Lisa Anderson

SDRplay is worth it imo. i have the RSP2 and the difference on 40 and 80m compared to my old dongle was pretty significant, clearer audio, less birdies, the software (SDRuno) is a bit clunky but it works. though honestly i switched to SDR++ for everything now because SDRuno kept doing weird stuff on my laptop. one thing nobody mentioned - the RTL-SDR direct sampling mod is kind of a bandaid and you're running without any filtering up front which is part of why it sounds rough. the SDRplay has proper front end filtering built in. thats actually the bigger deal than the ADC bits or whatever.

so I've been a ham for about 3 years now and I keep telling myself I'm going to put together a real go-kit for emergencies and I never actually do it. my county ARES group keeps mentioning it at meetings and I just nod along like yeah yeah I got it handled but honestly I don't. right now my "go-kit" is basically just grabbing my HT off the charger and hoping for the best lol I was thinking I should probably have at least a mobile rig that can run off something other than the car battery, maybe a little yaesu or icom with a battery pack, and some kind of antenna situation that doesnt require me to find a tree. but beyond that I'm kind of lost on what people actually bring when they deploy for something like ARES activation or even just a bad storm situation. do I need a whole HF setup or is 2m/70cm usually enough for most local emcomm stuff? I dont want to overdo it and end up with a suitcase I can't actually carry anywhere any advice from people who have actually deployed for real events would be really appreciated, not just the theoretical stuff

so ive been playing around with cluster spotting for a few months now and i think im finally starting to get how it all fits together but wanted to check with you guys. basically i use DXwatch as my main browser window to see whats being spotted in realtime, and then i jump over to QRZ to look up the callsign if i dont recognize the entity or just want more info on whoever is being worked. is that basically how most people do it or am i making it more complicated than it needs to be i also downloaded DX Toolkit on my phone which pulls from a few different cluster networks and it seems pretty decent for when im not at the desk. wondering if anyone has a preferred app for android specifically, ive tried a couple and they all seem slightly different in how they filter spots. the one thing that bugs me about DXwatch is theres no easy way to filter by band AND mode at the same time without the display getting weird, or maybe im missing a setting somewhere anyway just curious what other peoples workflow looks like for this kind of thing, especially if youre chasing DX or working toward DXCC

So ive been on FT8 for a while now and yeah its great for working new entities and whatever but honestly it feels like a slot machine after a while. click click click, 73, done. no actual conversation happened. a buddy at the club mentioned JS8Call as a way to actually talk to people using weak signal stuff and im curious if anyone here actually uses it regularly or if its kind of a ghost town on the bands. my setup is pretty basic, IC-7300 into a end-fed halfwave up about 25 feet, running WSJT-X for the FT8 stuff. i know JS8Call is a separate program, looks like it runs on similar principles to FT8 but slower and you can actually type messages back and forth. tried tuning around 14.078 a couple times in the evenings and heard some activity but wasnt sure if i was decoding it right since the software looked different than what im used to. also curious how it compares to just using PSK31 for ragchewing, i know PSK31 has been around forever and theres still some activity on 14.070 area. seems like the older guys at the club swear by it but i dont know if the weak signal performance is anywhere close to what JS8Call can do. maybe im overthinking this and should just try both for a few weeks.

i went through the same thing when i started lol. ended up getting a baofeng and honestly it was fine for the first year but the receiver does get kind of overwhelmed when theres a lot going on nearby. upgraded to a VX-6R eventually and it felt like going from a flip phone to a real smartphone. but thats probably overkill for right now for 8 miles simplex on 2m with a decent HT you should be okay as long as theres not a ton of terrain in the way. maybe check if your buddy can hear you on 146.520 first before worrying too much about specs

yeah I was confused about the exact same thing when I upgraded. one thing that helped me was just downloading the ARRL band plan pdf and keeping it open on my second monitor when im operating. also honestly just listening before transmitting for a while helped me get a feel for where activity actually is versus where it technically can be. 40m is kind of a mess anyway especially at night when the skip changes and suddenly youve got stations from everywhere piling on the same frequencies lol

yeah the fan swap is pretty straightforward on the 857, the thermistor just controls voltage to the fan so as long as your replacement fan operates in the same voltage range you're fine. i used a Noctua 40mm on mine, had to do a connector swap but the thermal response was basically the same. just dont go with something that needs 12v minimum to start spinning or it'll sit there not moving at low temps and then kick on hard when it finally gets hot enough, which kind of defeats the purpose. also good call on the IF filter, i keep meaning to do that on mine. which filter did you end up going with, the Inrad or one of the murata options?

