Sarah Wilson13

Planning to build a homebrew collinear for both mobile and base station use, but I'm confused about grounding requirements. I've read about adding an extra 1/4 wave coaxial section with opposite phase to put the entire antenna at the same DC potential, connecting to a lightning spike at the top. Since collinear antennas are hot with RF along the coax shield, I understand ferrite toroids are necessary to prevent RF from coming back through the feedline. For mobile use, does the vehicle ground plane eliminate the need for the DC grounding section? My initial test shows 1.2:1 SWR on 146 MHz and under 1.5:1 on 440, with repeaters 60-75 miles away now full quieting.

the path you're using is fine, WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 is basically the default everyone uses. 5 watts to a decent mag mount should be workable for mobile. couple things worth checking though — first, what's your SmartBeaconing set to if you're using it? if you're mostly parked or moving slowly the beacon interval can stretch out way longer than you'd expect and it kinda looks like gaps on the map even when the radio is technically working. second thing, and this is the annoying one, aprs.fi only shows the last position it received from an igate, it doesnt show every digi hop. so if a digi is hitting your packet but no igate is picking it up downstream you're basically invisible. the three igates you mentioned, do you know if they're actually RF-to-internet or just internet-only? a lot of what shows up on the igate list is receive-only and if they're not running RF input you're not getting gated. worth cross checking against aprs.is directly or using findu.com raw packets to see what's actually being heard.

so ive been licensed for about 3 months now (tech, just passed my general last week actually) and i keep hearing people talk about checking into nets but i honestly have no idea how it works in practice. like i get the basic idea, you listen for the net control and say your callsign, but theres so much i dont know. do you have to be a member of whatever club runs it or can anyone just check in? and what do you even say after net control acknowledges you, do you just say your name and location or is there like a specific format people expect? i found what looks like a weekly HF net on 40m that meets tuesday evenings and i really want to try it but i dont want to make a fool of myself on my first attempt. also theres apparently some special event station operating this weekend for some anniversary and i saw people mentioning it in another thread — is checking into a special event different from a regular net or is it more like just making a contact with that station? sorry if these are dumb questions, just trying to figure it all out

yeah i caught the tail end of that, was monitoring on the SDR while at work and saw the waterfall just light up around 28.4 and 28.5. didnt get a chance to actually sit down and work anything which is frustrating but the signals were definitely there. the cycle 25 thing is real, NOAA updated their smoothed sunspot number projections a couple months back and it's been trending higher than the original consensus estimate. we could be looking at peak conditions sometime in the next 12 to 18 months which is going to be great for 10 and even 6 meters. if you havent already set up some kind of alert for solar flux index going above like 150 or 160 i'd recommend it, thats usually when 10 starts doing really interesting things

yeah the simplex fallback thing is such a common problem and honestly it doesnt matter how many times you put it in the plan if people dont actually practice it until their hands do it automatically. we had almost the exact same situation a couple years back during a SET. net control called the fallback and just... silence. took probably 90 seconds before anyone checked in and in a real event that 90 seconds feels like forever. what we started doing after that is running short unannounced mini-drills like once a month, nothing big, just hey we're going simplex for the next 20 minutes figure it out. it's helped a ton with muscle memory. the HT battery thing is also huge, we basically made it a rule that if you show up to an activation or even a drill without at least one spare battery or a way to charge in the field you're getting a friendly but firm conversation. some people take it personally at first but like, that's the whole point of this stuff right.

been trying to work 7x0dx for the past 2 hours and just cant break through. im running 100w to a dipole about 30ft up, hearing them solid 59+ but they just dont hear me. tried calling exactly on their freq, tried splitting up 5-10, even waited for the pile to die down but no luck anyone else having better luck? starting to think maybe my antenna has an issue but it seems to work fine on other contacts. maybe im just not loud enough for this kind of pile

so ive been noticing the last few weeks that 17m and 20m have been really inconsistent and i cant figure out if its something on my end or just the way things are right now. some days i can work europe all afternoon with no problem and then the next day i can barely hear anything past a few hundred miles. checked my antenna and feedline and everything looks fine, SWR is normal, nothing changed on my end. i started paying more attention to the solar flux index and i guess its been jumping around a lot? went from like 145 down to around 120 and back up in the span of a week. i dont really have a deep understanding of how that translates to actual band conditions day to day. like i get the basic idea that higher SFI generally means better HF propagation but how much does a swing like that actually matter in practice? and what about the K index, i see that thrown around a lot but i still get confused about when exactly a high K is gonna kill a DX opening versus just making it worse anyway if anyone has some pointers on what to actually watch and how to interpret it id appreciate it. been licensed about 2 years now and feel like i should understand this better than i do

Don't check the "Secondary UDP Server" or "N1MM Logger+ Broadcasts" box in WSJT-X - that's not used when WSJT-X runs from inside N1MM+. Also verify the WSJT Decode List window opens automatically when you launch WSJT-X from N1MM+.

