James Taylor

so ive been a tech for about two years now and im thinking about upgrading to general but honestly the thing that keeps pulling me back is the idea of actually using cw. i know the code requirement is gone but everyone i talk to at the club says if you really want to get into hf and especially dx chasing you kinda need it eventually my question is where do you even start. i downloaded like three different apps and none of them really clicked. one just showed me the dots and dashes as characters on screen which felt like the wrong way to do it, someone at the club said you should never learn it visually like that but i dont really understand why. is there a method thats actually worked for people. im not in a huge rush i just want to do it the right way from the start and not have to unlearn bad habits later

yeah you mostly have it right actually. the 18 day filing window is the key thing — everyone who applies for the same call during that window gets considered together at the end, not on a first come first served basis. so there's no point in trying to submit at exactly midnight or anything like that, it wont help you. the tiebreaker does go by license class, Extra beats General beats Tech, and if two Extras both want the same call then yeah it basically comes down to a random selection as far as anyone can tell. i've heard people say the FCC uses some internal ordering but nobody really knows for sure. as for the SK calls, there's a holding period before they become available — i believe it's around 2 years after a license cancels or expires before it gets released back into the pool, though former trustees of club stations might have a preference claim on those, its a bit of a special case. your best bet is to use a site like AE7Q dot com, that thing is incredibly useful for checking call availability and seeing when a specific call is expected to be released. saved me a lot of guesswork when i was going through this a couple years back. just pick a few calls you like and throw in an application, the FCC filing fee is pretty modest these days and the process through ULS is pretty painless once you've done it once.

yeah what he said about hamstudy. i'd also say dont stress too much about deeply understanding every single concept for the tech exam specifically, some of that stuff like the band plan questions or the phonetic alphabet ones you really do just kinda memorize. the theory helps later when you go for general but for tech the test is pretty forgiving. also check if there's a local club near you doing a license class, i did one at my club and having someone explain the antenna and propagation stuff in person made it click way faster than reading it. the ARRL tech manual is fine but felt a little dry to me personally, hamstudy got me most of the way there.

the mushy sound is almost always tension and gap adjustment on the paddle itself, not the keyer. the contact gap especially — if its too wide you end up mashing the lever before it actually makes contact and then overcompensating. try tightening the tension just a little more than feels comfortable and close that gap down. it sounds counterintuitive but a tighter paddle actually gives you more control, not less. also dont stress about mode A vs B right now. honestly for getting back into it at 12 wpm it barely matters. get your paddle feeling right first and worry about keyer modes later. the weight adjustment i would leave at 50% default until everything else is sorted. a lot of people chase weight settings when the real issue is mechanical.

congrats, what radio did you end up getting? im still studying for my tech and trying to figure out what to start with

i had the exact same experience when i first checked in, felt like everyone else knew some secret script and i missed the memo. turns out most people are pretty forgiving especially on a local club net. i just started listening to what other people said when they checked in and kind of copied the format after a few weeks. now it feels totally natural but yeah that first time is awkward for sure.

ok so i got my technician back in march and ive been making contacts pretty regularly on 2m and some HF with my general upgrade i just passed last month. people keep mentioning LoTW and eQSL and i honestly dont know which one matters and whether i need to be sending actual paper cards too or if thats just an old school thing people do for fun now. like i submitted my logs to LoTW through TQSL but i have no idea if im doing it right because i dont see any confirmations showing up? also someone on the air told me eQSL is kind of a separate thing and not everyone accepts it for awards. so now im confused about whether i should be doing both. and then theres the paper card thing — do people actually still do that? i got a couple cards in the mail from dx stations and they were really cool honestly but i dont know if i need to send them back or how that even works logistically. sorry if this is a dumb question, just trying to figure out the whole confirmation system before i get too deep into chasing awards and stuff

so ive been running 100w for about three years now and honestly got a little bored, contacts were coming easy and it started feeling like just pushing a button. a buddy at our club kept bugging me to try QRP and i finally caved and built a little Pixie kit just to see what the fuss was about. took me an evening, nothing fancy, but getting that first contact at like 500mw or whatever those things put out was genuinely one of the more exciting moments ive had in this hobby in a long time. anyway i liked it enough that i went ahead and got an Elecraft KX2 which yeah is a lot more money than a Pixie kit but wow what a difference in usability. been taking it out to the parks on the air stuff and its been a blast. my question for anyone who does this regularly is what antennas are you using for portable? im currently just throwing up a random wire with a small tuner but i feel like im leaving something on the table. also any tips for working digital modes at low power? i tried JS8Call the other day and it was interesting but im not totally sure i was doing it right.

