Jessica Davis

honestly a lot of it IS luck and timing but the guys who work rare DX consistently have figured out how to stack the odds. one thing i dont see mentioned enough is just working the DX when the pileup is smaller — like early in an expedition before word gets fully out, or on a weird band or mode that fewer people chase. i snagged a pretty rare one last year on 60m just because almost nobody was trying there and the DX op was clearly bored and answering every call immediately. sometimes being first isnt about being loudest its about being there when everyone else gave up or isnt paying attention.

so i passed my technician exam on the 14th and honestly i wasnt sure i was ready but the VE team was really chill about the whole thing. been studying for about 6 weeks using hamstudyorg and a couple youtube videos. anyway i borrowed my uncles HT just to listen around and i heard someone calling CQ on the local repeater so i just... answered. my heart was going like crazy. the guy was in San Antonio and he gave me a 59 and asked about my setup and i had no idea what half the questions meant lol but he was super patient. we talked for maybe 10 minutes and then he said 73 and i didnt even know what that meant until i looked it up after i know its not a big deal to most of you but it felt huge to me. thinking about getting my own radio soon, maybe a baofeng to start or maybe ill just save up for something better. not sure yet

not dumb questions at all, everyone starts here. the UV-5R gets recommended a lot because it's cheap and it works, but you're right that the stock programming interface is pretty rough. CHIRP handles it fine though — you download the software, get a programming cable (make sure it's the right one, some are garbage clones that cause headaches), and you can have all your local repeaters loaded in about 20 minutes. just google your region's repeater directory and you're set. that said if budget allows i'd honestly nudge you toward the Yaesu FT-65 or even the FT-4XR. the build quality is noticeably better, the receiver is cleaner, and Yaesu's menu system is just less weird to navigate. dual band means you get both 2 meters and 70 centimeters, which matters because some repeaters are on 440 and some are on 146 — having both means you're not locked out of anything in your area. for simplex with your brother you'll mostly be on 2m anyway. for $150 you can get a solid radio that wont frustrate you every time you try to change a setting. the few extra dollars over a UV-5R is worth it imo, especially starting out when you're already learning everything else at once

yeah the angle of the legs absolutely changes the feedpoint impedance, thats pretty normal with inverted V configs. a flatter angle pushes the impedance lower, closer to 35-40 ohms sometimes even less depending on how shallow you go. so your 1:1 balun that was fine at 35 feet is probably not the best match anymore at 50. the frequency shift is also expected since the effective electrical length changes a little with the geometry even if the wire length is the same, something to do with the mutual coupling between the two legs changing as the angle opens up. try shortening each leg by a couple inches first to bring resonance back down where you want it, then see what the impedance looks like. if it's sitting around 35ish ohms at resonance you might want to try a 4:1 balun or just a 1.5:1 and see if that cleans things up on the low end. also double check your coax run, a poorly seated PL-259 or a drip loop issue can do weird things to an otherwise decent sweep.