Michael Brown

ok so i passed my general a few weeks ago and im trying to figure out where i can actually operate on 40 meters. i know theres a chart somewhere but every time i look at it i get more confused not less. like the FCC part 97 says one thing and then the ARRL band plan says something slightly different and i dont know which one actually matters legally.
also whats the deal with band edges? my elmer told me to stay away from them but didnt really explain why. is it just an interference thing or is there some rule about it? i almost called CQ on 7.125 the other night and my buddy said dont do that but wouldnt explain it either lol

so i passed my tech exam about three weeks ago and ive been lurking here trying to figure out what handheld to buy first. everyone seems to have a different opinion and honestly the more i read the more confused i get. some people swear by the baofeng UV-5R because its cheap and you can program it with chirp, other people act like youre an idiot if you dont spend $200+ on a yaesu or kenwood right off the bat.
my plan is mostly to hit the local 2m and 70cm repeaters, maybe do some simplex if theres activity around here, and eventually get into APRS maybe. i dont really need anything crazy. budget is probably under $150 but i could stretch a little if it actually matters. anyone have thoughts on like the baofeng UV-9R pro vs the yaesu FT-65 or maybe the TYT stuff? im just trying to not make a stupid first purchase

so ive been working on this 40m CW transmitter for about two months now, started from a design i found in an old ARRL handbook from like 1978 or something. crystal controlled, supposed to be pretty stable but mine wont sit still frequency-wise especially after it warms up. like it'll drift maybe 400-500hz over the first 10 minutes which for CW is honestly annoying as heck when you're trying to have an actual QSO.
the oscillator stage is a colpitts using a 7.030 crystal and im running it off a 12v regulated supply so its not a voltage issue i think. the PA is a single IRF510 running maybe 3-4 watts out. i kept the oscillator and PA on the same board which in hindsight was probably dumb because there's definitely some heat coupling happening. anyway wondering if anyone's fought this before and what you did about it — whether its worth physically separating the stages or if there's a better fix

hamstudy is legit, thats basically what everyone uses now. the actual exam pulls directly from that same question pool so if youre scoring consistently above like 80% on there you should be fine. i passed mine first try doing nothing but hamstudy for about two weeks, maybe 20-30 minutes a day. the thing is some of the questions are genuinely worth understanding — especially the electrical stuff and the band privileges, because that actually matters when you start operating. the pure memorization approach works but youll be lost when someone asks you something simple on the air and you have no clue why the answer is what it is

Your buddy is right, you are overthinking it haha. 5 watts is fine, I've done hundreds of activations with 5w and a wire antenna and rarely struggle to get the 4 contacts you need. The chasers are hungry, trust me, once you self spot on sotawatch you'll have a pileup going before you even get your logging sorted out.
One thing I would say — don't wait too long to spot yourself. Some activators get up there and kind of fiddle around getting set up and by the time they call CQ the early morning chasers have moved on. Just get the antenna up, make sure you're roughly on frequency, and get your spot in. Even if you're not 100% ready it gets people tuning to you. Oh and bring more water than you think you need, learned that one the hard way on a warm day last spring. Good luck tomorrow, hope the propagation cooperates.

so i finally got my technician about three weeks ago and ive been listening to the local 2m repeater net on thursday nights. everyone seems to know exactly what to do and when to do it and i feel like if i tried to check in i would mess everything up somehow. like the net control guy goes through everything so fast and people just say their callsign and sometimes a number or something and its all very quick.
ive been reading a bit online but i cant really find a clear explanation of what youre supposed to say when you check in and whether there are like rules about when you can talk or if you have to wait to be called on. also one time somebody said QRZ after check-ins were done and i have no idea what that was about. is there a good way to just kind of ease into this or should i just go for it and probably sound dumb the first time

RTTY is still worth a look if you havent tried it, especially during contests. totally different vibe from FT8 — its noisy and old fashioned and i kind of love it for that reason. not gonna help you have a ragchew either but its satisfying in a different way than clicking through FT8 QSOs. just throwing that out there since you mentioned wanting more than FT8.

An ideal SSB signal shows spectrum from about 70 Hz to 2700 Hz, relatively flat throughout the passband, with no energy outside this range for best readability. Most contest receivers use 2.4 to 1.8 kHz filtering, so energy above 2500 Hz is wasted and mainly disturbs others. I recommend setting high-pass to 100Hz to avoid puffing sounds - too much bass makes you muddy and wastes power. What bandwidth settings do others find optimal for different conditions? I'm curious about narrow vs wide for weak signal work.

so ive been working on this 40m CW transmitter for about two months now, started from a design i found in an old ARRL handbook from like 1978 or something. crystal controlled, supposed to be pretty stable but mine wont sit still frequency-wise especially after it warms up. like it'll drift maybe 400-500hz over the first 10 minutes which for CW is honestly annoying as heck when you're trying to have an actual QSO.
the oscillator stage is a colpitts using a 7.030 crystal and im running it off a 12v regulated supply so its not a voltage issue i think. the PA is a single IRF510 running maybe 3-4 watts out. i kept the oscillator and PA on the same board which in hindsight was probably dumb because there's definitely some heat coupling happening. anyway wondering if anyone's fought this before and what you did about it — whether its worth physically separating the stages or if there's a better fix

An ideal SSB signal shows spectrum from about 70 Hz to 2700 Hz, relatively flat throughout the passband, with no energy outside this range for best readability. Most contest receivers use 2.4 to 1.8 kHz filtering, so energy above 2500 Hz is wasted and mainly disturbs others. I recommend setting high-pass to 100Hz to avoid puffing sounds - too much bass makes you muddy and wastes power. What bandwidth settings do others find optimal for different conditions? I'm curious about narrow vs wide for weak signal work.

Just passed my Tech exam and ready to get my first handheld! I keep seeing debates about starting with a Baofeng UV-5R vs spending more on a Yaesu FT-65R. The price difference is huge ($25 vs $120), but I want something reliable that won't frustrate me as I learn. Will I regret going cheap, or is the Baofeng fine to get started?
Also wondering about programming - heard these things can be tricky to set up without software?

Yeah I noticed that too. Pretty sure the net moved to thursdays now but dont quote me on that. Check the club website, they might have updated the schedule. Also band has been pretty rough in the evenings lately, especially with all the solar activity we've been having