Ashley Wilson95

yeah i was in the same boat about 8 months ago when i first got my general and started poking around on HF nets too. the 3 second silence thing you mentioned -- that happens to everybody, net control is used to it trust me. the ones running those things have heard every possible mistake. one thing that helped me was finding a net that publishes their script or preamble online beforehand, some clubs post them on their website and you can kind of read along while youre listening the first couple times. made a huge difference for me just knowing what was coming next.

i tried doing everything on a pi 3 once and the latency was killing me too, linux just isnt real time unless you run a RT kernel patch and thats its own whole headache. ended up keeping the pi for the interface and shoved an arduino nano in between for anything timing critical. works pretty well now most of the time. also fwiw the 7300 has CI-V so depending on what youre trying to do you might be able to just send commands directly and not need hardware PTT at all, might be worth looking into

so ive been a tech for about two years now and im finally thinking about going for my general and eventually extra, and i keep reading that learning cw is worth it even though its not required anymore. the thing is i have zero idea how to even approach it. like do people still use those cassette tape courses or whatever? i downloaded some app but it just felt like i was memorizing letters one at a time and then i read somewhere thats actually the wrong way to do it? something about learning the rhythm or sound of each character instead of counting dots and dashes. im pretty confused about what the right method even is. also how long does this realistically take before you can actually use it on the air, not just copy random practice stuff

so ive been messing around with remote station control for about 6 months now and im at the point where i think i know just enough to be dangerous. my main shack is at a rural property about 90 miles from where i actually live and the plan was to run everything over the internet using RemoteHams with an SDR front end — specifically im using an RTL-SDR v3 feeding into a upconverter for HF coverage, tied into a raspberry pi running the RemoteHams server software. the control side works okay, like i can key the rig (got an IC-7300 as the main tx) and the audio passthrough is usable most of the time. but the SDR piece is where things get weird. latency on the waterfall display is all over the place and sometimes the SDR stream and the actual audio from the 7300 get so out of sync that im clicking on signals that arent where i think they are on the panadapter. feels like a timing/buffering issue but ive already messed with the buffer settings in the software and cant seem to nail it down. also been thinking about whether it makes more sense to just ditch the RTL-SDR approach entirely and use something like a dedicated panadapter output directly from the 7300 via USB since it has that built in — but then im not sure if RemoteHams handles that cleanly or if id need to go full SDR radio replacement like an Anan or something. anyone running a hybrid setup like this and actually happy with it? feel like im reinventing the wheel here.

Drilled a lip mount into my 2021 F-150 last spring and havent looked back. I was in the same boat as you, nervous about putting a hole in a new truck, but once you do it you wonder why you waited. The NMO connection is just so much cleaner and you dont have that coax snaking around under the door seal either. I went through the rear of the cab roof, passenger side, with a Larsen NMO mount. Dead simple to run the coax down the pillar and under the seat to the radio. Ground plane is solid up there and the SWR on both 2m and 70cm was basically flat right out of the gate with a decent dual band whip. The difference compared to my old mag mount was noticeable on receive, not dramatic but real, especially on weaker signals coming in from the far end of our local linked system. One tip — use a step bit and go slow, maybe put some blue tape over the spot first so you dont scratch the paint. And seal it properly, I used self-amalgamating tape under the mount flange and have had zero water issues.

Yes, absolutely start HRD first! Then launch WSJT-X and go to the Radio tab in Settings. Make sure you select 'Ham Radio Deluxe' from the rig dropdown, not your IC-7610 model. This routes all CAT commands through HRD's interface.

so ive been doing contests for about 4 years now, mostly single op, and i keep reading about SO2R being the big rate multiplier everyone uses to stay competitive. finally decided to try setting it up last contest season and honestly it was kind of a disaster at first. kept transmitting on the wrong radio, had the audio routing all confused, and i think i called CQ on 40 while actively in a QSO on 15 which was embarrassing. eventually got it somewhat dialed in by the end of the weekend but my rate actually went DOWN compared to my single radio efforts which i did not expect. i know theres a learning curve but im wondering if people think the investment in time and gear is really worth it for someone doing maybe 10-12 contests a year, or if im better off just squeezing more out of a single radio setup first. im running an IC-7300 and a K3S right now with some bandpass filters between them, station isnt perfect but its workable. audio is going through a headphone mixer thing i cobbled together. anyone gone through this same learning curve and come out the other side actually seeing the rate gains people talk about? or is SO2R mostly only worth it if you're already top 10 material and trying to push from like 2000 QSOs to 2500?

