Emily Taylor

i cant remember the name of it but there was an app i downloaded a while back that combined cluster spots with a gray line map and it was actually really slick. might have been called Pocket Packet or something like that, i dunno. i deleted it when i got a new phone and havent bothered to find it again which i probably should. anyway the QRZ thing you mentioned — just make sure your logbook on there is actually up to date or it wont tell you anything useful lol. mine sat empty for like 6 months before i actually started uploading adif files to it and i kept thinking i hadnt worked places i totally had.

good questions and dont worry you'll get the hang of it pretty quick. so for CTCSS — you only need to set the encode side for most repeaters. that tone goes out with your transmission so the repeater's squelch opens up when it hears you. the decode side on your radio is for YOUR squelch, meaning your radio will only open up when it hears that tone coming back. a lot of people set both to the repeater tone just to keep things clean and avoid hearing random noise or other signals that might sneak through, but it's not strictly required for accessing the repeater. depends on how busy your area is honestly. as for the linking stuff yeah that's a whole other thing. when a repeater is linked via IRLP or echolink it's basically bridging your local RF signal to another repeater somewhere else, could be across the state or across the world. the courtesy goes both ways — you want to leave longer pauses between transmissions so guys on the far end can jump in, and if someone announces a link is active or they're trying to connect somewhere just hold off for a bit. most linked repeater systems have a specific tone or ID that plays when a link connects or drops. once you hear it a few times you'll recognize it. your local repeater club probably has a page or document somewhere with all the specifics for that machine.

yeah what he said about leaving, i made that mistake a couple times when i first started. our net control actually mentioned it once in a general way without calling anyone out specifically, just reminded everyone to let him know if they needed to clear. made me feel a little guilty even though he wasnt talking directly at me haha. now i always just give a quick sign-off and nobody thinks twice about it.

tbh i'd just keep the 590 unless you have a specific reason you're frustrated with it. six years isn't old for a kenwood. i've got an TS-870 that's been in the shack since like 2001 and it still pulls dx that surprises me. the waterfall stuff is cool but you can always just run SDRplay or an RTL dongle as a panadapter on the 590 if that's the part you actually want, costs like 30 bucks.

nice work. whats your apex height on the inverted-V? im trying to figure out if 30 feet is worth it for 40m or if i should just do a flat-top and deal with the end supports. limited space is kind of killing me here

might sound dumb but check if there's another station with a similar callsign or if someone near you has a digipeater that's doing something weird with your packets. sometimes aprs.fi will latch onto an older cached position for a bit. try pulling up the raw packet decode on aprs.fi — click your callsign and look at the actual raw data coming through. if the raw packet has the right coords then its somewhere in the display chain. if the raw packet itself is showing wrong coords then the issue is between the GPS and the radio. also worth checking the datum setting on the garmin. some of them default to something other than WGS84 and that can throw position off by exactly the kind of amount you're describing.

so ive had this 7300 for about 3 years now, bought it used from a guy at the club who said it was fine, and for the most part it has been but lately ive been getting this really frustrating issue where mid-transmission it just drops out. not a full shutdown, the rig stays on, ALC looks normal on the display, but RF output just goes to zero for like half a second and then comes back. happens maybe once every few minutes, sometimes less. ive already swapped the coax, checked the PL connector on the back which looked ok, and i ran it into a dummy load to rule out the antenna. same behavior. i also noticed it seems to happen more when the rig has been on for 20-30 minutes, which makes me think thermal issue maybe? but i really dont know. anybody dealt with this before or have a starting point for me

yeah what he said about Q65 — i switched from JT65B maybe two years ago and the difference on marginal paths is real, worth reading the WSJT-X docs on which submode to pick because it varies by antenna size basically. Also dont sleep on the preamp situation, a good low noise preamp at the feedpoint makes a bigger difference than people expect, like a 0.3dB NF unit right at the antenna vs a mediocre one in the shack is significant over a path that long. SSB Electronic and Down East Microwave both make stuff people trust for this. your receive chain matters almost as much as your transmit EIRP when youre working marginal contacts.

