Giovanni Rossi

random thought but have you checked the ALC loop? i had a friend with a similar thing and it turned out his logging software was sending weird CAT commands that were interacting with the ALC in a funky way. probably not your issue but worth disconnecting the usb and running totally standalone for a session just to rule it out. also 40m being worse — are you running more power on 40? if youre pushing closer to 100w on that band vs like 50 on 20 that could point toward a thermal thing with the finals even if they feel okay to the touch. the internal sensors might tell a different story than what you can feel.

nice work getting out there. i kept making excuses too and finally just went and it was way more fun than i expected. 40m was my bread and butter when i started, 20 can be hit or miss depending on time of day and where youre trying to reach the spotting thing is a game changer once you figure it out. i was confused about it at first too but basically you just put yourself on the pota spots and hunters see it almost instantly. sometimes youll go from zero calls to a small pile in like 2 minutes which is kind of wild the first time it happens

this is actually super helpful to read because im pretty new to chasing DX and i had no idea the K index mattered that much. i thought solar flux was basically the only number to watch. do you guys have a site you check for all this stuff or is it just spaceweather.com? im trying to figure out the best way to know when to actually sit down at the radio vs when its probably not worth it

Working on optimizing a 3-element 20m Yagi design and getting different results between EZNEC and MMANA-GAL. Use tools like MMANA-GAL or EZNEC... MMANA-GAL, EZNEC, 4NEC2: Modeling software. EZNEC shows 8.2 dBi gain with 18 dB F/B while MMANA gives 7.8 dBi and 22 dB F/B for identical geometry. Element spacing: DE at 0", reflector at -60", director at +72". Both use NEC-2 engine with medium ground. Advanced, cutting-edge computer modeling and optimization techniques were used to produce every one of the EAntenna premier HF beam antennas. Which results should I trust for real-world construction?

so ive been trying to get Winlink working for the past couple weeks and im honestly at my wits end. the basic concept makes sense to me, you connect to an RMS gateway either through packet on VHF or through pactor/vara on HF and the gateway relays your email through the CMS servers. i get that part. what i dont get is why my sessions keep timing out before the message actually transfers. im using VARA FM on 2m right now because i dont have an HF rig that plays nice with the signalink setup yet. the gateway im hitting is maybe 40 miles away, i can usually hear it fine on 144.990, the connection handshake happens, it shows connecting and then like 30 seconds in it just drops. tried adjusting the VARA bandwidth settings, tried tweaking the audio levels, nothing seems to stick. running Winlink Express on windows 10 if that matters. is there something obvious im missing in the channel setup or the RMS configuration on my end

Been doing this since the paper-only days, and LoTW is a game-changer. If you do use paper cards, make sure they're in proper order - band first, then mode - and that your record sheet matches the card order exactly. The new online tools make award chasing so much more enjoyable.

Field Day is honestly the perfect starting point and i'd strongly recommend just joining your local club for it rather than going solo your first time. you get to watch how the more experienced ops handle the pileups, learn the exchange format without the pressure of running a whole station yourself, and you can jump on when things quiet down a bit. most clubs are really welcoming about letting newer hams try it out during slower periods like the overnight hours. for CQ WW that one gets pretty intense especially on phone, the pile ups on the DX stations can be brutal and the exchange involves a zone number that trips people up at first. if you want to try a big contest early on id honestly suggest starting with something like the ARRL November Sweepstakes on CW or phone — the exchange is more involved but the US/Canada only nature of it means youre not trying to pull calls through a wall of stations from 40 different countries all at once. and yes use N1MM or Log4OM from day one, paper logging mid-contest is just chaos and you'll miss the dupe checking which matters a lot

For equipment testing, as long as you're genuinely experimenting and learning (not just doing QC for a business), that falls under the "technical investigations" purpose of amateur radio. Keep good notes showing the experimental nature.

i went through the exact same thing last year lol. ended up with the 7300 and zero regrets. the waterfall alone made me realize how much i was missing with my old rig, kept finding signals i never would have tuned across manually. the built in tuner handles a 9:1 unun fine in my experience too at least on the bands you mentioned.

