KC3JXQ 📻 @KC3JXQ@mastodon.radio

Real talk: radio is an amazing hobby. Very relaxing.

Passed the Amateur Extra exam this morning. Only missed one! Feeling pretty good about that.

Played a little radio at the park yesterday. Fun, but too short.

The Powerfilm Solar Lightsaver Max is expensive.

It is worth it. What a great piece of gear for portable operations and camping.

Every time I go out, it impresses me a little more.

Did a little ham therapy this morning at the park. Was totally alone. Not many contacts on 20m at 10 watts, but a few.

#QRPlife

Look at what arrived in the mail today!

Thanks @M0YNG! Love ‘em!

Gonna bite the bullet and do the Amateur Extra test on October 2nd. Kinda overdue.

Did a little FT8 at a park in the Jeep. Fun!

Yes, I did get the 80m coil for my super antenna.

The clouds looked cold.

…what are you staring at?

Picked up an antenna analyses this week and now I have to go into the attic and mess with things.

Stupid data leading to action.

A little portable operation today.

Had a fun Field Day with my dad today. Good fun!

Hey @M0YNG Do you know if membership in the RSGB is open to Yanks?

Not sure why it occurred to me but...

Wrote up a thought or two on all the FT8 hate I’ve seen lately.

https://www.kc3jxq.com/index.php/2021/04/07/thoughts-on-ft8-hate/

On any given ham radio list 60% of posts are correcting the phrasing of another poster whom everyone understood just fine.

Especially ironic when the topic is SNR.

Sigh.

I finally got my IC-705 running digital modes wirelessly. I dig it!

Documented here: https://www.kc3jxq.com/index.php/2021/03/26/ic-705-wlan-with-wsjt-x/

I’ll say it again: the 705 has crushed it for so many reasons. The firmware update that made this work is more than just icing on the cake. It’s a full solution for portable digital operation.

Did a test run of digital modes using the IC-705 and Surface tablet. No wires between the rig and tablet. Flawless.

I hate using Windows, but this solution is simply too good to ignore.

Hat tip to http://oh8stn.org

Ham radio keeps trying to drag me into writing code for my hobby.

I am not taking the bait.

I might just have to write something about all of the venom that is spewed over digital modes like FT8.

It's a really great way to bring in new operators. It also avoids mic fright.

It's just kinda neat. Why hate on that?

Am I the only one that sees it?