Annual NC QSO Party this weekend :: Sunday 2/25/24 10AM -8PM EST

mostly22lately

mostly22lately

Only If It Was Funny
2A Bourbon Hound OG
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Mar 7, 2021
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Chapel Hill, NC
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If you are licensed and HF equipped, you should get on the air.

This is the one time every year that EVERYONE ELSE is trying to work NC.
You'll be king of the hill even with 100 watts and a wet noodle.

Rare counties are always in high demand, especially by the European county hunters.
They know they only get a few chances at Person, or Caswell, et cetera.

Logging software is free:

N1MM Logger Plus – Free Software for Phone, CW & Digital

n1mmwp.hamdocs.com n1mmwp.hamdocs.com
 
KQ4LAA here....still haven't done a thing with my license since I got it. Is this just a matter of turning on the radio and responding to calls?
 
Tim said:
KQ4LAA here....still haven't done a thing with my license since I got it. Is this just a matter of turning on the radio and responding to calls?
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Yes.

Wait for someone to call CQ North Carolina, and reply with your call sign and county. That's it.

You don't have to log it if that is intimidating.
Getting ON is the important part because this event happens just once a year.


Your Tech class license could be used on the HF bands where you have privileges.


I am assuming you aren't a CW operator, so, 10 meters from 28.3 to 28.5 is where you would be.
And, lately, 10 has been hopping hot.

1708701308481.png
 
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Johnny said:
This is pretty neat. Logged my first contacts on 40m and my first in NC.

11 of my 21 total contacts have been today. 🥸
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And, you're providing Pender County.

You are likely a popular fellow today.

New Hanover for example is easy to get. Pender? well, less easy.
 
mostly22lately said:
And, you're providing Pender County.

You are likely a popular fellow today.

New Hanover for example is easy to get. Pender? well, less easy.
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I was the first Pender for at least 2 that told me so, and maybe a couple of others were sounding pretty enthusiastic about it. I did get New Hanover, Bladen and Onslow, thought that was actually pretty cool with my very limited understanding of 40m propagation.

One contact said something about me getting bonus points for my 5th contact, I think that's what he said? I have no idea what he ment by that. I finally started the signup process for LoTW today and am currently looking at the N1MM software that I downloaded a month ago to try and get my 7300 scope on my big monitor, with no luck at all. I logged all of today's contacts on QRZ, I'll look into migration at some point.
 
Ok, I think I can help with a few things.

40 is a great band for all manner of regional contacts. Lots of factors that can affect how well it works at any given moment. But in general it's so. This is why for example you find daytime nets like ECARS on 40 http://www.ecars7255.com/

It is probable that what was meant by 'bonus points' is that there are several stations on which are considered 'special' for this contest. You want to log these if you can.

Every year they are different. The bonus stations are listed on the web site. You'd get the special points when you send in your log to the robot that scores the contest tonight.

N1MM+ is a logging program that is primarily focused on people who do radio contests like the one today. It is not the only function, of course ... it has a 'general log' function as well. It might suit your fancy better than the web based logging such as the one at QRZ.

I use a different program (DX4WIN) for general logging and use N1MM+ only for contests. Then, I transfer my N1MM+ log to the other program so I have a complete log AND then I further copy that combined log to LoTW.

Here is a video that talks about what you're trying to do also, I think, with your 7300.



Fancy.

15 meters was wall to wall Europeans around 1900Z. Some French contest today as well. I have more Belgians alone in my log today than US stations west of the Mississippi.
 
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Johnny said:
I was the first Pender for at least 2 that told me so, and maybe a couple of others were sounding pretty enthusiastic about it. I did get New Hanover, Bladen and Onslow, thought that was actually pretty cool with my very limited understanding of 40m propagation.

One contact said something about me getting bonus points for my 5th contact, I think that's what he said? I have no idea what he ment by that. I finally started the signup process for LoTW today and am currently looking at the N1MM software that I downloaded a month ago to try and get my 7300 scope on my big monitor, with no luck at all. I logged all of today's contacts on QRZ, I'll look into migration at some point.
Click to expand...


Let me know if you have any questions about LOTW. I've got north of 12,000 contacts logged on there now. Congrats on the 40 M activity.

I just downloaded N1MM but have never used it, so maybe you can help me out with it.
 
I ended up making 30 contacts today for the NC QSO party. Pretty neat deal all said and done, certainly made a lot of people happy being 1 of possibly 3 from my county participating. My last QSO was with a guy from Pender, funny how it works sometimes. Thanks for posting this @mostly22lately. I would never have known about it as I had not strayed from 10m yet.

mostly22lately said:
Ok, I think I can help with a few things.

40 is a great band for all manner of regional contacts. Lots of factors that can affect how well it works at any given moment. But in general it's so. This is why for example you find daytime nets like ECARS on 40 http://www.ecars7255.com/

It is probable that what was meant by 'bonus points' is that there are several stations on which are considered 'special' for this contest. You want to log these if you can.