so ive been licensed for about 8 years now and done a lot of HF stuff, some VHF contesting, but EME has always seemed kind of like this mythical thing that only guys with massive arrays in their backyard could do. recently started reading more about it and apparently single yagi EME is actually a thing now? at least on 2m with the weak signal digital modes. my current setup is a single 9el yagi for 2m pointed fixed at the horizon for local stuff, obviously thats not gonna cut it for moonbounce. from what i can tell i need at minimum a longer boom yagi or maybe a pair of them, a decent preamp right at the feedpoint, and then running JT65 through WSJT-X. my radio is an IC-9700 so that part should be okay i think. what i cant figure out is the practical minimum. like is a single long yagi like a 15 or 17 element actually going to get me any contacts or am i just wasting time chasing the moon with no real chance. the prop delay and doppler are handled by the software right? i feel like im missing something obvious about the timing or the moon tracking side of things

yeah what he said, also dont forget 88 which means love and kisses lol, people use that one occasionally. and OM means old man which sounds rude but its just how hams refer to other hams, doesnt matter how old you actually are. YL is young lady for female operators. i was so confused my first few months i kept a little cheat sheet next to the radio which honestly there's no shame in that, i think i used it for like a solid year before i stopped needing it

yeah i went through this same thing last year. honestly the Just Learn Morse Code software helped me more than anything else, and also just listening to W1AW code practice broadcasts when i could. there's something about hearing actual on-air stuff that the apps dont quite replicate. also dont skip learning numbers and punctuation early, i made that mistake and had to go back and relearn stuff later which was annoying. took me probably four or five months before i felt comfortable enough to actually try a QSO and even then my first contact was a mess, the other op was super patient though

so ive been running a mag mount diamond on the roof of my F150 for about two years now, works fine i guess but the cable routing is a mess and i keep catching it on the garage door opening every few months which is just annoying. been thinking about drilling and doing a proper NMO mount but honestly im a little gun shy about putting a hole in the roof of a relatively new truck. the mag mount is a D130J so its not exactly a cheap antenna, but ive noticed on some repeaters that are a bit further out i really have to work for the contact especially when im on the highway and the angle changes. wondering if thats just the antenna being mediocre or the mag mount contact being inconsistent or what. ground plane on these things is supposed to be pretty good on a steel roof but who knows. anyone done the NMO conversion and actually notice a real difference on VHF/UHF? and where did you mount it — center of roof, edge, fender? i keep going back and forth on this

honestly the question pool memorization approach works fine for passing the test, dont feel bad about it. the pool is public and the actual exam questions come straight from it so if you can get through all of them a few times youll pass no problem. HamStudy.org is what most people use now, its free and it tracks which questions you keep getting wrong so you can focus on those. i think i spent maybe two weeks on it a few evenings a week and passed with room to spare. that said if the electrical stuff is tripping you up the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual is pretty decent for actually explaining why things work the way they do. its not super expensive and it walks through the concepts before hitting you with the questions. for ohms law stuff specifically just remember E=IR and you can rearrange it to solve for whatever theyre asking, most of those questions are just plug and chug once you get that down. the exam isnt that bad, way easier than people make it sound

Welcome to the hobby! Just wait for net control to call for check-ins, then give your call sign phonetically, your name, and location. Don't worry - everyone was new once and the net control will help guide you through it.

yeah dont let the question count freak you out. a bunch of them are really similar and once you get the core concepts down a lot of the answers just click. the electrical math ones tripped me up at first but theres only like a handful of actual formulas you need and ohms law covers most of it. one thing I wish someone had told me — pay extra attention to the operating rules and band privileges section, that stuff shows up a lot and its easy to mix up if you havent seen it before. good luck with it

this is really interesting to read as someone who just got their ticket last year and is trying to get into ARES stuff. i went to one meeting and honestly felt pretty lost with all the ICS terminology and net procedures. like i want to help but i also dont want to be the guy showing up with a dead radio lol. do most groups have like a training track for newer people before they'd put you in a real drill, or do you kind of just get thrown in?

so i finally got my ticket after studying for like 3 weeks and i was so pumped to get on the air. borrowed my buddy's baofeng until my radio order comes in and jumped on the local 2m repeater last night around 7pm. i totally froze when someone came back to me, forgot my callsign twice, and i think i stepped on somebody elses transmission at some point. the guy who answered me was super patient though and we actually talked for maybe 10 minutes about nothing in particular. he asked where i was located and what got me into ham radio and it was honestly just a really normal conversation which i wasnt expecting. anyway just wanted to share because ive been lurking here for months reading about this stuff and its way different actually doing it. also what do you guys do when you cant remember if the repeater is still open or if someone else is about to key up, i keep second guessing myself

so ive been licensed for about two years now mostly doing HF and some local 2m stuff but i finally decided to try working through one of the LEO birds with a linear transponder, specifically been looking at FO-29 and AO-73. got myself a copy of gpredict running and i can see the passes fine, i can predict when theyre overhead, thats all good. my problem is actually making a contact. i understand the concept of doppler shift, like i know the frequency is gonna be moving as the satellite comes at you and then moves away, but i just cant get my head around how to actually tune in real time while also trying to find someone to work and talk and everything else. do you just set a fixed frequency and let gpredict do the auto-doppler correction or do you tune by ear? my radio is an IC-9700 so it can do CAT control, ive got it hooked up to the laptop but i havent fully figured out the correction side yet. also is there a good starting point frequency for calling on AO-73 or do you just sweep the passband and hope for the best? feels like there's a lot going on at once and im probably missing something obvious

congrats on the first one, 35 minutes for 10 contacts on your first go is solid honestly. the time thing is pretty common and yeah there is some tolerance in the system, i think its like plus or minus 30 minutes or something like that, dont quote me on it but ive never had a contact get thrown out over a minute or two difference. the POTA website is pretty forgiving about it as long as the callsigns match up. and absolutely spot yourself, everyone does it. thats basically how the whole thing works now. if you dont spot yourself you're kind of just hoping someone stumbles across you and that can take forever especially on a weekday. the POTA website has a self-spotting feature built in and most people use apps like POTA Spotter or even the website on their phone. once you're spotted you'll usually start getting a pile pretty quick, sometimes within a minute or two on a busy day. definitely not weird at all.

