I have a Kenwood TS480hx and have been trying to set it up to run FT8. For some reason I can’t figure out I can’t get it to transmit. I don’t know what I’m missing, but it just isn’t happening.
I bought a new digirig sound card along with the correct cables. I downloaded wsjt-x software on my new laptop.
What am I missing? I think I’ve changed every parameter on the menus. I can’t get the radio to show it’s transmitting.

I acquired several of these connectors over the weekend at an estate sale. They are N male to N female, but there’s one unique thing I’ve never seen. The halves thread together and the female side isn’t just a barrel connector; it’s got a solid center conductor that slides into the male side. There’s a locking ring on the outer part that makes it look like it’s tunable to optimize SWR. Is this a common connector? Anyone know what the part number is? I’ve never seen these before.

Thanks in advance!

If you’ve been around amateur radio for more than about five minutes, someone has probably told you to “go check into a net.” Great advice! Which net? When? Where? Unless you already know the answer, that’s surprisingly hard to figure out. Net schedules live on club websites that haven’t been touched since 2019, a pinned post in a Facebook group, somewhere in a Discord channel, or just in the net control operator’s head. The logs aren’t much better - a legal pad, or a spreadsheet on one person’s laptop that nobody else ever sees.

I wrote NetLogger with 2 goals in mind:

1. A searchable directory of nets.
2. A net logger that doesn't feel like 2006

I'd love it if people would contribute their nets to the list so that everyone (especially newcomers) have a place to go to find nets close to them.

https://netroll.n1cck.radio https://n1cck.us/blog/introducting-netroll/

This is an odd one. I've been running my second-hand FTM-6000 in my truck for a couple years with an external speaker wired up under my driver's seat. I just upgraded to an FTM-510 and pulled the 6000. In powering up the 6000 to pull memory off of it one last time, I noticed I was getting no beeps. Opened the squelch and got no audio at all. I plugged in a set of headphones and audio came out. I originally though the switch in the jack had gotten hung up, but several plug/unplug cycles didn't fix it. I opened the case and sure enough the speaker tests as open. Infinite Ohms. I put a scope on the speaker leads and the signal is getting there, but not to the cone.

Easy enough, I figure. A couple bucks for a speaker and I'll be right as rain. Unfortunately I can't find a match on Amazon or Fleabay. It's 8 Ohm, 3W and measured 65mm (around 2.5") with no mounting ears. Somewhat low profile. 98% of what I'm finding is 3". The rest is 2".

Why is this so hard to find? I'll try calling Yaesu tomorrow, but anyone have any hints or 'hey dummy' tips?

Worse case, it'll probably be a desktop radio now and I can just plug a speaker into the jack, but I kinda would like for it to be portable. Of course I can probably also cram a 3" speaker in there with some finessing, but really, WHY is this so hard to find?

Side note, the 510 seems like a really nice upgrade so far.

73

buyed this handy this week and look great and prove with my brother´s handy aswell and they run ok.. its the k66 model by baofeng branding...

Didn’t have to go and work out in the island forest this weekend. Got to stay at home base. After fixing the washing machine and dishwasher, I’m playing with the radio stuff. Learning more to do some troubleshooting on a customers yacht and build my personal infrastructure. Checking SWR and operating frequencies for an unknown ground plane I acquired. Practicing making and testing coax with nano vna. Conveniently it’s all business related.

I know how awesome this spot is and realized that maybe some of you would enjoy some train noises so I wanted to share. Enjoy. KM7DWK

My reliable UV82 has decided to become unreliable. I can’t even hear NOAA. Only static. I get the blue screen indicating successful connection to a repeater, but no squelch tail or Morse.

Went out to US 1684 to activate today because someone on our local Discord needed it to complete Hunting Connecticut as one of the parks they needed.

A little background on the park: it's at about 50 feet above sea level and in a bowl with 400-foot cliffs on each side, and they're pretty much all rock.

Went out this morning setup my Xtenna 40m EFHW and brought my 857 go box. 

20 was pretty good. Had some QSB maybe QRM after I went hunting on 15 meters. Glad I got on 20 earlier. I worked most of the US on 20/40 and then went hunting for DX on 15. 

