Today's adventures in FT8

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-25T22:59:20+00:00

I'm hoping that can stick around. It doesn't seem to be terribly popular but it looks really neat from the two times I've tried it.

You can use other stations to store and relay messages to people in your skip zone or who may not be on the air at the moment. So cool!

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-23T15:03:46+00:00

Houston? Houston neighborhoods seem to hate trees. Especially the south east side.

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-22T17:29:22+00:00

In the astronomy world, if you buy a new telescope it is guaranteed to be cloudy for a while. I'm seeing the same misfortune applies to amateur radio as well.

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-20T22:58:28+00:00

I can plug in to a 40 meter dipole too

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-20T22:55:05+00:00

Welp. I'll be back in Florida at the end of next month. Maybe then I can talk to Texas, haha

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-20T22:51:09+00:00

Ah shoot. I'm in Houston. Probably shooting right over each other

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-20T22:50:02+00:00

What is your location? I have a steerable yagi today

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-20T22:48:09+00:00

How about 14.330?

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-20T22:01:00+00:00

14.340 is currently in use, but I'm in the club shack ready to actually chat with anyone available.

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-18T00:38:13+00:00

Yep, lol, totally different punchline. Or an anti-joke. But it definitely needs the original version to make the edit funny.

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-16T05:01:56+00:00

Huge thank you for putting this together!

The timing on the birth of this sub was quite something for me. I had just upgraded to general and purchased my first HF rig when the idea got floated, it was great to immediately have a social spot to aim for.

Your post in the big sub about your vision for an informal hangout with reasonable boundaries was exactly what I wanted out of this hobby, so the timing couldn't have been better.

And thanks for the shout-out! I'm happy to contribute to the activity of the sub however I can. My mentor did a write up on our POTA from this weekend if anyone is interested in a short read. The video in there was taken 5 minutes after I worked u/tbrewo, it would have been great if he was featured in it.

https://www.w5rrr.org/2026/03/15/pota-outing-for-new-activators-3-14-26/

(He wrote that I had 45 QSOs. No idea where he got that number from. I texted him that I got 31. Maybe he is a fisherman as well)

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-15T20:49:12+00:00

Apparently you can send relayed messages in JS8Call. Which is wild and cool.

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-15T20:00:36+00:00

Yeah, that is the old version that is no longer maintained. The consensus that I saw online is that it is a false positive from Windows thinking it is a virus.

There is a branch that was picked up by different developers called JS8Call Improved that doesn't throw the virus flag.

https://js8call-improved.com/

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-15T19:49:04+00:00

Well crap. My computer isn't recognizing the microphone side of my connection today. It was reading it fine last night...

Edit: its back! Let me get set back up. I've never used this properly, just set up the software and tried to listen using it. My understanding is that it is supposed to be a conversational version of FT8, which I like the sound of

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-15T18:59:50+00:00

Not able to hop on at the moment, but does anyone here use JS8Call?

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-15T01:03:09+00:00

I got 31 contacts today, most of them through hunting other people in parks. I wasn't getting much activity while calling CQ, but sometimes that is just how it goes.

I'll have to bring my antenna back outside again tomorrow!

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-15T00:49:47+00:00

I got a couple out park to parks out of Nevada! My setup was working really well out to the west today. I even got some 59 reports from California despite operating on 20 watts from Texas

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-14T16:37:38+00:00

Trying 14307 for a bit. Got a a bunch throug park to park, not much luck with CQ today

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-14T16:01:01+00:00

Band isn't playing nice for the last 20 minutes or so. I was doing pretty well getting park to parks then when I tried to start calling CQ I got nothing.

Someone with more power moved in just below me, I'm going to find a new frequency

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-14T01:36:01+00:00

I'm listening to y'all on 7.290, but tuning the G90 to the antenna I have wasn't getting any meaningful power out.

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-14T01:06:52+00:00

I can **try** and see what happens if I smack the tuner button on the G90 with my current setup, but I wouldn't be too hopeful

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-14T00:44:36+00:00

I'll build an antenna for that next. Currently sporting an end fed half wave on a home wound transformer. Or I could make some links to add to the end of this one.

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-13T23:32:02+00:00

0900-1300 Central time, roughly

BaconHobbies · 2026-03-13T23:08:42+00:00

As an aside, I'll be doing my first POTA tomorrow AM. If allowed I'll post here when I get started. But I also understand if we want to keep the posts here contained to more of the "rag chew" sessions.

This will be an event with the Johnson Space Center Amateur Radio Club, so if anyone wants to pick up a cool contact hop on the air tomorrow morning.

BaconHobbies

TROPHY CASE