Jennifer Liu

Been using the 9700 for transponders for three years. Skip the built-in satellite mode entirely - it's awful for linears. SatPC32 is solid for controlling both radio and rotator, though the interface could use work. Ham Radio Deluxe works well too if you already have it.

cant speak to the prop pitch specifically but i built a raspberry pi based logger and rig control box a while back and ran into the same noise issues trying to read an analog input — ended up just bit-banging to an ADS1115 over i2c which is a 16 bit ADC and that thing is rock solid even in the shack. obviously thats an i2c device so on the arduino side you can use the same chip no problem, its like 2 bucks on aliexpress. might be overkill for a rotator but once you stop fighting the noise problem you can actually focus on the fun part of the project

so i finally got my general last month and ive been reading about applying for a vanity call through the FCC ULS system and honestly the whole thing is more confusing than i expected. i thought it was like a first-come first-served thing but then someone at my club said its actually a batch processing system where they collect all the applications over a certain window and then pick randomly from that pool? so if 50 people apply for the same call on the same day none of them have an advantage over each other? also trying to understand the sequential callsign thing — like when i got licensed i got assigned a call automatically and i gather that goes in some kind of order based on district and license class. my call has a 2x3 format which i guess is what technicians and generals get in my district. is there any way to get a shorter call without going through vanity or do i just have to wait til i upgrade to extra? not even sure i want to change my call honestly, ive only had it a few weeks and it feels weird to give it up already. but some of the shorter calls look really appealing especially for cw ops which i want to get into eventually. anyway just trying to understand how it all works before i make any decisions

honestly the power thing is overrated if you have good antennas. ive worked plenty of stations running 200-300w when conditions are right. your 4x17el should work ok but make sure theyre phased properly - seen too many guys with nice antennas that dont phase right and wonder why they cant hear anything. get your system working first then worry about more power later, save some money

I've held my Tech license for 6 months and mostly operate on 2m/70cm repeaters. Ready to tackle the General exam to get onto HF. What's the most efficient study approach? Should I focus on the areas that are completely new to Tech holders?How much time should I spend on antenna theory vs. regulations?Any recommendations for practice tests that simulate the real exam experience?Looking to hit that 74% passing score without over-studying topics I already know from Tech prep.

Planning a 72-hour continuous communications exercise and trying to decide between a Honda EU2200i inverter generator vs expanded solar array for primary charging. Station load averages 8A during active periods (IC-7300 + laptop + logging). Current battery bank: 2x 100Ah LiFePO4 in parallel. Have 200W solar with MPPT controller but concerned about cloudy weather limiting charge capacity. Generator pros: Consistent 1800W output, proven reliability Solar pros: Silent operation, no fuel logistics Looking for real-world experience with multi-day setups. How do you balance the noise vs reliability trade-offs?

hey welcome to the hobby, dont stress about the tone thing it confuses everybody at first. the 100.0 you see on repeaterbook is almost certainly the tone you need to transmit to access the repeater — so in your radio that goes in as the encode tone, sometimes called CTCSS TX tone depending on the radio. you dont usually need to worry about the decode side unless you want to squelch out noise when the repeater isnt active. on the kerchunking thing, yeah its generally considered a bit rude to just key up and drop carrier over and over without identifying yourself, especially on a busy repeater. if youre testing just say your callsign and something like "testing" and most people are totally fine with that. nobody's gonna yell at you for it but it is one of those unwritten etiquette things that old timers notice. once you get the tone sorted you should be good to go, what radio are you using exactly?

yeah its pretty much a feel thing honestly. the general idea is you use phonetics when there's any chance the letter could be misunderstood -- weak signal, noise, accents, whatever. on a clear local repeater with guys you talk to every week, nobody really cares. but on HF especially during a pileup or if conditions are rough you pretty much always use them for callsigns at minimum or people will come back to you with the wrong call. the non-nato thing is super common with older hams, you'll hear 'adam baker charlie' which is the old US military phonetics from before NATO standardized everything. its not wrong exactly but it does cause confusion sometimes because not everyone knows them, especially foreign stations. i had a guy in japan come back to me with a completely wrong callsign once because i said something unclear and wasnt using proper phonetics. learned my lesson pretty quick after that

