Mike74

im pretty new to hf so maybe a dumb question but how do you even know when 10m is open like that, do you just check it periodically or is there an app or something that alerts you? i have a technician license so i can use some of 10m i think but havent really tried yet cause everyone told me it was mostly dead. sounds like maybe i picked a bad time to start paying attention to it ha.

the run freq thing is just something you learn to manage over time honestly. what helped me was getting into the habit of transmitting a short "QRZ" every 30-45 seconds on radio 1 even if im mid-search on radio 2 — not working anyone, just marking the frequency. it sounds weird but it keeps squatters off and reminds you where youre parked. some guys use the radio's memory function to snap back to the run freq instantly but i never trusted that to be fast enough
the bleedover on 40 is a real problem with that filter setup if both radios are actually transmitting anywhere close in frequency. DXE filters are decent but you really want at least 50-100kHz separation on 40 or youre going to have a bad time no matter what. the footswitch interlock should be fine for now as long as its actually cutting TX on whichever radio isnt active — people run worse setups and do fine in smaller contests
honestly though the mental thing just takes reps. run a few sprints or the state QSO parties where the pace is a little slower and you can practice the workflow without the pressure of a big rate contest. after maybe 3 or 4 full contests it started feeling a lot more natural for me

the latency thing with CW over RemoteHams is a known annoyance. what helped me was setting the audio buffer on the client side as low as it would go without constant dropouts - took some trial and error. also make sure youre not running the SDR sample rate higher than you need because that adds processing delay at the server end. i run mine at the lowest rate that still gives me a usable passband and it helped noticeably.
the sidetone buffering you mentioned - yeah thats in the client settings, theres a local sidetone option that generates the tone on your machine independently of the roundtrip. it doesnt fix the actual transmitted timing but at least you stop second guessing yourself mid-QSO. for serious CW contesting though honestly remote just isnt ideal, the guys who do it well usually have very low latency dedicated links not just regular consumer fiber.

so ive been using Log4OM for general logging for about two years now and honestly i like it a lot, the interface took some getting used to but the award tracking stuff is really nice and it plays well with WSJT-X through the JTDX integration or whatever its called. my issue is contest season is coming up and everyone keeps telling me i should just use N1MM for contests which i totally get, N1MM is basically the standard for that stuff.
my question is whether its a pain to have both installed and switch between them or if there's some trick to keeping your logs synced up. like if i work a bunch of stations during a contest in N1MM, getting those QSOs into Log4OM afterward without duplicating stuff or messing up the ADIF import seems like it could be a headache. has anyone actually got a clean workflow for this? i tried importing an ADIF from a previous contest once and it was mostly fine but a few dupes snuck in and i had to clean it up manually which was annoying.
also side question — does anyone run WSJT-X feeding into N1MM during something like a digital contest or do most people just log FT8 separately and merge later. feel like ive seen conflicting info on this.

yeah i did the same mod on mine about two years ago, no issues at all since then. the finals on the 7300 are pretty robust, all that stuff about degrading them is mostly from people who dont understand that the mod itself doesnt change output power or duty cycle, you still have to not do anything stupid with it. the radio doesnt care that youre on 29.800 vs 29.750.
on your question about TX bandwidth — thats actually accessible through the set menu if you dig into it, theres a DATA MOD setting and you can push the bass/treble response further than the default SSB profile allows. its not a hardware thing. some people do external audio mods too like swapping the electret in certain mic setups but honestly the stock TX audio on the 7300 is already better than most rigs in its class, id mess with the software side first before touching anything physical.

so ive been running a Diamond X50 on the roof for the past couple years and its been fine for local repeater work, hits everything within maybe 30-40 miles no problem. but lately ive been wanting to do more simplex and also work some of the weak signal stuff on 2m, like EME is probably a pipe dream right now but just SSB/CW tropo would be cool to try.
my question is whether its even worth putting up a yagi if im still mostly doing FM and repeaters 80% of the time. like i dont want to give up the omnidirectional coverage because im also running a linked repeater net on thursdays and need to hit a couple of machines in different directions. someone mentioned i could just add a second feedline and switch between antennas but that feels like it gets messy fast on the roof.
also open to hearing if anyone has run both and what the real world difference feels like on 2m ssb. numbers on paper are one thing but actually using it is another

the RC car lipo repurpose is genius, im stealing that idea. i've been stressing about battery options for my setup and never thought about that. what connector did you end up using to hook it up to the rig?

