Dave Williams

Had the exact same problem with my scratch-built 20M rig. Added a series ferrite bead on the PA drain lead and improved the low-pass filter response - gained back 10dB of isolation. Sometimes a simple toroid choke does wonders.

I had the exact same problem when I got licensed! Even cheap $25 Baofengs can be set to use CTCSS tones, and most VHF/UHF radios built in the last three decades allow you to set them. On the UV-5R, press MENU, then find option 13 (T-CTCS). Set it to 141.3 and you should be good to go. Welcome to the hobby!

Just got my Technician license and want to learn Morse code from scratch - never touched CW before. I see there are Farnsworth method, Koch method, mnemonics, etc. and tons of apps/software like G4FON, LCWO, and Morse Mania. Which approach actually works best for complete beginners? I have about 30 minutes per day to practice. Should I start with character speed at 20 WPM like people suggest, or is that crazy for day one? Really appreciate any guidance from folks who've been through this journey.

this sounds like a really well run exercise honestly, the fact that things went wrong is kind of the whole point right. we did something similar about two years ago and our biggest failure was nobody had tested the go kit batteries in like six months. showed up to the EOC with three operators and not a single radio that would hold a charge for more than an hour. embarrassing doesnt even cover it. the certification thing is real too. our served agency liaison got pretty serious about ICS credentials after one of our guys showed up to an actual activation and couldnt get badged in because his paperwork wasnt current. now we track it on a shared spreadsheet and somebody sends reminders every january. not glamorous but it works. for scenarios i'd say the most valuable ones we've done involved communications going partially down rather than completely down. total failure is easy in a way because everyone knows nothing works. partial failure where you have to figure out whats working and route around whats not, thats where the real skills show up.

Working on a homebrew 20m CW transceiver and considering different PA topologies. A class E power amplifier is potentially incredibly efficient (theoretically up to 99%!) but is difficult to get right. Has anyone successfully implemented Class E in a QRP design? What's been your experience with component tolerances and real-world efficiency? Worth the complexity over a simple Class C stage for 5W output?

hamstudy.org is honestly how most people do it these days, just grind through the practice tests until youre consistently hitting 80% or better and youll be fine. the actual exam pulls straight from that question pool so there really are no surprises. that said if you have zero electronics background it might be worth at least skimming one of the study guides just to understand WHY some of the answers are what they are, otherwise youll pass the test and then be completely lost when someone asks you a real question on the air. the ARRL handbook is overkill for tech, but the gordon west study books are pretty approachable even if theyre a little dated

oh man W4T/SU-064 i think i chased someone off that one last fall, great little summit. you'll be fine. activation zone thing is usually pretty generous, just gotta be within 25 meters vertical of the true summit and you're in the zone. the maps can look weird but usually if you're near the top youre good. one thing i'd say is bring more coax than you think you need, i always end up wishing i had another 10 feet when im trying to find a good tree to hang the dipole from. also log on paper up there and transfer it later, dont rely on just a phone app cause batteries do weird things in the cold

six weeks is plenty of time honestly, I did it in like three weeks just doing a little bit each night. the thing that helped me most was hamexam.org — you can drill questions by topic which is way better than just going through the whole pool randomly. I spent maybe 20-30 minutes a day on there and by the end I was consistently scoring in the high 80s on the practice exams. the ARRL guide is decent but I found it a little dry, some people swear by the Gordon West book instead. either way I'd say dont stress too much about fully understanding every single concept right away, some of the antenna theory and electrical formulas will make more sense once you're actually on the air. just get licensed first and then keep learning. the question pool for tech isnt as bad as it looks once you start breaking it down by section

so ive been chasing this one for a couple weeks now and im starting to think its a PA board issue but wanted to see if anyone here has seen this before. basically my 7300 is putting out maybe 30-35 watts max on 40m regardless of what i set the power to, every other band is fine, hitting full 100w no problem. ALC looks normal, SWR is fine, antenna hasnt changed. tried two different antennas just to rule that out. i did the usual stuff, checked the driver output, reseated the connectors on the PA board. nothing obviously burnt or shorted when i look at it. the radio doesnt throw any error codes which is annoying because at least that would give me something to go on. was wondering if anyone has had similar and whether its usually the band-specific filter section or something on the PA itself that goes like this. i have a service manual but the fault isolation tree in there is pretty vague honestly. radio is a few years old, bought used, so no warranty to worry about. not afraid to get in there and poke around but want to make sure im not chasing the wrong thing first.

