Kiwi Operator

So ive been trying to get Winlink Express set up for the past week or so and im just not having any luck with the RMS gateway piece. I can see nearby gateways in the list, theres one about 40 miles out that shows active, but every time i try to connect through Vara FM it just sits there doing nothing for a while and then times out. Not sure if its a path issue or if im not configuring the VARA modem settings right or what. My setup is a 2m rig into a decent antenna, nothing fancy but ive worked repeaters a lot further than 40 miles with it so the RF side seems fine. I set the baud rate in VARA to whatever the default was, didnt touch much of the modem settings because i dont really know what those do yet. Soundcard is showing up correctly in the device manager and levels look okay in the waterfall. Also kind of confused on the message handling side — like once i actually do get connected do i just compose messages in Winlink Express and it handles routing them to regular email addresses? Or is there more setup involved on that end. Trying to get this working for potential emcomm use down the road so want to understand it properly not just get it barely limping along.

yeah spotting yourself on the POTA app is pretty much the whole game honestly, most hunters are just watching the spots and wont stumble onto you randomly. next time get spotted before you even start calling CQ and youll probably have a pileup within a few minutes. 14 contacts is still a valid activation though so congrats on getting it done, first one is always a little chaotic

so ive been running a Diamond X50 for a couple years now on 2m/70cm and honestly its been fine for hitting the local repeaters, no real complaints. but theres a repeater about 55 miles out that i can just barely scratch into on my FT-7900 and its annoying because theyre running a good linked system and id love to get into it reliably. started thinking about whether a yagi would actually be worth putting up just for that one repeater, but then id lose the omnidirectional coverage i have now. someone at the club mentioned stacking a second X50 but honestly i dont know enough about that to know if its even practical for a fixed home install. the repeater is roughly to my northeast so a yagi pointed that way would work great but then im giving up everything else. is there some middle ground here or am i just going to have to pick one or the other. thinking maybe a small 5 or 6 el yagi on a separate feedline and just switch between them when i want to hit that far repeater. anybody done something like this

im kind of in the same boat debating between the 7300 and the FT-991A since the 991 does vhf/uhf too and i only have room for one radio on my desk. does the 7300 feel solidly built or is it plasticky? some of the photos make it look a little toy-ish but maybe thats just the angle

yeah what he said about the tone is right. one other thing that tripped me up when i was starting out — make sure the repeater offset is going in the right direction. on 2 meters a negative offset means your transmit frequency is 600 kHz BELOW the listed frequency, so if the repeater output is say 146.940 you should be transmitting on 146.340. the radio should handle that automatically if you set the shift to minus but on a baofeng sometimes people accidentally enter both frequencies manually and get it backwards. also honestly just listening for a while before jumping in is good repeater etiquette anyway, you'll get a feel for how the locals operate on that machine.

yeah QRZ has a logbook and DX spotting section built in, its under the "DX" tab at the top of the site. the basic cluster feed is free i believe, though some of the logbook features need a subscription. honestly for just watching spots DXwatch is probably easier to use when youre starting out because the filtering interface is a little more straightforward. what i'd suggest is filtering by band first — just check the boxes for 10m and 6m and ignore everything else for now until you get your general. there's also a continent filter which helps a lot when you're trying to find stuff that might actually propagate your way. once you get used to reading the spots it becomes pretty second nature, you start recognizing which DXpedition callsigns are active and which are just old stale spots from earlier in the day also check out the DX summit site too, its been around forever and a lot of guys still prefer it. same basic idea but different layout

oh man this is actually something ive been confused about too so thanks for posting this. i got my general last spring and keep hearing people talk about solar flux and K index and i sort of nod along like i know what theyre talking about lol. so higher solar flux = better HF conditions generally? and then the K index is like... bad when its high? i feel like i have it backwards half the time

