A Complete List of Ham Radio Forums
written by Aden Tate – SHTF BLOG https://www.shtfblog.com/
I’ve found that one of the best ways to learn about a subject is to browse through the online forum boards covering it. Ham radio forums are such a source for the amateur radio enthusiast. Within these forums I’ve often found advice on everything from finding important ham radio frequencies to learning what others are doing to tackle the same problems I might face. A lot of times this is the down and dirty approach to stuff that the manufacturer won’t tell you (typically due to their wanting you to buy another product or for liability issues).
Ham Radio Forums
Either way, forums truly offer a significant chance of growth and ham radio is no exception to the rule. These forums can offer the educational boost needed to any ham radio crash course you’re developing for yourself.
These are presented in alphabetical order, and it’s intended to be a “living” list in that it will be updated over time as ham radio forums come and go. Please, if we are missing any ham radio forums, let us know in the comments section so we can add it to the list!
So without further ado, let’s take a look at a complete list of ham radio forums that are out there. Hopefully, the below will both give you some direction as well as some advice on which forums can help you out.
4X4 Ham
4×4 Ham targets those who like to use ham radio while they’re going off-road. Think Jeeps, ATVs, racoon and bear hunting, overlanding, and the like. If you do a lot of dune buggy riding or similar and are looking at getting into ham radio – shoot, if you’re looking at ham radio in a bug-out vehicle – then this may be a site that you want to haunt.
Amfone
Amfone is not my favorite site out there, as it seems like it is not the most active by the looks of things. If you can tolerate the older templates and layouts though, then there are some ham discussions that can be found here.
Antique Radios
Antique Radios is great for the fan of older radios. Let’s say that you just picked up an ancient radio at a flea market somewhere and need to fix it up. If you’re looking for information on how to use, what parts to get, how to fix, or anything else regarding older radios – even if they’re not ham related – this is a site that you’re going to want to check out.
AR15.com Ham Radio Forum
Personally, my favorite type of ham forums are those that are sub-forums within some particular topic at hand (see my post on geocaching.com below to see what I mean). I find that the sub-forums are those who are able to best apply a topic to something, and you end up with a more interesting forum as a whole.
As such, you may really be interested in AR-15.com’s forum on ham radio. It’s pretty cool.
ARRL Forum Board
I don’t like the ARRL Forum as much as others.. Aside from having an absolutely terrible privacy policy (“Let’s just publish everybody’s address for the whole world to see! Better not transmit while on vaCAAAAAAYshun!”), there’s some other facets of how they do things that I disagree with.
That all being said, if you’re looking for a more “official” forum to scour, this may be the option for you. What’s better than their forum, however, is their Ham Radio License Manual (pictured to the right), which is the perfect study guide for anyone looking to learn about ham radio and take the necessary license exams.
Australian Ham Radio Discussion Forum
Let’s say that you live in Australia. Let’s also say that you like ham radio. Well, there you have it. That’s this site in a nutshell, the Australian ham radio discussion forum.
DX News
Yes, it’s primarily DX news, but there is a lot of other good information for those of us out here who aren’t as interested in the long-range contact. Everything from antennas, to licensing, to software is discussed here, but remember, it’s primarily geared for DX. In any case, check out the DX News ham radio forum.
DX Zone
DX Zone really has a little bit of everything, and I really like the way that things are laid out. Perhaps I may seem like a stickler, but it really is easier to find what you’re looking for when a site is visibly organized.
Geocaching Ham Radio Forum
While something of a sub-forum, I think there’s a lot to be learned for ham operators here. Geocaching ham radio forum is a worldwide scavenging hunt where people hunt for hidden ammo cans full of treasures deep in the bowels of the woods using clues they’ve obtained online. Many of these hunts are quite ornate and require some serious expeditionary planning.
As a result, the posts on this site are made by those who regularly use their ham radios for expedition type work, and they may be of particular interest to the prepper.
