20m at 1500Z.

Side note: for the last three days I’ve enjoyed nearly bottomless noise floors; been making SSB QSOs to Japan, Indonesia, and even Rarotonga. Then–today of all days–the AirBnB beside my house has turned on their aircon and it’s completely wiping out all but the strongest signals. My waterfall looks like college ruled notebook paper:

1830Z Update:

1900Z. This is wild.

I currently use a ~35' (~10m) fiberglass telescoping mast, and I love it. It's great when I hoist my 10m window line j-pole (thank you KB9VBR!) and now that I'm messing around on 20m, it's just too short. My SWR is a bit higher than it ought to be on account of ground reflection since I can't get the base of the radiating element more than about ~1m (~3') off the ground.

The antenna I use (currently, at least) is fairly lightweight, so I'm not worried about mast flexion since the wight will largely be just outside mast center.

I am not to deterred by cost, and I am trying to avoid metallic antennas for fear it will mess with my radiation patterns and SWR in a new way. I am greatly interested in telescoping options.

Are you familiar with fiberglass or carbon fiber masts which get the top to a definite 15m (~50')?

Nearly all of my operations are /P, so it really has to be fairly convenient. I recognize that these requirements may be a little mutually exclusive.

Updated 5/29/2024

This update includes information about the status of several services as we continue to respond to a serious incident involving access to our network and systems.

The ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC) has resumed the processing of Amateur Radio License applications with the FCC. A more comprehensive update on the status of ARRL VEC services is available here.

There has been no interruption to visitor operating at W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station. The station resumed voice bulletins on Thursday, May 23. All other scheduled transmissions, including Morse code practice, and code and digital bulletins, will resume on Thursday, May 30. Please refer to the regular operating schedule at www.arrl.org/w1aw-operating-schedule.

After last week's distribution of the ARRL Letter, our e-newsletter service has resumed. Current editions of ARRL Club News and The ARES® Letter have also been distributed.

ARRL Store orders have resumed shipping. Orders are being fulfilled from earliest order dates to the latest. Please allow additional time for our processing.

There has been no disruption to the @arrl.net email forwarding service, though forwarding email addresses and aliases cannot be modified at this time.

Our telephone system is unavailable at this time.

We appreciate your patience as we continue working on restoring access to affected systems and services.

I have a small dilemma regarding logging a QSO, and I'm wondering if you can guide me through it. I made a contact the other day while doing POTA, but I did not capture the entire callsign. The error was only revealed after I saw their re-spot on the POTA site; if it weren't for that small glimpse, I would never know, and we'd never confirm in QRZ.

The Eagle Scout in me suggests that I should not change my logs based on the 3rd party information, but my QSO sent me a QRZ confirmation request.

On the other hand, borrowing from aviation, I am keen to "use all available resources", recognizing that so long as we have the tech and tools, we should use them, even if that may fly in the face of radio purity.

What say ye?

Man, what an amazing day which will be long–if not impossible–to forget.

In the late 90s, I observed my first partial eclipse from South Florida. Then and there I decided I needed to see a total solar eclipse. Nearly 30 years later, I made good on that little personal promise. The moment I realized I would be in position to get along the path of totality, I made plans with my spouse to do so. We saved the date and planed the logistics.

I, of course, ensured my radio was packed and fully functional; charged the battery the night before. We left Del Rio, the closest place we could find reasonable accommodations, at 0400L. By 0700L we had hoisted and strung the OCF dipole and we were ready to go in DL98rv, just under the central path of the eclipse on the side of Hwy 131 in Texas just beyond the US-Mexican border.

The Tech section of 10m was silent that early, but I kept calling CQ until I started getting QSOs, pretty much went ten in a row in nearly the same number of minutes once the band came alive.

I had wanted to participate in the research project contest, but the instructions and bonuses were a little overwhelming, but I did manage to make one QSO during totality. On the one hand, I was expecting propagation attenuation, but the QSO I made was over 1,500 miles away.

I've read over and over about experiencing totality. Photos will never do it justice. Words doubly so. If you've ever been on the fence about traveling to see totality–just do it.

Lessons learned or confirmed:

• Get there at least two days before; scout potential setup locations. We scouted several locations with our radio setup in mind. We didn't want to risk trampling on private property, and the OCF antenna (being a 7-band) has nearly a 200' wingspan on its longest dimension. We needed plenty of space while also being considerate to others who would certainly want to see the eclipse as well. We must be good stewards of Amateur Radio.
• Get lodging as near as you can, as far in advance as you can, maybe no more than an hour away.
• Set up at least six hours before C1 (eclipse start).
• Make considerations for food and toilets. I was fortunate that our travel partners had a trailer with a functioning toilet. In my eagerness, I had completely overlooked the requirement for toilets.
• Don't underestimate the value of a radio day checklist.
• A 7-band OCF dipole is absolutely unwieldy for portable ops. I love the mast I've been using, but the antenna itself is a huge pain–and a huge footprint–to get up. For future ops, I plan to go with a monoband. I am planning to make KB9VBR's 10m window line j-pole to hoist on the mast instead.
• Small auxiliary/desk lights or headlamp, red is my preference, for log work before sunrise. I was struggling to get my radio configured and my log setup before the sun came up.

I am eager for your questions and feedback!

Let’s QSO!

18:05Z QSY to 28320khz

19:30Z QSY to 28315khz

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I was atop Stone Mountain in Georgia this past weekend hoping for a glorious POTA activation, dragged my spouse and kids who braved the early (for them) cold and wind and setup the 7300 only to make a single park-to-park contact… from inside the park.

How did you guys do during the weekend?

Title. Methodology: Confirmed / total QSOs

I’m at 22% and curious to see what others are encountering.

Brought the 7300 out and erected the 7-band OCF; it was huge! Literally. It spanned nearly 200’ in its longest dimension. While I could probably have done better if I were able to have gotten the feed point to 30’, I managed to make 24 contacts and participated in a 10-10 net via relay that I had chanced on while zipping around 10m.

It was a beautiful day down in EL96, I setup the radio bench under the tree for shade and kept a close eye on the antenna in case someone wandered around it.

Running barefoot, I managed QSOs with Namibia (7000+ miles), Chile, Spain, Costa Rica, and New Foundland. Amazing people all around.

Got my mom spun up and handling the radio (we got licensed at the same time a couple years ago) and the contacts nearly poured in for her.

An all around amazing day.

E: Updated the photo; the klansman look was terrible. Do not recommend.

Was out in EL96 today at a park 65 feet up for my very very first Tech CQs on 10m. This past December I picked up an IC-7300 and finally got some time to go out. I put my kit together, wired the radio directly to the car battery and went whole hog. In one hour I logged eight contacts.

While I have a 7-band OCF antenna I received as part of the starter kit, I don't yet have all I need to get it standing for portable ops, so I managed to turn up what seems like a quarter wave mag mount CB whip I found in the garage. I tuned it up with the built in tuner, ran barefoot at 100W and managed to QSO as far as 1700mi.

I can't tell if it was propagation or local equipment configuration, but nearly all of my contacts were to the northeastern seaboard region, including one in Rochester, NY.

The most distant contact was in DM79 Colorado, though he indicated he was picking me up out of the noise floor.

Everyone I met on the radio was very charismatic, and I really REALLY enjoyed my first outing. In a few days I plan to haul my gear out again, including the OCF, plant it, and see where else in the world I can reach.

#hamradio #amateurradio