DX Lover

honestly i was in the same boat, general for like three years before i finally buckled down. the math is real but its not as brutal as you might think if you just take it slow. most of the stuff like reactance formulas and the filter questions, you dont need to derive anything from scratch, you just need to recognize what formula applies and punch numbers in. what helped me a lot was the ARRL Extra Class License Manual, i know some people say just use hamstudy.org but i needed the explanations behind the answers or else nothing stuck. the op-amp questions tripped me up too at first but once someone explained to me that for most of those questions you just need to know the basic configurations and what they do, it clicked. took me about two months of studying a little bit each night. the extra frequencies are nice to have especially on 80m and 40m where the extra portion is noticeably less crowded sometimes, but yeah the real reason to do it is just to actually understand whats going on. which it sounds like is why you want to do it anyway so i say go for it

I went for mine last spring and yeah the impedance and reactance questions tripped me up at first but after watching a few youtube videos on LC circuits it started clicking. the actual exam day wasnt bad at all. one thing i will say is dont sleep on the operating and regulations portions because there's more of that than people expect and its actually pretty easy points if you just read through the relevant parts of part 97. the theory stuff gets more attention in study guides but the regs questions are kind of free points if you put a little time in

so i finally did my first summit activation last weekend, took my ft-818 and a random wire up to a local hill about 1800ft, nothing crazy. spent like an hour and a half hiking up which i was NOT prepared for physically lol. anyway got set up and made 12 contacts in maybe 20 minutes, couple of them were S2S which was cool. the wire threw me off a bit because i couldnt get a good swr on 40m but 20 worked fine so i just went with that. honestly the whole experience was just... really different from sitting in the shack. something about making a contact when youre standing on a rock with the wind in your face just hits different. gonna try a POTA one next month, probably easier on the knees

I've been monitoring AO-73 (FUNcube-1) extensively over the past few months and noticed significant frequency variations in the transponder passband. The passband may be up to 15kHz higher depending on on-board temps. Lower temperatures give higher freqs! During winter passes, I'm consistently seeing the transponder 8-12 kHz higher than the nominal 435.150 – 435.130 MHz LSB uplink and 145.950 – 145.970 MHz USB downlink. Has anyone correlated this with the telemetry data to confirm the temperature relationship? Would be interesting to create a lookup table for SatPC32 based on orbital position and season. The telemetry downlink is functioning with about 70mW output so data should be available.

Setting up RMS Relay for hybrid operations and running into forwarding issues. Messages from local VHF users aren't being forwarded via HF during simulated internet outage. RMS Relay shows "Radio only, local message hub" enabled and "Forward messages via HF to another RMS" checked. Hardware: IC-7300 with Pactor TNC for HF, Yaesu FT-7900 for VHF packet. VHF users can connect and send messages locally, but they're stuck in the local queue instead of forwarding to HF gateways. Band plan shows excluded frequencies properly configuredHF forwarding timeout set to 10 minutesCMS connection test passes when internet enabledWhat am I missing in the forwarding logic? Anyone successfully running hybrid relay operations?

went through this myself about a year ago and the AE7Q site the other person mentioned is really the way to go, I spent like two hours on the FCC ULS being confused before someone pointed me to it. you can search available calls, see when they're coming up, all that. one thing I'd add — if you have a specific call in mind that belonged to someone who became a silent key, theres usually a waiting period before it gets released back into the pool. I think its two years? so sometimes you just have to be patient and keep an eye on it. I ended up getting a call I really liked but it took a couple tries because someone else grabbed one I wanted first during the window. the process works it just takes a little getting used to

oh man this is like reading my own journal from two years ago. the plateau between 12 and 18wpm is real and pretty much everyone hits it, you're not doing anything wrong. what finally got me moving again was two things. first i stopped worrying about copying every single character and started trying to copy words as whole units instead of letter by letter. sounds obvious but i was still sounding out each dit and dah in my head which just doesn't scale up. the second thing was jumping into actual QSOs way before i felt ready. even if i only caught half of what the other guy sent, making myself respond and stay in the exchange forced my brain to process faster than any practice software ever did. the slow net on 40m was a lifesaver for me, people are patient and nobody cares if you ask for a repeat. the high speed listening thing works eventually but not if you're actively trying to copy it. just have it on in the background while you're doing something else. like actually something else, not half-listening. it takes weeks but something does change.

