Lisa Rodriguez91

yeah im kind of in the same boat, been messing with my KX3's internal keyer settings for weeks. one thing that actually helped me a lot was just practicing individual characters super slow with a metronome app on my phone, like not even trying to send words just drilling the problem letters over and over until the muscle memory clicks. sounds tedious and it is but it helped more than any settings change did for me honestly

For serious contesting, stick with N1MM+ - nothing beats it. But for daily logging, Log4OM is much more user-friendly. I actually run both: Log4OM for everyday QSOs and fire up N1MM+ for contests. The ADIF import/export between them works perfectly, and Log4OM's award tracking features are superior to most alternatives.

ok so i just upgraded from tech to general last month and im still trying to figure out the whole frequency thing. like i understand there are portions of each band i can use now but 40m is confusing me. i was reading the band plan on the arrl site and then i looked at something else and the numbers were slightly different and now im not sure which one is actually the rule vs which one is just a suggestion or whatever. also someone in my club mentioned not operating too close to the band edge and i kind of nodded like i knew what they meant but honestly i have no idea why that matters. is it a legal thing or just courtesy or what. i dont want to accidentally transmit somewhere i shouldnt be

went through almost exactly this about two years ago. ended up going RSP1A and havent regretted it. for pure receive work especially on HF the difference is night and day compared to the dongle. the 14-bit ADC really does matter when youre trying to pull weak signals out next to strong broadcast stations, the RTL just gets overwhelmed in ways the SDRplay doesnt. HackRF is cool but its kind of a jack of all trades master of none situation. the 8-bit ADC hurts it on receive and the noise floor is noticeably higher. its more of a dev/research tool than something you sit down and actually use for monitoring. if you ever upgrade your license and want to do some low power experimenting with it thats one thing but for what youre describing the RSP1A is the obvious pick. SDRuno took some getting used to but its actually pretty solid once you figure out the layout, and it works fine with SDR# too if you grab the API.

yeah i went through this exact same thing about 8 months ago lol. i waited for my sequential call to show up which took maybe 2 weeks after i got my CSCE from the VE team, then i immediately filed for a vanity. got my first choice which was a 1x3 with my initials. honestly not too complicated once you sit down and actually read through the ULS filing screens, its just a little clunky to navigate at first. one thing i'll say is dont stress too much about which call you end up with either way. at first i was really hung up on it but once you actually start getting on the air you kind of stop caring as much. though having a shorter call is genuinely nice for things like contests or just saying your call sign repeatedly on a net, so if theres something you like go for it

Welcome to the award hunting addiction! Remember that QSL confirmations can cost several dollars per card when going international, so LoTW saves you money too. Start with basic WAS, then consider the endorsements once you get hooked on chasing awards.

so ive been messing with this for about three days now and im losing my mind a little. running a Kenwood TM-D710G into a Mobilinkd TNC3 (yeah i know the D710 has a built in TNC but i wanted to try the bluetooth setup with APRSDroid on my phone) and nothing is hitting aprs.fi. i can hear packets decoding fine in the app, like i can see other stations popping up around me so the receive side seems to be working, its just my own beacon that never shows. i set my callsign with the right SSID (-9 since its in the vehicle), path is set to WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 which should be fine around here, there are definitely igates within range because i can see them on the map. transmit audio level is probably where i should start looking but i really dont know how to verify that without another receiver to monitor myself. anyone been down this road before? feels like its probably something dumb

ran a 40m dipole at about 30 feet for years before i put up a vertical and honestly for ragchewing the dipole was fine, better even most of the time. the noise thing is real — my vertical picks up all kinds of garbage that the dipole just doesnt hear. for DX it flips around a bit depending on conditions and path but for domestic stuff the dipole won pretty consistently in my experience. at 35 feet youre not getting great low angle radiation anyway so youre not really giving up that much dx performance compared to a vertical with a mediocre radial field. id say do the dipole first, get it working, and if youre still jones-ing for a vertical after a few months then add one.

the power drop on 60m is normal for that radio, its not just you. the 857 was never really optimized for those channels from the factory and even with the mod the PA just doesnt love that part of the band. i measured mine with a Bird and its consistently a few watts down compared to 40m at the same power setting. nothing you did wrong. the early fan thing though, id keep an eye on that. might just be confirmation bias like you said but could also be a cold solder joint somewhere that's adding resistance and generating a little extra heat. worth reflowing anything you touched while you had it open just to be safe.

i passed general like 6 months ago coming from tech same as you. the question pool thing on hamstudy dot org is what i used, just kept doing practice tests until i was consistently hitting like 85% or better and then took the real one. the actual test felt easier than the practice ones weirdly. the band privilege stuff does trip people up yeah. also some of the antenna questions if you havent messed with HF antennas yet might feel abstract. i just memorized those honestly, didnt fully understand the feedline stuff until later when i actually had a dipole up