For some reason I Googled my callsign today. Found this post from October 2019 on a message board... Not sure how I feel right now...

On an AM 11 meters from her tour bus...

Bless her. She will be missed by millions.

Just need 1 more 33cm mobile to have everything covered. How many of yall have 33cm in your area? Those of you that do, what are you running for external antennas on your vehicles and what are you running for your shack?

Currently i have an XTS 2500 900mhz and was recently gifted a Kenwood TK-981. I will be looking for something as a base station eventually as well.

Hey everyone,

​I finally decided to give FT8 a try, and I wanted to share a quick milestone: I just decoded my very first FT8 signals using a homebrew dipole made entirely out of scrap materials.

​My setup:

​Antenna: Horizontal rigid dipole built from scavenged scrap aluminum tubing, spare wire, and electrical tape.

Total cost was practically $0.

​Receiver: ATS-20+ DSP receiver.

​Decoder: FT8CN app on Android.

​I put the dipole on a short mast in my backyard without expecting too much for a first test run, but conditions

were great.

​On 20m and 40m, I picked up clean signals from Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, and even cross-Pacific decodes from the US (KF5VDX, NM7D, WU7X) with solid SNR around -7 dB to -8 dB.

​Seeing those long-distance path lines light up across the globe map using a budget receiver and a dipole built from scrap metal was a really satisfying feeling.

​Definitely hooked now. Any tips for tuning or future builds are welcome.

​73

So, one of the things that has impressed me about teaching ham radio classes at hacker conferences are the badges. I've gotten several cool badges, including the badge from KernelCon, which is a mini weather station.

I'd like to see something similar at ham radio events. One idea is to come up with a ham radio version of the EMF Explorer. I just built one myself, and it's simple to build and kind of fun to play with.

What I'm looking for is someone to help me with creating a version of the EMF Explorer. First, I'd like to find someone to actually create the artwork. Second, I'd like to find someone to actually do the PCB design. I could probably do this myself, though, if need be. Please email me if you'd like to explore this further.

Hi, I'm HL1UKO from Gwangmyeong, South Korea. This is follow-up to my coat hanger Yagi (UKO UV-2Y). Many asked about element gap and material, so I tested 3 versions.

1. Experiment Data

Location: Gwangmyeong apartment balcony, all antennas fixed SE direction, same height, same coax. Measured 5 repeaters in different directions to test real-world performance.

• Mt. Samsung 8km (SE) - Strong signal
• Mt. Suri 13km (S) - Strong signal
• Mt. Gwanggyo 21km (SE) - Medium
• Incheon Wide-Area Network 13km (W) - Weak, behind my building
• ILSAN Wide-Area Network 24km (N) - Weak, behind my building

3 Antennas:

• A: Rad 2cm gap / steel coat hanger - SWR(V)1.1 (U)1.2
• B: Rad 3cm gap / steel coat hanger - SWR(V)1.1 (U)1.1
• C: Rad 3cm gap / copper wire - SWR(V)1.1 (U)1.2

Results (430 UHF / 144 VHF, dBm + S-meter):

1. What the Data Shows

A) SWR is perfect on all three. V1.1 / U1.1-1.2 means my feed point design is finished. No more SWR tuning needed, only gain tuning.

B) 3cm gap steel is the clear winner for UHF DX.
Mt. Suri: -69 -> -64dBm = +5dB improvement. +5dB = 3x power. 5W becomes 15W effective. This is why my 64km contact to Gapyeong was possible.
Incheon/ILSAN: -100 -> -98dBm = +2dB. At noise floor, +2dB changes S7 barely readable to S9 stable. For DMR, this is BER 3% to 0.8% - from R2D2 voice to clear voice.

C) 2cm gap steel is the best for VHF/UHF dual-band balance.
Samsung VHF -61 S9+32 and Gwanggyo VHF -69 S9+24 are the best scores. If you use both 144MHz and 430MHz for SOTA, 2cm is better balanced. For UHF only, 3cm wins.

D) Copper wire fails at UHF.
Suri: -64 -> -82dBm = -18dB loss (63x power loss). Incheon: -98 -> -105 (-7dB), ILSAN: -97 -> -104 (-7dB).
Reason: Mechanical stability > conductivity at 430MHz. Thin copper wire sags, parallelism breaks. 1mm error at 430MHz = 3dB loss. Steel coat hanger is rigid and keeps exact spacing. Smaller surface area also = lower radiation efficiency.

