Kevin Brown

so ive been a general for about two years now and people keep telling me to just go ahead and get my extra but honestly every time i look at the question pool i kind of freeze up. like the stuff about network filters and the transmission line theory and all the phase angle stuff... i passed my general without too much trouble but this feels like a whole different animal. my main thing is i mostly do HF voice and a little bit of digital, i dont really do anything where i need the extra band privileges right now. so part of me wonders if its even worth the headache. but then again there are a few spots on 75 and 40 that i cant use yet and it does get annoying when a net moves down into the extra portion and i have to just drop off. has anyone gone through this recently? is the theory stuff as bad as it looks or does it kind of click once you start studying? i downloaded the hamstudy app and some of it makes sense but some of it really does not and im not sure how deep i actually need to understand it vs just memorizing answers

so ive been chasing the FM birds for a while now and decided to step it up and try working one of the linear transponder sats, specifically FO-29 since it was supposedly in a decent pass this week. got my Arrow antenna, FT-817 for downlink on 2m and an old FT-857 i borrowed from a buddy for the uplink on 70cm. ran it all into a duplexer which in retrospect was probably not ideal but whatever. i can hear SSB signals on the downlink, like clearly there are people talking, but my own signal is just not coming back to me no matter what i try. ive been reading about the full duplex thing and how you need to hear yourself on the downlink to do the doppler correction properly but i genuinely cannot tell if im even hitting the transponder at all. the uplink is supposed to be 435.900 to 435.800 inverted right? so SSB on 70cm goes in and comes out on the 2m downlink inverted? im confusing myself. also how much power are people actually running into these things. i started at like 5 watts on the uplink because i didnt want to be that guy who blows out the transponder AGC but maybe thats too low with a handheld yagi and the satellite only being maybe 15 degrees elevation at best during that pass.

so ive been checking into the regional 40m net on thursday nights for about three months now and honestly its become one of my favorite parts of the hobby. started doing it just to practice my exchange and get comfortable with net control procedures but now i actually look forward to it every week. the guys on there are really welcoming especially to newer hams which i wasnt expecting honestly. anyway my actual question is about special event stations. i saw someone in the net mention a special event callsign last week and i missed most of what they said because the QSB was pretty bad that night. are special event stations usually announced through nets like that or is there a better way to find out whats coming up? i know about the ARRL website but i feel like i always find out about events after they already happened. also do special event stations usually show up in the nets or are they more of a standalone thing where you just have to hunt for them on the band? sorry if this is kind of a rambling question, just curious how other people keep track of this stuff

yeah i went through this same thing like 8 months ago. my sequential call came through in maybe 3 days after my CSCE was submitted, though i've heard it can sometimes take a week or so depending on how backed up things are. i just kept refreshing ULS obsessively lol. i did apply for a vanity call after and got one that used to belong to a silent key which felt a little weird honestly but also kind of meaningful. the ae7 calls were already all gone for the format i wanted so i ended up with something slightly different than i planned but im happy with it. just dont get too attached to one specific call going in because someone else might grab it

so ive been going back and forth on this for a while now and figured id just ask here because googling it gives me nothing but product pages. we have a 70cm link antenna up on a hilltop site, currently running a comet GP-9 or whatever the 70cm version is called, its been up there maybe 4 years and works fine but the path to the far repeater is kind of marginal. maybe 2-3 db of headroom on a good day. someone suggested swapping to a yagi pointed at the far site and just eating the loss of omnidirectional coverage since the link only needs to talk to one place anyway. which makes sense on paper. but then someone else said the wind loading up there is already sketchy and a yagi pointed at something 40 miles out would need to be rock solid or the whole thing falls apart every time it gets gusty. the mast is a 10 foot piece of 1.5 inch steel pipe, guyed at the top, its not going anywhere but i dont know how a horizontal yagi would handle sustained 40-50 mph winds which we do get up there in winter. anybody run a long boom yagi on a hilltop site in rough weather and lived to tell about it

so ive been licensed about 4 months now (general) and i finally worked up the nerve to check into a local 2m net last tuesday. i thought i had a decent handle on how it works from reading about it but when the net control called for check-ins i kind of froze and then talked over someone else which was embarrassing. the net control was really nice about it and just moved on but i felt terrible. my main confusion is around timing. like how long do you wait after net control finishes speaking before you give your callsign? and is there a difference between just checking in versus having traffic or a comment? i know you're supposed to wait for a pause but every time i thought there was a pause someone else jumped in. also is it rude to check in and then not really have anything to say, i mostly just wanted to hear how it all works any help appreciated, dont want to be that guy who steps on everyone

yeah what he said. i was in the same spot when i started and the decode thing tripped me up too. i just ended up setting both encode and decode to the same tone and never had an issue. one thing i'd add — some repeaters around here have different tones depending on which mode they're in when linked vs not, but that's probably more than you need to worry about right now. just listen for a while before transmitting, seriously that one habit saves so much awkwardness. you'll learn the rhythm of how people use the local machine pretty fast just by monitoring.

