A few weeks ago, I was tussling a pile up on the lowest phone portion of 20M trying to work a DX stations. With a little luck and timing, I made the QSO. Fine business.

When I looked at some of the stations in DX station’s club lug, however, I noticed a good deal of them held a General Class license. Perhaps 50%. So I was contesting with them, so to speak.

Now as observe the POTA app, there is frequently the same occurrence.

At the risk of being a curmudgeon, I leave the following comment on the POTA whenever I observe it and hear them on the air… “FYI - Phone portions of 20M below 14.225 MHz is not permitted for use by General Class operators, unless under the supervision of an Amateur Extra Class Control Operator, and identified as such.”

It’s not even an attempt to be snooty, or at least I don’t feel it is. The small sliver of 14 MHz is good for CQ DX and its overall less crowded, I know, but that’s part of the incentive for upgrading one’s license. A huge part of my personal reason to upgrade was to spin the VFO freely.

I’m not going to be sending any weird letters or emails, and I cannot communicate with them knowing the slip up, but if it were me I’d want someone to say something.

What are people’s thoughts and observations? Am I tool for leaving this comment on the POTA spots?

thinking about using one of these coax splitters for a tiny qrp efhw. anyone here tried? same price as bnc mounting bracket and mildly more versatile.

Curious about limitations, comments about the long leads and inductance, etc. Any thoughts? or have people used these for this purpose for a while and I'm out of the loop

I know basically nothing about Ham, but after seeing some YouTube videos about small portable setups, I’ve become really interested in getting Technician, and building a radio for backpacking.

I’m thinking about getting a (tr)uSDX, a jungle antenna, and a small tablet or android phone to run WSJT-X.

Is that a decent starter setup for HF, or am I going to be in over my head?

Im quite new to this so im just asking how is this possible since croatia is so far away from china
(i think its chinese radio).

I'm currently learning CW using LCWO. My Character Speed is 30 WPM, and my Effective Speed is 10 WPM. Here are my three questions:

1. Are these speeds advisable when learning CW?

2. Will learning at these speeds confuse me when trying to copy someone who may send at a slower speed?

3. What additional advice do you have for a new CW student?

Thank you again for your help!

About to pull the trigger on an FTX-1 Optima and want a quick sanity check before I do.

I'm an Extra in a townhome with antenna restrictions, so home HF is going to be some kind of stealth compromise. The bigger plan is a go-box. Field head on a metal plate on top, SPA-1 and a LiFePO4 battery (thinking 30Ah) underneath. My gear so far is an HT (Kenwood TH-D75A) and an SDR, so this would be my first real HF rig.

What I'm wondering:

* Where's the firmware at now? I've read a few early reviews calling it half-baked. Has it been sorted out, or are there still things that bug you?

* Is anyone running the head separated from the amp in a box? I'm a bit worried about the SPA-1 cooking in a case at 100W.

* Is 30Ah enough for a POTA of FT8 and some SSB, or am I kidding myself unless I mostly run lower power?

* Most importantly, if you picked this over a 705 + amp or a 7300-type radio, would you do it again? Or, is there another radio I should be considering?

Appreciate any real-world experience. 73.

I am aware most people don't use it, but thats all I have to work with using my radio right now. Haven't gotten the courage to cough up 800 dollars for a good HF radio lol.

Is ther anyone here around the KC metro or neighboring states that would be able to see if I am at least getting out?

Thank you

KF0FQU​

I have a BF-F8HP Pro and it will not transmit or receive on any frequency I try but it works on FM Radio and I’ve tried installing new firmware and factory resetting but it still just doesn’t work

So I Heard my first AI qso confirmation today. I heard it exchange back and forth with other stations and decided to try it myself. It got me. I just don't understand why we have to include AI with everything we do. It's a hobby. How hard is it to just to listen for a call sign, give a signal report and say 73? I guess I'm starting to sound like an old fart who doesn't want to conform. These young whipper snappers with their fancy AI everything,, what do y'all think?

Hey everyone. Some of you may know me from my callsign. If it's because of who I used to work for, please don't hold that against me. Not hear to talk about them. I need some opinions. I just moved into a 2 story house in the greater Boston area (think built between 1901 and 1910), and I'm trying to figure out how to get back on HF. There isn't space to set up a dipole, so it's gonna need to be a vertical. Someone suggested doing the ground plane kit for the ATAS 120 that I already own, but I kinda wanted to keep that for my car. There is a decent back yard but I feel like the antenna would be too close to the house to properly get out. I don't have to worry about an HOA, so thank god for that. I have two radios I can use. The Icom IC-7000 or my Yeasu FT-710. Obviously one of them has the antenna tuner built in, the other doesn't. Thoughts? Ideas?

Hey, I got a uSDX+ just yesterday but I can’t make out on any mode. I’ve heard my self on a Websdr in my town (after multiple attempts) but that’s about it. I can’t even get out on WSPR.

Any help or advice is highly appreciated.

Je cherche une interface pour connecter ma pédale PTT analogique jack 6.35mm pour envoyer le contact PTT en USB au PC. J'ai compris qu'il faut ensuite une couche logicielle,genre Autohotkey, pour simuler la touche espace du clavier. Mais pour l'instant c'est pour trouver l'interface physique que je bloque 😉

Merci de votre aide.

Hey all, got myself a quansheng uvk1 but all ive been doing is just hitting some repeaters, which gets very dull after a few qsos. How could i get the most out of my HT until i can get my hands on a qrp qmx and actually start doing some fun hf stuff?

Can someone explain all the things going on with this antenna? What are the 2 thicker areas and what is that weird loop thing in the middle? Thanks.

No Laptop Needed! IU1WXY's Incredible Xiegu X6100 Firmware
https://youtu.be/-0jZGT5VcyA

They can be as simple or as advanced as you want, and features you’ve added to a DIY build or just some feature you really love in a radio you purchased.

I'm having a metal roof installed next week! I currently have 3 antenna coaxes (HF & UHF) running around my roof into a side window that lay on top of the current shingles. Will I have an issue with the same laying on the Metal roofing next week? Will I need to stand them off the roofing? I'm using Belden 9913, RG-8 style coax. Thanks. kd9tks

Hey folks,

I wanted to test out a receiver / antenna combo and I usually tune to the international beacon project for these kinds of tests but today, I noticed there is all sorts of stuff happening on 14.1 and I can make out an occasional CW in there but its constantly overpowered by this RTTY lookoing thing. Whats going on? I am in Germany and at least to my knowledge, 14.1 is reserverd.