okay so i passed my technician exam like three weeks ago and ive been trying to figure out exactly what frequencies i have access to. i keep reading part 97 but honestly its kind of written in a way that makes my head spin. like i understand i have HF privileges on 10 meters but only certain parts of it? and then theres the 2m and 70cm stuff which seems more straightforward but even then im not 100% sure what modes i can use where. my main question i guess is, is there like a simplified version of this somewhere that isnt just a pdf full of legal language. also i saw something about phone privileges being restricted to certain segments and im not sure if that applies to me or if thats for general class. i dont wanna accidentally transmit somewhere i shouldnt be, especially since im still pretty new and already nervous enough about keying up on a repeater for the first time.

Welcome to the hobby! The most successful method for confirmations is direct QSLing with about 63% success rate, but LoTW comes in second at 18% and actually counts for ARRL awards like DXCC. Start with LoTW - it's free and accepted for most major awards. For paper cards, "bureau" means bulk mail through your national society (cheaper but slower), while "direct" means mailing straight to the station (faster but more expensive).

the old QSLs absolutely count as long as you can match them to your log entries — band and mode matter for mixed vs. specific endorsements but for basic DXCC mixed it doesnt matter as much, you just need entity confirmed. dig through those cards man, you might be closer than you think. LoTW is really the way to go these days for DXCC. most serious DX stations upload there pretty routinely and it just makes everything easier — you upload your log, they upload theirs, ARRL matches them automatically and credits show up in your account. you can still submit paper cards but honestly ive done probably 90% of my credits via LoTW at this point. some rare entities you'll still need paper though because the operator never bothered to get set up on LoTW, thats just life. WAZ is a CQ award not ARRL so its a completely separate submission process through CQ magazine. worth doing eventually but id get DXCC rolling first or youll drive yourself nuts juggling both. once you get the workflow down for one it kind of makes sense for the other anyway.

so ive been licensed for about 6 years now and done plenty of HF stuff, some VHF contesting, but EME has always been kind of this mythical thing in the back of my head that i figured was only for guys with massive arrays and a field full of yagis. recently though ive been reading more about it and it seems like the digital modes especially JT65 have kind of opened it up for people with more modest setups? at least thats the impression i get. my current situation is i have a 17el yagi for 2m that i use for terrestrial weak signal and i was wondering if thats even remotely viable for EME or if im just kidding myself. ive seen people mention minimum antenna gain requirements and i honestly dont know where my setup falls. running an IC-9700 and a good preamp at the feedpoint, nothing exotic. i guess my main question is whether people are actually making EME contacts with smaller single yagi setups or if i need to be thinking about a 4 yagi array minimum before i even bother pointing at the moon

you've basically got it right. Field Day is June and it's very much a group activity, most clubs set up somewhere portable and operate for 24 hours, it's pretty relaxed and a great way to learn because there's usually somebody next to you who can answer questions. honestly for a brand new operator it's probably the better starting point just because you're not alone. CQ WW is October and November (phone and CW separately) and yeah that's more of a serious DX contest, huge pileups, stations running hundreds of watts into big antennas, can be a little intimidating when you first hear it. that said you can absolutely participate as a search and parter and just work whoever you find, nobody cares if you're not running high power or a fancy station. just call, give your exchange, log it and move on. the SOTA thing you mentioned — SOTA activators can get bonus points in some contests if theyre operating from a summit, but SOTA itself isnt really a contest per se, more of an operating award program. some contests like the ARRL 10 meter contest have provisions for portable ops but it varies. worth looking into if you like hiking though, its a lot of fun. my honest advice, find your local club and do Field Day with them first, then try CQ WW SSB in October just to see what the chaos feels like from your home station

Looking for detailed comparison of current Morse code training tools. I've heard about G4FON, LCWO, Morse Code Ninja, Ham Morse app, and others. Which ones are worth the time investment? Best for absolute beginnersMost effective progression methodsMobile vs desktop optionsFree vs paid - what's the value difference?Particularly interested in tools that follow proven methods like Koch or Farnsworth.

The IC-7300 seems to be constantly sold because it is probably the best selling HF radio in the history of amateur radio. There are thousands of them out there, which means you'll have a huge community for support. I've used the 7300 in the shack, taken it to parks and even upgraded it with a desktop microphone. It has fun features like a voice recorder standard. For a first HF rig, you really can't go wrong with it.