I got into HAM Radio in 2021 and with some help from another HAM, I got onto HF that winter after I got my General. My setup is fairly minimal for HF. I have a radio that puts out 100 watts and a 22′ vertical antenna (10, 15, 20, 40, and 80 meters) with radials on the ground. I also made 12m and 17m diamond loops for dx and an 80 meter for NVIS. It is nice to cut off some insulated wire to a close length and fine-tune the length for SWR and then work someone on another continent with an antenna you made yourself.
I started making frequent contacts using the POTA website. POTA lists activators with their call, the park, and the frequency they will be on. It was a good way to get going on the radio, I knew their call and the park number, so it was a matter of listening and just getting through to them. It also helped me get familiar with my logging program.
I have said, “I learned more about computers since I got my license than I learned about the radio”. If you want to enter contests, or just keep a log, you will need to learn how to make it all work on your computer. If you enter a contest you should turn in a log for that contest. If you want to keep track of contacts you make on a daily basis, or for DX, you will want to log it on a computer. It is nice to have an Elmer help with that.
There are many ways to find contacts on the radio. There are HAMs that just want to get out and make a contact with a location that requires them to take a radio, coax, antenna, and some form of power supply to make the whole thing happen. Here are some that might interest you: POTA -Parks on the Air, SOTA – Summits on the Air, IOTA – Islands on the Air, and VOTA – Volunteers. VOTA is an ARRL activity where a volunteer operates in a state under the ARRL callsign W1AW, they will have a slash 7 or /# for the area they are in. So W1AW/7 could be any state in the 7 area. You have to wait for them to activate their state, but the ARRL does do the logging of your contact so it isn’t critical for you to do that.
Special Events are another source to make contacts, you can search on this ARRL page to find one that interest you: https://www.arrl.org/special-event-stations. I usually enter a search on the calendar for the upcoming week.
Contests happen frequently from all over the world, usually on a weekend (UTC time) but can be any time of the week. Some require a specific logging program which you will have to learn to use. You can see what contests are coming up here: Contest Calendar
DX Expeditions: this involves a group of HAMs going to some remote island or country that doesn’t usually have a radio. It may require weeks at sea to get there and then they need to get the equipment on the land and get it set up. This site lists operations that are scheduled to happen https://www.ng3k.com/
I enjoy brief contacts, DX, and contesting. I don’t expect to win any contest but when working a contest, the bands are generally more congested versus non-contest days and I have fun making short contacts, it also keeps me familiar with the radio, logging program, etiquette, and staying within my frequency privileges. If you don’t operate a radio frequently it will be a foreign object and you won’t be comfortable using it. I work SSB on hf although I am trying to learn Morse code. To me, radio is about me hearing their call sign correctly and QTH and them hearing mine correctly and my QTH. I also like that one can provide information if needed or just ask questions.
Lately, it has been much easier to work DX with the current sunspot cycle, and the propagation is still coming up and should continue to do so for several more years.
If you have a Technician license you can work SSB on a portion of the 10-meter band, 28.3 – 28.5. Although a small portion of the band it is the busy part of the band. With the current sun cycle, 10m can work DX stations on not much power- 100 watts or less. You will need an antenna for 10m and a transceiver that operates on 10m. There is a catch- most likely to get on 10m you will need to get a hf transceiver that also does bands above 10m – up to 160m. You would need to get a General license to use the other hf bands on this radio as well as an antenna. But you could get the hang of it on 10m and see if you enjoy hf.
A handy site for looking up HAMs is QRZ.com. Some HAMs provide a lot of information on themself or their equipment and some don’t bother doing anything. To each their own. There are 5 ways you can search on QRZ as well as a lot of useful information. Type in a call sign, if they log on to QRZ you can see what contacts they have been making by clicking on Logbook. You can look their page over while you are talking to them. I have seen some very impressive antennas on QRZ, but some also post pictures of how they have the HAM shack set up or what equipment they have, and you may also see something your spouse may need to get you for Christmas.
Well, that is what I do with my radio. It has been a fun hobby, and I hope to do it for many years to come.
’73
Steve W7STV