Digital Audio & Radio Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 09-08-2023

This handy Cheat Sheet includes important basics for starting up and operating a low power FM (LPFM) radio station. Learn about meeting the criteria for a license to operate, choosing turntables for playing music, crafting announcements, finding online resources, and more.

Article / Updated 08-03-2023

Logic Pro projects are similar to any computer file type, except they’re larger in scope than files such as text documents. You might be shocked to see an entire chapter about a file type, but there’s so much more you can do with Logic Pro projects than other file types. You’ll soon understand how important they are to the creative process. Projects are flexible. When disk space is a concern, for example, you can save only the assets you want to keep. You can create project templates to speed up your workflow and set up Logic Pro exactly how you want to work. Each project contains global settings of the entire project as well as different snapshots of the project, such as different arrangements, mixes, or treatments. For example, you can create an alternate version of your project if the producer calls for a version without a vocal (for when the performer needs to sing live on TV to a backing track). Starting your project A project is the file type that you work with in Logic Pro. The file extension of a Logic Pro project is .logicx. The project file contains MIDI events, parameter settings, and information about the audio and video in your project. To get the big picture of your project and how it relates to Logic Pro, the hierarchy goes like this: Project → Tracks → Regions → Events Your project contains tracks. Your tracks contain regions. Your regions contain events. The File menu is where you do most of your project-level work. To start an empty default Logic Pro project, choose File → New or press Shift+Command+N. A New Tracks dialog window opens, as shown in the figure below. At the top of the screen, choose the type of track you want to begin working with and click Create. A more advanced and customized way to start a new project is to choose File → New from Template (Command+N). The Project Chooser window opens, as shown in the figure below. You can select a premade project template, a recent project, or your own customized project template. Click the Details disclosure triangle (at the bottom left) to display even more options for your new project, such as the tempo, time and key signatures, and audio input and output. You can change any project option, but you should stick to a single sample rate. The default sample rate, 44.1 kHz, is the standard rate for an audio CD. If your goal is to use your audio in a video project, consider using a 48 kHz sample rate, which is the video standard. Using higher sample rates depends on your hardware capabilities and project needs. After you start your project, you’re ready to begin recording, arranging, editing, and mixing. It’s a dream come true. Choose a custom startup action to tell Logic Pro what to do when you launch it. If you’re the prolific type, you can create a new project every time you launch the app. If you, like me, are a mere mortal, you might want to open the most recent project on startup. Choose Logic Pro → Settings → General and select the Project Handling tab, as shown in the figure below. Then select your startup action. Opening a project You can open a project in several ways. You can double-click a project file in Finder, which will launch Logic Pro and open the project. If another project is open, Logic Pro will ask if you want to close the project. More than one project can be open simultaneously, so closing the current project is unnecessary. To switch between open projects, choose Window on the main menu and then select the project in the list at the bottom of the menu. You can open a project also from the File menu. Choose File → Open or press Command+O, and a dialog will open, allowing you to navigate to the location of your project in Finder. Choose File → Open Recent instead to see a list of your recent projects. Logic Pro can also open MIDI files, AAF files (Advanced Authoring Format files used by digital audio workstations such as Pro Tools), XML files (used by Final Cut Pro), and GarageBand projects. It can also open projects created with earlier versions of Logic Pro. If this is your first time launching Logic Pro, you might want to explore a demo project by a popular artist. Choose File → New from Template (Command+N) and select Demo Projects in the Project Chooser sidebar. Then select a demo project and press Choose. Saving a project When you create your project, it is autosaved in the Logic folder under the temporary name Untitled.logicx. (You can get to the Logic folder in Finder by navigating to Users → USERNAME → Music → Logic.) To save your project manually, choose File → Save. In the Save dialog that appears, name your project and choose a location or keep the default location, which is the Logic folder. You can choose to organize your project as a package or a folder. A package saves your project as a single file that includes all project assets. A folder saves the project file and saves its assets in subfolders. You can also choose to copy specific file types into your project. It’s a good idea to copy your audio files into the project, but you might not want to copy samples due to their potentially large file size. The benefit to saving a project without assets is that you conserve hard drive space. The downside is that it can be easy to mistakenly delete assets that the project depends on. Hard drive space is inexpensive, so