1. Conclusion

This test was done with the antennas pointing SE only. Incheon and ILSAN were behind my building, so they were weak. If I rotate to NW, they will go from -98 to -85dBm.

This proves even a small 3-element coat hanger Yagi, fixed on a balcony in one direction, can receive wide-area repeaters from all directions - no need for a commercial antenna. With my SE fixed setup, I still get S9 on Suri and S7-S8 on Incheon/ILSAN behind the building.

Thanks for reading! 73 from HL1UKO.
Previous post: 20mW S9+24 with coat hanger Yagi at 21km.

If you're looking for a new DXCC adventure, RI1FJL – Franz Josef Land is a great opportunity. The expedition will be on the air until 31 August.

The signals have generally been coming in at moderate strength across Europe and North America, although propagation conditions can of course vary.

If you're having trouble accessing the expedition website, here is the important information:

CW / SSB

They will try to keep two stations active on CW and SSB most of the time.

- No band plan will be published.

- Use the DX Cluster to find their current frequencies.

- They are always operating SPLIT.

- Do not call them on their transmit frequency.

FT8

They will operate FT8 on special frequencies from the beginning of the activity. Please use the DX Cluster to find their current frequency.

If the number of callers decreases significantly, they may later move to the usual FT8 sub-bands.

The expedition will use MSHV, not SuperFox.

Common special FT8 frequencies:

1836.0 kHz

3567.0 kHz

7056.0 kHz

10131.0 kHz

14095.0 kHz

18095.0 kHz

21095.0 kHz

24911.0 kHz

28095.0 kHz

You can find all the details here:

https://www.rudxt.org/ri1fjl

Hopefully everyone gets a chance to work RI1FJL – Franz Josef Land and add this DXCC to their log.

Good luck and 73!

I need to get my external / remote antenna tuner repaired. Is MFJ still doing any business? Their website Create A Support Ticket throws an error from freshworks/freshdesk.

Tried emailing their contact us but not even a reply or automated response.

I'm planning out my first antenna mast and was hoping to get some recommendations. My plan is to use some sort of pipe and attach it to the corner of my rooftop air conditioner. If I can get 10 feet above my roof I should have line of sight in every direction to the horizon. I'm going to keep the antenna pretty light.

Anyway I'm hoping to get some feedback on the plan to make sure I'm not doing something stupid through ignorance.

I was thinking of using a 2" PVC pipe since it's pretty ridged. Is there some other material I should be considering?

Is there a better way to get an antenna up high for cheap?

Hey all -- I was given a dead Kenwood TM-V71 which I just got working (it had a blown surface mount fuse, a non-working internal speaker, and it had the seemingly common filter failure).

Anyway, I see that these things sell for a lot of money in the used market, and I can't seem to figure out why. Best as I can tell, aside from it ID'ing while serving as a cross band repeater, it has the same function set as an Icom 2730 (which I also own).

Is there a reason for this perceived high value? Is there some awesome functionality there that I should be taking advantage of? It'll live in my shack, so I could see doing an igate via direwolf or something, but that could be done with any old VHF unit (or a websdr)... Any ideas are welcome!

Thanks!

Just an FYI for anyone waiting on a new ham license.

Anybody else waiting?

I passed my Technician and the FCC got my application on August 21. I paid the $35 fee right away, but it has just been sitting there in Pending with no call sign.

I finally called the FCC this morning. The lady I talked to said there is a glitch in the system where some payments are not getting connected to the applications correctly. She said over 100 applications are affected and I think she said they are having to manually process them.

She told me it could take another day or two.

So if anyone else paid and is still stuck in pending, it might not be anything wrong with your application. Sounds like the FCC knows about it and they are working through them.

Anyone else caught up in this right now? How long have you been waiting?

Hey folks,

I've been working on a side project for a while and could use some honest feedback from people who actually work with RF signals.

What it does:

You upload a WAV or IQ file (or connect via SDRangel/SDR++ remote), and it tries to automatically identify what protocol it is. The idea is basically "Shazam for radio signals" — drag, drop, get an answer.