congrats on actually doing it, most people stay in the 'i should put a kit together' phase forever lol. your solar question — i've had good luck with a 50 watt renogy panel with one of those cheap PWM controllers from amazon. nothing fancy but it keeps my battery topped off during a long deployment without me thinking about it. just make sure whatever panel you get the voltage matches up okay with your charge controller input range, burned out one controller early on being dumb about that. one thing i'd think about that took me a while to add is some kind of logging setup. even just a clipboard with pre-printed ICS-213 forms if you're doing any kind of served agency work. some EOC managers get real particular about documentation and showing up with actual paper forms makes you look like you know what you're doing even when everything else is chaos. you can download and print those for free off the FEMA site i think.

ok so ive been licensed about 8 months now and im starting to get into chasing awards and i keep seeing people mention LoTW and eQSL and also still sending paper cards through the bureau and im honestly just confused about what i actually need to be doing here. like do most people use all three or is one of them basically the standard now? i set up my LoTW account a few weeks ago and uploaded some logs but i only have like 4 confirmed contacts on there so far even though ive worked way more stations than that. i guess the other guys just havent uploaded their logs yet? and then i downloaded an eQSL account too but that one seems totally separate and i dont really understand how it fits in with LoTW. and then people on the air keep asking for my QSL card and i havent even ordered any yet because i wasnt sure if paper cards were still a thing people actually want or if its just old timers being nostalgic no offense to anyone. anyway if someone could just explain how this whole system works or how you personally handle it id really appreciate it. feels like theres a whole culture around this that nobody really explains to new hams

honestly if it works dont fix it lol but i get the annoyance. i just ziptied mine to the side of the center console which looks terrible but its been there for two years and hasnt moved. arizona heat is no joke though id probably do what the other guy said and keep the main unit out of direct sun at least

congrats on the first one, 44 in a single outing on QRP is solid especially on a weekday. to answer your logging question -- it depends a bit on where you are but for most US activators you'd go through the WWFF-USA program which feeds into the global database, same general idea as how national programs plug into the worldwide system. the hunters side works pretty similarly to what you're used to with POTA, they upload their logs and the system does the matching, no special action needed from them beyond that. the new reference question is a good one. you generally cant just activate somewhere and have it count if its not already in the database, but submitting a new reference for consideration isnt that hard. you fill out a reference application with the details of the protected area -- official designation, coordinates, that kind of thing -- and the national coordinator reviews it. can take a little while but if it's a legitimate protected nature area it usually gets approved. i'd reach out to the WWFF-USA coordinator directly, they're pretty responsive in my experience.

did you try just shorting the input to your audio amp stage and seeing if the hum is still there? if it goes away with the input shorted then its coming from upstream somewhere, if it stays its in your audio amp itself. thats usually the first thing i do when chasing hum in a homebrew build, saves a lot of time compared to just poking around randomly

so ive been a Tech for about 8 months now and honestly ive been doing mostly VHF/UHF stuff with my handheld and the local repeaters but i keep hearing people talk about HF and working DX and all that and it sounds pretty cool. my buddy at the club said i should just go ahead and take the General exam but i honestly have no idea what to expect or how different it is from the Tech exam. like the Tech exam wasnt too bad, i used hamstudy.org and just drilled the question pool for a few weeks and passed no problem. is General the same kind of thing or is there actually stuff i need to really understand to pass? some of the topics i saw mentioned like propagation and operating procedures on HF seem kinda involved. also is there anything specific that trips people up the most? dont want to waste a trip to the testing session if im not ready

So I just passed my technician exam last week and now im trying to figure out what handheld to buy. Everyone keeps saying different things and im kinda lost. My local club guys are split between baofeng and yaesu and one guy wouldnt stop talking about the kenwood he bought in like 1998 which, okay cool but that doesnt really help me. I mostly want something I can use on the local repeaters, maybe do some APRS eventually, and just have something to carry around. Budget is probably around $50-100 but I could stretch a little if it actually makes sense. I've seen the UV-5R everywhere and the price is obviously hard to argue with but some people seem really down on them. Also looked at the Yaesu FT-60 which seems more solid but its getting a little old right? There's also the BF-F8HP which I think is just a beefed up baofeng. Anyway just looking for what people actually use day to day and whether the cheap chinese radios are really that bad or if its more radio snobbery.

yeah what he said about the ALC is really the main thing. i spent like two months fighting audio issues and it turned out i was running my mic gain way too hot and the ALC was doing all this weird pumping that made me sound distorted. once i backed it off so the ALC was barely moving things got way cleaner even without touching eq at all. also — and this sounds dumb but — how far from the mic are you? i used to almost eat the thing and it made the low end super boomy. most dynamic mics like the pr-40 have proximity effect so a few inches back can make a big difference

timing is huge and i dont think people talk about it enough. the absolute worst time to try breaking a big pileup is when its at peak size, like right after a fresh announcement or when propagation just opened. wait it out if you can. an hour or two later youll have half the callers and the operator is just as tired as you are, sometimes more willing to dig for the weaker ones. also what radio and antenna are you running? not trying to be that guy but sometimes the honest answer is the station just doesnt have the firepower for a 3000 mile path against a thousand EU stations all running linears. i spent years wondering why i couldnt break certain pileups from the midwest and a big part of it was just my 100w and a dipole not cutting it on certain paths. not saying you need a kw but it does matter.

