Dear fellow radio enthusiasts,

I hope this post finds you well. Today, I want to share something personal that I’ve been experiencing lately. Despite my passion for amateur radio, I’ve found myself struggling to maintain the same level of enthusiasm I once had.

Several times each week, I switch on my rigs, scan the HF and VHF bands, listen to the chatter and the digital modes, but I don’t feel the spark I used to. After a while, I switch everything off, feeling a bit disheartened.

I’ve been pondering over this loss of motivation and wondering what might reignite my interest. Is it just a phase, or is there something more to it? Have any of you experienced something similar?

I’m reaching out to you, my fellow radioamateurs, for advice and support. What do you do when the excitement fades? How do you keep your passion alive?

I would love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and any suggestions you might have. Please share in the comments in the Fediverse.

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to your responses.

Dear fellow radio enthusiasts,

I hope this post finds you well. Today, I want to share something personal that I’ve been experiencing lately. Despite my passion for amateur radio, I’ve found myself struggling to maintain the same level of enthusiasm I once had.

Several times each week, I switch on my rigs, scan the HF and VHF bands, listen to the chatter and the digital modes, but I don’t feel the spark I used to. After a while, I switch everything off, feeling a bit disheartened.

I’ve been pondering over this loss of motivation and wondering what might reignite my interest. Is it just a phase, or is there something more to it? Have any of you experienced something similar?

I’m reaching out to you, my fellow radioamateurs, for advice and support. What do you do when the excitement fades? How do you keep your passion alive?

I would love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and any suggestions you might have. Please share in the comments in the Fediverse.

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to your responses.

I would really like to succeed in learning Morse code.

But after several attempts where daily or professional tasks took over and led me to failure, I felt the need to find an external motivation.

I stumbled upon a video of a former co-worker who made a youtube channel 100 inspiring videos in 100 days (fr) where he says that publicly committing to a daily action for 100 days was a way to achieve this goal to improve in one domain.

So I thought that announcing on Mastodon that I was committing to a challenge of this type to learn Morse code was a good idea. And why not share it with other candidates who are facing the same difficulties in learning Morse code.

So, here we go! The challenge starts on Monday, March 20, 2023!

Since I can’t make any more progress in learning Morse code with the Koch method, I’m trying to learn in a different way by doing something that is not recommended: generating Morse code when I can only decode it with difficulty. I don’t know where this will lead me and I don’t recommend this to anyone at the moment. I am experimenting!

For that, in order not to clutter the radiowaves, I took the option to acquire an autonomous keyer on which to plug my key. Moreover, I know that it will be useful with my QRPVer transceiver which only manages the semi-automatic mode. And if I have to learn to send Morse code, I might as well learn in a mode that will be more efficient later. I choose the iambic mode B.

After a lot of research and help from Jason on Mastodon, I chose the Pre-assembled Ultra Picokeyer from HamGadgets. Received a few days later, with an additional 20 € custom fee.

As you can see, this keyer is really small, it will be ideal for field operations.

Here are the points that made me decide to choose this device:

• small and light
• able to manage iambic A, B and Ultimate modes
• 4 large memories that can be fragmented
• running on internal battery with a very low consumption
• an integrated buzzer to train without radio
• many settings and a rather complete documentation

It has three 3.5mm jack ports for the key, the transceiver and an audio output.

Some drawbacks though:

The buzzer emits a rather high-pitched sound, 2000 Hz, far from the usual practice in radio (between 500 and 800 Hz). This frequency is adjustable, but becomes inaudible in these low frequencies.

In iambic B mode, the simultaneous release of both paddles does not always react as expected, it seems quite sensitive and sometimes reacts as if one paddle was released first or the other. Other keyers are more tolerant and detect that you have released both paddles at the same time and act accordingly. This forces you to choose which paddle to release first, which is not necessarily a bad habit to get into.

I hope that learning how to send Morse code will help me progress in decoding as well.

