What Is Ham Radio? A project of the National Amateur Radio Alliance

Set up your QRZ page

QRZ.com is the address book of amateur radio. When someone works you, the first thing they do is look up your callsign - and what they find is your page.

Why bother

  • It is how other operators find out who they just spoke to.
  • Its logbook confirms your contacts electronically, which is what awards are based on.
  • It is free, and your callsign is already listed - you are only claiming what is there.

Claiming your callsign

  1. Register with your callsign

    Create an account on QRZ.com using your callsign as the username. New licensees appear in the database within a few days of the FCC granting the licence.

  2. Verify that it is you

    The site checks your name and address against the public FCC record. If you registered with the FCC recently, give it a couple of days to catch up.

  3. Edit your page

    There is a simple editor for the biography section. A few lines is plenty - nobody expects an essay.

What to put on it

  • Your first name and roughly where you are - town or county is enough.
  • When you were licensed, and that you are new. People are noticeably kinder to new callsigns.
  • Your station: radio and antenna. Other operators love this bit.
  • Your club, and what you are interested in - repeaters, HF, digital, portable operating.
  • How you confirm contacts - QRZ logbook, LoTW, paper cards, or all three.

What not to put on it

Your street address is already public in the FCC database, but you do not need to repeat it, and there is no reason to add a phone number, your workplace, or photographs of children. Assume the whole world reads it, because it can.

Logging your contacts

Enter contacts into the QRZ logbook (or any logging program that uploads to it) and when the other operator logs the same contact, it is automatically confirmed for both of you. Also sign up for Logbook of The World, the ARRL's confirmation system - it takes a little more effort to set up, and most awards use it.

Other things worth doing early

  • Join your local club, and get on their roster and net list.
  • Keep a log even though it is not required. In a year you will want to know who you worked.
  • If you use digital modes, set your callsign correctly in the software before your first transmission.

What to say on the air Introduction to HF