GOT MY GENERAL!!!!

[WSEL330]

I was at an event and heard them calling for exams...FREE. Got me. I have been reading and half studying and figured what the hell...WAALAA! KR4FHF/AG. I have been beating my G90 up since, 20m, 40m, 80m

[Lscott]

32 minutes ago, WSEL330 said:

I was at an event and heard them calling for exams...FREE. Got me. I have been reading and half studying and figured what the hell...WAALAA! KR4FHF/AG. I have been beating my G90 up since, 20m, 40m, 80m

Congratulations on the upgrade! 

[marcspaz]

Congrats!

[TNFrank]

Congratulations, Next Stop, Extra then you'll Own ALL the Frequencies. 

[AdmiralCochrane]

Congrats!

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WSEL330 said:

I was at an event and heard them calling for exams...FREE. Got me. I have been reading and half studying and figured what the hell...WAALAA! KR4FHF/AG. I have been beating my G90 up since, 20m, 40m, 80m

Well done!!!

[WRYZ926]

Congrats 

The G90 is a nice little 20 watt radio. I use mine for POTA and get complimented on how it sounds.

[CoffeeTime]

Three Cheers!

Best Regards!

[WSEL330]

Ok, so I'm like a little kid now. I've been hunting and got several 'unique' QSO's. I EVEN TALKED TO IRELAND!. And i just activated my first park (27th for the park). Not even looking for the rabbit down this hole!!!! My setup...

Edited October 4, 2025 by WSEL330
Adding pictures

[WRYS709]

Where did you find an HF antenna that comes with a Truck?!? 

[BoxCar]

50 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

Where did you find an HF antenna that comes with a Truck?!? 

At the antenna store. It was an option.

[WSEL330]

52 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

Where did you find an HF antenna that comes with a Truck?!? 

Temu, some assembly required, batteries not included.

[WRYZ926]

POTA is fun. I activated a park this morning on 20m I got 30 contacts in about 30-35 minutes Sorry no photos as I didn't want to break the camera on my phone 

I used a Xiegu G90 20 watt radio along with a REZ antennas Recon 40 with 24 8.5 ft long ground radials. I uses a 30ft ABR Industries ABR-240 coax with 5 ferrite beads as a choke at the antenna. I only worked the US and Canada this morning but it was fun. Today was a little faster paced that I normally like. 

[TNFrank]

It still trips me out when I make a contact hundreds of miles away. My last contact through a local DMR Repeater was from here in Avondale, AZ. to Los Angeles, CA. I know that's with the help of the interwebs but still, that's just crazy to think my little 5w HT is talking to someone that far away.

[marcspaz]

DMR is okay, but the audio quality isn't great due to the compression and using the internet kinda feels like im cheating. Its literally the same process as using a cellphone.

My furthest contact is direct radio-to-radio 9,754 miles from Virginia to Australia. I also have direct contacts with operators in Japan, South Africa, New Zealand, and more than 100 other countries. Now, that is exciting to me.

 

Im pretty sure I have shared this video before. This is a friend wishing me a Merry Christmas at Midnight in Cape Town South Africa.

 

 

[WRUE951]

Congratulations.  

[Jaay]

On 9/29/2025 at 1:47 PM, WSEL330 said:

I was at an event and heard them calling for exams...FREE. Got me. I have been reading and half studying and figured what the hell...WAALAA! KR4FHF/AG. I have been beating my G90 up since, 20m, 40m, 80m

Now you're a Real Hammy lol! 

[WSEL330]

It is truly exciting to contact folks from so far away with such a small set up. Thank you all here in this group for the information and comments. I have been reading most of the topics here (not just Ham but GMRS too). and I have learned a lot from it. I am running a Xeigu G90 at 20W. I am using a random wire antenna at 41' with 17' radials. No Balun or Unun but I do have an Unun coming. I choked the antenna feed line with 5 or so cheap ferrite thingies at the radio. I swear the G90 could tune a potato...hmmm, BRB, ok maybe not. 

13 hours ago, marcspaz said:

DMR is okay, but the audio quality isn't great due to the compression and using the internet kinda feels like im cheating. Its literally the same process as using a cellphone.

My furthest contact is direct radio-to-radio 9,754 miles from Virginia to Australia. I also have direct contacts with operators in Japan, South Africa, New Zealand, and more than 100 other countries. Now, that is exciting to me.

 

Im pretty sure I have shared this video before. This is a friend wishing me a Merry Christmas at Midnight in Cape Town South Africa.

 

 

I got Ireland the other day, good times. Thank you all again for the inspiration!

[WSEZ864]

Congratulations!! 

[RoadApple]

Congratulations!!

[MDYoungblood]

Congrats!!!

[Jaay]

This is off topic a bit, but with everything going on in our country it would be a heads up to keep an ear on the HFGCS frequencies ! Granted , they are Coded messages but hearing more than one a day is reason to check current events. 4724, 6712, 6739, 8992, 11.175, 13.200, 15.016 Khz. All on USB and these are Transmitted Nationwide. 

[WRYZ926]

On 10/6/2025 at 9:48 AM, WSEL330 said:

I swear the G90 could tune a potato...hmmm, BRB, ok maybe not.

While a Xiegu won't tune a potato, they do have great built in tuners. There are some YouTube videos where guys have used the G90 to tune different metal objects and made contacts. Now a resonance antenna will always be more efficient. But it is nice to know that the Xiegu radios have excellent tuners.

I enjoy using my G90. And it works well with my REZ quarter wave vertical antenna. Most portable vertical antennas come with 4 long ground radials. The REZ antennas come with four 33 foot radials. What I found to work better is 24 8.5 foot long radials. 8.5 feet is an 1/8 wave for the 20m band.

A bunch of shorter ground radials will provide a better ground plain compared to just a few longer radials for any ground mounted 1/4 wave vertical antenna.

I have made contacts with the G90 and a resonant antenna where guys with 100 watt radios and antennas that require an external tuner could not.

[WSEZ864]

For anyone wanting to upgrade their ham license from Technician to General, here is an upcoming "General" class by a great instructor. While the class is intended for upgrade to General, there are no prerequisites requiring a Tech license and if you study for General, you'll breeze through the Tech exam. Excellent opportunity to learn about more than just the exam answers:

Quote

A free, weekly, live, Amateur Radio General Class Licensing course on Zoom will begin on Thursday, October 30, and will run through Thursday, January 8, 2026 (9 sessions with no class on Thanksgiving or Christmas).    The three-hour sessions will start at 6:30 PM Eastern Time.  These are the classes that we have been holding for years sponsored by the Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum.  Participants in the course should have or be studying for the Amateur Radio Technician license.  Please publicize this with anyone you know that you think would be interested.  Those wishing to sign up should email me at roland.anders@comcast.net.

[WRQI583]

Congrats. Not sure if you do it yet, but if you have time in the afternoon, check out the HF activity group. They start at 17:30 UTC on 17 meters at 18.1575. It is basically doing signal reports. Everyone checks in and as each person is called, they give their callsign two times and asks "who hears me". Then you wait for everyone to come back to you. It's a lot of fun if that is your thing. I like studying propagation so it is good for that. The website is HFQSO.com.