John Anderson

the TX EQ on the 7300 is actually pretty useful once you spend time with it. what ive found is boosting a little presence around 2-3kHz makes a real difference for intelligibility, especially on a crowded 40m band when conditions are marginal. the stock mic does roll off the highs a fair bit so compensating for that in the EQ helps. and yeah, mic distance matters more than people think — too close and you get proximity effect pumping up the bass which sounds awful on SSB, too far and you lose level and start cranking the mic gain which brings in room noise. i usually stay about 2-3 inches off the element, slightly off axis so im not popping Ps into it. on compression — i dont think its the devil but its easy to overdo it. if your ALC is pegged constantly youre probably squashing your audio into mush. a little dynamic control to keep your peaks in check is fine. the goal is to sound consistent without sounding processed, if that makes sense. honestly the best thing you can do is exactly what you already did — get someone to give you an honest monitor report. most guys never bother and just assume theyre sounding fine.

oh man i remember that exact feeling, sitting there with my hand on the PTT button too nervous to key up. honestly the net control has heard every variation of check-in you can imagine and they're almost always super patient with new folks. for a basic traffic or rag chew net you really just give your callsign phonetically when they ask for check-ins, thats it. something like "Whiskey One Example, mobile" or just your callsign and maybe your first name if they're asking for that. the net control will usually tell you what they want at the start of the net so listen to that part carefully. after you check in most nets will either come back to you with a brief exchange or just acknowledge you and move on depending on what kind of net it is. a lot of them just do a quick round of signal reports and that's the whole thing, maybe 10 minutes total. for finding nets, the ARRL net directory is the big one people use but honestly the best nets ive found were from just talking to local club members. your local repeater club probably runs a few you dont even know about yet

I was in almost the exact same spot about eight months ago and ended up getting the Baofeng just because I was nervous about spending more money on a hobby I wasn't sure would stick. It works fine for what you described, hitting local repeaters and simplex, no complaints really. But yeah I already kind of want to upgrade because the programming software is a little janky and I had some weirdness with it picking up interference at a tailgate we had. So maybe just go for the Yaesu if you can swing the extra bit, seems like most people end up there anyway eventually.

yeah JT65B really did change the game, youre right about that. back in the analog days you basically needed a massive array to work anyone, now guys are making contacts with 4 yagis and a kilowatt which would have seemed impossible in the CW-only era. ive even heard of contacts made with 2 yagis on both ends but thats pretty marginal and you need really good conditions and patient operators on both sides. for a starter setup id honestly say 4 long yagis is the practical minimum if you want to work more than just the big guns. your M2 5-wavelength yagis are decent antennas but two of them isnt going to cut it unless youre just trying to work stations running 4x20 element arrays or something. the stacking and phasing harness is its own rabbit hole, you want to keep the feed line losses as low as possible obviously, a lot of guys use hardline even on the short runs between array and shack. for the preamp, honestly just get a good PHEMT unit, the SSB Electronic stuff has been reliable for years, SP-2000 or similar. noise figure around 0.3-0.4 dB is what you're shooting for and mount it right at the antenna, like right there at the feedpoint junction, every foot of coax before the preamp costs you. the sequencing relay setup to protect the preamp during transmit is something a lot of new guys forget about and thats how you let the magic smoke out on your first attempt.

so ive been running SSB on 40m mostly, sometimes 20m, and ive gotten a few comments that my audio sounds kind of muffled or bassy. im using an IC-7300 which honestly should not be this hard to get sounding decent but here we are. mic is the stock HM-219 that came with it, just talking into it at normal distance. i did mess around in the menu a bit and turned on the TX tone filter thing but im not sure i set it right. a buddy of mine said something about the TX bandwidth being too wide but i dont really know how to narrow it without making it sound worse. do you guys cut the bass pretty aggressively on SSB? like i always assumed keeping a fuller sound was better but maybe not for voice intelligibility on HF. also is the stock mic even worth using or should i just get something else. ive seen people swear by the Heil stuff but thats a whole other rabbit hole

oh man the ICS forms thing is SO real. I remember my first SET years ago thinking I knew what I was doing and then completely blanking on the message format under pressure. there's this weird thing that happens where all the stuff you kinda half-learned in training just evaporates when someone hands you a radio and says "okay go." the battery thing I'd add to that too — I always tell newer folks in our group to bring at least double what you think you need. a SET that's supposed to go three hours has a way of turning into six once command starts extending the scenario. and if it were a real activation after a hurricane or whatever, you're not going home when it gets inconvenient. we actually had a guy in our group show up to a real activation after a bad storm with nothing but a handheld and a half-charged battery bank. he was offline by noon and basically just became a warm body standing around. the net control congestion thing gets easier with experience honestly. after a few exercises you start to develop a feel for timing, like you can almost hear the gaps coming. but yeah first time is rough, nobody's going to fault you for it. the fact that you noticed what went wrong and signed up again is honestly the whole point of doing these exercises.