Every year they are different. The bonus stations are listed on the web site. You'd get the special points when you send in your log to the robot that scores the contest tonight.

N1MM+ is a logging program that is primarily focused on people who do radio contests like the one today. It is not the only function, of course ... it has a 'general log' function as well. It might suit your fancy better than the web based logging such as the one at QRZ.

I use a different program (DX4WIN) for general logging and use N1MM+ only for contests. Then, I transfer my N1MM+ log to the other program so I have a complete log AND then I further copy that combined log to LoTW.

Here is a video that talks about what you're trying to do also, I think, with your 7300.



Fancy.

15 meters was wall to wall Europeans around 1900Z. Some French contest today as well. I have more Belgians alone in my log today than US stations west of the Mississippi.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the info, much appreciated. I'll come back to the video later this evening and plan on working on getting my radio talking with it this week.

JohnFreeman said:
Let me know if you have any questions about LOTW. I've got north of 12,000 contacts logged on there now. Congrats on the 40 M activity.

I just downloaded N1MM but have never used it, so maybe you can help me out with it.
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Thank you, John. I guess I'm waiting on the postcard now to verify that I'm not a bot.
I managed to migrate my contacts from QRZ to N1MM and logged a contact while I had the program open. The logging part doesn't seem to be as straight forward as QRZ, but I suppose it's like anything else, do it a few times, and it's easy after that.
 
I have no idea what any of this stuff is. I don't know what you're talking about at all.
But i did break out my baofeng, learned to program it with chirp, entered some local repeaters into the saved channels, and listened for a few minutes to W4IKS call up people to talk about their day on 146.9100
I think that counts as a start, right?
 
DrScaryGuy said:
I have no idea what any of this stuff is. I don't know what you're talking about at all.
But i did break out my baofeng, learned to program it with chirp, entered some local repeaters into the saved channels, and listened for a few minutes to W4IKS call up people to talk about their day on 146.9100
I think that counts as a start, right?
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Yes. It's definitely a great start.



What is being discussed is an annual event on the shortwave ham bands.

It is an event that is coordinated for the purpose of having everyone in the world arrange a fixed time to contact stations in NC.
For this event, NC stations operate and identify based on the county where they are.

Every state, or in some cases regions where states are small like in New England, has one of these events every year.

A sub-hobby is where people 'collect' US counties. In other words, being able to contact at least one person in every county in every state.

Today was a great chance for people who do that, because even to contact just the 100 counties in NC alone could (and does) take decades.
This is because, in part, there are many counties in NC that are very rural and have few or no active ham operators living there.
It is not uncommon to find European hams who have been in pursuit of this sort of goal for most of their lives.

Participants generally log all their contacts and then submit the log (electronically, in our modern era) for competitive scoring.

During this event, which went from 10am to 8pm today, I contacted the following 38 states and 5 Canadian provinces (checked in blue):

1708911388957.png

I also contacted 11 different countries (13, if you count the US and Canada).

This was done in about 4 1/2 hours of operating time.

My score is not anywhere near competitive, nor was that my goal. It was just an exercise of my station and skills.
 
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mostly22lately said:
Yes. It's definitely a great start.



What is being discussed is an annual event on the shortwave ham bands.
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yeah, a handful of us on a gun discord channel were dabbling in the idea of actually learning about radios like the baofengs we all have sitting around. suddenly we have our own sub channel conversation going on. you know, instead of just illegally hitting the transmit button.
we're all actively hating on you folks while also secretly being very jealous of the knowledge you have. lots of "sad ham" this and "gotta get that dx" that.
one guy has learned a fair bit about frs/gmrs and, listens to ham but doesn't have a license, one guy is coming in absolutely fresh and trying to learn, i'm trying to translate what i know from physiological stuff like nerve/neuron transmission/transduction recordings and apply it to radio (there's more crossover than you think).
i've shared a few links from here with them, but most of it is WAY over our heads - so far.

one guy was trying to learn gmrs and decided it was a waste of the $35 he spent, so he's decided to just learn ham, while also trying to figure out what correlation there is between people using frequencies and people talking about wavelengths, so we're having a good time making fun of eachother.

we'll soon be polluting your airwaves with our stupidity. be ready.
 
I have one of these for sale here in Chapel Hill.
Radio is from the estate of a local guy who passed last summer.
I am selling his gear on behalf of his widow.
I've used this radio myself, and it is 100% classic Kenwood.
When it was a new model I drooled over one at the local store, but back then I could not afford such a premium set.
They make them smaller now, yes, but better? Hm.
Can make some new ham a VERY attractive deal...