Yeah this sounds exactly like a PTT delay issue. In Winlink Express go into your WINMOR settings (or whatever mode you're using, sounds like WINMOR from your description) and look for the PTT lead-in time. Default is usually way too short for a lot of rigs especially with a SignaLink in the chain. I run mine at around 300ms and that fixed a very similar problem for me on a 7300 actually. The gateway starts sending before your radio is even keyed up and it misses the handshake. Also worth checking — what mode are you actually trying to connect with? Winmor 500 or 1600? Some of the smaller gateway stations only support one or the other and if the bandwidth doesnt match they just wont hear you properly. The 300 baud thing you mentioned is for Pactor on HF which is a different protocol entirely, you need either a TNC or an SCS controller for that. WINMOR is the software modem version that works with the SignaLink setup you have.

yeah this is kind of the eternal problem with logging software honestly. i gave up trying to keep one master log a while back. for contests i run N1MM standalone, export the Cabrillo when its done, submit, and then i take the ADIF export and import it into Log4OM after the fact. yeah you have to watch for dupes but if you sort by date and do a careful merge its usually fine. N1MM and Log4OM dont really play nice sharing a live database anyway so trying to run them simultaneously is just asking for pain. as for WSJT-X, you can only point the UDP logging at one port listener at a time without some middleware, so if N1MM is running and set up to receive from WSJT-X then Log4OM wont see those QSOs. some people use JTAlert as a middleman which can fanout to multiple loggers but ive never bothered for contest operating since i barely do FT8 in contests anyway. the post-contest ADIF import honestly takes like ten minutes once you get the hang of it, i wouldnt stress about it too much.

so i finally got around to doing my first activation last weekend on W4T/SU-068, been meaning to do it for like two years and just kept putting it off. i brought my FT-818 and a random wire antenna i threw together the night before, honestly wasnt even sure the antenna was resonant but whatever, needed to test it somehow right anyway i made it to the summit and set up near some rocks, got the antenna up in an inverted-V configuration strung between my trekking poles, and started calling on 14.285 which i had spotted myself on SOTAwatch before i left the car (had cell service most of the way up). ended up getting 4 contacts which i know is the minimum for the points but i was pretty nervous the whole time and almost missed logging one of them because i was trying to write and talk at the same time my question is — for the summit reference, does it matter exactly where on the summit you operate from as long as youre within the activation zone? i set up probably 150 feet below the true summit because the wind was brutal up top and there was a decent flat spot lower down. i checked the AZ before i went and thought i was fine but now im second-guessing myself. also is there a way to see if your activation got counted or do you just trust that uploading the log to the database takes care of it

so ive been licensed about 8 months now (general class) and i keep hearing people talk about CQ WW and field day and all these other events and honestly i have no idea where to begin. like i get the basic concept, you make contacts and log points, but theres so much i dont understand still. like what counts as a multiplier, do i need special software, can i just use my regular HF setup or do i need something fancier a buddy at the local club mentioned SOTA too but that seems like a whole different thing? he said people chase activators and you can get points or something. i tried reading the rules on the ARRL site and my eyes kind of glazed over after a few paragraphs honestly i think CQ WW SSB is coming up pretty soon and i kind of want to dip my toe in, even just for a few hours. my setup is a Yaesu FT-991A into a 40m dipole up about 25 feet. would that even be competitive or should i just watch this year and try next time

is it definitely on transmit only or does it also happen when youre just receiving? asking because i chased a crackling issue on a different radio for like two weeks thinking it was TX related and it turned out to be a partially failed electrolytic on the main audio board that only showed up under load. easy to get confused when youre monitoring your own signal.

