Michael Clemens (DL6MHC) @DL6MHC@mastodon.radio

#Introduction to mastodon.radio: I'm a newly licensed (July 19) amateur radio operator from Germany. My callsign is DL6MHC. I work in the field of information security, like to photograph on film, play games on 8-bit computers, support the FSFE, play chess (very unsuccessful) and prefer a command line over a GUI. Thanks for having me :)

Paper Certificate and the (for Europeans) rather exotic frame finally arrived 🎉

I learned a valuable lesson: after 2h of not being able to break up any pileup by selecting interesting stations from dx cluster spots, I decided to manually search the bands. A US station came on air, I was able to work him with a report of 59 and only seconds after he was spotted and hell brake loose. A minute later and I would not have had any chance to come through. A new state for me and a new insight: Be the first and you can work what seemed unworkable.

I forgot to link the archive.org page with all issues: https://archive.org/details/73-magazine

I started reading ham radio magazines, on a monthly basis which came out exctly 50 years ago. This month's issue: The 73 Magazine from June 1970: https://ia800702.us.archive.org/27/items/73-magazine-1970-06/06_June_1970.pdf

Is there any free or even open source COM port emulator/splitter for Windows 10 available? I'm using "Virtual Serial Port Emulator" from Eterlogic at the moment but am interested in alternatives. #hamradio

Finally managed to install the antenna switch in the attic. For controlling it remotely, I use an old Arduino with Ethernet shield. Since the antenna switch needs 12V for triggering its relais, a 4 channel relais module is needed to convert the high signal from 5v to 12v. The Arduino takes simple HTTP GET requests for choosing the desired antenna. Now I can switch to any antenna from the shack via the network without a dedicated control cable 👍

Just look at this beautiful hand crafted QSL card! It’s also very special because it confirms my first Hell (rag chew) QSO with a very nice OM. Thank you Eric, F4FAP! #hamradio

@F1RUM Gotcha! :)

Can you please help me understand how thos works? If an EU station works a Hawaiian station at 6:00 UTC on 20m - which path probably went the communication?

The Fritzel works great. Yesterday a spanish OM told me, that the Fritzel does 10dB more over my EndFed (10m SSB) and now this: Hawaii on 20m (FT4) with a report of -13 :)

The Fritzel GPA-30 is installed and ready to use :)

Today is the day my new Fritzel GPA-30 will be installed on the roof. Can’t wait to compare it with my EndFed!

My new Radioddity GD-77 arrived today. After flashing it with OpenGD77 I now can enjoy Brandmeisters Talker Alias feature. Note that no contacts csv is installed on the device.

To those who told me a shortened multiband EndFed wouldn’t be much fun with SSB: I have lots of fun!

Does anyone know how to make rigctld reconnect to the radio automatically after the radio was powered off and then on again? At the moment I need to restart the rigctld process after having powered off the radio for a while - which is annoying.

Huge list of Telnet based systems on the internet (MUDs, BBS etc.):
https://www.jumpjet.info/Offbeat-Internet/Public/TelNet/url.htm

Absolute major achievement today: Phonie QSO (SSB) on 20m from Germany to the USA (DL6MHC <-> W1C) with only 20W and a end fed wire antenna! First time for me but I was lucky to be one of the first responding to them calling CQ.

2/2 I also take a time off learning CW but will pick it up some day again since this is what I want to do in the future. Untill then I will not invest any more time into all the non-essential stuff and have a few SSB QSOs a week instead. This should reduce distractions from real life to a minimum. My shack is now reduced to a power supply, a 20W HF transceiver and a hand mike.

1/2 Some changes: As a new #hamradio operator I made ~2350 QSOs since I started last July. As one can see, I've put a lot of time and effort into the hobby that should have spent on more important things like my family. Time went mostly into digimodes, changing/developing software/hardware setups, troubleshooting and into constantly monitoring WSJT-X. I now decided to quit everything that needs a PC connected to the rig and reduce my activities to SSB, logging manually and filling out QSL cards.