An important part of hanging an antenna from a tree is a bearing, or pulley, to eliminate guy line friction and facilitate antenna repairs and adjustments.

The Wouff Hang—whimsically named after the infamous Wouff Hong from Amateur Radio history—is an easy to build bearing made from common PVC water pipe or electrical conduit found at any hardware or home supply store.

Author Roy Lewallen, W7EL, describes construction and use of The Wouff Hang in a well illustrated article which is (a free preview from the October 2019 issue of QST Magazine).

Having the ability to experiment with operating your equipment in new ways is an aspect of Amateur Radio which sets our hobby apart from radio services such as CBRS, GMRS, FRS, and MURS.

In his Enjoy FT8 From Almost Anywhere article (a free preview from the August 2019 issue of QST Magazine), J. Robert Witmer, W3RW, writes:

Imagine hunting 6-meter DX at a restaurant while eating breakfast, or making an all-time new DX contact while waiting for a flight. I’ve found myself operating remotely in these types of situations, and many others, using nothing more than my smart phone. If you think this type of operating is complicated and expensive, prepare to be surprised!¹

ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio, reports that Significant Changes [are] in Store for FT8 and MSK144 with WSJT-X Version 2.0:

WSJT-X co-developer Joe Taylor, K1JT, has announced that major changes are coming to the FT8 and MSK144 digital protocols when WSJT-X version 2.0 arrives in a few months. Taylor said version 2.0 should be ready for prime time by January.

FT8 is a new mode included in WSJT-X versions 1.8 and later.

This weak signal mode is intended—and optimised—for making efficient barebones contacts; a definite plus during this time of poor propagation. Although FT8 does not support rag-chewing or contesting exchanges it is, none the less, well worth trying out in the Amateur Radio spirit of learning and experimentation.

The slides from my presentation after the adjournment of the April 17, 2018, RRRA Business Meeting are available for download from the Training and Education | Presentations folder on the RRRA File Sharing server.

All Hams interested in FT8 are encouraged to attend KA0LDG’s presentation about this mode at the April RRRA Club Meeting

KA0LDG is planning to present a Power Point briefing about FT8 followed by a live demonstration of the mode using his portable station.

Please direct all questions about this upcoming presentation to .