Amanda Clark

I remember my first HF contact too - hands were shaking so much I could barely hold the mic! Welcome to the HF world, you're gonna love it. What radio are you running?

okay so i just upgraded to general last month and im trying to figure out the 40 meter band but honestly the band plan stuff is kind of confusing me. like i know theres phone and cw portions but i keep seeing people say dont operate near the band edge and i dont really understand why that matters or what "the edge" even means practically speaking. also is the ARRL band plan the same as the actual FCC allocation or are those two different things? because i looked at both and they dont seem to match up exactly and now im more confused than before. just want to know where i can safely call CQ on SSB without stepping on someone or doing something wrong

so ive been at this for a few weeks now and i just cant wrap my head around iambic mode. i practiced straight key for a while and that felt pretty natural after a bit but ever since i switched to the paddle and keyer i feel like im fighting the thing constantly. my dits and dahs come out all jumbled, especially on letters like C and K where you need to squeeze both paddles. im running a bencher BY-1 into an old MFJ keyer, memory is mode B i think. ive watched a bunch of videos and everyone makes it look so easy. is there a certain speed i should be practicing at? ive got the keyer set to like 12 wpm right now but maybe thats too slow or too fast, i honestly dont know. any tips from people who went through this would be great because im starting to think im just not cut out for it

totally get the confusion, part 97 reads like it was written by lawyers for lawyers. the short version for tech HF is yeah you get phone on 10m from 28.300 to 28.500 MHz, and some CW privileges on a few other bands. ARRL has a band plan chart that lays it all out way better than the actual rules document, id just print that and keep it near the radio for now. the third party traffic thing is basically about passing messages for people who arent licensed. its allowed domestically but theres a list of countries where you cant do it internationally, your friend was probably just bringing it up as one of those gotcha rules. honestly for day to day operating as a new tech youre unlikely to run into it. just dont use the radio for business purposes or obscene language and youll be fine for like 99% of what youre doing

Hang in there! Took me about 60 days of twice daily practice to get above 25wpm head copy. The reflexes do come, but it's frustrating when you can't see daily progress. Try backing off to 15-minute sessions if 45 minutes is burning you out.

ok so ive been going back and forth on this for like two months now and i just need some real world input from people who have actually used both. im putting together my first real HF station and 40m is going to be my main band for now, maybe some 80m later. my lot is not huge, maybe 80 feet deep and about 100 feet wide, so a full size 40m dipole is going to be tight but probably doable if i run it at an angle. the vertical option is appealing because i keep reading that they have a low angle of radiation which is good for DX, but then i also read that a dipole at even moderate heights can compete fine and doesnt need a radial field. i dont really have a great place to put a bunch of radials anyway, my yard is mostly concrete patio and some grass on the sides. what did you guys actually find when you switched between them or tried both? im not chasing DX obsessively but id like to work some of it. mostly interested in domestic stuff and maybe some europe on a good night.