okay so ive been a ham for about 3 years now and I keep telling myself ill get a proper go-kit together and then life happens and here we are, still with a pile of gear sitting in a tote bin that I call a go-kit but really isnt. after the storms last spring knocked out power for a few days in our county I realized I really need to get serious about this. what I have right now is my FT-857D, a 40Ah LiFePO4 battery, a cheap solar panel I got off amazon (100W I think), the random wire antenna I usually use for portable ops, some coax, and a basic first aid kit that I threw in there. I also have my HT obviously. been thinking about adding a power distribution setup because right now its all kind of haphazardly connected with anderson powerpoles but not in any organized way. I guess my real question is — for those of you who do ARES or RACES or just have done actual emergency activations, what do I wish I had that I didn't? like the stuff that seems obvious in hindsight. not looking for a perfect list just want to hear what people have learned the hard way.

im in basically the same boat as you, started chasing DXCC last year around 80 confirmed now on LoTW. one thing that helped me was just going through my old paper log and uploading everything to LoTW even for entities where i wasnt sure the other station would be on there — you'd be surprised how many old contacts match up. got like 8 or 9 extra confirmations just from doing that. the card checking thing is what the previous reply said, find a checker at a hamfest. i did mine at dayton last year took maybe 20 minutes and the guy was super helpful walked me through the whole application form.

so ive been trying to get Winlink working properly for the past couple weeks and i think i finally have most of it figured out but there's still this one issue thats been bugging me. my setup is a IC-7300 into a SignaLink USB, running Winlink Express on windows 10. i can connect to an RMS gateway fine most of the time, but randomly mid-transfer the session just drops. no error message that makes any sense, just disconnects. happens on both Vara HF and Pactor if i switch to that mode, so i dont think its a modem thing. the gateway im hitting is about 180 miles away which should be totally fine for the band conditions we've been having, and i can see the S-meter staying steady so its not like im losing the signal. i checked my audio levels a bunch of times and they look okay in the vara waterfall. just wondering if anyone else has run into this or if there's something obvious im missing in the session setup. i mostly wanted this for EMCOMM purposes, our group is trying to get a local RMS gateway going too but i wanted to get client-side working first before i start messing with the server side stuff.

so ive been a tech for about two years and just upgraded to general last month, and i really want to get into CW. i know i dont need it for the license anymore but theres something about it that just appeals to me, maybe its the history of it or whatever. anyway i picked up a cheap single lever paddle at a hamfest and im trying to figure out the keyer side of things. my radio (IC-7300) has a built in keyer which i know is a thing, but im reading about external keyers and now im confused about whether i actually need one or if the built in one is fine to start. also whats the difference between iambic mode A and mode B, ive read like four different explanations and im still not totally sure i get it. mostly just want to know if i should focus on the radio's keyer for now or if theres a reason to get something external eventually. and any tips on actually getting my sending to not sound terrible would be great too, im pretty slow right now maybe 8-10 wpm and my spacing is a mess

honestly same boat as you a year ago. what clicked for me was just thinking about it like -- if you had to spell it out to somebody over a really bad phone connection, would you use phonetics? then use them on air too. i pretty much always phonetic my callsign now even on the local repeater just out of habit, takes like two extra seconds and avoids any confusion. people won't think you're weird for it

