Nicole Martin

35 feet of LMR-400 on 2m is basically nothing, you're losing maybe half a dB there so the coax run length isnt your problem. definitely sounds like a mechanical/connector issue. the random connector from the parts bin thing jumped out at me - do you know what the actual spec on that connector was? some of the cheap silver plated ones that come in bulk bags are junk and dont make a solid connection at the center pin, especially after thermalcycling through a winter.

i ran an 857 as my main HF rig for like 4 years and honestly the filter situation was always my biggest complaint. ended up just living with it because the form factor was too convenient for my setup to switch. never tried the sherwood filter specifically but a buddy of mine swears by it for exactly what you're describing on 40. one thing i did do was the ref oscillator upgrade, there's a TCXO option that tightens up the frequency stability noticeably, especially on digital modes where drift actually matters. probably not relevant if youre mostly doing phone but figured id mention it since youre already in there poking around anyway.

so ive been messing with an RTL-SDR v3 for about a year now, mostly just listening to aircraft and the occasional P25 trunking stuff in my area, and im starting to feel like i'm hitting the ceiling of what the dongle can do. dynamic range is just not there when i try to do anything near the broadcast FM band, which yeah i know is kind of a known thing with RTL dongles but its getting annoying. anyway ive been looking at either the HackRF One or the SDRplay RSP1B and i cant quite figure out which direction to go. the HackRF has TX which is appealing even though i dont have an immediate use for it, but ive heard the noise floor isnt actually that great compared to what you'd expect for the price. the RSP1B looks cleaner on paper, 1kHz to 2GHz, 14-bit ADC, that all sounds good but its receive-only and the SDRuno software is... i dunno, ive only seen screenshots. mostly i want better performance for HF stuff, maybe some weather satellite decoding, and just general poking around. running SDR# and GQRX on a linux box. anyone actually used both and can give me a real world take rather than the spec sheet comparison i keep finding?

welcome to the addiction lol. I just did my 10th activation last month and I still get that same nervous energy waiting to see if anyone comes back to my first call. there's something about being on a hilltop with a wire in a tree that just hits different than operating from home. one thing i'd add about the 2m FM thing is that if you ever activate somewhere with good line of sight coverage, it can be surprisingly fun to work a few locals on VHF between HF contacts. I did a summit last fall where i got more 2m contacts than HF just because the takeoff was so good, had people calling from like 80 miles out on a rubber duck which surprised me.

so i've been interested in ham radio for a while now, my neighbor has a big antenna setup and it got me curious. i looked it up and apparently you have to take a test? i dont really know where to start or what the difference is between all the license levels. someone at work mentioned technician and general but i have no idea what that means practically speaking. like do i need to buy a radio first or study first, and how hard is the test actually? i feel like i'm going in circles just reading stuff online because half of it seems outdated. any advice would be appreciated

oh man i was in literally the exact same spot like six months ago with my first HT. one thing that helped me was just going to a local club meeting and asking someone there — they basically programmed the whole thing for me in like two minutes and explained what each setting was doing. way faster than trying to decode the baofeng menu system on your own which is honestly kind of a nightmare. the tone thing is kind of weird to wrap your head around at first but once you get it it makes total sense. and yeah just kerchunking the repeater (keying up super quick without saying anything) can tell you if you're getting in but i've heard some people say its kind of bad form to do it too much, like more than once or twice. better to just say your call and say testing like the other guy said.

Begali paddles on a K3, that's a nice combo. I'm kind of jealous actually. I'm still on a cheap MFJ that I keep meaning to replace. One thing that helped me with the choppy feeling was just making QSOs, even short ones, instead of just practicing into a dummy load. Something about the pressure of an actual exchange where someone's listening makes you slow down and be deliberate. Try calling CQ on 40m around 7.055 or wherever your regional watering hole is and just do slow casual contacts. People are generally pretty patient with someone who's obviously still developing their fist.

Congrats on the install, FT-7900 is a solid radio for mobile use, Ive had one for probably six years now and its been pretty bulletproof. On the coax routing — yeah definitely dont leave it in the door seal, itll eventually cut through the jacket and then youll have all kinds of grief. What I did on my truck was find the factory grommet where the factory wiring passes through the firewall, there's usually one on the drivers side that already has some slack in it. You can carefully push an additional wire or coax through that existing grommet without drilling anything new. Gets a little fiddly but totally doable. If you want a clean permanent antenna mount look into a lip mount for the rain gutter area or a stake pocket mount in the bed, no drilling required and way more stable than a mag mount long term. The voltage dip is completely normal, 13.2 when transmitting on high power is nothing to worry about as long as it bounces back up when you release the PTT. Your alternator is doing its job. You'd start getting concerned if you were seeing like 11 something or it was staying low. As long as connections are clean and tight you're fine.

