Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio

Dan Craig N6MJ is one of three world-class operators aiming to shatter world records in the CQ Worldwide CW contest this November. From Magic Mountain in the Canary Islands, Dan will operate as EF8R—joining a global showdown where perfect propagation, cutting-edge engineering, and elite operator skill might converge to make history. He’s teaming up with Braco E77DX, who will run SSB from the same...

Braco Memic E77DX hosts this special edition of Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio, stepping in after Kevin W1DED encountered technical issues. Contest Crew Europe gathers to unpack the 2025 Worked All Europe SSB contest, recent IARU VHF, and plans for the upcoming CQ Worldwide SSB contest. Kris Kass ES7A opens with a cautionary tale: a lightning strike took out his station, frying everything from rotators to...

George Gross N3GJ is the 10-meter backbone of K3LR, Tim Duffy’s legendary multi-multi contest station. For 30 years and 100 contest weekends, George has held the line through solar highs and brutal lows. Whether pulling callers out of static or setting the SSB hourly rate record (390 QSOs) alongside K1AR, George shows up. Every single time. His start was classic: a Hallicrafters receiver in the at...

As the sun came up this morning over Chebeague Island in Maine, my phone lit up with a WhatsApp call from Braco Memic E77DX. It was 6 a.m.—and within the hour, I was walking with him, virtually and on camera, through the legendary EF8R “Magic Mountain” contest station on Gran Canaria. He and his wife Julia had just landed, and Braco was already sizing up the challenge ahead: broken antennas, a sil...

I'm back with the Contest Crew—Dan N6MJ, Bill W9KKN, Chris KL9A—and special guest Levi Jeffries K6JO, who takes us deep into the guts of serious HF contesting, from antenna stacks in Tennessee to the fine-tuned dance of 2BSIQ phone operation. Levi recounts his recent effort in the Worked All Europe SSB contest, operating remotely from Ron WV4P’s elite Tennessee hilltop contest station. The competi...

Kylee Shirbroun KE0WPA is 18 years old and a bright young voice in ham radio. Raised in the shadow of a 40-foot tower in Worthington, Minnesota, she made her first satellite contact while on vacation in Canada—the very day her technician license came through. Since then, she’s earned her general class ticket, become a contesting enthusiast, and taken on youth advisor roles with the Minnesota Wirel...

Violetta Latham KN2P is a 20-year-old Extra Class ham with more big station experience under her belt than many operators twice her age. A commercial pilot, flight instructor, and aircraft mechanic apprentice, Violetta's days oscillate between runways and radios. Licensed since she was nine—thanks to a sibling competition organized by her father—she’s grown from a childhood in a Mennonite-Amish ho...

John Dorr K1AR is… one of the most quietly influential voices in radiosport. A WRTC medalist, long-time CQ Worldwide committee leader, CQ Magazine editorial alumnus, and the unmistakable voice of the Dayton Contest Dinner, John has spent more than five decades shaping competitive ham radio—on the air and off. In this interview with Kevin Thomas W1DED, he traces his path from starstruck novice to C...

In this episode, Q5 hosts the Contest Crew—Chris Hurlbut KL9A, Dan Craig N6MJ, Randy Thompson K5ZD, and Bill Fehring W9KKN—four of the most methodical and high-performing minds in amateur radio contesting. In this insider roundtable, we pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to prepare for a major contest like CQ World Wide. From physical readiness to log analysis, from code training to g...

Fred Lass K2TR is a legend by reputation and by record—once dubbed “King Fred” during the founding days of YCCC, a title he wears with his usual self-effacing humor. From a modest childhood in Niagara Falls to a career in broadcast engineering, Fred built a life around RF. A licensed ham since the 1960s, he’s revered for his antenna mastery with technical talks that still pack rooms at Dayton Hamv...

Ranko Boca 4O3A is a force in global contesting and amateur radio innovation. From his breathtaking hilltop QTH in Montenegro—accessible only by rugged vehicles or his personal helicopter—Ranko has redefined what it means to build a world-class station. A telecom engineer by training and a contester since the 1970s, his early days were shaped by club stations and soldering irons. Today, he leads S...

HamSCI just completed its first-ever multi-day field exercise at the world-class K3LR contest station in West Middlesex, PA. For four days, students, professors, researchers, and volunteers came together to install components of the Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS), explore the physics behind HF communication, and experience the hospitality of station owner Tim Duffy K3LR. In this interview w...

