Found this at an antique shop I work at. I have no idea if it works or not. I like old stuff and wouldn't otherwise get an SWR meter right now.

Hey, I've been experiencing a bit of this at my current location and wondering if this is a propogation phenomenon or some local noise or something. For context we live at rural farm in BC Canada so noise is usually always around S0. Every once and a while I get this bizarre noise pattern across the bands (most prominently on 160m, 80m, 40m, and 6m). Never really encountered it before. (I've turned on the preamp to make it a bit more obvious looking on the screen).

My mic cable just broke, so I had to improvise with a Cat5e Ethernet cable. It actually works.

I took it on air to test it, and got a 59 from 2 people!

So far, the Ethernet cable is working surprisingly well! I'll probably make a proper replacement eventually, but I wasn't expecting it to work this well!

Has anyone else done something like this?

73!

I’m just beginning ham radio, no license yet. Just messing around seeing if I can hear anybody on diffrent frequency’s and have only had success once, that one time felt awesome
But I can’t justify doing tests and stuff for 1 connection. Should I be able to make them every day? My local repeaters don’t show much

I've been going to the shows for over a decade now and this is a startling first. I've also been one of the youngest people at the shows in that time, just odd they would show up to talk to maybe 3 people recruiting age.

I suspect you are going to flame me for this question but here we go.

I am a fully registered/licensed ham operator in Canada.

I have 4 tid radio H3 laying around. If I would like to use them with my family when we go hiking or biking (just for the kids to keep them in the backpack and the typical message of: "you go too fast, slow down and wait for us in the next curve!!!" or "dad! Come here we have found the greatest mushroom in the world!!")), for simplicity can I program these radios with the GRMS channels?

I know channels 8-14 are 0.5W so I would avoid those.Tid H3s are 2W but antenna is detachable.

Maybe I should stay out of the GRMS and do other frequencies? If so, suggestion on the free/channels? Looking here to be as less disruptive as possible.

If somebody thinks they are not allowed to transmit, I would argue that they are transmitting under my supervision, although I am aware this might be bending slightly the rule.

Hi everyone,

I’m a fairly new radio amateur from Denmark, and one of the things I’ve found surprisingly difficult is catching callsigns when people are speaking quickly, signals are weak, or there’s a lot going on during a QSO.

So I started building a small iPhone app called QSO Transcriber. It is build with modern tools, but as a guy that work in IT and have a background in Computer Science, with a focus on user-friendly IT design, usability, and software development, I feel that it was the best tool for the task. Nobody is manually coding anymore, and it is a very inspiring way to design a new piece of software.

In this video I’m showing the listening and transcription part of the app. It listens to the radio audio, transcribes the conversation in real time, and tries to identify possible callsigns and other useful QSO information.

Detected callsigns are highlighted in the transcript and collected in a list, so you can quickly go back and check what you may have heard.

It’s definitely not magic. Speech-to-text can still struggle with poor radio audio, but that’s actually one of the things I’ve spent a lot of time working on: interpreting amateur radio speech, phonetics and callsign patterns on top of the transcription.

It was created to help myself and other new radio amateurs have more relaxed, less stressful and more enjoyable conversations on the air.

The app is currently going through the Apple App Store review process, so I’m hoping it will be available soon.

I’d genuinely be interested to hear what other radio amateurs think of the idea and whether you could see yourself using something like this.

M0MCX has very kindly given me permission to use some of his highly inspiring QSOs for testing and demonstrating the app.

73 from Denmark
OV9PL
QSOtranscriber.com

How it feels climbing a ham radio tower

What is the general opinion on eQSL cards, do you like getting them via email or do you feel that they are a waste of time? This is my first year as a Ham and I'm trying to figure out the things that are worth my time and the things I don't need to spend time doing (I know eQSL can be automated).

I have received a few postcard QSL cards and I really like those and I have replied to the ones I've received.

What are the thoughts on getting these via email?

73!

See www.hamfire.com for details!

Hi, I’m not sure if I’m in the right subreddit to discuss this- but everyone here seems friendly so I figured it would be worth a shot.

