YouTube video by N4JAW Jim "Ham on a Bike"

On Tuesday, September 9, 2025, my wife, Hazel, and I were heading back from Greensboro, NC along Interstate 40 when I thought it fitting to make a short detour to Fort Dobbs State Historic Site for a quick POTA activation. Fortunately, both my wife and Hazel agreed. We all wanted to stretch our legs, and Fort Dobbs is a wonderful park to do just that.

YouTube video by N4JAW Jim "Ham on a Bike"

By Steve (KV4AN) My XYL and her sister like to go yard sale-ing on Saturday morning (this is the practice of buying other people’s junk so you can throw it away for them), so I’ve had two beautiful Saturday mornings to do a pair of quick drive-up SOTA activations here in Northern Alabama.  The first Saturday, I went to Gunters Mountain, which is around an hour away near Swearengin, Alabama. 

One year ago today—September 27, 2024—Hurricane Helene moved up from the Gulf of Mexico, swept across the Southeast, and struck Western North Carolina. Its impact was massive—its destruction, unprecedented. by Thomas (K4SWL) The Storm Arrives We’d been following weather reports in advance, expecting heavy rain, localized flooding, and some winds. That’s not unusual here—we often see the remnants of hurricanes and tropical storms.

YouTube video by Ham Radio Wilderness w/Frank (KG6NLW)

Many thanks to Brian (K2BRZ), for sharing the following article about his portable field radio kit, which will be featured on our Field Kit Gallery page. Note that his kit was initially featured on his blog. If you would like to share your field kit with the QRPer community, read this post. (tr)uSDX Portable Field Kit by Brian (K2BRZ)

An interactive map that shows real time, worldwide HF activity and propagation specific to the user's location on all amateur radio HF bands.

Many thanks to Paul (VP9KF) who notes that QRP Labs has just announced the Morserino Pocket. Here are the details from the QRP Labs product page: Morserino M32 Pocket The QRP Labs Morserino-32 Pocket is designed by Willi OE1WKL (with immense help by Hari OE6HKE and other contributors) and produced by QRP Labs under license. M32 Pocket is the third generation Morserino built on many years of experience with Morse trainers.

YouTube video by N4JAW Jim "Ham on a Bike"

Sometimes the best therapy Is building a kit. One of the great things about going to Four Days in May during Hamvention week is attending vendor and club nights at the Holiday Inn Fairborn. It’s incredibly rare that I go to this event and don’t walk away with one, two, or three kits. I’d say the same goes for most other attendees.

by Mark (KB2PIZ) Last weekend, I had a business meeting in Seattle and decided to take a scenic drive afterward. I planned to travel up Route 20 from Seattle, pass through Whidbey Island, stop at Deception Pass, and then continue north to Canada on Route 99, with an overnight stay in Whistler. Well, Deception Pass was more beautiful than my wife imagined, and she wanted to spend some extra time walking on the beach and enjoying the view.

by Todd (KE2AEQ) The first U.S. Toilets on the Air was a success! We made 336 FM, SSB, CW, and SSTV QSOs—52 of them "Toilet to Toilet"—with 13 operators being awarded the "Straight Flush" award. In the weeks leading up, I deployed an instance of the xOTA contest platform to a local web host with light modifications to the rules page and awards.

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One of the joys of writing up field reports is reliving POTA and SOTA activations. Since our travels in Canada this summer, our family has had a lot of irons in the fire. My available time has been almost non-existent, so I’ve only managed a handful of POTA activations. What I didn’t get in quantity, though, I certainly made up for in quality.

There are few places on this earth that I love more than the region of Québec around the town of Tadoussac. Tadoussac sits where the Saguenay River—really, a dramatic fjord—meets the mighty St. Lawrence Estuary. Long before Europeans arrived, the Innu people had used this place—known to them as Totouskak—for thousands of years as a seasonal base for seal hunting and trade.

YouTube video by Ham Radio Crash Course