Sarah Martinez

okay so i just passed my technician exam last month and im finally ready to actually buy something and get on the air. ive been doing a ton of reading and watching youtube videos but honestly i feel more confused now than when i started lol. everyone seems to have a really strong opinion about this stuff. the main ones i keep seeing come up are the Baofeng UV-5R which is like 25 bucks, then theres the Yaesu FT-60 which people seem to really love, and i also saw the Kenwood TH-D74 mentioned a few times but thats way more than i want to spend right now. i mostly want to hit the local repeaters and maybe do some APRS eventually if thats possible with a handheld. i dont really know what features actually matter vs which ones are just nice to have. like do i need dual band? does the number of memory channels actually matter that much for just starting out? someone at my local club meeting mentioned wires-x but i have no idea what that even is. anyway if anyone has a recommendation or just wants to share what they started with id really appreciate it, im trying to not make a bad first purchase here

congrats on the first build, that ohio contact is solid especially right now. the key click thing is almost certainly your rise and fall time on the keying waveform — if its clicking youre probably switching too fast. most homebrewers add a small RC network on the keying line to soften that up, like a resistor and cap that shapes how quickly the envelope comes up. theres a pretty good explanation of it in the ARRL handbook if you have one handy, or just search for QSK keying shaping and youll find what you need. on the 7805 question, yeah for portable work that linear regulator is basically throwing away voltage as heat which eats into your battery runtime. a buck converter module is honestly not that complicated to drop in, you can get adjustable ones for a couple bucks and most of them are pretty clean electrically though you might need to add some filtering if you notice any noise on receive. for home use i wouldnt bother but if you're running off a lipo or something in the field it makes a real difference over a few hours.

so i finally worked up the nerve to check into a local 2m net last night. ive been licensed for about 3 months now (general class) and i mostly just listen but the net control sounded friendly so i figured why not. anyway i gave my callsign when they asked for check-ins and the net control came back to me and asked if i had any traffic or announcements and i just kind of froze up and said no and then didnt know if i was supposed to say over or out or what. i think i just said my callsign again and then nothing. felt pretty awkward. also when the net was wrapping up someone gave a long winded closing and i wasnt sure if i was supposed to acknowledge that or just let it go. i ended up keying up and just saying my callsign which probably wasnt right either. is there like a standard format most nets use? i know theres formal traffic nets with the NTS and stuff but this was just a casual weekly ragchew type net. wondering if anyone can walk me through what the flow is supposed to look like from a check-in's perspective

so ive been running a diamond X50 colinear for a few years now on my back deck, works fine for hitting the local repeaters and doing some simplex with the guys in town. but lately ive been thinking about whether a yagi would be worth putting up, mainly for weak signal stuff on 2m ssb and maybe some tropo when conditions are decent. the thing is im not really sure if the gain difference is actually noticeable in practice or if its one of those things that looks good on paper but you dont really feel it day to day. the X50 is rated at like 6.5 dBd on 2m which is already pretty decent for an omni. a decent 5 or 6 element yagi would obviously beat that but then id lose the omnidirectional coverage which i kind of rely on for rag chewing and monitoring the local nets. anyone been through this decision? did you end up going with both and just switching between them? or is there some other setup im not thinking about. my mast situation isnt great so adding a second antenna is a bit of a project but not impossible.

so ive been a general class for about two years now and people keep telling me to just go ahead and get my extra but honestly every time i look at the question pool i kind of freeze up. like the stuff about filters and transmission lines and all the impedance matching stuff... i took basic electronics in high school like 15 years ago and retained maybe none of it. i guess my actual question is whether the extra privileges are actually useful in practice or is it more of a vanity thing. i mostly operate HF, some 40 and 20 meter SSB, occasional digital. i know there are some extra-only segments but i honestly dont know how much activity is actually down there versus the general portions. also is the theory on the exam stuff you actually use or is it just memorize and forget kind of material

i was in the same boat like a year ago and honestly just use the ARRL website, they have a chart that breaks down all the privileges by license class and its a million times easier than staring at part 97 subsections. the official rules are the rules obviously but for just figuring out where you can operate day to day the chart does the job fine

