The previous post introduced you to a very useful and popular ham website called QRZ.    QRZ lets you look up details on a fellow ham you have interacted with over the air or in person, or perhaps just a call sign you have heard and wonder about.

As mentioned, the information on QRZ may be minimal.  Lacking any user-supplied detail, QRZ will show only the licensee’s name, address and license class, license expiration, map location and distance from your station.  This is derived from government amateur radio license info which is public record.

Like it or not, if you have a ham license you automatically have a QRZ page so why not make it useful?

I find that fewer than half the people on the air have any personal detail added so I would encourage you to create a free account on QRZ and add a photo and some personal information to your profile.  You can share as little or as much as you want.  I’ve seen pages that are huge with lots of graphics and photos and text and some with just a couple of sentences.  Add some detail about yourself for us to know you better, as much as you are comfortable with.

It’s nice to put a face to the callsign and you get to choose the photo.  Tell us just a little about yourself– things like hobbies and job and maybe what is your history with or interest in ham radio.  An email address is also helpful for people to contact you that way.

Of course, if you’re really cautious with how much personal info is on the web, then maybe this isn’t for you.  Remember that if you Continue reading →