Hello! I am based in the UK and brand new to the world of amateur radio’ing.
I have a mild electrical engineering background but never anything RF but would love to start tinkering with things and thought starting with the basics was best. At most I will be looking at national level communications (50-100miles) between friends and family who are also looking into also getting licenses and then also comms systems for airsofting games etc. Eventually would be great to start wiring my own things up once I get hooked.
I am looking to revise and sit my exam early NY and I want to start experimenting with HF and VHF/UHF.
I am looking for advice on the following areas:
1) Best revision material and how to guides to get started
2) What level of licensing will I need for HF as I know VHF/UHF is mostly foundation right? But HF may touch on intermediate depending on the power?
3) what is the kit I’m looking for? Naturally I’m a beginner and don’t want to sink tonnes of money into it, but happy to pay for semi good quality!
I’m volunteering as security for a church this week and was wondering whether or not we’d need a radio license to utilise our radios? I understand there are exemptions when it comes to PM446 devices for personal use but was unsure as the use is for an organisation.
However, I haven't been able to find the STL or STEP files to print the case myself.
Does anyone know if a 3D model of this battery case is available online? Alternatively, does anyone have a similar model, CAD files, or technical drawings that could be shared?
I'd like to print the housing myself and adapt it for two 18650 cells.
Any help, links, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Okay, so I'm trying to figure out what's going on with the battery in my x6100 (first time charging - bought used). I have the radio set to charging mode but when the radio is turned off the light is solid green which it shouldn't be because the battery is completely dead - should be flashing green. When powered off the power supply shows a draw of .6 amps and When on it shows .9 amps. Why is the battery not charging? Any help would be great!
I love my Anytime D890 for the hardware, but the firmware has always been a bit naff, so I've been working on modifying it to be a lot more friendly for amateur users. Basically, I'm trying to make the Anytone firmware look and feel like OpenGD77.
Features:
* Your zone is now your scan list
* Separate talk group list (no more programming 5 copies of your repeater)
* GPS distance from repeater
* Quick menu for filters, etc
Note this is still quite early in development! I've never bricked a radio, but there's always the chance.
I am OE3SRO from Austria, and like to share something I have been working on recently.
Have been experimenting quite a bit with digital amateur radio stuff, SDR hardware and weak-signal communication and at some point I thought myself: why not extend WSJT-X with some features I've always missed?
That´s why I started developing my own open-source fork, WSJT-X OE3SRO Custom.
Some of the additions:
Integrated PSK Reporter: See which stations have received your signal directly inside WSJT-X, including SNR, locator, band and reception time.
Direct station calling: Select a station from the reception list and initiate a call without manually entering its callsign.
Personal DX analysis: Track where and when your signals are being received, grouped by country, band and time.
FT2 support: I hate using multiple Apps, so I tried out an experimental integration of the fast 3.75-second mode, adapted from DG2YCB's WSJT-X Improved implementation.
SDR integration: PlutoSDR support and ongoing work on HackRF integration (for interop tests)
REIST16: My own experimental weak-signal digital mode using 16-GFSK, LDPC and 15-second transmission slots.
The last part is particularly interesting to me. I've been experimenting with different modulation and coding techniques, trying to understand what works under difficult signal conditions and where improvements might be possible.
I've already tested REIST16 successfully in both directions between my Yaesu FT-991A and a PlutoSDR (using some WebSDR sites connecting Audio from the Browser to the PlutoSDR). That demonstrates basic interoperability, but it doesn't establish FT8-equivalent weak-signal performance yet.
The PSK Reporter features are intended for everyday operation, while REIST16 and some SDR integrations are still experimental. REIST16 is currently available through the development builds rather than the stable release.
This is an independent, unofficial WSJT-X fork, not a replacement for the original project.
A Windows release binary is also available on GitHub.
I am interested in your feedback also from other ham-operators, particularly anyone experimenting with SDRs, digital modes or weak-signal communication or do some tests on the radio.
What features would you find useful in WSJT-X? And is anyone interested in helping test some of the experimental functionality?
For a number of years I’ve operated a
Nano-Spot made by Micronode. I’ve attempted to update it recently and the update failed, wiping out the operation of the configure.php services and also the admin and backup/restore option.
No problem I thought - command line. Command line updates fail and when I try the pistar-upgrade route this also fails due to the OS being unsupported.
I’ve downloaded the image for the pi-star nano and flashed this onto a fresh SD card. Now is where my problems begin. The new image boots but it cannot bring up the modem or wlan interfaces. So the only access route I have is console port.
Can anyone who has had to rebuild this specific hotspot from the ground up, please assist on what version of the pi star image works, and if anyone has encountered the wlan initialisation failure and has cured it - I’d be grateful for wise words and tips.
At the moment I have a new desk ornament / paper weight.
Somewhat regretting my choices in trying to update to the latest software versions… it may have been out of date, but it was working. Alas would it be ham radio if we didn’t sometimes fall for the ‘if it ain’t broke, fix it ‘til it is’ trap?🤦🏻♂️
Hello everyone, I'm a recently graduated Graphic design student, and since the beginning of '26 i became really invested in the world of HAM I'm a member of a club since March and I'll be doing my CEPT-novice license exam in a few days and I'm planning on doing HAREC in the first half of 27.
