logged and removed from the call-stacking list.

CW operators tend to work stations one at a time, so they may not get quite as much benefit from this feature. But if you’re an SSB operator who occasionally finds yourself with a dozen stations calling at once, you’ll appreciate it.

Multi-Operator & Multi-Park Operations

PoLo also has some clever features for more complicated activations. For example, you can use a comma to identify multiple operators or parks, allowing PoLo to create the appropriate entries in the log.

You’ll love this feature the next time you manually enter an X-fer (an X-fer is an activation that takes in multiple POTA locations). It’s also handy for those multiple-operator “Pass-the-Mic” activations.

If you’re doing a multi-park rove, there’s a BREAK command that helps separate the individual activations. I’ve never used this, so I did some reading about the BREAK command, and frankly, I’m impressed. I plan to use PoLo for the 2026 Ohio State Parks On The Air (OSPOTA) Contest on September 12. I’ll be operating as a rover this year, and I’m looking forward to trying out the BREAK command.

VE9CF did a good explanation of how to use this command. You can watch the video on YouTube.

It appears to be especially useful when moving from one park to another while keeping all your contacts in a single log file, all while still maintaining the proper information for each activation.

Start/Stop

In PoLo, you can type START into the “Their Call” field and PoLo will start a timer for your activation. When done, type STOP to end the timer. I’m going to try this on my next multi-park rove.

And I can’t overlook the most humorous command in PoLo: the EXCUSE command. Just type EXCUSE into the call sign field to have a random excuse entered into your log.

When Kevin, W8NI, told me about it, I literally thought he was pulling my leg!

The Map

When I finish an activation, I take a screenshot using PoLo’s map function. The exact procedure for taking a screenshot will vary depending on the device you’re using. It’s a handy way to preserve a visual record of where the activation took place. When done, I save my files and the map to my Dropbox account.

Ham2K’s File Stash

Using File Stash, you can upload your files to the Ham2K servers. You can then download them to any device. There is a free version that allows you to upload one file at a time, or a paid version that costs as little as $24.99 per year (at the time of this article’s publish date).

PoLo Works Offline

Some of the parks I visit have little or no cellular service. That can be a problem for applications that depend on a constant internet connection. PoLo doesn’t care; it just works.

Of course, spotting doesn’t work without an internet connection, but if I have no cell service, I can ask a contact to spot me or set up my activation ahead of time on the POTA website.

Versatility

PoLo can run multiple park programs while also running a contest. While setting up PoLo for an upcoming contest, I tried inputting POTA and WWFF park locations on top of the OSPOTA logger. You know what? It handled it flawlessly!

Not only did it keep track of everything, but it created files appropriate for each of the park programs, as well as a master log for importing into my main logging program and a Cabrillo file for the folks at OSPOTA!

More Than Just a POTA Logger

It’s easy to think of PoLo as simply another POTA logging application. It certainly does that job well, but that’s selling it short.

Several states hold their own parks-on-the-air-style contests. Some of these contests actually predate POTA, which can make things a little confusing when first looking at the rules for these contests. Ohio, Florida, Georgia, and Texas are among the states with established state park contests. PoLo incorporates all of them. There are other state park contests as well.

For operators here in Ohio, the big one is OSPOTA which I mentioned above. It’s held each year on the Saturday following Labor Day. PoLo makes participating in OSPOTA remarkably easy. There are no complicated setup instructions required to make OSPOTA work. The data-entry form accepts OSPOTA’s park abbreviations, and when the contest is over, PoLo can generate the Cabrillo file required for submitting your log to the contest.

PoLo handles POTA, WWFF, state park contests, and other portable operating situations. It can operate without an internet connection, handle multiple parks and operators, record weather and solar information, generate the files required by different programs, and provide tools such as call stacking and activation timers.

And it continues to be developed.

At the time of this writing, PoLo is available for both Android and iOS devices. According to the Ham2K forum, a Windows- and Linux-compatible version called HaLo is also in development.

You can find more information about PoLo here, including the manual and links to the Ham2K forum. There’s also a “Buy Me a Coffee” link for those who would like to support the developers.

PoLo is free, but if you find it useful, consider making a donation. Supporting developers who create and maintain tools like this is a good way to help ensure that development continues.

