W8TAU (Mike English) EN73

I really wish I had a go-to setup for battery + solar/wind + waterproof outdoor enclosure + mounting options for like... trees or something.

I've found some local nodes through MQTT, but that feels kind of like cheating with APRS.fi or whatever. Not doing anything with the air yet.

The stock antenna is very tiny and extremely low gain so I can't reach anyone else's nodes over the air yet. I have 3 kits, but no portable power options or enclosures.

Dipping my toes into LoRa / meshtastic with some very inexpensive hardware, but I'm not really sure what to do with it yet..

Maybe a grid squares needed / grid squares operating matching service?

Maybe spotting services? Something like RBN or pskreporter?

I wonder what kind of ham-specific services we could build on atproto?

The Yaesu FTX-1F Portable HF Transceiver: Yaesu’s replacement for the venerable FT-818 and FT-817 Many thanks to Gavin (GM0WDD) who notes that ML&S have posted a product page for the new Yaesu FTX-1F.  I was curious what new product announcements might come out of the Tokyo Ham Fair 2024&#8…

uh oh…

I didn't think I needed another radio, but.. 👀
qrper.com/2024/08/the-...

@w8tau.bsky.social I did end up testing this setup at US-6810 earlier. Forgot about the 10 QSO minimum for a "successful" #POTA activation or I might have stayed a bit longer. Also either I forgot or the app got stuck, but I accidentally logged everything as 20m instead of 30m at first, oops! […]

I think there's a park nearby. Might try a #POTA activation later.

screenshot of pskreporter map showing a handful of recent 30M FT8 reception reports and a marker for my station in EN85

ok, this is pretty neat.

look ma! no laptop!

#ft8 #digirig #iFTx

@w8tau.bsky.social I wasn't sure whether the #digirig could be used like this from iOS and I'm happily surprised that it seems to work! This opens up all kinds of #SOTA / #POTA possibilities!

image of some cables and adapters strung together on a picnic table next to some rocks digirig mobile, a ferrite choke, USB-C to USB-A adapter, iPhone "camera" connector (USB-A) also visible: MH-36 hand mic, cheap tiny morse code key in a box

Realized today that I have all the cables and adapters necessary to connect my radio directly to my phone for digimodes… 🤔

Now there's an interesting situation where I'm hearing stations in states that can't hear me at all while I'm being picked up by stations in states I can't hear at all. #6m #ft8

Having fun leaving my radio listening to the static at 50.313 in the background until it springs to life and I hop on the radio to make some quick #6m #ft8 QSOs. Today seems to be mostly North Carolina so far.

A man holding hands with a penguin

Surprisingly, K3VN is not named Kevin.

However, he does have this excellent picture on his QRZ page.

Thx for the QSO, Al!

In a little over one hour New York will make contact with the ISS!
Kopernik Observatory, Vestal, New York will talk with Matthew Dominick, via Ham Radio on the ISS.
Scheduled today at 18:17 UTC | 2:17 PM ET direct via K2ZRO. Listen on 145.800 MHz or watch live: youtube.com/live/Tv3x3D0...

We must have some kind of perfect path. K7BV spotted my <5W at at "12" a bit ago. 😳

screenshot of received/decoded FT8 messages. Some messages from K7BV register as 2, 3, or even 4. Full text of image follows. 162515 -5 0.1 1877 ~ AA8SW K7BV FM04 U.S.A. 31.07.24 16:25:59 UTC 6m 162545 -2 0.2 1877 ~ AA8SW K7BV R-19 *U.S.A. 31.07.24 16:26:29 UTC 6m 162615 3 0.2 1877 ~ N9DBS K7BV R+20 U.S.A. 31.07.24 16:26:59 UTC 6m 162645 4 0.2 1877 ~ N9DBS K7BV R+20 *U.S.A. 31.07.24 16:27:29 UTC 162715 partial loss of data 31.07.24 16:27:59 UTC 6m 162745 2 0.2 2380 ~ N9DBS K7BV R+20 U.S.A. 31.07.24 16:28:59 UTC 6m 162845 3 0.2 2368 ~ K8TV K7BV FM04 U.S.A. 31.07.24 16:31:29 UTC 6m 163115 2 0.2 2402 ~ K8BL K7BV FM04 U.S.A. 31.07.24 16:31:59 UTC 6m 163145 0.2 2380 ~ CQ K7BV FM04 U.S.A. 31.07.24 16:32:29 UTC 6m 163215 1 0.2 2380 ~ CQ K7BV FM04 *U.S.A. 31.07.24 16:32:59 UTC 6m 163245 -4 0.2 2380 ~ KB8KB K7BV +26 U.S.A.l

I guess not quite gone yet. K7BV still coming in HOT.

Aaaand gone again. Fun to leave the speaker on while I work and just listen for the static to turn back to FT8 deedles and jump on the radio to make some QSOs.

It's like listening to the aurora I can't see.

Screenshot of GridTracker showing stations heard / heard by markers and lines between Michigan and North Carolina on 6m

Today it's NC!

D .- .-. -. !

2 Qs w/ Texas in the log #ft8 #6m

Screenshot of GridTracker showing stations heard / heard by markers and lines between Michigan and Texas on 6m

oh hey, this is kinda fun

@beverages.hellthread.pro got any more of that ham water?

Welp. Just saw a QRZ profile with that bloody ear / raised fist photo at the top. No thank you.

Happy anniversary to the iconic NASA logo from your friends at ARISS!

Screenshot of a graph of GOES-16 data showing solar flare activity reaching the X2 level just recently. Line is mostly between C and M, but at the righthand side of the graph it jumps up to crest at X2 and then turn back downwards again. "GOES X-ray satellite 1 minute solar X-rays average in the 1-8 Angström passband" Current: X1.25 24h max: X2 72h max: X2

getting spicy

via Reddit: an ad for a “12000W” handheld amateur radio. these are typically 5W and the legal limit per FCC is 1500W lol

when you wanna to hit the local repeater on tau ceti

QR oh no in the style of Alex Norris's webcomic name