yeah the Es this season has been something else, i had a similar night last thursday where 6m just opened up out of nowhere around 7pm local and i worked like 14 new grids in maybe 90 minutes. one of those nights where you just dont want to go to bed because you know the second you do it'll close up. my wife has stopped asking why im still up at midnight staring at WSJT-X. on the icom thing, i think you're maybe thinking of the IC-905 related stuff? or there was some talk about a new entry level HF rig but i cant confirm that's real. icom did post something vague on their japanese site a few weeks back that got people speculating but nothing concrete yet. id take the club meeting rumors with a grain of salt until someone posts a press release or something from Dayton. speaking of which Hamvention isnt that far off and that's usually when the big announcements drop so maybe just wait and see

so ive been on HF for about two years now mostly doing digital but lately ive been spending more time on SSB phone and i keep getting reports that my audio sounds like im talking through a pillow or theres too much bass or whatever. im running an IC-7300 into a Heil PR-40 which i thought was supposed to be a pretty solid combo, i got the mic because everyone kept recommending it on here and other forums. ive got the mic gain sitting around 50-60% and the ALC is barely moving, maybe just kissing the bottom of the scale. compression is off. i did read somewhere that the 7300 has some eq built in and maybe i should be messing with that but i honestly havent touched it much, just left it at flat. the reports im getting are from a few different guys on 40m so its not just one person with a bad receiver or whatever. is this a mic placement thing or do i actually need to dig into the DSP settings? feels like it should just work out of the box with a decent mic but apparently not. any ideas appreciated, been chasing this for like a month

yeah the ALC thing is huge and most people ignore it. general rule of thumb on the 7300 is you want the ALC meter barely ticking on voice peaks, not sitting there pinned or even hitting the middle of the range. if its riding high constantly youre basically compressing the snot out of your signal and it starts sounding distorted and mushy on the other end. back off the mic gain until the ALC is just kissing the first couple segments on peaks and youll probably sound a lot better. also with the PR-40 specifically — its a dynamic so it wants you pretty close to it, like 2-3 inches. people underestimate how much mic technique matters on SSB. if youre across the room or talking at an angle the low end falls apart and you end up sounding thin or boxy. the 7300 has a built in monitor function too, plug headphones in and key up and you can hear roughly what youre putting out. not a perfect representation but better than flying blind.

omg 10m opened here too!! i'm pretty new to HF (only got my general like 6 weeks ago) and i was just scanning around and suddenly all these signals and i had no idea what was happening at first lol. managed to work two stations which might not sound like much but for me that was huge. still figuring out how to log stuff properly and when to call CQ vs just answer someone. its a lot. but yeah 10 meters seems cool when its actually doing something. had no idea conditions could change that fast.

honestly for 10-15 contests a year i'd say get the station working first and worry about squeezing every last mult out later. i spent two weekends debugging why my logging software kept sending CW to the wrong radio and that was time i could've just been on the air working contacts the normal way. not saying dont do it, just that single op well-executed beats SO2R done badly every time. the rate gains are real though, especially in the dead spots. like 0200 local when 20 is dying and 40 isnt quite hopping yet, being able to keep a run on 40 while hunting mults on 15 during that weird transition window is actually pretty useful. thats probably where i notice it most versus just late-night grinding.

Don't stress too much about it, first activations are always a little overwhelming but that's honestly part of the learning. Every ARES group runs things a little differently depending on how tight the EC is and what the served agency expects, but for a county exercise you'll probably check in at a staging area, get assigned a position or a net, and then mostly just listen and handle traffic as it comes in. Bring your own radio for sure — some EOCs have gear but you never really know if it's going to be working or if someone else already grabbed it. Your 857 and the jpole should be totally fine for most VHF work. The thing nobody tells you going in is there's usually a lot of waiting mixed in with bursts of activity. Bring water and snacks and something to take notes with. Paper and pencil, not just your phone. Oh and make sure your ICS-213 forms are printed out ahead of time if your group uses those for message handling, that trips up a lot of newer folks who dont realize they need them on hand.

i run a 991A and its fine but yeah the fan noise is a thing people mention and its not wrong, gets a little annoying during late night operating when the shack is quiet. also the menus are classic yaesu which means prepare to spend an afternoon just figuring out where everything is. not a dealbreaker but worth knowing going in. the HF audio on SSB is totally acceptable though, i wouldnt say it sounds bad.