XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated

Amateur/Ham Radio

///////////////////////////////////////////
Please suggest topics for the r/amateurradio net! It will be held Monday at
9 PM EST

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 07:30 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3v1xp/please_suggest_topics_for_the_ramateurradio_net/


Hi all! We will be hosting weekly nets dedicated to the topics and posts
from r/amateurradio every Monday at 9 PM EST. I would love to have a few
topics for discussion on the agenda each week.
My suggestion for this week is "Automated FT8 Operation: Natural Evolution
or Menace?"
You can access the net via digital VHF/UHF using: Brandmeister talk group 98003 Yaesu Fusion reflector YSF35010, room US-Reddit AllStarLink node
48224 Echolink node W5RI-L D-Star via XLX216 Module E
Please let us know in this thread if you have any trouble getting
connected. We will start taking early check-ins at 8:45 which is a great
time to test if your equipment is working.
Also, let me know if you would be interested in hosting the net once per
month. Ill put together a list of volunteers. Im looking forward to
chatting with all of you! submitted by /u/BogartNation
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Gifted a couple of mobile/base units... Worth keeping?

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 05:55 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3sxmk/gifted_a_couple_of_mobilebase_units_worth_keeping/

submitted by /u/lostsherlock
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Preventing EMI from PC...

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 08:37 PM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3jfyi/preventing_emi_from_pc/

submitted by /u/AtxGuitarist
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Searching for the Ultimate Homelab/Ham Shack desk

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 06:11 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3taed/searching_for_the_ultimate_homelabham_shack_desk/

submitted by /u/thetremorman
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
The vertex Boyz came out to play

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 09:41 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3y2vj/the_vertex_boyz_came_out_to_play/

submitted by /u/TornadoCondorV2
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Hows my ground look?

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 10:29 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3z5sg/hows_my_ground_look/

submitted by /u/aacmckay
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
SOTA with a 2 meter HT: tips for beginners

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 06:15 PM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3gitu/sota_with_a_2_meter_ht_tips_for_beginners/