honest answer: SO2R is absolutely worth it even for mid-tier contest operation but the learning curve is real and you kind of have to accept you'll have a few contests where your score is actually worse while you're getting used to it. the cognitive thing you mentioned is exactly right — the hard part isnt the hardware, its training your brain to manage two QSOs almost simultaneously without your CW or voice going to mush on the run radio while you're tuning around on the second one. for your setup the K3 and FT-950 combo could work but you'll want at minimum some 4O3A or Array Solutions bandpass filters between them, or even the cheaper ICE filters if you're on a budget. with your yagi and dipole you might get away with it depending on how the antennas are physically situated — if they're close together on the same support structure you'll have a bad time. biggest thing i'd say is start by just using the second radio to listen on another band while you run on the main one. dont even try to transmit on both at first. just get used to having two audio feeds and logging from two bands. that alone will improve your score. on the run vs S&P question — i generally give a run frequency up when my rate drops below like 60-70 QSOs per hour for more than 5 minutes during a prime operating window. during off hours obviously you tolerate lower rates longer. mults are the tricky part, yeah. i keep a separate window showing which mults i still need and if i spot something rare on the second radio while im running ill work it quick and come back. you lose maybe 30 seconds off your run but a new mult is worth it almost every time in most scoring formulas.

so ive been interested in ham radio for a while now, mostly because my neighbor got into it and it seems really cool but also kind of overwhelming. i looked up stuff online and theres like the technician license and then general and extra? i dont really understand which one i need to get first or if i can just skip to a harder one. also is the test hard? i took a practice test somewhere and failed pretty bad lol but i didnt really study either so maybe thats on me anyway if anyone has resources they actually used and liked that would be great. i found something called hamstudy.org but idk if thats the best thing or if theres better options. also how do i find where to take the actual test, the ARRL website kind of confused me

so i've been a general class for about 8 months now and i got assigned this sequential call that's just kind of blah, nothing wrong with it but it's long and hard to say on the air especially when i'm doing cw and it's like four letters in the suffix. i started looking into the vanity call process on the FCC ULS and honestly the whole thing is more confusing than i expected. from what i can piece together there's this application window that opens up and if multiple people apply for the same call it goes into a kind of random selection? or is it first come first served? i've seen both things said on different sites and i cant figure out which is actually true. also i noticed some calls that i thought were available just disappeared from the available list before i even had a chance to apply, which was frustrating. does anyone know how the timing actually works, like when do calls become available after a ham passes away or lets their license lapse? i want to apply for a 1x2 in my district if i can find one thats actually open. any help appreciated, this whole process feels like trying to read tea leaves

so ive been trying to get into CW seriously for the past couple months and finally bought a decent set of paddles (Begali Spark) to replace the cheap bencher clone i was using. the keyer built into my radio is a Yaesu FT-991A and i keep messing up my sending. like i know the characters in my head but when i actually try to send them under any kind of pressure they come out all wrong or mushy sounding. i think part of it might be my paddle tension or spacing but ive messed with those settings so many times i honestly cant tell anymore what feels right vs what just feels familiar. i run about 18wpm which is maybe too fast for where my hand skills are right now. does anyone have like a baseline for paddle gap and tension when youre still getting comfortable with iambic? or is this more of a practice problem than a hardware problem

the 400-500ms thing is pretty typical if you havent pinned down where the bottleneck actually is. first thing id do is run a continuous ping from the operating location to the remote box and watch the jitter, not just the average latency. if youre seeing spikes even occasionally that'll wreck the audio regardless of buffer settings. cable modems can be really bad for this especially if there's any upload congestion on that 50/10 line even briefly. on the RCForb side there's a setting for audio compression mode, if youre on opus try bumping the frame size down to 10ms and see if that tightens things up. i was running similar latency on my remote 7610 setup and getting it under 200ms made SSB actually workable though i wont pretend it ever feels totally natural. the Allstar idea is... interesting but yeah the latency stacking is real. ive seen guys do it but you basically end up with a node that has this weird lag that confuses everyone on the repeater. not impossible just annoying to manage.

Start with transmit bandwidth - set it to 400-2600 Hz for DX work, and roll off bass below 300Hz while keeping the important speech frequencies between 300-1500Hz. That alone will make a huge difference in clarity.

congrats on the 300DR, thats a solid radio for a first mobile setup. okay so a few things from someone who has done way too many of these installs over the years. on the antenna - your instinct about the lip mount grounding issues is correct, they can be hit or miss and you'll often get a compromised ground plane that hurts your pattern and efficiency. a proper NMO through the roof is really the gold standard for a reason. i know it feels scary but if you use a good quality mount and seal it properly with self-amalgamating tape, it's really not a big deal. ive had the same hole in my jeep for six years, no leaks, no problems. the signal difference between a good roof mount and a so-so lip mount is noticeable especially on receive. on the power question - run it to the battery, full stop. a 50W FM radio can pull around 10-12 amps on transmit and you really dont want that going through your fuse box wiring. use at least 12 gauge wire, fuse it within about 18 inches of the battery on both positive and negative, and route it away from anything that produces interference. the extra effort is worth it and you only have to do it once.