In conclusion, I think PoLo is worth a look. I encourage you to download PoLo, take it out to the field, and decide for yourself if PoLo fits the way you operate.

73,

John, WG8X

The post Ham Radio Portable Operating Insights—Ham2K Portable Logger (PoLo) Part 2 appeared first on OnAllBands.

• ACOM
• OM Power
• Icom IC-PW2
• 4O3A Power Genius XL Amplifiers

Also, read “I’ve Got the Power. What Else Do I Need?” for insights into other upgrades you’ll need to consider when adding a high-power amplifier to your station.

***

Here are some of the RM Italy amplifiers you’ll find at DX Engineering.com:

BLA600 Solid State Amplifier

This wideband, compact, automatic linear amplifier for 160 through 6 meters offers low input drive requirements (20 to 25W on 80-10 meters, 30 to 40W for 500W on 160M and 6M) and a host of other benefits. We’ll let James, a DX Engineering customer, explain further in his five-star review:

“First, the BLA600 is perhaps the simplest amp to put in service of any I’ve ever used, and there have been several in my ham radio lifetime. Literally all that is involved is to connect the keying line and output from your transceiver, connect the output to a resonant antenna, and you are ready to go live. Band switching in the amp is fully automatic.

“I’m getting a full 500-watt output on 75, 20, 17, and 10 meters with just 20 watts of drive. I’ve yet to try it on any other bands, but plan to test with 6-meter FT8 in the next few days. That said, the instructions for setup are clear and concise. If you read them before connecting things up (and you should do that), make certain your antenna has a low SWR, and keep the exciter drive at recommended levels. Your experience with this amplifier should be very good.” 

Key features include:

• Weighing in at 47.4 lbs., this fully automatic 500W solid-state linear amplifier is suitable for seamless integration with all modern transceivers. It utilizes the rugged NXP/Freescale MRF6VP5600H 50V power MOSFET for high power and reliability.
• The BLA600 is capable of all modern modulation modes. It’s fully automatic, featuring instant RF frequency-reading for band changes and fast, reliable, and silent PIN diode TX-RX switching. This makes it ideal for CW QSK operation. A separately purchased transceiver to amplifier PTT keying cable is required.
• The amplifier has three antenna outputs that are easily configurable on a per-band basis.
• The amplifier’s RF deck has a large heat spreader and copper heat sink which provides an efficient cooling system. There are separate fans for the RF deck and LPF board/power supply for high-duty-cycle operation. Internally, all modules are mounted in a robust enclosure.
  The BLA600 features a dual MCU control and an extensive array of protection circuits that look after the amplifier with rapid reaction time.

MLA-400V HF Amplifier

This amplifier covers 160 through 10 meters, providing up to 400 watts output on HF with only 35 watts maximum input. It’s a good choice for operators who want to bump their 100-watt radio to a higher power level. Featuring four Toshiba 2SC2879 arranged in a parallel push-pull configuration, the MLA-400 provides clean Class AB power output.

Low-pass filters with frequencies of 3, 4, 5, 8, 15, 22, and 31 MHz reduce unwanted harmonic output and may be selected automatically or manually. An onboard microprocessor controls all aspects of the amplifier including its various protection circuits. Protection is provided for excessive input power, excessive output power, excessive load SWR, out-of-band operation, and high temperatures.

BLA350 Plus HF Linear Amplifier

This amplifier is intended to be used with a low power transceiver that is capable of an RF output of approximately 10 watts maximum. The compact and fully automatic amplifier delivers up to 300 watts output when driven with less than 10 watts RF input. Internally, a dual microprocessor controls a variable speed cooling system.

On the front panel is a large, illuminated analog output power meter. Plus, the two-line 16-character LCD display shows amplifier operating parameters including frequency, filter selection, and PA temperature. This display also enhances quick navigation of the amplifier’s menu system. Appropriate operations for this amplifier are on HF antenna systems with SWR below 1.5:1.