the repeater at 140 miles, is that even linked to anything or is it just range testing? asking because ive chased some of those distant repeaters and half the time nobody is actually monitoring them lol. but yeah a 5 element yagi makes a noticeable difference, you can really hear it when you swing it on and off axis on a marginal signal. i wouldnt bother with a rotator for portable stuff personally, hand pointing is fine and its one less thing to break or forget the power cable for

field day is honestly the best starting point for exactly what you're describing. it's in late june every year and the whole vibe is way more relaxed than CQ WW — it's more of a community event, lots of clubs set up portable stations and they genuinely love having newer operators come try it out. you're not expected to be fast or know everything, people just kind of help you along and you get a feel for how exchanges work without the pressure of a serious contest pile up. CQ WW is a different animal. its a real contest, like serious contesters take that one very seriously and the rates can get intense especially on phone. that said you can absolutely jump in as a casual participant and just work what you can, nobody is grading you. the exchange is pretty simple too — signal report and CQ zone, you can have that on a sticky note next to your radio. but if i were you i'd do field day first just to get comfortable then maybe try CQ WW SSB in october just for a few hours and see how you like it. SOTA is kind of its own thing, not really a contest more of an activity — activating summits and chasing them. super fun but its more of an outdoor hiking + radio thing than sitting at the rig contesting.

New to digital modes and trying to get JS8Call working with my FTDX-10. Software doesn't have FTDX-10 in the dropdown, but selected FTDX-101 and it seems to work. However, I'm on 20m right now and the waterfall is completely empty. Downloaded FLDigi as backup and planning to try that next. I understand JS8Call takes FT8's robustness and adds messaging capability for actual conversations rather than just signal reports. Sounds perfect for what I want - real keyboard-to-keyboard chats with weak signal performance. Am I looking in the wrong place, or is JS8Call activity just sparse? What frequencies should I monitor and what times are best for activity?

yeah i go through this every couple years honestly. last time i just started building a kit i'd had sitting in the box forever and that got me back into it. sometimes you just need a reason to actually use the thing again instead of just having it on in the background

Having issues getting N1MM Logger+ to properly interface with WSJT-X for upcoming ARRL DX CW. Default port 2237 should match between WSJT-X and N1MM+, but getting intermittent connection drops during busy band periods. Has anyone experienced similar UDP communication issues? Running N1MM+ 1.0.9789 with WSJT-X 2.6.1 on Windows 11. CAT control works fine through DXLab Commander setting, but the logging integration keeps failing. Mode control is set to AFSK-R for the IC-7300 per documentation. Are there any known workarounds or specific firewall configurations that resolve this? Really need this stable for contest operation.

yeah baofengs are rough to program by hand honestly. if you haven't already just grab CHIRP, it's free software and you can see all the channel settings laid out in a spreadsheet basically which makes the offset direction and tone stuff way easier to verify at a glance. saved me a ton of headache when i was starting out. and dont feel bad about the etiquette stuff, i lurked on repeaters for like two months before i ever said anything because i wasn't sure what the "rules" were. most regulars on a friendly repeater are pretty happy when a new call shows up, some of them have been talking to the same four people for years lol.

A wise ham once said "RATE is KING" • There is no wasted time while Cqing, increasing RATE - but I'm struggling with the decision of when to abandon a run frequency and go S&P during contests. Last weekend in ARRL DX CW, I held 14.025 for 3 hours with declining rate from 120/hr down to 40/hr. Planning to work the bands that are open, follow the band openings. If two band are open work the one that closes first, then move to the other. At what point do you guys switch from running to S&P? Is there a mathematical threshold (QSOs/hour) that makes it worth giving up frequency? I'm using WriteLog with packet spots, so I can see multiplier activity, but the rate vs. multiplier balance is confusing me. Also wondering about band-change strategy - Research the propagation predictions for the contest operating time. There are plenty of websites and tools available to assist you. Use one during the contest to monitor the propagation patterns. How frequently should I check other bands during a good run?

