Michael O'Brien

so ive been wanting to do QRP for a while now and finally pulled the trigger on a Xiegu X6100 a few months back but then a buddy at my local club convinced me to try building a kit first before spending that kind of money. ended up going with one of the QRP Labs QCX+ kits for 40 meters and honestly i wasnt sure i could do it, my soldering is decent but nothing special. anyway it took me about 5 hours spread over two evenings and the thing actually worked first time which i was not expecting at all. put out about 3.5 watts into my endfed and made a contact to a guy in georgia from ohio on the first try. i know thats not crazy DX but i was sitting there at like 5 watts wondering how people ever did this before digital modes and i have a new respect for the old timers doing CW QRP seriously. the kit itself is pretty well documented, dont let the instruction booklet intimidate you, its very step by step. only thing i fumbled was the toroids, wound one wrong and had to redo it but caught it during the alignment stage. if youre on the fence about building vs buying i honestly think building taught me more about how the radio actually works than anything ive read. anyway just wanted to share since this forum helped me decide to go for it

LoTW is absolutely the way to go for DXCC credits these days, you dont need paper cards unless a station never uploaded to LoTW which does happen with some of the rarer ones. the ARRL will accept LoTW confirmations directly when you apply so just make sure your own logs are uploaded and matched up. for the ones that arent confirmed digitally you'll need either a paper card or sometimes a third party bureau card, just depends. WAS and DXCC are completely separate awards but yeah a contact with say a W5 station counts toward WAS while a contact with a VP9 counts toward DXCC. stateside contacts dont help your DXCC total unless its something like KH6 or KL7 which are separate entities. WAZ is CQ magazine's award, 40 zones worldwide, totally different organization and tracking system. honestly a lot of guys chase all three simultaneously once they get into it, your log is your log, just submit to the right place. WAZ is fun, some of the zones are genuinely hard to work, especially zone 23 and parts of Asia.

so ive been trying to figure out if its worth the drive this year, last time i went was maybe 4 years ago and it was great but also kind of overwhelming. thinking about carpooling with a couple guys from the club but we havent nailed down dates yet. anyone planning to go or know if the swap meet area is as big as it used to be? i remember there being a ton of vendors but heard they scaled back a bit

just gonna throw in that i used the morse toad app on my phone for like the first month and it actually helped a lot for just getting the letters down. not saying its the best method or anything but if youre doing lunch breaks and dont want to be at a computer it works. i also watched some of W7ATC's videos on youtube which kind of explained the rhythm thing better than any app did for me. im still pretty slow, like maybe 8-10 wpm on a good day, but i can actually copy real signals now which felt impossible six months ago so theres that

im basically in the same boat as you, started seriously logging toward DXCC maybe six months ago and the whole credit system confused me at first too. one thing i learned the hard way is dont wait too long to chase certain entities because some of them go quiet for years at a time and then everyone piles on when there finally is an expedition. i missed a decent St Peter and Paul Rocks activation because i didnt know what i was looking at on the cluster and by the time i figured it out the pileup was insane and i never got through. somebody more experienced than me will probably have better advice on the actual paperwork side of things but just wanted to say youre not alone in being confused by it at first, the ARRL documentation is a bit dense

So ive been going back and forth on this for a few weeks now. Just picked up a 2024 F-150 and I want to get my Yaesu FTM-300DR set up properly in it. My last vehicle had a mag mount that I used for years and honestly it worked fine but I always felt like i was leaving performance on the table. The thing is this truck still has that plastic body trim around the roof edge and im not 100% sure where the best spot to drill would be. A buddy of mine said the cab roof center is ideal for VHF/UHF but I've also heard people go through the trunk lid or even the fender. On a truck I guess that would be the bed? Im also a little nervous about drilling into a brand new vehicle if I'm honest. Anyone done a proper NMO install on one of these newer F-series trucks? Is it really noticeably better than a quality mag mount like a Larsen or Comet? Or am I overthinking this as usual.

so anyway i've been working on this install for probably three weekends now and i think i finally got it dialed in but now there's this new problem that showed up and im not sure if it was always there and i just didnt notice or if i did something recently that caused it. background: FT-7900R mounted under the dash of my f150, NMO mount through the roof with a Tram 1185 dual band antenna. grounds look good, i used the chassis ground near the mount and ran the power directly to the battery with the recommended fuse close to the battery terminal. been pretty happy with it overall. the issue is when i key up on 70cm i get this buzzing in the audio that kind of pulses with engine RPM. classic alternator whine i guess? but here's the thing — on 2 meters it sounds totally clean. no noise at all. only on 440. ive read that UHF can be more sensitive to this kind of thing but i dont really understand why it would only show up on one band and not the other. is this a filtering issue or could it be the antenna or feedline? running LMR-400 which seemed like overkill for a mobile but i had a bunch of it left over from another project. anyone dealt with this before? kind of at a loss here

