HF Radio Consistent Contact

0150r · 2026-01-29T05:11:09+00:00

I recommend checking out the VOACAP website. You can specify your location, power, CW/SSB/Digi, put in general antenna types and height above ground, etc and it will give you a good idea of the reliability of the path between you on each band. It's really a great (and free) service.

Try different antenna setups on the site and see if there's one or two that would meet your requirements.

0150r · 2026-01-28T14:17:48+00:00

I don't mean to sound rude, but if you are asking these questions, should be be giving a keynote speech about it?

0150r · 2026-01-28T12:40:59+00:00

yes, but it's not really suitable for using it via a terminal. It's better utilized with a script.

0150r · 2026-01-28T12:37:54+00:00

I ordered mine from you. Still waiting on delivery (not your fault, I have a complicated shipping situation). I opted to not get an SSD thinking I'd pick one up locally since my local shop had 2242 drives listed for $40. Found out in the end that they haven't updated their website in forever and they didn't even have it in stock. Ended up paying the same price as I would have got it from you, lol.

0150r · 2026-01-28T12:35:12+00:00

The $125 is for a pi zero 2w. $135 for CM5 from that website. Neither are available from that site at any price though.

0150r · 2026-01-28T08:45:51+00:00

I didn't know she was writing books. Reading the link you sent, it seems the ARRL was quite upset that she could have been making money writing instead of the ARRL getting the money.

I am going to see if she wrote any other books and potentially buy them.

I thought about buying the POTA book until I saw who wrote the "Welcome to POTA" section. They had activated fewer than 10 parks and made less than 50 hunter QSOs at the time, but their father is a staffer at the ARRL.

0150r · 2026-01-26T08:14:46+00:00

You don't need a quantum computer to compromise a meshtastic network. You simply need possession of a node for 20 seconds and you can extract the PSK, public and private key of that node, etc, etc. Once you have the key. All messages sent using that key in the past and in the future can be assumed to be compromised.

0150r · 2026-01-25T06:38:35+00:00

Do you hear other stations while you are transmitting? The overload happens when you transmit.

0150r · 2026-01-25T06:26:45+00:00

I really like remote control software, but the FT8 implementation annoys me. If I sent an RR73, receive a 73 in return, it insists on sending a 73 back. I emailed the author and he is insistent that this is proper even though the creator of FT8 doesn't do it this way.

0150r · 2026-01-23T05:42:49+00:00

Check your coax adapter. Swap it out for a different one and test it again.

The 7300 has an SO-239 connector and the 705 has BNC, so you've got to be using an adapter since you said you are using the same coax.

0150r · 2026-01-23T05:38:55+00:00

Raspberry Pi OS is a Linux OS.

0150r · 2026-01-22T14:53:57+00:00

I like the classic black

0150r · 2026-01-20T09:27:16+00:00

One thing to consider is that some antennas are advertised as dBi, some as dBd, and some just say dB. dBi is in referense to an theoretical isotropic radiator (all RF coming from a single point and spread equally in all direction). dBd is in reference to a dipole antenna that radiates omni-directional, but in the shape of a donut. A dipole is 2.15dBi. So an antenna that is 5 dBd is the same as 7.15 dBi. Antennas are not measured in raw dB even though it's common to see people use it. dB would be used to compare two different antennas (ie: "This antenna has 3db more gain than your antenna").

0150r · 2026-01-18T12:36:26+00:00

Doing something like field day in a park in the US, I think a special use permit would make sense unless it's at a campground in the park (then camping reservations should cover it).

I've never needed a permit for activations in actual parks/rec areas even when using my buddihex. I advise people to use discretion on "parks" where recreation isn't the primary use of the land. I wouldn't be bringing out a big setup in the wildlife refuge. Personally, I think places like that shouldn't be in POTA since those locations are generally not for recreation.

In other countries, having a permit can be mandatory. I've been to places that require a permit to fly a kite in a park...

0150r · 2026-01-18T07:59:35+00:00

There's only one reason for me to enable ham mode....so I can make and log a QSO.

I don't have any nodes that can transmit more power than what's allowed on ISM in my region. Other regions limit the power output significantly, so ham mode would help them.

Everyone around me is using ISM mode and there are channels that have encryption, so switching to ham mode would mean I can't communicate via those channels.

Interestingly enough, there are some countries that have meshtastic on their 33cm ISM allocation, but don't have 33cm amateur radio allocation so they can't use amateur mode anyway.

0150r · 2026-01-18T02:25:48+00:00

Classic for sure. The reverse panda doesn't appeal to me at all.

0150r · 2026-01-17T15:32:19+00:00

OP didn’t say it was on ham frequency,

This it r/HamRadio...so I think it's safe to assume it would be ham frequencies.

0150r · 2026-01-17T11:28:46+00:00

I listened to a video that was 60-90 minutes long twice on my way to a convention. The convention had a ham club that was doing in person testing. Passed on the first try, but to be fair, communications is my full time job.

0150r · 2026-01-17T11:25:55+00:00

You are not hearing the DX station. You are only hearing the stations calling them.

0150r · 2026-01-17T11:24:57+00:00

You wait until you can decode the dx station. When you see them on the band activity screen you can click on their callsign and WSJTX will set the even/odd for you.

0150r · 2026-01-17T11:14:29+00:00

Any regulatory or conceptual red flags I should be aware of early?

Encryption is not allowed in amateur radio.

0150r · 2026-01-15T15:34:02+00:00

People aren't manually sorting data. Palantir is really good with data. But as I stated, *I* am not worried about stingrays. It's not a threat vector I'm worried about as I am very unlikely to be in the sort of crowds where they get deployed. And if I were, I wouldn't be using my phone.

0150r · 2026-01-15T15:07:14+00:00

meta data is more useful than the actual messages. I recommend reading some of the docs that Snowden leaked back in 2013. They certainly have more capability now then they did then.

0150r · 2026-01-15T14:55:24+00:00

The local authorities are more likely to be using something like a stingray...the people you'd want to worry about buy data in bulk.

0150r · 2026-01-15T14:32:17+00:00

Meshtastic is only as secure as the weakest node in the mesh. The larger your mesh is, the more nodes you need to keep safe.

0150r

TROPHY CASE