so ive been messing with this for probably 3 weeks now and im getting close but not quite there. the basic RemoteHams client connects fine to my home station, i can key up the rig and hear audio without too much latency, but the part thats killing me is trying to bridge that into some kind of internet linking setup so other guys can jump on the SDR side when im not actively using it. my current setup is a flex 6400 at the home QTH running SmartSDR, and ive got the RemoteHams server software running on a dedicated windows box next to it. audio routing is done through virtual audio cable which honestly has been a nightmare to get stable but its mostly working now. the SDR waterfall over the remote client is usable, not great, but usable. where im stuck is the linking piece. i was thinking about running something like AllStarLink on a separate pi just to handle the VoIP side when the station is in kind of a shared or unattended mode, but im not sure if that even makes sense architecturally or if im overcomplicating it. has anyone actually done a hybrid setup like this where the SDR remote handles the rig control and something else handles the linking or repeater tie-in? feels like it should work but ive been going in circles

Actually tried this exact strategy last year - applied for two different 1x2s a few days apart. Lost the first lottery but won the second one! Just make sure you're prepared to pay both fees upfront and be happy with either outcome. Applications typically take 18 days to process so timing works out.

so ive been getting reports that my audio sounds kinda hollow or tinny on 40m SSB and i cant really figure out what the deal is. been on HF for about two years now and mostly did digital before switching over to actually talking to people. the radio is an IC-7300 and im running a Heil headset, cant remember which model off the top of my head, one of the boom mics. levels look fine on the ALC, not pinning it or anything. guy i was talking to last week said it sounded like i was in a barrel which i thought was a weird description but another guy said the same thing this week so im starting to think its not just their receivers. i did mess with the TX equalizer in the 7300 menu at some point trying to brighten things up and honestly i dont remember what i set it to. could that be it? or is there something more fundamental im doing wrong with SSB that i dont know about because i came from FT8 and JS8 basically any tips appreciated, willing to go deep into the settings if needed

so i've been interested in ham radio for a while now, my neighbor has a big antenna setup and it got me curious. i looked into it a bit and apparently you need a license? i dont really know what the difference is between the technician and general and whatever else there is. like do i need to pass multiple tests or just one to get started and actually use a radio. also is there a good place to study for free because i dont really want to spend a lot of money before i even know if this is something ill stick with. someone at work mentioned there was a website with practice tests but i forgot what it was called. any help would be appreciated im kind of lost on where to even start

i went down this rabbit hole about 18 months ago and can confirm it absorbs way more time and money than you think it will going in lol. ended up with a used Yaesu G-5500 for az/el which is fine for a single yagi, does the job. the mounting was the annoying part honestly, had to fabricate a little crossboom thing to get both rotors working together cleanly. one thing nobody really warned me about — moonrise and moonset are your best windows when the moon is lower in elevation and the path geometry sometimes helps with troposcatter adding in, but its also when the antenna is pointing at terrain or trees for a lot of people. definitely check what your horizon looks like in all directions before you commit to a mounting location because i had to move mine twice.

okay so ive been interested in ham radio for a while now, mostly because my neighbor has this huge antenna setup and it looks really cool and he let me listen in on some contacts once and i was hooked. i want to get my technician license but i dont really know where to begin. like do i just go take a test somewhere? do i need to study first? is the test hard? i looked at the FCC website and it was kind of confusing. also how much does it cost to get licensed and do i need to buy a radio before i even take the test or can i figure all that out later

So after years of telling myself I'd get around to it I finally put together an actual go-kit this past weekend. Nothing fancy, just a Pelican-style case I had sitting around and started stuffing it with stuff I figured I'd need if things went sideways and I had to set up somewhere fast. Right now I've got my Yaesu FT-857D in there, a LiFePO4 battery (the 30ah one from Bioenno), some coax, a few PL-259 connectors and a cheap soldering iron, a laminated card with local repeater freqs and CTCSS tones, and a copy of my license obviosly. Also threw in a small notepad and a handful of pens because I kept forgetting how often you actually need to write stuff down during a net. What I'm not sure about is the antenna situation. I have a mag mount for the car and a random wire that I've used portable before but neither feels like a solid permanent solution for a kit that's supposed to be grab-and-go. Anyone else running a similar setup, what do you use for HF portable that doesn't take forever to deploy? And is there anything obvious I'm probably forgetting that you wish someone had told you when you put your first kit together?

QRP Labs has a well regarded series of single and multi-band transceiver kits with documentation that's far superior to most others. The QCX single-band is perfect for learning - excellent instructions and proven design.

yeah what he said basically. i'll add that when i first got my ticket i was way overthinking the phonetics thing too. one thing that tripped me up was i kept mixing in non-NATO stuff without realizing it, like saying "sugar" for S instead of sierra because thats what i heard someone else do. turns out some older ops still use the old ICAO phonetics or just made up their own over the years. stick with the standard NATO ones and youll never go wrong, especially if you ever work someone overseas who might not catch americanized slang versions. also on HF SSB during poor propagation i cant stress enough how much a clean phonetic readback of a callsign saves you from going back and forth five times asking for repeats

I own both. I have several HackRF1, various AirSpys, various RSP and can tell you the RSP1A wins hands-down for monitoring. For regular listening VHF/UHF, I prefer to use an AirSpy - the HackRF would not be my choice for that. Save the HackRF budget for a good preamp instead.

