Overreach to 2m during the Northern Lights in October 2024

2024 was the year of the Northern Lights – at least if you live in northern Germany. In May and October, we were able to marvel at this extremely rare celestial spectacle in Germany. In October, I took advantage of the auroras to use overreach in the 2m band.

Hitting the ISS repeater with my 2m/70cm Arrow antenna.

Today I fucked up: Contacting the ISS repeater for the first time

I began to read about space and satellite operations a few months ago. Really interesting stuff, but I didn‘t have the right equipment for it. Until last week and so I started contacting the ISS repeater without success. One week later I found my stupid mistake. An overview of how to start and what errors to avoid.

JS8Call interface should be quite familiar to everyone using FLDIGI or WSJT-X.

Discover the Magic of JS8Call: Revolutionizing Amateur Radio Communication

While FT8 has revolutionized the way we make quick and efficient contacts, I often find myself yearning for more meaningful exchanges. That’s where JS8Call comes into play—a digital mode that combines the robustness of FT8 with the richness of free-text communication. Let’s dive into why JS8Call is a game-changer and how it can enhance your amateur radio experience.

IMHO: ARRLs LotW (Logbook of the World) is down – so what?

When browsing social networks like Facebook or Reddit these days, I see many Hams ranting and being grumpy about the downtime of ARRLs Logbook of the world. People are demanding faster recovery times, more communication towards the issue and ask themselves and their communities the question if they should instead change over to a different QSL-exchange platform. I cannot even begin to understand this actionism, the frustration and the lack of understanding, and here is why: