I think there’s an EchoLink repeater near me? I just have a baofeng. I’m planning on building a QMX soon because I feel like CW and digital modes would be fun and I kind of want to go on bike trips and do radio or something. I think I need to look up how POTA and SOTA work. I’m not a big talker in real life, I’ve always kind of preferred written communication, so I’m hoping Morse code helps, haha.
The other thing is I’m just kind of worried about getting the etiquette wrong or doing something wrong, even though it doesn’t really seem that complicated.
Don’t worry about getting anything wrong.
Most people are pretty excited to speak with someone new or that doesn’t come on air often.
We’re all just normal people, done of use are even a little introverted.
Just say what’s on your mind.
“Hi, I’m Joe, happy to be speaking with you, in kinda new to this and am a bit nervous. Anyhow how are you and where are you from?”
Chances are that will spawn a conversation that feels less forced and more natural as you move forward.
I’ve messaged you my email address. Never private messaged on Lemmy before so I hope it works. Just say hello and we can maybe catch up on echolink or discord.
Yeah, I had a couple of good conversations on repeaters when I first got my license, but I’m a bit of an introvert so I always feel a bit weird after a conversation like “did I fuck this up?” haha. And the extra rules and unspoken etiquette around radio is a bit intimidating, but I think as long as you identify every 10 minutes or whatever and stay in band nobody will get too mad at you.
I’m really excited about getting into CW actually, and QRP seems interesting and like a really fun challenge. I actually built a pixie kit recently, but I used it as soldering practice before building the QMX mini that I got recently. Hopefully I’ll have some time to build that soon :). I can mostly copy short 5 or so letter words in my head now at 40 WPM, but I haven’t practiced in a few weeks (and obviously I fall behind on complex words or longer ones). I’m a bit nervous about trying to actually send and receive Morse in the wild though, and I REALLY don’t know the etiquette and q-codes and shorthand associated with that yet, but I guess I’ll learn!
Anything we can do to help with that? I’m a little mic shy myself, but it goes away as soon as a good topic starts being talked about.
You got access to Dstar/DMR or some other way of communicating internationally? I’m in VK3
I think there’s an EchoLink repeater near me? I just have a baofeng. I’m planning on building a QMX soon because I feel like CW and digital modes would be fun and I kind of want to go on bike trips and do radio or something. I think I need to look up how POTA and SOTA work. I’m not a big talker in real life, I’ve always kind of preferred written communication, so I’m hoping Morse code helps, haha.
The other thing is I’m just kind of worried about getting the etiquette wrong or doing something wrong, even though it doesn’t really seem that complicated.
Don’t worry about getting anything wrong. Most people are pretty excited to speak with someone new or that doesn’t come on air often.
We’re all just normal people, done of use are even a little introverted.
Just say what’s on your mind.
“Hi, I’m Joe, happy to be speaking with you, in kinda new to this and am a bit nervous. Anyhow how are you and where are you from?”
Chances are that will spawn a conversation that feels less forced and more natural as you move forward.
I’ve messaged you my email address. Never private messaged on Lemmy before so I hope it works. Just say hello and we can maybe catch up on echolink or discord.
Yeah, I had a couple of good conversations on repeaters when I first got my license, but I’m a bit of an introvert so I always feel a bit weird after a conversation like “did I fuck this up?” haha. And the extra rules and unspoken etiquette around radio is a bit intimidating, but I think as long as you identify every 10 minutes or whatever and stay in band nobody will get too mad at you.
I’m really excited about getting into CW actually, and QRP seems interesting and like a really fun challenge. I actually built a pixie kit recently, but I used it as soldering practice before building the QMX mini that I got recently. Hopefully I’ll have some time to build that soon :). I can mostly copy short 5 or so letter words in my head now at 40 WPM, but I haven’t practiced in a few weeks (and obviously I fall behind on complex words or longer ones). I’m a bit nervous about trying to actually send and receive Morse in the wild though, and I REALLY don’t know the etiquette and q-codes and shorthand associated with that yet, but I guess I’ll learn!