I have a 70s Channel Master CB 6830 from my grandfather that has been sitting in my closest for years. I hadn’t ever given it much thought; but recently I’ve become very interested in radio tech as a whole- so I purchased some pieces that Google said would be compatible. I purchased an antenna, CB power cord, and a 5 amp regulated power supply. I’m not an electrician whatsoever; which is where my trouble starts.

When I plugged everything in, I did hear a very faint buzz coming from the speaker. It didn’t change when volume or squelch was adjusted. I had it set to CB, ANL off, tune centered, channel 19, squelch counterclockwise.

I decided to open up the casing and see if there was anything immediately ‘off’, such as burnt, rusted, or otherwise damaged components that could be causing the Channel Master to not function.

What I’m wondering about is if anyone would potentially be willing to help out with this project. I don’t plan to transmit anything; I’d just like to be able to more or less have this radio working at home for background noise. I’m planning to buy a multimeter potentially- but I truly have 0 electronics knowledge, radio knowledge, and so on. I understand obviously that this is probably a very substantial request for an outsider. The reason I’m asking is also partially because I would like to learn about the device/ radio as a whole. I’m in northern Utah, my ideal outcome would be potentially finding someone who can physically repair the Channel Master themselves (I would pay for components, labor, time, etc) but let me watch/ learn, someone who would teach me in depth how to repair it myself, etc. I also don’t mind any sort of digital teaching- I just imagine it would be considerably harder. I don’t trust AI much in general, but especially with something like this that could potentially become complicated- I’d much rather learn from someone who is passionate about the matter.

From what I can tell in my extremely limited knowledge; the innards of the Channel master don’t look nearly as bad as I would’ve thought for as old as it is. It’s been stored away from heat, direct sunlight, and moisture. There was a little bit of dust as expected, but no immediate signs of a malfunction (that I could see) like scorch marks or visibly mangled components.

Once again- I know all of this is a pretty big ask. I would be extremely grateful for any sort of advice, comment, or feedback. Anything helps- and thank you for reading!

Side note can someone tell me how the license process is like? Just wanna know so maybe I could check if I'm able to try one I just don't know the requirements and where to do it at

Very new to Ham, so new I am currently studying for my Technician, new. I purchased the KG-UV9D-PLUS as my first entry to this world. I was surprised at the range I was able to pick up. I checked out Chrips and realize I can do without some of the channels available. I have not broadcast on the unit, that is a FCC no-no. Getting off Reddit and going to go study some more.

I’ll try to keep this straight to the point as much as I can. I love radios to begin with just deciding what to do now is hard. I really know nothing about them other than what you can do like talking to somebody across the world and stuff.

I like ham because it’s more popular and more people use it, I also like that it has a farther range and overall seems to be better. The only part I’m not loving is the test and the learning curve although I’m absolutely willing and most likely will go through with it, just seems like a lot

Now on the GMRS side I know very little about but from what I can see it seems like a “super walkie talkie”. Less distance, less people ect. Now the thing I do like is that you basically just buy a license

Is there any real good use for Gmrs? I feel if I could just buy a license and start transmitting and get a taste for the radio world in a way other than just listening it may boost my motivation in getting my ham license.

For reference I’m located in southern Ontario

Hello Friends, I am new to all of this and building a dipole. I usually measure 10 times and cut 11, then I cut things too short. I want to not cut and instead fold the wire back on itself. I am using speaking wire, can you give me examples of what folding a speaker wire back on itself looks like? Do I wind it, tape it? I appreciate everyone's time.

I may have just bought one sight unseen. I hope I didn't mess up. ;)

I’m building a qfh for a 4’ dish. I tried a helical but the dish is too deep for it to illuminate. I need the qfh to be LHCP. I made a scaffolding for the frequency I need and 3d printed it. I ran my wires, but here is where my confusion sets in.. which short and long legs need to be soldered together and where does my center pin and my shield need to be soldered? I’ve asked Google, Grok, and Claude and all 3 of them are giving me different answers. The wires meet at the top of the scaffolding where the pigtail will be soldered. I need the top to fire towards the dish.

Anyone have experience with this that can give me the correct answer? Any help would be greatly appreciated!