it makes sense to include all assets in your project folder. By doing so, organizing, moving, and archiving projects will be easier. I find saving projects as packages is the simplest approach. You can view the contents of packages (all package file types, including Pages, Keynote, and Numbers files) by Ctrl-clicking the package in Finder and choosing Show Package Contents. All your audio files and assets will be in the Finder window that opens. If you want to save the project with a different name or in a different location, choose Save As on the File menu. If you want to create a copy of the project, choose Save a Copy As on the File menu. Closing a project When you’re ready to close your project, choose File → Close Project. If you’ve made any changes since you last saved your project, Logic Pro asks if you want to save the project. If you don’t want to keep those changes, select Don’t Save from the Save dialog. Don’t confuse the Close Project command with the Close command. Both are on the File menu. The Close command simply closes the currently focused window. However, if your project has only one window open, which is often the case, using the Close command will also close your current project. Naming and renaming a project It’s a good idea to have a naming convention and stick with it. When I’m saving a project that doesn’t yet have a title, my file-naming convention is to use the date, key signature, harmonic mode, and tempo, followed by any other useful descriptors such as the musical genre, song section, and version numbers. For example: 2022-06-03 Cmin Dorian 120bpm EDM verse 01 Naming your file this way enables you to match projects based on mode and tempo. If you eventually come up with a title for your project, use the Save As command (described earlier) or just rename the project file in Finder. Or you can use the Rename function by choosing File → Project Management → Rename. Augmenting your project Projects are so basic to your workflow that you may take them for granted after a while. But you can do several cool things at the project level that will make your time with Logic Pro more productive. Saving time with project templates When you create a project, you see Project Chooser, where you can begin a project from a premade template. These default templates are excellent starting places. You can also create your own project templates. How can you save time with templates? Suppose you’re recording several songs with a band and each song has a similar setup, or you’re a film composer and use identical orchestra setups for all your scores. In either case, you could create a project template once and use it over and over again. To save a template, set up your project how you want it and then choose File → Save as Template. Project templates are saved in a special folder located at Users → USERNAME → Music → Audio Music Apps → Project Templates. For more detail on working with projects and templates, not to mention everything you can do with Logic Pro, check out my book Logic Pro For Dummies. I love using templates, and I’ve saved dozens of them. I have genre-based templates, templates that include my favorite third-party software, and templates that I’ve created from analyzing popular hits (and not-so-popular guilty pleasures). Templates are excellent productivity tools. Autosaving your hard work In high school, I spent an entire evening sequencing a popular song in one of the first Apple MIDI sequencers. I spent hours hunched over a computer keyboard instead of doing my homework, completely focused, with no bathroom breaks, until the electricity went out. I hadn’t saved the project even once. Even though I was crushed, I jumped back in, and sequencing was much easier the second time. I also developed a habit of pressing Command+S, which I still have to this day. You might even find my left hand “air-saving” while I’m away from the computer. It’s a habit I’m happy to have. Fortunately for you, Logic Pro autosaves your work. If Logic Pro should crash, when you reopen the project, it will ask you to choose an autosaved version or the last manually saved version. However, even though the program autosaves, get in the habit of saving your work after every important change you make. Recovering from problems with project backups What would you do if your computer was stolen or ruined? Barring the financial considerations of buying a new computer, could you recover quickly? If I were to lend you my own computer, could you rebound and save the game? If you couldn’t, please pay attention, for the sake of your music. I’m a backup fanatic. I back up all my computers using Apple’s Time Machine software and a few rotating external drives. I also back up my entire computer offline using Apple iCloud and Amazon S3 cloud storage. But wait, there’s more. I sync my current projects using Dropbox so I can work on them on multiple computers. A smart best practice for backing up your data is to use the three-two-one rule. Back up at least three copies of your work, in two different formats, with one copy offsite. Back up your work often and make it part of your regular work routine. Logic Pro also creates project backups every time you save your project. As long as you have Show Advanced Tools selected in the Advanced Settings pane, you can revert to an earlier saved version of your project. Every time you save your project, a backup is made. You can revert to these backups by choosing File → Revert To. A list of your time-stamped project backups allows you to go back in time to a previously saved project. This feature saves you when you try things out that you don’t like or make mistakes while working.