so i passed my technician exam last saturday, the VE team was great and i got my CSCE on the spot. now im just waiting and honestly the whole callsign assignment thing is confusing me a bit. like i know the FCC assigns one sequentially but i dont really understand what that means in practice. does it just pull from a list of available calls in my district? and how long does it usually take to show up in the ULS database because ive been checking every day and nothing yet lol also someone at the exam session mentioned something about vanity calls and i had no idea what they were talking about. is that something i should be thinking about right now or is that a whole separate thing i do after i get my initial callsign? i dont want to miss a window or something if theres a timing thing involved

yeah gpredict is pretty solid honestly, i've been using it for a few years and updating TLEs every 3-4 days is usually enough unless the bird has done a maneuver or something, which obviously doesnt apply to the amateur ones. the second or two offset you're seeing is probably just normal TLE age drift, nothing to worry about. if you start seeing consistent 5+ second errors that's when i'd look at your system clock sync more than the elements themselves. the linear transponder mode thing really does open up a lot more operating. AO-73 is nice but if you havent tried XW-2 series or even FO-29 on a good day those are worth chasing. FO-29 is getting old and a bit unreliable but when it cooperates the passband is clean. also try running your uplink power down as low as you can while still copying yourself — the polite thing on a linear bird is to not stomp all over the passband and it'll actually help you work more stations too because they can hear you without you wiping out half the transponder.

yeah i was in the exact same boat like a year ago lol. what finally made it click for me was realizing you dont have to pick just one — most people use all three to some degree. i upload to LoTW for the awards stuff and i also do eQSL because a lot of people confirm there really fast and its kind of satisfying to see those come in. and then for certain contacts, like if i work somebody rare or just have a really good QSO, i'll send a physical card because theres something cool about it. the LoTW certificate thing is annoying at first but once its set up you basically just export your log from whatever software youre using and upload it, takes like two minutes. dont give up on it

this is really encouraging to read, im still pretty much stuck around 7wpm and getting frustrated. i didnt know about the farnsworth thing ill have to look that up. does it matter which software you use or is it mostly just about putting the time in every day

yeah the timing thing is huge and nobody talks about it enough. i spent years just hammering my call and wondering why the big gun stations always seemed to get through — eventually figured out they're doing exactly what you described, they're listening to the DX operator's cadence and essentially predicting when to transmit. some ops are really consistent, like almost metronomic, once you lock onto that it's almost like you can feel the right moment. one other thing that helped me a lot was partial calls. controversial i know but hear me out — a lot of the top dxpedition ops will come back to a partial and then fill in the rest, so if you can get even a fragment through the noise you're already ahead. works better on CW obviously but ive had it work on SSB too. the 3Y0 guys specifically seemed to be pretty good about working partials when the pile was at its worst. your point about audio is dead on. i had a buddy who was running a kenwood ts-590 next to me at a club remote setup and his audio was noticeably cleaner on the waterfall. we were same power same antenna and he was getting through faster. spent an afternoon with him dialing in the tx eq settings and it made a real difference. dont sleep on that stuff even if it feels like marginal gains.

okay so ive been messing with Winlink Express for about two weeks now and i think i finally understand the basics but theres one thing that keeps tripping me up. when i do a session and pick "Winlink HF Hybrid Network" or whatever, how do i know if im going through an actual RF gateway or just falling back to telnet over the internet? like is there a way to force it to only use RF so i can actually test if my setup is working on-air? my setup is a 7300 running into a SignaLink on VARA HF, been using the auto-connect thing but half the time i cant tell if im even hitting an RMS station or just sneaking through the internet and cheating myself out of the real test. my antenna situation isnt great (attic dipole, dont ask) so im wondering if thats why it keeps falling back or if theres something wrong with my config. callsign is in my profile, im in the midwest so there should be decent RMS coverage but maybe not on 40m at this hour idk also slightly related - if i want to eventually set up my own RMS gateway someday, do i need a dedicated machine for that or can winlink express run as a gateway on the same PC i use for normal operations? saw some conflicting info on the winlink.org docs

A fresh battery is a good battery. As batteries discharge, their voltage drops. Modern HTs can work with a wide range a voltages, but many units will lower the transmit power as the voltage drops. Fresh, high capacity batteries will keep you transmitting a full for a longer period. I've been experimenting with different battery management techniques and power settings on my HTs. Lower power levels conserve battery life but may restrict your communication range, while higher power levels can extend your reach but drain the battery faster. Most digital handheld radios offer several power level options, such as low (1 watt), medium (3-4 watts), and high (5-6 watts). If you're communicating over short distances or in a crowded area, using a lower power level can help conserve battery life and reduce interference. Also discovered that avoiding unnecessary use of backlighting or other power-consuming features can help conserve battery life. What are your go-to battery saving techniques?

honestly the technician exam is way more manageable than it looks at first. the question pool is public, thats the big thing most people dont realize right away — the actual questions they can ask you are all posted online ahead of time so theres no surprises. HamStudy.org is where I'd point you first, just make flashcards and keep drilling until you're consistently passing the practice tests. I used that plus the ARRL Technician manual and had my ticket in about three weeks of casual studying, maybe 20-30 minutes a day. for the actual test you find a VE session near you, those are volunteer examiners, most local clubs run them pretty regularly and some do walk-ins. the fee is usually around 15 bucks or so. dont stress too much about the electronics theory side, theres enough of it to understand but its not like you're designing circuits or anything

congrats on your first activation, 44 in 3 hours on a KFF ref is solid especially if it wasnt a well known park or anything. for the upload there isnt really a hard deadline, ive had logs sitting for a while before i got around to it and it was fine. just go through wwff.info and submit the ADIF through the log entry system. takes a day or two sometimes longer for it to show up as confirmed depending on how backed up the volunteers are who process things. the POTA app thing is pretty common actually, a lot of people use it because the hunter community overlaps a ton and honestly hunters will chase you whether its a KFF or a KG ref or whatever. some refs are dual listed too so that helps. just make sure when you spot yourself you put the right reference in and people generally figure it out. the dedicated WWFF spotter page works too but the POTA one has way more eyeballs on it most days.