yeah single yagi EME is absolutely real now, i did my first moonbounce contact back in 2019 with a single M2 9-element and 500 watts and honestly it was easier than i expected once i got the elevation rotor sorted out. the key really is the preamp — you want your system noise figure to be as low as possible, like 0.3-0.5 dB is what you're shooting for, so whatever you do dont skip on that. i use a Kuhne preamp right at the feedpoint and that made a huge difference over having it at the shack end. Q65 has made things even more forgiving than JT65 was, the submodes let you dial in based on how much time you have for the exchange and honestly with Q65-60A i worked a station in Japan off the moon with my setup which still kind of blows my mind. the IC-9700 is a solid choice, just make sure you have your sequencer timing right because you really dont want to key the amp before the preamp has switched out of the receive path, that'll kill your LNA real fast. also you need to figure out your EME window — the moon has to be above your horizon obviously, and you want a station on the other end where the moon is also up, which means a lot of the activity happens at specific times you have to plan around. the WSJT-X software handles the Doppler correction automatically so that parts not a problem. honestly just jump in, even if your first few sessions are just decoding other peoples signals without making contact thats still kind of amazing.

the TX side on RemoteHams is still a conventional transceiver at the remote end, youre just doing CAT over their server infrastructure plus the audio routing. so latency for TX is still there, its just the RX experience that feels snappier with the SDR IQ stream because like you said the DSP is local. i run an IC-7300 at my remote site and the control feels pretty responsive for SSB, CW is still a bit rough if your internet isnt solid on both ends. on the AllStar linking idea — thats actually an interesting thought but you'd need to think through the ID requirements carefully. if you're rebroadcasting HF audio through a repeater linked system that thing needs to ID properly as a repeater or auxiliary station and honestly the part 97 rules on that get a little murky when you're mixing HF receive with VHF retransmit. ive seen people do similar things at remote listening posts but usually just for club shack monitoring not linked into an actual node. might be worth asking on the RemoteHams forum specifically, there are some guys there who have done creative linking setups.

the third party thing trips everyone up at first. basically for domestic contacts it's pretty relaxed — your non-ham friend can talk through your station as long as you're there supervising and in control of the transmission. where it gets complicated is with international contacts, because the US only has third party agreements with certain countries, so if youre working DX you gotta check the list first. the ARRL website has it. for your tech privileges on HF yeah you do get a slice — 10 meters is the main one where you can do phone, there's a small segment around 28.3 to 28.5 i think, and you get some CW privileges on a few other bands. the band plan chart on the ARRL site is honestly the easiest way to see it visually rather than trying to parse the actual regulatory text which is written for lawyers not people lol digital modes as a tech on HF, you do have some access, like on 10m there are segments where technicians can run digital. just download a copy of the current band plan and highlight your privileges, takes like 10 minutes and then you always have it handy

honestly for most of the hard theory stuff i used the ARRL Extra Class License Manual and it actually explains the why behind a lot of those questions which made it stick way better than just memorizing answers. the transmission line section was rough for me too but once i understood what SWR was actually doing physically it clicked. that said i also just drilled the question pool on HamStudy for the last two weeks before my exam and i think that helped fill in whatever gaps were left. you dont have to choose one or the other. the amplifier class stuff like Class A B C AB whatever, once someone explained the conduction angle thing to me it made way more sense. basically just think about how much of the input waveform the transistor is actually conducting on. theres a youtube video by some guy, cant remember his callsign, that does a good visual breakdown of it.

that's pretty much exactly how my first one went, except ours was a search and rescue support thing where we were doing liaison between the ICS command post and a couple of field teams in a dead zone for their radios. same feeling though -- all that ICS tabletop stuff suddenly felt very real when the incident commander is actually looking at you waiting for information. the waiting is real too. i remember sitting in a parking lot for like two hours with nothing to do and then suddenly needing to relay three messages back to back. staying sharp during the slow periods is honestly one of the harder skills. some guys bring a book or whatever but you still gotta be heads up. one thing i'd add -- after your activation, did your EC do a debrief? ours does a pretty thorough after action review and that's where i feel like i learn the most. things you didnt even notice went sideways until somebody points it out.

