Winter Field Day Was Canceled—Emergency Comms Weren’t

 

Winter Field Day was ultimately overshadowed by a real-world winter storm here in Tennessee this past weekend. Out of an abundance of caution, the club made the decision on Friday to cancel our WFD plans, as did many other clubs in the area. It’s never an easy call, but member safety always comes first. Snow alone is one thing—but ice is a completely different ballgame. 

Saturday morning started off quietly, as precipitation had not yet begun to fall. By 1100, however, we had accumulated just over an inch of snow on the ground—more than enough to cause problems for us southerners. By 1300, sleet and freezing rain moved in, significantly worsening conditions.

I spent most of the day monitoring GMRS, Meshtastic, and the statewide weather net on the linked amateur repeaters. From there, critical information was entered into the APRS system using YAAC, helping provide situational awareness for anyone monitoring the network. Reports included multiple vehicle accidents, trees blocking roadways, and storm warnings and updates from the National Weather Service. 

By Sunday morning, widespread power outages were evident. While we were fortunate to keep power, more than 200,000 residents in an adjacent county were without electricity and scrambling to find alternate heat sources.

We’re still in the middle of this polar plunge, but hopefully a thaw is not far off. This weekend served as yet another real-world example of how APRS can be an effective tool during emergency events, helping keep operators informed when it matters most.

🛒 Perfect this time of year https://amzn.to/4bSQqKL

Time's Running Out

 Winter Field Day is this coming weekend—a 30-hour event focused on emergency communications. That means no WSJT-X style modes; they simply aren’t effective for passing emergency traffic. This weekend is about modes that handle longer, meaningful messages, whether by voice or data. Expect JS8Call to be very active, and don’t overlook Winlink. Sending a Winlink message can earn you a valuable multiplier. You can even use Winlink to spot yourself, provided the message leaves your site over amateur RF.

There are a few notable rule changes this year, so I strongly encourage everyone to read the rules carefully. A recent clarification is especially important: aside from the Winlink multiplier, all Winlink messages must be peer-to-peer (P2P) to count. The same requirement applies to APRS traffic. That said, if you think I won’t be running APRS anyway… you clearly don’t know me very well.

This is your final call to action—start prepping your gear now. That repair you’ve been putting off? It’s time. Double-check everything, test your setup, and make sure those batteries are fully charged. If you want to practice Winlink during the event but don’t have a sparring partner, feel free to send me a message and I’ll do my best to respond. Even if it doesn’t count as a QSO, it’s still excellent practice.

🛒 The final piece of the puzzle https://amzn.to/3LOAyOU

The Hidden Cost of "Budget" Radios

 If you watched last Tuesday’s video on the new Retevis HA2, then you already know I gave it a thumbs down as an APRS radio. While I’m glad to see Chinese manufacturers starting to add APRS support to their radios, it needs to be done correctly. Simply beaconing a position report doesn’t make a radio “APRS capable.” APRS is far more than just position reporting—a point I’ve tried to drive home in multiple videos and even in an article I wrote last fall.

When APRS is implemented properly—by both manufacturers and operators—it can provide real, situational awareness by alerting others to what’s happening in your area of operation. But for that to work, radios need to support the full feature set APRS was designed around. Half-implemented or stripped-down versions don’t just limit functionality; they undermine the entire purpose of APRS.

What’s even more frustrating is the confusion this creates for newcomers. If I were a new ham and saw one radio priced at $94 and another at $700, both labeled “APRS,” I’d have no idea why there’s such a massive price difference. Most people would understandably choose the cheaper option, only to discover later that it supports only the bare minimum APRS features.

On the flip side, radios like the BTECH UV-Pro have been a real game changer. While it still doesn’t offer everything APRS can do, it gets about 80% of the way there. More importantly, it includes a Bluetooth-accessible TNC, allowing the radio to connect to a phone or laptop running far more capable APRS software. And it does all of this at a sub-$200 price point.

Maybe that’s the real answer for these lower-cost radios. Instead of adding crippled APRS feature sets, manufacturers should focus on providing Bluetooth TNC access. Let the heavy lifting be done by a more capable external device. Anyone who has tried sending an APRS message directly from an HT knows how painful that experience can be—regardless of the radio.

