FT8 with gray-line propagation to Australia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOnly lately have I tried other modes such as PSK31, Olivia, and Thor. Thanks to the immediate feedback from FT8, I was able to fine-tune settings to read and be copied by folks all around.<\/p>\n
As with all things ham, patience led to victory. So that is my advice if you’re having difficulties: It’s a journey that requires patience. First find the right rig, then find the right antenna and gear, then figure out software configuration and connectivity, test, verify, test some more– then finally someone needs to actually reply. Along the way there will be discouragements and failure. A lot of the time you’ll need another ham’s help. For me, the frustrations and dead air took many many months, but it’s worth it when every little puzzle piece falls together and works. There’s nothing like that rush when you hear your callsign being sent back to you by another operator hundreds if not thousands of miles away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the past month, I’ve finally unblocked my antenna issues and made great strides in the digital realm of ham radio. Using the PreciseRF HG-1 magnetic loop antenna along with my RigExpert AA-600 to get the lowest possible SWR, I have found that I can get out to virtually all over the country simply from putting the antenna on the street. The loop only supports max 45W PEP, so it is definitely a low-power antenna. But I can only imagine how it would function if I were in a flat field or on a peak. With gray-line propagation some days, I see strong signal spots via Reverse Beacon Network or… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,4,5],"tags":[25,29,15,27,23,39],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antennas","category-cw","category-digital","tag-contact","tag-cw","tag-digital","tag-dx","tag-hf","tag-qso"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9naFX-84","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":85,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2017\/10\/found-a-beacon-on-2m\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":0},"title":"Found a Beacon on 2m","author":"kf6ujs","date":"October 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I briefly heard someone on 10m single-sideband (SSB) saying goodbye to his QSO friend, and that he was going to tune around on 2m SSB. Although I knew 2m SSB existed, never occurred to me that now that I have an all-mode rig, I could also tune around there instead\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":443,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2018\/03\/choosing-the-next-rig\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":1},"title":"Choosing the Next Rig","author":"AD6DM","date":"March 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In my quest to find the next portable rig (I already decided), I made a comparison sheet with stats about the various rigs I was considering. Here is my portable rig matrix (including handhelds). Hopefully this list could be of help to others. \ufeff\ufeff Bear in mind, I had specific\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"New RS-918SSB","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_5734-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_5734-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_5734-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_5734-1024x768.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":929,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2020\/02\/sota-with-ai6xg-on-wragg-ridge\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":2},"title":"SOTA with AI6XG on Wragg Ridge","author":"AD6DM","date":"February 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dan AI6XG has been doing SOTA for a couple years, and we were in CWOps Level 2 class together in 2018. He graciously offered to go on a SOTA hike with me, and picked this great spot mapped out by Jeff AA6XA around the Lake Berryessa area. Enjoy watching my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":338,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2018\/01\/tuning-swr-with-an-antenna-analyzer\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":3},"title":"Tuning SWR with an Antenna Analyzer","author":"AD6DM","date":"January 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're at all into antennas aside from your handheld rubber duck antenna, you should try to get an antenna analyzer. Here I am using a RigExpert AA-600: Before using this device, I would just go by the radio's SWR reading (a poor display of SWR \"bars\") to determine if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"MultiSWR mode on a AA-600","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_4412-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":185,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2017\/11\/sdarc-meeting-119\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":4},"title":"SDARC Meeting 11\/9","author":"kf6ujs","date":"November 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Met with the club members of Stockton Delta Amateur Radio Club (SDARC) this evening at a classroom in the Bear Creek Community Church. The club elected (or re-elected, rather) the club board for 2018, and discussed upcoming club events. Then W6SXA Mark gave a presentation and demo of the\u00a0Rigexpert AA-600\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_9911-651x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_9911-651x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_9911-651x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":832,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2019\/07\/first-qso-on-ao-92-satellite\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":5},"title":"First QSO on AO-92 Satellite","author":"AD6DM","date":"July 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I received an Arrow II antenna from N9BAV today, a very generous gift after I tweeted that I needed to buy said antenna. After I put it together, I looked on GoSatWatch app to see the next pass of well-known amateur satellites. I immediately recognized that AO-92 was going to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":508,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions\/508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"PreciseRF](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_8355-2-1.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1\")
<\/a>![\"Reverse](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-22-at-11.30.24-PM.png?resize=613%2C831&ssl=1\")
<\/a>![\"FT8](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-23-at-10.12.05-PM.png?resize=800%2C404&ssl=1\")
<\/a>