congrats on passing general, that's a solid exam. ok so the sequential thing is pretty straightforward — when you get a new license the FCC basically just assigns the next available callsign in your district based on your license class. so as a general you'd get a 2x2 format in your region, they just work through the available pool in order. you dont really have any say in it. for vanity calls you can apply pretty much right away, there's no waiting period after getting licensed as far as i know. what you DO have to deal with is the application window system. when a callsign becomes available (usually because someone let their license expire or a silent key situation) there's a 18 day window where anyone eligible can apply for it, and if multiple people apply the system uses a priority system based on your relationship to the previous holder or your license class. it used to be a lottery after that but i believe it changed at some point, someone else might know the current rules better than me. and yes there is a fee now, the FCC started charging for amateur licenses a few years back. i want to say it's around $35 but double check that on the FCC site because i might be slightly off. the fee applies to new licenses, renewals, and vanity applications too i believe.

ok so ive been licensed for about 3 months now, tech class, and i keep reading conflicting stuff online about what frequencies i actually have access to. like i understand i have VHF and UHF privileges but then someone at my club said something about HF phone privileges on 10 meters and i didnt even know that was a thing. and then theres all this stuff in part 97 about power limits and emission types and honestly it reads like a legal document which i guess it is but still. my main question is like... is there a plain english version of what techs can actually do? and also is there some kind of table or something official that spells it out because every website i find seems to have slightly different info and now im not sure whats current. dont want to accidentally transmit somewhere im not supposed to be

yeah what you heard was probably the old APCO phonetics, they were used a lot by law enforcement and older hams before NATO became the standard everybody settled on. Adam Boy Charles David Edward and so on. some old timers still use them out of habit, especially guys who came up through public safety or learned back in the 60s and 70s. theres no FCC rule saying you HAVE to use NATO specifically, the regs just say you need to identify your station, they dont mandate which phonetic system you use. that said NATO is pretty much universal now and if youre working DX or any kind of contest or just talking to someone in another country, NATO is what they'll expect. on a local repeater with regulars it doesnt really matter much, people will understand either way. i'd just stick with NATO, its what everyone learns now and youll never confuse anybody with it.

ok so ive been chasing DXCC for about a year now and im sitting at like 87 confirmed on lotw which honestly feels both exciting and frustrating at the same time. my question is about the credits themselves — like if i work a station in some entity and they confirm on lotw but i also have a paper QSL from a different contact with that same entity, does that count as two credits or just one? i know thats probably a dumb question but the arrl website is kind of confusing to read through and i dont want to submit my first application and screw something up. also while im at it, is WAS worth chasing alongside DXCC or is it kind of a distraction? ive got maybe 35 states confirmed on lotw and some guys at the club say to just focus on one thing at a time but others say working states fills in dead time when theres no good dx around. im on HF with a 100w station and a wire dipole up about 30 feet so nothing fancy, just trying to figure out the best strategy going in.

I've been using N1MM Logger Plus for contests - it's the world's most popular ham radio contest logging program with unmatched contest-optimized features. But I'm seeing more portable/POTA operators using mobile logging apps. For someone who does both contesting and field operations, is it worth learning a mobile logger like Ham Radio Logger or World Radio League? Or should I stick with N1MM and just deal with laptop weight during portable ops? Current setup: N1MM on Windows laptop, mostly HF contests and some POTA

ok so i just got my technician license last month and ive been trying to use the local 2m repeater but nobody ever seems to hear me. i looked up the repeater on repeaterbook and it shows a 100.0 Hz tone but im not totally sure if thats what i need to program into my radio as the transmit tone or the receive tone or both? my HT is a baofeng uv-5r and i think i got it set up right but honestly the menu system on that thing is a nightmare. also i heard someone on the repeater talking about a linked system and i didnt really know what that meant — like is the repeater connected to other repeaters somehow? and is there any etiquette stuff i should know before i just start calling CQ or whatever on a repeater? dont want to step on anyone or do something embarrassing on my first real qso

yeah you've got the right idea basically. CTCSS is a continuous subaudible tone you transmit alongside your voice and the repeater's receiver is set to only open up when it hears that specific tone — keeps it from triggering on noise or other signals it's not supposed to respond to. if repeaterbook doesn't list a tone it could mean open carrier (no tone needed) but honestly the data on there is sometimes out of date so worth checking with a local club or the repeater's trustee if you can find them. the reason your friend said transmit tone only is that if you put the tone squelch on receive too, your radio will only open its own speaker when it hears that tone coming back from the repeater, which is usually fine but sometimes you'll miss part of a transmission if the courtesy tone or ID doesn't carry the PL tone. most people just set encode only and leave decode off, that way you hear everything coming off the repeater. on a baofeng the setting you want is just the T-CTCS menu option, set your transmit tone there and leave R-CTCS on off. should do it.