Oh man yeah this is basically a rite of passage, everybody fumbles their first few check-ins. Dont even worry about it. The thing about saying your callsign too fast is super common, i still catch myself doing it when i get nervous and ive been licensed 11 years now. The basic flow on most directed nets is pretty simple once it clicks — net control calls for check-ins, you give your callsign phonetically at least the first time, they acknowledge you, and then when they come back around to you they'll ask if you have traffic or announcements. "Nothing further" or just "no traffic" is totally fine and most people use that most of the time. You're not obligated to say anything profound every week. As for asking net control questions during the net, id save it for after unless its something that directly affects your participation right then. Most net controls are juggling a lot and mid-net questions can kind of throw off the flow. After the net closes just key up and ask, most of them are happy to help a new op and honestly they probably remember being in your shoes. Your net control might even have a quick reference card or something they can email you.

so anyway i was exactly the same way when i started checking into nets, felt like everyone had a secret manual i hadn't read. one thing that helped me was just asking the net control after the net closed if i did anything weird — most of them are super happy to chat and give you pointers. the good ones want new people to feel welcome and stick around.

ok so I passed my general exam like 3 weeks ago and ive been trying to figure out exactly where I can operate on HF. I know theres a chart somewhere but honestly the FCC part 97 document is kind of a wall of text and I keep getting confused about which portions of which bands I actually have access to vs what technicians get vs what extras get. like for example on 40 meters, can I do SSB anywhere or is there a sub-band thing going on? and what about digital modes, do those count differently under the rules? someone at the club mentioned something about a 200 watt limit for generals in certain segments but I wasnt sure if that was real or if he was pulling my leg. just trying to make sure I dont accidentally transmit somewhere I shouldnt be

so ive been licensed for about 8 months now (tech then upgraded to general pretty quick) and everyone keeps telling me i should learn CW but honestly i have no idea where to begin. like do you just memorize all the letters first and then try to use it, or is there some method where you learn it differently. i tried just looking up a chart and staring at it for a while but nothing is sticking and it feels kinda pointless doing it that way also not sure if this matters but im not really a musical person if that has anything to do with it. someone mentioned something called the Koch method i think? and also something about not learning it too slow which confused me. any direction would help, im not in a huge rush but would like to actually be able to use it someday

congrats on the build, thats awesome. i keep meaning to try kit building but it seems intimidating, like how bad was the soldering difficulty on the QCX? im decent with a iron from some electronics stuff i did in school but ive never done SMD before and thats what always scares me off

so i finally did my first summit last weekend, W4C/SM-039 if anyones curious, not a hard hike but the weather was sketchy going up. brought my KX2 and a 40m end fed halfwave and honestly the setup took way longer than i expected because i was fumbling with the mast sections in the wind. note to self: practice setting up the antenna at home first before you're on a summit with numb fingers. made about 12 contacts in like 35 minutes which i think is pretty decent for a first time. got the 4 needed for activation pretty quick once i hit the summit and announced on the SOTA watch. the pile up was small but it was there and that was kind of exciting. 20m was also open so i threw out a few calls there too. overall stoked on it and already planning the next one but curious if anyone has tips for working faster or keeping the antenna from blowing over, mine fell twice

honest answer: yes you can do single yagi EME on 2m with JT65 but you need to be realistic about it. with 500w and a decent 13-15 element yagi with a good preamp like an SSB Electronics or a Kuhne unit with maybe 0.3-0.4 dB noise figure, you're going to be able to work the big guns, the guys with 4x9 or 4x12 arrays running a kw. they'll decode you easier than you'll decode them but it works. i did my first EME qso with a single M2 2M12 and an SSPA running 350w, took me a while to find someone patient enough but it happened. the activity thing is probably where people get surprised. its not like HF where there's always someone on. EME activity kind of clusters around the weekends when the moon is at a useful declination, and the big contest weekends like the ARRL EME contest in the fall are honestly the best time for a first qso because everyone and their brother is on. outside of that the ON4KST chat is where you coordinate skeds, people post when they're going to be on and with what antenna direction. you really cant just spin up and call CQ and expect much to happen, at least not at first.

So after like three weeks of messing around with cable routing and trying to figure out where to actually mount the head unit I think I finally have a decent setup going in my F-150. Running a Yaesu FT-7900 which I picked up used off a local ham at the club meeting last month. Good radio so far, no complaints. The antenna is a Tram 1185 dual band mag mount sitting on the roof right now but I want to go permanent at some point. My main thing is the coax run — I ended up going through the firewall with a rubber grommet I found at the hardware store and it seems okay but honestly I'm a little paranoid about it rubbing through over time. Anyone else done this and had issues? Or am I overthinking it. Also kind of a separate thing but the radio sits in my center console area and when I key up on 70cm especially I get a weird low hum through the truck speakers. Not terrible but its annoying. I think its a ground loop maybe? I dont really know how to diagnose that properly. Any tips would be appreciated, been lurking here for a while and you all seem to know your stuff.

