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Ham Radio Kneeboard Reference

A free, printable two-sided reference card for portable and park operating — everything I kept looking up, on one card that clips to a kneeboard.

When I’m out operating portable I don’t want to dig through a phone or a manual for a band edge, a calling frequency or a dipole length. So I put the essentials on a single card: US band privileges on the front, and the portable-ops data — antennas, digital and QRP frequencies, signal reports and CW shorthand — on the back. Print it on card stock, trim it, laminate it if you like, and clip it to a kneeboard or clipboard.

Side 1 · Quick Ref

  • US amateur bands, 160 m – 70 cm, by license class (Extra / General / Tech) with mode segments
  • 60 m channels and power limits
  • Q-codes
  • Phonetic alphabet and Morse, including prosigns
  • Local-to-UTC conversion

Side 2 · Portable Ops

  • Wire dipole and ¼λ leg lengths, 80 m – 2 m
  • FT8, FT4 and JS8 frequencies
  • QRP CW and SSB calling frequencies
  • RST signal reports and S-meter notes
  • CW abbreviations, POTA / SOTA tips and a typical POTA CW exchange
Both sides of the ham radio reference card side by side: US band chart, Q-codes, phonetics and Morse, UTC table, band data, RST and CW abbreviations
Fig 1Both sides side by side — the one-page version

Two versions

Kneeboard card (2-sided): one side per letter page, laid out to print duplex and be cut down to a card. A 1″ clip tab at the top and bottom is optional — keep one, both or neither.

One-page quick reference: both sides side by side on a single landscape sheet. Handy for the shack wall, a binder or a quick single-sided print.

Kneeboard card front, Quick Ref side, with cut lines and clip tabs Kneeboard card back, Portable Ops side, with cut lines and clip tabs

Kneeboard card, front and back, with cut lines and optional clip tabs

Printing the kneeboard card

  1. Paper: letter, 8.5 × 11. Card stock (65–110 lb) holds up best if your printer takes it.
  2. Scale: 100% / Actual Size. Turn off “Fit to page” or “Shrink to fit,” or the band charts won’t line up with the cut lines.
  3. Two-sided: duplex, flip on the long edge. No auto-duplex? Print page 1, feed the sheet back in to print on its blank side the way your printer’s manual shows, then print page 2.
  4. Check: hold the sheet up to a light — the cut lines on front and back should line up.
  5. Cut: trim the sides and bottom on the full-length gray lines. At the top and bottom, cut on the outer line to keep a 1″ clip tab, or the inner line for the card alone. Keep the bottom tab if you clip the card upside down.

Note: band edges and power limits are a summary for quick reference. Always check against FCC Part 97 and the current ARRL band plan, especially after rule changes.

Downloads

Spot an error or want a band added? Let me know and I’ll put it in the next revision. 73!