Michael Moore

yeah the sensitivity tradeoff is real and its basically baked into how JS8Call works. FT8 uses that super tight 8-FSK encoding with forward error correction optimized for tiny bursts of data in a fixed timeslot, so it can pull signals out of the noise floor that would be invisible to almost anything else. JS8Call is doing something different — its more like a slow MFSK mode carrying freeform text so the per-symbol SNR requirement is just higher. you're not gonna get -20dB copy on JS8Call and thats not a bug its a tradeoff for actually being able to say something meaningful i run both. FT8 for DX hunting when i want a new one, JS8Call for the nets and just chatting when band conditions are garbage and phone is hopeless. there's a relay/store-forward thing in JS8Call that's pretty cool too if you dig into it, basically lets messages get passed around the network even if you cant hear the destination directly PSK31 still works, you just gotta know when to look. early mornings on 40m sometimes has decent traffic. RTTY contest weekends are still a blast if you havent tried those

so ive been fighting this for about three weeks now and its driving me nuts. i put a yaesu ft-7900r in my f-150 last month, antenna is a tram 1185 on a mag mount sitting on the roof, coax runs down the drivers side door jamb and under the dash. power is tapped directly off the battery with the supplied cable and a 20 amp inline fuse. everything works fine when im just sitting still — i can hit the local repeater no problem, audio is clean on both ends. but when i start driving, especially accelerating, i get this weird buzz or hum that comes through on transmit. people on the repeater tell me it sounds like engine noise or alternator whine. im not hearing anything on receive, just when i key up. ive tried adding a ferrite choke on the coax near the radio and it didnt seem to help much. anyone dealt with this before? i feel like its probably a grounding thing but i really dont know where to start. the radio chassis is just sitting in a cheap bracket under the dash, not explicitly grounded to anything separate.

ok so ive been licensed for about 3 months now, technician class, and i keep hearing and seeing people use all these abbreviations and codes that i have no idea what they mean. like on the local repeater someone said QSY and i had no clue if that was good or bad or what they wanted me to do. and then on HF (i was just listening, dont have HF privileges yet) i heard someone say QRM and QSB and a bunch of others and i was just completely lost. is there like a master list somewhere or do people just pick these up over time? also some of them seem to be used differently depending on context which makes it even more confusing. im not even sure what to search for honestly, someone in my club just said "oh you'll learn them" which wasnt super helpful

So ive been trying to get Winlink going for a while now and i think i finally understand the basics but the whole RMS gateway thing is still kind of fuzzy to me. Like i get that the gateway is basically the node that relays your messages up to the CMS servers but what i dont fully get is whether i need to be hitting a specific RMS that has good connectivity to the internet backbone or if they all basically just work the same way behind the scenes. My current setup is a TM-D710 and im running Winlink Express on a windows 10 laptop, using a SignaLink for the audio interface. I can see a bunch of gateways in my area when i do a channel selection but half the time i connect to one and the session just kind of stalls out after the handshake. I switched from VARA FM to the older AFSK packet mode and that seems a little more stable but still not perfect. Wondering if its a timing issue or if some of those listed gateways are just not active even though they show up in the list. Also — for message handling, if i send a message to a regular email address from Winlink, is there anything i need to do on the receiving end or does it just show up like a normal email? Asking because im trying to set this up for potential emcomm use and want to make sure the served agency folks can actually reply back to me without needing any special software.

honestly it took me probably two full contest seasons before SO2R felt natural and stopped costing me points. the mental load is real, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. what helped me was starting really small — like only switching to the second radio during long pileup waits on the run frequency, not trying to actively work it as a second run. just tune around, find a mult, then wait for a gap and grab it quick. that alone added maybe 15-20% to my mult count in a typical SS without blowing up my run rate the antenna isolation thing is not optional if you want to run high power, but if youre both running barefoot or modest power the bleedthrough is manageable with a decent bandpass filter set. i use the dunestar ones and they work fine for my setup. the real investment is honestly time at the keyboard more than money on hardware, at least to get started

I switched to LiFePO4 last year after dragging around 60lbs of lead acid batteries one too many times! Dakota Lithium has worked great through two winter ARES exercises, no issues at -10°F. You'll need a compatible charger though - don't use your old SLA charger.

so i've been at this for about 8 months now and i just want to share what's been working for me in case anyone else is grinding through the same thing. started at 5wpm with the koch method on lcwo and honestly the first few weeks were rough, like really rough. i kept second-guessing myself and counting dits in my head which everyone tells you not to do but its really hard to stop once you start. the thing that finally clicked for me was just accepting that i was going to miss stuff and not freezing up when that happened. i read somewhere that your brain needs to hear the whole character as a sound not a pattern and that really changed how i practiced. instead of drilling for an hour straight i started doing like 20 minutes max but every single day without fail and just bumped the character speed way up to 20wpm even though my effective speed was way lower. anyway i just hit 15wpm copying actual QSOs on 40m last night and i could barely believe it. still a long way from 20 but it doesnt feel impossible anymore. if anyone else is stuck around that 10-13wpm range and wants to swap notes i'm happy to talk through what helped. and if anyone who's already past 20 wants to give me a reality check on what i should be doing different, i'm all ears.

