I use QRZ as my main log and export/import to LOTW, mostly to help any paper chasers and I want to be correct. My issue is doing it when portable. When I am portable I generally use HAMRS (usually, sometimes paper) and upload and HAMRS does allow me to put a different location in it but it hasn't seemed to upload to QRZ very well for me as QRZ holds onto my original QTH. There is also the problem that the person on the other end is logging the QSO live and so it logs a contact with my QRZ QTH immediately and before I can even do an upload. I should say that many times I am portable I have no internet signal.

Now I can go into QRZ and change my location to the mobile spot BEFORE going out but sometimes I will be on an outing and do multiple locations like at the first camp location and then a SOTA at the top of a mountain close by, etc.

Another example is fulltime RVers for example, what do you do?

I'm sure I am overcomplicating this but would appreciate insight any of you can give me on how you handle this. I just want to make sure I always log QSOs correctly and have the other end log the actual maiden grid I am in at the time.

Thanks

Hello, I was wondering if anyone in the BC/Whistler Area know the Municipalities Radio Frequencies. Because I can't seem to find them on Radio Referance. Thanks for your help in advance.

Most of LiFePO4 batteries 12V/30Ah are about 7-8 lbs (3-3.5 kg). 100 Ah are even heavier. What is your suggestion for operating time vs weight for portable work, mainly POTA and WWFF. I usually go with car, but there are spots I could reach only by foot.

EDIT:

• expected hours of operation: about 4 hours min

• current draw of gear on receive and transmit: have no idea :-( Xiegu G90

• mode: SSB & FT8/4

I've bought a Quanhsheng UV-K6 radio online which I want to use for communicating with other vehicles while travelling with my caravan. It appears that it needs to be programmed before I can use it. Can anyone help?

These are being sold as new. My understanding is that for the 2m radios the TX and RX ranges are different on the Japanese market radios. I would think HF might not have these restrictions.

Any considerations on buying a FT-891 built for the Japanese market? Thx!

Alright if you saw my last post, I’m giving up on the Antron, did a whole bunch of research. These things are horrible with common mode current. I’m going to be building a homemade dipole for 11m, I’m am juggling a few options just looking for some feedback, the antenna needs to be good for 2kw I’ll be feeding it with rg213, also it will be mounted in a tall palm tree with the reflective element being in the tree. first idea is to 102 inch stainless steel whips, from what I gather that should handle 2kw and work alright, other idea I’m floating is two copper pipes, i’m not against doing a wire antenna just skeptical about burning shit up at that power level.

I can't seem to get a fully clear answer of VHF Frequency range and UHF Frequency Range.

So, I have a voice compression system that is mated with a 12 band EQ going to a studio mic I use for my PC.

I decided that I'd give studio grade equipment on amature radio. My only hinder, was i didn't have a PTT mechanism, or a way to connect the mic to my rig.

The way my audio equipment is setup currently, is my microphone is XLR into the compression unit. From there, it's 1/4" outputting to the 12 band EQ input. From there, I have XLR out to my focusrite unit for my PC.

But since HF rigs don't have XLR really, I didn't have a way to tie it together.

However, the 12 bander has a 1/4" output that's also tied to the XLR out. So I can theoretically use both at the same time for both applications.

So I took a 1/4" tip & ring cable and robbed one end, and found a spare 8 pin mic plug. I tied the tip end to pin 1, which is mic input. Then i took the ring and shield together on the mic ground pin, which is pin 7.

Then i had a spare arcade machine action button which i wired some extra CAT 6 i had laying around together. The solid green went to pin 5, the PTT. The white/green went to pin 6 which is PTT GND.

At this point, I took a continuity test to my pins and switch and see if when pressed, I'd be transmitting. And it was!

After testing, I closed the connector housing up, and added an outer jacket to an 8 pin DIN connector I had kicking around to help with cable rigidity and taped it up. I had to seam split it to go on, so that's why it was taped.

Now, at the moment I don't have anything to house the button for a good handheld PTT handle, so i fabricated a cardboard box for now.

I'll most likely make one and stain it.

But here's my result!

Later on tonight, I'll be testing sound settings and adjusting my setup!

