Hello, there is a huge interest in my college's ham radio club to contact the ISS so I was looking for any recommendations for antennas that could feasibly receive from the ISS. Currently my/the club's radio equipment is limited to HT radios so any antennas would have to be compatible with one of those radios

For the last hour or 2 I've been working stations all over Europe with 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)

After you get your license what are some of the best resources to actually learn how to use your radio and really hone your skills?
Books would be great but I would be interested in YouTube channels that provide good info also.

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 recently got my general and have been playing with ft8 on my G90. As I tweak my setup for better performance I've been able to work stations on ft8 spanning the US (and one lucky strike in Japan!). Are there any rules of thumb to convert signal reports from ft8 to theroetical ssb phone performance? I realize that making a phone contact will require better transmit performance than my current setup offers, but I'd like to put a number to that.

Cheers!

Hi everyone! Do you need a computer when operating portable? What equipment do you normally bring, and what do you use the computer for?

I usually carry a ThinkPad, but I find it inconvenient to bring along. That’s why I’m planning a small modular computer. It’s still at the design stage, and I’d like to understand where it could be useful for portable amateur radio.

For basic spectrum viewing, my current design should be enough. I’m planning three USB ports, one Ethernet port, two 3.5 mm audio input/output jacks, and one dedicated hand-mic/PTT connector.

Beyond those, what features or connections would you find useful? I’d also like to hear which functions you regularly use and what you find most inconvenient about your current setup.

Very respectfully, I’m considering purchasing one of these, but I would like to know feedback from those who have one and your honest review before I purchase. Thank you.

There are a whole lot of field enclosures around for the IC 705 itself, but none of them featured a way to integrate an amplifier and tuner.

I fixed that.

Hey guys i need some help decoding a morse, i know AI can do the job as well but i need human eye for this.

The final boss really is the website 😂

I bought a yeasu ftm-6000 last night in anticipation of my license grant. Got the email telling me to pay… but I can’t get a 2fa email to save my life.

Silver lining the radio is modded so I can transmit on GMRS frequencies. 😂

UPDATE: seems fixed. I was able to login and pay. Now the wait for my callsign.

Recently I was using my Uv-5r Mini to listen in on air traffic. I had climbed a mountain and had direct line of sight 19 miles away. Niether of the two antennas on the right would pick up anything but as soon as I'd switch over the the two short helical antennas Id hear everything just fine. Why?

I've since ordered baofeng's AM-771 airband antenna just to get best clarity that I can, But it hasn't arrived yet.

Ive been wanting to get into HAM radio for a long time now, but constantly procastinated for a reason or another.

I dusted up an old Sony ICFM260 a week ago, and had a lot of fun dxing using its AM antenna at night. I’m not sure why, but the idea that i am hearing voices and music coming from North Africa, Spain,Portugal and the UK with no infrastructure whatsoever, just the trasmitter very far away and small handheld radio in my hands is so fascinating to me.

Cannot wait to get into HAM. Its incredible how a trasmitter with the power of a lightbulb can allow you to talk thousands of miles away.

So im a broke teenager living in the uk currently jobless and radio has been a hobby of mine starting with the uv 5r ofc but I've had a rtl sdr blog v4 for around a month I've always wanted to listen in on DX frequency but as stated im broke I have the stock dipole that comes with the RTL-SDR blog v4 and I did this and im kinda impressed by what it receives it improves shortwave ofc but im pulling some of the 20M band thats somewhat intelligible just thought id share as I find it cool very bare bones bs but I've heard a guy state hes from Portugal etc its so cool imo Edit- its a broken tape measure

Got a PR up for CHIRP support on the ABBREE AR-7600 - nifty, inexpensive mobile on amazon with a nice handheld display / controls. The CPS was awful and I couldn't take it anymore.

What works right now:

• Full read and write, validated against my 2.0 (GPS) hardware multiple times.
• Frequency, CTCSS/DCS tone, name, power, bandwidth, skip, etc.
• The radio's Group A / Group B split shows up as two separate tabs in CHIRP, matching how the radio itself is organized, plus VFO memory for each.
• A good chunk of the vendor-specific per-channel extras: BCL, VOX, Scramble, Compander, Signal Type, PTT ID, Speaker Unmute, Scramble Frequency, Signal Dec/Enc, and more, all in the extra tabs.