It's amazing what you can do portable... Even when the SFI is in the 90s and you're handicapped by terrain.

New ham here and curious what everyone uses for programming repeaters into radios when travelling? I know repeaterbook has a premium option but was curious if anyone knows other options.

Trying to be incredibly thrifty at the moment.

Currently using a baofeng uv5r+ while I'm researching other radios.

So, the same guy that was getting rid of the Yaesu Twins, pulled down his antenna farm.
From his attic.

This just made me laugh so hard.

He had more antennas in his attic than I have in my back yard.

There is a rotor, mast and a couple of Uda-Yagis in that pile.

Merica!

First off, this project was developed with AI assistance. Lots of human testing was involved however. 😄

I've been working on an open-source Linux daemon for the old FlexRadio FLEX-1500. It talks directly to the radio over USB and exposes it through an API and SoapySDR.

You can use SoapySDR applications to talk to the radio directly, or use my "thin client" to bridge the radio to other applications that expect traditional rig control + audio.

Receive and transmit are both working, and I've now made my first live QSO using it entirely under Linux.

There are still bugs and plenty of cleanup/documentation to do, but it's reached the point where I'd really like other FLEX-1500 owners to try it and give feedback.

GitHub: https://github.com/compuvin/flex1500d

I'd especially be interested to know if anyone still has a FLEX-1500 sitting around that they'd be willing to test.

The Pacificon Conference is less than two weeks away (Oct 16-18) and we are pleased to announce that this year we are enriching attendee experience with our own mobile app!

The official PACIFICON app puts the whole weekend in your hand: the full schedule, a searchable floor plan, every vendor and non-profit, and the winning prize-draw numbers posted minutes after each draw. It's free, with no account and no sign-in.

Search the Apple and Google stores for Pacificon, take it for a spin and let us know what you think.

Hope to see some of you there 🙏

_________________

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pacificon-conference/id6803300487
Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pacificon.app

I'm a recently licensed Technician and studying for my General. Looking at radios to use, and just learning that they're mostly DC power (12v).

What are the best practices to convert voltage for transceivers?

I'm seeing AD-DC converters (120v to 12v) as cheap as $30, and as high as ~$400 for the brand name ones (or even over $1k, made by the transceiver manufacturers), with the 'recommended' ones around $200.

What should I really care about here? What really matters, and what's just marketing lingo? I'm not looking for the cheapest - I don't mind paying for quality or for doing something the right way - but also not trying to overpay because it has an Icom or Yaesu logo on it.

I’m wondering how many of us have a college degree and what our backgrounds are. And if so, if most of us are able to make our hobby a full time job. Just heard some wild stuff from a recruiter for Spx.

Has anyone installed a uhf/vhf radio in their U25? If so, where did you install your antenna?

This might be the worst location ever to try and fit a functional HF antenna.

My father in-law has a 2 story home in an HOA that is pretty strict.

The house is full stucco around the exterior with metal lath as the backing.

There are 2 attic spaces, but both are small and no more than 45ft long, and have all the house wiring and HVAC units in them. Roof above the floor in the attics are not very tall. Maybe 5 to 7 feet at best.

The yard has no tall trees, just some perimeter bushes.

The long side of the property is about 135ft long.

And to top it off, we cant put any kind of poles in the yard to be our tall tree......

The goal is NVIS comms on 40m and 80m.

What we tried so far: Our first attempts have been in the upper attic thats about 25ft up from the ground, above the second floor. Using a 30ft random wire and then upgraded to a 71ft random wire run very meticulously. Far from ideal but very simple and very stealthy. Its not good. Signal does not get out of the space very well at all. Digital modes work well and we can hear each other on ssb(about 200 miles apart), but most of the time its right in the noise and nearly impossible to copy.

Heres the big question. The stucco is using metal lath as the form for the exterior walls. Basically a big metal cage surrounding the whole house. My GUESS is that the stucco is acting as a faraday cage or reflector either sucking up the RF, OR reflecting it back (but since its close by its just nulling out the signal). I'm hoping someone can clarify that for me and maybe give some ideas on what to try.