Ham Community
Conversation, camaraderie, and collaboration is how Ham Community bills itself. It’s a very well done forum that has a sizeable section devoted to emergency communications. Considering that you’re reading about it here on a prepping website, I’d say that you might be interested.
Ham Radio Forum
Ham Radio Forum is a rather generic forum, but it does the job. I guess the title really does say it all here. A little bit of everything can be found as you dive throughout these pages.
Ham Radio Forum
Ham Radio Forum is the new kid on the block, and doesn’t have as much in its history as a lot of the other forums out there. It appears to be primarily dedicated to those who like using magloop antennas for HF work. I’ve personally never used a magloop, but if you’re looking for information on the subject, this may be a good place to start.
iRV2 Ham Forum
iRV2 is dedicated to people who not only RV either full-time or a sizeable portion of the year, but they also have a ham radio forum for those RVers who also enjoy amateur radio while hitting the road. As such, you’re likely to find a lot of good information on mobile rigs here. If you’re not particularly interested in ham, I’ve found a lot of CB radio posts here that you may find helpful instead.
Many preppers are into RVs for bugging out or as a means to living cheaply to save money on housing for other purposes, whether getting out of debt or saving for something else. It’s possible to live off-grid in an RV and doing so is gaining in popularity. Preppers doing this will find this forum particularly useful as it combines the importance of prepper communications with RV life.
Mac Ham Radio
Mac Ham Radio is specifically dedicated to hams who use Macintosh computers and software for everything they do with their radios. In my experience, it’s often the software for various radios that is the most difficult concept to master, and it’s always helpful to find a forum that discusses workarounds for common problems.
MyGMRS.com
MyGMRS forum focuses on GMRS communications (which are a very important part of post-disaster communications, by the way), there are some side discussions on ham that take place here as well.
Open Roads Radio
Open Roads Radio is another site that caters to the RV crowd. As such, there’s a lot of great mobile rig advice, whether we’re talking about ham, CB, or whatever other mobile options you may be interested in.
QRZ
QRZ.com is one of the heavy hitters in the ham world, so if you’re looking for a forum that is bound to receive thousands of views on any topic, and potentially hundreds of replies, then this is a site that you’re going to want to frequent.
Radio Reference
Think of Radio Reference as something akin to a social media forum board, if you will. By that I mean, it’s only the most current posts that are at the top of the list. There’s no organization or index. What people have recently written – similar to Facebook – that is what you’ll see first. Maybe that’s your style, maybe not. Either way, this one’s out there if you want it.
Radio Astronomy
The Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers is a site for those who use radio waves to explore space, as well as for those who use space objects (e.g. the moon, sunspots, etc.) to transmit their messages to their intended targets. Astronomy can be used for grid-down navigation, and it can also be an extension of anyone’s amateur radio hobby. They’ve got something of a strange setup for their forum board, and the subject matter is most certainly not for everyone, but it may be something of interest to you. Preppers can use astronomy for navigation, so
Radio Discussions
Radio Discussions is a good catchall forum board for talking about just about anything that may come to mind. If you have a radio question, it’s likely to have an answer that can be found here. Shoot, even if you have a question or theory on the future of radio, politics and radio, or whatever, it may have an answer found here. That may or may not be what you’re looking for, but either way, there is a lot of solid information within this site on just about anything related to amateur radio.
Worldwide DX
Worldwide DX is another pretty good catch-all site, that particularly focuses on DX communications. If you have any interest in DXing whatsoever, you’re bound to find quality information from others who have been there already here.
Logging Off
The internet is a big, big place. We’ve done our very best to include the ham radio forums that are out there, but there’s still a very good chance that we missed some. If there are any that you’re aware of that you particularly enjoy that you believe should be added to our list, give us a holler so that we can add it.
Likewise, if you have any comments or experiences with any of the above forum boards in the past, let us know in the comments below!