so ive been a tech for about 2 years now and mostly just been doing 2m/70cm stuff with my local club, some APRS, occasional simplex. figured its time to actually upgrade so i can get on HF. been using hamstudystudy.com and the gordon west book and honestly the pass rate on my practice tests is like 75-80% which i know should be fine but there are certain sections that just dont click for me at all. the electrical theory stuff is where i keep losing points. like i get ohms law and the basic stuff but when it gets into the LC circuits and reactance questions i kind of just freeze up. is there a trick to remembering which way inductive vs capacitive reactance works or do people just kind of memorize the answer patterns? also the propagation questions for HF are a bit weird to me because ive never actually operated on HF so i dont have any feel for how the bands actually behave. anyway the test is in about 3 weeks and im mostly just wondering if 75-80% on the practice tests is enough or should i be higher before i sit down for the real thing? and is the actual exam harder than the practice ones or about the same difficulty

honestly you did exactly the right thing. saying no traffic nothing further is completely normal and most net controls appreciate it because it keeps things moving. you dont need to have a long ragchew ready every time you check in, the whole point of a lot of these nets is just to make sure people know how to use the repeater and that the repeater is functioning. some guys check in every single week and never say more than their call and signal report and nobody thinks anything of it. as for timing, some people do check in late intentionally if they know the net runs long and they want to catch the tail end, others just get home late from work or whatever. the main etiquette thing is just dont check in after the net control has already closed the net, that gets a little awkward. but anywhere in the middle youre fine. sounds like you handled yourself well, dont overthink it.

So ive been chasing summits for about 6 months now and finally decided to just do an activation myself. Picked a 4 point summit about 45 minutes from my house, W4T/SU-something, i have the reference written down at home. Plan is to hike up Saturday morning and try to work 4 contacts to qualify it. My question is mostly about the alert system. Do i HAVE to post an alert on SOTAwatch or can i just show up and spot myself once im up there? I know self-spotting is a thing but i wasnt sure if people actually do that or if it looks bad to skip the alert. Also im bringing my KX2 with a linked dipole and honestly not sure if i should try 40m or 20m first. The summit isnt super high, maybe 3200 feet, trees around but i should have a decent enough takeoff to the east and west. Any advice from people who have done this a lot would be great. A little nervous about the whole thing honestly but also really excited to be on the other side of the pileup for once.

welcome to the hobby. I remember my first time keying up on a repeater, hands were literally shaking a little lol. you'll get your general class and then HF opens up and thats a whole different world. whats your callsign?

yeah the voltage thing is pretty real with those kits. most of the simple single-band designs are running a class E or class C PA stage and the output drops pretty noticeably below about 10.5v in my experience. not a cliff edge exactly but you'll probably lose a watt or more by the time the battery sags to 9v under load. i'd keep an eye on voltage while transmitting, not just at rest, because lipo packs can dip more than you expect when you're drawing current for a key-down. on the antenna question — end fed halfwaves are genuinely good for portable work, its not just youtube hype. the main practical thing is you only need one support point if you're doing a sloper which makes it way easier to throw up in the field. a random wire works fine too but you'll want a decent ATU and a good counterpoise situation or you end up with rf on your coax braid and all kinds of weirdness. for QRP id honestly say the antenna matters more than it does with higher power stuff because you dont have the extra watts to compensate for a mediocre setup.

Connecting additional ground wires can create ground loops and stray RF issues, creating unwanted antenna combinations that add noise. Your symptoms sound like classic RF feedback. Try ferrites on your mic cable and audio leads first before adding more ground wires. Sometimes less is more!

same boat as you honestly, been licensed about a year and a half. i do all three just because why not, theyre all free except the postage on paper cards. LoTW is definitely the one that feels most official but the interface is pretty clunky imo. eQSL is easier to use and you actually get like a little graphic card which is kind of fun. the paper card thing i only do when someone specifically requests one via QRZ or if its a really good DX contact. bought a batch of cards from one of those printing places, came out really nice and wasnt too expensive. just gotta remember to actually mail them which i am bad at lol

yeah the district thing is definitely old, that requirement went away a long time ago — you can apply for any available callsign regardless of district now. so plenty of people in the 4th area have calls with a 1 or a 9 or whatever in them, totally fine. the preference tier thing is real though. basically if you're applying for a call and so is someone else during that same window, the FCC gives preference based on a few things — like if you're a former holder of that specific call you get top priority, then close relatives of a deceased former holder, then basically everyone else. license class does factor in because certain call formats are restricted to certain license classes — you have to be extra to apply for a 1x2 or 2x1 format for example. as a general you're looking at 1x3 or 2x2 formats mostly. the 18 day window is right, its actually a quiet period where competing applications sit and then get sorted out after it closes. AE7Q's website is way better for understanding whats available and tracking calls than the FCC site itself, I'd start there honestly