1708913696563.jpeg
 
DrScaryGuy said:
yeah, a handful of us on a gun discord channel were dabbling in the idea of actually learning about radios like the baofengs we all have sitting around. suddenly we have our own sub channel conversation going on. you know, instead of just illegally hitting the transmit button.
we're all actively hating on you folks while also secretly being very jealous of the knowledge you have. lots of "sad ham" this and "gotta get that dx" that.
one guy has learned a fair bit about frs/gmrs and, listens to ham but doesn't have a license, one guy is coming in absolutely fresh and trying to learn, i'm trying to translate what i know from physiological stuff like nerve/neuron transmission/transduction recordings and apply it to radio (there's more crossover than you think).
i've shared a few links from here with them, but most of it is WAY over our heads - so far.

one guy was trying to learn gmrs and decided it was a waste of the $35 he spent, so he's decided to just learn ham, while also trying to figure out what correlation there is between people using frequencies and people talking about wavelengths, so we're having a good time making fun of eachother.

we'll soon be polluting your airwaves with our stupidity. be ready.
Click to expand...

I outgrew GMRS in less than 2 weeks. Nothing wrong with it, perfectly fine for some people. A lot depends on the area you are in and obviously what you want to get out of playing with radios.
I'm absolutely eating up the ham stuff, drinking from a fire hose, but I am very much loving the knowledge I gain every day from both just plain doing it and from talking with great people with experience like we have here.

You don't know what you don't know, but I can't help but laugh at the dudes that buy chicom radios for "SHTF" and don't have a clue how they work, or how the won't actually work for what they think they want them for. I still don't know shit, but can get the absolute most out of a baofeng to the point of out performing the students 152's at Sage. And I still wouldn't trust my life to those hunks of crap.
 
Johnny said:
I outgrew GMRS in less than 2 weeks. Nothing wrong with it, perfectly fine for some people. A lot depends on the area you are in and obviously what you want to get out of playing with radios.
I'm absolutely eating up the ham stuff, drinking from a fire hose, but I am very much loving the knowledge I gain every day from both just plain doing it and from talking with great people with experience like we have here.

You don't know what you don't know, but I can't help but laugh at the dudes that buy chicom radios for "SHTF" and don't have a clue how they work, or how the won't actually work for what they think they want them for. I still don't know shit, but can get the absolute most out of a baofeng to the point of out performing the students 152's at Sage. And I still wouldn't trust my life to those hunks of crap.
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my goal for gmrs is limited to setting a frequency, locking the keypad, and handing a radio to "family" and those under my supervision when we are doing stuff that might separate us where there is no cell signal. I just don't want to catch a felony for doing that.
Ham is ... well it's coming. I'll memorize the answers to the test and go from there.
"memorize" is the wrong word, because i skimmed and could already pick most of the answers. the thing that most threw me off was using E for energy instead of V for voltage when doing ohms law calculation. I know enough about electronics and log graphs from electrophysiology and pharmacology research. it's the other things like laws and acid core solder that i gotta work on. i built up a lot of my own stuff for research, but i think i've only ever had rosin core solder in my tool boxes. except for that time i finished sweating some copper pipes together, looked down and saw lead free solder sitting right next to lead solder... um... well we had that leaded water crisis anyway up in MI...
 
DrScaryGuy said:
my goal for gmrs is limited to setting a frequency, locking the keypad, and handing a radio to "family" and those under my supervision when we are doing stuff that might separate us where there is no cell signal. I just don't want to catch a felony for doing that.
Ham is ... well it's coming. I'll memorize the answers to the test and go from there.
"memorize" is the wrong word, because i skimmed and could already pick most of the answers. the thing that most threw me off was using E for energy instead of V for voltage when doing ohms law calculation. I know enough about electronics and log graphs from electrophysiology and pharmacology research. it's the other things like laws and acid core solder that i gotta work on. i built up a lot of my own stuff for research, but i think i've only ever had rosin core solder in my tool boxes. except for that time i finished sweating some copper pipes together, looked down and saw lead free solder sitting right next to lead solder... um... well we had that leaded water crisis anyway up in MI...
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Best advice I got when I started this journey was, once you are hitting around 80% on your practice tests for Technician, start studying for your General. Around 50% of the General test is just rehashed from the Tech test. Take them both at the same time and be done with it. If you think you want to do much beyond ragchews on local repeaters (kind of a glorified GMRS) get your General license. HF is were its at and you get a much bigger chunk of it with a General, like 99% of it compared to 10% with a Tech license.
 
hamradioprep.com

Free Ham Radio Practice Tests – Ham Radio Prep

Take our free ham radio practice tests to prepare for your technician, general or amateur extra license exams. No sign up required!
hamradioprep.com hamradioprep.com

I haven't sat for a ham radio exam since I got my Extra in the early 1980s.
Just tried to take a sample General Class exam at this web site and I was a bit nervous I would not get a 100.

(Fortunately my ego was not bruised. This time.)

The practice exams like these are very helpful, IMHO.
If anyone ever got caught on something and wanted to know the why behind the correct answer, this is a good place to get that information.
 
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