Home Brew 1/4 Wave Vertical 2 Meter Antenna. These Are One Of The Easiest Antennas To Make Yourself,

I have been very busy the past month +, and only just today learned about the Twelve Days of Christmas special event! As a new General Class Operator, I had never worked HF bands before, and looking at this I know I won't likely get all twelve, but that won't keep me from trying! I have made two contacts this afternoon, W2D and W2S. I failed to contact K2L before he had to bail but he said he'd be back on later this evening, and I'll be here listening for him.

The twelve stations you're looking for are:

W2P - Partridge

W2T - 2 Turtle Doves

W2F - 3 French Hens

W2C - 4 Calling Birds

W2R - 5 Golden Rings

W2G - 6 Geese A-Laying

W2S - 7 Swans A-Swimming

W2M - 8 Maids A-Milking

W2L - 9 Ladies Dancing

K2L - 10 Lords A-Leaping

K2P - 11 Pipers Piping

W2D - 12 Drummers Drumming

Bonus: VE9XMAS1 (Canada)

Bonus: VE9XMAS2 (Canada)

Listened in on 20 meters for most of the day and heard a fine young ham making some great contacts.

Performing 3D Printer surgery

I filed it down! I'm not an electronics guru so it took me a bit to realize that I just need to manipulate the environment in which the Heltec V3 is going to occupy inside the radio frame. I'm considering using hot glue to help secure the radio in place now that the shelf/lip is gone. We'll see once it's in place, but in the meantime, I need to get a replacement radio.

MARS modding my FT-897 hoping to fix the TX Error on VHF and UHF. I was unsuccessful, not because of an error on my part, but I learned that it's a Japanese version and is hard wired to prohibit transmission on U.S. various U.S. frequencies.

... --- ... We've all heard the dits and dahs of the morse code signal for S.O.S. ... --- ... It's been used in every type of entertainment medium. It's also the name of steel wool cleaning pads. ... --- ... S.O.S. wasn't formally adopted by the International Telecommunications Union until around 1908, so did no one need help before then? Before the ITU adopted ... --- ... there was -.-. --.- -.., or CQD. Come Quick Danger was the common call for help prior to the S.O.S. ... --- ... The radio operator aboard the Titanic had sent out various calls for help over morse code with CQD DE MGY, MGY being the callsign of the ship, before alternating between CQD and S.O.S. ... --- ... Alot folks have thought the meaning of the S.O.S. is "save our ship," or "save our souls," but the letters have no real meaning. The meaning can be found in the simplistic and easily remembered dit dit dit dah dah dah dit dit dit tones. The ITU believed that operators and listeners alike would better hear and understand the call for help. CQD lives on in amateur radio though. A general call of CQ can be heard over the airwaves for other stations to hear and respond. And now, ... --- ... you know ... --- ... the rest of the story, --. --- --- -.. -.. .- -.--!

73

Artwork by F. Allen Gilbert, 1909

I've removed the bottom left "shelf" that the radio sits against that blocks any wiring from the radio to the GPS. Hopefully, this will fix the issue with the radio not properly sitting in the frame. Keep in mind, if you aren't going to wire a GPS unit to the Heltec V3 then you'll not have to remove the "shelf"