Last autumn I was temporarily shifted to a 4x10 work schedule, which gave
me a glorious string of wide-open Fridays. Being an avid hiker my first
thought was to hit the trails with my dog. Then it occurred to me: I always pack a radio when hiking, so why not try SOTA?
In case you are a total beginner, Summits On The Air (SOTA) is an
international radio sport that awards points for operating from summits. To successfully activate a summit you need to get on top of an officially
listed hill, make 4 simplex contacts via any band or mode, and then upload
your log to the SOTA Data website. You can browse the official peaks and activation reports on SOTA Maps. There is a scoring system for both
activators and chasers – operators who specialize in contacting activators. Some mountains are worth more points than others, and there is a wintertime bonus. Scoring is done on the honor system, requiring no confirmation or specific contest exchange. Your contacts do not even need to know what SOTA
is! The real treasures are the friends you make along the way.
SOTA is chiefly a HF/CW/QRP enterprise, but you can easily do it with a technician’s license and a basic HT. Below I’ve captured some thoughts specific to 2 meters for North American newcomers wishing to maximize their success.
For HF operators, success has a lot to do with skill and propagation conditions. But on 2m your propagation boils down to line of sight into a population who might hear you. The odds of contacting anybody on 2m simplex recalls the famous Drake equation that weighs the odds of contacting intelligent life against the vastness of the universe. Roughly speaking,
the VHF SOTA equation is the sum over time of:
Nearby population \ fraction who are hams * fraction positioned to hear you
* fraction who have their radios on * fraction who happen to be scanning simplex * fraction able and willing to respond to your CQ.*
Any amateur radio operator can tell you these are staggeringly poor odds.
In my experience, the nearest metropolitan area of about 1M people will
yield about 4-6 contacts per hour. Fortunately, that’s all you need! It’s just a matter of engineering your luck.
Nearby Population & Fraction Who Are Hams & Fraction Who Can Hear You
Choose only summits that have a direct line of sight into population
centers. The higher the summit the better. Study the viewshed of a summit
on Google Earth. Don’t kid yourself with tricky propagation modes like knife-edge diffraction or reflection. Even a modest hill can occlude some potential contacts, make sure they’re not the ones who are likeliest to be hams.
If you want people to hear you on 2m in the United States, your best mode
will be analog FM. Other modes like SSB or DMR may enjoy signal to noise advantages over FM but will drastically reduce the pool of people who can respond. Plus, the signal to noise ratio from a mountaintop is typically awesome. People might even mistake you for a repeater.
Who Has Their Radio On?
Study your local traffic patterns to learn when operators are on the air.
In my area, weekend mornings work the best. During weekdays your greatest
odds likely come during commute times. For this reason a summit that
overlooks a major highway might counterbalance other difficulties,
especially if you are patient.
Fraction Who Happen To Be Scanning Simplex
SOTA has taught me that radio amateurs seldom monitor the “national calling frequency” of 146.52, which is a tragedy for the hobby. Even fewer monitor the 70cm calling frequency of 446.0. The good news is that the ones
monitoring simplex are predominantly motorists with high-powered mobile
radios and efficient antennas. Sometimes talk groups settle on other
simplex frequencies, so before ending a QSO, ask if there are other known frequencies to try.
If your area has a morning net, check in and let other operators know what you’re up to and when you’ll be on the air. Plenty of hams will be happy to scan simplex if they anticipate some blip of activity. I usually send out
an email to my friends letting them know where I’ll be and what frequencies to monitor, and that gets me most of the way there. SMS may also be a last-minute option: cellular service can be surprisingly good on SOTA
summits.
Fraction Willing and Able To Respond To Your CQ
The final hurdle is convincing the other side to call you back. Your
technique as an operator therefore matters greatly. A typical contest-style
CQ, hurried and robotic may not suffice. You will not be sorting through a pileup and there is little need to be formulaic. For many, hearing CQ on 2M
is so unusual that half the operators will doubt you really mean to talk to them. If you sound too frantic, somebody may even assume you are in
distress.
Call slow. State your name and where you are. Say you’re looking for a call back from any station that can hear you. Say where your antenna is
pointing. Space out your repetitions and take breaks. Always specify the frequency on which you are transmitting, as it can be nearly impossible for
a person scanning to reach over and hit pause before their radio moves on.
More effective than CQ is an actual conversation. Be generous if the other party feels talkative. Explain what SOTA is. Describe your surroundings – talk about the beautiful view, any special radio gear you hauled up, bear tracks you saw – anything that will encourage another caller to key up
after you bid 73. Be on your best behavior and QSY promptly if anybody else needs the frequency.
Other Advice
Antenna
The obvious first upgrade would be an improved antenna, either a j-pole you
can throw into a tree or better yet, a directional antenna. There’s no
sense in throwing power where it won’t be received. With 6 dB of gain the other party will think you are transmitting from their driveway.
Paperwork
It requires a real mental shift to switch from a strenuous climb to calling
CQ, so I carry a clipboard with a printout of the summit information to
keep me on track. My one-pager includes a table in which to record
contacts, frequencies to try, plus an “honor roll” of callsigns and first names from previous activations. I like to greet repeat customers by name.
What to do if it’s slow (Spotting)
Spotting is the practice of drawing attention to your frequency through
some other means, for example via repeater, cellphone or the Internet. A spotter can be immensely helpful and can drum up the required contacts in
no time. Self-spotting is allowed – you told everyone you were headed up
the mountain anyway, right? - but can feel kind of pitiful. Know your
personal boundaries. The official SOTA spotting website is called
SOTAWatch, though it may be of limited use for local activations.
Private and inaccessible land
Some peaks are not accessible because they are located inside national
parks, tribal lands, mining claims etc. A peak that shows 0 activations on
SOTA Maps is a red flag. The best mobile apps for field-diagnosing a “No Trespassing” sign are the ones made for hunters that gather all the
property records into one map. Activation reports on SOTA Maps sometimes contain pointers on obtaining permission from landowners.
Why bother?
SOTA peaks are not chosen by algorithm. Instead they are curated by a
section coordinator, somebody familiar with your region. A bunch of the
summits in my area don’t even have established trails! If you are the
outdoor type, SOTA Maps will give you a valuable alternative to mainstream guides like alltrails. Operating a radio at the summit is a luxury
experience: reception is astoundingly good and your reach on 2m can extend
for a hundred miles or more. It is a great way to expand your radio
practice beyond the local repeater system. submitted by /u/AI5EZ
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Reminder: ARRL January VHF Contest is this weekend - great opportunity to
get on the air and work some new grids

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 10:30 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3z6es/reminder_arrl_january_vhf_contest_is_this_weekend/

submitted by /u/kc2syk
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
DStar - Getting "not linked" message when trying to connect to reflector

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 04:33 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3rbbz/dstar_getting_not_linked_message_when_trying_to/


I just got a TH-D74 and after playing with APRS, decided to give DStar a
shot. Using the RT-Systems programming software, I added some lines for a
local DStar repeater: URCALL RPT1 RPT2 CQCQCQ WR0AEN B WR0AEN G E
WR0AEN B WR0AEN G I WR0AEN B WR0AEN G U WR0AEN B WR0AEN G REF001CL
WR0AEN B WR0AEN G
I can connect to the echo reflector correctly, and I think Im getting out
on CQCQCQ, but when I try Info or 001CL, I get a "not linked" response.
Am I missing a step or something? submitted by /u/minorsecond
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
motorola.

