u/thesoulless78

I get how TDMA works but I'm just curious how they clock the two timeslots. I assume it's not like FT8 that just uses an actual clock since a lot of radios don't have clocks. I assume there's not necessarily a master pulse since even with a repeater there's no signal unless it's keyed up.

Is it just internally clocked starting on whenever the first packet gets sent and that's close enough for everything to stay synced well enough?

Got any recommendations?

Verified there's line of sight to a friend's house but I'm juuust shy of the link budget with my 25W output and I figure I can rig an antenna cheaper than buying a new radio.

Have a WA5VJB cheap Yagi I probably could make work with the right paracord rigging and using the feedline to control azimuth but curious if there's anything easier.

Maybe grab some RG-6 to match it and do a full wave loop? Maybe a hentenna which looks like basically the same thing with a different match?

Probably don't want to do a collinear because that'll push the center of the radiation lower since I'm limited by maximum height.

Have a Certum 3 that I ended up ordering with pull the dot loops because everything else was out of stock, and I'm really not into the loops.

I found one article claiming 3-6 dB attenuation through them but it was clearly AI generated so I don't trust it. MyAntennas I think has a brief statement that laying on a roof is like laying on grass and there's loss there.

I definitely observed laying a wire directly on my roof doesn't work at all (mostly wanted to see how noisy an attic antenna would be and my roof is easier access than the attic).

The real application is I'm now curious if I'm better off putting a 2m antenna in my attic directly above the shack or putting it outside with a much longer feedline. But I'm also curious about HF (pretty set on HF going outside just since the access to my attic space sucks so running feedline across is about all I wanna do up there). But I am just curious if there is actual data anyone knows about.

Edit to add: I appreciate the "it works for me and I made lots of contacts" but I really am looking for some hard data or better sources.

Just trying to settle on one of these. No crazy usage just some photo editing and some ham radio digital modes on an old laptop.

Fedora pros:

- easy to setup/maintain, most polished/just works out of the bunch

- kinda semi-officially endorsed by a lot of people at KDE and I like Plasma.

Fedora cons:

- definitely the slowest to boot out of all of the choices

- couple of the ham apps segfault on start when installed from RPM so I have to build from source or use Flatpak

Arch pros:

- feels faster than Fedora

- can pretty easily set it up the way I want or use Endeavour if I want to be extra lazy

- great documentation

Arch cons:

- doesn't package any of the ham stuff at all so I have to use the AUR or Flatpak, then again I'm not worse off than on Fedora

Void pros:

- has all the packages I want

- boots super fast

- people say it tends to break stuff less often than Arch

Void cons:

- can't use Plasma Login Manager because it doesn't have systemd

- last time I tried it briefly I couldn't get SDDM to start (100% user error but at the time I didn't feel like figuring it out). Would be half tempted to give Xfce another shot and just not care about systemd integration or even Wayland really

Anyone have experiences running any of these that might push me one way or the other?

Full disclosure I orderes the BNTECHGO 12ga stranded stuff and I wonder if it's oversized a little since the 45a contacts crimp onto it solidly and I can't seem to get all of the stands into the 30s.

But is there a trick I'm missing? Can I pry the contact open a little or something like that?

I assume I can grab some sort of module that affects brightness and just add a gradient mask to it, but not sure what works well. Color Balance RGB I kind of know what the sliders do but not sure if there's something simpler that also would work.

Curious to see what the pricing looks like on this. 100W, built in 3:1 tuner, remote head operation over Ethernet.

Not sure I'll want to be an early adopter since Xiegu seems to release stuff with half baked firmware that constantly changes but it seems cool.

Tried on Windows after installing the Yaesu drivers and on my Linux laptop. I see the audio device show up and a USB hub showing up but no serial ports are connected.

Anyone know what might be going on?

On the latest firmware and did a factory reset too.

Title. Thinking of building an OCFD or something like that. Would be a Ruthroff paired with an external choke since I only have one core on hand.

What about for an EFHW since that's flux coupled instead of being a TLT?

I'm in the process of unloading some audio gear to fund a new radio. Mostly leaning towards probably a 710 or 7300 like most people.

But the 991a does exist and gets me the option to do SSB/CW/digital on 2m. How is it? Worth it (and taking the trade off of probably not being as good of an HF rig)?

