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.

yeah what he said about traffic nets. also worth checking if your local club runs a more casual net first, those are way more forgiving while you get the hang of how check-ins actually work. i did like three months of just the local 2m net on monday nights before i felt ready to try anything on HF and it helped a lot just learning the rhythm of it.

so we finally did a full simulated emergency activation with our county ARES group, probably 14 operators involved total across three net control stations and a couple of field sites. overall i think it went pretty well but man did we learn some stuff the hard way. biggest thing for me was how fast the paperwork side of things falls apart when you're tired and stressed. we were only two hours into the exercise and people were already skipping ICS forms or filling them out wrong, and this was just a drill with no real pressure. i keep thinking about what that looks like in an actual deployment where you havent slept and the served agency is asking you questions you dont have answers to yet. also had one guy show up with a radio that hadn't been programmed with the current repeater frequencies. simple thing but it took like 20 minutes to sort out because nobody had a programming cable on site. we've been talking about doing a gear check before activations but never really formalized it. after this i think we're going to actually put together a pre-deployment checklist that people have to go through at home before they show up. anyway curious if other groups have done similar exercises and what caught you off guard. especially interested if anyone has done hospital or EOC integration drills because that's our next goal and i have no idea where to start with that honestly.

i basically just used the Morse Mania app on my phone whenever i had a few minutes, like waiting in line or whatever. took me a while and im still not great honestly but i can copy maybe 10-12wpm on a good day. also listen to actual qsos on the air even before you can copy everything, just tune around 40m around 7.050 or so and let it wash over you. something about hearing real signals instead of a computer voice makes it feel more real i think. also the W1AW code practice transmissions are still a thing and they publish the text ahead of time so you can follow along

congrats on the Maldives contact, 8Q is a good one to have in the log. honestly the short answer to your question is that you can get a rough idea from the night before but yeah its pretty much an hour to hour thing once you get into specifics. what i usually do is check the SFI and the A index together — if the A index is below like 10 and the SFI is above 150 or so, i know 10 and 12m are probably going to be productive. but a sudden geomagnetic disturbance can trash everything in a couple hours even if the morning looked great. the NOAA 3-day forecast on their space weather page is decent for catching incoming CME activity, that's probably the most useful thing for planning a dedicated DX session. DXmaps is great for seeing whats actually happening right now but for forward planning i find the propagation predictions on sites like voacap a bit more useful, at least to set expectations. just dont take any of those tools as gospel, conditions can surprise you in both directions

so ive been running a 40m inverted V for about three months now, apex at maybe 35 feet off a push up mast, legs going out at roughly 45 degrees and ending about 8 feet off the ground. resonant on 40, SWR is fine, radio is happy. but compared to my old hustler vertical with 4 radials that I used last year I feel like im losing signals left and right. guys who were 59 before are now like 55-56 and I feel like im running QRP when im not. the inverted V should theoretically be better or at least comparable right? lower angle for DX maybe not but for domestic stuff it should do okay. im in a suburban lot so the vertical was always kind of squeezed in next to the fence anyway. ive checked connections at the feedpoint, coax looks good, balun is a homebrew 1:1 choke type wound on a FT240-43. not sure what else to check. maybe the angle of the legs? or is 35 feet just not high enough for a real low angle radiation pattern on 40. anybody run both and have a feel for how they compare

oh man i remember my first one of these, it was a bike race and i was way more nervous than i needed to be. honestly marathon support is about as low pressure as activations get. most of what you'll be doing is calling in runner numbers and the occasional "all clear at station 4" type check in. medical calls are rare and when they do happen net control walks you through it, you're not making any decisions on your own. bring a paper log for sure, just a notebook is fine, some people use actual ICS forms but for a community event like this nobody is going to expect that from a new member. pen, snacks, water, something to sit on if you'll be standing around for 3 hours. also make sure your HT is fully charged the night before and bring a spare battery or a battery pack just in case. the biggest thing is just listen before you transmit, get a feel for how net control is running things, and dont be afraid to ask for a repeat if you miss something. "say again" is always the right call over trying to guess. you'll do great, and after it's over you'll wonder what you were worried about

yeah its one of those things thats kind of situational honestly. on a clear local repeater with strong signals people often just say their call straight and thats fine, nobody is going to come down on you for it. but phonetics really earn their keep when conditions are rough, or youre working HF with some QRM, or your call has letters that get confused easily like B and D or M and N. the NATO alphabet exists specifically because those ambiguities cause real problems. if your call has something like a B or a C or an N in it id just get in the habit of using phonetics all the time so it becomes automatic. some guys never use them on the local repeater and thats kind of accepted practice, but if you jump on HF youll be glad you drilled them. the thing is when you panic trying to remember what F is youre going to key up and just go blank, so just learn them now and use them whenever you feel like it wont hurt anything.

yeah the 10m opening was something else, i havent heard it that alive in probably 15 years honestly. I caught the tail end of it and managed a quick contact with a station in Spain, signal was 59 both ways which just doesnt happen on that band around here. The cycle 25 predictions are looking really promising so hopefully this is just the start and we get a solid year or two of good conditions before it rolls back down. On the 710 question, i picked one up back in the spring and have been using it as my primary HF rig since then. the roofing filters are genuinely better than what i was used to on my older rig and in crowded contest conditions it holds up well. the SDR display took some getting used to, its not quite as slick as the icom interface but its functional. battery of that said if you're happy with the 7300 i probably wouldnt rush, its a good radio and the 710 is more of a sidegrade in some ways than a clear upgrade depending on what you care about.

honestly the theory is the best part, thats my opinion anyway. i did the same thing a lot of people do and just drilled the question pool for general back in the day and passed fine but i retained basically nothing. when i went for extra i actually sat down with the ARRL handbook and tried to understand what i was reading and it made a huge difference, not just for the test but for actually troubleshooting stuff and understanding why antennas behave the way they do. the exam itself is 50 questions and yeah some of it is genuinely tricky, theres math involved, imaginary numbers for reactance calculations, stuff about oscillator design and digital signal theory. you can still pass by memorizing the pool but its harder to do that compared to general because some of the questions are more interconnected, like knowing one concept helps you reason through two or three others even if you havent seen that exact question. so i guess my answer is its doable either way but actually learning it is more satisfying and probably sticks better long term. as for the privileges, the cw segments on 40 and 80 are nice if you do cw at all, and on phone there are extra-only portions on 75m and 15m that can be less congested during contests which is kind of a practical benefit if you do any contesting

the D710 has a quirk where if your baud rate on the TNC side doesnt match what you've got configured in the radio menu it'll just silently fail to key up properly. Worth double checking that everything is set to 1200 baud consistently. Also make sure your TX delay isnt set too low — I had mine at like 20ms and kept having the same problem, bumped it to 50ms and it sorted itself out almost immediately. The other thing I'd check is your audio levels going into the TNC from the radio's discriminator. If you're clipping or too low the packets will encode garbage and digis won't even bother repeating them. Direwolf has a nice tool for checking this if you can pipe audio into a laptop, just to verify what's actually coming out before you spend more time chasing gremlins in the path config.