ok so ive been licensed about 8 months now and i keep seeing people mention LoTW and eQSL and i honestly cant figure out what the difference is in terms of what actually matters. like i set up a LoTW account a few weeks ago and uploaded some logs but i have no idea if im doing it right because i dont really know what im waiting for or what confirms what. also i got a paper QSL card in the mail last week from a station in germany and it was honestly really cool, way cooler than i expected, but now i dont know if i should be sending cards back to everyone i work or just to people who send me one first. im not trying to spend a fortune on postage but i also dont want to be rude about it. basically just wondering what most people do these days. is paper still a thing people care about or is it mostly digital now? and does LoTW count for DXCC awards or do you need paper for that

yeah that hurry up and wait thing is SO real, my first activation was a marathon event but then we did a real one for some flooding and it was exactly like you described. most of the day was just sitting there logging check-ins and making sure the gear was working, then a couple hours of actually relaying health and welfare traffic. the thing that got me was how much the simplex discipline mattered — during drills people kind of half pay attention to proper procedure but when it's real everyone tightens up. our EC is pretty strict about that stuff at the training nets which i used to think was a bit much but now i totally get it. glad your first one went smooth, not every activation does.

i went 7300 and just kept my old 2m rig separate, for me it wasnt even a hard call. the all-in-one thing sounds great on paper but my HT covers local and i rarely need the desk radio on VHF anyway so the 991A's selling point kinda didnt apply to me. ymmv obviously if you're doing linked repeater stuff or whatever.

yeah the fee thing tripped me up too when i went through this last year. as of a couple years ago the FCC does charge for vanity applications, i think it was around $35 when i did mine but honestly check the current fee schedule because it might have changed. you pay through their system when you file. on the window question — you're right that there's a filing window, it opens and then closes after a set period. if only one person applies for a given call during that window they get it, but if multiple people apply for the same call it does go to a tiebreaker. the tiebreaker has a specific priority order — like if the call belonged to a deceased relative you get priority, then certain license classes, stuff like that. if youre just a random applicant competing with another random applicant with the same class i believe it actually does come down to a random selection between them. so yeah, partly luck in some cases. the site ae7q.com is your best friend for this stuff, it tracks available calls and shows you the history of who had what. way easier than trying to parse the ULS directly.

yeah no you're probably doing fine, repeaterbook listings are notoriously incomplete or outdated sometimes. the one without a tone listed is likely carrier squelch but it could also just be a lazy listing, happens all the time. if you have a scanner or a second radio you can try listening on the output frequency first to see if you can hear anyone else using it, that'll at least tell you the repeater is alive. for calling out, totally normal to just say something like "[your callsign] monitoring" or even just key up and give your call once and see if anyone comes back. some repeaters are pretty quiet during the day especially on weekdays. evenings and weekends tend to be more active. dont get discouraged if you call a few times and hear nothing, it doesnt mean youre doing it wrong. also some clubs run nets on their repeaters on specific nights, worth checking if there's a local club website or facebook group where they announce that stuff. the UV-5R should work fine for hitting local repeaters, just make sure your offset is set correctly for the band, 600khz for 2m and 5mhz for 70cm usually, and that the offset direction matches what the listing says.

Field Day is honestly the perfect first one imo. the whole vibe is different from like a serious cutthroat contest — most clubs are super welcoming and you can just show up, sit down at a station, and start making contacts with someone nearby who can help you out if you get confused. you dont have to run your own station at all. ive brought total beginners to our club FD setup and by the end of the weekend theyre hooked. plus its in late June so you got time to prep. CQ WW is great but it can be a bit overwhelming your first time if youre running solo — the pile-ups get intense and the exchange is simple enough (zone number and signal report) but the pace is just relentless on a busy weekend. might be better as your second or third contest once you know what youre doing. still, even just sitting and listening to CQ WW for a few hours teaches you a ton about how contest operating actually sounds. SOTA is a whole different animal, more like a hiking + radio combo, which i personally love but its not really the same thing as contesting. worth doing separately, great fun.

ok so i passed my General exam about three weeks ago and ive been trying to figure out exactly what portions of the bands i can actually use. i looked at the Part 97 stuff on the FCC website and honestly it made my head spin a little. like i understand there are sub-bands for different license classes but when i look at the actual band plan charts online they dont always match what the rules say or at least i think they dont. my specific question is about 40 meters. i see some guys running phone down around 7.150 and others say General class starts at 7.175 for phone. which is it? and is there like a simple version of Part 97 somewhere that actually explains this in plain english because the official document reads like a legal filing. also does the FCC actually monitor this stuff or is it mostly self policed by the community

okay so I just passed my general last month and I've been sitting on a sequential callsign that I'm not super happy with, it's just kind of long and clunky and I'd really like to get something shorter or maybe with my initials in it. a buddy at the club mentioned vanity calls but honestly I dont fully understand when I'm eligible or how the whole process works. like do I have to wait a certain amount of time after getting licensed? and is there a fee now? I thought I heard something changed with the FCC fees a while back. also does it matter what license class you have in terms of what calls you can apply for? I feel like I've read conflicting stuff on different sites and I'm not sure what's current. any help would be appreciated, I've been searching around but it's hard to find stuff that isn't outdated

so ive been running a mag mount diamond SG7900A on my car for a couple years now and honestly its been fine but im starting to get annoyed with the cable routing and the slight scratching on the roof. thinking about doing a proper NMO mount but my car is a 2019 honda civic and drilling into the roof feels pretty permanent and honestly a little scary. someone at the club mentioned lip mounts as kind of a middle ground — you get a decent ground plane without drilling but supposedly the connection isnt as solid and can cause issues with SWR or just intermittent problems over time. has anyone actually used a lip mount long term on UHF? like specifically 70cm, not just 2m where i feel like you can get away with more. the other option i guess is just finally committing to the NMO drill and doing it right. i have a diamond NR770HB sitting in a box i bought like 8 months ago and never installed because i keep second guessing myself. trunk lip, roof drill, or just stay on the mag mount — what would you actually do here

