Updated: 5/29/2018

I’ve been licensed since 1999 and upgraded to General and Extra in 2008 but I hadn’t been on the amateur HF bands very much.  When I graduated from Grad School, I bought myself and setup a new HF station.

This post is going to be about my experiences, things I’ve learned along the way, and maybe some things that may not be obvious to someone starting out.  I will add to this post.

This is not meant to be “all-inclusive” by any means and not meant to be a substitute for elmering and experience.  It’s meant to be for someone who has operated VHF/UHF for a long while but just venturing out into HF.

I’m bitter in alot of this post because many points draw on real interactions I’ve encountered.  It’s not to discourage you to operate HF but to be better than the other guy acting like a jerk.  Common sense helps tremendously.  Folks out there who are all about the points, number of exchanges, getting that last contact, and awards common sense almost always goes out the window.  Just remember you have a choice to not work those stations.

A quick note… ac6v.com has a TON of good information on everything from “antennas to zones.”  I think it could be organized a little better and layout is a little 1996ish, regardless 700 amateur radio topics are covered. The Google search at the top really helps finding things.

Let’s get started.