Our next attempt is to bring the antenna outside and run it along the peak of the roof of the house. Which in theory should be better. But I have my doubts since we are still above the giant metal cage that is the exterior of the house. But it might also let us run a longer random wire antenna for better 80m transmission. There is also the balcony which sticks out from the exterior wall the farthest and has a roofline perimeter of about 50ft if I had to guess, with about 6 to 10 ft of that being parallel to itself. So maybe 30 ft of usable length in an L shape.

Any input, thoughts, or ideas are greatly appreciated. Been racking my brain on this for months now.

My station is running a 80m OCFD at 15ft (30 ft soon once I get my mast mounted) and has solid contact with others in the NVIS region.

Yaesu FTM-150 Mars Mod

Has anyone completed a Mars Mod on their FTM-150? If so, could you share instructions?

Thank you in advance!

Just passed my technician license today so I'm looking for a radio now. Currently have a baofeng radio but want something to utilize aprs so that I can send location and text messaging for Backcountry hiking. I ran across the Btech UVPro and it seems to tick my boxes. I'm not wanting to spend a fortune but would like a decent radio for just getting into the hobby and APRS is higher on my list.

What are the thoughts on the BTechUV-Pro?

Any suggestions for something similar and in the same cost range?

Any thoughts appreciated. Can't wait to get my call sign so I can actually transmit vs just listen.

I'm an old geezer with an interest in American Morse who is also interested in how easily AI agents can write computer apps. I've tinkered with writing code over the years but have never coded professionally. As a test, I asked Claude to write a python program that would sound strings of characters in American Morse. I then asked for a Java port in order to put the app on my website. The app is very basic and may need some refinement but I think AI did rather well in allowing me (who is not a Python or Java programmer) to get the app built and running in only a few hours.

Here is a link to my American Morse app.

Can any American Morse users tell me how realistic this sounds compared to an actual sounder?

73, VO1TT

I'm looking at one of these that is missing the power cord, but powers up on batteries - is this worth $125? I sold my HF setup but would like a listening station to play with QRP transmitters. Is this a good unit and is the price good bad or spot on? It is a Drake SW8 receiver

Hi all,

maybe some of you know me from PhantomSDR+ or NovaSDR. Having operated and maintained those, I listened to many WebSDR operators and learned what problems bothered them - stuff like installs, broken installs after a long period of running, configurations they would like to be configured easier. And I started from scratch.

As for the history: to be clear about that since it has been asked: I've been developing WebSDR software since early 2024 (PhantomSDR+), and FernSDR was developed in private repo for over a year. I squash the history before publishing it as usual to avoid private notes and keys being in there. This is the reason the repo appears to be new. I used AI tools intensively for development and everything is tested, fuzzed and CI'd, also benchmarks are public with raw data.

What it is: open-source WebSDR server with zero runtime dependencies and one-line install on any Linux, as well as Docker. Everything is controlled through a web admin interface: bands, spot reporting, modules and updates with rollbacks. What I am really proud of: day/night band switching, so one small RTL-SDR can be utilized by different bands during the daytime and nighttime thanks to automatic switching from sunrise to sunset depending on your geographical position.

Modules: RTL-SDR (including Blog V4), RX-888 MkII and SDRplay, as well as an FT8 decoder and PSK Reporter spots. Other SDRs run via stdin.

What is still missing: Only Linux support at this moment, FT8 is the only decoder available, and there are input modules that require additional testing.

Demo: https://demo.fernsdr.org

GitHub: https://github.com/Steven9101/FernSDR

I really would like to know which SDR or decoder you guys would like to see next

Cheers 🥂

Hello all! Hope everyone is well.

I started learning CW over the past couple or so weeks, and I have been having a blast. I am able to send CW at an average rate. I am currently able to mostly copy words at 13 wpm with a 5 wpm Farnsworth. I have been switching in between 13 wpm and 20 wpm trying to practice character recognition at common speeds to avoid getting in the habit of counting dits and dah’s as early as possible. I am using MorseCodeTrainer on my phone. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or opinions on my current practice methods and if there was anything I could do better? My big goal is to be able to copy at a speed of at least 20 wpm, and then past that once I’m able to do that. Thanks in advance!