When Technology Fails, This Skill Still Matters

 

I can’t count the number of miles I’ve logged on trails over the years, hiking and climbing wherever the path led. The photos above are circa 2002—one taken near the peak of Mount Washington during a brutal snow and wind storm, the other on a calm, peaceful fall day in Tennessee. Two very different moments, both etched into my memory. Over the past two months, I’ve found my way back to the trail, and I’ve been reminded just how much I missed it. I’ve also been struck by how dramatically technology has changed over the last 25 years. Today, navigation can live on your wrist in the form of a watch—but what happens when the battery dies? At that point, you need the fundamental skills: knowing how to read a map and use a compass. That’s where simple, old-school tools still shine. When working with traditional topo maps, having the right gear makes a real difference. One recent addition to my pack is The Tech Prepper’s land navigation kit. It’s American-made and does a great job of keeping essential navigation tools organized. After using it consistently over the past couple of months, it’s earned a permanent place in my pack. It’s not for everyone, but if you value quality and preparedness, it’s worth a look. Last week, I wrote about goals for 2026. One of my personal goals is to spend more time on the trail. Some days that will mean carrying a camera and a radio. Other days, the radio will stay in my pack—powered off unless needed—so I can fully disconnect and simply enjoy being outdoors again.

The Question I Ask Every Year (And Why It Matters)

 Thank you for another amazing year. The channel and newsletter are nothing without each of you.

As we prepare to close out the year, I usually take some time to ask myself a simple question: What do I really want to accomplish in the year ahead? Not a New Year’s resolution that fades by Valentine’s Day, but meaningful goals—especially when it comes to radio.

Maybe you’re a technician who wants to upgrade to General. Maybe this is the year you finally learn Morse code, or dive deeper into a specific digital mode. I’ve written down goals like these for many years now, and for me, putting them on paper is key. Another personal hack that’s helped immensely is carving out dedicated time each week. Maybe it’s an hour a week, or maybe it’s an hour a day. Whatever you commit to, the important part is having the discipline to stick with it. And if you slip? Don’t get discouraged. Just backtrack and pick up where you left off. I didn’t learn Linux overnight—it took years to get here, and I still have a long way to go.

This year, my focus is on finding more ways to give back. Part of that will happen through YouTube, but an equally important part will be through my local club. I want to help a few members who have a strong interest in both Linux and digital modes, and I plan to participate in as many public service events as possible. Each of those events is an opportunity to push the limits of what we already do and discover more efficient ways to use the radio spectrum.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll reiterate it again: if you’re not happy with your local club, be the change you want to see. Volunteer to give a presentation on a topic you’re passionate about. Offer to teach a Winlink class if that’s your thing. Clubs are only as active as the members make them.

Here’s to a fantastic 2026.

The Mistake Operators Keep Making

 I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen an operator get burned by an update. It’s happened to me more than once as well—often enough that I finally adopted a new philosophy several years ago.

The scenario is usually the same. A shiny new firmware or software update drops right before an event you’re supporting or participating in. You install it, thinking you’re being responsible… only to discover that something is broken. A feature no longer works, menus have been rearranged, or behavior has subtly changed. Suddenly your radio, Meshtastic device, or computer is in a less-than-ideal state—and that’s on a good day.

To be fair to programmers, I don’t believe there’s ever any malicious intent behind these updates. As a programmer myself, I know how easily things can slip through the cracks. No matter how much testing is done, there’s always an edge case that wasn’t anticipated.

Which brings me back to the philosophy I adopted years ago: the two-week freeze.

For the two weeks leading up to an event, nothing—and I mean nothing—gets updated. No system updates. No software updates. No firmware updates. Don’t touch the radios. Don’t touch the computers. The only exception is programming a new frequency into a rig, and even then, only if it’s absolutely required for the event.

Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.

One System Shined. One Fell Short. Guess Which?

 

Our city’s Christmas parade always feels like controlled chaos—and this year was no exception. A tremendous amount of work goes into both the planning and the execution, but events like this are a fantastic real-world demonstration of just how much can be accomplished over RF.

Overall, it was a big success, though we definitely came away with a few lessons learned. And honestly, if you aren’t learning something during an event like this, you’re probably not paying close enough attention. There’s always room for improvement 🙂 Rather than diving into every detail here, a few highlights are worth sharing:

• Our digital data transfer system worked almost flawlessly—again.

• Everything ran completely without internet access.

• All systems were powered by emergency power.

• Meshtastic didn’t perform quite as well as I’d hoped.

• APRS continues to shine for events like this.

• Always have a backup plan… for your backup plan.

If you’re interested, you can read the full after-action report. It’s a living document, so a few tweaks may still happen as additional thoughts come up, but it’s about 97% complete.

Sometimes it's just weird

 

Sometimes, computers just act up for no apparent reason. Yep — even Linux machines.

This morning, Bluetooth was working perfectly one minute… and completely missing the next. Bluetooth had gone astray. It’s happened before, and usually, a quick Bluetooth service restart fixes it. Not today.

Alright, no problem — time for the classic full system reboot. Still nothing. 🤔

At this point, I started to wonder if the Bluetooth card itself had failed. To test that theory, I booted from a USB drive running Linux Mint 22.1. (Booting into a live environment is a great way to check hardware — I often do this to verify Linux recognizes things like the sound card, WiFi, etc before installing.)