I'm trying to select a new radio and I'm torn between the FT-710 and FT-991A. Most of my interest lies with HF, but having all-mode capability on 2m and 70cm sounds tempting.

I know that there are periodic openings for DX on 2-meters via tropo, I know meteor scatter on 2m is a thing, and I know there are a couple of linear satellites left.

That being said, I live in Florida, I don't have a tower and probably never will, there are no hills or mountains to climb. What use might I have for 2m/70cm SSB?

I've got the APRS blues, man. Ordered an FT5D and played with it for a few hours - naw. It felt like a touch screen Microsoft phone I had in '06 and it's shape looks like a oversized kids toy.

Decided to stick with the FT-60 and add a mobilinkd TNC to aprsdroid. Holy crap. What a joke. There is no way I am relying on that workflow at any point in the "field" to message or beacon. Jumping between 2-3 finicky apps, adjusting audio input and output, and hoping to god you don't bump the volume knob w/o noticing is not fun or sustainable.

So, where's that leave me? $700 DH-75A? How fun will that be to throw in a bag? Not keen on babying one of the most expensive HTs on the market during hikes and climbs.

What's the deal, man?

Bought my first HF rig today. IC-7300 Astron RS35M

I currently have the ARRL EFHW antenna strung across my backyard but due to the ground being frozen I cannot drive any ground rods.

Should I wait till the ground thaws to hook up the antenna or just hook it up only while using the radio?

Currently the antenna is very low due to not wanting to hang a wire in the winter. I think with very little effort I can get it up a little higher though. With the tuner in the IC7300 should I worry too much about getting the antenna cut down to lower SWR or just rely on the radio for now? Once I get the antenna up higher I plan to cut it down to lower the SWR.

Hi, I'm new to direction finding and radio topic in general. I got into it 6 months ago because I've realized how much we are surrounded by the electromagnetic waves and how much a signal can tell. So now I'm here doing my bachelor project about RF data visualization in VR/AR and sound.

Background

So far I learned SDRs and played a lot with RTL-SDR. I also developed a mobile spectrum sonifier based on Raspberry Pi that does a sweep scan, compares the data with the frequency allocation database of my country and turns it into sound. I also did my research on spectrum scanning and direction finding. And I know how to code, so custom software is not a problem.

Objective

My goal is to create a mobile device (e.g. based on Raspberry Pi+SDR) that would DF incoming peaks in its (instantaneous) bandwidth in real time, and then display the directions+data around the user using VR/AR. The size should be portable and the user should be able to walk with it. And I want to be able to scan the whole possible spectrum range supported by the SDR (somewhere from 70MHz to 6GHz). The DF will be done in a busy urban environment. And of course, my budget is limited to max $700 for the whole technical part.

Questions

Which DF method should I choose? What equipment do I need?

My thoughts on this

I already know that there is no perfect solution to this problem, but I tried to develop some concepts that would meet my expectations.

Pseudo-Doppler

• HackRF + Opera Cake Switch with 4+ Antenna Array (Circular)
• Pluto+ SDR + Switch with 4+ Antenna Array (Circular)
• 4+ RTL-SDR working in sync

From my knowledge, I could say that this is an easier solution for automatic DF, but it is not as good because of the multipath problem. Also, there is no need for coherent channels, so I do not need to spend my money on multichannel SDR or multiple SDRs.

Directional Antenna Array

• SDR with directional Array (Linear/Matrix/Circular)

This would be a good solution since you can only look in one direction when wearing VR/AR. So mounting directional antennas directly on your headset would work for your field of view (or you could mount them around). The biggest problem is that wideband directional antennas are too big and expensive, but I've read about patch antenna arrays (that switch depending on the band), so maybe I could make custom PCBs with such an array and a switch (gets too complicated).

Do you know of a directional antenna that is small enough? And is it mandatory that the channels are synchronized, or can I just switch very fast between the antennas and lose some milliseconds?

Beamforming

• 4+ RTL-SDR working in sync
• Pluto+ SDR with 2 channel RX

The need to change the antenna spacing for different bands kills the mobility/portability. And I still do not fully understand the principle.

