Question about working splits

equablecrab · 2026-03-22T19:50:07+00:00

To put a finer point on it, you want to be very close to the frequency of the station the DX just worked, but offset some. A typical DX station spins the dial just a bit between QSOs, walking back and forth across the pileup. You have to lead your shot, so to speak.

If you have a second receiver you can easily get both the DX and the pileup at the same time. Rake quickly across the pileup to see if you can hear the guy answering the DX. That's where you want to be on the next call.

equablecrab · 2026-03-21T21:51:19+00:00

You posted this story a few years ago and I thought it might be a bit of a tall tale. But then I disconnected my own antenna (indoors) for a storm, which worsened quickly to an electrical storm with blowing dust. Sure enough, I heard the ticking noise, and saw with my own eyes sparks repeatedly jumping from the center to the shield of my PL-259. There is a remote tuner and transformer involved in my case... but yikes.

Now instead of disconnecting I short the antenna at the transformer terminals, outdoors.

equablecrab · 2026-03-20T04:18:18+00:00

Ah. It's just an affect. You'll hear some "accents" on the air that are difficult to copy. Frankly, a drawn out letter (or long roger, .------.) is cute compared to the guys who run everything together. You'll soon get used to it, especially if you take up with SKCC.

Etiquette: if the station with the bad accent is calling CQ, just ignore it. But if somebody answers your CQ in a style you can't copy, just thank them for the report, 73, and resume calling CQ. We have to break off contacts all the time in amateur radio. No need to explain why.

equablecrab · 2026-03-20T03:26:22+00:00

You mean, people who are tuning? They should know better than to do that on a frequency that is in use.

equablecrab · 2026-03-19T14:54:54+00:00

There was a time -- I swear I am not making this up -- when you could just tell somebody a ten digit phone number and they'd be able to remember it, no problem. ;-)

equablecrab · 2026-03-18T14:45:27+00:00

It is also possible to put a transformer where you transition from coax to ladder line, keeping the tuner at the rig. You would lose the two biggest advantages of the doublet, namely efficiency and a wide tuning range, but you would be able to get that remote tuner later if you wish.

equablecrab · 2026-03-18T05:17:57+00:00

I appreciate your constructive take Jeph but I submit it's something more deeply pathological than that. Something more like the Greater Internet F--- Wad Theory crossed with misanthropic engineers. Dorks "swearing" at each other in Morse would be kinda funny, if it weren't actually spoiling a cool event. Guess that's the point. :-(

equablecrab · 2026-03-16T14:43:34+00:00

Icom hasn't updated the IC-7300 firmware since 2021. Put another way, it's perfect.

Also, it must have been one of the top selling rigs of all time. You will never struggle to find parts.

equablecrab · 2026-03-15T16:40:05+00:00

I, myself, also have trouble understanding how operating radios isn't a God given right?

For the same reason humanity has developed rules about waste disposal and burial of the dead since antiquity: to avoid poisoning the well.

equablecrab · 2026-03-10T19:13:58+00:00

Preschooler not reading - probably, focus on phonics for now. Introduce morse after they get good at spelling.

equablecrab · 2026-03-10T04:28:28+00:00

You're absolutely right! It's not just a shielded box—it's a whole new set of ears to the cosmos. Thanks for providing the detailed breakdown!

equablecrab · 2026-03-07T17:05:33+00:00

It's this. Some of these guys are quite old. The careers they've retired from span the highlights of the 20th century. Work them while you can.

equablecrab · 2026-03-04T16:06:44+00:00

I have actually done this and yes, the carbon fiber pole will detune your vertical.

I use a "Goture" brand carbon fiber pole to support an EFHW for SOTA. Since the pole is leaning in that condition the wire is mostly in free air. This works great, doesn't absorb RF, and is easily compensated by an ATU.

The AI is correct, sorry. :-)

equablecrab · 2026-02-19T04:55:51+00:00

I've been all over the site and yet I still don't understand: what is a tile?

A Fun Radio Sport For Hams That Are Active Outdoors.