In this episode of Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio, Kevin Thomas W1DED travels (virtually) to Malawi to hear the remarkable story of Don Jones 7Q6M (K6ZO). From his base at the Embangweni Mission Hospital, Don has spent years operating on HF, mentoring young operators, and helping grow a national amateur radio community in Malawi. We talk about the challenges of building a station where parts and power are...

I'm joined by Chris Hurlbut KL9A, Dan Craig N6MJ, Randy Thompson K5ZD, and Bill Fehring W9KKN for another episode of our popular Q5 Contest Crew series—your backstage pass to the minds and methods of ham radio’s top contesters. Randy is deep into a full station rebuild in Ohio, cranes and all, with a shiny new PGXL amp and a garage full of cables he’s still trying to decode. Dan, meanwhile, operat...

Pat Barkey N9RV is a Contest Hall of Famer whose radio journey began with a childhood plan to stay connected to his best friend over a summer apart. What started as a search for CB radios led him instead to a neighbor’s ham shack — and into a lifelong obsession with CW, contesting, and station building. First licensed in 1967, Barkey quickly found himself handling traffic in Michigan and later imm...

Stuart Crawford VE9CF is… a Canadian ham with a military past, a marketer’s mind, and a newfound mission to tell stories through amateur radio. First licensed in the ‘90s as VE4SRC, Stuart’s callsign changed with each military posting—from Manitoba to Alberta to New Brunswick. But the hobby took a 30-year backseat as career and family took the wheel—until recently, when he returned to radio with f...

Neil Rapp WB9VPG is amateur radio’s original prodigy—and one of its most effective modern mentors. At age five, Neil became the youngest person ever to earn an FCC ham license, a novelty that landed him in the National Enquirer and on the cover of international ham radio magazines. But celebrity wasn’t the point. The point was code, conversation, and community. And Neil has spent a lifetime making...

Doug Grant K1DG is a seasoned contester whose career spans six WRTCs, operations from over 30 countries, and a long-standing USA record in the CQ 160 contest. From his early days in suburban Boston, Doug’s path wound through legendary multi-op stations like W2PV and milestone efforts such as co-founding WWROF and organizing WRTC 2014. His reputation in the contesting community rests not just on sc...

Bart Bzymek SQ1K is a Polish ham radio operator who’s stitched together two worlds—DXing and design—into a life as precise as the embroidery he’s known for. He began as a shortwave listener in the 1990s and quickly climbed through Poland’s licensing system, earning his first-class ticket by mastering CW. A dedicated contester, Bart has logged serious time on-air, including stints as a guest op wit...

Tim Duffy K3LR is a powerhouse in the contesting world—CEO of DX Engineering, founder of Contest University, host of the formidable K3LR station—but here, he joins us as the chairman of the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF), the engine behind some of competitive ham radio’s best infrastructure and largest radiosport contests. If you’ve received a plaque from CQ WW, trusted your submitt...

Tom Georgens W2SC, also known as 8P5A, has a wall of plaques that reflect not just his victories—but the decades of discipline, grit, and quiet precision behind them. While running a Fortune 500 company, he built a formidable contest station in Barbados, troubleshooting in the tropical heat and chasing perfection from one contest season to the next. In this wide-ranging conversation, Tom shares ho...

After our deep dive into W3AO’s record-breaking Field Day operations, we came back with one simple question for Frank W3LPL and Rol K3RA: What radios actually get the job done—and which ones are banned—at Field Day? Their answers might surprise you.

Field Day means different things to different hams. For some, it’s a competition—a chance to test gear, strategy, and skill. When we spoke with the W3AO team about their 28-year run of record-breaking efforts, we celebrated that spirit. But Field Day can also look like this: lawn chairs in a field, lawn mowing, antenna builds, and a loose pact that everyone makes at least one QSO—if they feel like...

Gregg Marco W6IZT has participated in some of ham radio’s most well-known DXpeditions—and a few dozen vacation-style ones too. From his ridge-top shack in rural Georgia, he’s spent the last two decades blending deep technical chops with a passion for the hobby. But his latest venture—PJ6Y from Saba Island—isn’t just another stamp in the logbook. It’s the next step in a generational handoff that be...

The Contest Crew is back—Randy K5ZD, Dan N6MJ, Chris KL9A, and Bill W9KKN—fresh off the IARU HF World Championship. From broken antennas and overheated shacks to surprise guest ops and last-minute tech rescues, this episode captures the contest highs, lows, and hard-won wisdom only this crew can deliver. Dan N6MJ’s operation from the legendary N2QV station in New York almost didn’t happen. After c...