Correlative Interferometry

• Pluto+ SDR with 2 channel RX (inaccurate)
• 2 Pluto+ SDR with 2 channel RX in sync (4 channels total)
• 3+ RTL-SDR working in sync

I think this is the most interesting method. The problem is that you need precise engineering and calibration to make it work. On the other hand, it's not affected by multipath as much as Doppler. I've seen KrakenSDR and I know it uses this technique. It's great because you can find a lot of footage of it in action. I also found this article by Epiq and Deepsig where they did PDoA with two antennas using ML. So I could imagine training a model for DF, but I do not have enough knowledge about the process behind it to actually create a dataset.

Conclusion

So for SDR I would prefer Pluto+ SDR, it's quite affordable ($150-200), has an IBW of 20MHz, and covers a range from 70MHz to 6GHz. I would like to have the directional antenna array as it makes the most sense in my head. But if that's not possible, I can't decide between Pseudo-Doppler and Correlative Interferometry—it depends on technical requirements, information accessibility, and price.

Is there a commonly used method that I have missed?

Thanks for your time and help!

Should have my callsign next week! Super Excited!

WIll be booking my intermediate late next month or march 😃

Buongiorno, volevo precisare che il quansheng uvk 6 va da 10 MHz a 1000 MHz senza alcun modulo aggiuntivo. Per mettere antenna esterna e' sufficente adattatore da BNC a PLL?

Hello!

I have been working on a new real time tracking website. This is the link to the website: https://radiowave.nz/

Watch this video if you are interested in using the website to track your live location. The app is free and only available on android at the moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePynwiu7x5M

https://preview.redd.it/ig7lj8fq2bge1.png?width=2002&format=png&auto=webp&s=f717ed3e87c622d036dbd90e2556bd95418c72f9

I built the website because aprsdroid stopped working for me on aprs.fi. The website has satellite view, can see more than 24 hours, and the app is designed to use very little data over the internet. I'm currently working on getting it to work with radios.

I have a question and any help is appreciated!

I've been trying to get the GPS location from radios over DMR. I don't know how to decode the DMR packets that are sent over the internet. Does anyone know how to do this or where the information to do this would be?

How the location data is sent to the server is explained on the website for everyone to see, so anyone can build something to upload location data to the server and see it on the website in real time.

I'm bummed--I think I just made an expensive mistake. I'm a new ham, building my shack. I needed extra power for a shack-based Yaesu mobile (FTM-300). I was excited to find an Astron LS-25A for $70, and checked it on DXE and HRO (old, not in stock). No reviews, but it was a thing they had. I get it home and connect my MFJ-849 SWR meter and radio. I turned on the PS, and the meter and radio, and the meter lit for a second, then nothing. Then I realize the PS is 28VDC. Shoot. The radio did nothing, it never powered up. Maybe I didn't let the smoke out, but it isn't working when I change the power supply to a battery.

Some searching here got me to this in a post about "how to break your radio," and I did the very first one:

"I mean...lotsa ways.

A few from hams I know:

• not watching voltages and connecting to the wrong power source"

Did I just kill my radio? The fuse on the radio power cord didn't blow, but it says "32-250V 20A," and I don't know how that's helpful in protecting the radio from over-voltage. If it is dead, can it be repaired or is high voltage damage irreparable? I keep trying to sneak up on it and turn it on, but it's clever and remains dead like a parrot.

We had a jammer today on our towns busiest repeater. Keying up and blabbering "la la la, ya ya ya, bla bla bla,..." . It's funny when you first hear it because they are young and such morons. And if I had access to a radio when I was a kid I would have done the same thing.

We had a similar incident last summer that lasted for weeks. I think all the repeater admins and other old timers did a fox hunt on them.

But what was really nice today was everyone did exactly what you are supposed to do. Just ignored them. Even when they were keying up on people, the station on the other end just asked for a retransmit.

Proud of the ham community here who did not over react and handled it gracefully.

Hi all,

I recently got my license and got my hands on a FT-5D, I've been listening to analog FM and some air band but I've been dying to figure out this C4FM, fusion, dig-id, and WiresX stuff. I've heard many "digital" things? (transmissions with the blue TX light) but didn't want to risk disturbing and ruining whatever those people had going on. I couldn't find much on the manual or through a google search so I figured I'd ask here. Thanks!