To be continued!

I’ve already introduced you to my backpack for field operations and SOTA, but I have a second lighter one if the trip is a bit long or if I’m not sure to use the radio.

This one weighs only 800 grams (instead of 6.5kg)!

It consists of the following items:

• a D104-M6B amplified Astatic microphone
• a QRPver-1 v.3 (4w) transceiver in 20m version (single band)
• a rechargeable battery pack
• EFHW antenna for 20m
• a coax
• a throw-bag and a rope

I also have a small Morse iambic key. It was not very expensive but the quality is not very good. That’s why it’s not in the bag anymore. I have to find a better one that is still light.

Any advice on this?

When I operate in the field or on a summit, I like to have all the stuff I need. To do, I have a complete backpack to operate on HF and 2m bands in SSB, FM, digimode and even CW. For this last mode, I require technical help… I will be more clear later on. ;-)

So, what is the content of my backpack ? It weighs about 6.5 kg.

First, I require some ropes and throw-bags to hang antennas.

It is very easy to reach a branch at 6 or 7 meters and then raise the antenna wire. Actually, I have two EFHW antennas. One for 40m, 20m and 10m and one for 17m and 12m… I often test antennas, so, these are not representative, next month, it should be a different setup.

Some coaxial cables are necessary !

At this time, I use a Xiegu G90. This transceiver works on all HF bands and outs 20 watts. It’s comfortable when you are outside. Other advantage of this rig, it has an embedded ATU.

For the 2m band, I use a transverter. This device is connected between the HF transceiver and the antenna. It converts 28 MHz from the rig to 144 MHz and, vice-versa, the 2m signal received from the antenna to 28 MHz. It increases/decreases the frequency with 116 MHz. So, 29.500 MHz FM on the G90 corresponds to 145.500 MHz FM in the air. The G90 support FM and split mode, so I can also use repeaters. And 28.174 MHz USB reaches 144.174 MHz USB (freq for FT8 on 2m band). Input of 5 to 10 watts outs about 15 watts to the antenna.

This unit is build by UT5JCW in Ukraine… it is not possible to get one at the moment.

For digimode, a raspberry pi 4 and its 7" screen does the job. A Rii Mini i4 keyboard is connected via Bluetooth (or with the supplied 2.4 GHz USB dongle, if HF interferes)

To connect it to the G90, I’ve opted for an all-in-one device from XGG Comms providing a sound card and the CAT control, with a unique USB plug.

And for CW, a specific cable from USB to a CW jack. flrig CW Keyer is able to pilot it with RTS or DTR key line. It becomes easy to transmit Morse code with the keyboard (not the orthodox way !)

To power all this stuff, every device has a Power Pole connector, plugged on a power hub to a LiFePO4 battery

A 12V DC to 5V USB converter is necessary for the Raspberry Pi

Finally, a notepad, a bands plan (thanks F4EED) and some tools complete the backpack.

And you, what do you put in your backpack ?

Inspired by Carl’s article, I’ve adapted its solution to embed Mastodon/Fediverse discussion into a static web site as a comments system.

Here, I share what I have done in my Hugo theme.

new file themes/my_theme/layouts/partials/comments.html

{{ with .Params.comments }}
<div class="article-content">
  {{ $icon := index $.Site.Data.fontawesome.icons "comments" }}
  {{ $svg := $icon.svg.solid | default $icon.svg.regular | default $icon.svg.brands }}
  <h2><span class="icons">{{ safeHTML $svg.raw }}</span> {{ i18n "Comments" . }}</h2>
  <p>
    {{ i18n "Use_fediverse_account" . | safeHTML }}
  </p>
  <p id="mastodon-comments-list"><button id="load-comment">{{ i18n "Load_comments" . }}</button></p>
  <noscript><p>You need JavaScript to view the comments.</p></noscript>
  <script src="/js/purify.min.js"></script>
  <script type="text/javascript">
    function escapeHtml(unsafe) {
      return unsafe
           .replace(/&/g, "&amp;")
           .replace(/</g, "&lt;")
           .replace(/>/g, "&gt;")
           .replace(/"/g, "&quot;")
           .replace(/'/g, "&#039;");
   }

