Last updated 2026-09-06
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Why Independent Matters
Being able to “speak truth” without regard to constraints imposed by external “gatekeepers” such as organizations, is important to presenting new technologies that may not align with the agendas of an organization.
Why Open Matters
In this era, if material is not accessible on the open web (such as hidden behind a paywall), it is essentially irrelevant. This is especially true for Amateur Radio in the 2020s and beyond because those curious about Amateur Radio are self-learners. They’re going to look around on the Internet, or in 2025, going to consult an AI engine, which draws its information from what it can find on the open Internet.
It’s unfortunate that many publications that might interest potential new Amateur Radio Operators, such as low power transmitters (QRP), space, microwave technology and operation, and others are “paywalled”.
Why Technical Matters
Simply, there is not enough technical material, and especially media, being published in the open about Amateur Radio, and subjects adjacent to Amateur Radio. Thus there is a need to promote such technical media.
Why Media Matters
Media, as in regular publication of new material, matters because technology does not stay static. Technology evolves. Situations change. New developments occur.
Note that there are many email lists, social media, discussion threads, etc. that some feel provide the same degree of published content. Perhaps… but for now, I feel that it’s more important to provide a consistent editorial focus that readers can depend on in evaluating technical content.
Not just Amateur Radio, but also Amateur Radio Adjacent
There are many developments in radio technology that impact Amateur Radio that aren’t specific to Amateur Radio. One example is LoRa, which was not developed for Amateur Radio, but is widely used within Amateur Radio. Thus it’s important to include media on this list that may not be specific to Amateur Radio, but can potentially impact Amateur Radio.
Note about Discord, Social Media, and email Lists
There are many “sources of rich information” on specific topics that are considered by many Amateur Radio Operators to be the canonical reference on a particular subject, especially technical subjects, but aren’t publications that are easily consulted, such as the info sources listed below.
With Discord groups, Social Media, and email lists, to get useful information you have to join, and “dig out” the information you’re looking for. Eventually this list will be expanded to include selected sources of such rich information, especially if there is no Independent Open Technical Media publication that covers a subject.
Amateur Radio Daily / Amateur Radio Weekly
Amateur Radio Daily / Amateur Radio Weekly (same publisher) isn’t specifically technical, but both publications feature technical topics frequently.
Publication schedule: ARD - several times per week. ARW - weekly.
Editor / Organization: Cale Mooth K4HCK
Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) Newsletter
Updates on activities of ARDC including stories about selected grant recipients and 44Net activity. ARDC Community meetings, attendance at conferences, and other ARDC publications are mentioned in the newsletter first.
Publication schedule: Bimonthly
Editor / Organization: ARDC staff
Amateur Radio Newsline
Amateur Radio Newsline™ is a free service to the amateur radio community. We produce a weekly audio news bulletin called a “QST” or “bulletin of interest to radio amateurs” that is delivered by a downloadable MP3 audio file from our website or through a podcast subscription.
Newsline is primarily intended for audio distribution on repeaters, or individual listening, but the script of each program is also available for reading. Newsline is a venerable resource in Amateur Radio and has been in continuous operation for decades. It offers wide coverage of Amateur Radio topics, but often features mentions of technical information, including occasional excerpts of stories published in Zero Retries.
Publication schedule: Weekly
Editor / Organization: Amateur Radio Newsline staff
AMSAT News Service (ANS)
The AMSAT® News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation.
ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
Information published in AMSAT News Service is generally topical and of an operational nature, rather than in-depth articles that are featured in AMSAT Journal (which is paywalled).
Publication schedule: Weekly
Editor / Organization: Rotating AMSAT editors
AREDN News
The News sub page (can be subscribed via RSS) of the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) web page regularly posts updates on the technology of AREDN. It’s not quite “media” as defined above, but there are updates posted very regularly, and it’s highly technical content, thus “good enough”.
Publication schedule: Monthly (minimum)
Editor / Organization: various
Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications (DLARC)
DLARC does not strictly meet the definition above of “Media”, but it’s important to include it in this directory because it is an archive of many (now) Open, (now) Independent Technical Media. One minor example is Packet Radio Magazine which was a paid subscription publication, but is now available at no cost and can be viewed or downloaded in DLARC. A monthly update on new content that has come into DLARC is published in Zero Retries - What’s New at Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications.
Publication schedule: Updates in ZR - Monthly. New content in DLARC - continuous.
Editor / Organization: Kay Savetz K6KJN
Amateur Television (ATV) Journal / The Boulder Amateur TV Club (BATVC)
ATV Journal is an email newsletter (redirects to online PDF) that features ample technical content including regular updates about Digital Television communications for Amateur Radio, with ample discussion of various ATV units and systems.