For best conditions, solar flux should remain above about 150 for a few days with K index below 2. When these conditions have been met, check out the bands and expect some good DX to be about! Time of day matters a lot too - try again during peak hours for your target area.

congrats on the ticket. okay so the baofeng vs real radio debate never really ends on these forums but heres my take — if you want APRS out of the box without a bunch of extra hardware, that changes things a bit. a basic UV-5R isnt gonna do APRS natively, you'd need to add a TNC or use your phone with an interface cable. if APRS is actually on your list, you might want to look at something like the Yaesu FT3DR or even the older FT2DR which you can sometimes find used for a decent price. built in GPS and the C4FM/FM dual mode stuff is pretty nice. dual band is honestly worth it even starting out, most repeaters around me are on 2m but theres a handful of 70cm ones that get more traffic for certain nets. having both just means you dont have to think about it.

had almost the exact same problem last year. turned out my APRS symbol was set to something the software didn't like and iGates in my area were just not forwarding it for some reason — never fully figured that part out honestly. but the bigger issue for me was that i was too far from an iGate and the two digipeaters between me and the nearest one were both kind of flaky. you can check coverage on aprs.fi by looking at who's actually hitting your area, zoom in and see if theres even an active iGate within a hop or two of you. also try sending a message to SMSGTE or something just to see if messaging works independent of position beacons, sometimes that helps narrow down whats broken.

yeah i do exactly this, been doing it for a few years now. i built a 7 element M2 style yagi for 2m and it breaks down into like a 3 foot bundle so its not that bad to carry up honestly. hand pointing is fine unless youre doing something that needs a specific heading for a long time, in which case even a cheap tv rotator zip tied to a tripod works surprisingly well. for 140 miles on 2m that hilltop elevation is going to do more for you than any antenna gain will, but a yagi is still going to help with the noise floor and pulling out weak signals. the collinear is great for working everything around you but when you want to dig out a specific distant station the yagi just wins. i usually bring both actually, X50 stays up for general use and i swap to the yagi when i want to work something specific. takes maybe 2 minutes to switch.

2 hours is kinda rough for a maybe. i usually just check if any of the big name dealers are tabling before i commit to anything more than like 45 mins away lol. that said swap meets are honestly half about just running into people you know so depends if your club friends are going i guess

so ive been licensed about 8 months now and i still get kind of confused about when youre supposed to use the NATO phonetics versus just saying the letter normally. like if someone asks me to confirm a callsign do i always spell it out phonetically or is that just for when conditions are bad? i was on a local 2m repeater the other day and said my call just normally and then the net control asked me to say it again using phonetics and i felt kind of dumb but also wasnt sure if that was just a net control preference thing or like an actual rule also sometimes i hear people using weird phonetics that arent the standard ones, like i heard someone say "sugar" for S the other day and i thought that was just wrong but maybe im the one whos wrong? basically just trying to figure out if theres a correct way to do this or if its more of a situational thing

the timeout thing drove me crazy when i first set up vara too. few things to check - first, your audio levels in the Signalink, a lot of people set them too hot thinking more is better and it just causes distortion on the other end. the vara modem is pretty sensitive to that. also check if you have any audio enhancements turned on in windows for the sound device, those will absolutely wreck the signal. right click the recording device, properties, enhancements tab, disable everything. also worth looking at which gateways youre trying. some of the high traffic ones are busy a lot and you can get bumped. the RMS gateway list in winlink express shows the last heard time and frequency, try to pick one that was recently active and not super far away. 40m has been decent the last few evenings around here. and check your power - you dont need to run full power on vara, actually dial it back, like 50-60 watts max for hf, vara doesnt love being driven hard.

yeah the delay thing is totally normal and honestly it gets frustrating even after years of doing this. spots are coming from all over the world through the cluster network so by the time it propogates to what you're seeing on screen the DX station might have already qsy'd or the pile up just got too big and he stopped sending for a bit. the fresher the spot timestamp the better your chances, i always look at when it was posted before i even bother tuning. the duplicate spots are just a fact of life on cluster, multiple stations hear the same DX and submit their own spot so you end up with 4-5 spots for the same callsign within a minute. most of the interfaces let you filter for unique callsigns only which cleans it up a lot. on DXwatch there's a filter option somewhere in the settings, been a while since i messed with it but its there. for android i used to use DX Toolbox but honestly i've moved over to just having the DXwatch mobile site bookmarked, it works decent enough on a phone. some guys swear by Ham Radio Deluxe if you want something that ties into your logging software too, but thats more of a whole setup thing.

so ive been doing CW for about 8 months now and i passed my extra last spring partly because i wanted to get into morse more seriously. been using a Bencher BY-1 paddle with my radio's built in keyer and honestly the sending feels pretty good most days but then other days it just feels like total mush coming out and i cant figure out if its the iambic settings or just me being tense or what. i've been running around 18 wpm which is comfortable for receiving when the band is clean but sending i sometimes fumble and then i get in my head about it and it gets worse. is there a way to dial in the dit/dah ratio or is the built in keyer on most radios just kind of set and forget. also curious if anyone has opinions on iambic mode A vs mode B because honestly ive read explanations of both like 5 times and i still dont fully understand the practical difference in everyday use also wondering if paddles vs a straight key would be worth trying for slower practice or if that would just confuse muscle memory at this point