Ashley Brown

im running almost the same thing but with a pi 3b+ and honestly even that feels a bit heavy sometimes for the shack automation stuff. your plan with the nano sounds fine, i think people overcomplicate the pi/arduino question -- they're just tools and mixing them is totally normal. the arduino is better at doing one thing reliably, the pi is better at the networky web stuff. side note, have you looked at flrig for the rig control piece? it plays nice with hamlib and might save you some scripting headaches depending on what youre actually trying to do with the 7300

so i was just sitting at the radio saturday afternoon not really expecting much and suddenly 10 meters just absolutely came alive. i was hearing stations from south america, europe, even a couple JA stations came through pretty clearly for about 45 minutes. havent seen it that good in a while honestly. managed to work a few new entities which was a nice surprise for just a casual afternoon session. also saw that icom apparently just announced some new stuff — theres been chatter on a couple other forums about a possible update to the 7300 line or some new entry level rig, dont know how much of that is rumor vs actual confirmed announcements. if anyone has more solid info on that id be curious. i keep seeing vague posts but nothing with real specs yet. also reminder for anyone in the midwest — there's a hamfest coming up in a few weeks, think its the one in dayton area? or near there. worth checking the arrl site if you havent already. been a few years since ive made the trip and im starting to think about going again.

im kind of in the same boat actually so watching this thread. one thing i did notice is my dah timing got way better after i adjusted the paddle tension — mine was too loose and i was kind of slapping at it instead of controlled pressure. took maybe 20 minutes of fiddling but made a difference. what paddle are you using exactly?

so ive been a ham for about 3 years now and i keep telling myself im going to put together a proper go-kit for emergencies but i just... never do it. after the storms we had last month and seeing some of the ARES guys show up with their setups i finally got motivated to actually do something about it. problem is i dont really know what the baseline should be. like i have an FT-857D that i could use as the main radio, and ive got a few batteries kicking around but nothing purpose-built for portable ops. do most people run everything off a single big LiFePO4 or do you have backup options too? and what about antennas, im thinking an EFHW but im open to suggestions for something that sets up fast. also curious what people put in their kits beyond just the radio stuff. i know some guys carry spare fuses and coax but im not sure how deep to go without the whole thing becoming a 60 pound nightmare to lug around. any thoughts appreciated, just looking for some real world experience here not just a generic list off the internet.

yeah that ALC behavior is a pretty telling symptom actually. what you're describing sounds a lot like the driver stage took a hit rather than the finals themselves -- if the finals were gone you'd usually see different ALC response or sometimes the protection circuit just shuts everything down hard. the fact that it's showing *some* ALC movement but no power out is interesting. the 7300 uses a two-stage PA setup and there's a driver transistor that feeds the finals, if that thing is partially damaged it can do exactly what youre seeing. still biasing up enough to make the ALC think something is happening but not actually delivering drive to the output stage. i'd be looking at the driver board before assuming the finals are toast, might be a cheaper fix than you think. that said without the service manual its gonna be hard to probe around safely. icom does have a depot repair program and last i heard it wasnt insanely expensive for something like this, maybe worth a call to see what they quote. just make sure you tell them about the lightning event upfront so they know what they're looking at.

congrats on passing general first of all. ok so the sequential vs vanity thing -- when you first get licensed the FCC just assigns you the next available call in sequence for your district, which is how you got your KD9. vanity is a totally separate process where you go through the ULS and actually request a specific callsign you want, assuming its available and you're eligible for that call format. the relative thing is real, its called the primary preference and it lets immediate family members apply for a deceased hams call during a specific window before it opens up to everyone else. i believe its 30 days where only close relatives can apply, then it opens to other hams in a broader pool. you'd want to check the current FCC rules because i think theres some specifics about what counts as close relative but parent-child should definitely qualify. the 18 day thing is kind of a minimum wait period baked into the process, but yeah in practice a lot of people see it move faster depending on how many applications are competing for the same call. if you're the only one going for it you might hear back sooner. worth doing for sure if there's sentimental value to your dad's old call, that's a really nice thing to have.

yeah what he said about AE7Q, that site is basically required reading for anyone trying to navigate the vanity stuff. i went through this whole process about a year ago when i upgraded to extra and wanted a 1x2 call and spent way too long confused before someone pointed me there. one thing i'll add - if the call you want isn't available yet just set up an alert or check back periodically because the eligibility dates can sneak up on you and you dont want to miss the window. also make sure the call format actually matches your license class, like a 1x2 call requires extra class i believe, so worth double checking what class of call your target callsign falls under before you get too attached to it

