DIY Antennas, QRP, SDR & Ham Radio Projects from VU3DXR
The HF category brings together all content related to high‑frequency bands, from 160 m through 10 m, with emphasis on practical antennas, propagation, and station hardware. Here you will find compact 40 m verticals, multiband wire antennas, HF QRP transmitters, SDR transceivers, and accessories designed for real‑world home and portable operation. Articles often include measured SWR curves, on‑air reports, and build photos so you can understand how a design will behave before you start cutting wire.
There is a strong focus on getting HF on the air from small Indian plots, apartments, and field locations without sacrificing too much performance. Whether you are preparing for your first HF QSO, improving your 40 m NVIS coverage, or chasing DX on higher bands during good conditions, this section provides tested ideas to upgrade your HF station step by step
Struggling with limited space or high local noise? The Magnetic Loop antenna is the ultimate “stealth” solution for hams. We dive deep into the PA0WIT design, featuring a 1/5 ratio Faraday loop for a perfect 1.1 SWR and peak performance from 7MHz to 18MHz.
The W8JI Super Mini Loop antenna is a compact full-wave loop design that delivers multi-band HF performance. Learn how it works, why it’s efficient, and how to build and optimize it for your stati
The Half Square has been quietly delivering low-angle DX gain to operators who know about it, while remaining invisible to everyone else — including curious neighbours. Shaped like the Greek letter π, it uses two quarter-wave verticals fed in phase through a half-wave horizontal section, matches directly to 50-ohm coax without a tuner, needs no radials, and can beat an Inverted-V by 4 dB toward the horizon. Here is everything you need to build one
On the day Israel and the United States launched their first strikes against Iran, a mysterious shortwave radio station flickered to life on 7910 kHz. It hasn’t gone silent since. Broadcasting streams of numbers in Farsi — a Cold War spy radio technique that was thought to be fading from use — the signal has now been logged from Europe to North America. Radio amateurs have given it a name: V32
It took just one night — February 16, 2026, 22:47 UTC — for a small group of Italian radio amateurs to change the digital HF landscape forever. FT2, developed by Martino Merola IU8LMC of ARI Caserta, compresses a full ham radio QSO to as little as seven seconds, running four times faster than FT8 and twice as fast as FT4. Within two weeks, it had been spotted on PSKReporter from dozens of countries, spawned two incompatible software implementations, and ignited a fierce debate about open-source ethics, automation, and the soul of amateur radio digital operating. This is the complete story of FT2 — the mode, the schism, and what comes next.
If you are running a multiband doublet or any antenna with a tuner, ladder line will outperform coax on almost every band. Here is how to build your own from scratch — four proven designs, common materials, and every practical detail from spacer drilling to routing it through the shack wall.
A simple length of wire can unlock nearly the entire HF spectrum—and that’s exactly what the multi-band doublet antenna delivers. Using low-loss ladder line and an antenna tuner, this classic balanced antenna provides efficient coverage from 6 m through 160 m without the complexity of multiple resonant dipoles. Whether installed in a backyard or deployed in the field, the doublet remains one of amateur radio’s most versatile and enduring wire antenna solutions.
In February 2026, amateur radio gained its fastest weak-signal digital mode — and immediately fractured it. FT2 promised ~4-second QSOs and contest-level throughput, but within days of its first on-air tests it split into two incompatible implementations. Here’s the full story of the “FT2 war,” why it happened, and what it means for HF operators everywhere.
Learn how a fan dipole (parallel dipole) antenna lets you operate on two HF bands from a single feedline with no tuner. Includes the 468 formula, component breakdown, band pairing tips, and step-by-step building guide
FT2 promises ultra‑fast QSOs with 3.8‑second cycles and up to 240 contacts per hour, but early adopters are divided. This in‑depth report analyzes FT2’s technical trade‑offs, including its weaker –12 dB sensitivity, very tight ±50 ms clock requirement, Windows‑only Decodium client, and limited award support. It also compiles global feedback from Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, blogs, and WhatsApp groups—ranging from contesters who love the speed to operators who see FT2 as risky, unnecessary, or too fragile for weak‑signal DX.