Article / Updated 08-03-2023

Did your drummer get lost on the way to the studio? Don’t you just hate it when that happens? Oh, you have Logic Pro? Never mind. Listen, I love playing with a live drummer. Some of my best musical partnerships have been with amazing drummers. But I love how Logic Pro gives me a virtual live drummer to inspire me and help turn my rhythmic ideas into reality. Playing with your virtual drummer Drummer is your virtual session player. Drummer is a combination of track type and software instrument. The track type does the drumming, and the software instrument provides the drum sounds. A drummer track is a particular track type reserved for use with Drummer. The drummer track comes with its own drummer editor, which chooses the style of music and the player, and tells the drummer how to play the track. The editor is so simple that anyone can use it. The Drum Kit Designer or Drum Machine Designer software instrument is automatically added to a drummer track, depending on your drummer selection. (Note that you don't have to use the preloaded software instrument.) Drummer works the same for both software instruments, so I won’t describe them separately in this article. Creating a drummer track To create a drummer track, choose Track → New Drummer Track. A new drummer track is added to the track list, and a default eight-bar region is added to the tracks area, as shown in the figure below. Creating drummer regions Although Drummer automatically creates an eight-bar region, you don’t have to live with it. By using several regions to build your project rather than one big region, you can more easily change what your drummer plays during different song sections (as you’ll soon see). To create a drummer region, select the pencil tool in the tracks area and click where you would like the region to begin. By default, drummer regions are eight bars long. If you want to change the region's size, drag the region's lower-left or lower-right edge to resize it. You could also split a region (making two regions out of one) by using the scissors tool. If you want to force the drummer to hit the crash cymbal at the beginning of a song section, create a new region. You may need to adjust the Fills parameter, as you learn next, but getting Drummer to play a cymbal crash at the beginning of a region is a good reason why you want new regions to start at song sections or groove changes. Choosing and directing your drummer in the editor The real power of Drummer’s artificial intelligence-like personality is in the drummer editor. To open the editor, double-click a drummer region or select the region and choose View → Show Editor (E). The editor, shown in the figure below, opens at the bottom of the tracks area. The drummer editor is filled with personality. To get the most out of it, open the library (press Y or choose View → Show Library) so you can change settings for the entire drummer track. At the top of the area is a headshot and description of the currently selected drummer character, as shown in the figure below. Below the current drummer is the Drummer section, where you can choose the style and drummer character. Each style has several different drummers with names and headshots, and new drummers are occasionally added with software updates. Click the drummer you want for the entire track. The track regions and drummer editor are updated with the style of the selected drummer. Below the drummer character focus area is the Sounds section. Although each drummer character has an associated kit, you can choose different kits independently of the selected drummer character. Click the lock icon next to the Sounds heading to change drummers without changing drum kits. Since Logic Pro first came out, developers have added new drummers and kits, and more are bound to be on the way. The drummer editor is where you change settings for the selected drummer region. Here’s a description of each section: Ruler: At the top of the region settings are a ruler, a play icon, and an auto-select icon. You can play the region or move the playhead within the region in this ruler. When auto-select is engaged, the drummer editor displays settings for the region at the current playhead position. Beat Presets: Choosing a drummer character loads a set of beat presets you can click to update the editor controls. At the