Tootfinder

This afternoon's 10–15W SSB #POTA #HamRadio activation. Three QSOs on 15m including Dominican Republic. Then when I needed just one more QSO to successfully activate US-4857 for my first time, I got Germany with a 33 signal report on 15W. ❤️ Most of the QSOs were on only 10W.

One milestone reached on the pneumatic mast...before ordering the (expensive) seals, I decided to overhaul the entire thing and see what happens. Had to custom make a handful of o-rings, but there's a good chance the main seals are fine now that they are clean and lubricated. The wear bands were all in near-new condition. I finished the reassembly tonight; will add air fittings and test in the morning.
Crossing fingers.

Super proud of my wife, who passed her #AmateurRadio Extra class exam last night — and minutes later, volunteered to teach a Technician class this fall, and asked about becoming a VE.
She loves to teach, and she's good at it. Her students are lucky to have her as an instructor, and I know that will be true for

I tried hunting POTA with five different #HamRadio antenna arrangements while taking a short holiday at the beach over the past few days. I tried the built-in antenna on my KX3, a 20m vertical with radials on a deck, the same vertical with radials stuck with a stake into the top of a sand dune, and two inverted-V 40m end-fed half wave arrangements on a spiderbeam, a north/south and an e…

Just had a 13 hour day in the Net Control spot for the Wings Over Camarillo airshow. Can't see much from the comms trailer unfortunately, but got two new operators trained up as net controllers, which is always something we need. That plus the lack of any serious mishaps made for an awesome airshow 👍 😀
Thanks to all the other hams who took part!
#hamradio

Which #hamRadio lighthouse activation program do US hams usually do?
I will soon be near Oak Island Lighthouse in North Carolina, which is WLOTA 1247 and ARLHS USA-558. The websites for WLOTA and ARLHS both appear to be in something of a state of disrepair, so it's not clear to me how active either program really is. I also can't tell if they tend to operate outside of contest wee…

Two SOTA peaks in one day, with about 25 miles of sublime dirt roads on a beautiful day...does it get any better? Okay, the bands were abysmal. Don't care.
#SOTA #hamradio

Working on a #HamRadio linked dipole for QRP. I designed and printed the winder because I couldn't find anything I was quite satisfied with. It has holes to hold FT82, FT140, or FT240 toroids (depending on power requirements) with zip ties. I haven't yet tuned up the 10m dipole sections wound on so far; I'll do that when it's not a tropical storm outside and I can raise it up on a mast …

5 am on the day #2025FieldDay started. A lot of us camp on the site. What a wonderful way to start the weekend!
#hamradio #CVARC

I bought #HamRadio. However, the insert style that came with them is only for RG58 and RG59. So I pulled out

#HamRadio achievement unlocked!
I have previously successfully activated #POTA parks by "hunting" CW (answering people in other parks calling out to connect to anyone who can hear them), and by calling CQ on SSB (using voice to call out for any station to come back to me) as well…

Our Radio Village at dusk, photo by K6GPS. Next post will be the antenna farm.
#2025FieldDay #CVARC #ConejoValleyAmateurRadioClub