dont be embarrassed at all, everyone goes through this. for most casual weekly nets you just say your callsign phonetically once, maybe twice if the band is noisy, and net control will usually acknowledge you and ask for any traffic or comments. some nets want name and location on first check-in, some dont care, honestly the best thing to do is just listen to a few check-ins before yours so you can mirror what everyone else is doing. the net control will usually set the format at the top anyway. if you and someone else key up at the same time net control will probably hear a mix and just ask for the stations to re-identify, its not a big deal and happens all the time. ive been doing this for like 15 years and still occasionally step on someone. the community is pretty forgiving especially when its clear youre trying to follow proper procedure. just get in there and check in, the worst that happens is you have to say your call again.

congrats on the ticket. honestly the baofeng is fine to start with, just get yourself into that monday net as soon as you can, that's how I actually learned to not sound like an idiot on the air. the elmers at those things have seen it all and they genuinely like helping new people get their feet under them. also consider upgrading to general when you feel ready, opens up a lot more of the bands and HF is a whole different world compared to VHF repeater stuff.

so ive been running a basic dual band whip on my truck for about two years now, the little rubber duck style mag mount thing, and it works fine for local stuff but i keep wondering if im leaving signal on the table. theres a guy in my club who swears by his NMO-mounted collinear, says he gets into repeaters ive never even heard of just by driving around. im thinking about upgrading but honestly not sure if the gain difference is actually that noticeable in practice or if hes just hitting better terrain. the whip im running now is a diamond SRH-77CA if that matters. was looking at maybe a Comet SB-7 or something in that range, maybe 5-6 dBi, NMO base. my truck has a drilled NMO mount already from the previous owner so thats not the issue. anyone actually done a side by side comparison or noticed a real difference going from a unity gain whip to something with actual collinear gain? or is this one of those things where the terrain and repeater coverage matter more than a few dB on the antenna?

the things that always get forgotten in my experience — fuses. spare fuses for everything. I have a whole little ziplock bag just with assorted inline fuses and blade fuses because the one time you blow a fuse in the field at 2am you will be absolutely grateful you thought of it. also anderson powerpole adapters in a few different configurations because you'll inevitably encounter someone whose gear is wired differently than yours. beyond that honestly the thing that saves me most often is just a laminated quick-reference card with my most-used frequencies, the ARES net schedules for my county, and the ICS forms I need. sounds dumb but when you're stressed and tired your brain does not cooperate the way it does at home. headlamp with fresh batteries goes without saying but say it anyway because I forgot mine once. also a small notebook and multiple pens, not pencils, actual pens that work in the cold. you'd think that's obvious but.

one thing i completely forgot the first time i deployed was a way to mount the antenna. like i had the wire and the feed point and everything but when i got there i was staring at a parking lot with no trees nearby and nothing to support it. ended up borrowing a push-up mast from another guy. now i keep a small telescoping fiberglass mast and a few tent stakes in the kit, takes up more room but at least i know ill actually have an antenna up. also headlamp. sounds obvious but yeah. and if your battery has a BMS on it make sure you know how it behaves under load before you need to find out in the field, mine cut out on me once when i keyed up at high power and it freaked me out until i figured out what was happening.

the chart thing doesnt work, or at least it didnt for me and most people ive talked to. the trick is you want to learn the sound of each letter not what it looks like written down. look up the Koch method, theres a free program called LCWO dot net that a lot of people use and it teaches you two characters at a time and you dont move on until you can copy them at like 90% accuracy. the thing people get wrong is they start too slow and end up learning to count dots and dashes which you have to unlearn later. keep the character speed up, like 20wpm character speed even if the overall words per minute is slow, thats called Farnsworth timing. took me maybe 3 or 4 months of like 15-20 minutes a day to feel comfortable enough to get on the air at 5 or 6 wpm. first QSO was terrifying but the other guy was patient, most CW operators remember what it was like starting out

so ive had my TS-590SG for about 4 years now and honestly it's been a great radio, no complaints really. but i keep looking at the IC-7300 and wondering if i should just make the switch. i know the 7300 has that real-time spectrum scope which the 590 doesnt and the SDR-based front end is supposed to be really clean. but then again i already know every menu on the 590 and the filters are excellent, and i dont really contest so i dont need the absolute best roofing filters or anything like that. my shack is pretty basic — 590 into a LDG tuner into a fan dipole for 40/20/15, nothing fancy. mostly do casual ragchews on 40m evenings and some 20m DX when i get the time. so im wondering if anyone has actually moved from a 590 to a 7300 and if the real world difference was noticeable or if its one of those things that looks good on paper but you dont actually notice day to day. feel like i might just be suffering from new radio syndrome and should put the money toward a better antenna instead.

ok so i passed my technician exam about 3 weeks ago and i got my callsign but im still pretty fuzzy on what frequencies im actually allowed to use. i know i have VHF and UHF pretty much wide open but someone at the club meeting last week mentioned something about HF privileges for techs and i didnt want to look dumb so i just nodded along. i went home and tried to look it up in part 97 and honestly it kind of reads like a legal document which i guess it is but its hard to follow. does anyone have like a plain english breakdown of what techs can do on HF? i thought we couldnt touch HF at all but apparently theres some phone segment on 10 meters? and what about CW, i heard techs can do CW on some of the lower bands but im not sure which ones. just dont want to transmit somewhere i shouldnt be