top of the Presets menu is a drop-down list where you can save, delete, and recall the default preset. You can also refresh the region to make subtle changes to the current region. Finally, you can choose to keep the settings while changing drummers. X/Y pad: The X/Y pad has a yellow puck that you can move between Loud/Soft and Complex/Simple. The position of the puck makes a big difference in the beat the drummer will play. Drum and percussion instruments: Click the instruments to select the drum and percussion sounds that will play in the region. Depending on the selected drummer character, this area will show different instruments that are available to play. The sliders to the right of the instruments allow you to choose between groove variations. If you select the Follow check box for the Kick & Snare slider, the slider changes to a drop-down menu, and you can select a track in the project that the kick and snare will follow. Fills: The Fills knob adjusts the number and length of fills. Click its lock icon to freeze the fills setting when changing presets. Swing: The Swing knob adjusts the amount of shuffle feel. Click the lock icon to freeze the swing setting when changing presets. You can also click the 8th or 16th buttons to decide whether the swing is based on eighth or sixteenth notes. Details: Click the Details button to open an additional editing panel, as shown in the figure below. Use this panel to change Feel, Ghost Notes, and Hi-Hat performance. The Feel knob adjusts how Drummer plays relative to the tempo. You can pull back the performance so that it plays behind the beat or push it forward to play in front of the beat. The Ghost Notes knob adjusts how loudly or quietly Drummer plays ghost notes (notes that are played at a low volume between the loud notes). The Hi-Hat knob adjusts the amount of closed or open hi-hat that Drummer plays. Selecting producer kits Each drummer has a default kit connected to the drummer. If the drummer character is an acoustic drummer (as opposed to an electronic drummer), the kit is automatically loaded into the stereo Drum Kit Designer software instrument. You can upgrade the kit to a special producer kit with more tracks and channel strips for ultimate control. To select a producer kit, do the following: Choose View → Show Library to open the library. The library opens on the left side of the tracks area. Choose Drum Kit → Producer Kits, then select a patch. The track is upgraded to a track stack containing several tracks of individual drums. Note that producer kit patches have a + sign in the name to help you tell them apart from non-producer kit patches. To have access to all producer kits, choose Logic Pro → Sound Library → Open Sound Library Manager. The Sound Library Manager window opens, as shown in the figure below. Select the Drum Kit check box and click Install. Be mindful of the size. The multi-output drum kits are over 10 gigabytes, but these kits were engineered by golden-eared professionals and are worth every gigabyte. Building custom kits with Drum Kit Designer The Drum Kit Designer software instrument is automatically added to drummer tracks that use acoustic drummer characters. To open Drum Kit Designer, follow these steps: Select a drummer track and display the inspector by choosing View → Show Inspector (I). The inspector opens to the left of the tracks area. Click the instrument slot in the channel strip. The Drum Kit Designer software instrument opens, as shown in the figure below. Click any drum to play it. As you click a drum, the left side displays the Exchange panel where you can choose different drums. The right side displays the Edit panel, where you can control the selected drum sound. Each type of drum or cymbal has different parameters. You can tune and dampen every sound and adjust the volume by using the Gain knob. If you've loaded a producer kit (refer to the preceding section, “Selecting producer kits”), you can select whether the sound should be included in the overheads and room microphones or should leak into other drum mics. You can select between two mic setups for the room mics by using the A/B slider. At the bottom of the software instrument screen is a disclosure triangle that opens the additional settings shown in the figure above. In this area, you can adjust the volume of the drummer's percussion instruments.