Publication schedule: Monthly (minimum)
Editor / Organization: Jim Andrews KH6HTV
EtherHam
EtherHam is the “long form” companion publication to Random Wire (see below) and includes reference and detailed how-to articles. The focus of EtherHam (and Random Wire) is Amateur Radio Over Internet, generally voice operations.
Publication schedule: Regular additions
Editor / Organization: Tom Salzer KJ7T
EvoHam
As of 2026-09-02, EvoHam has not been updated in several months, but I checked in with VA3XFT who stated that the “lull” is temporary and EvoHam has not been abandoned.
EvoHam is designed to bring all aspects of ham radio digital voice into one clean, modern, and easy-to-navigate home. Whether you’re learning the basics, comparing radios, or setting up a hotspot, everything you need is organized in one place.
Includes in-depth guides to each digital voice mode. It’s notable that EvoHam is willing to cover M17 as a peer Amateur Radio Digital Voice mode equivalent to DMR, etc.
Publication schedule: Regular additions
Editor / Organization: Don Trainer VA3XFT
Experimental Radio News
Experimental Radio News (ERN) is an email newsletter that discusses selected licenses issued by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for experimental radio systems. ERN discusses the technology of experimental systems from ample technical depth.
Publication schedule: Periodic
Editor / Organization: Bennett Kobb AK4AV
Hackaday
Hackaday is a website / blog that features interesting articles about experimenting with electronics or other technologies. Hackaday is unique that it discusses Amateur Radio, and especially Amateur Radio technology as “just another interesting technology to know about and experiment with”.
Publication schedule: Regular updates as often as several per day
Editor / Organization: Elliot Williams (Editor in Chief), Tom Nardi (Managing Editor), Dan Maloney N7DPM (Staff Writer - most Amateur Radio articles)
Ham Radio Workbench (HRWB)
Ham Radio Workbench is a podcast with a wide range of subjects, but always with a technical focus. Guests are often included, and often discuss the details of building complex projects or products.
Publication schedule: Biweekly
Editor / Organization: George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU
HamSCI Newsletter
HamSCI, the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation, is a platform for the publicity and promotion of projects that are consistent with the following objectives:
Advance scientific research and understanding through amateur radio activities.
Encourage the development of new technologies to support this research.
Provide educational opportunities for the amateur community and the general public.
HamSCI serves as a means for fostering collaborations between professional researchers and amateur radio operators. It assists in developing and maintaining standards and agreements between all people and organizations involved.
Publication schedule: Quarterly
Editor / Organization: HamSCI contributors
Hot Iron: The Journal of the Constructor’s Club
Hot Iron is an email newsletter with a technical focus on “home brew” construction techniques and projects relating to Amateur Radio.
Publication schedule: Periodic / Monthly
Editor / Organization: Peter Thornton G6NGR and Frank Barnes W4NPN
How APRS Works
Information site for deep technical references on APRS and the AX.25 Protocol.
Publication schedule: Periodic
Editor / Organization: Various authors
Jeff Geerling
Jeff Geerling is a popular YouTube channel that often focuses on the technical aspects of Raspberry Pi products and projects that are widely used in Amateur Radio. Despite a close relationship with Raspberry Pi, Geerling is fiercely independent in his evaluations of Raspberry Pi products.
Publication schedule: Multiple videos per month
Editor / Organization: Jeff Geerling KF0MYB
KB6NU’s Ham Radio Blog
KB6NU is an influential, widely read blogger. His articles are wide-ranging, but provide ample Zero Retries Interesting material. KB6NU was an early influence for the creation of Zero Retries.
Publication schedule: Periodic
Editor / Organization: Dan Romanchik KB6NU
Open Research Institute (ORI) Inner Circle Newsletter
Updates on activities of ORI including stories about ongoing ORI projects and attendance at conferences.
Publication schedule: Quarterly (?)
Editor / Organization: Michelle Thompson W5NYV
QRPer
QRPer.com is all about celebrating the joy, challenge, and adventure of low-power field radio. Whether you’re hiking a summit for SOTA, activating a park for POTA, or just setting up a quick portable station at a local park, this site is here to inspire, inform, and connect you with a global community of like-minded operators.
I started QRPer.com as a simple space to curate my favorite QRP resources, but it’s grown into a place where field radio enthusiasts — new and seasoned alike — share ideas, stories, and setups. My focus is on practical, real-world advice, especially for portable operations.
I love exploring how operators build lightweight, grab-and-go stations that balance performance and simplicity. I highlight innovative gear, field antennas, and portable rigs — many of which come from small, independent creators and clubs pushing the boundaries of QRP.
