WRYZ926

I like the QRZ practice exams as it tells you the correct answer if you miss a question right away. Plus it allows you to concentrate on the individual sub actions that are giving you trouble. https://www.qrz.com/hamtest/ I have also used the ham study practice exams too. Both are helpful.

You got this @Northcutt114

Using 5-7 clamp on ferrite beads is probably the neatest looking way to make a common mode choke. I bought some 1" diameter marine grade heat shrink tubing that has a 3:1 shrink rate to put over clamp on ferrite beads. It helps keep them in place and protects them from UV light. XHF UL Listed 1 Inch 10Ft 3:1 Waterproof Heat Shrink Tubing

@tweiss3 you can save a little weight by removing some of those clamp on ferrite beads. 5 of them is sufficient for the higher HF bands while 7 works fine for the lower HF bands. Any more than that isn't really doing anything. I still use a choke when operating at QRP levels. RF coming back into electronics through the ground is not good no matter what. Plus it helps keep RF out of everything else connected to the radio's ground such as batteries, solar chargers, computers, etc. And yes I use chokes on power leads and USB cables too. This is especially important when running on 40m and 80m as they are noisy bands.

You can reduce some of that noise along with keeping RF out of your radio with a common mode choke, You can put the choke at 5% of a wave length from the unun or at the radio. Either way you do want to keep the RF out of the radio. Counterpoise lengths needed: 10m - 0.5 m/1.5 ft 20m - 1 m/3.3 ft 40m - 2 m/6.5 ft You have two options. Place a common mode choke the required distance from the unun onto the coax or use a separate counterpoise. If using a separate counterpoise wire, then place the CMC at the unun. Trust me, you will see an overall improvement by using a CMC with an EFHW antenna.

It doesn't matter if it's a 49:1, 56:1 or 64:1 unun. Most do not include a common mode choke.

Are you using a separate counterpoise wire? IF you are using the coax as the counterpoise then you want to move the CMC a few feet away from the unun. The standard is 5% of a full wave length on the lowest band.

Some do but some do not. Most 49:1 ununs do not have a built in common mode choke.

@TNFrank Hopefully you are using some type of common mode choke with your setup. You really need to use one with an EFHW antenna.

Common mode chokes will help no matter what your setup is. The Smoking Ape has several videos on why you should use common mode chokes. His videos are worth watching. And using clamp on ferrite beads on the radio power leads helps keep electrical noise out of the radio, especially in mobile installs. The heat shrink does two things. It helps keep the ferrite beads in place and it protects them from UV light. I'm glad to help others. HF can be frustrating and rewarding at the same time. RFI and EMI becomes more of an issue with HF, especially the lower HF bands.

It won't hurt one bit. All of my coax cables I use for POTA and at home have some form of CMC in place. On my POTA cables, they all have clamp on ferrite beads that are covered with heat shrink. And I use them with every type of antenna I have. I even have common mode chokes on my VHF/UFH and GMRS antennas to help keep stray RF from the coax. The coax from those antennas and my HF antennas all run close together along the house and into the shack. I will spend a little more for quality coax and usually get my POTA coax cables from ABR Industries. I always order them with 5 ferrite beads installed on one end. You will want to invest in different sizes of clamp on ferrite beads for all of your radio and computer cables once you start using the 40m and 80m bands. They will introduce all kinds of RF into the shack if you don't use common mode chokes on the coax and ferrite beads on all cable in the shack.

That is my fat fingers making typos and the dang stupid auto correct. That should have been separate. Since the unun does not have a place for a separate counterpoise wire, get some clamps ferrite beads and place them on the coax 2 meters/6.5 feet from the unun. Yes using the coax as the counterpoise works but you will need a CMC to keep RF out of your radio. And the preferred length of a counterpoise for an EFHW is 5% of a full wave length. You are smart to go ahead and make a 40m EFHW. Yes it should work on 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m. And if you use it with your G90 then it will definitely tune for 17m and 12m.

https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html is a good website to see where you are getting heard and what you are hearing. Just put your call sing, band and mode in the boxes at the top of the page and then click on the GO button. You can change how often it refreshes. I usually have it set to refresh every 15 minutes.

Yes that will work. You will definitely need some type of CMC - common mode choke if using the coax as the counterpoise. The best place is to put the CMC is 5% of a wave length from the unun. With 70 feet. I am guessing that you are making a 40m EFHW, if that is the case, put the CMC on the coax 2 meters/6.5 feet from the unun. Otherwise put the CMC at the radio end of the coax cable. Another option is to use a separate counterpoise wire. Again the counterpoise length for a 40m EFHW will be 2 meters/6.5 feet. If you use a sprat counterpoise then place the CMC at the unun feed point. I have found that putting a CMC on my coax where it connects to the unun and using a sprat counterpoise wire works better for me. You can make a CMC by installing 5-7 clamp on ferrite beads on the coax or by wrapping the coax through a toroid, you want 7-12 loops of coax through the toroid. Five clamp on ferrite beads works well for the higher HF bands while 7 ferrite beads works better for the lower HF bands. You will definitely want a CMC on the coax to keep RF out of your radio.