The arrl website sucks. That is all.

I'm hoping for a little advice as I'm trying to get back in the game after not using my radios much the last few years.
Is there a good way for me to figure out which of the plethora of repeaters in my state are actually functioning and worth programming into my radios?
RepeaterBook gave me a list of nearly 500 in the bands I am interested in (6m 2m 1.25m and 70cm). By cutting out the DStar and other digital mode ones, I narrowed it down to around 300. That's still too much!
I've combed the websites of all the ham clubs in the state, assuming (for better or worse) that they would keep up-to-date lists of known working and accessible repeaters. Which has given me a list of 30-50 or so across the state.
Living in Western WA, there are 5 repeaters that are my go-to, and maybe another dozen or so that I have had luck with.
I realize that if I have a couple dozen "known good" repeaters, I don't really need to have a hundred programmed in, but I would like to anyway just for purposes of being able to scan for activity, along with having them available if something happens and my "main" repeaters go down.
I suppose I could just drive around with all of them programmed in and see what I can hit (in fact that might be fun!), but I was wondering if my fellow hams have a good "hack" that is less tedious than sitting at my computer with a glass of scotch and typing in call signs from RepeaterBook into Google to see if this repeater is legit or just some dude with a box on the roof of his barn that doesn't really do anyone any good.
73s!

Hey there! New guy here so if there's any info or rule I'm missing please let me know :)

I've been meaning to get my license for a while already, but it's been impossible since in my country (Argentina) there is a time-on-air (w/ a teacher from the club) requirement for licenses besides the exam and due to my work-study schedule it's been really hard to go to the meetings and practice sessions to the point where it wouldn't even make sense to take the exam at this moment.

Lately I've been revisiting the topic and I started to wonder whether it would be possible to get a license online from the US while not residing there, and then apply for a license here. So far I haven't found any regulation that would NOT allow me to do it, as I can get an FRN number without being a US citizen.

I feel comfortable around electronics and RF has been a topic of learning in the last years, so the exam itself does not concern me much. I also know there are lots of knowledge to be gained from going to local clubs and listening to the different communication styles in different places, so it's not like I'm gonna go on air without listening and getting accustomed to it first (it's just a disclaimer, I'm not trying to bypass any laws 😂).

Is this possible (regulation-wise)? Any ideas or tips about it? If it is possible, for what I've seen the hardest part might be to find a club that will allow me to take the exam with a foreign passport.

Thank you guys! :)

Hi People, I am new to VHF-UHF and am wondering why the 220 band seems to be a bit of an orphan band. Who are the 220ers? Can I do something on 220 I can't very easily do on 2 meters and 70 cm? Is it worth it to get a 220 ready radio and antenna setup going?

Your thoughts on this will be very much appreciated. 73. KK7YHY

Who knew what I've been missing?

I upgraded last Saturday through my local club. Went home, strung a wire in the tree and turned on the radio... And stumbled right into Winter Field Day. Seemed like the right thing to do was to figure out what everyone was doing and do it too. I'm only 20w and was testing out battery operations and switched around the frequencies quite a bit. Made a few QSOs on 40m, 20m, one on 15m and one on 10. I tried to stay behind the pile-ups as they moved up or down the frequencies, since my power level keeps me from being heard until all the high power folks have moved on.

I'm planning to do a lot of SOTA and POTA. I like to be outside and this is yet another reason to go do things outside.

This morning I went to China Camp State Park (US-1139) and strung a 35' wire up in the trees. Managed a couple-dozen contacts and a DX to Sweden-- With 20w. Who woulda thought? I only blew one call sign and I swear I had it right! I think there's another contest going on, so eventually someone who probably couldn't hear my low power signal started stepping on me. I went hunting instead and picked up a couple more park-to-parks.

This is going to be fun.

Not sure if this is the right sub for this, so if not apologies! I just started a new job with a conservation corps and have inherited the fleet of Baofeng UV-5R’s that my predecessor bought. They’ve been used essentially as overpowered walkie talkies (which based on my research is not entirely legal due to their removable antennas), as well as tuning in to weather & fire info (which appears to be above board). Is there a way that we can send these out with trail crews and have it be totally legal? Or is this fleet destined for ebay & I should just buy some FRS radios & tell crews that the weather is simply the weather? My boss is fine with paying for me to get the correct licenses, whatever they may be, to get these working within the legal limits!

