Bob Martinez

the adapter thing is huge, you nailed that. i have a small ziplock bag that is just adapters — BNC to PL-259, SMA female to BNC, a couple barrel connectors, one of those anderson powerpole to cigarette lighter adapters — and i have used almost every single one of them at some point. feels silly until it saves you. one thing i see people overlook constantly is documentation. like printed documentation. frequencies for your local repeaters, ARES net schedules, ICS forms if youre doing any kind of served agency work. your phone might die or you might be in a situation where you cant look things up. i laminated a single reference card with my most used freqs and it lives in the kit permanently now. a second HT is not overkill at all in my opinion. i keep a Baofeng in mine honestly just as a backup even though i know people will roll their eyes at that. if my main rig goes down i still need to check into nets and coordinate. also extra batteries for the HT, not just the big main battery. the little things run out faster than you think when youre monitoring all day. sounds like youre off to a better start than most people who just throw a radio in a bag and call it a kit. the fact that youre thinking about it this way means you'll probably fill in the gaps pretty quick.

I'm currently working LEO linear birds with separate TX/RX radios (IC-9700 for RX, FT-991A for TX). The software must simultaneously decrease the uplink frequency while increasing the downlink frequency as the satellite approaches, and I'm getting tired of manual Doppler corrections. Looking at the IC-9700's full duplex capabilities or possibly the newer Yaesu FT-736R for dedicated satellite work. For those using full duplex setups on AO-73 (eclipse passes and weekends) and FO-29, is the convenience worth the expense? My current setup works but tracking gets tedious during busy passes. Particularly interested in how well CAT control handles the reversed Doppler correction required for inverting linear transponders.

been chasing DXCC for about a year myself and the LoTW thing is huge, seriously upload everything you've ever logged and you might be surprised. i had contacts going back that i forgot about and boom there were confirmations waiting. the ARRL mixed DXCC is probably the most satisfying thing ive done in the hobby so far, just got past 150 confirmed last month. one thing nobody told me early on - keep track of which band you worked each entity on because band-specific DXCC is a whole other rabbit hole. probably dont worry about that right away but just keep good logs with band and mode noted so you have the data later if you want it.

not a dumb question at all, this stuff confused me for years honestly. ok so the short version: LoTW is run by the ARRL and is what you need for DXCC credit, that's probably the most important thing to know. when two stations both upload their logs and the contact matches up on date, time, band and mode it becomes a confirmed QSL in LoTW. so yes upload your logs and eventually contacts will start confirming, sometimes it takes a while because the other station has to upload too. eQSL is a separate system and it's not accepted for DXCC but some other awards do accept it, like the Worked All States on eQSL has its own award program. some operators are really active on eQSL and some ignore it completely. i use both just to cover my bases. as for the paper card from Japan — yes you should absolutely send one back if you can. that's just good operating courtesy. you can order cards pretty cheap from a bunch of places, vista print works fine, some guys get fancy ones made. you can send it directly to their callsign via your national QSL bureau which is cheaper than direct mail, or just send it directly with a self addressed envelope and a couple dollars to cover return postage if you want a card back from them too. the bureau is slower but free basically. welcome to the rabbit hole, it only gets more complicated from here haha

So i finally did my first activation last weekend, been chasing for about 6 months and kept telling myself id get out and do one. Picked a relatively easy summit near me, W7W/LC-123 or something like that, only like 800 points prominence but figured start small you know. Got up there no problem, weather was decent although it clouded over faster than i expected. Had my FT-818 and a homebrew EFHW that i just kinda tossed into a tree at the top. Got the four contacts i needed but it was sketchy for a while, only had two chasers respond at first and i was there for almost 40 minutes on 20m calling CQ SOTA before i got lucky with a couple more. Should have probably spotted myself sooner honestly, i kept thinking i could just work someone off a cold call and that... doesnt really work apparently. Anyway logged it, submitted the points, and now im totally hooked. Already looking at a harder summit nearby. Does anyone have tips for working more contacts per activation, like is there a trick to getting a good pileup going or do you just need to be on the right band at the right time?

