Thank you for this suggestion. ARRL was my first stop, and then Radio Relay Int’l. As you mentioned, third-party traffic is the biggest limfac, which is exactly the second hurdle I bumped into.

For all our hurrahs for amateur radio use in emcomm, it seems to have fallen wildly short in the instance I needed to use it.

We have to find a better way, including the politics of it.

All fair points, and not an odd question.

I’ll say I’m trying to get a radiogram from the US to the destination country affected by a natural disaster. I am confident they are fine, but public service can take some time to get restored and I’d like to get a simple message to them so we can establish a very basic two-way via radiogram. The first message from me to them is a “this is a radiogram and for as long as public utilities are unavailable, you can contact the ham who delivered this message to let me know how you are doing.”

I’m in a similar way that I can’t get on HF :/

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Brilliant timing tbh because I am east coast US. I’d have to join EchoLink owing to a rediculous noise floor where I’m at and, well, I can’t touch VK land from Maryland in the US with my 100W.

I’m not optimistic about the next linkup, but I will try. At worst I’ll have to have a go at simply posting.

Fair point and I hate that you’re right

I’d love to have some hamshack beers with folks and work out some of the mechanics. POTA and SOTA work so well because it mostly relies on the activators. I’d need some ideas on how to make a similar mechanic for ROTA.

I’d love to see a “ROTA”: Relays On The Air.

One of the beautiful adjacent benefits amateur radio has greatly benefitted from in POTA/SOTA is that it gets us out of the hamshack to do real-world field exercises, resulting in the miniaturization of everything from Morse keys to antenna setups, but something important we don’t really practice enough are radio relays.

We hold our hobby out as an additional means of communication for EMCOMM, something like ROTA might also supercharge our corps.

“Do what you can, from where you are, with what you’ve got.”

Same. I did CWOps beginner. I got the pocket radio and tiny key. My setup is so thin I should totally be jamming Morse every day and yet… I haven’t.

The article was interesting, and spent vastly more time discussing the practical aspects of statistical analysis; it uses a great, and relatable, real-world example to showcase how statistics can be useful, or where it can be led astray.

Onno, you’re spot-on, we are troubleshooters.

When I was fiddling with my first self-built antenna last year, the first problem I had to contend with was design selection, then materials, and all the discrete steps through erecting the antenna—which itself posed some issues when at first the mast was too short, and then again when a taller mast attenuated the signal (carbon fiber) if the antenna got too close to the mast.

The troubleshooting process was always rewarded with the end goal of two-way comms.

I had been looking for remote testing since about 2018 because personal circumstances had me moving about quite a bit. Possibly there were some options back then, but I had not been able to find it; Covid certainly made that widely available. As soon as I had discovered it, I booked my appointment and studied/memorized.

Covid was a tough time for many, and a tragedy for others. I am thankful for folks, like you, who worked during that difficult global time, to ensure access to food went basically uninterrupted.

It’s a great algorithm called spaced repetition. I use the method so much I discovered Anki (and its parent site Anki Web) to do a ton of university studies. There’s a small learning curve, but once you get it, you can make all sorts of flash cards with fine grain detail for spaced repetition.

As for the FAA, once you are past PPL, Sheppard Air is pretty much the golden standard, only there is no space repetition in their system.

Are you eligible for a US license? HamStudy.org and study for the Technician’s license. Memorize the answers. Then when you are passing practice exams with a solid 80% or better, schedule your remote exam through the HamStudy website, take it, then get on the air.

I did my Tech from a beachside resort in the Philippines during the peak of the pandemic.

You can do it!

I’m gonna run up my new wire and try and hunt on 10W!

I went all-in on designing one myself, but used lots of examples to form mine.

Ultimately the things you need on your card are simple: callsigns, band, time, and signal report.

Doesn’t have to be fancy or elaborate. Even a minimalist card is unique in its own regard.

On the other hand, you can hire a graphic designer, give them some examples, and let them go at it.

Amateur HF radios typically transmit and receive from 1-50MHz, on various modulation modes (as OP mentioned). If you’d like to get a preview, check out the Utah WebSDR: http://websdr2.sdrutah.org:8902/index1a.html?tune=14290usb

I’ve linked you to the 20 meter band, which is pretty active 24/7. When it’s nighttime in the US, you can listen to Amateurs making international contacts. See some of my other posts in my history to get a visual on range.

If you look at $350 as a substantial amount of money, I’d say pass.

On the other hand, if $350 is roughly equivalent to a dinner for two for you, then yolo and see what you get.

You might get something worth it and something you can flip if this isn’t the radio you ultimately want to end up with.

I usually try to find myself on 20m. I like it’s DX-ability at night and appreciate it’s reach during the day. Otherwise 10m is nice because there’s lots of new hams ready to answer CQ calls, or calling CQ themselves.

The person who answered my very first QSO made it extra special by sending me a first-contact certificate; went way above and beyond and I am incredibly thankful for it.

If you’re seeing them go for twice as much elsewhere, then it sounds like it might be a good deal. Bear in mind the old adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

It’s possible it’s being sold by someone who had high ideas of amateur radio and wants to rid themselves of a basically brand new radio.

It could be part of an estate sale and the seller did not do sufficient research.

It could be inoperable and the seller is not being forthcoming.

It could be stolen and someone is trying to fence it.

At the end of the day, you have to decide if $350 is worth the risk.

Admirable. 10mW honestly blows my mind.