Sure enough, Bluetooth worked just fine in the live environment. That told me the hardware was fine and the issue had to be with the installed OS. “No biggie,” I thought — I’ve got backups.

I shut down the live session, which did a full power-off, and booted back into my regular Mint OS install to restore from backup. But to my surprise… Bluetooth was working again!

Apparently, a full shutdown — not just a reboot — was what the system needed.

Sometimes, computers are just weird. 🤷‍♂️

My Secret Weapon to Keep Chaos Under Control 🤫

 The Christmas parade our radio club supports is coming up this Sunday, which means I’m officially in prep mode . There’s a lot more that goes into this event than most people realize, and this year I’ve got double duty.

First, I’m on the tech team—our job is to set up the portable repeater and digipeater, handle any on-the-fly tech issues, and even program folks’ HTs if needed. My second role is receiving registration data over RF, passing it along to command, and tracking everything via APRS. Basically, if electrons are moving, I’m somewhere nearby .

All of that takes a fair bit of prep. My routine starts with reviewing last year’s after-action report, then setting clear goals for this year’s event. Once the goals are locked in, I sketch out a rough outline of how each of my stations will be configured and what gear I’ll be using. It’s not a full equipment checklist—more of a high-level game plan. The exact gear changes a bit each year as new toys come into the shack and other stuff gets sold off.

Only after that outline is done do I dive into the actual checklist. I use the Checklist Generator to pull in everything from inventory. I like to build this about a week ahead of time, then review it a couple times leading up to the big day. It’s the best way to make sure nothing important gets left behind .

It is a lot of work, but honestly, I absolutely love it. It’s a fantastic way to serve the community while putting our skills to the test in a real-world environment. I can’t think of a better way to spend the day .

The Radio Trick I Totally Blanked On

 A week or so ago, I was driving home and tried to key up our county’s primary repeater. Nothing. Tried again—still nothing. That was strange. I switched over to another repeater and called the trustee. He answered and, after a quick check, confirmed that the main repeater was offline. The power supply had failed, and the backup battery had completely drained.

I offered to meet him at the site and swap in a new power supply. On the drive over, he kept calling me on the reverse frequency. I never answered because I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out how to get my radio into reverse while cruising down the interstate at 70 mph. If you already know where this is going, feel free to chuckle. For everyone else, here’s the important bit:

When a repeater is offline—just like ours was that day—only one operator needs to be in reverse. Everyone else can transmit on the normal repeater frequency. The operator in reverse will hear you, even if you can’t hear anyone except that one person. Simple enough… but I clearly wasn’t thinking it through in the moment.

All I really had to do was pick up the mic and talk. He was already doing the heavy lifting by operating in reverse from a high-elevation tower site. If I had switched to reverse, he wouldn’t have heard a thing I said. Lesson learned!

What Experienced Hams Aren’t Telling You (But Should)

 Early in my amateur radio journey, I’d ask a more experienced operator something like, “Which HT should I get?” or “How much battery do I need to make it through Field Day?” I was looking for a clear, confident answer—or at least a direction to point my compass. Instead, the reply was almost always the same: “It depends.”

Looking back, I now understand that this was the right answer… but at the time, it was incredibly frustrating. What they were really trying to teach me was that you often need more information before you can make an informed decision. A 10Ah battery alone might last the duration if you’re running a 5W rig, but it’s probably not going to cut it if you’re using a 100W rig for multiple days.

Take digital modes as another example. Suppose you’re trying to choose between System Fusion, D-STAR, and DMR. Which one is “best”? Well, you could buy the newest, fanciest DMR radio out there—but if no one in your area uses DMR and there aren’t any local DMR repeaters, you’ll be stuck talking through your own hotspot. On the other hand, if your local community is active on D-STAR and you’ve got multiple D-STAR repeaters nearby, that’s where I’d want to be. In my experience, the mode that connects you to the local crowd is usually the most enjoyable.

Maybe instead of answering with a vague “It depends,” we experienced operators should try saying, “We need a little more info before we can give you a good answer.” And at the same time, new hams need to know that some of the homework is theirs to do—because what works perfectly for one operator may not work at all for the next.

