K3MRI

Hi Howard. So glad you signed up. Welcome!! Jim

Welcome Michael!!

Hi Jesse. Welcome!!

I'm curious to find out a bit more about net attendance both in the HF and the VHF/UHF space.

Hey Bob, welcome aboard!!!

I'll start by saying that I live in a very restrictive building. They will not even allow us to put something above the height of the railing. Incredibly, they do not even allow Christmas lights or trees on the balcony. Admittedly, I constantly fight both restrictions. However, on the antenna side, even if they did let me, the building is HF-hateful. Every day, my building wakes up with a single purpose in life, to negate any of my attempts to send or receive an HF signal. On VHF/UHF, because I live at elevation, I am the King of the Plains. However, when it comes to HF, I have tried everything. On the balcony, outside the balcony at night when the building police are tucked away, I've tried loops, wires dangling, you name it. My noise is always at ±S9 and I just can't get a signal out or in. If I get into my car, park 100-feet away from the building and transmit, then all is good. And yes, I've tried multiple forms of grounding to no avail. In short, I am a frustrated ham. The good news is that this experience has forced me to focus on my portable and mobile work. In fact, this very week, I am installing a 400W linear into the car!!

I'm wondering what kind of antenna restrictions you have where you live, regardless of whether you are in a house, an RV or an apartment.

Welcome Eric!

I'm curious what people think. Should there be an option/method available, either in times like Covid-19, or any other time, during which we should be giving hopeful amateur radio operators the option of testing online? I believe that the Anchorage Amateur Radio Club VEC (https://kl7aa.org/vec/) is doing it. What are your thoughts?

I'm wondering how much backup power is available to most VHF/UHF repeaters around the country and around the world. I'm also curious to know how many repeaters have battery only /vs\ solar+battery /vs\ generator? Is it one-hour – to avoid losing the repeater during a quick power drop or failure – or is it several days in the case of a major power outage like after a storm or during a pandemic when, potentially, workers might not show up to a power plant to fix an outage?

A new ham asked me to recommend the best software to learn CW . It struck me that there are options on Mac, on PC, on iOS, on Android, and obviously on the web. I'm curious to see which software solution you think is the best, or maybe at most the top three, to learn CW. Note that, personally, I believe that the best solution needs to lean more towards learning to copy CW. Most people can learn the actual morse alphabet, and learn to send it, rather easily. What seems to block people more is their ability to copy, especially over 5 WPM. Thoughts on Mac, PC, iOS, Android, or web CW learning software? (I'll add the recommendations in the links directory – you can add them too 😉)

HamCation 2020 was our first large hamfest. We are told that we did well; what's sure is that we're happy! We met some amazing people and signed up plenty of new members. We also entered into some really exciting partnerships that you will be hearing about soon. And yes, we will be back at HamCation next year, hopefully in the exact same spot.

Thanks to @K4BIK for pointing me here. This is a really interesting audio piece relating the story of how international morse code competitions became popular during the Cold War. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csym79

I'm curious to know how any of you have dealt with power failures in past. Also, do you have obscure recommendations that you think others may not have thought of to deal with both short and extended failures?

What do you think of short exchange digital modes? Join the conversation.

I would love to hear from someone who has organized a DXpedition. I would also welcome their mentorship for those who are interested in organizing one. It seems like a daunting task and yet...

What do you think of waterfall displays during a contest? Join the conversation.

Check out this very original method of mass disconnecting an antenna system during a lightning storm.

Join the conversation, we would love to know what you think...

Who is participating? I am. This is my fourth year. It's great opportunity to get involved. Also, I just received an email from Howard, the lead, telling us that we are short about 20 operators. If you are interested, sign up at https://www.mcmham.org/Volunteer/

Does anyone out there know any amateur radio jokes? I know my dad knew several, obviously I don't remember a single one. Anyone?