Contest Joe

yeah 12 contacts is definitely activated, you only need 4 for a valid activation so you did great. the antenna thing is a real thing though, i carry a couple of those cheap fiberglass poles now and it changed everything. doesn't weigh much and you stop fighting with branches. also for the battery in cold temps thats just lithium chemistry doing its thing, either keep the radio under your jacket between contacts or just bring a backup battery pack, i use a small lipo that fits in a shirt pocket basically

the ceiling fan is probably killing you more than you realize, especially if its anywhere near the mic. low frequency rumble gets picked up real easy and on SSB it just turns into mush on the other end. first thing id do is turn it off when youre operating and see if you get more consistent reports.
on the 7300 specifically, the default TX bandwidth is pretty wide and the bass response on the stock mic element is kinda boomy. go into the menu and bump the low cut up to like 100hz or even 150hz, most of the voice intelligibility is in the mids anyway and cutting the lows cleans things up a lot without making you sound thin. i also roll off the highs a bit above 2700 or so just to keep the audio from getting harsh. takes maybe 10 minutes to mess around with and the difference is noticeable.
also mic distance matters more than people think, closer means more bass proximity effect, farther means more room sound. try staying consistent around 2-3 inches and talk across the mic slightly rather than straight into it, reduces plosives too.

yeah the first couple times i tried SO2R it was genuinely awful and i think i finished worse than i would have on one radio. the thing nobody really tells you is that you have to basically rewire how your brain works during a contest. you're used to one focus point and suddenly you're trying to monitor two bands, decide which one to work, and not accidentally key the wrong one. takes a lot of practice runs before it stops feeling like rubbing your head and patting your stomach.
what helped me more than anything was N1MM's SO2R support and getting the foot switch setup right so i always know which radio is active. also honestly running mock contest sessions on a weekday evening just to practice the mechanics without the pressure of actual contest points on the line. after maybe 3 or 4 weekends of that it started clicking.
for rate gains, yeah it's real but it's really most noticeable during the slow periods when you'd otherwise just be sitting on a run frequency hoping someone calls. that's when you flip to the second radio and go S&P on another band. the multiplier hunting alone can justify the whole setup honestly. with a 7300 and K3S you've already got better gear than a lot of people doing SO2R so that part isnt your problem.

honestly i had the same confusion when i started. what helped me was just listening to how net control handles it on a directed net, they always phonetic everything because they're copying down callsigns from a bunch of people and cant afford to mishear. i kind of adopted that habit and now i just default to phonetics whenever i'm giving my callsign to someone i havent worked before or if the signal isnt perfect. the fast guys on 40 are probably just calling CQ over and over and got used to running through it quick, doesnt mean its right lol

the TCXO is 100% worth it if you do any digital modes at all, full stop. i was skeptical too until i started having drift issues on FT8 and realized my reference was just wandering around especially in the first 20-30 minutes after powerup. dropped in the TCXO and that whole problem basically went away. the 857 runs warm inside and the stock oscillator really does move around more than youd think.
the speaker mod i could take or leave honestly. yeah the stock speaker is pretty mediocre but i mostly use headphones or an external speaker anyway so it never bugged me enough to bother. if youre using it portable and relying on the internal speaker a lot then maybe, but otherwise i wouldnt bother pulling the whole front panel apart again just for that.
one thing i did that actually made a real difference on SSB was tweaking the TX EQ in the menu — took me forever to find the right combination but once i did people stopped complaining about my audio sounding boxy. some guys go nuts with external processors but honestly the internal options on the 857 are more capable than most people realize, they just bury everything in sub-menus.

so ive been licensed about 4 months now, got my general ticket in march and i've been lurking on a few local 2m nets and one HF net on 40m that my elmer recommended. i finally worked up the courage to check in last tuesday and i think i maybe screwed up the procedure a little? i said my callsign before the net control asked for check-ins, not sure if that was a big deal or if people noticed. nobody said anything but i felt kinda embarrassed.
also im confused about when you're supposed to give your full callsign vs just the suffix. like sometimes i hear guys just say their last two or three letters and net control seems fine with it, but other times i hear people give the whole thing every single time. is there a rule about that or is it just whatever the net wants?
also does anyone have tips for just generally not sounding like a complete newb on the air, not that theres anything wrong with being new, i just want to not accidentally step on anyone or do something rude without realizing it.

