Thursday, June 4, 2026
24 check-insThis Week's Question
“What is one ham-radio-related thing you’re currently learning, researching, or planning to play with next?”
What's On Your Bench? — What We're Learning, Researching, and Tinkering With Next
Amateur radio is huge. It's HF and VHF and microwaves; it's CW and FT8 and FM and SSB; it's contesting and ragchewing and digital and emergency comms and satellites and homebrew antennas and Raspberry-Pi-everything. Nobody knows it all — and that's the fun. Every operator on this net is learning something right now, even the ones who've been licensed since the Reagan administration.
Tonight is about sharing those threads. What's the thing on your bench, in your browser tabs, or on your “someday” list? When we hear what each other is up to, we discover new corners of the hobby, find Elmers we didn't know we needed, and end up trying things we'd never have tried alone.
Why Share What We're Learning?
You'll Learn Faster
Saying it out loud forces you to organize what you actually know. Three minutes of explaining your project will surface the gaps quicker than three hours of YouTube.
Someone Else Has Done It
Whatever you're trying, someone in this group has the part, the cable, the ugrade, or the war story. Tonight is when you find out who.
It Keeps the Hobby Alive
New operators stick around when they see other hams trying new things. Sharing your “what's next” is a quiet recruiting tool for the whole hobby.
Stuck for an Answer? Here's an Idea Menu
If “what are you working on?” makes you blank for a second, here are some directions other hams have been heading lately. Pick one that sounds interesting — that's probably your “next thing”.
HF Digital Modes
FT8, FT4, JS8Call, VarAC. Worldwide contacts on a wire and a few watts — perfect for crowded RF environments and modest antennas.
Satellites & the ISS
FM birds with an Arrow antenna, packet on the ISS, or experimenting with cubesats. Great way to make a contact while standing in your backyard.
POTA / SOTA
Parks On The Air and Summits On The Air. Pack a radio, a battery, and a wire antenna; head to a state park; rack up contacts. Cheap, fun, healthy, addictive.
SDR & Software Receivers
RTL-SDR, SDRplay, KiwiSDR, Web-based remote receivers. Listen worldwide for less than the price of a pizza, and learn DSP along the way.
Mesh / AREDN
High-speed amateur data networking using repurposed Wi-Fi gear. Useful for ARES/ARPSC deployments and just plain cool to watch link up across town.
Winlink & Packet
Email and structured forms over RF. Bread-and-butter skill for EmComm, and surprisingly satisfying to see a message hit a server from your kitchen table.
CW (Morse Code)
Yes, still alive and thriving. Apps like CW Academy, Morse Mania, and LCWO make it easier than ever to start. Twenty minutes a day and you'll surprise yourself.
Antenna Building
End-fed half-waves, J-poles, mag loops, hex beams, beverages. The cheapest dB-per-dollar upgrade in the hobby is almost always a new antenna.
APRS & Tracking
Position reporting, weather telemetry, balloon and rocket payloads, messaging on 144.390. A great low-effort way to keep RF in the air.
Pi-Powered Stations
Raspberry Pi as an AllStar / IRLP node, a digital hotspot (DMR/D-STAR/YSF), a Winlink RMS gateway, an SDR server, or a full headless WSJT-X rig. Endless rabbit holes here.
Contesting & Awards
ARRL Field Day, Sweepstakes, state QSO parties, DXCC, Worked All States. Pick a goal, chase it, learn an enormous amount about propagation along the way.
Fox Hunting / RDF
Body-fade with an HT, Yagis, attenuators, loops — track down hidden transmitters or stuck mics. ARPSC has a hunt scheduled at Stony Creek; come out and play.
When Net Control Calls on You
Keep it short, keep it real. There's no “impressive enough” floor — if you're learning it, it counts. A great answer hits three quick beats:
What it is
“I'm trying to get into FT8” — one sentence, plain English.
Why now
What pulled you in — a YouTube video, a friend, a hamfest find, a curiosity?
Where you're stuck
Your one open question. That's where the rest of the net can help.
This Week's Action Item
Before next Thursday's net, pick one of the things you heard tonight and take a single concrete step toward it. The bar is low on purpose:
- Watch one ten-minute YouTube intro on a mode you don't know
- Download an SDR or digital-mode app and just let it run for an evening
- Order a single $20 part you've been putting off — an antenna, a cable, a kit
- Find one person on tonight's net and message them about their project
- Sketch the antenna you keep thinking about — just on paper
- Look up the next POTA park within 30 minutes of your house
Where to Start Digging
Some launchpads for the most common “what's next” answers we hear on the net. Bookmark a few and come back to them on a rainy Saturday.
WSJT-X (FT8 / FT4)
The official site for the most popular HF digital modes — downloads, manuals, and source.
wsjt.sourceforge.ioParks On The Air
Find a park, log activations and chases, see what's on the air right now.
parksontheair.comRTL-SDR Blog
The de-facto starting point for affordable software-defined radio on Windows, Mac, Linux, or a Raspberry Pi.
rtl-sdr.comWinlink Global Radio Email
Email over RF for EmComm and ARES/ARPSC. Software, RMS gateway list, and getting-started guides.
winlink.orgLearn CW Online (LCWO)
Free, browser-based Morse code training. Twenty minutes a day, character by character — no app store required.
lcwo.netAREDN Mesh
High-speed amateur radio data networking using off-the-shelf hardware. Big EmComm potential.
arednmesh.orgARRL On The Air
ARRL's beginner-friendly magazine and articles — great survey of what to try next.
arrl.orgAPRS.fi
Live map of APRS traffic. Watch the local area for an evening and you'll spot a project worth copying.
aprs.fiBottom Line
The strongest amateur radio clubs aren't the ones with the biggest towers — they're the ones where members tell each other what they're up to. Tonight, the question is small but the answer compounds: what are you learning next? Share it on the air and watch the rest of us pile in to help.
Check-In List
| # | Call Sign | Name | City | Member |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KE8WUO | John | Warren | Member |
| 2 | N8VDZ | Mike | Warren | Member |
| 3 | W8VOX | Jon | Macomb | Member |
| 4 | 26/N8CAF | Cliff | Clinton Township | Member |
| 5 | 43/KE8RUH | Anthony | Grosse Pointe Woods | Member |
| 6 | K8WA | Bill | Warren | Member |
| 7 | 14/KC8KJO | Tom | Memphis | Member |
| 8 | WA4MLD | Ray | Warren | Member |
| 9 | 15/N8HAP | Joe | New Baltimore | Member |
| 10 | 5/N8XZ | Ron | Warren | Member |
| 11 | 35/AD8MP | David | Saint Clair Shores | Member |
| 12 | 38/N8KJV | Jason | Warren | Member |
| 13 | KE8ZSA | Michael | Saint Clair Shores | — |
| 14 | 7/W8FU | Sean | Warren | Member |
| 15 | 41/KF8FQZ | Lisa | Warren | Member |
| 16 | 28/KA8UHG | Steve | Saint Clair Shores | Member |
| 17 | 6/N8WCB | Dave | Sterling Heights | Member |
| 18 | 9/W8VD | Wally | New Baltimore | Member |
| 19 | 32/KF8FGS | David | Utica | Member |
| 20 | KE8YNU | Dave | New Haven | Member |
| 21 | 10/N8WRO | Tim | Richmond | Member |
| 22 | KF8ETQ | Darren | Fraser | Member |
| 23 | K8ACW | Arthur | Utica | Member |
| 24 | KE8WOJ | Rickie | West Bloomfield | — |