oh man that is basically everyones first qso honestly. mine i forgot to say over and just kept talking and the other guy had no idea i was done so we both sat in silence for like 20 seconds before i figured out what happened. you'll laugh about it in a month trust me. the guys on local repeaters are usually pretty forgiving with new hams, most of them remember being in the same spot

so ive been a tech for about two years now and mostly just doing local VHF stuff and some APRS, but ive been wanting to get on HF for a while and finally decided to just go for the general exam. I downloaded the question pool and honestly its kind of overwhelming, theres a lot of stuff in there about propagation and operating procedures that i kind of half understand but not really, plus all the electrical theory stuff. my question is basically where do people usually focus when studying for general, like is there specific sections that trip people up or stuff thats actually important vs stuff you can kind of just memorize without really getting it. ive been using hamstudy.org which seems decent but im not sure if thats enough or if i should get like a book too. been at it for maybe two weeks and im passing practice exams maybe 70% of the time which i think is ok but not sure also once i pass, what HF bands am i actually going to have access to right away, i know general gets a lot but i always get confused about which portions of 40 and 20 meters i can use vs what extra gets. not a huge deal just curious

the latency thing on SSB is real and honestly RemoteHams doesnt completely solve it, it just manages it better with their codec. if your internet on both ends is decent you can usually get it down to where SSB is workable but its never gonna feel like sitting in front of the radio. for DX hunting the SDR remote piece is actually where it shines though, being able to see a 2MHz slice of spectrum and click around is genuinely useful. i used it during the last CQ WW from a hotel room and found a few mults i definitely would have missed just tuning blind the AllStar mixing thing is doable but youre right that audio routing gets hairy. i tried it once with a virtual audio cable setup and it worked until it didnt, kept getting feedback loops through the monitor chain. if you really want to do it cleanly you probably need a dedicated machine at the remote end just for the linking node, dont try to share it with the HF remote audio

im in basically the same boat as you so take this with a grain of salt but i've been using the Morse Mania app for a few weeks and it seems decent, also there's a hamradio youtube channel i forget the name that does like call sign practice at different speeds which i thought was pretty useful once you know the alphabet. the thing i keep struggling with is numbers and punctuation, they always trip me up

hamstudy.org is definitely still good and yeah its current with the question pool. honestly the way most people do it is just grind the practice tests over and over until you're passing consistently, like in the high 80s or better. the actual exam pulls 35 questions from the pool so if you know the pool you're fine. some of the questions are kinda tricky if you dont understand the underlying concept but a lot of them you can just pattern-match your way through for the tech exam at least. i studied maybe an hour a day for like two weeks and passed no problem. the electrical questions tripped me up at first but theres a few simple formulas you just need to remember, ohms law and a couple others.

one thing worth mentioning -- the feedline situation matters a lot too. if you're going up 30 feet with RG-8X or something to save money you're probably eating 2-3dB before the signal even gets to the antenna and that kind of offsets some of the yagi advantage depending on frequency. low loss coax or even hardline if you can get it is worth thinking about at the same time you upgrade the antenna, otherwise you might not see as much improvement as you expect.

4 contacts is 4 contacts man, activation is valid. ive done summits where i got exactly 4 and called it good and went home. the mountain doesnt care how many QSOs you make lol. also yeah CW on a cold summit is rough too, my sending goes to garbage when im cold and tired. some guys swear by a straight key for activations because there's less to go wrong mechanically but i cant send straight key for anything so that doesnt help me much.

so ive been checking into a couple of local nets lately and im noticing everyone seems to do things a little differently and im not sure what's actually correct vs just how that particular net does things like sometimes the net control will ask for check-ins and people just say their callsign once and thats it, but then other times people will say their call, their name, their location, and whether theyre mobile or fixed... is there like a standard for this or does every net just kind of make up their own thing also the part that really confuses me is the ID requirement. i know the FCC says you have to ID at least every 10 minutes and at the end of a transmission, but on a busy net where you might only say your call once during check-in and then not transmit again for 20-30 minutes while the net is running, does that count? you technically didnt transmit again so there's nothing to ID at the end of, right? and one more thing -- whats the deal with people who kerchunk the repeater before checking in? is that actually considered bad practice or is it just something people do to make sure theyre hitting the machine