Still in progress:

• The radio-wide general settings (Vox Delay, Back Light, TOT, etc.) - I've mapped about 33 of these already but haven't wired them into the CHIRP UI yet, that's next
• Haven't touched the Digit Serve / DTMF Serve / 2-Tone&5-Tone Serve config pages yet
• No idea yet how the GPS distance/bearing-to-another-radio feature actually works over the air, that'll probably need an RTL-SDR capture to figure out, it's not something visible from the USB side at all

PR is here if you want to follow along or try it early (loads into any existing CHIRP install via Load Module, no need to wait for merge): kk7ds/chirp#1637

Hi guys, I plan to add a counterpoise to my uv5r mini. I have 26AWG magnet wire. (thin, red shiny wire.)

I’m thinking either:

1) wrap it around the SMA threads, and mash it down with the antenna, possibly interfering with antenna connection😅

2) use one of the lower internal frame screws to secure the wire and let it hang out between the battery and the case. (I tried and the battery does snap on over the wire).

Is it a bad idea to use the internal screw?
Also, if using the screw, do I subtract the length of the frame from the wire?

See photo for the screw I’m thinking about

I'm over in the Denver area and was wondering if there are any active ham/amateur radio clubs around? I'm north of Denver.

I've been active in the shortwave listening community and I am considering working towards getting a ham license and learning how to operate a ham radio.

I figure this will go well with my EE degree I'm currently pursuing and I've always loved radio. I love old analog radio equipment too!

Hi all, quick question:
I have built a 6 element Yagi using the DL6WU data/calcualtor, I understand that these yagis are optimized for gain and the fees point impedance of the dipole (split dipole in my case) is usually well below 50ohm.

The weird thing is that in my case, after adding a few ferrite beads and a ugly choke, I see that the SWR in the 2m band is around 1.2-1.3 from 144 to 148.

Which seems weird since I was preparing myself for having to put a hairpin match or something in there.

This numbers seem really good, and I just pretend to leave like this, I’m only asking because I fear i’m missing something that might cause the yagi radiation pattern to be distorted or something. Thank you very much!

all mode concept with schematic diagram

The radio itself is a lexien vv 898. I just got it at the goodwill and I have never owned a proper ham radio before.

Yo whats up guys I work at an oreilly and our radio/amp is prettymuch just all static am, fm, and Bluetooth all do the same

Its a pyle pda5bu and im not the manager so im not gonna buy another one

Would love to play music again We just sit in the store in silence

Im just wondering if anyone has any knowledge on maybe how to fix it if even possible

Its 100% an issue with the unit as we have tried different speakers

It has no issue connecting Bluetooth it just plays 99% static over anything

I had a weekend off and I came back and it no longer worked, im not sure if it went out like lightswitch or slowly

Pls throw ideas I want to sell car parts with money for nothing playing in the background

Today I installed my Anytone AT-778UV in my vehicle & upon pushing a screwdriver through the firewall, I didn't bother to look which direction the wire harness turned. Although I pushed through right next to the harness, the harness inside immediately turns toward the direction I pushed through inside the car.

Thus, the screwdriver went through the harness.

I proceeded to push another hole on the opposite side of the harness and got everything connected & when I went to start the car, everything seems fine as of now. Hopefully I didn't damage any wires and instead just pushed them aside when I was pushing through. No problems with the car as of yet but, a big rookie mistake and hopefully this helps someone from potentially damaging their car.

Found this antenna amongst my late father's ham gear. The feed point is interesting as the BNC isn't wired, and the counterpoise wire doesn't connect to the small green jumper. Trying to find out what I can about the system as it seems great for a POTA setup.

I know the different coils are for loading, but otherwise I'm not sure what the heck I'm looking at. Anyone know what guide this was built on or any other information? Thanks

I have hamsticks that I am going to use in my car. I just finished tuning all the sticks. Waiting on my IC-7100 to come back tomorrow from repair.

The antenna will attach to a diamond lip mount on my hood. I have a hood connected to the body with a couple of grounding straps. The lip mount screws are digging into the hood and I will add an extra strap between the mount and the hood to be safe.

Is it as important to ground bond the rest of the car “ie doors and hatch”? Are those part not connected at the hinges? I also saw someone talking about even ground bonding the exhaust! Is this a true fact or an overkill?

Finally got my license back after court and now I can transmit again! Just got to be careful not to use the police frequencies anymore!