Steven Johnson

so ive been on hf for about two years now and i have somewhere around 140 confirmed entities in logbook of the world but i never actually applied for anything because honestly the whole award credit system kind of confused me and i kept putting it off a buddy at my club finally sat down with me last weekend and showed me how LoTW confirmations automatically count toward DXCC credits once you submit the application fee and it kind of clicked — but now i have a bunch of paper QSLs sitting in a shoebox from stuff before i got on LoTW and im wondering if i should bother sending those in or just work with what i have digitally also while im at it — does anyone chase WAS and WAZ alongside DXCC at the same time or do most people focus on one at a time. i feel like a lot of my contacts probably count for all three but i dont really know how to track that without it getting messy. using WSJT-X and log4om if that matters

you're not overthinking it, its genuinely kind of inconsistent in practice and thats just how the hobby is. the short answer is there's no hard rule on HF outside of certain nets or emergency comms where they'll specify. on a clear freq with good propagation a lot of guys will just say the call letters because it's faster and everyone can hear fine. when conditions are rough or you're working DX with a pile-up then phonetics really matter because the other op might only catch half your call and you want to make sure they get the right letters as for non-standard phonetics, yeah some old timers use their own versions, some guys say New York for N or Boston for B and so on. technically the NATO alphabet is what you're supposed to use and its what most of the world recognizes, so if you use it you'll be understood everywhere. the custom ones can cause confusion especially working foreign stations. i'd just stick with the standard ones until you have a reason not to

The confusion is probably because youre seeing both the US allocations and the IARU band plan mixed together. For US General class on 40m, phone privileges start at 7.175 MHz up to 7.300 MHz. Anything below 7.175 is CW/data territory for generals, and Extra class guys can work phone down to 7.125. The band edge thing isnt a hard rule exactly but its practical. Your signal has sidebands that extend a few kHz depending on how wide your audio is, so if youre sitting right at 7.300 on USB your actual transmitted signal could be spilling outside the band which is an FCC no-no. Most people just stay a few kHz inside the edge to be safe. 7.295 or so is usually a fine upper limit without overthinking it. The lower edge on the phone portion is the same idea, just give yourself a little room.

Heading out on a weekend camping trip and want to maximize my Kenwood TH-D74A battery life. I've seen tests showing these draw about 0.5A average, but that seems optimistic for real-world use. Besides using low power mode and carrying spare batteries, what other energy-saving tricks work well? Should I avoid the backlight and other power-hungry features?

Field Day is actually a great stepping stone and it sounds like you already got a taste so youre not starting from zero. honestly just jump into something, the worst that happens is you feel overwhelmed and take a break and thats fine. one thing i'll say is get N1MM or at least some logging software set up before you try a serious contest, trying to paper log in a fast paced contest when youre still figuring out the exchange is a lot to handle at once. and if your club does a station for sweepstakes see if you can get some air time there first before doing it solo at home

so ive been wanting to learn CW for a while now and i keep putting it off because i just dont know where to start. theres like a hundred different apps and websites and methods and everyone seems to have a different opinion. i downloaded one app that just showed me the dots and dashes visually and i feel like that might be the wrong approach? like i read somewhere you're supposed to learn it by sound only and never look at the visual patterns but then other people say that worked fine for them. im not trying to pass a test or anything, the license exams dont require it anymore obviously, i just think it would be cool to actually use it on the air someday. i have no idea what speed to aim for or how long it realistically takes. does anyone have experience learning as an adult with no musical background or anything like that, just a regular person trying to pick this up

check your elevation. sounds dumb but when i first set up for EME i was so focused on the software and azimuth tracking that i didnt notice my elevation rotator was reading like 8 degrees off because of a calibration issue after i remounted the antenna. was basically pointing at nothing useful for a whole session before i caught it. also the preamp placement matters a lot more on EME than on any terrestrial work — if its not literally at the feedpoint youre losing noise figure in the coax run and at those signal levels that eats you alive. whats your coax run length from the mast to the shack and what are you using?

honestly hamstudy is pretty much what everyone uses and it works fine, you just gotta actually sit with it for a bit. the technician pool isnt that bad, i think i studied maybe two weeks on and off and passed with like an 85 or something. the questions are pretty much verbatim from the pool so if you grind through it enough times the answers start to stick even if you dont fully understand all of it. that said i think it helps to at least understand the basic concepts behind the electrical stuff because some of those questions trip people up if you're just memorizing without context. gordon west has a book a lot of people swear by if you want something more structured than just flashcards. the test itself is 35 questions and you need 26 right so theres actually some room for error which helped calm my nerves when i showed up. find a local club doing a testing session and just book it, having a date on the calendar makes you actually study

oh man dont worry about it, everyone has that first net experience where something goes sideways. i remember keying up right over the net control my first time and wanting to crawl under my desk. the basic idea is pretty simple once someone explains it — when net control opens for check-ins you just say your callsign once clearly, maybe phonetics if the band is noisy. like "whiskey four example" and thats really it for the initial check-in. net control will acknowledge you and put you in the list. then if they ask for name and location you give it, but a lot of nets have regular members who net control already knows so they dont always ask everyone. the traffic question just means do you have any formal message traffic to pass, like an ARRL radiogram or something. saying no is totally fine and normal, most check-ins dont have anything. you handled that part right actually. the simultaneous check-in thing happens to everybody especially on busy nights, its just RF physics and timing. net control usually handles it by asking for the partial call they heard. just be patient and try again when they ask. you didnt do anything wrong, you just picked a busy moment is all.