Article / Updated 08-03-2023

Audio recording was introduced to the original Notator Logic in 1994, about 20 years before the introduction of Logic Pro. “The Sign” by Ace of Base was the number-one song that year. While I can't confirm that the song was referring to the emergence of computer audio recording, I can confirm that it was a breakthrough year for Logic. Fast forward more than 20 years, and you have a powerful and affordable digital audio workstation that scores of major artists use to create chart-topping hits. Preparing to record After you connect your audio hardware, set the project sample rate, and select the recording file type, you should confirm that the incoming signal from your audio source (microphone or instrument) is being received by your audio interface by checking the levels of your hardware inputs. (Check your audio interface documentation for details.) Before you can begin recording, you must create an audio track by choosing Track → New Audio Track. The new audio track is added to the track list and selected automatically. For complete instructions on how to connect your audio hardware, set your project sample rate, and everything else you need to know about using Logic Pro, check out my book Logic Pro For Dummies. Name your new track something descriptive because the audio files generated from recording will use the track name in the file name. To name your track, double-click the track header or press Shift-Enter and type your track name. On your new track, select the correct input as follows: Select the track. Open the track inspector by pressing I or choosing View → Show Inspector. Click the input/instrument slot, as shown in Figure 1, and choose the correct input. Click the input format icon (labeled in Figure 1) to toggle between stereo and mono input. Testing your recording levels To test the volume level at which you’ll record, enable the track for recording by clicking the record enable icon on the track header (refer to Figure 1) or by pressing Control-R. The record enable icon will blink red to let you know that the track is enabled for recording. Play your instrument or speak into your microphone to test the recording level. If your signal is too high or low, adjust the instrument volume or the input level on your audio interface. Be care not to clip the audio signal! When a signal is too loud and exceeds the limit that digital audio can reproduce, the signal is said to be clipping. You can see when your signal is clipping by the peak level display at the top of your track’s level meter, as shown in Figure 2. When the number above the level meter is positive, the peak level display will become red, indicating that the track is clipping. During the recording phase, the best way to remedy signal clipping is to lower the volume on your instrument or audio interface. (Be sure to check for clipping on your audio interface as well.) Conversely, don’t record signals that are too quiet — when you raise their level, you can introduce noise into the mix. You must have Enable Complete Features selected in the Logic Pro Advanced Settings pane. Choose Logic Pro → Settings → Advanced and select Enable Complete Features. Pre-fader metering is used to test recording levels, which means the level meter shows you the signal level before the fader. You can turn on pre-fader metering by customizing your control bar and selecting Pre Fader Metering in the Modes and Functions column. An icon is added to your control bar, as shown in the figure below, to allow you to toggle pre-fader metering. You want your meters to show you the signal pre-fader so that you can be aware of what’s being recorded, even if you lower the fader to blend better with the other tracks. If you use post-fader metering, the meter will show you the level of the track after it has been raised or lowered, and you won’t know whether it’s clipping. Enabling software and input monitoring If you’re not going to monitor your signal through your hardware, you’ll need to turn on software monitoring. Follow these steps: Choose Logic Pro → Settings → Audio. The Audio Settings window opens. Click the General tab. Select the Software Monitoring check box. You can now use the Logic Pro software to monitor your audio. If you plan on monitoring the signal through your hardware, deselect Software Monitoring. When a track is record enabled, you'll be able to hear it. If a track isn’t record enabled, you won’t hear it unless you've turned on input monitoring. If you’re monitoring from hardware and not software, you should turn off input monitoring. Turn it off and on by clicking the input-monitoring icon on the track header (refer to Figure 2) or on the channel strip. Setting up the metronome By default, Logic Pro will play a metronome as you record. To turn off the metronome while recording, choose File → Project Settings → Metronome and select the Click While Recording check box, as shown in