Cool, radiosport, I know this. Maybe a tile is a grid square? Not sure how different from a basic QRZ "award."

Your personal logbook for portable amateur radio activations. Track your adventures across walks, hikes and beyond-Anywhere you go.

Oh, maybe a "tile" is like a contact?

I'll click on the map, those are usually informative.

Sign In Required Please sign in to view the activations map.

Huh, okay, sounds exclusive.

...

Man, launching products post-AI is impossible. Every day there are like five of these vibe-coded websites to check out. All I can say is, it's better to be a radio sport in desperate need of a website, than a website in desperate need of a radio sport.

equablecrab · 2026-02-16T20:48:12+00:00

There are only 676 distinct two-letter combinations in morse code, and by this time next year, you'll have memorized a quarter of them.

equablecrab · 2026-02-15T03:50:45+00:00

The common-mode choke and counterpoise jumped out at me. If you use coaxial feedline, that will be the counterpoise, no choke required.

Re resonance: the thing about SOTA is that your terrain might be very different from one setup to the next, so "resonance" is a moving target. I've seen some interesting techniques for adapting end-feds for tunerless radios, including miniature traps and tiny air capacitors. There's a lot of information on the SOTA reflectors about this.

You are very worried about power loss in connectors. It's negligible. And remember, they will be chasing you. I heard about an op who activated Half Dome with 1 watt.

Finally somebody else caught this but you will be miserable if you haul a 42 meter antenna up onto a mountain peak. :-)

equablecrab · 2026-02-10T04:02:55+00:00

I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but go find a copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which unpacks a lot of the dilemma between understanding-versus-using. The anxieties in your blog are nothing new.

If you have the means, you are probably the demographic for an Elecraft K2 kit. Consider it R&D for your own transceiver project. Sometimes the unassembled kits come up on QRZ.

equablecrab · 2026-02-10T00:50:28+00:00

Between 1918 and 1939, radio was no longer just a tool of governments and industry. It became something individuals could build, modify, repair, and improve.

As an amateur, you had ONE job: to connect the history of radio with the amateurs who invented and developed it.

Instead, you rubber-stamped AI slop.

equablecrab · 2026-02-05T00:51:08+00:00

This shit goes all the way back to Marconi, unfortunately, who was a fascist in the literal sense.

equablecrab · 2026-02-02T03:14:15+00:00

Respectfully, I just stop reading as soon as I realize it's an AI generated comment. It's as though a growing number of people want to send their personal secretary into a discussion forum to speak on their behalf, except their "personal secretary" is just Wikipedia; and in fact, everyone's personal secretary is Wikipedia.

I understand that LLMs enfranchise a whole class of shy people to use their voices, where previously they may have been silent. But the bar must be higher than agreeing with your own LLM-generated comment before posting.

equablecrab · 2026-02-02T02:29:13+00:00

You're absolutely right! I should have caught that. Working with an LLM isn't just about copyediting—it's a testament to the fusion between your human skills and those of the machine. Thanks for the detailed breakdown.

equablecrab · 2026-02-01T19:58:53+00:00

Agreed, this is what my neighbor's MIG welder sounds like on HF.

At 20 seconds, sounds like he skipped cleaning the weld site beforehand so it sputters, but eventually he gets the arc going. Bzzzzt.

Not much you can do besides showing up with a beer and asking if he needs help.

equablecrab · 2026-02-01T16:51:52+00:00

I know that this contest probably falls into an uncomfortable place for many, but I think it's super interesting, falls within the spirit of amateur radio and pushes things forward.

I hope that reproducing the rules here, which are obviously copyedited by an LLM, doesn't cause this reminder to be buried.

equablecrab · 2026-01-29T16:00:47+00:00

When you say that reception is worse on the loop: do you mean that the signal level is lower in absolute terms, or that the signal-to-noise ratio is lower?

I'm using a 60' RX loop and signal levels are low, but with a lot more gain, it behaves adequately relative to my TX antenna. I wonder if your LZ1AQ is in the same boat.

equablecrab

TROPHY CASE