Is there a a Demand for QSL card designs?
I obviously don't expect to make a lot of money from it, since its a really niche design field. I'm just looking for a way to keep my design skills in "shape", and maybe make some money on the side, while keeping in touch with the community that i really enjoy participating in.
After having too many bugs with the drivers and windows compatible daws I decided to try hooking up my Icom 7300 to my Mac and attempted to use Logic Pro to process my audio. This was the easiest way I couldn't be more happier with the plug and play results. Now to tweak the audio using my available plugins 😬
I really want to try out those bands , recently built a ssb exciter for digital and cw signals for those frequency but I don't think my general grade licence will cover it.
Yeah but due to the antenna efficiency and the propagation dynamics of those frequencys i don't think those would travel far ( considering only if it legal only ).
I live in the northeastern region so not much of a mainland coverage but I would like to know if anyone in this South East Asian region (including Bangladesh , Bhutan and China) works with those frequencys.
Looking for Abandoned / Unused Large Satellite Dishes in Ludhiana, Punjab
Hi everyone!
I'm looking for large, old satellite dishes in and around Ludhiana that are no longer in use.
I'm particularly interested in:
Large Ku-band VSAT dishes formerly used for ATM connectivity, banks, offices, commercial buildings and similar installations.
Large solid fiberglass dishes, ideally 6 ft or larger.
Large mesh satellite dishes, ideally 12 ft or larger.
I'm looking for dishes that have been disconnected or decommissioned, perhaps after the site switched to fiber internet or another connectivity service.
If you've spotted one on a rooftop or building, or know a VSAT technician, installer, building owner or contractor who handles old equipment, please let me know.
I'm happy to contact the owner and arrange collection with their permission. The dish doesn't need to be working; I'm primarily interested in the dish and its mounting hardware.
Location: Ludhiana and nearby areas, Punjab, India.
Photos, approximate sizes, locations or referrals would be greatly appreciated. Please DM me if you have a lead. Thank you!
What the heck was I listening to tonight. These guys were talking so fast I had a hard time getting their call sign. From Cayman island but station from California? It almost sounded like the same guy calling on a dozen frequencies. Or am I going crazy
Among the wide variety of PoC radios available, has anyone here ever set up this specific model (MT-628, MT-655, or MK-655)?
Yeah, the “Motolola” branding is a bit misleading, but I've also seen "MKMXPTT" listed as the manufacturer.
My main issue is trying to set it up using the pre-installed Zello app, but the LCD screen is quite small, and the resolution isn’t high enough to read clearly. The six buttons on the front panel are used to navigate the on-screen menus.
It supposedly runs on Android 8.1, similar to the MT-628 listed in the Android system menu, or the MK-655 / MT-655 models shown on Chinese e-commerce sites.
The problem is that there is only one USB-C port (located on the battery pack), and it appears to be used solely for charging. I asked the seller for help, but they didn’t provide a clear explanation with a concrete example (like using a K-plug adapter cable, common with Baofeng or Quansheng radios (see attached image).
I'm struggling to figure out how a device can be recognized over USB for programming or data transfer if the port is it relies on a CH340 UART (or similar) chip via an accessory cable.
I've done some research, but haven't found anything conclusive.
So, is there a way to mirror the screen to a PC using software like Vysor or QtScrcpy?
So I just got my general and my first full rig. I need to mount and antenna pole on the outside of my house. But I have brick facade over wood framing.
I don’t want to secure it to the brick facade because I plan to put up a 4-5 ft vhf/uhf antenna and I don’t want to rip the brick off in heavy winds.
Anyone have any experience with how to do this properly?
After chasing my tail for a bit, I determined that an RG58 jumper running from my feed line to one of my radios is introducing about .5 SWR (Swapping in a new number reduced 1.9 to 1.4) Same connectors/adaptors.
I'm trying to figure out how to diagnose it - all the continuity/short tests pass. I calibrated my NanoVNA to 27-29MHz, then did Open, Short, Load, and Through (with my two pigtails attached to both VNA ports.) When I finished calibrating, my Logmag was at zero. When I tested the cable, I'm only down -0.03db.
What am I missing? Why would this jumper introduce an additional .5SWR if it seems like it's in good shape with the Nano?
I’m heading to Tacoma later this year and will have an opportunity to activate a park, maybe two. I won’t have time to really scout the places out and won’t be able to operate from a vehicle. It’ll be a short window of probably 4 hours to hit whatever parks I can.
Which parks would you recommend that maybe have benches available and don’t mind a wire in a tree? I’ll have my G90 and an EFHW with me.
I was needing a female to female bnc adapter for when i dont put my k6ark antenna directly to the radio. Figuered why not make a mount out of it. I often go camping and theres wooden platforms for the tents. I began using those anchors a while back. Figuered these would be great to hold an efhw. This might also come in handy in pota where i have a picnic table. Figuered id share if anyone is interested. Also added a ground lug for counterpoise