LoTW is definitely accepted for DXCC credits, in fact the ARRL strongly prefers it now and it makes the whole process way smoother. you just go into your LoTW account and when you have enough confirmed entities you can apply right from there, it's pretty much all electronic at this point. the basic DXCC award requires 100 confirmed entities so you're close, hang in there. the paper card thing is real though. some of those DXpedition operators take a long time to send cards out, especially if they're a small team and they're still recovering from the trip. i'd say check their website or their QRZ page because a lot of them post updates about card distribution and some do eventually upload to LoTW months later. patience is kind of a core skill in this hobby honestly, especially once you start chasing the rarer entities. there is an application fee through ARRL, last i checked it was around $15 for members but double check that on the ARRL site since things change.

I've been thinking about doing something similar with my 7300 but obviously thats a different situation with the SDR architecture, you can't just drop a mechanical filter in there. software DSP does a lot but i still feel like theres something about a real hardware filter that just... works differently? hard to explain. anyway good to hear the mod paid off, cold solder joints are the worst, i spent two hours once chasing one on a completely different project and wanted to throw the whole thing out the window

hamstudy.org is honestly all you need for most people, i passed with just that and maybe 2 weeks of studying on and off. the questions on the actual exam ARE from the pool, like word for word, so if you grind hamstudy until you're hitting 85%+ consistently you'll be fine. the site even tracks which questions you get wrong and keeps throwing them at you which is really helpful the ARRL tech manual is decent if you actually want to understand the material rather than just memorize answers, but for passing the exam it's kind of overkill like your friend said. the math on the tech exam is pretty basic, just ohms law stuff and a little bit of antenna length calculation, nothing crazy. if you get stuck on a formula just look up the specific question type on youtube, theres tons of short explainer videos also check if there's a local club near you doing a license class, some of them do weekend cram sessions and you can take the exam right after which is convenient

I made almost the exact same move about a year ago except I went from an FT-991A. The 7300 just feels more focused if that makes sense, like the 991 tries to do everything and the 7300 does HF and does it really well. Only thing I miss sometimes is the VHF/UHF capability but I have a separate 2m rig on the desk so its not really a problem in practice.

i built something similar last winter and went through basically the same thing. turned out my dummy load was also slightly off which was throwing my power measurements off from the start, worth double checking that too before you assume the rig is the problem. not saying thats whats happening but it bit me and i spent like two weekends chasing a problem that was partly my test setup.

the weighting adjustment on most rigs changes the ratio of mark to space within the characters, so if you crank it up your dits and dahs get a bit heavier and the spaces between elements shrink slightly. sounds like thats probably not your main issue though. what you're describing with the extra dits is almost certainly paddle tension and contact gap — those two things together make a huge difference and most people set them way too loose when they're starting out. tighten up the tension more than feels natural, like noticeably stiffer than comfortable, and then close the gap a little on the dit side if that's where you're getting the bouncing. give it a week at that setting before you judge it. also 16 wpm is totally fine, dont let anyone pressure you to speed up before your fist is clean. i still know old timers who run 18 wpm and sound like a machine because their paddle setup is dialed in perfectly. the Bencher is a good paddle, definitely not the problem.

ohio from tennessee on 4 watts is solid, nice work. i just started getting into qrp this spring and honestly the park activations are addictive. i havent built anything from scratch yet, just using a little commercial rig, but reading this makes me want to try a kit. which board did you end up going with if you dont mind me asking?

Yeah the 18 day waiting period is still a thing, hasnt changed. Basically the FCC opens it up for a window so if multiple people apply for the same vanity call they can all be considered, then after that window closes they do a random selection if there were competing applications. So you're basically in that window right now which is why it still says pending — that's totally normal, don't panic. For the 1x2 call in your district, as long as the call is in the 4 call district and you're a General class or above you should be eligible. The system is supposed to check that automatically but it's worth double checking the eligibility rules on the FCC site just to be sure. There's also a site called AE7Q that has a really good vanity application tracker and shows you if there are competing apps on the same call. Honestly I use that more than the FCC's own site when I'm checking status.