YouTube video by Thomas (K4SWL)

YouTube video by Thomas (K4SWL)

YouTube video by N4JAW Jim "Ham on a Bike"

by Thomas (K4SWL) It’s been a long while since I’ve written a receiver review. Years ago, I cranked them out several times a year and genuinely loved the process–evaluating performance, quirk…

Many thanks to Scott (VA3EKR) who shares the following guest post, which was originally posted on his blog.  Note that I (K4SWL) will be posting my field report for this activation in the coming days! Thanks for sharing this, Scott: November 14, 2025: Dogback Mountain, NC, (SOTA W4C/EM-066, POTA US-3378) by Scott (VA3EKR/KK7TMS) The second day of my visit to North Carolina, Thomas (K4SWL) and I visited Vlado (

by Thomas (K4SWL) Lately, I’ve been receiving emails that look like they’re from ham radio friends — complete with their name and callsign in the “from” line. At first glance, they seem legitimate. But when you check the actual email address (not just the name that shows up in your inbox), it’s clearly not from them. For example, the "from" line might read, "Thomas (K4SWL)" but the email address is something more like abc4567@gmail.com.

I was lucky enough to catch Thomas K4SWL on his first activation with the new Elecraft KH1 . Tom was operating from the Blue Ridge Nation...

by Thomas (K4SWL/M5SWL) On Tuesday, June 23, 2026, my wife, daughters, and I took the advice of just about everyone we'd met since arriving in the Borderlands: "You have to visit Holy Island." Officially known as Lindisfarne, Holy Island sits just off the Northumberland coast, only about a 30-minute drive from the cottage where we've been staying. Getting there, however, takes a little planning.

by Thomas (K4SWL) On Saturday, August 15th, 2026, I had a full day ahead with family—most notably, moving a daughter into her Raleigh apartment—so I woke early to fit in a park activation before the chaos began! The previous morning, I'd planned to use my Xiegu X6200 but discovered the battery hadn't charged properly after a firmware update–not the radio's fault, but my own for not checking the PD power supply I was using.

This summer, my family and I are spending several weeks in the United Kingdom, and naturally, I’m fitting in as much portable radio as humanly possible as MM5SWL, M5SWL, and hopefully, MW5SWL…

One year ago today—September 27, 2024—Hurricane Helene moved up from the Gulf of Mexico, swept across the Southeast, and struck Western North Carolina. Its impact was massive—its destruction, unprecedented. by Thomas (K4SWL) The Storm Arrives We’d been following weather reports in advance, expecting heavy rain, localized flooding, and some winds. That’s not unusual here—we often see the remnants of hurricanes and tropical storms.

by Thomas (K4SWL) I often talk to people who are getting into POTA and SOTA, and they'll sometimes tell me that I must never have trouble getting contacts because of my callsign. They assume that, with all of the people who have me in their HamAlerts, I'll always have plenty of stations calling me regardless of propagation or conditions. That's simply not true.

by Thomas (K4SWL) When I meet a newly minted amateur radio operator, I often start by telling them, "You couldn't be entering our community at a better time!" And I really mean that. We have incredible support communities, both in person and online. Amateur radio has become far more accessible than it once was. And the cost of getting on the air has dropped dramatically.

by Thomas (K4SWL) The afternoon of Wednesday, September 17, 2025, was just calling out for a POTA activation. I didn’t have enough time in the day to travel further afield than my local Blue Ridge Parkway—my park-away-from-home these days—so I headed there with a field kit packed in the car. In mid-September, I was still dealing with some lower back pain.

by Thomas (K4SWL) I will be spending much of the summer in the United Kingdom, and I plan to be quite active with portable radio. If all goes according to plan, you'll hear me using the following callsigns: England: M5SWL Scotland: MM5SWL Wales (hopefully!): MW5SWL If you'd like to put me in the logs, please consider adding those callsigns to your HamAlert notifications.

by Thomas (K4SWL) On Wednesday, June 24, 2026, my family and I planned to spend the day exploring the Dunbar area of eastern Scotland, with the hope of fitting in a Parks on the Air activation that afternoon (at least, I hoped to fit in an activation!). That morning, though, I realized that if I got up early enough, I could probably squeeze in another activation before we left.