CQ Amateur Radio

CQ is the magazine for active hams, with a focus on the practical

CQ Amateur Radio8 min read
Announcements
DEERFIELD, NEW HAMPSHIRE — The New England Amateur Radio Festival (NEAR-Fest) will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, May 3 and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, May 4 at the Deerfield Fairgrounds, 34 Stage Road. Website: . A
CQ Amateur Radio4 min read
Ham Radio News
An international panel of space scientists is predicting a long, deep, solar minimum, followed by a Cycle 25 they expect to be similar to the now-ending Cycle 24. Spaceweather.com’s Dr. Tony Phillips says the group, which met in early April at the Na
CQ Amateur Radio4 min read
ZERO BIAS: A CQ Editorial
I’m writing this while sitting in an airport boarding “lounge,” waiting for a flight that’s been delayed by two hours due to maintenance working on “an issue in the flight control deck” (and the plane isn’t even a 737 Max!). The reason I’m mentioning
CQ Amateur Radio4 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
News Bytes
The Dayton Amateur Radio Association has announced the winners of the 2019 Hamvention® Awards, considered among the most prestigious recognitions in amateur radio. This year’s Amateur of the Year is HamSCI founder and coordinator Nathaniel Frissell,
CQ Amateur Radio6 min read
Contesting from Siberia: CQ World Wide CW at RWØA
Every ham radio competitor knows the feeling: Excitement, camaraderie, and sleep deprivation. Here we go again. It’s time for another CQ World Wide DX contest. I am privileged to participate at a station with very large towers and antennas, multiple
CQ Amateur Radio11 min read
Results of the 2018 CQWW DX CW Contest
There have been 70 CQWW CW contest events, yet the contest community does not tire when the CQWW DX contest comes around. The event is noted in bold print on thousands of hams’ calendars around the world. This year, 8,125 logs were received that cont
CQ Amateur Radio7 min read
VHF Plus
Whether it is on 160 meters, 241 GHz, or any band in between, most of us try to achieve the best possible DX on our favorite band(s). While attending Microwave Update 2018 in Dayton, Barry Malowanchuk, VE4MA; Al Ward, W5LUA; and I discussed the idea
CQ Amateur Radio5 min read
The 2019 CQ World Wide VHF Contest
Starts: 1800 UTC Saturday, July 20, 2019 Ends: 2100 UTC Sunday, July 21, 2019 NOTE: Use of APRS by Rovers is permitted for the purpose of announcing their location. 27 hours for all stations, all categories. Operate any portion of the contest period
CQ Amateur Radio3 min read
Math’s Notes
It is not too often that we discuss components, but this month I would like to introduce you to a relatively new and unique device, the super capacitor. Most of us are familiar with common capacitors, from the tiny ceramic pF versions up through the
CQ Amateur Radio4 min read
The Listening Post
Plus: A Rare Appearance from Antarctica ~ We’ve long been aware of China’s desire to increase its influence in Africa. Now, shortwave provides another sign. China Radio International has reconstructed its relay at Bamako in Mali. Frequencies formerly
CQ Amateur Radio4 min read
Emergency Communications
In early January of this year, I received an invitation from the former author of this column, Cory Sickles, WA3UVV, to attend a one-day conference titled “Amateur Radio in Public Health & Medical Disasters – ESF#8” (ESF stands for Emergency Support
CQ Amateur Radio5 min read
Kit-building
With warmer weather here, the chance to go out and do a bit of fox hunting comes to mind. The biggest problem I have encountered is not finding what direction the signal is coming from when far away from the signal source. Rather, my problem is overl
CQ Amateur Radio11 min read
Homing In
“It’s the lusty month of May,” proclaimed love-struck Richard Burton as King Arthur in the musical “Camelot.” May is also a prime month for hidden transmitter hunts and for CQ’s World W ide Foxhunting Weekend1. Will your local ham club have a mobile
CQ Amateur Radio7 min read
The Ham Notebook
Continuing my loose theme on components and construction, this month I decided to share some of the techniques I use when making, restoring, or repairing electronic gear. Many of these hints are not new ideas, but I think this will make a useful reso
CQ Amateur Radio9 min readEarth Sciences
Learning Curve
Perhaps this article’s headline raised an eyebrow or two. After all, it’s May and flowers are blooming, trees are budding, and green landscapes are returning. However, as I compose this month’s article, it is still winter in central Illinois. My shac
CQ Amateur Radio7 min read
Digital Connection
This month, we’ll take quick look at a variety of subjects. None is large enough to merit a whole article, but each has been vying for my attention for a little while now. I have heard from a few readers asking why I have not yet written about the FT
CQ Amateur Radio5 min read
Mobiling
OK, so the wordplay of the headline isn’t amazingly original, but it does strike the theme for this installment of “Mobiling.” First, a bit of history. By the end of the 1960s, the performance car era was pretty well over. The GTOs, Road Runners, and
CQ Amateur Radio7 min read
Analog Adventures
An Inside Look at Op-Amps Probably no single component in the electronics twiddlerand-fiddler’s arsenal has made life easier than the versatile operational amplifier or op-amp. Originally, the operational amplifier was called upon to do precisely tha
CQ Amateur Radio2 min read
Awards
While we continue our search for a successor to K1BV as Awards Editor, we’ll use the opportunity to shine a spotlight on CQ’s own operating awards, some of which are very well-known, such as USA-CA (the USA Counties Award) and WAZ (Worked All Zones),
CQ Amateur Radio5 min read
Complete Rules: The CQ WPX Awards Program
The CQ WPX Award recognizes the accomplishments of confirmed QSOs with the many callsign prefixes used by amateurs throughout the world. Separate, distinctively marked certificates are available for SSB, CW, Digital (RTTY/PSK) and Mixed (CW, SSB/Phon
CQ Amateur Radio1 min read
What’s New
Amcept, LLC has released the newest version of its software: SigTrax Version 2, its signal tracking app, for iOS and Android mobile devices. SigTrax combines the power and visual capabilities of mobile device mapping with the accuracy and precision o
CQ Amateur Radio10 min read
Dx
Thinking Small for DXpeditions Ihave been going through my QSL card collection recently. I had fallen behind in filling in my DXCC QSL card album and thought I should catch up. What I found out was that I probably had not done this in 15 years or so.
CQ Amateur Radio1 min read
What’s New
Hams who would like to increase their enjoyment with clearer audio output should look at SOTABeams’ newlyreleased WOLFWAVE advanced audio processor, which includes a sophisticated band-pass filter, noise reducer, and can correct for age-related heari
CQ Amateur Radio1 min readTechnology & Engineering
What’s New
Ham Radio Deluxe has issued it last update to the 6.5 version of its software – version 6.5.0.207 – which includes 26 fixes for the Yaesu FTDX-1200, 7 fixes for QSL label printing, 2 URL cleanup items, 2 fixes for XML logbook backups, 2 fixes for the
CQ Amateur Radio11 min read
Contesting
Plus: European Region 1 Field Days; ARRL June VHF Contest; JARL All-Asian DX CW Contest; Tips for WPX and Other Contests Many contesters will enjoy a beer (or two) and some pizza with like-minded operators at the “Contest Super Suite” at the Dayton H
CQ Amateur Radio14 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Propagation
Those who follow this column know that radio communication is directly affected by the variable Sun and “space weather.” Sunspots, coronal mass ejections, the Earth’s geomagnetic field, the ionosphere, and even terrestrial weather all affect how our
CQ Amateur Radio4 min read
Hamshop
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