I've been working linear transponders like MO-122 and Fox-Plus with V/u inverting transponder configurations and finding Doppler tracking challenging when not using computer control. Most linear satellites use inverting transponders where you transmit LSB on the uplink and it appears as USB on the downlink. My issue is with the IC-9700's satellite mode - only correct computer control ensures stations stay on the same frequency during the pass. Currently using SatPC32 for frequency control but looking for alternatives. Has anyone compared the linear transponder Doppler correction strategies in different tracking software?

just passed mine last month so this is pretty fresh. the oscillator and filter stuff looked scary to me too but a lot of it is just pattern recognition on the question pool if im being honest. there were maybe 3 or 4 questions on my actual exam where i really had to think versus just remembering the answer. the regulatory and operating privilege questions are almost free points. one thing i will say is that going through the theory even at a surface level made me way more interested in building stuff. i picked up a cheap antenna analyzer after because i actually sort of understood what it was measuring. so theres that side of it too i guess

yeah the UDP thing can actually work to multiple listeners at the same time, WSJT-X sends to a multicast address by default i think, or you can configure it to broadcast. i run a little utility called JTAlert in the middle which picks up the WSJT-X traffic and can forward it on. not a perfect solution but it helped me keep HRDLogbook and N1MM both getting fed during a contest without me doing anything manual. that said i basically gave up trying to keep a single master log across both apps during a contest weekend. what i do now is just let N1MM own the contest completely, then after the contest ends i export the Cabrillo, run it through a converter, and import the QSOs into Log4OM as a batch. takes maybe ten minutes and then everything is in sync. not elegant but it works and i dont lose my mind during the actual operating.

Basic electronics knowledge is essential - learn concepts like Ohm's law, circuits, and radio wave propagation. When you're troubleshooting your antenna or dealing with interference, you'll need that foundational knowledge. The Ham Radio Prep courses combine both approaches with video lessons and interactive games - perfect for getting both the pass and the understanding.

so ive been a general for about two years now and i keep going back and forth on whether to bother with the extra. i mostly do HF casual stuff, some 40m and 20m, nothing crazy. my buddy keeps telling me i should just do it for the extra HF privileges but honestly i look at the question pool and some of that stuff is way over my head. like the filter theory and the math behind the oscillator circuits and stuff. i took electronics in community college like 15 years ago so i remember some basics but the advanced theory sections are kind of intimidating. i guess my question is do you actually use any of that theory day to day or is it just stuff you memorize for the test and then forget. also does the extra portion of 40m actually make a difference for finding clear frequencies or is it usually just as crowded

so ive been a tech for about two years now mostly doing 2m and some 70cm stuff, local repeaters, a little APRS. but ive been hearing people talk about HF and honestly it sounds amazing, being able to actually talk to people across the country or even other continents on like 40m or 20m just with a wire antenna in the backyard. anyway i started looking at the General class pool and its kind of overwhelming. there's a lot of stuff in there about propagation and operating procedures and then all the electrical theory which i never really felt like i fully understood even for the tech exam. i've been using HamStudy and just grinding through the questions but some of them i genuinely dont understand why the answer is what it is, im just memorizing at that point. is that okay to do, just memorize the pool? or will i be totally lost on HF if i dont actually understand what im doing. also how long did it take people to feel ready to actually sit for the exam

Check your coax connections first - PL-259s are notorious for poor solder joints that create intermittent high SWR. Also verify the antenna is truly vertical and clear of metal objects within several feet on all sides.

honestly probably ft8. thats where everybody went. i resisted for like two years but finally caved last month and the bands that sound empty are absolutely packed on the waterfall its kind of wild to see

Been comparing different cluster networks for contesting and casual DXing. DX Summit by OH8X has been a reliable source of current and historical DX activity for many years. However, I've noticed DXWatch sometimes has connectivity issues, and QRZ's cluster seems to have different spot sources. What's been your experience with reliability and spot quality across the major networks? Do you run multiple clusters simultaneously, or have a preferred primary source? Looking for real-world feedback from active DXers.

yeah there's a full ITU list but honestly for ham use you only really need maybe a dozen or so in regular rotation. QSL is acknowledge/confirm, QRM is interference from other stations (man-made), QRN is natural noise like static from storms, QSY is move to another frequency, QRZ is who is calling me, QTH is your location, QRP is low power, and QSB is fading. those alone will cover probably 90% of what you hear on HF. QRO is the opposite of QRP, high power. oh and QRX means standby or wait a minute basically. the Q codes go back way before ham radio, they were originally for maritime and commercial telegraph use so theres a ton of obscure ones nobody ever uses. just pick up a copy of the ARRL handbook if you want the full list, its in there, but dont stress about memorizing all of them at once.

