New River Trail Races 2026

Another weekend, another public service event. Being a member of AUXCOMM comes with the responsibility to aid in communications where needed. While not as important as in a disaster zone, communicating for public service events like the New River Trail Races, gives us an opportunity to test equipment and practice passing traffic.  

Starlink Mini and Ham Radio

 

I've been a user of Starlink for over three years now. Recently they started offering their portable Starlink Mini for "free" to those who have been customers for more than two years. I thought it was a good deal and picked it up. Here's my experiences and how I'm planning on using it as a ham radio tool. 

Direct to Cell Satellite Service, T-Mobile and Starlink Cellphone connectivity

Some of the cooler technology making gains these days is raining down from above. With the onslaught of LEO communication satellites being launched, connectivity is everywhere and it's getting easier and cheaper to obtain. Through a deal between T-Mobile and Starlink, you can now experience satellite connectivity provided directly to your cellphone.

Iron Mountain Jubilee 2023

Each year our radio club participates in providing communication services for the Iron Mountain Jubilee, an endurance horse ride through the mountains of Southwest Virginia. This year the course changed and a 100 mile, 24 hour event was added.

ZTE Warp Connect High Gain Log Periodic Antennas

I've made the switch from a slow unreliable DSL connection to using the Sprint LTE network. To make things better I picked up some high gain antennas. In this post I'll give you some information on how I set them up and how well they work.

ZTE Warp Connect Hotspot Antenna Hack

If you are in a marginal coverage area with your hot spot, any little boost can help. In today's post I'll show you a quick, cheap way to get a better signal using a couple pieces of wire and some know how.

ZTE Warp Connect and Cheap Sprint 4G LTE

While this may not exactly be ham radio related, there is radio involved. In this post I'll talk about switching from an unreliable land line DSL to 4G wireless internet service via Sprint using the ZTE Warp. I'll also share some interesting sources to get truly unlimited LTE service.

REVIEW -- Baofeng Tech APRS-K2 TRRS Cable

As interested in APRS and packet operations as I am, I had to try out this new cable from Baofeng Tech. The APRS-K2 cable allows you to connect any cellphone to any radio using the two pin Kenwood style mic cable and VOX to enable easy access to packet radio operation. Let's check it out!

APRS Tracking on the Cheap

Are you a new ham looking to experiment with APRS? Maybe you want some cheap trackers to use for a public service event. If you've been looking for an inexpensive APRS tracker, look no further!