QRPer is Zero Retries Interesting as it regularly covers technical topics beyond operating, such as satellite, Software Defined Radio, data communications modes, and much more.
Publication schedule: Several posts per week
Editor / Organization: Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL / M0CYI / VY2SW and contributors
Random Wire
Random Wire Review is a newsletter with hands-on, in-depth technical treatment of a wide range of Amateur Radio topics, with an emphasis on operating Amateur Radio Over Internet.
Publication schedule: Weekly
Editor / Organization: Tom Salzer KJ7T
Repeater Builder
(Be sure to click on the above link - the domain without the dash between the two words is a spam site.)
Repeater Builder is not a publication, but it is the canonical reference for nearly everything about building and maintaining an Amateur Radio (audio, generally FM / analog) repeater, generally using surplus commercial two way radios or repeaters retired from commercial service.
Publication schedule: Updated periodically with new information
Editor / Organization: Kevin Custer W3KKC and multiple originating authors
RTL-SDR Blog
RTL-SDR Blog is very technical, largely focused on Software Defined Radio products, software, developments, and interesting uses of SDR technology. RTL-SDR Blog is written from authority as they manufacture their own good, reasonably priced Software Defined Receiver unit.
Publication schedule: Multiple articles per week
Editor / Organization: Carl Laufer (and staff, guests contributors?)
SolderSmoke Daily News
The core of SolderSmoke is building circuits and simple radios, usually from scratch. Beyond that core, it’s become a community with eclectic content, and support for the SolderSmoke Podcast.
Publication schedule: Periodic
Editor / Organization: Bill Meara M0HBR
SolderSmoke Podcast Archive
Discussion about building circuits and the adventures of Bill Meara M0HBR.
Publication schedule: Periodic
Editor / Organization: Bill Meara M0HBR
TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR)
The PSR is an email newsletter with a long rich history of technical discussion of Packet Radio and many other aspects of technology in Amateur Radio, such as Software Defined Radio (SDR). It has been continuously published since 1982.
Publication schedule: Quarterly
Editor / Organization: Stana Horzepa WA1LOU
Tech Minds
Tech Minds is a YouTube channel that highlights Amateur Radio technology and new technically interesting products, with ample explanation and detail.
Publication schedule: Several times per month
Editor / Organization: Matthew Miller M0DQW
The Communicator (Surrey Amateur Radio Communications)
The Communicator is Surrey Amateur Radio Communications’s newsletter, but typically exceeding 100 pages, I would classify its format as a magazine. The Communicator is a general interest Amateur Radio publication, but what lands it on this list is that each issue in recent memory has feature ample Zero Retries Interesting (technical) content that often includes space / satellite communications, microwave, repeaters, etc. and now digital communications with my column Zero Retries.
Publication schedule: Bimonthly
Editor: John Schouten VE7TI
Zero Retries
Zero Retries is an independent newsletter promoting technological innovation in and adjacent to Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio as (literally) a license to experiment with and learn about radio technology.
Publication schedule: Weekly - Fridays, 15:30 Pacific
Editor / Organization: Steve Stroh N8GNJ
If you have suggestions for additional media to add to this directory, or updates, please email steve@zeroretries.net.
I am especially interested in learning about additional independent open Amateur Radio technical media relating to:
Amateur Radio Astronomy
Amateur Radio television construction and technology, especially the use of (inexpensive) Software Defined Radio reception of Digital Amateur Radio Television,
Digital and especially Data Communications and networking,
Low power (QRP) construction and technology- Filled by QPRerMicrowave construction, technology, and networking,
Organizations that are specifically focused on technology in Amateur Radio (or adjacent). Example (but no longer publishing): Amateur Radio Research and Development (AMRAD).
Raspberry Pi computers used in Amateur Radio,
VHF / UHF repeater construction and technology
Space construction, technology, and especially Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO)… mostly digital and data communications.
Software Defined Radio (SDR)
Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) projects or curriculum that regularly relate to Amateur Radio or adjacent to Amateur Radio, and
Unlicensed radio communications and technology with a technical focus. Example - use of Family Radio Service or CB is generally out of scope.
Future - Notable Publications for Amateur Radio Technical / Specialized Modes That Are Paywalled
AMSAT-DL-Journal (requires membership in AMSAT-DL) - Satellite
AMSAT Journal (requires membership in AMSAT) - Satellite
CQ-TV (requires membership in British Amateur Television Club) - Amateur Radio Television
Dubus (requires subscription) - Microwave
OSCAR News (requires membership in AMSAT-UK) - Satellite
QEX (requires membership in ARRL) - Technical / Experimental
QRP Quarterly (requires membership in QRP ARCI) - Low Power Experimentation and Operating
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