Rotary encoders... we don't see eye to eye. I've had two of them go bad on brand new cars. They were replaced under warranty, but I've grown a bit gun-shy. I do not tear things up. I am gentle. And yet, here we are.

So, how do I avoid tearing up the "FUNC" rotary encoder on my FT-710? Changing power between what I use for digital (25W) and what I use for SSB (100W) is particularly problematic for me. Do I really have to click through 75 positions on the rotary encoder each time?

If there's not a good answer to this, I might just learn how to swap these things out and start a small business around it.

UPDATE:

I have read all the answers here, read a big chunk of the manual all over again, and connected a keyboard and mouse and just experimented. My conclusion is that there's no easy way to do what I want. The closest thing is the HF maximum power out value buried deep in the menus. I can adjust that down to 25W for digital, or down to 10W for tuning, or up to 100W for SSB, but I have to tap on the touchscreen once per watt.

UPDATE2:

OK, I think I've found settings that will work for me! There is an AM MAX POWER setting. I don't use AM for anything other than just keying down and tuning. So, I will set AM MAX POWER to 7W. On the digital side, I'll just have to manage the volume setting on my computer such that I don't burn anything up.

I still think the FT-710 is about 200% too reliant on that FUNC encoder.

I added the Bluetooth module to my 2730a, and have interfaced it with a Yaesu SSM-BT20 headset. (I liked that form factor better than the Icom bluetooth headset.

However, the PTT functionality seems wrong. All videos I've found show you need a momentary click on the ptt button to go into transmit, and another momentary click to go back to receive.

HOWEVER, I've gone through all the resets, settings, etc. I can imagine, and the only way it will switch into or out of transmit is by holding down the PTT button for about 2 seconds, and when you release the button, it will make the transition. This isn't acceptable. Now, I know I'm mixing vendor gear, but for a bluetooth headset that seems to work fine for all the YouTube videos that demonstrate this combination, I can't get it to work the same.

The docs for the BT20 say this model has "new" multi-function PTT capability.... Obviously documentation is sparse.

Ideas or recommendations?

Thanks,

Bill, N0WP

Hello

I'm getting into CW and I'm noticing a challenge to logging. When operating I tune to match the tone of the calling station on CW, but often times this means I had a QSO on 21020.97 kHz for example, and not 21021.00 kHz. Is it appropriate to round a QSO frequency, or should I continue logging exactly the frequency I had my VFO on?

Best

Not sure if this is the correct sub to ask this in, but:

I have a Yaesu FTA-550 that I just bought in conjunction with passing my FAA Part 107 license exam (for listening to CTAF and the like). I bought it on Ebay and it works just fine, but it did not come with the OEM programming cable (Yaesu T9101606 USB Programming Cable), which looks suspiciously like just a USB cable with a mini-USB connection on one side and the standard USB-A on the other.

I have installed the Yaesu programming software (YCE021) on two different PCs, and neither of them see a COM port with which to connect to the radio when I use a standard mini-USB cable with it.

So, my question is if the cable that they sell for anywhere from $10 to around $25 is something other than a bog-standard USB cable.

Anyone have any experience with this? I will feel silly if I wind up spending money on just another mini-USB cable, but if there is some other magic doodad internal to the cable they sell that will make it work, then fine, happy to pay for it.

I have a Xiegu G-90 rig and a mag mount HF antenna. I haven't been very successful in making contacts with the antenna mounted on my wooden fence. I was wondering what everyone thought about running an EFHW antenna under my roofline for 75'. Why, I have the HOA police that might give me a citation if they see anything. I have snuck by with my VHF/UHF antenna mounted to my bathroom vent pipe, but I don't want to push my HOA luck..

Any thoughts on 1) how to make my mag mount better or use bag it and mount something under my overhang? I have dogs so putting radials off of the antenna and on the ground would not work.

'73

https://preview.redd.it/fpgd6i0p87ge1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4234c47c52b2c462f655afb9f77836de79fcd9d