These past few months, I’ve been spending a lot of my Saturdays volunteering at the California Historical Radio Society. This is a great little museum in Alameda I would recommend for any ham or radio enthusiast. I have spent a lot of time operating in the W6CF ham shack, mostly on phone modes but also introducing the museum to modern digital modes such as FT-8. It has been a fun and rewarding exp...
It's now 2025. Reflecting back on the year, it has had its ups and downs. However, I feel that I've had a pretty good holiday season, all things considered. The month of December 2024 started with a 7.3 magnitude earthquake on the 5th, which triggered a tsunami warning. Days later, at the start of the ARRL 10m contest on December 14th, San Francisco experienced its first tornado warning in history...
In the past month, I've attempted a Parks on the Air activation on two different occasions at Thornton State Beach (US-3577). I failed to obtain the required ten contacts to activate the park both times. Despite that, I had a lot of fun and am writing this blog post about my experience getting there via public transit and operating at the park. I live in the city and do not own a car, so I'm a...
Recently I had the opportunity to visit San Bruno Mountain State Park and activate the summit for Summits on the Air (SOTA), and I attempted a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation. This was a very transit friendly destination to make radio contacts. Starting from downtown San Francisco, I took BART to Daly City, where I caught the 130 bus to the Royce Way Trailhead. You can also take the 130B bus. T...
So far this June has been a busy month for me with regards to amateur radio and as of writing this, the ARRL Field Day hasn’t even happened yet. Before Field Day gets started on the 22nd, I decided it would be nice to reflect on my contesting experience thus far. Lately my experience with ham radio has been characterized by challenges, but nevertheless I’ve been having a lot of fun with my operati...