Figure 4. If you want to hear the metronome while you play the track, press K to toggle the metronome on and off. The audio click you hear in the metronome is generated by the Klopfgeist software instrument. You can play it as an instrument (though I don't know why you’d want to). You can also set up an external sound source as your metronome. In Figure 4, MIDI channel 10 is set to transmit a MIDI click. MIDI channel 10 is often reserved for drum sounds, so if you have a multi-timbral keyboard workstation, you can set a drum sound to MIDI channel 10 to receive the MIDI click. If you have a drumbeat that grooves a little differently than the metronome, you may want to hear the click only during the count-in and not while recording. To do so, select the Only During Count-In check box. Be careful of metronome blindness, a condition where you don’t even realize that the metronome is playing because your brain has tuned it out. It’s happened to me and others. The click can be heard over the entire mix, but you forget it’s on as you play the track. If you want to adjust the number of bars that the metronome counts in before recording, choose File → Project Settings → Recording and select the number of bars or beats you want on the drop-down menu, as shown in Figure 5. If you’re recording a slower song, select the Division check box to give yourself more clicks to reference the time. And if you’re recording a drummer, you’ll be a recording session hero. Recording your first audio take In the recording world, a single recording is called a take. Recording a good take is like capturing something special and elusive. Logic Pro helps you capture the moment quickly and easily. With your track selected and record enabled, you can begin recording as follows: Place the playhead where you want to begin recording. Press R or click the record icon in the control bar transport, as shown in Figure 6. Wait for the count-in and then start playing. When you’re finished, click the stop icon on the transport or press the spacebar. A new audio region will fill the area where you began and stopped recording, as shown in Figure 7. To play back what you just recorded, place the playhead at the beginning of your newly recorded region and then click the play icon on the transport or press the spacebar. When you’re finished listening to your new recording, press the spacebar again, and the project will stop playing. Recording multiple takes in cycle mode You can record additional recordings, or takes, on a track that already contains audio regions. A take folder is created to contain the original and new takes. In cycle mode, new lanes are created each time the cycle passes. When cycle mode is enabled, playback or recording begins at the left locator and repeats when it reaches the right locator. To set up cycle mode, set the left and right locators by dragging from left to right in the upper half of the ruler in the tracks area. The cycle area will be displayed as a yellow strip in the upper half of the ruler, as shown in Figure 8. You can turn cycle mode on and off by pressing C or clicking the cycle icon in the control bar (refer to Figure 6). To record in cycle mode, turn on cycle mode and begin recording as you did previously. After the second take is recorded, a take folder is created in the cycle area, as shown in Figure 9, and new lanes are added with each pass through the cycle. This is a great way to get several takes that you can edit into a perfect (or close to perfect) take. A key to using cycle mode is setting locators. You can set locators in many ways. Here are a few useful locator commands: Choose Navigate → Set Locators by Selection and Enable Cycle (Command  -U) to set the locators and enable cycle mode according to the selected regions. Choose Navigate → Auto Set Locators → Enable Auto Set Locators to follow your region or marquee tool selections automatically. Set the locators manually in the control bar LCD if you have Locators (Left/Right) selected in the Customize Control Bar and Display options. Open the Key Commands window (Option-K) and type locators in the search bar. You’ll find dozens of key commands. After you browse the available locator key commands, you’ll have an idea of what you can do and how important locators are to a speedy workflow. Recording multiple inputs You aren’t limited to recording one track at a time. You can record multiple tracks by record-enabling several tracks at once and following the same steps as recording a single take. You can also create multiple takes on multiple tracks at once. Say that three times fast. To record multiple tracks simultaneously, set each track to the correct input, as you did previously. When all track inputs are set correctly, you can begin recording. You can even record multiple takes on multiple inputs at the same time. The number of tracks you can record simultaneously depends on your hardware and computer power.