you've basically got it right — N1MM is a contest logger that happens to let you log outside of contests, but the interface is very much designed around rate and multipliers and all that, so if youre just sitting down to work a few DX stations on a tuesday night it feels like overkill and honestly kind of clunky. i used it as my main logger for a while and eventually got tired of the workflow for non-contest stuff. switched to Log4OM v2 a couple years ago and havent looked back for general logging. the WSJT-X integration works well, you just point WSJT-X at it via UDP and it picks up the QSOs automatically. i did have some duplicate issues early on but that turned out to be because i had logging enabled in WSJT-X AND had adif logging going to the same file, once i sorted that out it was clean. the contest module in Log4OM isnt as slick as N1MM for serious contesting but for a state QSO party where youre not exactly running 200 hour rate it does the job fine

oh man yeah that 10-15 plateau is real and it's brutal. what finally worked for me was stopping the character-by-character copying and forcing myself to listen for whole words. what i mean is i set LCWO to send at like 18wpm character speed but with big gaps between characters (Farnsworth timing) so my brain had to learn the sound of each letter at speed even if the overall pace felt slow. the idea is you never give yourself time to count dits and dahs, you just have to recognize the sound pattern or you miss it. took maybe 3-4 weeks of that before things started clicking. also honestly just copying W1AW practice broadcasts helped me a lot. they go through multiple speeds and you can follow along with the printed text afterward. something about knowing the actual words ahead of time lets you check yourself and figure out where you're losing it. dont give up, 20wpm is definitely doable it just takes a while longer than people expect.

i tried to go SO2R a couple years back and kinda gave up halfway through the setup because the intermod was making me insane. ended up just using the second radio on a completely separate antenna on a different band and never transmitting on both at the same time, which like the other guy said is kind of SO2R lite. still helped me snag mults i would have missed. one thing nobody told me starting out — the logging software coordination between two radios matters almost as much as the RF stuff. N1MM+ handles it pretty well if you set it up right but if the second radio isnt talking to the software properly you end up with dupes and it gets messy fast. might be worth just getting that side dialed in before you even worry about the filtering.

so ive been going back and forth on this for like two months now and i keep landing in the same place — paralysis. my current setup is a beat up kenwood ts-570 that i got off a silent key estate sale and honestly it still works fine but the display is starting to act weird and i figure if im gonna spend money on repairs i might as well just go new. the thing is i do a mix of stuff. mostly HF, some 40m and 20m phone, a little JS8Call and FT8 when the bands are dead and im bored, but i also have a 2m/70cm antenna up and it would be nice to not need a separate radio for local stuff. that's basically why the 991A keeps coming back up for me even though i know the HF receiver on the 7300 is probably better. anyone run the 991A as their main shack radio for a while? does the VHF/UHF side actually get used or does it end up being a thing you forget is even there. and is the 7300 SDR display really as useful day to day as everyone makes it out to be or is it just a cool thing that wears off after a few weeks

the timeout thing on HF is almost certainly a combo of propagation and VARA settings. VARA HF is pretty sensitive to a clean signal — if youre getting any harmonic garbage or your audio levels are off in the soundcard config it'll just bail on you. first thing id check is the waterfall in VARA when youre attempting a connect, you want to see a clean signal from the gateway and make sure youre actually on frequency. the propagation map in Winlink Express is helpful but its not always current, sometimes a gateway shows green but the path is rough in practice. on the RMS gateway question — yeah regular people absolutely run them, its not just clubs. i know a few guys running Raspberry Pi setups with a dedicated radio that just sit there all day waiting for connects. the registration process with winlink.org is straightforward, you fill out a form and they get back to you, takes maybe a day or two. the main thing is you need a static IP or some way to handle the sysop channel so the winlink system knows where to find you. its a real contribution to the network if you live somewhere without much coverage.

