Digital Mode

honestly you are overthinking it. the tech exam really isnt that bad, most people i know passed it studying for like 2-3 weeks, some did it in a weekend if they already had some electronics background. the question pool is public which is kind of weird when you think about it but it means you can literally study the exact questions that will be on the test. that said i'd recommend actually understanding the stuff and not just memorizing because when you get on the air you'll want to know why certain things are the way they are, especially the rules and regs stuff which is just pure memorization anyway. hamstudy.org is where most people start now, its free and it tracks which questions you're getting wrong and drills you on those. the ARRL technician manual is good if you want a physical book to read through but honestly between hamstudy and maybe watching some of the hamradioprep videos on youtube you'll probably be fine. just take a bunch of practice exams until you're consistently scoring above 80 percent and then go book your test through a local club or online through one of the remote testing options.

this is making me think about whether i should finally join up with my local ARES group. ive been licensed for two years and keep meaning to do it but havent got around to it. is there like a specific level of experience or equipment you need before you go to the first meeting or do they take complete beginners

oh man the QCX Mini is such a great first build, good choice. i built the full size QCX+ a couple years back and it was the kit that really got me into homebrewing seriously. Hans does really good work with those designs. for a portable antenna on SOTA i've been using an end fed half wave with a small 49:1 unun that i wound myself, the whole thing rolls up into a stuff sack and weighs next to nothing. you can cut it for 40 or 20 and just trim from there, or go the linked dipole route like you said which is more flexible if you want to work multiple bands. i've also seen people do really well with just a simple wire dipole and a short collapsible fiberglass mast, that combo is hard to beat for the weight to performance ratio. the key for QRP portable is really just getting the antenna up as high as you can manage, that extra height makes more difference than most people realize when you're only running a few watts

yeah what he said. one thing i'd add is that LoTW can be a little annoying to set up the first time because you have to request a certificate and there's some back and forth with the ARRL but once its running it pretty much works in the background. TQSL is the software you use to sign and upload your logs, its not the prettiest program in the world but it works. i personally use all three systems just because why not, some contacts only confirm on eQSL and some guys still send beautiful paper cards and honestly getting a QSL card in the mail from somewhere like Kazakhstan or whatever never gets old. took me a while to appreciate the paper card thing but now i actually have a little album going

so ive been messing around with a cheap RTL-SDR v3 dongle for a few months now, mostly just listening to aircraft on 1090 MHz and poking around the 2m band to see whats happening locally. its been fun and honestly way more capable than i expected for like $30 but i keep seeing people mention the SDRplay and the RSP1A specifically and im wondering if its actually worth the jump in price my main thing is i want to get better HF coverage, like actually decent HF not just the direct sampling hack on the rtl-sdr which works but honestly feels kinda janky. also i notice a lot of intermod garbage when theres strong FM broadcast stations nearby, the rtl dongle just gets hammered. does the RSP1A handle that better with its preselection filters or whatever they call them not super interested in the HackRF right now because i dont really need to transmit and the price is higher than i want to spend. just trying to figure out if the SDRplay is a meaningful step up for receive only use or if im just gonna spend $120 and notice basically the same thing

ok so ive been running my remotehams box for about 6 months now and everything was working pretty good until last week. now im getting this strange latency where the audio is like 2-3 seconds behind what im seeing on the waterfall. makes it really hard to work any digital modes or even cw for that matter my internet connection at the remote site is supposed to be 50/10 and at home im on gigabit fiber so bandwidth shouldnt be the issue. anyone else run into this kind of thing? wondering if its something on their server side or if i messed up a setting somewhere running the latest client software on windows 11 if that matters

Fellow hams, we're experiencing some incredible propagation conditions right now! Today's HF propagation is looking solid with a solar flux of 158 and sunspot numbers holding at 125, giving us excellent higher band conditions with low geomagnetic activity (K-index at 1) meaning stable propagation and minimal disruptions. Expect excellent opportunities on 20m–15m throughout the day, with 12m and 10m also open for longer periods. Focus on 20m, 17m, and 15m for the best DX and intercontinental contacts. Just worked JA on 15m with my barefoot IC-7300 - fantastic signals both ways! If you've been thinking about getting back on the air or trying some DX, now's the time. These conditions won't last forever as we're past solar maximum.

Are you using the built-in WiFi or ethernet? I found ethernet gave me much better results. The Orange Pi Zero 2 might be worth considering as it has both ethernet and WiFi options with good performance.