oh man i went through the same confusion when i was getting into DX. there's also DX Summit which is another one and it all feels like too much at first. i basically just picked one and stuck with it for a while until it made sense, then started branching out.
one thing nobody told me that wouldve saved a lot of frustration — the spots are only as good as the people posting them and sometimes theyre wrong or the station has already gone QRT by the time you see it, especially if a spot is like 10-15 minutes old. so if you tune and hear nothing dont assume your radio is broken lol

I had the exact same problem and what finally helped me was switching away from random letter practice and doing actual words and common phrases instead. Like abbreviations you hear all the time on air — 73, rst, qth, wx, all that stuff. once your brain recognizes them as chunks instead of individual letters it gets way faster. also just listening to real QSOs even when you can only copy maybe half of it, the context helps fill in gaps and thats a real skill too honestly.

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so ive had my technician for about 2 years now and mostly been doing 2m/70cm stuff, some aprs, helped out with a couple public service events. been thinking about going for general lately mostly because i want to get on HF and actually talk to people further than the next county over lol
my question is kind of dumb but what actually changes when you get general? like i know you get HF privileges but i dont really understand which bands or which parts of the bands you can use vs what extra class gets. also how hard is the exam compared to tech? i felt like the tech exam was pretty easy but i hear general has a lot more math and electrical theory stuff which honestly scares me a little because that was never my strong suit
been looking at the gordon west book and also hamstudy.org, anyone have opinions on which is better or if theres something else i should use? just trying to figure out how long i should give myself to study before i go take it

yeah im kind of in the same boat, been at it about the same amount of time. one thing that actually helped me was recording myself with audacity and just listening back. its brutal but you can actually see in the waveform where youre mangling the timing. i found out i was squishing dits way too short on certain letters, K was the worst for me. also someone on another forum suggested practicing with a straight key for a while first to really get the rhythm in your head before going back to paddles and i thought that was dumb advice but it actually kind of worked

yeah you pretty much nailed the difference. FT8 is optimized for one thing and it does that one thing incredibly well but its not a conversational mode by design, Franke and Taylor built it for chasing DX and contests not ragchewing. JS8Call is KD8CEC's attempt to take that weak signal foundation and bolt actual messaging onto it and honestly for what it is i think he did a solid job.
i run both depending on what i want out of a session. if band conditions are garbage and i want to see whats actually out there ill fire up FT8, if i actually want to have a conversation with someone at low power on a quiet night JS8Call is genuinely fun. the relay functionality where messages can hop through other stations is something i havent seen work reliably yet but in theory its cool.
PSK31 isnt dead but its definitely quieter than it was ten years ago. 14.070 still has some activity most evenings, the decoding is satisfying in a different way because youre watching the waterfall and picking out signals with your eyes before the software gets them. theres a tactile feel to it that FT8 just doesnt have. RTTY is similar, still alive in contests especially, CQWW RTTY gets pretty busy.

yeah the third party traffic rules trip up a lot of new hams. so the short version is you cant use amateur radio to conduct actual business transactions, like taking orders, negotiating prices, that kind of thing. what your describing with the hamfest message is kind of a gray area honestly but most people would say just passing along "hey meet me at booth 12" is fine. where it gets iffy is if your actually helping someone make a purchase happen over the air. the FCC hasnt really drawn a super bright line there and most enforcement actions are about way more obvious stuff like using your license for a commercial enterprise. the key language in part 97 is about pecuniary interest, meaning you personally shouldnt be getting paid for the communication. your brother buying gear isnt paying you to relay a message so your probably fine but i wouldnt make a habit of brokering deals over 2m or whatever

Just picked up my first paddle (Bencher BY-1) after using a straight key for two months. I'm having trouble with the spacing - sometimes my letters run together or I get extra dits/dahs. Is this normal for beginners, or am I missing something with the adjustment?
My keyer is set to 15 WPM and I'm trying to practice basic letters first. Any suggestions welcome!

I'm running an IC-7300 at 100W into a G5RV at 30 feet. With the new RF exposure rules that took effect in 2021, I'm confused about whether I need to perform an evaluation. The new rules don't change existing RF exposure limits but require stations to be evaluated against existing limits, unless exempted, with existing stations having until May 3, 2023.
Looking at the power thresholds in 97.13(c)(1), it seems like I might be above the limits for some HF bands. Can someone walk me through the process? What exactly do I need to calculate?
Key questions:
How do I determine if my station qualifies for an exemption? If I need an evaluation, what's the step-by-step process? Are there online calculators that can help with the calculations?