so ive been trying to figure out if its worth the drive, last year i picked up a pretty decent MFJ tuner for like 20 bucks but honestly the vendor tables were kind of thin. heard they moved it to the new fairgrounds location this year which might mean more parking at least. anyone been before or planning to go? my buddy WB4something said there might be a swap meet area outside this time which would be cool

yeah CTCSS is definitely what's biting you. basically the repeater has a tone squelch on the input side so it ignores anything that doesnt have the right tone — keeps it from keying up on random interference and stuff. the tone is usually listed in the repeater directory for your area, either on rptr.net or your regional frequency coordinator's site. if three listings show different things honestly your best bet is to just ask someone at the club which one is actually correct, sometimes those databases are out of date by years. on your baofeng you want to make sure you're setting the transmit tone (sometimes labeled T-CTCS or similar depending on firmware) not the receive tone. the receive tone just filters what you hear, transmit tone is what actually opens the machine. common tones around here are like 100 or 107.2 but really it depends on the specific repeater. and no its not rude to wait for a break and then just say your callsign, thats totally normal. people do it all the time. just give your call and say youre monitoring or that you're new, most repeater groups are pretty welcoming to new folks checking in.

so i just passed my technician exam last week (still waiting on the callsign to show up in the FCC database, refreshing it like every hour lol) and im trying to figure out what handheld to get as my first radio. ive been reading threads on here for like two weeks now and i feel like i know less than when i started honestly. everyone seems to have a strong opinion. some people say get a baofeng UV-5R just to learn on and not spend a lot, others say that's a waste and just get a yaesu FT-60 or one of the newer FT-70DRs, and then theres the whole thing about dual band vs not, APRS, fusion, DMR... i dont even know what half of that means yet. i just want something i can use for local simplex and maybe hit the couple 2m repeaters in my area once i get my feet under me. budget is probably around $100-150 to start but i could stretch a bit if something is genuinely worth it. any advice from folks who remember being new would be really appreciated

oh man i remember being totally lost with this stuff too. one thing that helped me was realizing people use them two ways -- as a question and as a statement. like if someone says QRM? theyre asking if youre getting interference, but if they say QRM they're telling you there IS interference on the frequency. same with most of them. took me a while to figure that out just from context. also QRP means low power operation, like 5 watts or under, youll see that everywhere in groups and forums. people are real proud of making contacts with tiny rigs haha

so we have a county ARES exercise coming up in about six weeks and im trying to nail down the power situation before i commit to hauling everything out there. last time we ran into issues because somebody brought a generator that was way too loud for the site we ended up at, and we were getting RF noise on pretty much everything above 40m which was a nightmare for the HF net we were supposed to be supporting. my current thinking is to run a pair of 100ah lifepo4 batteries through a 30a RIGrunner for the main station — IC-7300 plus a laptop for logging and maybe a packet TNC — and only fire up the generator if we're going to be there past like hour six or seven. the generator would charge the batts and run the bigger stuff. does this sound sane or am i underestimating how fast that 7300 will chew through 200ah if we're doing a lot of transmitting also the antenna situation is still kind of unresolved. we have a buddipole but honestly i've never loved it for HF, it works but feels like youre always fighting the tuning. someone suggested just throwing up an EFHW with a 9:1 unun and using a random length of wire, which i've done at home but never portable in a field with no trees nearby. we might have to use a tripod and push-up mast situation which i've not really done before. anyone have a go-to setup for that kind of thing that doesn't take 45 minutes to assemble

congrats on the first activation, 11 QSOs on your first time out is solid especially if you were dealing with nerves and a pileup on top of it. on the activation zone question, honestly for most summits it really isnt something to stress over too much. if you're clearly on or very near the summit you're fine. the 25 meter vertical rule is more there to stop people from setting up at the trailhead and claiming the summit, it comes up more on these broad ridgeline summits where someone might try to activate from like half a mile away horizontally. if you hiked to the top youre good. for managing pileups, one thing that helped me a lot early on was just slowing down and taking control of the frequency instead of letting the pile run you. say who youre listening for, like say last two letters or just say QRZ SOTA and make them wait a second. also logging on paper first and transferring later saves a lot of brain cycles when youre out there, i used to try to do everything on my phone and it was a mess. the SOTA Spotter app is great but sometimes the self-spot takes a second depending on cell coverage so its worth texting an alert the day before so the chasers already know youre coming

the haminfo.net site has a net finder that i actually find more up to date than the ARRL one, worth bookmarking. also if you have Echolink or AllStar there are like hundreds of nets on there which is a good way to practice checking in without stressing about propagation and whether your signal is getting out. special event stations are super fun btw, some of them have really cool setups and the ops are usually happy to have a quick chat if the pileup isnt too crazy. i worked one for a lighthouse anniversary last summer and the guy on the other end was great.