Choose from these other RM Italy amplifiers at DX Engineering:

• MLA100 HF Amplifier: This unit covers 160 through 6 meters, providing up to 100 watts output on HF and 80 watts on 6 meters with only 5 watts maximum RF input. It’s a good choice for medium power operations with today’s low power (QRP) radios, including many brands of portable and SDR transceivers. This amplifier is intended to be used with a QRP transceiver that is capable of an RF output of approximately 5 watts maximum.

• MLA300 HF Linear Amplifier: This broadband linear amplifier is designed for operation from 160-10 meters, delivering up to 300 watts of average output power.

Also choose from RM Italy VHF and UHF amplifiers, as well as the SPS1050S Switching Power Supply.

The post Guide to Amateur Radio Amplifiers 2026 Part 5: RM Italy appeared first on OnAllBands.

The WRTC (World Radiosport Team Championship) is best referred to as “The Olympics of Ham Radio.” The event takes place every four years in varying locations, and the objective is to create a level playing field for the top contesters to compete against each other to determine who is the best in the world.

The qualification period for the WRTC begins a few years before the event takes place. To qualify, hopeful competitors must take part in numerous predefined contests. By participating in these contests, they accrue points which are used to determine who attends the WRTC event as a competitor.

Once the selections of team leaders are made based on points, they select a team member to compete with them—every team competing at the WRTC is a pair. During the actual contest, the two-person teams are assigned referees who come with them to their sites and listen to their operating for the entire contest, much like a referee would watch and monitor the contestants at a sporting event. Since the objective of the WRTC is to put the top contesters on a level playing field, the contestants are provided with the exact same basic antenna setup. They must bring their own radios and other equipment, like laptops and keys.

My Road to WRTC 2026 UK

While the WRTC is a bucket list item for many contesters, it’s not very well known outside of the contesting sphere. I first learned about the WRTC in the summer of 2023 from a presentation at the YOTA camp in Ottawa. I was immediately fascinated. Before learning about the WRTC, I wasn’t involved in contesting at all. I participated in the ARRL School Club Roundups with my school’s club members and had done a few QSO parties but had never done a serious contest. It inspired me to give contesting a try. I participated in my first contest just a few weeks after learning about the WRTC– the IOTA contest that I did on the YDXA (Dave Kalter Youth DX Adventure) at K3LR. I had so much fun with this contest that I considered trying to qualify for WRTC 2026 as a competitor, but I decided that between balancing school and not having very much contesting experience under my belt, it would be best to wait.

I was still interested in the WRTC and contesting, so I started to participate in more contests and tried to learn as much about contesting as I could. I started to get to know the other hams who make up the contesting sphere in amateur radio and realized that even if I wouldn’t attend as a competitor, I would go to WRTC 2026 in England (July 8-13) to meet many of my contesting friends and see how the event was run.

As WRTC 2026 approached, I started to make plans about how I could attend. I eventually decided I wanted to volunteer to help with the event, so I joined the pre-event public relations team. I had a lot of fun bouncing ideas about how we could publicize it and improve the 2026 edition. I also decided that I wanted to help out at the event’s headquarters to get an even better idea of how the event was run and what went on behind the scenes.

I got in touch with organizing committee members to see if volunteering would be possible, and luckily it was. I excitedly agreed to help out with the event and made plans to travel there. I booked the Eurostar from Paris to London, but it ended up getting canceled a few days before I was planning to travel, so I quickly booked a flight so that I could still make it on time.

I arrived at the venue, checked into my room, and had dinner with a few acquaintances that I hadn’t seen in a while because I had been in Germany for my exchange year. After we had caught up a bit, the volunteer team got to work sorting the welcome bags for each attendee. A few hours—and a few hundred bags later—we finished up and headed to bed to get some sleep for the next day. After this first day there, it felt almost surreal for me to finally be at a WRTC. I went to bed eagerly awaiting the rest of the week.

Stay tuned to OnAllBands for details of KE8LQR’s weeklong experience at WRTC 2026 UK in Part 2 of her series. Also read her WRTC article on “How It Feels to Be a Young Ham in a Roomful of Experts.”

***

Editor’s Note: It takes an incredible volunteer effort to make the “Olympics of Ham Radio” happen. Watch volunteers build contest sites in this video from WRTC 2026 UK.

The post Ham Radio Youth Insights—My Visit to WRTC 2026 UK appeared first on OnAllBands.