Or skip it? I'm leaning towards if I want that I should just get a QRP all mode that I can haul up a mountain (which I don't have within a reasonable distance of me anyway). Really all I could do with that is aurora scatter or meteor stuff, maybe linear sats combined with an SDR receiver. Definitely don't have the space and money to set up an EME station.

Initial impressions are that I like it a lot.

When I got my G48 I initially bought into the hype and picked up a Certum 3 that I've been using at about 1:00 appendix carry but I haven't loved it much. Part of that might be due to me getting the pull the dot loops because they were out of the metal clips.

But it wasn't super comfy, dug into the side of my leg and dug into my belly area. I think not having a full height sweat guard just put the lip of the kydex in the wrong spot and even though it's finished well, it still felt sharp after a while. And the pull the dot loops add a ton of bulk while also not keeping the holster in place on my belt very well. The other issue is I have no chest and a small waist so there's an awkward bulge in my belt line without much drape to cover it.

This thing at 4:00 is way more comfortable and seems like it conceals better. Retention feels really good too. I like it. Downside is it's a bit harder to get the holster on and off while wearing pants so if I have an itinerary where I need to leave it in the car or something it's not as convenient.

Been eyeing an FT-710 but seems to only have the old channels only. Looks like IC-7300mk2 works with direct frequency input but no VFO scrolling or band scope?

Really not a big deal but if there's one that does it that might help me be less indecisive.

I had kinda written off a doublet for my planned attic install (I know, outdoor antennas are better. You don't have to validate that part, just accept that the logistics and material costs of outdoors at my specific property are significantly more challenging and I'll want a backup antenna that isn't exposed to snow and tornados even when I do get around to an outdoor one), mostly due to challenges with feedline routing.

However I just realized twin coax exists. I know it's not as low loss as ladder line but:

* Since I'm not feeding a matched load anyway, I can use nice cheap low-loss RG6, plus I can transition to real ladder line once I'm not inside a wall to keep the coax short. 15' of RG6 at 10:1 SWR is about .7dB loss which ain't too bad a compromise.

* Even if I did a coax fed random wire which is really the other game in town for practical multiband (a fan dipole in an attic sounds like a nightmare especially since I'd need to be electrically short really on 40m and below), there's no radial network up there so I'd be using a counterpoise. At that point it's just a non-resonant OCFD, so why not just make the counterpoise the same length as the radiating element, feed it balanced, and skip all the unun loss, common mode issues, etc.

* I guess I could use a remote tuner but I currently have a G90, and when I upgrade radios I could either get a cheap used manual tuner or a non-remote ATU and save some money.

Am I crazy? Should I just do coax and a remote tuner? Buy an FT710 first and put up a fan dipole for 40(15)/20 and just swap the balun for a remote tuner in the future when the ham budget refills?

I get the general idea of capo on 1 and then fret where the neck joins the body and then measure in the middle, but there's not really a "where the neck joins the body" on a neck through.

Just hold the 24th fret? Measure from where the cutaways are?

Do I check the relief at the 8th? 12th?

Guitar is a Schecter Reaper 6 Elite if you want to look.

Bonus question that may be fine if I get my relief dialed in, I get a tiny bit of buzz on the low E that I can hear through my Helix but only on a super clean patch. Is some of that just sort of expected? Seems like the only way to get it all the way gone is just a lot more relief and height. Guitar was Plek'd and had a new nut put on at Sweetwater so I'd hope the frets and nut are correct at least.

For backpacking/SOTA use. Tried taking my G90 out backpacking in the winter and it's way too heavy and bulky.

May just... not, but curious what prices I'm looking at to get something decent but not necessarily super fancy.

CW only isn't a deal breaker since I'm learning but I wouldn't be mad if it did SSB as well.

Been rocking a G90 for a bit but I want to build a permanent station at home and have a little more oomph now that we're headed down on the solar cycle too.

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7300mk2 is the new hotness obviously, has remote control and a receive antenna connection which might be nice for a subdivision based operating location.

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However, the FT710 can also do remote control with the SCU-LAN10 and both of those together are cheaper than a 7300mk2 even if you don't count the extra $170 for the Icom control software and just use WFView. Looks like remote ATUs tend to be cheaper in Yaesu world too. I know people gripe about Yaesu menus but I skimmed the manual and it doesn't look that bad to me.

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Or should I get a 991A so I can do SSB satellites too? (Probably not worth it since a built in touch up tuner is probably more useful most of the time).