welcome to the addiction haha. seriously though 67 contacts on your first activation is pretty solid, some people struggle to get the 44 minimum for a valid activation so you did great. the spotting networks make a huge difference, i always post to wwff.us and also put something on SOTA watch if im doing a combined activation. for finding references that are less crowded, i usually just browse the WWFF directory and filter by activation count. parks and forests with zero or very few activations are everywhere once you start looking, and hunters get excited because theyre chasing a new reference. i tend to avoid the super popular ones on weekends anyway just because parking is a nightmare. also worth checking if your state has any WFF references that are national wildlife refuges or wilderness areas, those tend to be really nice operating spots and people love them. what antenna setup were you running with the KX2? im always curious what people bring for portable ops

Just picked up an SDRplay RSP1A and having some trouble optimizing performance on the HF bands. While the unit excels at pulling extremely weak signals from noise with narrow bandpass filters that act like "brick walls," I'm getting some odd gain staging behavior below 30 MHz. Specifically, when monitoring 20m CW around 14.070 MHz with modest RF gain settings, I'm seeing what appears to be AGC pumping on very weak signals that should be copyable. The waterfall shows the signals clearly, but audio recovery is inconsistent. Has anyone had success with the Linux support on the RSP1A, particularly with the new SDRplay Connect software currently under development? Running SDR Console v3.3 on Windows 10. Any thoughts on optimal gain distribution between RF and IF stages for weak signal work?

yeah double tuned will help noticeably but youre right that the coupling is a pain to get right. the trick most people use is to wind a separate smaller coil right on top of or right next to the main tank coil and then slide it in and out physically to adjust coupling — loose coupling gives you better selectivity but kills sensitivity, tight coupling is the opposite. most old commercial sets used a thing called critical coupling which is sort of the sweet spot but you basically have to find it by ear. if your two stations are close together in frequency it still might not be enough honestly, depends how strong they are relative to each other. one thing that helped me a lot on my second build was using a higher inductance coil and a smaller cap range, shifts the Q up a bit. also make sure your ground is actually good, a lot of people skimp on that and then wonder why everything sounds muddy.

okay so dont let this overwhelm you, it really does seem more complicated than it is at first. LoTW is definitely the most important one to get set up if you care about DXCC or other ARRL awards down the road — a lot of serious DX stations upload there and nowhere else. the certificate process is a little annoying but you basically just have to mail a postcard to ARRL with your callsign and they send you back credentials, or if you got your license recently theres a faster way through the FCC database. once thats done TQSL (the software you use to upload) isnt too bad. eQSL is worth having too, some people only use that, and its free and easier to set up. i wouldnt skip it. physical cards are kind of a personal thing — some people love them, some people have boxes full of them they never look at. if you work a really special contact or a rare entity its nice to have a paper card for the wall but you definitely dont need to do it for every qso. log4om should be able to upload to both LoTW and eQSL directly from the software once you configure it, worth looking into so you dont have to do it manually every time.

honest answer? it took me almost two years but i wasnt practicing consistently which is really the thing nobody tells you. when i finally buckled down and did even just 15 minutes every single day instead of an hour on weekends the improvement came way faster. the daily repetition thing is real, your brain needs that regular reinforcement. the background listening advice is kind of half true in my experience. just having code playing while you do dishes or whatever doesnt do much, but actively listening even to stuff thats too fast — like really trying to catch a word here and there — does seem to help over time. the big thing that worked for me was head copy practice, forcing myself to not write anything down and just listen. felt impossible at first but that's where the real speed gains came from once i got past maybe 12wpm. LCWO is solid, stick with it, but also get on the air even if you're slow. the K1USN slow speed net was a lifesaver for me when i was at your stage.

yeah cut long and trim is the way to go, learned that lesson the hard way on my first 20m dipole lol. also dont forget to account for the center insulator thickness in your overall measurement, its minor but if you're trying to be precise it adds up. my first one i just zip tied the coax to the center and it lasted two years before the connector started acting up, so even the janky approach works for a while.

just chiming in cause im in basically the same boat, sitting at about 9wpm right now and have been for like two months lol. one thing i started doing recently that seems to help is listening to the LCWO website head copy exercises — you dont write anything down, just listen and try to understand it like spoken language. feels weird at first but i think its starting to click a little bit. still slow but maybe worth trying if you havent already.

maybe its just me but 40 meters has felt really dead the past few weeks, like i can hear some stuff late at night but during the day its just noise. used to be i could always find somebody to ragchew with around 7.200 or so but lately nothing. wondering if its the solar conditions or maybe everyone just moved to a different band. i dunno, just noticed it and figured id ask around