same boat as you honestly, i only got into this a few months ago. one thing that helped me was the DXCC entity filter on some of the cluster sites, you can set it to only show you spots for entities you havent worked yet if your log is uploaded somewhere. i think DX Summit has something like that, or maybe it was the Club Log integration i'm thinking of. cant remember exactly but it's worth looking around also the QRZ app on my phone is actually pretty decent for quick lookups when i'm at the radio, like if i hear something weird i'll just search the callsign real quick and see what country it is before deciding if i want to try to work them

ok so the two things you're mixing up are the actual FCC allocations (which are law, you can get fined or lose your license for ignoring them) versus the band plan which is basically a gentleman's agreement put out by the ARRL and nobody is going to cite you for it but you'll get yelled at on the air for 40m as a general, your phone privileges start at 7.175 MHz and go up to 7.300. below 7.175 you can do CW and digital but not phone. so your friend is right that 7.125 is not where your restriction is, the restriction is at 7.175. the dx window thing around 7.175 to 7.225 is more of a band plan courtesy thing, not a hard rule, but you'll get grief if you park there calling CQ during a dx pileup as for band edges — the reason people say stay a few kHz inside is that your signal has bandwidth. even if your carrier is exactly on 7.300 your sideband extends above that and you'd be out of your allocation. most guys say stay at least 3 kHz inside the edge to be safe with SSB. its not a written rule exactly but going over the edge is technically a violation

yeah the gap on those cheap ebay paddles can be really inconsistent and honestly it makes a huge difference. when i first started out i was blaming my technique for weeks before i realized the contacts on my paddle were just not closing cleanly. you want the gap to be really small, like barely a business card thickness on each side. if theres too much travel before contact youll end up with uneven dits especially at higher speeds. also the MFJ 494 has a iambic mode A and mode B setting and a lot of people dont realize they might be fighting the keyer itself depending on how they squeeze. try switching modes and see if it feels any different. some guys swear by mode A others hate it. weight adjustment is worth playing with too, i usually bump it just slightly heavier than default and my fist cleaned right up. dont give up on it, CW is one of those things where suddenly it just clicks one day and you wonder why it ever seemed hard.

yeah the timing thing is what i always try to explain to newer operators and they dont quite get it until they try it. the pileup isnt random, the DX operator has a rhythm and if you can sync to it you're already ahead of 80% of the people calling. also — and i know this sounds obvious — actually listen to make sure conditions are even there before you start calling. ive wasted so much time calling into a pileup only to realize the path was half dead on my end and my 100w was just not making it regardless of technique. the cluster spots dont tell you that, you gotta listen yourself.

Start with higher character speed (20 WPM) but slow effective speed, and use LCWO.net for initial character learning. A little practice daily is far better than large sessions once a week - persistence is key as it takes time and determination. Avoid mnemonic methods like the plague - learn by sound patterns only.

so ive been at this for about three months now, finally got my general and decided CW was something i actually wanted to learn for real, not just pass a test or anything. picked up a used Bencher BY-1 paddle and been using the built-in keyer in my IC-7300 and honestly i feel like my sending is just... mush. like i listen back to recordings i make and i cant tell where one letter ends and the next begins. im running the speed around 18 wpm which maybe is too fast for where i am, i dunno. a buddy told me the iambic mode B on the keyer might be part of the problem since im squeezing when i shouldnt be but i dont fully understand what that even means. do i just slow down? mess with the weight settings? im not even sure what to practice at this point, just going through the alphabet over and over feels pointless

Looking for advice from experienced net control operators. I've been asked to take over NCS duties for our club's weekly information net, but I'm nervous about managing 15-20 regular check-ins plus any walk-ins. The control of an ARES net is a skill best learned through practice, and periodic training nets provide operators with experience. What are your key tips for: Keeping the net moving efficientlyHandling multiple stations trying to check in at onceManaging emergency or priority traffic that comes up mid-netMaintaining good net discipline without being too rigidAny veteran NCS wisdom would be greatly appreciated!