Susan Davis

not done the icom ci-v thing specifically but ive built a few relay switching projects with arduino and the RF ingress problem is real. what i do now is just put everything in a diecast aluminum box and make sure the grounds are all tied together properly. cheap arduinos from aliexpress seem way more susceptible to this than genuine ones in my experience, not sure if thats the regulators or what but ive had better luck with genuine or at least the better clones. one thing i'd think about — if the ic-7300 is on USB already for logging or whatever, you might hit COM port conflicts depending on your logging software. might be worth considering the separate ACC port or the remote jack instead if that fits your setup better. just something to be aware of

Just noticed on the solar reports that we have a K-index of 1 and SFI around 158. I know low K is good, but I'm still learning what bands to focus on during quiet geomagnetic conditions like this. Planning to get on the air after dinner - should I fire up the rig on 20M or try something higher like 15M/12M? My setup is just a G5RV at 30 feet, nothing fancy. Any advice from the more experienced ops?

so ive been trying to get back into CW after about a 15 year break and honestly its like starting over. i picked up an old Bencher paddle at a hamfest a few months ago and its been sitting on my desk mostly collecting dust because every time i sit down to practice i just get frustrated with myself. the main thing bugging me right now is the keyer timing — im running an Icom 7300 with the built in keyer and i cannot for the life of me find a speed and weight setting that feels natural. like if i slow it down enough to be accurate the dits and dahs feel too mushy and spaced out, but if i speed it up to where it sounds good to my ear i start making all kinds of errors. i think part of the problem might be the paddle tension too but im not sure. anybody else gone through this coming back after a long break and what did you do to get the feel back. also should i just bite the bullet and get a standalone keyer or is the 7300 built in good enough for practicing

Check your Windows default audio devices first. Set internal soundcard as default for both device and communication, should show green checkmark. VARA needs clean separation between radio interface and system audio.

honestly the memorize vs understand debate has been going on forever and both sides have a point but for tech i think you can get away with mostly memorizing and filling in the gaps with some basic understanding. the question pool is the actual pool they pull from so if you know all those questions youre going to pass, full stop. hamstudy.org is what most people use and it tracks which ones you keep getting wrong so you can focus there. the math stuff does show up, maybe 3 or 4 questions on actual ohms law and power calculations, its not that bad once you just remember the triangle trick. spend maybe two weeks on it consistently and you should be fine, the tech exam really isnt that hard compared to general

ok so ive been licensed for about 3 months now and i passed my general last month and im still kind of confused about the whole frequency thing. like i know there are band edges and stuff but how do i know where im actually allowed to transmit vs where im just supposed to stay away from as kind of an unwritten rule thing specifically on 40 meters, my radio shows 7.000 all the way up but i know you cant just go anywhere right? and whats the deal with the lower part of the band, someone at the club said something about RTTY and digital down there but i wasnt totally following the conversation. just trying to figure out where i can actually call CQ without stepping on someone or doing something wrong

so ive been a tech for about 8 months now and honestly ive been having a blast on 2m and some 70cm stuff but everyone keeps telling me i need to get my General so i can actually get on HF and do real DX and whatnot. im not opposed to studying but i guess my question is how different is the General exam from the Technician one? like is it way harder or is it mostly just more of the same stuff about regulations and electronics? also i keep hearing people talk about privileges on 40m and 20m and i have no idea what that even means in practice. like do i just... pick a frequency and start talking? and what kind of radio do i even need, i have a baofeng and a mag mount but thats obviously not gonna cut it for HF i assume. sorry if this is a really dumb question im just trying to figure out where to start