    document.getElementById("load-comment").addEventListener("click", function() {
      document.getElementById("load-comment").innerHTML = "Loading";
      fetch('https://{{ .host }}/api/v1/statuses/{{ .id }}/context')
        .then(function(response) {
          return response.json();
        })
        .then(function(data) {
          if(data['descendants'] &&
             Array.isArray(data['descendants']) && 
            data['descendants'].length > 0) {
              document.getElementById('mastodon-comments-list').innerHTML = "";
              data['descendants'].forEach(function(reply) {
                reply.account.display_name = escapeHtml(reply.account.display_name);
                reply.account.emojis.forEach(emoji => {
                  reply.account.display_name = reply.account.display_name.replace(`:${emoji.shortcode}:`,
                    `<img src="${escapeHtml(emoji.static_url)}" alt="Emoji ${emoji.shortcode}" height="20" width="20" />`);
                });
                reply.media_previews='';
                if(typeof reply.media_attachments !== "undefined") {
                  reply.media_attachments.forEach(media => {
                    if(typeof media.preview_url !== "undefined" && typeof media.type !== "undefined" && media.type=="image")
                      reply.media_previews+='<img src="'+media.preview_url+'" /> ';
                  });
                }
                mastodonComment =
                  `<div class="mastodon-container" id="${reply.id}">
                   <div class="mastodon-comment">
                     <div class="avatar">
                       <img src="${escapeHtml(reply.account.avatar_static)}" height=60 width=60 alt="">
                     </div>
                     <div class="content">
                       <div class="author">
                         <a class="date" href="${reply.uri}" rel="nofollow">
                           ${reply.created_at.substr(0, 10)} ${reply.created_at.substr(11, 5)} ${reply.created_at.substr(-1)}
                         </a>
                         <a href="${reply.account.url}" rel="nofollow">
                           <span>${reply.account.display_name}</span>
                           <span class="disabled">/ @${escapeHtml(reply.account.acct)}</span>
                         </a>
                       </div>
                       <div class="mastodon-comment-content">${reply.content}</div> 
                       <div class="mastodon-comment-media">${reply.media_previews}</div> 
                     </div>
                   </div>
                   </div>`;
                reply_to_id = reply.in_reply_to_id;
                parentComment = document.getElementById(reply_to_id);
                if(parentComment !== null)
                  parentComment.appendChild(DOMPurify.sanitize(mastodonComment, {'RETURN_DOM_FRAGMENT': true}));
                else
                  document.getElementById('mastodon-comments-list').appendChild(DOMPurify.sanitize(mastodonComment, {'RETURN_DOM_FRAGMENT': true}));
              });
          } else {
            document.getElementById('mastodon-comments-list').innerHTML = "<p>{{ i18n "No_comment" . }}</p>";
          }
        });
      });
  </script>
</div>
{{ end }}

new translation in themes/my_theme/i18n/en.toml

[Comments]
  other = "Comments"
[Use_fediverse_account]
  other = 'You can use your Mastodon or Fediverse account to <strong><a class="button" href="https://{{ .host }}/interact/{{ .id }}?type=reply">reply</a></strong> to this <strong><a class="link" href="https://{{ .host }}/@{{ .username }}/{{ .id }}">toot!</a></strong>'
[Load_comments]
  other = "Load comments"
[No_comment]
  other = "No comment, yet, be the first to react!"

add comment block near the end of themes/my_theme/layouts/_default/single.html

  </header>
  {{ .Content }}

  {{ partial "comments.html" . }}
</article>

{{ end }}

add a purifier library

Download DOMPurify lib purify.min.js to themes/my_theme/static/js/purify.min.js

This lib is released under the Apache license 2.0 and Mozilla Public License 2.0

Some css to put in your existing theme css files in themes/my_theme/static/css/something.css

