First ever #summitsontheair station on the summit of Punta Maggiore (IS0/IS-064) in #Sardina (970m). I made 8 SSB contacts on 14MHz with my Elecraft KX2 and EFHW. Pathless scramble to the summit 🧗♂️🏞️ Thanks Chasers! #hamradio#sota#italy#mountains#hiking
Since my portable shortwave receiver is hardly picking up anything on HF (including no WWV signals), I think I'm going to wait a bit before digging out my antenna and related gear for working this month's #SKCC#HamRadio weekend sprint.
There's a thing that really bothers me in the #HamRadio world. There's a bunch of videos and articles about how to use HTs. How to program them for repeaters, Vox, etc.
I've been a ham for about a year and a half. I have never struggled with how an HT works. Where is the demand for all of these resources?
Once you understand the concepts at play (which, sure, are novel to a new operator, but aren't particularly complex), it's a simple matter to look up how to set a tone on an arbitrary radio.
These solar storm numbers make me wonder for a moment how much fun I'd be having this weekend if I had picked a normal hobby like #hamradio instead of building Internet infrastructure in my free time.
Last weekend I activated Semaforo IS0/IS-266 (“Traffic Light”) on the island of Sardinia. This special hill hosts the ruins of a radio laboratory used by Marconi, who was born 150 years ago. #sardegna#hamradio#sota#italy#SummitsOnTheAir#PortableOps
Now that's fascinating. While everyone's talking about all the active #Solar activity, I just worked PJ2/W4IPC on 28.012.1 MHz CW. #AmateurRadio#HamRadio
"Die US-Wetterbehörde NOAA warnt für Samstag Morgen vor einem schweren Magnetsturm (k=8). Mögliche Folgen: weit verbreitete Probleme mit der Spannungsregelung in Stromnetzen, einige Schutzsysteme werden fälschlicherweise wichtige Anlagen vom Netz trennen; induzierte Pipelineströme beeinträchtigen Präventivmaßnahmen, HF-Funkausbreitung sporadisch, Satellitennavigation stundenlang beeinträchtigt, Langwellen-Funknavigation gestört, Polarlichter bis runter auf 45° geografischer Breite."
In the process of learning about #HamRadio, I'm learning so much physics at a deeper level than I did when I studied it more formally in college. A great deal of context and relevant experience in the meantime is helping me out, I'm sure, but there are things I remember struggling with that I just ... get .... this time around. Like P-type and N-type semiconductors — I remember being frustrated with the concept when I first encountered it, but it feels so straightforward and clear now. I can only hypothesize the sleep debt must have been punishing, or maybe my brain was already paging. Or both.
Anyway it's pretty cool to know I can still learn a ton if I want to. I'm trying hard to make it through the textbooks I have (library or for keeps) before acquiring more. I have a stack of 11 at the couch right now...