I've been licensed since 1996 and passed with the CW requirement. Currently holding Amateur Extra in the US and Basic with Honours in Canada.
Why is ham radio important to me? What are my history and goals here? How does this relate to other things in the garden?
Working
- Self-hosted logging
- Band propagation map
- Parks On The Air
- GridTracker (haven't tried it yet)
- FT8 Frequencies
- WSJT-X digital modes software
- Yaesu FTX-1 Field manual
- NTP clock sync for digital modes
- JTSync time tool (works with WSJT-X)
- Tracking the ISS (and other satellites)
Learning
- LCWO for learning cw online (Morse)
- Canadian Basic test prep
- Canadian Basic self-study course
QSL (confirming contacts)
- Logbook of the World
- eQSL
- Bureaus
Antennae stuff
JPC-12/PAC-12
MagLoop
Other antenna stuff
- Common Mode Choke
- Vertical Loading Coils
- Coax comparison calculator RG-8x behaves the same as RG-58U on 50mhz and lower when it's 50% longer than the 58.
- Exposure calculator
- J-pole
- SO-239 crimp tutorial
- Making a balun
- ATU-100 antenna tuner
- NanoVNA laptop software
Contesting
- Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society Awards
- Parks on the Air RADAR
- Summits on the Air
- Islands on the Air
- Field Day
- Canadaward (worked all provinces)
- WARAC (worked at least 10 RAC official stations)
- Canadian Century Club (worked at least 100 Canadian stations)
- WANA (worked 30/40/50 XDCCs in North America)
- WAC (worked all 6 continents) (has a 5 bands enhancement)
- WAS, DXCC
Bicycle setups
- http://bmha-hams.org/
- https://www.k5pa.com/Ham%20Radio/Downloads/K5PA%20Bicycle%20Mobile%2020%20Mar%2005.pdf
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6YLW5jOs10
- https://wd8rif.com/bicycle-mobile.htm
Community and disaster prep
- Youth and community member training
- Field Day and other visible events to pique interest
- Thoughts on radio go bags
- ARES and RACES
- Weather spotting
- Digital modes and mesh networking
- DX and international relations
- QSL cards
- Providing comms for local events
- Clubs
- Repeaters and linking
- Transferrable skills
- Equipment sharing
- Elmers/mentorship
- Mesh, AREDN, community wifi
Misc
- Canadian Licensing at ISED
- Grid square calculator
- APRS
- WSPR
- CHIRP
- Yaesu SPA-1 100w hf/50w vhf/uhf amplifier for FTX-1
- Yaesu FGPS-5 gps receiver for FTX-1
- CW key?
- WinLink
- IRLP
SWR
SWR vs VSWR vs reflection coefficient. Constructive vs destructive interference. A SWR of 10:1 might be 5ohm or might be 500ohm at the point it connects to the radio, depending on the length of the feedline and the interference pattern.
VSWR is the voltage version of SWR. Reflection coefficient is the amount of voltage or power that's reflected back to the source when there's an impedance mismatch.
Reflection coefficient = Vreflected / Vforward
VSWR = (1+mag(reflection))/(1-mag(reflection))
The reflection coefficient then = (vswr-1)/(1+vswr)
Magnitude of reflection coefficient is the square root of the power reflected / power forward. Square the reflection coefficient to get power ratio: Pr/Pf = ((swr-1)/(1+swr))^2.
For 6 watts:
| SWR | Reflection | Pr | Pmin | Pmax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 0.00 | 0.00w | 6.0w | 6w |
| 1.5 | 0.04 | 0.24w | 4.0w | 9w |
| 2.0 | 0.11 | 0.60w | 3.0w | 12w |
| 3.0 | 0.25 | 1.50w | 2.0w | 18w |
| 4.0 | 0.36 | 2.16w | 1.5w | 24w |
This means if your SWR is 4.0, your finals might be handling 1.5 watts or 24 watts for your configured 6 watts of output. That's a great way to overheat and damage your radio.
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