so ive been chasing DX for about a year now and i keep hearing people talk about DXCC, WAS, WAZ and i think i have a decent idea what they are but the actual mechanics of getting the credits confirmed is where im totally lost. like i have like 40 something entities worked in my log but i have no idea what percentage of those are actually confirmed vs just worked. from what i understand you need either a physical QSL card or LoTW confirmation, is that right? and do paper QSLs still count for DXCC or has the ARRL basically moved everything to LoTW now? i sent out a bunch of cards through the bureau last spring and i dont think ive gotten a single one back yet. is that normal or did i do something wrong also is WAS separate from DXCC entirely, like do you apply for those separately and keep track of them in different logs or does something like HAMLOG or DXkeeper handle all of that automatically. sorry if this is a really basic question, i just feel like every time i look this up i get answers from 2009 and i cant tell whats still accurate

I run Log4OM for day to day and still fire up N1MM just for contesting. Honestly thats probably the setup you want rather than trying to make one program do everything. Log4OM's WSJT-X integration is pretty solid, the UDP bridge works well and i havent had the dupe issue you're describing, at least not regularly. The interface takes some getting used to, theres a lot going on, but once you set it up its nice having your QSL tracking and awards chasing all in one place. As for migrating 8 years of N1MM logs, I did it with ADIF export and it went mostly fine. Lost some contest specific exchange data but for the basic QSO records it was clean. Wouldnt call it painless but it wasnt a disaster either. I'd just run them side by side for a while and see how you feel about it before committing to anything.

so i've been messing around with a raspberry pi zero w for a few months now and honestly i dont think i can go back to doing things manually. started out just wanting to log contacts automatically when i keyed up on my IC-7300 and it kind of snowballed from there. right now i have it pulling the freq and mode from the radio over USB using rigctld, writing to an ADIF log, checking the DX cluster via telnet, and flipping a couple relays to switch between my vertical and the dipole depending on what band im on. the relay board is just one of those cheap 4-channel SainSmart things from amazon, runs off the 3.3v GPIO no problem. the part that actually surprised me was how easy the serial comms were once i stopped fighting the baud rate settings. took me like two evenings to figure out that my USB hub was the problem, not the code. classic. anyway im curious if anyone else is running automation setups like this and what you're using. i looked at some of the dedicated logging software integrations but they felt like overkill for what i needed. also thought about an arduino mega for the relay stuff instead since the pi feels like a lot of compute just to flip some switches, but the wifi integration makes it so convenient for MQTT to my home assistant setup that i kept it on the pi. anyone run into issues with RF getting into the GPIO pins? i havent had a problem yet but im running 100w on 40m sometimes and the pi is sitting pretty close to the back of the radio on the desk.

yeah the corporate wifi thing is almost certainly their QoS hammering your UDP packets. voip and gaming traffic gets deprioritized a lot on managed enterprise networks and RCForb is basically indistinguishable from voip traffic as far as any layer 3 switch is concerned. i ran into the exact same thing trying to connect to my station from a hospital network — completely unusable. ended up just using my phone as a hotspot for anything serious on the Allstar + RemoteHams question i did this about 18 months ago. i used VB-Audio Virtual Cable on windows to route the SDR++ output into a virtual device and then pointed the Allstar chan_usbradio config at that same device as the receive audio source. it works but its finicky as hell, youll want to watch your audio levels carefully because virtual cable doesnt clip gracefully and youll get some nasty distortion going into Allstar if the SDR output is too hot. i had mine set about 6dB lower than i thought it needed to be and it was fine after that the feedback loop concern is real if youre planning on transmitting through the Allstar node and monitoring through the SDR at the same time but if theyre on different frequencies or youre just using the SDR as a panadapter and transmitting through a separate rig it should be fine