So i've been licensed about 8 months now and im starting to get into the whole contact confirmation thing and honestly its a bit overwhelming. Like i get the basic idea, you worked someone, you confirm it, cool. But theres like three different ways to do it and i cant figure out if i need all of them or just pick one or what. I signed up for LoTW because everyone said to do that first and i uploaded my log from WSJT-X and some contacts showed up as confirmed which was exciting. But then i see people talking about eQSL and also actual paper cards and i dont really know how they all relate to each other or which awards accept which ones. Also the paper card thing — do people actually still mail those? Like real stamps and envelopes? I got one in the mail last week from a guy in Ohio and it was honestly really cool but i wouldnt even know how to send one back. Do i need to go through the bureau or can i just mail it directly to the guy? He included his address on the card so im assuming i can just send one back to him directly but i wanted to ask before i did something dumb.

im in basically the same boat as you, started cwops beginner course a few months back. i picked up a used振鍵 (chinese brand, forget the exact name) off ebay for like 25 bucks and honestly for learning it was fine. probably wont use it forever but it got me started without worrying about breaking something expensive while my technique is still all over the place lol one thing that helped me a ton was recording myself with the keyer sidetone and listening back. its kind of painful to hear but you catch weird stuff like your dits being too short or uneven spacing that you dont notice in the moment.

So i finally did my first ever parks on the air activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from me (K-4806 if anyone knows it) and honestly it went way better than i thought it would. Set up my KX2 with a 40m end fed and just kind of plopped down at a picnic table near the parking lot. Got my 10 contacts in about 25 minutes which felt amazing after being so nervous about the whole thing. But i do have some questions for people who do this regularly. First, does the logging really need to be done on ADIF import to the POTA website or is there another way? I was using paper log in the field and then transcribed everything when i got home. Also i noticed some activators call CQ POTA and some just call regular CQ and mention pota in their exchange, is one more standard than the other? Dont want to be doing it wrong. And last thing — do hunters actually get credit for contacts even if the activator doesnt upload their log right away? one of the hunters i worked told me i was his third park of the day which was cool but made me wonder how that all gets reconciled. Sorry for the rambling post, just still kind of buzzing from the whole experience and want to make sure im doing everything right going forward

i built the same kit last winter and had the same question about 20m power. ended up just leaving it alone and it works fine. made my first ever dx contact with it running like 4 watts into a linked dipole up about 25 feet and it genuinely surprised me how far qrp gets you when conditions are halfway decent. dont stress too much about the exact output number i think we all get a little caught up in the watt chasing thing when really the antenna and operating skill matter way more.

i was in the same boat when i started, felt like everyone was speaking a different language. QSL was one that tripped me up for a while, it means acknowledgement or confirmation, like confirming you made contact with someone. thats why the cards are called QSL cards. QRZ means whos calling me or whos there basically. QRP means low power operation which is like 5 watts or less and theres a whole community of people obsessed with that. one thing that helped me was just joining a few nets and listening, the slower CW practice nets on like 40m or some of the digital modes where people type it out, you can actually read along and start connecting the codes to context. dont stress about memorizing everything upfront, honestly most of the obscure ones you almost never hear anyway

I was terrified at my first session, but the VEs were incredibly welcoming and patient. New licenses are transmitted to the FCC within 1-2 business days for weekend sessions. If you pass, you can absolutely take the next level exam right away! I walked out with credit for both Technician and General that day.

Just finished mine last month! Our specialty will be low cost, high enjoyment kits for the builder that can be assembled in an evening or two. The Tallboy took me about 6 hours over two evenings. Very satisfying build and QSK is great - no thumping at all. You'll love it!

so ive been messing around with a direct conversion receiver for 40m for about three months now and its been a journey. started with the NE602 mixer and a 7 MHz crystal oscillator, which is pretty standard stuff, but i kept getting this horrible hum on everything and i couldnt figure out if it was the power supply or RF getting into the audio stage. spent two weekends just chasing that down. turned out the issue was my ground plane situation — i was basically wiring things point to point on a piece of stripboard and the audio return path was crossing over the RF section in a really ugly way. once i rerouted the ground connections and added a proper bypass cap on the NE602 supply pin it cleaned up like 80% of the hum. the other 20% i think is just my shack being noisy, not sure. anyway the receiver actually works now and im picking up SSB signals fine, sensitivity seems decent though i dont have a signal generator to do a proper measurement. my question is about the audio filtering — right now im just running a simple RC lowpass and it sounds kinda washed out. anybody built a audio cw filter or a decent active lowpass for something like this? i was looking at the TL072 op amp stage but havent commited to anything yet.