Jessica Thomas

yeah that makes total sense actually, the zero w is kinda underpowered for running a web server and doing serial comms at the same time, especially if youre doing any real time stuff. offloading the relay control to an arduino is exactly the right call imo. the arduino handles that kind of low level IO way more reliably and you dont have to worry about linux scheduler messing with timing. i2c between the pi and arduino works fine for something like this, or even just basic serial over UART if you want to keep it simple. ive got a similar setup controlling a bandpass filter bank, pi does all the logic and the arduino just executes relay commands. works solid. one thing to watch, make sure youre using optocouplers between the arduino outputs and any relay coils, especially if theres any chance of RF getting into the control lines. learned that one the hard way during a field day a couple years back, had a relay go haywire every time i keyed up on 40m.

yeah the Q codes go way back to telegraph days, they were basically a shorthand so operators could communicate across language barriers without having to type out full sentences. most of the common ones you'll hear on HF are pretty intuitive once you use them a few times. QTH is your location, QRM is interference from other stations, QRN is static/natural noise, QSB is fading signal, QRP means low power. QSL as a question means 'did you copy that?' and as a statement means 'i confirm' or sometimes just 'yes understood'. the ARRL website has a decent reference page for the common ones, and honestly after a few months of actually getting on the air and making contacts it just clicks. the 73 thing means best regards, comes from old telegraph code too. 88 is love and kisses, usually only said to YL operators. OM is old man, friendly term for any male ham, YL is young lady but used for any female ham regardless of age. dont overthink it, just jump in and you'll pick it up way faster than reading lists

haha that nervousness never fully goes away for some people, i still get a little weird before a big pileup and ive been doing this for like 12 years. but yeah it absolutely counts, your first QSO is your first QSO no matter what. Bill on the repeater has probably elmered more new hams than he can count, those local regulars are usually great about working with newcomers. you'll memorize your callsign faster than you think, give it another week or two of actually using it and it'll just come out automatically.

honestly the best thing you can do is just listen to a few nets first and you'll pick up the rhythm pretty fast. most nets around here when net control asks for check-ins you just give your callsign phonetically — so like kilo alpha one whiskey bravo or whatever yours is — and wait for them to acknowledge you. some nets have you add your name and location, some don't, just depends on the net. net control will usually tell you what they want at the start if you catch the preamble. the doubling thing (two people transmitting at once) happens all the time, nobody is going to be mad at you for it. if you realize you're doubling just let go of the PTT and wait a second, net control will usually sort it out. that person who got corrected probably did something a bit more disruptive than just timing. dont sweat it, everyone starts somewhere and most nets are really welcoming to new hams checking in for the first time.

oh man i remember my first activation, i was so stressed about the 10 contact minimum that i basically panicked every time i couldnt get a response lol. you did way better than me first time out. i didnt even know about self-spotting until like my third activation which made a huge difference once i figured that out. one thing i'd add is check the activator leaderboards and the park pages on the pota.app website, theres actually a lot of info on there about which parks have been activated a ton vs ones that are pretty rare. hunting rare parks is a whole separate rabbit hole if you want to get into that side of it too. i mostly hunt now when im home and cant get out, its a nice way to stay involved

giving the wrong callsign is actually more common than you'd think, ive heard it happen plenty of times on nets. the important thing is you corrected it. welcome to the hobby, it gets way more natural after the first few contacts, you'll be ragchewing for hours before you know it. if your local club does a nets on a schedule worth checking those out too, more structured so you know when to talk and what to say roughly

so ive been putting together a go-kit for maybe 8 months now and every few weeks i add something else and now the thing weighs like 35 lbs and i honestly dont think i could carry it very far in an actual emergency. started thinking about this after our ARES group did a drill last month and i was completely gassed just hauling it from the parking lot to the EOC. anyway the thing that got me was that like half the stuff in there i have never once touched during an actual activation. i've got a second antenna tuner in there for some reason, a full sized keyboard for the laptop which is ridiculous, two different power poles adapters for stuff i dont even own anymore. but then during the drill i realized i forgot a simple notepad and pen which would have been way more useful than any of that. so i guess what im asking is — for those of you who actually deploy regularly, what do you consider the real bare minimum that you would never leave home without, and what stuff did you think was essential but turned out to be dead weight. not looking for a perfect loadout just curious what people actually use in the field vs what sounds good in theory

the hybrid approach makes a lot of sense honestly. i run something similar for public service events, couple of 100ah battleborn cells and a small honda, and cycling the genny is way better than running it continuous — quieter, less fuel, and the RF noise situation is way better when its off. just make sure your charge controller or DC-DC charger can handle the load while also powering the radios at the same time, ive seen guys trip up on that where the battery ends up not actually getting charged because the radios are pulling too much through the same circuit. on the jackite pole — yeah guy it. 31 feet is not a lot but once you put a dipole on it with any kind of center insulator weight and some coax hanging off it, a 15 mph gust with any turbulence will walk it right over. i use three lightweight dyneema lines and cheap tent stakes and it takes maybe 8 minutes to rig properly. not worth skipping it for a 12 hour exercise.

