is promoted by the HTC through dedicated Morse Code training software developed by one of our members, in-person Morse Code instruction sessions, plus our weekly CW training broadcasts on the 80m band along with special “newcomer” broadcasts intended specifically as a comfortable meeting place for those just starting to learn CW. The HTC also follows the “Morse Code Elmer” philosophy for one-to-one personal contacts in order to give additional assistance and encouragement to those learning telegraphy.

 

is frequently supported through group projects such as building small radios and test units. Furthermore, we have held our “QRP Party” meeting 23 times at various locations throughout Switzerland. There, we devote an entire day to one aspect of amateur radio. For instance, we recently gave a tutorial on how to simulate antennas with EZNEC software, and we learned all the ins and outs of the latest electronic QSO logging and QSLing methods. Together we have built and measured both radios and antennas. During several events, members exchanged information and experience with homebrew multiband antennas for field use such as SOTA.

 

under the auspices of the Union of Swiss Shortwave Amateurs (USKA), the HTC runs the NMD Commission for the National Mountain Day contest. In this role, it has organized and carried out this contest for the past 16 years. An annual follow-up is the NMD Meeting where not only are results announced, but technical presentations examine interesting solutions. Past topics included how to operate two radios simultaneously on the same antenna without any mutual interference, how to design a Class E amplifier, and discussions of SDR (software-defined radio) transceiver projects. The HTC is one of only two technical organizations which are members of USKA, the Swiss national amateur radio confederation.