They did a good job with the box and the speaker housing. The male 3.5mm plug was a dead giveaway as was the 8 ohm speaker. It was a seller on eBay. I like the SP-35 and use them in my vehicles and in the shack. I even use one with my Icom IC-7300. That little speaker sound good and does better than the Yaesu SP-30 speaker designed for base radios.

One was the 3.5mm plug. The counterfeit was not only undersized but it's a 90 degree plug. The real Icom speaker plugs are straight. The other tell tale sign was looking at the actual speaker once I opened the case. Icom uses 4 ohm speakers where the counterfeit speakers have 8 ohm speakers.

Solar flares/storms can cause a high noise floor. Thunder storms will cause noise too. Bad electrical connections on transformers will cause noise too. Sometimes that won't show up until there are high winds and/or heavy rain.

10m was worse today than it has been. I tried 10m FT8 this morning and was only hearing about 15 stations at the most and their signals were weak. 12m wasn't much better either.

Cheap LED lights are going to cause RF interference no matter what type or brand of radios you get. I was worried bout my neighbors Christmas lights messing with my radios but she must have bought good LED lights or they are still the old incandescent lights. The cheap Amazon 4 foot LED lights and the Walmart brand screw in LED bulbs in the garage interfere with my VHF/UHF radios. I don't have any experience with Rugged Radios or with the Wouxun KG-905G. I do have a KG-935G +, two KG-1000G + radios and a KG-XS20G and all work well.

I use Midland or Melowave NMO mag mounts. They have a good rubber cover on them. I still clean under the mount and the rubber cover on a regular basis. @WRYS709 I bought the same combo deal. I find that the rubber covers are really thin and they come off the magnets easily. I will probably do a permanent mount on the bed rails of my F150 if I ever figure out how to stop the injectors from causing too much noise in my HF radios.

You're welcome

A decent seat of headphones will definitely work if you plan on using a separate mic. I happen to use a female stereo to male mono adapter with radios that do not have a separate headphone jack so that I get sound in both speakers. The adapter works well with my Icom IC-2730 and my Wouxun KG-1000G +. I like the Heil BM-17 since they are light weight. The same adapter cable works for my IC-2730, Xiegu G90, and my Xiegu X6200. Using the BM-17 with the KG-1000G is a bit more complicated. I have to use the Heil Icom round adapter to a Heil Icom to K1 adapter which is plugged into a Buy Two Way Radios K-1 adapter with gain control. The setup works well with the BM-17 headset. The stereo to mono adapter is needed with the 2730 and KG-1000G to get sound in both headset speakers since they do not have a dedicated headphone jack. No adapter is needed when using the BM-17 with the G90, X6200, or the Icom IC-7300 since they have a headphone jack. I bought a Heil Handi-Talkie headset to use with the KG-1000G. The downside to them is there is no way to easily use a foot switch. I did find a couple of KOSS headsets on Amazon that people use for amateur radios. You just need to make sure to get the correct microphone type for your radio. Koss SB40 Computer Headset with dynamic microphone Koss SB-45 Communication Stereophones with electret condenser microphone @WSKY567 from what I could find, the Radioddity DB-20G and the CB-606 both use electret condenser microphones. You could give the Koss SB-45 headset a try.

Sad to see the thread devolve into this. And by the way, the ignore feature is pretty well useless. You won't see posts made by the person that you are ignoring BUT they will still see your posts and can still quote your posts. On topic I had to look up the specifications for Heil headsets. They use much higher impedance speakers. The impedance can be 200 - 600 ohms, or as high as 1.5k Ohms depending on the model. According to the specs, the BM-17-IC uses 1.5K Ohm speakers. The BM-17-D uses 500 Ohm speakers. The IC version is for Icom and other radios that use an electret condenser mic while the D model is for Yaesu and other radios that use a dynamic mic. From what I could find, the higher the speaker impedance, the less hiss noise you will hear when using headsets with amateur/GMRS radios.

Yes HamSQL was sayin band conditions were poor for 10-12 meters and fair for 15-20 meters. I still managed quite a few FT8 contacts on 10m with one being Costa Rica. I also made a confirmed contact with Burinka Faso, Africa on 15m FT8. Granted CW and digital modes are easier when band conditions are poor. Websites like HamSQL and VOACAP are good at showing the general conditions but they can be totally different from your location. Both should only be used as a guide. I have seen band conditions change quickly setting at my desk running FT8. One minute I will be hearing 50 to 100 stations and within a few minutes I am only hearing 20-30 stations. Wait a few more minutes and back to hearing 50 + stations. This morning I was lucky to hear 15-20 stations on 10m then next thing I know I was hearing 50 stations. As I said before, just when you think you understand propagation, it will throw a fast curve ball at you.

Congratulations. It is nice when you get your first POTA activation under your belt. Band conditions will change from day to day and can change from one minute to another. Try doubling your ground radials if you can. You should see an improvement with 24 radials. The G90 is in the sweet spot when it comes to portable HF radios. About the only downside I have with the G90 is it doesn't work on 6m. But you don't hardly ever hear anyone calling CQ POTA on 6m anyway.