I just did my first activation back in March so I can maybe help from a beginner perspective. honestly the hardest part for me was just staying calm when the pileup hit because I was not expecting that many people to call at once. I was using a KX2 by the way and yeah it's nice but the 818 will do fine. the main thing i wish someone had told me is to write down your summit reference somewhere physical like on a piece of paper, not just in your phone, because when you're up there and people are asking for the reference you dont want to be fumbling around. also SOTAgoat or the SOTA spotter app is handy for checking if anyone spotted you. have fun with it

okay so i just got my technician license last month and ive been listening to the local 2m repeater for a few weeks now. i kind of understand whats going on but the CTCSS stuff is really confusing me. like i programmed a tone into my baofeng (yeah yeah i know) and it lets me key up the repeater now but i dont fully get what the tone actually does. is it like a password? and also sometimes people are mid conversation and i dont know if its rude to jump in or if i should just wait. i tried to say my callsign once between transmissions and someone came back to me real quick which was cool but i felt like i was interrupting something. is there like an unwritten rulebook for this stuff because nobody explained any of it in the license class

congrats on the first one, 12 contacts is solid especially if conditions werent cooperating. the ADIF upload is pretty straightforward, just export from whatever logger you used and drop it into the POTA website. the only thing that trips people up sometimes is making sure your park reference is in the right field -- it needs to be in the SIG_INFO field as like US-1234 or whatever your park number is. if your logger doesnt do that automatically you might have to do a little manual editing but honestly most of the popular ones handle it fine now the grid square thing is just some hunters being helpful, not required at all. some guys like to collect grids for other awards so they throw it in. you dont need to log it or anything if you dont want to as for the activation count, yeah you can see that on the park page on the POTA website. a park with zero or very few activations is kind of a bigger deal for hunters since they need it for their county or whatever, but honestly just go to whatever park is fun for you. rare parks do tend to bring out more hunters though if you want a bigger pileup

yeah the net directory can be a lot to sort through, totally understand. honestly the best thing i did when i was starting out was just pick one night a week and commit to it. i check into the 3916 net on 80m most sunday evenings, its been going forever and the net control guys are really patient with newer checkins. just give your callsign when they ask for checkins and thats pretty much it, nobody's gonna quiz you or anything. for the special event stations — yeah thats a different thing. those are usually set up for a specific occasion, like a museum ships weekend or a historical anniversary or whatever. they get a special 1x1 callsign or a vanity call for the event. lots of people chase them for certificates or just for the novelty of the contact. keep an eye on the ARRL website and also qrz has a special event calendar that i check pretty regular. some of them are only on for a day or a weekend so you kinda have to pay attention. worth doing though, got a really nice certificate from a lighthouse event a couple years back.

I carved out 30 minutes every day after dinner and passed in 4 weeks. HamRadioPrep.com's mobile app was perfect for studying during lunch breaks at work. Don't overthink it - the question pools are public, so there's no mystery about what you'll be tested on!

ground plane issues for sure. your car body isnt big enough for proper ground plane on 2 meters especially if youre mounting near the center. try moving the antenna towards the rear of the roof or adding some radials. also check that mount - make sure its got good electrical contact with the body, not just sitting on paint

ok so i decided i finally want to get my technician license after lurking around the hobby for like two years. my neighbor is a ham and he got me interested but every time i ask him how to study he just says 'oh just read the question pool' which isnt super helpful honestly. like i went and looked at the question pool on the arrl site and there are what, 400 something questions? do i actually need to memorize all of them or is there a smarter way to do this. i downloaded one study guide pdf but it was so dry i fell asleep reading it. is there like a trick to this or does everyone just grind flashcards until they can pass also i saw some posts mention hamStudy.org, is that actually good or is it one of those things where everyone recommends it but nobody actually uses it

ok so ive been licensed for about 3 months now and i keep hearing people say things like QSL and QRZ and QTH and honestly i have no idea what half of them mean or when youre supposed to use them. i looked up a list online but there are like hundreds of them and i dont know which ones actually matter vs which ones are just old maritime stuff nobody uses anymore. also people on the air sometimes use abbreviations that arent even Q codes like 73 and 88 and stuff like that. is there like a short list of the ones i actually need to know for everyday HF and VHF operating? i feel kinda lost when im listening to a pile up and people are throwing all this shorthand around like everyone just knows it automatically