Amateur radio station
N4LLZ
Technical guides for APRS, HF, digital modes and antennas — written to explain the mechanism, not just the menu settings.
Start here
The guides people ask me about most.
APRS Without the Confusion
What APRS actually is, why your path setting matters more than your radio, and how to set up a tracker, an IGate, or messaging without annoying the entire region. Start here, then go deeper.
FT8, End to End
A complete FT8 setup: cabling, rig settings, WSJT-X configuration, the time-sync problem nobody warns you about, and how to not be the station everyone mutes.
HF Antennas for Small Lots
Getting on HF from a townhouse, an apartment, or an HOA. Dipoles, end-feds, verticals and loops compared honestly — including what each one actually costs you.
By topic
Six areas, written to be read in order or dipped into.
Getting Licensed
Choosing a class, studying efficiently, and what exam day actually looks like.
HF Operating
Building a first HF station, reading propagation, and working the bands.
Digital Modes
FT8, FT4, JS8Call and WSPR — setup, settings that matter, and etiquette.
APRS & Packet
From digipeater paths and IGates down to AX.25 framing, Mic-E, and the APRS-IS filter language.
Antennas & Feedline
Wire antennas that fit real lots, coax, grounding, and common-mode current.
Operating Practice
Calling CQ, pileups, logging, contests, POTA, and being easy to work.
Live from the station
Current conditions, read off the hardware.
A WeatherFlow Tempest feeding the site directly — not a forecast, and not a screenshot. Temperature, wind, pressure, rain and lightning, refreshed continuously.
Reference
Band plans, digital frequencies, phonetics, Q-codes.
The tables I look up constantly, in one place, so I stop searching for them mid-contact.