KC3JXQ 📻 @KC3JXQ@mastodon.radio

I've been doing a lot of FT8 over the last year. Is it just me or has it dropped off significantly of late? Is propagation really that bad at this point? I know I rarely hear anyone on SSB in my home QTH, but did everything go down the drain?

FT8 was dead today on 20m and 40m. Dead like I've not seen in a while. And yet, I got several Texas contacts. Just one of those days.

Here’s a link to my hometown club’s newsletter.

http://www.portcars.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PCARS-MARCH-19.pdf

PCARS is a great club. Proud to be a long distance member!

Just spent an hour with CQ and QST magazines in print. It's nice to be offline now and again. Some good articles and plenty of simple radio nerd fun.

Why does everything lead to the Raspberry Pi or Arduino and then DIRECTLY to 3D printers? It's a conspiracy.

Echolink is really pretty cool. I get to check in with the club "back home" every week. It's nice.

Anybody out there with an IC-7100 running RTTY? I'm trying to setup MMTTY and internet searches are failing me.

Well, that and my lack of time to try out 1,000 different combinations of settings to figure out which one works.

In the meantime, back to FT8 and trying to get JS8Call to work.

So my Arduino GPS is working pretty well. Took the project from Arduino for Ham Radio and modified it a bit.

Now we enter the phase of the project where I tweak it to death and stuff it into an enclosure. Eventually.

Ya know that thing where you're light a component or two, realize stores don't exist anymore, and need to order just enough to get free next day on Amazon?

Sigh. The 21st century is a mixed bag.

I swear. If I could get 60 uninterrupted minutes to fire up a soldering iron...

Just throwing this out there: anyone think we could do something like a net based around this community? I'm one who doesn’t have a great antenna for HF, but there are a lot of options out there with digital modes and all that.

Just a thought that hit me. Anyone?

The thing about a new radio - and I think it applies doubly to HTs - is you have to figure out the navigation that becomes second nature after a few weeks. Definitely not there yet.

But all of the cool stuff I wanted works and is cool. Very pleased.

Got my TH-D74A today!

Looks like my next 100 hours of free time are spoken for in terms of getting it all set up and learning the APRS mojo I really wanted to learn.

And hey! D-STAR nets outside of the shack!

Ordering parts. Planning to whip up some fun with an Arduino. I might just learn something.

Broke down and ordered a new HT online. They just can't keep them in stock in the store nearest to me. I kind of enjoy buying things at an actual store and chatting a bit, ya know? Especially hobby things.

Only had a few minutes for the RTTY Round Up. Got a quick 10 contacts each from a distinct state. Lots of left coasters. Good fun!

Anyone doing the RTTY Roundup today? I'm gonna try the FT8 side. Never tried a contest before.

Something very soothing about the regular 2m Nets each week. Each has its own culture and quirks. I find the variety stimulating and I really do enjoy it.

It's also cool to poke in on the D-STAR Nets and to catch up with the club I belong to "back home" over EchoLink.