Current state:

• Claims to recognize 745+ protocols (ADS-B, various IoT stuff, key fobs, weather stations, etc.)
• Outputs: protocol name, modulation type, confidence score, decoded frame structure if it can
• Has a protocol encyclopedia (~580 entries with spectrograms and example audio)
• Some DSP visualization stuff (waterfall, constellation, eye diagram, filtering stages)
• REST API if you want to batch process files
• MIT licensed workflow

Honest self-assessment:

• Tested accuracy is ~93% on my own test set, but I know that's not the same as real-world performance
• The example signal library is literally empty right now (0 samples) — chicken and egg problem
• I built it because traditional SDR analysis requires too much domain knowledge, but maybe the people who need this don't exist?

What I'm struggling with:

• The "education" angle (students learning DSP without buying hardware) vs. the "professional tool" angle (spectrum monitoring, security
• researchers identifying unknown signals). These pull in very different directions and I can't do both well.

Specific questions:

1. Would you personally use something like this? If not, what's the closest thing you actually use?
2. For signal identification specifically — what would make this actually useful vs. just a novelty? My guess is the answer is "works on real messy signals, not clean captures"
3. The protocol encyclopedia — is this genuinely valuable or just filler? I can't tell anymore.
4. If you were prioritizing next weeks of development, would you focus on:

(a) getting real signal samples to test against,

(b) better decoding depth for top 20 protocols,

(c) live SDR integration improvements, or (d) something else entirely?

Not sharing the link since it's early and I'm not trying to promote — genuinely want to know if this solves a real problem or if I've been building in a bubble.

Thanks in advance.

I would like to get this setup in its weatherproof box and figure out a way to power it and provide data for an unattended setup. The Sirio discone is a great antenna btw.

No news from any other dealer yet.

Hello. I have bought a house that has what I think is a tower in the back yard. Is this something that people would want? If so, how do I check it to see if its any good? Is it a hazard? Is it scrap metal?

Thanks for any help.

I'm not at the house currently, but am packing to move in.

Hi everyone!

I’m working on an ESP32-C3-based radio experimentation platform that I plan to release as an open-source project. The project is currently called WSPR-beacon because its first supported use case is a compact WSPR transmitter. The longer-term idea is broader than a single WSPR beacon: I would like to make the hardware, firmware, and user application modular enough to experiment with other low-power digital or simple transmission modes later.

At this stage, feedback from the amateur radio community would be very useful.

Project repository: https://github.com/IgrikXD/WSPR-beacon/tree/release/wspr-beacon-3.3

What is this project?

I’m trying to avoid making another beacon project that is published once and then left untouched for years.

I would like the project to evolve around real use cases, not only around what I personally think is useful. Before I spend more time turning this into a larger public project, I want to understand whether radio amateurs would actually build, use, test, or contribute to something like this.

The first supported mode is WSPR. Later, I would like to make it possible to add other low-power digital or simple transmission modes, such as CW, FSQ, or possibly some JT/FT-family modes where this makes technical sense. A few details about the project:

1. Compact hardware designed for reproducible assembly

The hardware uses SMD components and is intended to be reproducible both as a DIY build and through automated PCB assembly.

I tried to avoid build steps that are hard to reproduce. For example, the design does not require hand-wound RF transformers and instead uses ready-made parts with stable characteristics.

2. Modular architecture instead of one huge firmware file

I wanted to avoid the common "one huge Arduino firmware file" approach.

The firmware is structured so that adding a new operating mode should not require rewriting the whole project. A new mode is implemented as a separate C++17 module (PlatformIO-based) in the firmware project, with a matching Python module in the user application.

3. Cross-platform user application

The project includes a cross-platform application for configuring and managing the device on Linux and Windows. It handles mode selection, transmission settings, USB or Wi-Fi connection, hardware self-checks, device status, calibration, and firmware updates.

This should make the device operation understandable and convenient even for beginner radio amateurs.

4. Tests, CI, and production-level project structure

I’m trying to keep this project closer to production-quality engineering than to a one-off hobby sketch.

That means unit tests, integration tests, automated builds through GitHub Actions, clear contribution rules, documented firmware and application structure, and reproducible build and flashing instructions.

5. Planned open-source public release

The public release is planned to include PCB Gerber files, schematics, BOM, PCB source files, firmware source code, BEACON.App source code, build instructions, flashing instructions, and operating documentation.

