Blog Posts

HRWB 242 - Zero Retries Newsletter with Steve N8GNJ and Tina KD7WSF

7/29/2025

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SHOW NOTES

Zero Retries Newsletter (Big Blue subscribe button on the right-hand side)
https://www.zeroretries.org

Zero Retries Digital Conference 2025 - September 13, 2025 in Everett, Washington
https://www.zeroretries.org/p/conference

Follow Steve and ZeroRetries on social media
Mastodon: @n8gnj.mastodon.radio
Bluesky: n8gnj.bsky.social

Vince’s mini-series about zBitx on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZq42zkkA9oPGznE35pjuzKPxAFo1U--Z

EggNOGS
https://electronics.halibut.com/product/eggnogs/

Coilcraft design tools
https://www.coilcraft.com/en-us/tools/

AST Space obliterating 430MHz to 440MHz
https://amsat-uk.org/2025/06/26/use-of-430-440-mhz-by-ast-spacemobile-constellation/

Rhizomatica and the Hermes Project
https://rhizomatica.org
https://hermes.radio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT8DanvqzcU

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HRWB 241 - Field Day 2025 Debrief

7/15/2025

1 Comment

SHOW NOTES

SAGE ADVICE FROM THE GRAY BEARDS...

Paul

Now that we have a more publicly-accessible location, more pre-event publicity to attract curious non-hams
When we do, make them feel immediately welcome and let them know it’s fine to ask questions - all of us love to talk about our hobby and explain things.
Depending on the mentality of your club, don’t treat it like a contest. Just make it a social outing for the “3 F’s” (watch it…..) Fellowship, Food, and Fun. Work the bands, but don’t stress about it.
Do a lot more testing before the event.
Don’t blow up one of your two radios.

JOSH

Leadership - Have potentially tricky conversations for the good of the many
Club members - volunteering and helping out makes the event yours and more memorable.
Detailed notes with a timeline to follow for each year.
Joy of the event over score or tradition
- Don’t kill yourself forcing volunteers to do things because of tradition, maybe it is time to cut that tradition - food for our club.
- Could potentially have better antenna performance with further spacing but socialization would suffer.

GEORGE

When a band seems to die out, go to FT-8. For example 15m FT-8 in the evening !
Use a CW decoder so people who don't know CW can follow along. FL Digi is a great and free software program that decodes CW well
Get on VHF and UHF. Depending on your area, try FM on 52.525 146.52, 446.0 etc. Many new radios have 2m SSB. Try 145.200 and up.

Vince

Prep tip: Ignore the solar indices, instead listen to the IARU beacons to know where to start out and what band conditions are really like. If you hear nobody on a band, check the FT8 frequency as it’s like dial tone.

Mark

Test your gear before the weekend, if you plan to rely on it. I was LUCKY to get my VHF/UHF mobile (my beloved D700) radio working before the trip, i very nearly didn’t. And that would have hampered my enjoyment of the event a lot.
Having said that, don’t let it stop you from bringing out some rando radio and seeing if it works. Just, ya know, don’t RELY on that rando radio.

Thomas

In my situation, as a visitor, reach out very early to the club you plan to visit. Inquire about a time slot to operate.
One way you can help is to take the late night operator positions. Try to work around doing that.
In general, don’t be afraid to visit FD sites while traveling. I’ve had an amazing time doing this in the past.

OTHER TOPICS MENTIONED ON THE SHOW...

How to pronounce Baofeng and Wouxun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yozm-9_Cjk

USB-C PD vs QC
https://nerdtechy.com/pd-3-qc-3-difference

If you are a multi-station FD coordinator/organizer with experience setting up more than 10 stations for a single FD, please reach out to us via email ve6lk @ myrac . ca

IARU Beacon Project
https://www.ncdxf.org/beacon/index.html

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HRWB 240 - Test Leads with Carlos from Parts Candy

7/1/2025

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SHOW NOTES

Parts Candy website
https://partscandy.com

Radio model number from Carlos
“GE Radio C1545A, Same as T1245 and T1235; the T1235 is missing the solid state IF stage. Shango066 on YouTube has some videos on them although one of them seems to be missing the audio. I believe the radio has a tube AM RF amp stage and a transistor FM RF amp stage as well as that extra solid state IF stage which I believe functions for both AM/FM. All in all the radio is supposed to be a fairly sensitive receiver, just built in a terrible plastic abomination of a chassis and early circuit board technology.”

Stealth Ops from hotel rooms and other unlikely QTHs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d9pYZCmv0k

Graphical chart - understanding solar activity and its impact on HF propagation
https://www.dxzone.com/dx36048/understanding-solar-activity-and-its-impact-on-hf-propagation.jpg

Asianometry YT video on capacitors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSpzAVpnXo4

Louis Rossman on YT and Right to Repair
https://www.youtube.com/@rossmanngroup

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