yeah this trips up a lot of new generals. so the FCC allocation is what's actually legal — for 40m phone, generals can use 7.225 to 7.300 MHz in the US. below that is CW and data territory for generals, and extras get a bit more room starting at 7.125. the band plan on top of that is more like a gentlemans agreement, its not law but everyone kind of follows it to keep things from being a mess. the band edge thing is real important though. if you're operating at say 7.300 and your signal has any sidebands or drift at all you could technically be out of band. for SSB your carrier is usually a few kHz below where your radio says you are depending on whether its USB or LSB, so people avoid parking right at the edge for that reason. give yourself a few kHz buffer and you'll be fine. as for 7.100, thats a DX calling frequency that's used internationally even though the US allocation is a bit different there. US stations arent supposed to be doing phone that low so if you key up around there youre not just being rude, you might actually be out of your privileges depending on exactly where you are.

oh man i didnt realize the contact count was that different between WWFF and POTA, ive been thinking about trying a WWFF activation and just assumed it was the same rules. good to know before i plan a trip out. did you work any hunters who were specifically chasing WWFF awards or was it more just general ragchew contacts?

im kind of in the same boat as you, been licensed about 8 months and still catch myself having to look things up. one thing that helped me was just keeping a little cheat sheet next to the radio for the first few weeks. QRO means high power which is kind of the opposite of QRP, and QRT means you're shutting down or signing off. you'll hear people say "going QRT" when they're done for the night. the digital modes have their own whole thing too like OM means old man which is just how guys refer to each other, and YL is young lady. not always accurate but thats just how it is lol. ARRL website has a decent list if you want something more complete than random google results

yeah i was in the same spot like eight months ago, zero electronics background. i used the gordon west technician book which was fine but tbh hamstudy just doing flashcards on my phone while watching tv is what actually made it stick. took me maybe three weeks of casual studying. one thing i wish someone told me is to look up your local amateur radio club because a lot of them run free licensing classes and then hold a test session right after so you can just sit for the exam same day. ARRL website has a club finder if you search around. the test itself felt way less scary than i expected, like once you actually sit down it goes pretty quick.

ha, been there. the first few check-ins feel really awkward but you actually did fine from the sounds of it. "QSL hold please" just means they copied you and you're in the queue, that's completely normal especially when a bunch of people check in at once. most nets around here you just give your callsign during the check-in window, then when net control comes back to you specifically, you say something like "[callsign], [first name], [city], no traffic" — and that's honestly it. some nets want signal reports too but the net control usually asks for what they want. just follow what you hear the person before you do and you'll be fine. and no it is absolutely not weird to check in with no traffic. most people checking into a casual club net dont have anything specific to pass, they're just checking in to be counted and maybe say hi. net control appreciates the participation either way. honestly just do it again next week and it'll feel totally natural after two or three times.

the pileup management thing is honestly the hardest part imo. i did like 6 activations before i felt even slightly comfortable with it. one thing that helped me was listening to other activators on the spotting network before i ever went out myself, just to hear how they handled things. some guys do tail ending, some work by number, some just go full chaos and somehow it works out. you'll find your own rhythm. also 22 is solid especially on a random wire, ive had activations where i barely squeaked by with 10 on a good antenna so dont be too hard on yourself

the greyline openings to JA are insane when they happen. i remember one morning last spring i stumbled onto 17m half asleep and there were like a dozen JA stations booming in, worked maybe 8 of them in 15 minutes and then it was completely gone. didnt even have my coffee yet lol honestly i just use the DX cluster and pskreporter to know when a band is actually open instead of trying to predict it. when i see spots lighting up on a path i care about i jump on. the theory stuff is interesting but the cluster never lies

yeah the hackrf tx is kind of a novelty more than anything useful at those power levels, youre not working anyone with it lol. i mean its neat for testing filters or feeding a signal into something but dont go in expecting to actually transmit on the air with it in any meaningful way without a PA and even then its a whole thing. one thing nobody mentions — the RSPdx also does pretty well on MW and LW which is a rabbit hole if youre into that. i started just wanting better 40m reception and now i stay up too late listening to NDB beacons. so fair warning i guess.

i did basically this same mod like six months ago and the only thing i'd add is double check your ground points before you button it back up, i had a weird intermittent crackle on vhf for a week before i realized i hadnt fully reseated one of the ribbon connectors. nothing to do with the mod itself just me being sloppy reassembling it.