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 08:18 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3w60b/motorola/


Hey what Motorola radios would you guys recommend for VHF UHF operation? submitted by /u/Dear_Public5417
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Grounding issue

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 07:38 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3v805/grounding_issue/


Im 99% sure Ive got a grounding issue in my shack. When I try and run any
power on FT8 (anything more than 25 watts) my computer looses the USB sound card device (IC-7300) and it gets stuck on TX (because it lost the CAT connection). On 40 an 80 meters the lights in my shack flutter. My
grounding is not great. Currently its about a 15 foot run from my radio to
the house ground which I know is not the best way to go. My shack is in the basement BTW.
Currently its frozen earth here so pounding a ground rod will have to wait until spring. Im planning on putting one just outside the shack so it will
at least be a little closer. Im also going to put in a lightning arrestor
in line of my coax and put a ground rod connected to it for all my antennas. Question is. Should I bond all of these new ground rods together? Also
should I bond any or all of these to my house ground? Im also going to
adjust my antennas so they resonate a bit better. Ive noticed that the SWR
has crept up and Im not sure why. submitted by /u/PhantomNomad
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Day 26. For a "no logs accepted" contest. You literally just tell the ARRL
your score.

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 03:09 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3pvxd/day_26_for_a_no_logs_accepted_contest_you/

submitted by /u/KY4ID
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Hearing Impaired Ham Here, Need Some Advice

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 06:32 PM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3gvw2/hearing_impaired_ham_here_need_some_advice/


Im hearing impaired and I have a real hard time hearing contacts sometimes.
Im not elderly; I lost a chunk of hearing when I was very little. Even with hearing aids vowels can be quite muddled at times.
When I say Im having a hard time with some contacts, I dont mean "they
sound so faint that I wonder how they even managed to break the squelch on
the repeater." That happens to everybody. I mean I am having a hard time separating their voices from the QR[N|M] that my HT also picks up. This is frustrating.
In the short term, can someone please recommend a headset that has PTT and
will work with my HT? I need something that wont also piss off my hearing
aids and make them squeal when I try to use them at the same time. Fully enclosed headsets usually do the trick.
In the longer term, can someone also please recommend a radio that has
really good DSP that can clean up the radio static but wont break the bank?
Id like an HT but Ill be very happy to take suggestions for a non-mobile
radio too. Just know that Im limited to small indoor antennas due to
apartment living. Bonus if your suggestion can do APRS/Winlink packet modes without much modification.
Lastly, my pair of Baofengs are exhibiting the strangest behavior...
Theyre virtually identical. Yet, each HT will pick up traffic the other
will not when tuned to the same frequency and sporting the same model
antenna. I didnt discover this because I had both radios on and was trying
to hear myself speak. I discovered this because Ive had one go dead quiet
in the middle of a net check-in. (Yeah, that was "fun.") This seems to be intermittent, but one seems much more prone to it than the other. Has
anyone here seen anything like this? Its really making me pull my hair out.
Any other tips and tricks my fellow hearing impaired hams have are most welcome. Im very much open to suggestions as to how I can improve my
amateur radio experience and get the most out of the hobby. submitted
by /u/s-ro_mojosa
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Weekday net question: would it be improper to use (modulated) CW for my
call sign on a repeater?

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 10:56 PM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3lyqd/weekday_net_question_would_it_be_improper_to_use/


There is a weekday net Monday through Friday locally for 30 minutes after
work. They have general check ins at first , then a section for certain
hams to check in (age or years of ham license), a news and what’s happening section where the net control tells the news in ham radio locally, and then there are general check ins again. But, to start off that last general
checks, they mention “any forms and means of communication” (they say it longer than that) can be used to check in. They even mention using a
carrier pigeon as an option (obviously a joke).
Given that last section, would it be improper to check in with modulated CW giving my call sign? They’re not expecting thst since that whole line about using “any means of communication”, especially using a pigeon, is more humor, but I thought I’d use humor back and follow what rules they lay out. It fits in with “any forms” but I don’t want to be out of line. I’m still
learning repeater/operating etiquette. submitted by /u/PapaElonMusk
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Help finding battery/charger for ft-530?

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 12:25 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3ndtu/help_finding_batterycharger_for_ft530/


Hi all,
Just purchases a giant box of radios and accessories from the grandson of a
SK. Buried in the bottom was a ft-530 with no battery or charger. Anyone
have a recommendation for getting it power? submitted by /u/DrunkPanda
[link] [comments]

///////////////////////////////////////////
Policy on amusing trolls

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 05:12 AM PST https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s3s1cn/policy_on_amusing_trolls/


Hey Amateurs !I just fell for a great troll on this sub and my intern and I
are still laughing about it. I love this kind of humor, but am also kind of
new to the hobby, getting my tech + general and first radio in December.
I would hate to see other newbies get turned off for not being in on the
joke and spending money on stuff they dont need. How do the veterans feel
about this? Is this a haze to get into the cool kids club, or should we
have some flair for these hilarious but factually incorrect comments?
submitted by /u/smvk
[link] [comments]

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)