K6RCS · Amateur Extra · formally licensed in 2004
I heard HF before I understood what I was hearing.
My younger brother and I found radio as kids and got hooked on the voices, noise, fading, and distance. Some early transmitting was unlicensed bootlegging. The real license came in 2004. Since then, radio has grown into a station, a teaching record, a marriage, a family system, and a way to stay useful away from infrastructure.
Signal, teaching, field use
Radio is equipment, path, practice, and people.
What I operate
RF first. Networks where they add reach. Clear labels everywhere.
The site separates direct radio, repeaters, APRS, linked networks, internet-assisted systems, GMRS, marine radio, and receive-only material. They are useful for different reasons and governed by different rules.
HF and local radio
Digital, SSB, AM, FM, CW, and SSTV from 80 meters through 70 centimeters.
Operating →APRS
Position, messaging, road awareness, and family travel on the North American 144.390 MHz channel.
APRS →QSO One
A broad software console for linked systems, travel-region access, and rapid deployment.
QSO One →Winlink and RadioMail
Store-and-forward messaging when ordinary internet access is thin or unavailable.
Winlink →The station begins outside the radio
Antenna, elevation, path, noise, timing, then equipment.
Team Stone antennas include a Mosley two-element beam for 20, 15, and 10 meters at roughly 20 feet AGL, a home-built 40-meter dipole at roughly 35 feet AGL, and dual Workman UVS VHF/UHF verticals.
The radios matter. The path still gets the final vote.
Field radio
The backcountry supplies honest test conditions.
Snow camping, backcountry skiing, whitewater kayaking, running, EUC travel, and long road trips expose weak power plans, poor cable choices, unrealistic antennas, and software that requires an internet connection to explain why it has no internet connection.
Go-kits are organized by task: voice, position, message, power, charging, antenna, weather, and documentation.
Primary resources
Use the actual tools and source material.
Contact & SMS preference
Start a conversation without making the communication rules mysterious.
Choose YES or NO for SMS. Neither choice is preselected, and YES is not a condition of receiving a response.