Bob Wilson

I'm torn between these two rigs for my POTA setup. The IC-705 seems perfect for backpack portable with its small size and VHF/UHF coverage, but the 10W limit worries me for weak band conditions. The FT-891 gives me 100W on HF which should punch through better, but it's heavier and no VHF coverage.
Those of you who've used both - which has worked better for getting your 10 contacts? Does the extra power of the 891 make a real difference, or is 10W from the 705 usually enough with a decent antenna?

so ive been on HF for about 8 months now and i still feel kinda awkward about when to use phonetics. like on 40m SSB sometimes i hear guys just rattle off their callsign normally and sometimes they go full NATO the whole way through. is there a rule for this or is it just feel? i tend to just say the letters and then if someone asks me to repeat ill go phonetic but is that backwards from what i should be doing
also i noticed some older ops use different words than the standard ones, heard a guy say 'sugar' instead of sierra the other day which threw me off for a second. is that a regional thing or just old habits

so ive been going back and forth on this for a while now. i have an IC-7300 thats been sitting pretty much stock since i got it two years ago and ive been reading about the MARS/CAP mod to open up the TX range a bit. i know you just move a couple of jumpers inside and thats basically it but i guess my question is more about whether people have noticed any actual performance difference or if its just kind of a nice-to-have thing you do and then never use.
i'm mostly an HF guy, work some 40 and 20m, occasionally play around on 17. not doing any MARS or EMCOMM work right now but i kind of like the idea of having the flexibility if i ever need it. also i heard some people do this just to allow slight out-of-band tuning which can matter when you're near a band edge and the rig starts limiting power. is that actually a thing or am i misremembering something i read on eham.
and yes i know it voids the warranty, mine is way out of warranty anyway so thats not a concern. just want to hear from people who've actually done it rather than the usual "consult your local regulations" type responses

i was in the exact same spot like six months ago and i remember that first check-in feeling. for nets i ended up just lurking on a few different repeaters at different times until i stumbled on ones that were active, kind of old fashioned way of doing it but it worked. there's also an app called repeaterbook that sometimes has notes about nets tied to specific repeaters which helped me a bit.
the special event thing is really fun once you get into it. i worked a handful during field day weekend and a few lighthouse ones and its a good way to just get comfortable making contacts without the pressure of a big contest pileup or whatever.

CQ WW was my first real contest too and honestly just jumping in is the best way to learn. the exchange is pretty simple once you do it a few times — for phone you send your signal report (everyone says 59 basically regardless) and your CQ Zone. you can look up what zone you're in before the contest, its usually listed on the contest sponsor page. if you mess up an exchange the other station will just ask you to repeat, nobody's going to yell at you or anything
and dont worry about the 100w and wire thing. you'll be surprised what you can work even without a big station. yeah the M/M contest stations with stacked yagis are doing crazy things but there are plenty of people running modest setups just like you. a dipole or end fed on 40 and 20 will get you in the log. your score wont win any plaques but that isnt really the point your first time through
Field Day is great but its kind of its own thing — more about emergency preparedness and club camaraderie, the scoring is weird with all the bonus points. CQ WW is a more traditional contest experience if you want to learn how contesting actually works. do both eventually but CQ WW phone would be a solid first contest. just fire up N1MM or even just a paper log and go for it

yeah the suffix only thing on SSB is kinda controversial but i've heard serious DXers say the same thing. if the op just needs to pull one unique string out of noise, shorter is sometimes better. that said ive also heard DX ops complain that partial calls make logging a mess so i go back and forth on it depending on how the pile sounds.
my biggest improvement honestly was just getting better at copying the dx station itself. sounds obvious but i used to be so focused on when to transmit that i wasnt really listening carefully to who he was coming back to, what his pattern was, whether he was doing any kind of QSY or listening window shift. once i started treating it more like actually paying attention to the other side of the qso things clicked a lot faster. also helps to know if the DXpedition has posted an operating schedule or preferred frequencies on the cluster or their website because sometimes they shift bands at predictable times and the pileup thins way out in the first few minutes on a new band.

on my Silverado I used the factory grommet on the drivers side, there was already a small hole in it from the factory where nothing was routed. I took a coat hanger, heated the tip slightly and just poked through. ran my PL-259 end through first. worked great, put some self-amalgamating tape around it after to keep moisture out.
honestly the grommet route is the way to go if you can find one with space. just take your time and feel around in there with a flashlight before you commit. some trucks have a plastic plug thats separate from the main grommet too, worth checking both sides.

I'm torn between these two rigs for my POTA setup. The IC-705 seems perfect for backpack portable with its small size and VHF/UHF coverage, but the 10W limit worries me for weak band conditions. The FT-891 gives me 100W on HF which should punch through better, but it's heavier and no VHF coverage.
Those of you who've used both - which has worked better for getting your 10 contacts? Does the extra power of the 891 make a real difference, or is 10W from the 705 usually enough with a decent antenna?

just got my tech ticket last month and im in the middle of doing almost the exact same thing in my jeep so this is really helpful to read. i was also just using the cig lighter plug because i didnt want to run wires but i guess i should just do it right. did you use any kind of split loom or conduit for the wire run to the battery or just ran it bare?

Just got my Tech license a month ago and I'm making my first HF contacts! I keep hearing about LoTW and eQSL for confirming QSOs digitally, but I'm really confused about which system I should use. Are they both free? Do I need both? I'd love to work toward some awards eventually but don't want to miss out on confirmations because I picked the wrong system.
Also saw some mentions of QRZ logbook - is that different from these two? Any guidance from you elmers would be really appreciated!

had basically the same issue last year. turned out my SSID was conflicting with another mobile station in the area running the same callsign-9. aprs.fi was showing the other guy and my packets were getting dropped as dupes by the igate. changed to -7 and suddenly i started showing up consistently. probably not your exact problem but worth at least pulling up aprs.fi and checking if there's another station with your callsign anywhere nearby doing something weird.

so ive been on HF for about 8 months now and i still feel kinda awkward about when to use phonetics. like on 40m SSB sometimes i hear guys just rattle off their callsign normally and sometimes they go full NATO the whole way through. is there a rule for this or is it just feel? i tend to just say the letters and then if someone asks me to repeat ill go phonetic but is that backwards from what i should be doing
also i noticed some older ops use different words than the standard ones, heard a guy say 'sugar' instead of sierra the other day which threw me off for a second. is that a regional thing or just old habits