our club is actually doing a carpool thing if anyones interested, we have 2 spots open in the van. we're leaving friday morning and coming back sunday. shoot me a message if you want in, way cheaper than driving solo and way more fun honestly

yeah i caught the tail end of that opening, worked a couple PY stations and a CE which was nice since i havent had much luck on 10 in a while. my noise floor has been terrible lately so when the band actually opens up like that it feels like a gift. re: the 7760, ive been watching that one too. the separate head unit design is genuinely useful if your shack is a closet or a corner of a bedroom or whatever. that said i wouldnt hold my breath on pricing, Icom hasnt exactly been budget friendly lately and i suspect this one is gonna be up there. the 7300 is honestly still a fantastic radio for most people, ive had mine for like 4 years and have zero complaints. unless you specifically need that remote head capability i'd probably say dont wait.

the QCX+ is a great little radio, i built one last winter and was really impressed with the receiver considering how simple the circuit is. your antenna question is a good one — i went through several iterations before settling on an end fed half wave with a small 49:1 unun. the whole thing rolls up into a sandwich bag basically and i can get it up in a tree pretty fast with a fishing line and a weight. the linked dipole you mentioned is also solid especially if you want to work multiple bands, just takes a bit more setup time. i think for pure simplicity on one band the EFHW wins but if you're chasing DX on 20 and 40 both the linked setup makes sense. honestly the biggest thing ive found is just getting the wire as high as you can — even a mediocre antenna at 30 feet usually beats a great antenna at 15 feet, at least in my experience. keep at it, QRP portable is kind of addictive once it clicks

TS-890 owner here and i'll just say the recieve on that thing spoiled me for everything else. ran it next to a friends 7610 at a field day type setup and on a noisy 40m evening the difference was pretty clear, not huge but noticeable when signals are weak and the noise floor is messy. the APF and the twin PBT implementation on the kenwood is really well thought out once you get used to where everything is. only thing is the 890 interface takes some getting used to, its not as instantly intuitive as the icom stuff. and the waterfall isnt quite as slick visually, functional but not as pretty. also worth knowing the 890 doesnt have a built in antenna tuner on the base model i think, or its a limited one, so factor that in depending on your antenna situation.

Not a basic question at all, its actually kind of a mess when you first look at it so dont worry. The short version is that LoTW (Logbook of the World) is run by ARRL and is basically the gold standard if you care about DXCC or other ARRL awards. The confirmations you get there count toward those awards directly which is why most serious DXers use it. eQSL is a separate thing, its been around a long time and has its own awards system and a lot of casual operators use it because its easier to get started with and the cards look nicer honestly. Paper cards are still a thing and some DXers really love them, especially for rare entities where a physical card feels more meaningful. Plus some awards programs still require paper or have special categories for it. The bureau system through ARRL lets you send and receive cards without paying individual postage for each one which helps. I still get a kick out of getting a card in the mail from somewhere exotic, theres something about holding it that a PDF just doesnt replicate. Most active operators just do all of it — upload to LoTW after every session, set up eQSL, and send paper cards for anything special or when someone specifically requests one. TQSL is the software you use to sign and upload your log to LoTW, that part trips people up at first. If you want DXCC eventually definitely get LoTW sorted out sooner rather than later because retroactive uploads work but its nicer to have it running from the start.

so i've been putting this off for like two years but i finally pulled the trigger and got a Yaesu FTM-400 mounted in my F-150. ran the power cable straight to the battery with an inline fuse which i know is the right way to do it, and i got a Tram 1185 dual band antenna on a mag mount for now sitting on the roof. couple things bugging me though. first, when i key up on 2m i'm getting a weird kind of buzzing in my truck's audio system, not horrible but definitely there. i read somewhere about adding a ferrite bead on the mic cable but hasnt fixed it fully. also not sure if i should upgrade to a lip mount or just drill a hole at some point, the mag mount feels a little sketchy at highway speeds but hasnt moved yet. overall really happy with the setup. been hitting a repeater about 35 miles out which i never expected to do mobile. just figured id share and see if anyone had thoughts on the RFI thing

yeah i was in pretty much the same spot about a year ago. honestly just pick one and go with it, i started chasing WAS because it felt more achievable and now im at 47 states confirmed on LoTW which feels really good. the remaining 3 are the usual suspects, alaska and hawaii are actually not that hard if you catch the right time but i keep missing them lol. delaware just never seems to be on when im around. one thing nobody told me early on — upload your logs to LoTW as you go, dont wait. i had like 6 months of contacts sitting in my logging software before i figured out how to get LoTW set up and some of those stations never confirmed so i lost credits i probably couldve had