so ive been kicking around getting a vanity call since i got my general about 6 months ago. my current call is ok i guess but not really memorable and kinda long. been looking at the uls and seeing what might be available but man there's so many options i dont even know where to start. plus i heard the wait times are pretty long right now? anyone gone through this recently and can share what the process was like. also do you actually use your vanity call or do people still just use your original sometimes

so a few weeks ago there was a pretty bad storm system that came through our county and the local ARES group got activated to support the EOC and a couple of the Red Cross shelters. ive been a technician for about two years and only upgraded to general last spring, joined ARES maybe six months ago but hadnt done much besides the monthly nets and one tabletop exercise we ran at the fire station.
when the callout came i honestly panicked a little. i knew where the EOC was and i had my go bag more or less ready but once i got there it was just kind of overwhelming — people everywhere, the EC was running around coordinating, someone handed me a clipboard and told me to check in operators as they arrived and log their assignments. not exactly glamorous but fine, i could do that.
then about two hours in they needed someone at one of the shelter locations because the ham they had there had a family situation and had to leave. so i ended up going over there with my HT and a mag mount on my car and just... staffing the position. mostly it was checking in with the EOC net every 30 minutes and relaying a few messages about cot counts and supply requests. nothing technically complicated but i was hyper aware that if i screwed something up it would actually affect real people.
made it through fine but im still thinking about all the things i didnt know going in. like i had no idea the shelter needed a specific ICS form filled out for message traffic, nobody mentioned that in any of the training i did. anyway curious if anyone else remembers their first real activation and how they felt about it after. and also if theres stuff you wish someone had told you beforehand

so ive been a tech for about two years now and mostly been doing 2m/70cm stuff, some APRS, helped out with a couple public service events. its been fun but honestly i feel like im kind of hitting a ceiling with what i can do locally and ive been wanting to get on HF for a while now. my buddy keeps telling me to just go take the general exam already.
my question is kind of all over the place so bear with me. the general pool feels like a big jump from the tech stuff, especially all the electrical stuff and the propagation questions. im using hamstudy.org which seems decent but some of the questions i feel like im just memorizing the answer without really understanding why its the answer, like some of the impedance matching stuff and the formula questions. is that okay or is it gonna bite me later when im actually operating.
also what actually opens up when you pass, like i know its HF but can someone give me a real world sense of what changes. and do i need new gear right away or can i do anything with what i have

so ive been using Log4OM for general logging for about two years now and honestly i like it a lot, the interface took some getting used to but the award tracking stuff is really nice and it plays well with WSJT-X through the JTDX integration or whatever its called. my issue is contest season is coming up and everyone keeps telling me i should just use N1MM for contests which i totally get, N1MM is basically the standard for that stuff.
my question is whether its a pain to have both installed and switch between them or if there's some trick to keeping your logs synced up. like if i work a bunch of stations during a contest in N1MM, getting those QSOs into Log4OM afterward without duplicating stuff or messing up the ADIF import seems like it could be a headache. has anyone actually got a clean workflow for this? i tried importing an ADIF from a previous contest once and it was mostly fine but a few dupes snuck in and i had to clean it up manually which was annoying.
also side question — does anyone run WSJT-X feeding into N1MM during something like a digital contest or do most people just log FT8 separately and merge later. feel like ive seen conflicting info on this.

so ive been trying to get Winlink working for a few weeks now and i think im close but something isnt clicking with the gateway side of things. been running Vara FM on my 2m setup and can connect to a local RMS gateway just fine, messages go out, great. but now i want to run my own RMS gateway for our ARES group and i cant figure out if i need to be running RMS Relay or just Winlink Express configured as a gateway — the docs are kind of all over the place depending on which version theyre talking about.
my setup is a kenwood TM-V71A into a signalink, running on a pi 4 at the club station. i got VARA FM licensed. the gateway would mostly be for local traffic and passing messages during exercises when internet is sketchy. do i need a separate callsign for the gateway or can it just be my call with a -10 or whatever? and how does the message store-and-forward actually work if the gateway itself doesnt have internet — does it just hold traffic until a connected node picks it up or what
any help appreciated, been lurking here long enough i figured id just ask

so ive been kicking around getting a vanity call since i got my general about 6 months ago. my current call is ok i guess but not really memorable and kinda long. been looking at the uls and seeing what might be available but man there's so many options i dont even know where to start. plus i heard the wait times are pretty long right now? anyone gone through this recently and can share what the process was like. also do you actually use your vanity call or do people still just use your original sometimes

yeah what he said about the 1x2 calls being Extra class only — thats the thing that got me too. I upgraded specifically partly because I wanted a shorter call, not gonna lie. went through the whole process last year and ended up with a 1x2 that I really like. totally worth it if you're planning to upgrade anyway.
one thing i'll add is theres a site called AE7Q.com or something like that, maybe slightly different url, but it has this really good vanity call availability tracker and you can see which calls are available, which ones are in a cooldown period after the previous holder went silent key, all that stuff. way easier than trying to parse the FCC database directly. I spent like an hour on there just browsing before I decided what to apply for