yeah the battery thing gets me every time too, i always think im bringing enough and then im not. have you tried POTA yet? its a bit more chill since you dont have to worry about the summit rules and you can just park somewhere and operate from the car if you need to. did a state park last month and made like 40 contacts in two hours just running 10 watts on 40m, way less stressful than hauling everything up a hill

yeah the K index being up will absolutely kill 20m, especially for transatlantic paths. when its 4 or above youre basically fighting against it. the flux at 145 is actually pretty solid right now — few months ago we were seeing it in the 90s and that was rough — so when the geo settles down again you should have some decent openings. for tools i mostly use prop.kc2g.com for a real-time view of whats actually being heard where, and I cross-reference with the NOAA SWPC site for the actual indices. pskreporter is good too but i find it can be a bit noisy. the DX cluster is still my go-to when im actually trying to work someone specific though. one thing that helped me when i was learning this stuff was to just keep a log not just of contacts but of the conditions each time i operated. after a few months you start to get a feel for it, like oh its late afternoon and the flux is above 130 and K is low, europe should be there. takes time but it clicks eventually

I used a combination approach that worked great - started with KB6NU's free No-Nonsense study guide to understand the concepts, then hammered the questions on HamStudy.org for the last two weeks. Practice tests are useful because they show exactly where you need to improve, but understanding why each answer is correct makes you a better operator long-term.

QSL bureaus were/are a great way to save on postage costs. The cost of a stamp – especially to overseas countries – has risen steadily. That may not be a problem for occasional use, but could become an unreasonable expense for active stations. The fee increases are unfortunate but probably necessary.

the opentracker thing is a real possibility. if it was beaconing with the same callsign and no SSID, or even the same SSID, and it had bad coordinates hardcoded or pulled from a weak GPS fix, some of that could still be sitting in the IS. i'd try beaconing a few times with a comment that includes your grid square or something you can verify, then compare what raw packets show up on findu.com or aprs.fi raw data and see if anything looks off. also just to rule out the obvious — is your radio set to GPS mode or are you by any chance running in fixed beacon mode with old coordinates still in there. i know you said the display looks right but worth a quick sanity check in the menu.

the 7300 hype is real but its not undeserved imo. ive had mine going on 3 years and the receiver genuinely holds up well on crowded bands, the 891 is a solid rig but its more of a portable/mobile thing, different use case really. for a base station the 7300 just makes more sense and you already have it so stop reading reviews lol for the audio thing, go into the menu and do a full settings reset on just the audio section, dont do a full factory reset or youll lose other stuff. there should be a way to reset only certain menu groups. the TX tone settings and the mic EQ are both worth setting to flat first and then adjusting from there. took me a whole afternoon when i got mine to dial in the audio but once its set its set

For rapid deployment, I swear by the 49:1 end-fed setup. 130 feet of wire gets you 80-10m coverage, and with a good counterpoise it tunes well on most bands. Takes me 15 minutes solo to get it up 25 feet on a telescoping mast. Your 20Ah should easily handle a full day at 100W.

yeah you basically got QSL and QTH right. QRM is interference from other stations, like man-made noise, and QRN is natural static, like lightning crashes and that kind of thing. QSB is when your signal is fading in and out, which happens a lot on HF depending on propagation. there are a ton of them honestly, the original Q codes came from maritime and commercial telegraphy way back before ham radio was even a thing, so some of them are a bit weird out of context. 73 means best regards, pretty much used as a friendly sign-off between hams everywhere. 88 means love and kisses, traditionally only sent to or from female operators but honestly nowadays people use it however they want. you'll also see stuff like 55 sometimes which is supposed to be good luck to new hams specifically but i barely ever hear that one anymore. honestly the fastest way to learn them is just to keep listening and look them up when you hear something new. ARRL has a reference list, and there are a bunch of phone apps too if you want something quick to pull up on the radio. after a few months it'll just start clicking naturally.

I've been using DX Spots for about 6 months now and it's solid. Really wish it had UTC time display and alert notifications for specific callsigns though. The filtering by band and mode is pretty useful when you're chasing specific contacts.