Article / Updated 07-20-2022

QSL cards, which are the size of standard postcards, are the ham radio equivalent of a business card. They range from simple to ornate. DXpeditions often creates a multi-panel folding cards with lots of information and pictures from the rare location. QSLs are primarily exchanged for HF contacts and are used to qualify for operating awards. QSLing electronically Many hams are confirming their contacts on two sites: eQSL and ARRL’s Logbook of the World (LoTW). Your logging software may even be able to upload your contacts to these systems automatically as you make them. With these systems, there is no need to exchange paper cards although many hams send a card for a first contact with a station for their collections. eQSL was the first electronic QSL system and is extremely easy to use. Its site has a tutorial slideshow that explains just how eQSL works and how to use it. eQSL offers its own operating awards, as well, verified by contacts uploaded to the eQSL system. The ARRL’s LoTW is more complicated to use. You’re required to authenticate your identity and license, and all submitted contacts are digitally signed for complete trustworthiness. LOTW provides electronic verification of QSOs for award purposes. It currently supports the ARRL awards and CQ’s WPX and WAZ award programs. DXpeditions often use an online QSLing system such as Club Log’s OQRS system. You can support the expeditioners with a donation and request your QSL at the same time. It’s speedy, secure, and highly recommended. Direct QSLing on your ham radio If you want to send a paper card, the quickest (and most expensive) option is direct, meaning directly to other hams at their published addresses. You can find many ham addresses on the web portal QRZ.com. This method ensures that your card gets to recipients as fast as possible and usually results in the shortest turnaround time. Include the return postage and maybe even a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Direct QSLing costs more than electronic QSLing but makes it as easy as possible for you to get a return card on its way from the other ham — many times, with a colorful stamp. Postal theft can be a problem in poorer countries. An active station can make hundreds of contacts per week, attracting unwelcome attention when many envelopes start showing up with those funny number–letter call signs on them. Don’t put any station call signs on the envelope if you have any question about the reliability of the postal service. Make your envelope as ordinary and as thin as possible. If the station gives QSL instructions online or during the contact, be sure to follow them! Using QSL managers To avoid poor postal systems and cut postage expenses, many DX stations and DXpeditions use a QSL manager. The manager is located in a country with reliable, secure postal service. This method results in a nearly 100 percent return rate. QSLing via a manager is just like direct QSLing. If you don’t include return postage and an envelope to a manager for a DX station, you’ll likely get your card back via the QSL bureau, which takes a few months at minimum. You can locate managers on websites such at QRZ.com’s QSL Corner, which is free to members. If the station has a website or has posted information on the QRZ.com page, a manager will usually be listed there. If you send your QSL overseas, be sure to do the following: Use the correct global airmail letter rate from the U.S. Postal Service website. Ensure airmail service by using an Air Mail sticker (free at the post office), an airmail envelope, or an Air Mail/Par Avion stamp on the envelope. Include return postage from the DX operator's home country to the U.S. from sources such as William Plum DX Supplies (email [email protected]) or the K3FN Air Mail Postage Service. You may be asked to “send one (or two) greenstamps” for return postage. A greenstamp is a $1 bill. Be sure that currency isn’t visible through the envelope. Bureaus and QSL services All that postage can mount up pretty quickly. A much cheaper (and much slower) option exists: the QSL bureau system. You should use this method when the DX station says “QSL via the bureau” or on CW and digital modes, “QSL VIA BURO.” The QSL bureau system operates as a sort of ham radio post office, allowing hams to exchange QSLs at a fraction of the cost of direct mail. If you are an ARRL member, you can bundle up all your DX QSLs (you still have to send domestic cards directly) and send them to the outgoing QSL bureau, where the QSLs are sorted and sent in bulk to incoming QSL bureaus around the world. The cards are then sorted and distributed to individual stations. The recipients send their reply cards back in the other direction. To get your cards, you must keep postage and envelopes in stock at your incoming QSL bureau. (Anyone can use the incoming QSL bureaus.) Then, when you least expect it, a fat package of cards arrives in the mail. What fun! An intermediate route is the K3FN QSL Service, which forwards QSLs to foreign and U.S. managers for a fee, currently 1 to 5 dollars per card depending on how fast you want the QSL in return. You send outbound cards directly to K3FN, and your return cards are sent to you by the service level you paid for. Applying for awards Each award program has its own method for submitting QSL cards to qualify for an award. All of them have a few things in common, though. There is a form to fill out listing each contact individually. For more than a few contacts, you’ll need to enter the information in alphabetical order by prefix. For example, a contact from KA9ABC will be listed before N1EUZ before WBØGQP. (For DX prefix order, use the ARRL’s most-current DXCC List.) Print clearly so the award manager does not misread your information. Pay the award fee, if any, with a check or money order or electronically if that option is available. (Don’t send cash unless it is necessary.) Next, sort the cards into the same order as on the form. Orient them with the contact information facing up, even if it is on the back of the card. Bundle the cards together so that the top card is the first on the application form. You then mail or ship the cards to the award manager as directed by the award’s sponsor. If you are sending a lot of cards or if the cards are particularly rare, send the cards by certified mail or with a signature-required service. Don’t forget to include return postage or shipping costs in your award fee. It is also a good idea to include a self-addressed postcard with the application that the sponsor can return so you know the package was received. Assuming all your information checks out, you’ll receive your certificate and QSL cards! Cards for the ARRL DXCC Award can be checked by a local or regional “field checker." You can make arrangements to attend a club meeting and submit your cards to him or her directly. Card checkers often have a booth or table at the larger hamfests.