yeah part 97 is written in that classic government legalese that makes your eyes glaze over after like two paragraphs. for techs the short version is you get full privileges on everything 50 MHz and up, and then on HF you get a few slices. on 10m you can do phone in the 28.300 to 28.500 segment, and CW plus some digital modes in other parts of 10m. the 40m CW thing — you do get a small window there, 7.025 to 7.125 i believe, CW only. no phone on 40m as a tech though. the third party traffic rules are basically about whether you can pass messages for non-hams to other countries, and most of that only really matters if youre doing formal traffic nets or trying to pass a message internationally. day to day casual operating you probably wont run into it much. ARRL has a decent band plan chart that puts it all in a visual format, way easier than reading the actual CFR text. just google ARRL technician privileges and it should come up. that said i'd also just double check the actual part 97.301 and 97.305 sections because those spell out exactly which frequencies and modes, once you kinda know what youre looking for its not as bad

honestly dont overthink it, the general isnt that bad. i was in the same boat and put it off for like 18 months for no real reason. the electrical theory looks scary but theres really only so many formulas they actually test on and once you do a few practice tests you start recognizing the patterns. i used HamStudy dot org and just hammered the question pool for about 3 weeks, maybe 20-30 questions a night while watching tv, and passed with a pretty comfortable margin. the memorization vs understanding debate is kind of whatever in my opinion, like yeah it helps to understand why an antenna works a certain way but for the purpose of just passing the test, the question pool is finite and they cant change the wording so if you know the pool you know the test. understanding comes later when youre actually on the air and messing with stuff. and yes 40m is absolutely worth it, especially in the evenings. you can hit stations 500-1000 miles out pretty reliably and during the day its decent for closer regional stuff too. 20m is where a lot of the dx action is but as a new general you wont have the whole band anyway, theres a portion at the bottom thats still extra class only so just look up the band plan before you start so you dont accidentally operate out of your priv.

yeah what he said about the sidebands is the big thing people forget. on lsb your signal goes DOWN in frequency from your dial reading, so if youre on 7.178 your voice is actually occupying somewhere around 7.175 to 7.178 depending on how you talk. so you could be right on the edge without realizing it. i made that mistake early on and someone was nice enough to point it out instead of just complaining about me honestly just dont stress too much about the exact edges when youre starting out, just stay somewhere in the middle of your phone allocation and youll be fine. you can get more precise about it once you get comfortable just making contacts

so ive been on 40m a lot lately working some domestic stuff and a couple guys have mentioned my audio sounds a bit muddy or bassy. im running an IC-7300 into a Heil PR-40 which i thought was supposed to be a pretty good combo but maybe im doing something wrong in the menu settings. i had a buddy key up next to me on a different rig and monitor my signal and he said it sounded like i had too much low end, kind of boomy. the TX EQ in the 7300 is pretty flexible but ive mostly just left it flat because i figured the PR-40 would handle things on its own. ive also been wondering about compression. right now i have the compression set to maybe 4 or 5 on a 0-10 scale, which i thought was moderate. not trying to sound like a broadcast station just want to be readable on a crowded band without blowing peoples ears off. anyone have good starting points for the TX EQ on the 7300 specifically with a dynamic mic like the PR-40? or is this more of a mic gain issue? i feel like ive read conflicting stuff about whether you want the ALC bouncing around or sitting steady.

yeah i had almost the exact same experience on my first one, spent more time fighting the antenna than actually operating. one thing that helped me a lot was switching to a linked dipole instead of the random wire, its a little more to set up but at least you know what youre getting on each band. also the POTA community on the groups.io list is super active and people are really willing to help with activation questions, worth joining if you havent already.

Planning my first SOTA activation next weekend at a local 4-point summit. I've got a Yaesu FT-60R and planning to use 2m FM. Question: How do you guys find chasers on VHF? Should I just call CQ on 146.52 or use the local repeater to announce my activation? Any advice for a newbie would be appreciated!

i was in the same boat when i got my tech. what helped me was just downloading the actual band chart and taping it next to my radio for the first few months so i wasnt second guessing myself every time i wanted to try something. also worth knowing that part 97.301 is specifically the section that covers authorized frequency bands if you ever do want to look it up again, at least that way you can jump straight to the relevant part instead of scrolling through the whole thing