Emily Davis22

yeah dont memorize the chart, that is pretty much the one thing everyone agrees on. what you want is to learn each character by its sound not by counting dots and dashes, theres a difference and it matters a lot once you start trying to copy at any real speed
the method most people swear by is the Koch method, basically you start with just two characters at a fast speed, like 20 wpm, and you only add a new character once you can copy the ones you know at like 90% accuracy. sounds weird to learn at fast speed when youre a beginner but it trains your ear the right way from the start. LCWO dot net is the website i used, its free and its exactly that method. i did maybe 15-20 minutes a day and was making slow QSOs within a few months, not fast ones but enough to feel real
also just listening to actual cw on the air helps even when you cant copy it yet, your brain starts picking up the rhythm without you realizing it

that scratchy distortion on strong signals with a direct conversion design is almost always the mixer getting slammed. JFETs as mixers are great but they have a pretty limited dynamic range compared to a diode ring and if youre not putting any attenuation before the mixer it'll clip pretty badly on anything over maybe S7 or so on 40m which as you know is basically everything during the day. try sticking a 6dB pad right at the antenna input and see if the problem goes away or at least gets better. if it does then you know its upstream of your audio stage and you can start thinking about adding an RF attenuator or maybe a small preselctor with some gain control.
the grounding rabbit hole is a classic time sink, i spent three weeks convinced a receiver problem was grounding once and it turned out to be a cracked ferrite bead i couldnt even see.

the barrel sound is almost always too much bass. SSB just doesnt carry low frequencies well and they end up sounding woofy and unclear on the receiving end even if it sounds great to you locally. on the 7300 i'd pull the bass down quite a bit, like -5 or -6 and bump the treble up a couple notches. voice intelligibility on HF really lives in that 1kHz to 3kHz range, the low end is mostly just mud over a noisy band.
also mic placement matters more than people think. if youre talking directly into the mic element you're gonna get a lot of plosives and proximity bass buildup. keep it a few inches off to the side of your mouth rather than right in front. and honestly the compression thing — i'd experiment with it rather than leaving it fully off. a little compression can actually help punch through QRM without sounding squashed, just dont go overboard with it.

so ive been using WSJT-X for FT8 stuff for a while now and it logs fine into its own file but i always end up having to manually import things or mess around with ADIF exports and it gets old fast. been thinking about actually setting up a proper logging solution and i keep going back and forth between just committing to N1MM or trying Log4OM.
the thing is i do some contesting, nothing serious, maybe the state QSO party and occasionally i'll jump into a CQWW for a few hours just for fun. N1MM seems like the obvious pick for that but its a little intimidating and honestly the interface looks like it hasnt changed since like 2003. Log4OM looks nicer and apparently has decent WSJT-X integration but ive heard mixed things about how it handles contest exchanges and dupe checking under pressure.
does anyone actually run both or is that just asking for a mess with duplicate logs and stuff. or is there some other way to set this up where WSJT-X feeds into one master log and N1MM pulls from that during contests. i feel like im overcomplicating this but also dont want to end up with 4 separate log files that never agree with each other

so ive been putting off doing a proper mobile install for like two years now and finally bit the bullet last weekend. got the FT-857D mounted under the passenger seat on a RAM mount bracket thing, ran the power cables directly to the battery with an inline fuse, and put up a Tram 1185 on the roof with a mag mount for now until i can figure out the NMO situation on my tacoma.
everything works great on HF mostly, but on 2m and 70cm im getting this weird buzzing/whining noise that changes pitch with the engine RPM. classic alternator whine i think? but i already used pretty heavy gauge wire direct to battery so i thought that would fix it. the noise isnt horrible but its definitely there and i know people on the other end can hear it too because my buddy told me my audio sounds rough when im driving.
not sure if its a grounding issue or if i need one of those ferrite chokes on the mic cable or maybe a noise filter on the power line. anyone dealt with this before? im not totally new to radio but mobile installs are kind of new territory for me

so ive been watching the solar flux index creep up over the past few weeks and yesterday afternoon i finally started hearing stuff on 10m that wasnt just noise. worked a couple stations in South America and even had a brief opening into Europe around 1400 local which honestly surprised me because we havent seen much of that around here lately.
been using pskreporter to watch the spots come in and its pretty clear somethings changing. the SFI was sitting around 180-something yesterday which i know isnt crazy high but compared to what weve had it feels like a different band. K index was low too which always helps.
curious if anyone else has been taking advantage of this or if its just been good in my part of the country. im in the midwest for reference. also wondering if 12m is worth monitoring more — i kind of ignore it but maybe i shouldnt be.

yeah im going, already got the hotel booked back in january. the flea market is definitely worth it if you get there early friday morning, like really early. ive seen guys lined up at 5am and that sounds crazy but thats where all the good deals go. last year i grabbed a barely used kenwood ts-590 for way under what theyre going for online so it pays off. the indoor stuff is cool too but honestly i spend most of my time wandering the outdoor tables. your club van idea sounds fun as long as nobody hogs the aux cord the whole way

so ive been watching the solar flux index creep up over the past few weeks and yesterday afternoon i finally started hearing stuff on 10m that wasnt just noise. worked a couple stations in South America and even had a brief opening into Europe around 1400 local which honestly surprised me because we havent seen much of that around here lately.
been using pskreporter to watch the spots come in and its pretty clear somethings changing. the SFI was sitting around 180-something yesterday which i know isnt crazy high but compared to what weve had it feels like a different band. K index was low too which always helps.
curious if anyone else has been taking advantage of this or if its just been good in my part of the country. im in the midwest for reference. also wondering if 12m is worth monitoring more — i kind of ignore it but maybe i shouldnt be.

yeah i caught the tail end of that opening, got home from work around 5pm and there were still a few south american stations booming in. worked a PY station on my vertical with like 50 watts and he came back first call, which never happens for me lol. 10m is really something when its actually open, its a completely different band than what most people experience when conditions are down.
re: the Yaesu thing, i think you might be talking about something they showed at Dayton or one of the regional fests, i vaguely remember seeing a post on one of the Facebook groups about a new SDR based portable rig but dont quote me on that. could have been a different manufacturer honestly, i was half asleep when i read it.

Hi everyone! Just got my Tech license and want to get involved with emergency communications. My local EC mentioned I need to complete some FEMA courses before I can participate in exercises. Is it really necessary to take IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, and IS-800 right away?
I'm excited to help but feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the training requirements. Any advice on which courses to prioritize first?
Thanks in advance!