Article / Updated 07-20-2022

You can buy or build hundreds of gadgets for your ham radio to enhance whatever style or specialty you choose. Here’s some information on the most common accessories that you need to get the most out of your station. Mikes, keys, and keyers for your ham radio Most radios come with a hand microphone, although if you buy a used radio, the hand mike may be long gone or somewhat worn. The manufacturer-supplied hand mikes are pretty good and are all you need to get started. After you operate for a while, you may decide to upgrade. If you’re a ragchewer, some microphones are designed for audio fidelity with a wide frequency response. Net operators and contesters like the hands-free convenience of a headset with an attached boom mike held in front of your mouth. Handheld radios are more convenient to use, with a speaker–microphone combination accessory that plugs into your radio and clips to a shirt pocket or collar. Your radio manufacturer may also offer a premium microphone as an option or accessory for your radio. Heil Sound and Vibroplex manufacture a wide range of top-quality microphones. Heil Sound also manufactures headsets with boom mikes. The frequency response of a microphone can make a big difference on the air. If you operate under crowded conditions, the audio from a microphone whose response emphasizes the midrange and higher frequencies is more likely to cut through the noise. Some microphones have selectable frequency responses so that you can have a natural-sounding voice during a casual contact and then switch to the brighter response for some DXing. If you’re not sure which is best, ask the folks you contact, or do an over-the-air check with a friend who knows your voice. Morse code enthusiasts have thousands of keys to choose among, spanning more than a century of history. Beginners often start with a straight key and then graduate to an electronic keyer and a paddle. If you think you’ll use CW a lot, I recommend going the keyer/paddle route right away. Most rigs now include a keyer as a standard option. You can plug the paddle into the radio, and you’re on your way! CW operators tend to find paddle choice very personal, so definitely try one out before you buy. A hamfest often has one or more key–bug–paddle collectors, and you can try many styles. The ham behind the table is likely to be full of good information as well. Programmable memories are very handy for storing commonly sent information, such as your call sign or a CQ message. You can put your keyer in beacon mode to send a stored CQ message repeatedly to see whether anyone is listening on a dead band. (If everybody listens and nobody transmits, the band sounds dead but may be open to somewhere surprising.) If you decide on an external keyer, you can choose kits or finished models, such as the popular Winkey-based keyers made by K1EL. Several computer programs send code from the keyboard. Browse ac6v.com for an extensive list of software. A voice keyer is a device that can store short voice messages and play them back into your radio as though you were speaking. Some keyers are stand-alone units, and others use a PC sound card. Voice keyers are handy for contesting, DXing, calling CQ, and so on. Some models also store both CW and voice messages, such as the MJF Contest Keyer. Contest logging software such as N1MM Logger+ and Writelog can create a voice keyer by using the computer’s sound card. Antenna tuners for your ham radio Antenna tuners don’t really “tune” your antenna, but they allow your transmitter to operate at maximum efficiency no matter what impedance appears at the station end of your feed line. Tuners are explained in the article “Do You Need an Antenna Tuner?”. Although your new radio may be equipped with an antenna tuner, in some situations you may need an external unit. Internal tuners have a somewhat limited range that fits many antennas. Antennas being used far from their optimum frequency often present an impedance that the rig’s internal tuner can’t handle. External tuners often include baluns (an abbreviation of “balanced-to-unbalanced”) for connecting open-wire feed lines to coaxial cable. Tuners are available in sizes from tiny, QRP-size units to humongous, full-power boxes larger than many radios. The table below lists a few of the manufacturers offering an assortment of tuners. If you decide to purchase a tuner, choose one that’s rated comfortably in excess of the maximum power you expect to use. Getting one with the option to use balanced feed lines is highly recommended. The ability to switch between different feed lines and an SWR meter (which measures reflected RF power) is a nice-to-have feature. Antenna Tuner Manufacturers Manufacturer Balanced Feed Line High-Power (>300 Watts) Automatic Tuning MFJ Enterprises Yes Yes Yes Ameritron Yes Yes No Vectronics Yes Yes No LDG Electronics External balun adapter Yes Yes Palstar Yes Yes Yes SGC Yes Yes Yes Along with the tuner, you need a dummy load, a large resistor that can dissipate the full power of your transmitter. The MFJ-260C can dissipate 300 watts, which is adequate for HF transceivers. High-power loads, such as the MFJ-250, immerse the resistor in cooling oil. (These are paint cans filled with oil, sometimes called cantennas after an old Heathkit product name.) The dummy load keeps your transmitted signals from causing interference during tuneup. HF dummy loads may not be suitable for use at VHF or UHF, so check the frequency coverage specification before you buy.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-25-2022

If you’re new to ham radio, these articles contain information that new ham radio operators should keep handy while gathering experience. You’ll find these references to be just what you need while learning to navigate the radio bands and make contacts. Bookmarking the websites in your web browser will help while you’re online, too.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-23-2022

When you are podcasting, you have to keep track of a lot of components. Besides ensuring that the hardware is operating properly, that your software is capturing audio without fail, and keeping track of your latest episode’s analytics, you also have to keep straight all the minute details. Ensure that your podcasts are well-received by adhering to technical standards for artwork and audio. Check out some of the podcasting platforms on which you want to ensure your podcasts are listed. If you’re doing a podcast interview, a little prep time can save a lot of embarrassment.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-14-2022

Spotify is changing the way the world listens to music. With a Spotify account, you can listen to all kinds of music, create and share playlists, and even join the Spotify online community.

Step by Step / Updated 01-26-2022

iTunes comes preinstalled on every new Mac that's been sold since 2003. But if you have an older Mac, installing iTunes is easy. To manually install iTunes on to a Mac or manually upgrade the version you have, start at the Apple website.