so ive been putting this off for like two years but finally cracked open the 857d last weekend to do the transmit mod and while i had it apart i figured id go ahead and do a few other things. the mars/cap mod itself is dead simple, just the one jumper on the logic board, took me longer to find my smallest screwdriver than to actually do it. but what i really wanted to talk about is the extended rx mod because i feel like nobody mentions that one enough. after doing both i was picking up stuff in the 108-137 range which is useful when im doing skywarn and want to monitor the air traffic in the area at the same time, not sure why yaesu doesnt just leave that open from the factory honestly. transmit wise i tested it on a dummy load and the power output below 1.8 and above 30 seems a little soft but thats expected i think, its not really designed to be flat across that whole range. also replaced the electrolytic caps on the PA board while i had it open, a couple of them looked a little bulgy to me and the radio is probably 12 years old at this point so figured why not. havent done a full alignment since i put it back together but its been working fine on all my usual stuff. anybody else done any other worthwhile mods on these? ive seen some stuff about the menu mod to unlock more options but im not sure if thats just a software unlock or if theres actual hardware behind it.

FO-29 has been having some power issues lately so the transponder isnt always on during every pass, worth checking the AMSAT status page before you plan a session around it. AO-73 is generally more reliable lately from what ive seen. and yeah 7 minutes sounds like a lot until youre actually standing there trying to hold an arrow antenna and tune a radio at the same time lol. i still mess up passes i've been doing this like two years. the CAT control setup is worth the afternoon it takes to figure out, total game changer.

yeah i go most years, the trick is getting there like right when the gates open on friday, seriously the good gear is gone by 9am. i grabbed a barely touched 817 a couple years back for 350 bucks and the guy next to me snagged a whole antenna tuner collection for almost nothing. parking in the yellow lots puts you closer to the flea market entrance but its a bit of a hike from the main building if you care about that. bring cash too, half the sellers dont do venmo or whatever

i just passed mine like three weeks ago so this is fresh. the smith chart questions stressed me out way more than they should have tbh, but when it came to the actual test i only got maybe two or three questions that really made me think hard. a lot of it does come down to recognizing patterns from the question pool. that said i did go through the ARRL guide and read the theory sections properly because i figured if im gonna have the ticket i should at least understand what im doing. the band privileges are nice but i mainly wanted the Extra for the vanity callsign option which i know sounds dumb but thats the truth. already applied for a 1x2 and waiting to hear back.

congrats on passing the tech exam, that's the hard part done. okay so honestly for what you're describing the baofeng criticism is a bit overblown for a beginner. yeah they're not the cleanest radios in the world but for simplex and hitting local repeaters they work fine, ive seen plenty of people run them for years without issues. the main thing is just program it correctly and dont transmit on frequencies you shouldnt be on. that said if you can stretch your budget even a little the Yaesu FT-65 or the FT-4XR are genuinely nicer to use day to day. the menu system makes more sense, the audio is cleaner, and they feel more solid in the hand. i started on a baofeng and eventually got a yaesu and the difference was noticeable but not like night and day or anything. if $50 is what you have go baofeng and dont feel bad about it. if you have $90 get the yaesu and you probably wont feel the need to upgrade for a while. for APRS down the road you'd want something with a built in TNC eventually anyway so that's kind of a separate conversation

the paper cards are honestly my favorite part of the hobby, i know that sounds old fashioned but getting something physical in the mail from someone you talked to over the radio is just really satisfying. i have a whole binder of them going back years now. one thing worth knowing — you can print your own cards at home pretty cheaply or order them from places like kb0pgf or a few others that do custom designs. doesnt have to be fancy, even a simple one with your call, grid square, and rig info is totally fine. most people just appreciate getting something back when they send one.

