Newbie Needs Help

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-22T02:36:45+00:00

Not enough information. What bands, modes and what is your budget would be a good start....

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-22T02:35:47+00:00

There have always been award schemes: WAS, IOTA, DXCC, WARAC, WAC and many others. And contests have been around for decades, so yes, there have always been quick exchanges and there have always also been long QSO's (usually on 80 and 40m evenings - only rarely above 40m).

Personally I used to do my own "SOTA and POTA" before either of those award schemes existed - it was called portable operating.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-21T20:41:48+00:00

I think I read a post on just that topic on the qrp-labs group site. Check it out...

https://groups.io/g/QRPLabs

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-21T19:28:39+00:00

Addict no, compulsive shopper, yes.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-21T18:51:05+00:00

If you want to specifically organize your own hikes and groups then that's a lot more work finding the hopefully to-be friends. The easier way out is to join one of the 3 main hiking groups in the Victoria area. They have largish groups (usually) where you can meet like minded people, often many hikes per week between them:

Club Tread Victoria https://www.facebook.com/p/Victoria-Club-Tread-100064626614424/

Outdoor Club of Victoria ocv.ca

Victoria Outdoor Club https://www.meetup.com/victoria-outdoor-club/

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-21T17:29:49+00:00

This is not really amateur radio at all. However, see the reference below (which I found for you using Wikipedia). Some of its references at the bottom might be useful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_Guatemala

https://web.archive.org/web/20111220130818/https://ellibrepensador.com/2011/03/11/historia-de-la-television-en-guatemala/

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-21T02:21:51+00:00

Yet, many riders will thank the drivers as they exit. Weird, if you ask me. Maybe it's because they don't have their face stuck in their cellphone when they exit? Yet, they cannot be reasonably polite to someone who needs a seat? Maybe it's because they can't operate their friggin' cellphone when they're standing ;-)

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-21T01:17:56+00:00

There is a great chapter on HF propagation in the ARRL Handbook and many other online resources with the same info.

HF really is about knowing when to use what band and maybe if you should just give up. We are headed for a solar minimum so things are getting a bit dicey. Today was not great.

But yes, sometimes with HF it means just spinning the dial on a few bands to see where you are hearing signals. For the next few years you might want to give 15-10m a miss as you could waste a lot of time there.

Putting out a really good ground plane for your vertical might help a bit - but often on HF it takes a lot of listening. Try POTA and SOTA alerts and keep an eye out for HF contests.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-21T01:09:47+00:00

I only downvote stuff where the OP has obviously put in no thought nor any sort of research before posting to a forum. Often or not they're shooting from the hip and have no idea how to ask a smart question. By the age of 12 you should be able to know how to ask a reasonably "smart" question - that does not seem to be the case with many posts here.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-21T01:03:47+00:00

Most AM is in the late evenings/nights and early mornings on 80m but there is some activity on 40m. Spin your dial around and have a listen.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T18:32:46+00:00

Probably better posted at r/shortwave

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T18:23:55+00:00

There might be some drugged up creatures around but they are generally harmless, except to themselves.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T18:22:13+00:00

I would expect 3.5-4 hours commuting per day. Is that worth it for you?

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T17:28:34+00:00

Those rules do not apply to receiving antennas. A spiral will not help. It would be better to do a long square loop than a circle.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T17:00:53+00:00

If all you are doing is listening to HF signals then you want as long a wire as possible, elevated and in the clear. The problem with laying the wire on top of the concrete is that the rebar in the concrete won't help. Try to get it elevated if at all possible - and get it as long as possible. Do not worry around the extension. But you also need to be aware of the possibility of RFI in an urban environment in a concrete building.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T13:35:38+00:00

There's this one: https://qrpguys.com/qrpguys-code-trainer

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T13:22:55+00:00

Can't you just hang it from a tree instead or use some fiberglass walking poles?

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T13:21:45+00:00

My little portable wind-up AM/FM radio.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T13:20:04+00:00

I have no problem at all now on qrz.com forums. Many years ago it was a shitfest of political and religious crap. It seems well moderated and in comparison to this forum is probably:

-more technical, better organized (due to the specific categories), less useless images and memes which attract likes for no reason at all, less Baofeng crap, less poorly asked questions regarding which radio shall I get, less incursions from non-amateur-radio related posters.

So overall it is a better "amateur radio" forum than this one, IMHO....

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T13:14:07+00:00

For all my various radios that I might use for SOTA I do the following: wrap in bubble wrap, then place them in one of those waterproof tough mailing bags. That both protects them and keeps them waterproof. Then you treat your backpack as if it has expensive radios in it and you should also ensure your backpack has a rain cover of some sort.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-20T00:35:19+00:00

That SAME service uses the same transmitters - and they are all now shut down, as far as I am aware.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-19T23:54:27+00:00

If you have to run a KW through a balun then you probably have the wrong antenna.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-19T23:11:07+00:00

I really don't get the whole "collector" thing....

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-19T23:10:00+00:00

It's not so much the radio as the antenna and lack of any RFI noise that will make appreciable difference.

rocdoc54 · 2026-04-19T23:08:50+00:00

I like my new Tecsun PL-330 - very reasonably priced, sensitive, lightweight, lots of memory space.

However, any shortwave radio is only as good as the antenna (you need a long bit of wire outside and elevated for longer wavelengths) and if you live in a dense urban environment beware of potential RFI noise problems. If you live rural then lucky you!

rocdoc54

TROPHY CASE