The Simple Trick to get Others Interested

 How do we get others interested in something we think is genuinely exciting? Maybe you’ve recently discovered APRS or fallen down the Meshtastic rabbit hole. Yet in many parts of the country, coverage for either mode is limited or nonexistent. So how do we spark interest and build momentum? Let’s use Meshtastic as our example. 📡

The truth is, you have to be the evangelist in your area. You need to be able to explain why it’s cool, how it’s useful, and what others stand to gain by getting involved. Sitting on the sidelines and hoping someone else will push things forward won’t cut it. Coverage in my hometown is still sparse, but that hasn’t stopped me from sharing my enthusiasm. I’ve seen Meshtastic running at full throttle at both Hamcation and Hamvention, and I know what it’s capable of. 🚀

To get started, you really only need to convince one friend to join you. With two people, you can begin real-world testing. Bring your nodes to a club meeting and show others what they can do. Be honest about your results—Meshtastic is great, but it does have limits. Being upfront about those limitations sets realistic expectations and builds trust. And once a few club members see the shiny new gadgets in action, curiosity will spread. Not everyone will be interested, and a few may dismiss it entirely—and that’s okay. Keep going. 💪

Last summer at the Air Show, I carried a node with me. To my surprise, another club member brought theirs too. Even more unexpected: after I sent out a weather alert 🌦️on the longfast channel, somebody outside the club replied with a “thank you.” Fast-forward to today, and we now have at least half a dozen members showing up to meetings with their own Meshtastic nodes. 📱

This doesn’t just apply to Meshtastic. That’s simply the example. Whatever niche you’re excited about, you can bet there’s at least one other person in your ham circle who will be excited too—once someone takes the lead. ✨

What Could Go Wrong?

 I’ve always been a big fan of trying something new — in ham radio and in life. If we’re not experimenting, we’re not growing!

For my first five or six Field Days after getting my ticket, I made it a point to add something new each year. That first year was all about just showing up and learning as much as I could. The second year, I built my first go box. The third year, I tried (and failed 😅) to run the whole event on battery power alone. Even though it didn’t quite work, I learned a ton. The next year, I added solar panels and started figuring out what did work.

That sense of adventure has stuck with me ever since. Until last December, our local club had always passed a lot of data by voice during the Christmas parade. Last year, we decided to shake things up 🎄💻 — we moved most of that traffic to digital using FLDIGI and a CSV spreadsheet. It worked really well! And because we still had voice as a backup, there was zero stress if something didn’t go as planned.

We’ve also been running APRS for the parade the past few years, and this year, I want to try something new again. The plan: set up a Meshtastic “repeater” about 50 feet in the air and equip as many club members as possible with Meshtastic nodes. I fully expect to walk away with a few lessons learned — but that’s part of the fun! 😎

BTW...this is my new favorite Meshtastic node. Perfect for everyday carry and a great first node that won't break the bank.

Of course, we’re not tossing out what already works. We’ll still have all the proven systems running just like in years past. But by adding something new into the mix, we’ll get to see whether Meshtastic could play a bigger role in future events.

After all, if we don’t experiment, we’ll never find out what’s possible. ⚡

The Simple Secret to Choosing the Best HT

  In one video you might see me grab the Kenwood D75, and in the next, I’m raving about the Icom ID50 — while yet another clip has me touting the Baofeng Mini. 📻 I get it — seeing all those different radios can be confusing — especially for a new ham. But in reality, it’s super simple: I pick the radio that best fits my needs for that particular day or outing.

Some days I’m in the truck most of the time, and since it’s already equipped with an APRS setup, there’s really no need to carry an additional APRS radio on my belt. On that kind of day, the Icom ID50 is perfect. 🚗

Other days, I might need access to the 220 band, which means reaching for either the VX6 or D74/75. But if the day calls for running System Fusion, neither of those will cut it — that’s when I reach for the trusty Yaesu FT5. While I don’t love the APRS interface on the FT5 and it doesn't give us access to the TNC, it’s the only HT I own that handles System Fusion, and it gets the job done. 💪

The main takeaway? 🎯 Pick what you need based on the situation. If you’re just planning to chat on 146.52 FM or the local repeater, almost any handheld will do. The key is to analyze your needs so you can choose the right HT for the day.

And remember — don’t let YouTube or anyone else decide for you. Only you know what works best for your setup, your activities, and your budget. 👍

The Race I Never Signed Up For

 A couple of weeks ago, I was driving to work on a Saturday morning as the sun was rising in the East. APRSDroid was running on the tablet, and I was monitoring the local repeater — pretty much my usual routine whenever I'm on the road. 🚗📡

About 30 minutes into the hour-long drive, something interesting started to unfold. APRS objects began appearing on the map, one by one, and together they started telling a story — the story of a bike race happening that weekend. 🚴‍♂️🗺️

Just by glancing at the map, I could pinpoint the start location, the finish line, and every rest stop in between. Even though I wasn’t directly involved with this event, all the details were clearly visible to anyone paying attention. Within minutes, I had also identified the net control frequency.

All of this information had been shared thanks to Dan, W4WWF. For those who might not remember, Dan was my counterpart on the opposite side of the airport during the air show back in June. ✈️ He had seen the APRS object setup I used for that event and applied the same approach to the bike race.

Before my shift started that morning, I sent Dan a quick APRS message to let him know how helpful and well-placed all the objects were. 👍 It’s always great to see APRS in action!