I just did my third activation a couple weeks ago and still feel like im figuring it out honestly. the spotting thing tripped me up too at first. also something that helped me was looking at the POTA activator leaderboard or just browsing the recent activations to see what bands and times people were having luck on. 40m in the afternoon can be hit or miss depending on where you are and where the hunters are located.

ok so ive been licensed for about 4 months now and i still feel kind of awkward about when to use phonetics. like i know the NATO alphabet, alpha bravo charlie etc, but i never know if im supposed to use it every single time i say a callsign or just when things are hard to copy. i was doing a simplex contact last weekend and the other guy just rattled off his call without any phonetics and i felt dumb for doing the full phonetic thing on mine. is there like an unwritten rule about this or does it just depend on the situation. also heard someone on a net use "america" instead of "alpha" which threw me off, is that wrong or is it just an older thing people do

so ive been messing around with this idea for a while and finally started putting something together. basically i have 4 antennas on the roof — a 40m dipole, a 6m yagi, a 2m/70cm colinear, and a random wire for the low bands — and im constantly walking back to the shack to flip the manual coax switch every time i want to change bands. its getting old fast. i picked up an arduino mega a few months back thinking id use it for something eventually and this seems like the perfect project. the plan is to have it read the band output from my IC-7300 (the CI-V bus or maybe just the band voltage from the ACC port, still deciding) and then automatically key the right relay to connect the correct antenna. i already have a 4-relay module from a random aliexpress order sitting in the bin. the part im not totally sure about is isolation. i dont want RF getting back into the arduino and frying it, and i know relay coils can cause spikes too. been reading about using optocouplers between the control lines and the relay board but the relay module i have might already have them built in, hard to tell from the docs. does anyone have experience with this kind of setup? also curious if a pi would be better than the arduino for this — i feel like the arduino is simpler for something that just needs to flip relays but maybe im missing something.

yeah saw that too, there was a pretty detailed thread on eham about it. from what i read the big thing is supposedly dual receive but in a smaller form factor than the 7610, which if true would be genuinely useful for a lot of people who dont have room for a bigger rig or just dont want to spend 7610 money. take everything pre-release with a grain of salt though, specs always seem to shift before these things actually hit shelves and the initial pricing is usually optimistic. and yes 10m has been wild, i havent seen propagation like this since the last peak honestly. if you havent tried FT8 on 10 during a good opening its kind of mind blowing how far you can get with almost nothing. though i know some folks think FT8 is ruining everything lol, to each their own i guess

I went through the exact same debate last summer. ended up building a 5 element 2m yagi from a design i found online and honestly for hilltop work its been pretty worth it. yeah you have to point it but after a while you get a feel for where stuff is and it becomes second nature. the gain difference vs my old vertical was noticeable, pulled in signals that were basically noise floor before. that said i also bring a slim jim on a fishing pole for the times i just want to throw something up quick and not think about it. use the yagi when i actually want to work someone specific or the band seems marginal. having both options is probably the real answer if youre not trying to minimize weight too much.

I've definitely seen this too. Some folks seem more interested in being the "radio police" than actually helping newcomers learn. We need to remember we were all beginners once and cut people some slack while they're learning the ropes.

I had similar issues until I realized the port number must correspond to the TCP port number set up in SSDR CAT. Also make sure the VFO slice assignment matches between SmartSDR CAT and JS8Call settings.

so i finally passed my general last month and upgraded from tech, and now im looking at applying for a vanity call because my sequential call is honestly kind of ugly, nothing against it but its just hard to say on the air and people always ask me to repeat it. anyway i went down the rabbit hole on the ULS system and now im more confused than when i started. from what i can tell you submit an application during a filing window and then if multiple people apply for the same call it goes to some kind of lottery? but i also read somewhere that it isnt really random and that there are preference groups, like if the previous holder was a relative or something you get priority? i cant figure out if thats still how it works or if they changed it. also is there any reason to wait before applying or can i just go ahead and do it now that ive had my general for a few weeks. and does it matter which district the call is from, like can i get a call with a different number than my region if i want one

Amazing how much difference the solar maximum has made! Current solar flux is holding at 158 with sunspot numbers at 125, giving us excellent 20m-10m daytime conditions with extended openings on 12m and 10m. K-index is nice and low at 1 with minimal geomagnetic activity - perfect for stable signals and low noise. Been working some fantastic DX on 15m lately - signals are booming compared to last year. Anyone else noticing how long 10m has been staying open? Yesterday it was still active well past my usual sunset shutdown. Great time to be a new ham learning HF! Digital modes like FT8 and FT4 are really helping pull out weak signals on the higher bands.