WELCOME!

Join me on an Amateur Radio journey!

Within these pages, I talk about all the ways I have found to enjoy our fantastic hobby with the intention of sharing ideas and also learning by doing and then sharing what I’ve learned with others.


LATEST POSTS


  • Expired Ham – Vol. 1 Iss. 3

    Expired Ham – Vol. 1 Iss. 3

    It seems like every day since I got my new Yaesu FT-710 has been terrible for operating on HF. I made one or two contacts on FT8 early in the week. Midweek gave us a minor geomagnetic storm which made receiving extra difficult for me at my QTH. What gives, Sun? Give me a break.

    Read more

  • Expired Ham – Vol. 1 Iss. 2

    Expired Ham – Vol. 1 Iss. 2

    The Yaesu FT-710 HF/50MHz all-mode transceiver crosses all the boxes on my list at the moment. The FT-710 is a true SDR, has an internal antenna tuner, has a real-time spectrum scope with waterfall display, and is smaller than the FTdx10, weighs about 3 lbs lighter than the FTdx10, and is about $500 cheaper than…

    Read more

  • Some notes on learning Morse code

    Some notes on learning Morse code

    Hey there. Are you an amateur radio operator who feels like something is missing in their ham life? Did you take your license exams after the CW requirements were removed, but now think that CW operating seems kind of cool? Well, you are and it is. I highly recommend that you make an effort to…

    Read more

  • Expired Ham – Vol. 1 Iss. 1

    Expired Ham – Vol. 1 Iss. 1

    For a while now, I’ve been interested in finding a local amateur radio club to join that would provide me with opportunities to enhance my technical knowledge of the radio hobby. One such candidate is the Vienna Wireless Society based in the middle of Fairfax county, Virginia.

    Read more

  • Radio Amateur Extra Class

    Radio Amateur Extra Class

    Thanks in advance for welcoming me to the Amateur Extra class. I really appreciate it. I successfully passed the Amateur Extra license exam recently and am now among the ranks of the radio amateur elite, at least on paper. As with most things in life, there are still many, many things to learn. In fact,…

    Read more

  • Winter Field Day 2025 – Day 2

    Winter Field Day 2025 – Day 2

    Winter Field Day day two started off with a hot cup of fresh ground coffee and then I headed back to the garage to finish the exercise by doing as much participating as I possibly could. I started off with checking reception of 20 meters and 10 meters by trying to work some FT8, FT4,…

    Read more

BAND CONDITIONS

Courtesy of NØNBH

INFO

Privacy Policy

Consider buying me a coffee to help support the site.

About K2MAS

K2MAS is Matthew Swint. Matthew has been a licensed amateur radio operator since September 2014 when the FCC granted him General class privileges and the callsign of KM4EHD, which he changed to K2MAS in 2022. In 2025, Matthew earned an Amateur Extra class license.

You can find K2MAS on Instagram and on QRZ.com.