James Williams

this is basically exactly where i was maybe 6 months ago lol. what helped me the most was using the MRP40 software to decode my own sending and watching where the errors showed up. it's kind of humbling but you can see right away if your spacing is off or if you're mashing dits together. also i read somewhere that 15 wpm is actually easier to copy than 10 because the character spacing is more natural, might be worth experimenting with bumping the speed up a little even if it feels scary at first

yeah 4 contacts is 4 contacts, activation counts. honestly my first one was worse, i forgot to log two of them properly and had to go back through my memory to submit. the wind thing is real, i use one of those cheap foam windscreens now and it helps a lot. linked dipole is worth it if you want to hit multiple bands without retuning, i bring mine on almost every trip now.

so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and finally worked up the nerve to check into a few nets. been doing the local 2m repeater net on monday evenings which is pretty chill, the net control there is super patient with new folks.
but i also heard about a regional 40m net on tuesday nights around 7.245 and i tried checking in last week and honestly wasnt sure if i did it right. i gave my call, my name, and location but then wasnt sure if i was supposed to wait for net control to come back to me or just kinda hang out. ended up doubling with someone else which was embarrassing.
also someone mentioned there's a special event station operating this weekend for some kind of historical anniversary thing, W1-something, and i want to try to work them but no idea how those work differently than a regular QSO. do they send you a certificate or something? or do you have to apply for it somewhere?
basically just trying to figure out the whole net world before i make too much of a fool of myself ha

so i've been running APRS for a few months now, got my TM-D710G set up with a mag mount on the car and it's been working great for tracking, i can see myself on aprs.fi and everything. but i've been reading about paths and now im second guessing my setup because i have it set to WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 which i thought was the standard but someone in my local club said thats too aggressive and i might be causing issues on the network especially in urban areas.
my commute takes me through a pretty dense metro area and then out into some rural stretches so i wasn't sure if i needed to cover both scenarios with one path setting or if theres a smarter way to do this. i dont want to be that guy hammering the digis every 30 seconds with a path that just creates redundant packets everywhere. anyone running a similar mixed urban/rural route and have advice on what path actually makes sense? also does the beacon rate matter as much as the path or is path the bigger concern

honestly the 15m thing has been frustrating me too and i have a beam so its not a power or antenna issue on my end. i think were just in one of those weird phases even near solar max where you get these random quiet stretches. i did hear someone on a club net say that some of the recent solar activity has been producing proton events which can mess up polar paths specifically, might explain some of the inconsistency. anyway the JA openings on 17m late evening have been my best bet lately, worth trying if you havent already

okay so i passed my technician exam like three weeks ago and ive been trying to figure out what i'm actually allowed to do on HF. i read through part 97 but honestly it kind of goes in circles and i cant tell if im reading it right. like i know techs get some HF privileges but every time i look it up i get a different answer depending on the website.
from what i can tell i get 10 meters phone and some other stuff? but someone at the club meeting said techs can also do some CW on lower bands and i had no idea about that. is there like a simple breakdown somewhere or does anyone just know off the top of their head what the actual limits are. also does it matter what mode you're using, like is digital treated differently than voice for the band privileges

hamstudy is the right answer but i'll add -- dont stress too much about fully understanding every single question on the first pass. there's some regulatory stuff in there like part 97 rules and band privileges that just kind of needs to be memorized and thats fine, you'll learn the why of it later when youre actually on the air. took me maybe 3 weeks studying like 20 minutes a night and passed with room to spare. the question pool is publicly available and the actual exam questions come straight from it so there really arent any surprises

As General class, you have CW/RTTY/data privileges on 7.025-7.125 MHz, and phone privileges on 7.175-7.300 MHz. The gap between 7.125-7.175 is Extra class only for phone. Stay below 7.125 for digital modes and above 7.175 for SSB - that keeps you legal and following good band plan etiquette.

so ive been licensed about 8 months now and i'm starting to get into chasing awards and trying to figure out the whole confirmation thing. right now i have a LoTW account set up and ive been uploading logs but honestly i'm confused about whether i need to bother with eQSL too, and then physical cards on top of that.
like i get that ARRL uses LoTW for DXCC and WAS and stuff, but then some guys on the air mention eQSL like its just as good? and i still get actual paper cards in the mail from some contacts which is honestly really cool but i have no idea if i should be sending cards back to everyone or just people who specifically request them.
also the LoTW setup was kind of a pain, took me a while to get the certificate thing sorted out. is eQSL easier to set up at least? just trying to figure out what the minimum i need to do is without being rude to other operators who might want a card from me

honestly this is one of those things where the answer is genuinely frustrating — it depends. a vertical with a bad radial system will likely lose to your dipole every time, no contest. ive seen guys put up a vertical with 4 radials and then wonder why its noisey and lossy, and yeah its gonna be worse than almost anything else.
that said if you can manage even 16 quarter wave radials on 40m youre talking a meaningful improvement at low angles. i did a comparison a few years back with an A/B switch between my inverted-V and a homebrew vertical with about 20 radials and the vertical was noticeably better into europe during the evening greyline window. like signals that were 57 on the dipole were 59 on the vertical, not every time but consistently enough that it wasnt placebo. but my lot is bigger than yours sounds so the radial thing was more doable for me.
if your yard is really that small you might look at a raised vertical with just 4 elevated radials — thats a totally different animal than a ground mounted one and you dont need nearly as many. some guys swear by that approach for small lots.

so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and finally worked up the nerve to check into a few nets. been doing the local 2m repeater net on monday evenings which is pretty chill, the net control there is super patient with new folks.
but i also heard about a regional 40m net on tuesday nights around 7.245 and i tried checking in last week and honestly wasnt sure if i did it right. i gave my call, my name, and location but then wasnt sure if i was supposed to wait for net control to come back to me or just kinda hang out. ended up doubling with someone else which was embarrassing.
also someone mentioned there's a special event station operating this weekend for some kind of historical anniversary thing, W1-something, and i want to try to work them but no idea how those work differently than a regular QSO. do they send you a certificate or something? or do you have to apply for it somewhere?
basically just trying to figure out the whole net world before i make too much of a fool of myself ha

so i've been running APRS for a few months now, got my TM-D710G set up with a mag mount on the car and it's been working great for tracking, i can see myself on aprs.fi and everything. but i've been reading about paths and now im second guessing my setup because i have it set to WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 which i thought was the standard but someone in my local club said thats too aggressive and i might be causing issues on the network especially in urban areas.
my commute takes me through a pretty dense metro area and then out into some rural stretches so i wasn't sure if i needed to cover both scenarios with one path setting or if theres a smarter way to do this. i dont want to be that guy hammering the digis every 30 seconds with a path that just creates redundant packets everywhere. anyone running a similar mixed urban/rural route and have advice on what path actually makes sense? also does the beacon rate matter as much as the path or is path the bigger concern