.mastodon-container {
  margin-left: 1rem;
}

.mastodon-comment {
  border: 1px solid #999;
  border-radius: 6px;
  margin: 0.5rem 0;
  display: flex;
  padding: 0.5rem 1rem;
}

.mastodon-comment .avatar img {
  margin-right: 1rem;
  min-width: 60px;
}

.mastodon-comment .content {
  width: 100%;
}

.mastodon-comment .date {
  float: right;
}

.mastodon-comment .ellipsis::after {
  content: "\2026";
}

.mastodon-comment .invisible {
  font-size: 0;
  line-height: 0;
  display: inline-block;
  width: 0;
  height: 0;
}

Then you just have to add the announcement toot detail, in the header of your markdown article

---
title: "Hugo blog with Mastodon comments"
date: "2022-06-29"
tags: [software]
draft: false
comments:
  host: mastodon.radio
  username: F1RUM
  id: 108562734715879875
---

My first HF radio was a Yaesu FT-450D. This set was perfect to introduce me to the major amateur radio bands, major in the sense of “long distance”. I had acquired it by taking advantage of a promotion that offered the SCU-17 digimode interface. This duo is great, because it makes it quite easy to implement an environment that seems, at first sight, rather complex. I was able to discover and abuse PSK31, HellFeld, FT8, MFSK modes for a few years. And it’s cool when you’re not very comfortable with a microphone. Although I’m a bit high up in the mountains, I’m surrounded by higher mountains and I’m in a kind of bowl. This situation gave me the feeling that the HF bands were not very active in voice and I didn’t look too hard for people to talk to in this mode.

The surrounding mountains made me want to try to climb them with a radio. I couldn’t carry the FT-450D in a backpack, so I bought a small Ukrainian transceiver, a QRPVer-1 v.3 dedicated to the 20m band. This band seemed to me to be a good compromise: rather open during the day, very active at the weekend and not requiring a too long antenna. My first outings at altitude made me discover that this HF band was in fact very active, my little transceiver was receiving dozens of QSOs, and on contest days, it was crazy! I was a bit disappointed: it was difficult with 3 or 4 watts to get a place in this crowd. Having only one microphone, the only mode that was possible was voice. Conclusion: I never managed to make a QSO with this device.

After analysing the situation, I tried to give myself every chance by looking for a new portable transceiver a bit more powerful, open to other HF bands, WARC in particular, to avoid contests which do not interest me at the moment. An SDR and its wide band display also seemed a good idea to easily determine an available frequency to launch a QSO or, on the contrary, to find someone to answer. The Xiegu G90 met these criteria and more with its 20 watts and built-in antenna tuner (ATU) for a very good price.

Now it became very interesting to climb a mountain. This device is fabulous. So much so that I decided to use it at the QRA and to plug in a digimode interface to it to take full advantage of this rig. I end up with a versatile device that allows me to efficiently find other stations even from the “bowl” where my QRA is located. I sold my FT-450D and its interface, I didn’t even turn it on anymore. Sure, I lost 80 watts, but I’m having a lot more fun. The SDR display has become a must for me. I’m trying to get into Morse code, and again the waterfall on the G90’s display is great for finding stations that are transmitting.

The 20 watt limitation is still a bit annoying when I’m not on a summit. But to upgrade the station, I will have to make a difficult choice: either boost the G90 with a linear amp and thus an antenna tuner, or buy a new, more powerful transceiver especially for the QRA. I’m looking at several models including the IC-7300, the FT-991A and even the FTDX10. The compromise is complicated, I will give myself a few months, if I can, to make the right choice.

I don’t despair of ever using the QRPVer with a Morse key. It’s still a very good device and maybe its low power won’t be an obstacle in CW anymore.