yeah almost certainly the paddle gap. on a bencher you want maybe a business card thickness of space between the contacts, some people go a little tighter but thats a good starting point. too wide and youre working too hard to close the contacts and your timing goes all over the place. too tight and you get double hits. also check that the tension spring isnt too stiff or too loose — benchers have that little tension adjuster on the side and a lot of used ones get cranked all the way up by someone who liked heavy tension. lighter tension is usually easier to control when youre still building muscle memory. just play with it slowly, make small adjustments, send some practice words and listen back. if you can record yourself thats even better, i plug mine into audacity sometimes when im trying to dial in a new paddle. the MFJ keyers can also be a little finicky with the weight control, i'd set that to dead center first and leave it alone until the paddle itself feels better. one variable at a time.

so ive been working on my CW for about a year now, started from zero and got up to around 13wpm pretty quick honestly, but now its like i hit a wall and cant seem to push through no matter what i do. i practice probably 4 or 5 days a week with the LCWO site and some of the Koch method stuff, copying random QSO text, that kind of thing. head copy is still a mess for me above about 10wpm which i know is probably the bottleneck but man its frustrating. the weird thing is if i listen to slow code i get bored and my brain just checks out, but if i crank it up past where im comfortable i fall apart after like 30 seconds. feels like theres no middle ground. wondering if anyone else went through this plateau and what actually helped. i really want to hit 20wpm, thats the goal, been at this for long enough i feel like i should be farther along than i am

welcome to the hobby man, dont sweat forgetting your callsign at first, pretty much everyone does that. i fumbled mine for like the first month. the baofeng will do fine for getting started on the local repeaters just watch out for the audio on those things, sometimes they sound a bit tinny and people will ask you to speak up. once you get to HF its a totally different world, the first time i worked someone in europe on 20 meters with a wire antenna strung up in my backyard i was completely hooked. upgrade when you feel ready, the general test isnt too bad if you already did tech

I've used both extensively. The MP1DXG requires more futzing with coil taps but delivers better efficiency when properly tuned. For rapid band changes during contests, MPAS wins hands down. Consider your operating style - if you're park-and-pounce on one band, go MP1DXG. For running the bands, MPAS Lite all the way.

Great guide! I'd add that listening off-air is cheapest if you have a receiver - lots of CW transmissions on the bottom ends of HF bands, especially 80m and 40m where you can find slower transmissions. Some national amateur radio societies have schedules of slow Morse transmissions for practice.

so i finally worked up the nerve to check into the tuesday evening 2m net on our local repeater, been licensed for about 4 months now and ive been just listening for like three of those months trying to get the hang of how it all flows. anyway i checked in fine, gave my callsign when the NCS asked, all good. but then later in the net when they opened it up for comments and announcements i kind of jumped in a little too early i think, like i unkeyed and then just started talking and i think someone else was already mid-transmission or just starting one. there was this awkward doubling thing and the net control guy just kind of repeated "any further comments" and moved on. nobody said anything to me directly and the net kept going fine but i felt really bad about it. is there like a standard way you're supposed to wait before transmitting so you dont step on people? i know you're supposed to leave a pause but how long is long enough i guess is my question. and is it considered rude if it happens by accident, like will people think im just not paying attention?

Line 59 declares "corr" as int (16 bits) but the library uses 32 bit integer for "corr". Hence the compiler objects when you put 93000 in line 59 but it's ok to pass 93000 into the library call. Change your variable declaration to long instead of int.

the 857 is honestly a solid choice for a go kit, covers hf through 70cm so you wont be scrambling for a second radio most of the time. i used mine for two seasons doing ARES work before i switched over to a 991a. one thing i'd say from experience — dont underestimate the cable situation. i spent way too much of my first real activation just sorting through a rats nest of coax and power cables that i had just thrown in the case. now everything has its own bag or velcro strap and the first ten minutes of setup are so much smoother. also keep a paper log book in there. sounds old school but when things get weird electronically youll be glad its there. on the programming question, i do both. i keep a pre-programmed clone in the radio for the most common local repeaters and simplex freqs, but i also keep a fresh chirp backup on a usb drive in the kit because sometimes nets move around or you end up somewhere unexpected. flexibility is good but so is not having to fumble with a keypad when people are stressed. the buddipole is great but practice putting it up before you need it. seriously. i thought i knew mine until i was trying to set it up in a parking lot in the rain and completely blanked on the configuration for 40 meters.