So I just passed my technician exam last week and im trying to figure out what handheld to get as my first radio. I've been going back and forth forever on this and honestly the more I read the more confused I get. Right now im looking at the Baofeng UV-5R just because everyone seems to have one and the price is obviously hard to argue with, but then I keep seeing people say to just spend a little more and get a Yaesu or a Kenwood. The thing is I dont really know what I'd be missing with the cheaper radio, like what does a $150 radio actually do better than a $25 one in real everyday use. I'm mostly gonna be using it for local repeaters and maybe some simplex stuff, probably APRS eventually once I figure out what that even is. Not really planning on going portable for backcountry hiking or anything serious right away. Just want something to get started with and learn on. Anyone have thoughts on this or been in the same spot?

yeah the latency thing is just kind of the price of admission with remote ops over the public internet, at least in my experience. i run a remote setup with my IC-7300 at my parents place about 200 miles away and honestly anything under 500ms i consider acceptable for casual HF work. contesting or anything timing sensitive forget it, i dont even try remotely. the echolink/remote control hybrid idea isnt dumb at all actually, some emcomm groups do run remotely accessible linked systems but usually they build it purpose-specific rather than trying to bolt consumer remote control software onto an existing node. IRLP in particular is pretty locked down in terms of what you can run alongside it on the same machine if i remember right from when i looked into it years ago.

Just passed my Tech exam last weekend and I'm shopping for my first handheld radio! I keep seeing specs like "128 programmable memory channels" or "1000 memory channels" on different models. Can someone explain what I actually need as a new ham? Is more always better, or is there a sweet spot for someone just starting out? I plan to mostly hit the local 2m repeaters and maybe some simplex work. The Baofeng UV-5R has 128 channels for under $30, but the Yaesu FT-60R has 1000 channels at $180. That's a huge difference in both price and capability!

so i just got my general license about two months ago and ive been making contacts pretty regularly now, mostly on 40m and some 20m. everyone keeps mentioning LoTW and eQSL and i honestly dont really understand the difference or if i need both or just one or what. like my logging software (using WSJT-X and log4om) apparently can upload to both but i havent set any of that up yet. also a few people have sent me actual paper QSL cards through the bureau and i have no idea how to respond to those or even how the bureau system works. do i need to sign up somewhere for that? i joined ARRL when i got my license but i dont think i did anything with QSL stuff specifically. i guess my main question is — for awards like DXCC or WAS, does it matter which confirmation method you use? or do you need LoTW specifically for those? sorry if this is a really basic question, ive been trying to search around but i get different answers everywhere

POTA has been extremely popular - our club started a challenge that grew into multiple statewide events. Try organizing group activations or have members share their portable setups. We also do presentations on off-grid communications like LoRa and Meshtastic which get people excited about new tech.

ok so i just upgraded to general last month and im trying to figure out where i can actually operate on 40 meters. i know technicians are pretty limited but i thought generals had a lot more room. i looked up the band plan on the arrl website and also the part 97 allocations and honestly im more confused now than before because they dont always match up? like the arrl band plan shows certain segments for certain modes but then part 97 just says generals can use like 7.025 to 7.300 or something like that for phone. so does the arrl band plan actually matter legally or is it just a suggestion? and what about the 7.125 to 7.175 area, i keep hearing people say thats where generals should be for SSB in the US but i cant find that written anywhere official also someone at my club mentioned something about band edges and not operating too close to them, whats the deal with that