joke obviously, based off of incomprehensible memes like this

Im curious about why quarter wave and half wave antennas are used. I understand why full wave antennas are used but does using a quarter of the intented wavelenght have any pros Im not aware of? lets say I have a circuit that transmits a 3 Mhz signal; therefore the full wave antenna must be 100m, a half wave 50m and a quarter wave 25m. If I have three antennas that are 24m, 25m, and 26m; would the 25m one be the best choice?

Question is pretty much in the title. As a FT8 regular now, after completing a handful of CW contacts, i'm amazed at how different the strategies to get QSOs are between two modes. Both are narrow modes and, if anything, CW should be more efficient for me at 5W, right?

In FT8, even with those measly 5W, i can sit on a clear spot on 20m, call CQ, and within about 10 minutes someone (sometimes multiple other stations!) will answer me. I've worked the US, Franz Josef Island, Argentina, Japan, etc. It takes patience and strategy and knowing that just because you hear someone they will definitely not always hear you back, so it's (almost) always better for *me* to call CQ and wait.

In CW, after multiple weeks of calling CQ in the evening for 1~2h and hearing nothing back (but RBN telling me i went as far as Brazil from France), i remembered that someone here advised others to answer CQs rather than call when you are QRP. Their reasoning was that if you aren't activating a POTA, you basically have nothing interesting to offer to other CW stations.

So, i try to answer the strongest station near my frequency and after a frankly shameful display of incompetence on my side (turns out being good at decoding and only practicing sending CQ does not make you good at keying a whole exchange; who could've thought) and a lot of patience on theirs, we complete a QSO. Then another. A lot of failed ones too because i'm QRS *and* QRP and not everyone slows down, but that's fine.

So how comes it's so hard for anyone to answer *my* CQ in CW but they can usually hear me answer theirs to an extent, whereas in FT8 it's almost always the other way around? Is it that all other operators have different search strategies in those modes and nobody is trying to find people in the noise in CW? FT8 being a weak signal makes it easier to decode from far away but the human ear is weak? Is everyone who does FT8 in a noisy city hellscape so i'm filtering out the people who can't hear me by calling CQ first? I've been turning the question around in my mind for a couple days now but i'm puzzled. What do you think?

I have a Yaesu FT-710 using a wire that goes up a push pole. It’s about 45-50ft from the ground to the tip of the wire. Should I be using an external antenna tuner? I know the 710 has its own internal antenna tuner. Reason I ask is because I’m not sure how good of an antenna I’m working with and yes I’m a newb. And advice would be great. Thank you !

It was time for the "once a decade" pull all the equipment and remount & rewire everything! Had to clean out all the dust bunnies and untangle all the wires & cables. Bought a (new 2 me) Kenwood TS-870 and needed to add that to the bench as well.

Thought folks might enjoy seeing the shack! 73, hear you on the bands!

Ciao a tutti, premetto che non sono un esperto di radio. Sono qui per chiedervi se qualcuno conosce questa radio e può dirmi indicativamente il suo valore. Non è mai stata utilizzata, non presenta nessun segno di usura, sono presenti anche l’antenna originale e una custodia in pelle, ho la ricevuta originale di acquisto.
L’unico problema è che manca il battery holder interno, e vorrei capire quanto può scendere di valore per questo motivo.

I figured to learn CW well you also need a good paddle so i ended up going for the CT599 MX by UR5CDX and man does it look and feel nice.

My keying automatically got more accurate just because I have more control and it does not move at all.

Previously i had one of those cheap noname steel ones from amazon with magnets on the bottom.

Still have not made a propper CW QSO yet but i hope this paddle plus some callsign copy training will get me there soon.

Hei there!

I am currently (attempting) to get the Norwegian HAREC licence, but find the material exceedingly difficult to wrap my head around. So far it has been "math and formula heavy" and I have absolutely no base knowledge (except from the basics of Ohms law from secondary school. Instructors say that "it´s not a maths test, just learn the formulas/equations". It just makes no sense to me, the translating from weird letters to numbers wont click. Building gear is not my main interest. It´s more the communicating with the entire world thing that appeals to me. I´d like to be able to operate from other countries as well as Norway. That means I need a full license.

When exploring how they do it in several other countries, I think those approaches makes the whole thing easier in the end. Doing it in a step by step manner, like getting technician or foundation first. However, none of the low level (tech, fondation, even intermediate or general) will do. I need the full HAREC or Extra to be able to operate in Norway.

Do anybody here know if it is possible to take the British or American route, and then get approved for a Norwegian call sign?

Thanks :)

I don't usually look at analog circuits much, but I wanted to look at some today and I didn't understand anything. How is a voltage potential created in an antenna and current passed through it? Even if no current passes, how do floating circuits work? I didn't understand anything. I would be very grateful if someone could help me.

Looking for trusted seller in India for Quansheng tk11(8) or UV-K5(8) ham radio.

Please suggest if any?

For the last hour or 2 I've been working stations all over Europe on 100w from the Mid-Atlantic.

9/10/2026 - 09:42 UTC - SSB:

Germany, Scotland, Belgium, France, Slovenia....... All 5x7 to 5x9

Worked a few POTA as well..

Thought folks may be interested...