so my local ARES group is having their monthly drill tomorrow and its my first time participating. got my general last month and the EC said i should come check it out. im a little nervous cause i dont really know what to expect or if ill mess something up. do they usually just do message handling or is there other stuff too? should i bring anything besides my radio?

so ive been on HF for about two years now mostly doing CW but ive been trying to get into SSB more and every time i get signal reports the audio is described as muddy or kind of bassy and hard to copy. im running an IC-7300 into a dipole, nothing fancy, and ive tweaked the mic gain a bunch of times but cant seem to nail it down. i know the 7300 has that built in parametric EQ thing but honestly the menu system intimidates me a bit and i havent dug into it much. is this a common thing with the stock hand mic? i've heard people say the HM-207 that ships with it is not exactly a studio mic. should i just be looking at a desk mic or is there something i can do in the radio settings first before spending money? also not sure if my ALC is set right, i see it bouncing around quite a bit when i talk. any tips appreciated, kind of feel like im shouting into a pillow right now

so ive been listening a lot on HF lately before i got my ticket and now that i have it im noticing some guys use the full NATO phonetic alphabet every single time they give their callsign and others just say it normally like they would on the phone. is there a rule about when you're supposed to use them or is it just personal preference? i was always taught in like every study guide that you use alpha bravo charlie etc but on the air it seems like people do whatever they feel like. also heard one guy use some completely different words that werent the standard ones at all, like he said something other than november for N, dont remember what it was. just trying to figure out what the actual norm is before i embarrass myself on air

ok so ive been going back and forth on this for like three weeks now and i cant make up my mind. i have a decent sized backyard, probably 120 feet of usable run if i do a dipole at maybe 35 feet, which isnt great but its what i got. the alternative is throwing up a vertical in the corner of the yard, probably a hustler or something similar with a few radials. mostly interested in 40m for evening ragchewing and maybe some light dx chasing. not really a contester. my noise floor here is already kind of bad, S5 or so on a quiet night, neighbors with solar inverters and all that junk. heard that dipoles tend to reject more noise than a vertical but also heard the low angle radiation on a vertical is better for dx. i feel like im reading contradictory stuff everywhere. does anyone actually have side by side experience with both on 40? like real world not just antenna modeling software. and yeah i know the answer is probably just try both but id rather not buy a vertical if the dipole is gonna walk all over it for what im doing

honestly the General exam is not that bad, i was in the same spot as you about two years ago. the math looks scary but theres really only a handful of formulas that show up and if you just grind through HamStudy.org for a couple weeks youll start recognizing the questions pretty fast. i think i spent maybe 3 weeks studying maybe 20-30 minutes a day and passed no problem. the electrical theory stuff like impedance and reactance sounds worse than it is when you actually see what they're asking. as for where to hang out once you get your ticket, i'd say 40 meters is a good starting point for newer HF folks, lots of activity day and night and you dont need crazy antennas to make contacts. 20 meters is kind of the workhorse band for DX during decent conditions. just get a decent wire antenna up and start listening before you transmit, youll figure out the culture pretty quick. the upgrade is definitely worth it, it opens up so much more of the hobby.

5w is totally fine for most activations honestly, ive done probably 40 or 50 summits now and rarely go above 5w unless conditions are really bad. the KX2 at 10w will eat your battery noticeably faster and for most contacts on 40 or 20 you just dont need it. i usually bring a 3ah lipo and it lasts all day at 5w with no issues. if you start doing winter activations or trying to work DX from a summit then maybe think about it but for now id just stick with what works

yeah you basically do pick it up over time but here are the ones youll hear constantly so you dont feel totally lost. QSL means confirmed or acknowledged, basically yes i got your message or i confirm the contact. QRM is interference from other stations, like man-made noise. QRN is natural static and noise, like lightning crashes and stuff. QSB is when your signal is fading in and out. QRZ means whos calling me or sometimes people use it wrong and say it when they mean something else but officially its asking whos calling. QTH is your location. QRP means low power operation, youll see that all over the place especially as a club or operating style thing. and QSO just means a contact or conversation. honestly those eight or so will cover probably 90% of what you hear on the air day to day. the rest you can look up as you encounter them. theres also a bunch of non-Q abbreviations that get used constantly, like 73 means best regards and 88 means love and kisses which you mostly hear if someone is saying goodbye to a close friend or spouse. HI HI is laughter in CW. and OM means old man which is just how guys refer to each other, doesnt matter how old you actually are

so ive been licensed for about 4 months now and i mostly just do local 2m stuff on the repeater and occasionally some HF when conditions are decent. my question is kind of dumb maybe but when people are using phonetics is that like required or do people just do it because its what everyone else does like i was on a net the other night and the net control asked for my callsign twice because apparently my signal was a bit rough coming in and i just repeated it normally and he got it the third time. someone told me afterward i should have gone phonetic but i wasnt sure if that was actually a rule or just convention. i know the NATO alphabet obviously like alpha bravo charlie etc but i always feel kind of weird saying it out loud like im on a military radio or something. does it really make a difference