Brooks Groves Β· Work Β· Ham radio Β· Lakewood, WA
Getting licensed, reaching the far side of the planet, and talking through the space station, from a kitchen table in Lakewood. The map is live: the sun's shadow, the grey line where long-distance radio comes alive, and the ISS overhead right now. Tap anywhere on it to aim.
Tap the map or pick a place. You'll get the beam heading to point an antenna, the distance, roughly how many skips off the ionosphere it takes, and whether it's day or night there.
Part one
There are three US license classes, and each one builds on the last. General is the one that opens the long-distance HF bands, but you can't skip to it: you need a Technician license first. The good news is that most exam teams will let you take the Technician and General exams back to back at the same sitting, so you can walk in with nothing and walk out a General.
Element 2
35 questions Β· pass with 26
Radio rules, safety, and how repeaters and antennas work. Opens all of VHF and UHF (local repeaters, the ISS, FM satellites) plus a little HF: Morse and data on 80, 40 and 15 m, and voice on 10 m.
Question pool: 2026β2030, in use since July 1, 2026
Element 3 Β· the goal
35 questions Β· pass with 26
Propagation, HF operating, station setup and a bit more electronics. Opens most of every HF band, which is how you talk across oceans with a modest antenna.
Question pool: 2023β2027, good through June 30, 2027
Element 4
50 questions Β· pass with 37
The full band edges, where much of the rare-country hunting happens, and a lot more theory. A goal for later.
Needs General first
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Part two
HF, the shortwave bands, is where signals bounce off the ionosphere and come down a continent away. Each bar is one band, drawn to its own scale. Filled parts are yours with a General license; the hatched parts are kept for Extra class. Flip to Technician to see how much General adds.
General also gets the five 60 m channels and everything from 6 m up. Band edges from the FCC Part 97 limits for ITU Region 2. Power and mode limits have more detail than a chart can show; check the ARRL band plan before you transmit.
Part three
Pinging the far side of the world is real and it's easier than it sounds. A few watts and a wire antenna can be heard in Japan, and some of the tools will show you exactly where you landed.
See who heard you
FT8 is a digital mode that pulls signals out of the noise. Call CQ for fifteen seconds and, a minute later, PSK Reporter puts a dot on a map for every station that decoded you. It's the closest thing ham radio has to a ping.
A beacon that maps the sky
WSPR ("whisper") sends a tiny beacon, a fraction of a watt, and listeners worldwide report it to WSPRnet. Leave it running overnight and you get a map of where the bands opened and when.
Ride the terminator
Around sunrise and sunset the ionosphere's lower, signal-eating layer fades before the upper, reflecting layer does. Paths that run along the grey line on the map above can reach places that are silent the rest of the day.
Radio outdoors
POTA is operating from parks with a portable station. It mixes hiking with radio, and the Radio Club of Tacoma runs a monthly club activation you can tag along on.
Keep score
Contacts are confirmed through ARRL's Logbook of the World. Confirm 100 countries and you earn DXCC, the long-standing badge of a long-distance operator.
Why it changes
Sunspots make the ionosphere a better mirror. Solar Cycle 25 peaked around 2024β25, so 10 and 15 m are still lively and 20 m is the dependable workhorse. 40 and 80 m come alive at night.
Part four
This is the part a Technician license already covers. The ISS carries ham radios, and a dual-band handheld with a small handheld antenna is enough to work them as the station passes over. Each pass lasts about ten minutes.
| Day | Rises | Highest | Sets | From β to | Max elev. | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working out the orbit⦠| ||||||
ISS Β· NA1SS Β· Technician
Talk up on 2 m, listen on 70 cm. Say your call sign and grid, keep it short, and let others in. On the downlink, tune 437.810 at rise, 437.800 overhead and 437.790 as it sets to follow the Doppler shift.
ISS Β· RS0ISS Β· Technician
Send a short text packet with your position and see it relayed from orbit on ARISS trackers. ARISS lists it as active but still being tested.
ISS Β· anyone can listen
A few times a year the ISS sends slow-scan TV images. Any radio that hears 145.800 and a phone app decodes them, no license needed. Watch the ARISS status page for event dates.
Satellite Β· SO-50 Β· Technician
One of the longest-running FM birds and a good first satellite. Check AMSAT's live status before a pass; small satellites come and go.
The ISS radios go quiet for spacewalks, dockings and crew schedules. ARISS posts what's on at its status page (last checked October 31, 2026, when the voice repeater was in service). ARISS also sets up scheduled school contacts with the crew, which clubs help run.
Part five
The phonetic alphabet, the Q codes everyone uses, and the shorthand you'll hear on the air the first night.
Part six
Study
Technician and General on one page: rules, band edges, propagation, formulas, antennas, safety and the traps to watch.
Open the cheat sheet βTool
The repeaters you can reach from home on a range scope, downloaded as one CHIRP file that programs almost any radio.
Open the channel plan βIn planning
A homemade sensor station that radios its readings home, starting on Chambers Creek. The ham license is how it will talk.
See the plan βEvery Tuesday, 7:30 pm
The Radio Club of Tacoma's net runs on the W7DK repeater, 147.280 MHz (+0.6, tone 103.5). Listening in is the best way to learn how a net sounds before you check in.
Saturdays, 10 amβ2 pm
The Radio Club of Tacoma opens its clubhouse at 1249 S. Washington St. every Saturday, with operating positions, a library and an antique radio museum. Classes and exam sessions are on its calendar.
Sources: exam pools and dates from the ARRL and NCVEC; ISS frequencies and status from ARISS (October 27, 2026 update); ISS orbit from CelesTrak, refreshed twice a day; local nets and clubhouse hours from W7DK. Coastlines from Natural Earth. Pass times are predictions; the ISS adjusts its orbit now and then.