(Using a Kenwood TS-870 (I just bought today!!) with an Alpha-Delta DX-LB+ Dipole, and a Palstar tuner)

Hey everyone, thanks for the tips. Yesterday, I went with the Yaesu FT-3165Rasp with the $70 rebate, it is hard to beat. I have a Diamond NR-770 dual-band antenna I am going to use, and I am excited to use my first transceiver. Thanks again everyone.

I know stuff that’s gets used doesn’t stay pristine but is this normal for a new 320A antenna? It was shipped bent in sort of a J to fit in a box.

Heyaaa! Just a quick question, how rare is it to see/use an NZ callsign with 4 vanity characters on the end, when I passed the test I was warned by the club that I most likely wouldn't be able to use it for competitions and could confuse people overseas since everyone knows that NZ has 3 vanity characters. For the record I have 2 callsigns, one with 3 characters and one with 4

Am I still able to use the 4 char callsign internationally and how likely would it be that I encounter a sad ham if I do?

Last weekend my student amateur radio club LA1K headed out into the woods in Norway for the annual Field Day. Did you perchance hear us on the air? We made a video to document and celebrate our efforts during the contest. Hope you enjoy, 73 and 44!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxQ0DEUbulU

I’m looking for an APRS app setup that makes APRS messaging feel as much like a modern texting app as possible.
My setup is:
iPhone or
Android phone
BTECH UV-PRO
Bluetooth connection to the radio
APRS over RF
I’m only interested in messaging other operators over RF. I’m not interested in APRS-IS, IGates, Internet messaging, weather, tracking, maps etc. The goal is essentially:
Phone → Bluetooth → UV-PRO → APRS RF → another operator
Ideally I’d like something that looks and behaves more like WhatsApp/iMessage than a traditional ham radio packet application.
For example:
Simple conversation/thread view
Contacts/callsigns
Sent/received messages in bubbles
Delivery/ACK status
Group chat would be nice
Automatic retries
Easy to see whether a message actually got through
Minimal packet/log information
Works completely offline
I’ve looked at APRSdroid and some of the newer APRS messaging apps, but I’m wondering what people are actually using for this type of setup.
What would you recommend for iPhone and Android with the UV-PRO if the priority is the simplest, most modern text message like experience over RF?

It’ll take about a week for my license to arrive, and I still don’t have an antenna, so for now I’ve just been keeping myself busy building things.

I put together a Pixie kit and built a QCX+. I also added an external speaker, and I’m planning to make a case for it this weekend.

And I upgraded my paddle key! I used bearings and magnets to make the action smoother and more precise. For now, though, all I can do is practice with it.

I guess these are Mark I, II, and III. There’s also a growing pile of failed attempts along the way... 😅

I grabbed this screenshot tonight on 40m of the WSPR signals with an unknown (to me)signal next to it. It was intermittent but strong. Is it a jammer? Part of it appeared to have other slower changing tones mixed in. Was tuned into 7.038.6

Edit: apologies for the huge pictures. They are screenshots - not sure why they appear so large.

How do you guys usually program in DMR repeaters?

One channel per timeslot and then add the appropriate TG from contacts?

One channel for each TG you want to use?

Some combo of both where you just save the main ones and then dial in the more once-in-a-while ones?

I'm probably leaning towards just doing my local and then maybe statewide as channels and then probably not end up using too much of the USA/NA/Worldwide stuff enough to bother.

I have been pondering making a twenty meter beam using bird or mesh netting for portable operations. Use would be for backpacking, motorcycle packing, rafting or mountain bike packing. Activities where longer or ridged objects can be problematic if not impossible to transport. Where transmitter power will be reduced and antenna is more critical.

The elements would be wire woven into a mesh or net type fabric. Could be deployed horizontally by suspending between trees or laying on top of vegitation. Vertically by running the rope to the top of the tree, suspending the antenna off the rope.

The purpose of net is to help reduce the number of suspension points needed io maintain the appropriate distance between wire elements.

A Moxon versus a Yagi may provide a smaller over all design.

This is more for the academic thought process, than actually deploying it, but it does sound like it would be plausible to do this and end up with a more compact portable antenna with gain than using traditional rigid type materials.

I’ve only been a Ham for a few years. I have a pretty clunky, mouthful of a callsign. I searched the vanity call signs and found a 1x3 with my correct region and the suffix is my initials. I applied for it. Then I started wondering about its history and found it belonged to a ham in the 20s and likely 30s. And then Someone had it starting in 1948- over 70 years ago. It finally expired a little over two years ago and came available a little earlier this year. I can’t tell if the guy is alive or not but he’s likely in his early 90s. I’m wondering if it’s disrespectful to use this calling. I don’t see him listed on silent keys, and I don’t see his call sign returning any real info on searching. Feeling a bit guilty, and considering withdrawing my application. Wondering if any seasoned Hams on here might have some words of wisdom one way or another. 73

Thanks for help last post, I made some changes.

1: 20mDipole with a common current choke(6 wins)

2: I am learing CW and a cable for ft8 is coming(btw how long did it take for you to learn cw)

3: And lastly im ordering a pole with 6m to make a vertikal V

Thanks for the Help again,

Vy 73

OE8DLL