I've never actually been to a hamfest before, just got my tech license a few months ago. Is it worth going even if you don't really have money to spend on gear? Like is there stuff to do or learn or is it mostly just buying and selling

Ham operators often speak in code using CW abbreviations, and it takes time to send CW messages so common phrases get abbreviated. Modern digital modes like JS8 actually encourage using these traditional abbreviations for efficiency. The old ways still have their place!

yeah same thing tripped me up when i was going for my first DXCC. i had like 120 confirmed on paper and then realized half of them werent uploaded anywhere and i had to actually mail in a whole stack of cards to the checkpoint. kind of a pain honestly. now i just check LoTW first before i even bother with a card request, saves a lot of time and postage money adds up fast when youre sending stuff overseas. one thing i'll add — if you're close to hitting a threshold like 100 or 200 for an endorsement, sometimes its worth double checking your LoTW account to see whats actually matched vs just uploaded. i thought i had something confirmed once and it turned out the other guy's log had a slightly different time and it didnt match. easy fix but you gotta catch it.

Take it slow and practice until your wrist and fingers get the habit and you don't have to think about counting dits and dahs but feel the rhythm of each letter. The muscle memory takes time to develop - give it a few weeks of daily practice.

yeah the dual net control thing is a really common failure mode, we ran into the exact same problem about two years ago. what fixed it for us was writing up a one-page ICS-style checklist that every operator gets before the exercise starts, just clearly lays out who's primary NCS, who's backup and what frequency plan we're running. sounds almost too simple but having it printed out means nobody has to remember it under pressure. the multi-agency stuff is absolutely worth doing if you can pull it off. we did a joint exercise with the county fire liaison last spring and the biggest takeaway was that they have no idea how we operate and honestly we had some wrong assumptions about them too. just getting in the same room and walking through a scenario without any radios was more valuable than i expected. the communication breakdowns were almost always about terminology and assumed knowledge, not technical stuff. for your next drill i'd suggest throwing in an inject partway through — like simulate a key operator having to drop out suddenly, or give someone a message with a deliberate error in it and see if anyone catches it. those little wrinkles reveal a lot about how resilient your group actually is versus how resilient you think you are.

So I finally got my general license a couple months ago and ive been listening to the local 2m net on tuesday nights trying to get the hang of things before i actually check in. Last week i finally did it and honestly it went fine but i felt like i was doing everything wrong the whole time. Like when the net control called for check ins i just said my callsign and waited and that seemed to work but then later someone asked for traffic and i had no idea what that meant. I also wasnt sure when it was okay to just jump in with a comment vs waiting to be recognized. Is there like an unwritten rulebook for this stuff that i somehow missed or does it just come with time? Also kind of unrelated but I heard someone get pretty firmly told to stand by during the net and the guy sounded embarrassed, i felt bad for him. is it always that serious or was that just that particular net control being strict?

Looking at upgrading my base station antenna from a simple ground plane and torn between a dual-band Yagi (9.5/11.5 dBi) and a collinear array. My primary use is local repeater work on 2M/70cm with some satellite passes. The Yagi would be at 30ft with rotor control, while the collinear would be fixed omni at same height. Concerned about the Yagi's narrow beamwidth missing mobile stations, but the extra gain is tempting. Anyone have real-world experience comparing these configurations for base operations? SWR bandwidth across the amateur bands is also a consideration. Current setup: IC-7100 with 50ft of LMR-400 to a simple 1/4 wave ground plane at 25ft.

congrats on the first activation, 32 contacts on your first go is pretty solid honestly. for the log submission — the way it works in most countries is you submit to your national WWFF program and they handle pushing the data up to the global database, so you dont usually need to do both separately. in the US that would go through KFF (K Flora Fauna) and they sync with the global WWFF database. if your operating from a US reference you should be good just going through the KFF portal. double check the reference number format though because KFF and WWFF references sometimes look similar but arent quite the same thing. as for the minimum contacts, i believe its 44 contacts to get a full activation credit but dont hold me to that exactly, worth confirming on the wwff.net site or the KFF group on facebook. some activators just go for the fun of it and dont worry about the award credits which is totally valid too

I was confused about this too when I started! Generally conditions are OK when A-index is 10 or lower, K-index is 3 or lower, and SFI above 90. But like W5XYZ said, you need sustained higher numbers for the really good DX. Check out VOACAP predictions for your specific path too.