With SFI holding steady at 158 and a K-index down to 1, looks like we're in for some solid propagation this week. High solar flux means strong ionization, supporting higher band openings on 20m–15m throughout the day. I've been working some nice DX on 17m around midday - anyone else noticing the higher bands staying open longer than usual? Low geomagnetic activity makes this an ideal time for reliable signals and low noise. Perfect time to dust off those 10m and 12m antennas!

im kind of in the same boat as you actually, went from a baofeng to a Wouxun last year and i think the step up was worth it even if its not a japanese radio. the menu system is less confusing to me than the baofengs and the battery lasts noticeably longer on a full day out. cant speak to the KG-UV9D specifically but the one i have feels pretty well built. one thing i'd say is go to a club meeting or hamfest if you can and just hold a few different radios before buying, the ergonomics matter more than you'd think when youre trying to change channels with cold fingers on a hilltop

ok so ive been licensed about 8 months now and im starting to get into chasing awards and i keep seeing people mention LoTW, eQSL, and then obviously the traditional paper cards and im just not sure what the actual difference is in terms of which ones count for what. like i know ARRL uses LoTW for DXCC and stuff but does eQSL count for anything official? and do i still need to send paper cards or is that just a nice-to-do thing at this point my logging software is log4om and i think it can upload to both but i havent actually done it yet because i wanted to understand what i was getting into first. also is there like a cost involved with any of these? i dont mind paying if its worth it but i want to know upfront. sorry if this is a dumb question, just trying to figure out the whole confirmation ecosystem i guess

not a dumb question at all, honestly the first few nets can feel really confusing because a lot of them dont announce themselves very well if you tune in late. most nets have a published start time and the net control will open the net with a quick preamble, then call for check-ins, so if you're hearing ongoing conversation you probably caught them mid-net. try tuning in like 5 minutes early and just listen. you'll hear the net control take over and announce it properly. for finding net schedules the ARRL has a net directory at arrl.org but honestly your local club email list or repeater trustee usually knows all the regional nets better than any national database does. some clubs even have a weekly or monthly net specifically for newer hams which is a really low pressure way to get comfortable. as for special event stations, the ARRL special event page gets updated pretty regularly and W1AW operations show up there too. 4th of july, field day, stuff like that. once you work a few you start to get a feel for the rhythm of it

congrats on passing the exam first of all. okay so for what you're describing — local repeaters and simplex with a buddy — honestly almost any dual band HT will do the job technically. the baofeng will work, full stop. i started on one and it got me on the air and that's what mattered at the time. that said, the thing nobody tells you upfront is that the frustration with the really cheap ones usually isnt the RF performance, its everything around it. the menus are confusing, the programming software is a headache, the audio can be pretty rough, and some of them have transmit issues that can cause you problems on repeaters. not saying dont buy one, just saying know what you're getting into. if you can stretch to something like the yaesu ft-65 or even a used vx-6r you'll probably appreciate it more six months from now. better audio, more intuitive to use, better build. but if budget is genuinely tight right now just get the baofeng, get on the air, and upgrade later when you know what you actually want. that's a totally valid path too.

yeah the antenna isolation thing is the real headache, not the radios. i ran a cobbled together SO2R for about two years on a shoestring and honestly the biggest thing that helped wasnt fancy bandpass filters or anything like that — it was just being really disciplined about which bands i ran simultaneously. like never 40 and 80 at the same time, and 20 with 10 worked okay with the tribander because youre not dealing with harmonics the same way. the 590 and 7300 should play pretty okay together if you keep them on different bands, the issue is when people try to run adjacent bands and then wonder why their S meter is pegged. get a pair of ICE bandpass filters if you can find them used, they show up on QRZ classifieds occasionally. that made more difference for me than any other single thing. for the software side, N1MM with SO2R mode and a cheap footswitch for PTT switching between radios changed my sweepstakes score significantly. i think i went from like 18k to almost 24k once i got comfortable enough with the workflow to not constantly make stupid mistakes on the wrong radio. the first few contests youre going to transmit on the wrong rig at least a dozen times, just accept it now.