What was supposed to be a minor one-click update late in the evening on February 15 ended up completely crashing Off Grid Ham. Not only was the entire website offline, I could not even log into the admin page to un-do the upgrade or figure out what happened. Everything was… Read more »
It’s not so simple. The other day I came across an interesting discussion on a ham radio internet forum about the pros and cons of amateurs getting involved with incident/disaster response organizations and whether or not assistance from amateurs is even wanted. Just as we’d expect from the internet, the… Read more »
With no clear plan or purpose I registered the offgridham.com domain on August 22, 2015. I had a few loose ideas, but I wasn’t sure if I could commit to producing consistent, fresh material. That, plus my demanding full time “real job” as a communications electronics technician, had me asking… Read more »
Field Day 2018 is almost here. It’s a contest, readiness drill, science fair, publicity stunt, geek festival, and party all rolled into one. It’s the Grand Poobah of amateur radio events. And this year my challenge to Off Grid Ham readers is not to fly solo. The task is simple:… Read more »
The news of a solar panel import tariff broke so quickly and out of the blue that even geeks like me who closely follow alternative energy news & policy were caught off guard. There are a few things off grid amateur radio operators need to know about the solar panel… Read more »
I never was one for new year resolutions. They always feel trite and insincere. If something is worth doing, then you don’t need to wait for a special day to do it. The false attraction of new year resolutions is that no one expects anyone to fulfill them, so it’s… Read more »
Off Grid Ham almost didn’t happen. I was already writing for a non-ham radio related website. I could barely handle what I had already; why take on more? And oh yeah, I also have a full time “real job”. But I had so many ideas for radio articles, and the… Read more »
About a week in, the epic story of hurricane Harvey is still unfolding. Compelling video footage of human decency and nature’s violent fury are at the same time both uplifting and disturbing. No matter what else happens and no matter how devastating the damage, I am confidant that the American… Read more »
For close to three decades, ever since the Morse Code requirement for amateur radio was dropped for the Technician license in 1990 and then finally eliminated for all licenses in 2007, there has been a simmering debate about the future of amateur radio and how to make it appealing to… Read more »
Field Day is an annual opportunity for radio amateurs to practice their skills and show the world what a valuable resource the amateur radio service is. Many amateurs who are not particularly active in the hobby the rest of the year will always come out for Field Day. Then there… Read more »
Deliberately stepping away from a comfortable home operating position to practice ham radio in poor conditions is not an idea too many amateurs find appealing, yet it is a situation that radio amateurs should be familiar with before it actually happens, because at some point it probably will happen. If… Read more »