WRPL700

Steve is absolutely correct about the tests. If I can pass the Tech with a 35/35 and the General with a 35/35 then anybody can do it. They have some great tools for people to use to study for the exams (hamexam.org) is what I used (which someone here suggested.... thank you!). Ham is a great hobby and I am glad I did it.

Thanks for all the kind words and info from everyone. I have been having a lot of fun since getting my Tech and then General license. Lots of great contacts on 10M, 12M, and 20M. My farthest contact was about 6500 miles to southern Africa (Namibia). Amazing what you can do with 20 watts and a dipole antenna (at 30 ft elevation) when the ionosphere cooperates. Last weekend was a bit frustrating, but I was playing with an Inverted-Vee 10M/12M at about 15 ft. I am going to make it a 10M/12M/15M/17M and then get it up to 30 ft.

Here is the link: https://www.arrl.org/contest-glossary

Okay, found this definition on the ARRL website: Actually, after everything I have read in the ARRL 10M Contest Rules pdf and learned reading other ARRL website stuff, I probably should not have responded to his CQ. I was not in the contest and so would not have submitted a log to ARRL, which they would have compared to his log. So he would have lost the QSO. So this rookie has learned a lot today. Thanks for all the input and help!!!

Which is exactly the how the comm went. I think perhaps (after scanning the ARRL pdf page 3 item number 4.3) looks like a "foreign" DX station is sending some kind of serial number. Perhaps he thought I was in the same boat as he. But we did exchange callsigns, I sent him a 57 and "Delaware USA" as I normally do with a DX station.

Thanks Steve. I will download the pdf and read through it. Good idea to get a definition for serial numbers added, for us newbies.

Thank you. Good info.

Well, he was not forthcoming and I did not press. In retrospect, you are correct. However, I'd still like to know...

So the other day I heard a guy calling CQ CONTEST (10M) and getting no response so I figured I'd give him a shout (the first time I have done so to CQ Contest). He was coming in pretty strong and he gave me a 5/9 which I understand is pretty much standard. So we exchanged info and then as I was going to move on he said "I need your serial number" and "I cannot put you in the logbook without a serial number". Well, I had no idea what he was asking for..... so what serial number was he looking for??? After checking his callsign, he was from Namibia. I measured on Google Earth and that is 6800 miles to the closest part of Namibia.

I have a Xiegu G90 as well. I have been totally surprised by the performance of this little radio, although my antenna may have something to do with it too (Two Shark 20M hamsticks in a Procomm DP4MFPL dipole mount at 30').

So this weekend was the first time I had really interacted with folks doing POTA. Generally speaking, they were coming in here to Delaware at 5-7 on the S-meter, with periods of QSB. Which is understandable as they were probably operating at around 10-20 watts, I would guess. I had about 20 QSOs with them. BTW, my rig is 20 watts. My question pertains to "Activating". What does that even mean? What are they "activating"? Thanks in advance.

As always.... Thank you for the info. I keep learning more from you guys every week!!!

Yeah, I could not figure out why I could not find it on either ARRL or FCC database:

Were you on 20m? I think I heard you guys. I did reply to a few who had a call signs that I could look up (W0JD, ND9E, NA1KW, W0ZAC, NW0M). Others were using a callsign like "K0R" which I could not look up in the FCC database (not a real callsign?). Anyhow, I had a great weekend on 20M.

I had some questions about POTA, but after giving it some thought, I will start a new thread...