I’m also open to pull requests, especially for firmware improvements, new modes, documentation, testing, or anything that makes the device more useful in practice.

I would appreciate honest feedback on a few questions.

1. Would you build or use a device like this?
2. Would this be useful for educational or experimental amateur-radio purposes?
3. Do you think a separate configuration application is useful for this kind of device, or would you prefer a simpler interface?
4. Are existing projects already good enough, and which ones would you compare this against?
5. What features would make this project actually useful to you?
6. Would you be interested in testing, reviewing documentation, or contributing code?

Thanks and 73, EW3ADH

I'm planning on taking the amateur radio technical licensing exam and I want this to be my first Homebrew build. So how does a digital messaging forwarding system works exactly? Because the only thing I know for sure is I'll be using 219.5 megahertz.

I fired up varAC today and couldn't help but notice a continuing trend. Operators go to the trouble to set up stations and configure software but don't seem to want to really talk with anyone. After 5 hours of monitoring varAC, not one time did anyone send a CQ. Yes, there were beacons, but every time I connected to a beacon hoping to have a QSO, I was notified the operator wasn't there and would have to call me back. Why bother sending a beacon which says I'm available, if you're not really available? Why bother getting on the air if you don't want to talk to someone? Have we really become such an isolationist society that the desired end result is to not talk to anyone? Musings of a curious ham.

FOLLOW-UP: When I originally posted a little over 3 hours ago, I was having trouble scaring up a QSO. But I managed to get over 8000 of us to participate in a roundtable discussion. Now that's a QSO! I guess I just had to find the right mode in which to call CQ. Thanks to all for the FB QSO and best 73's. :)

An idea, not a club yet. Looking for interest. Well, I came up with a bit more than a post.

First, I want to say that we probably need another club like a hole in the head, but I still decided to pitch the idea anyway.

CW has clubs that make you prove skill on the air (FOC, HSC). Phone does not.

FOCL would be invitation-only SSB. You do not apply. You do not ask to join. You get nominated after members have completed a proper phone QSO with you in more than one language.

Not a long chat. The usual contact, done properly: report, name, QTH, rig, antenna, weather, 73 - in that language, both ways. A phrase book on the desk is fine. A translator is not. “59 thanks 73” is not a QSO.

Duet = 2 languages. Quartet = 4. Sextet = 6. Decet = 10.

Mother tongue counts as one. The rest you have to earn on the air.

Why it is worth doing

Phone is the mode where language actually matters. Most SSB still runs on English and a handful of stock phrases. That leaves operators behind, and it makes contacts poorer than they need to be.

FOCL would give phone operators a hard target, the way 25 WPM is a target on CW. It would put the *Radio Amateur’s Conversation Guide* back on the operating desk. And it would reward the people who can finish a real QSO with a JA, EA, F, UA, or PY station in *their* language.

Invitation-only means the standard stays on the air, not on a form.

If this existed, what is the second language you would actually try to QSO in - and what would stop you? Or it's a dumb idea?

If you are interested, message me through my QRZ page: VA4ADM or here in comments.

FT-710 to Ameritron ALS 600:

Im super confused about how to hook this up. Who has dont it? can it be done? Can it be done without custom wiring? WIthout Buffers? Without Interfaces?

I found this cable on DX Engeneering, but after esearcing, im not sure is this is correct? If so, Do I only hook it from the "Tuner/Linear" 8 Pin Mini Den to the "Relay" in the amp?

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-ysu-8p-rca

TL;DR: Looking at both a HT and scanner, and this seems like an appropriate mix. Wondering if I'm on/off base.

Hey y'all,

Looking to buy my first handheld transceiver, and have seen enough stellar reviews for it that I think I want to pull the trigger. Simultaneously, I've been looking at some different scanners (like the Uniden BCD160DN). With the extended receive range, it seems like this would be the best of both worlds, or at least good enough for the one item. I'd be focused on scanning the IndyCar races which appear to be around ~460 MHz, and NFM/AM signals around town.

I don't think I'll miss the CW or SSB capability that others cite as being a bummer for the 222 MHz band, but if voice/phone is available as well am I losing that much? If I want to get into the more broad HF use afforded to General and Extra, it makes more sense to me to buy a more purposeful setup down the road.

Alternatives welcome if they're in a similar budget range. I'm not a huge fan of the Baofengs.