I live in upstate New York, I have a general class license, and this is my first time using Lemmy (or any federated social for that matter).

My mobile rig is a VR-N7500 “50W” VHF/UHF. It uses Bluetooth control from my phone, and it does APRS.

My QTH rig is a Xiegu G90 on a 40m EFHW powered by micro solar. I mainly do FT8, as well as a little VARA HF WinLink. (I’m a bit mic shy and my antenna setup isn’t that great.)

I’m interested in POTA (and maybe SOTA).

Hope to meet some friendly folk!

  • UnexampledSalt@lemmy.ko4abp.comM
    3·
    1 year ago

    Welcome! This is my first experience too but I figured since I have the know how and the equipment, i might as well spin up an instance and contribute!

    I have an interest in POTA/SOTA but im still trying to get my hf rig working the way I want.

      • UnexampledSalt@lemmy.ko4abp.comM
        2·
        1 year ago

        Xeigu X6100 and I’m having antenna inconsistencies. I think I’ve gotten my dipole sorted out. Just need to do a TX test. Now trying to figure out why my vehicle mounted whip wont cooperate.

      • UnexampledSalt@lemmy.ko4abp.comM
        1·
        1 year ago

        Not at all! I actual have a few enterprise class Dell servers here at home that I host a handful of things on for myself and some friends. I have always believed in a more distributed internet and so when I learned about this project, I had to get involved.

          • UnexampledSalt@lemmy.ko4abp.comM
            2·
            1 year ago

            Its not cool. Its very hot. Keeping them cool is a constant battle! haha

            I enjoy it. Media server, home automation, virtual desktops, and now Lemmy!

            • jtfletchbot@lemmy.ko4abp.comOP
              1·
              1 year ago

              For cooling do you use air, water, or both?

              I want to run a home media server. Something like Jellyfin probably. Maybe a Minecraft server too.

              I also interested in rolling my own VPN. So far I’ve just use an SSH tunnel for traffic tunneling.

              • UnexampledSalt@lemmy.ko4abp.comM
                2·
                1 year ago

                I just use air cooling at the moment. I might have to get a little A/C unit for the closet though.

                I run a Plex server, but I will likely be switching to Jellyfin soon.

                Look into Kasm I am actually using it instead of a VPN because I can log into it, spin up a browser instance, and browse all of my local network with it directly in a web browser anywhere. I can also spin up a terminal in the browser and SSH into any box I need on my network.

                For your hosting, I highly recommend Proxmox. It can do full on virtuals or containers and the interface is super easy to use.

                • jtfletchbot@lemmy.ko4abp.comOP
                  1·
                  1 year ago

                  For a little while, I had a tiny web page running on a raspberry pi at my house.

                  I also used that raspberry pi for the SSH tunnel.

                  Raspberry Pi 1 B+

  • Inductor@feddit.de
    2·
    1 year ago

    Hi,
    I live in Germany. I’ve had the Klasse E licence (equivalent to something between tech and general) for a few months now.
    I’m using a IC7300 with a 10/15/20 tri-band dipole.
    Also really mic shy, so I’m looking into POTA/SOTA because of the standard exchange.
    I started using Lemmy a few days ago, also still fairly new to it.

    • jtfletchbot@lemmy.ko4abp.comOP
      2·
      1 year ago

      Hello! Nice to meet you!

      I recently bought arborist throw line for POTA use. It helps to get the antenna into the trees.

      Might be worth a look, if you’re interested in that. I bought from Weaver leather.

      • Inductor@feddit.de
        3·
        1 year ago

        Thanks!
        I have neither the portable equipment, nor a nearby park for a POTA activation, so I think I’ll try hunting first.
        There are lots of mountains where I live though, so SOTA with a HT might work.

  • UnexampledSalt@lemmy.ko4abp.comM
    2·
    1 year ago

    How do you do the VARA WinLink? It is something I am interested in playing with on VHF and HF. I think the X6100 can do it natively, but I have a digirig device for VHF.

    • jtfletchbot@lemmy.ko4abp.comOP
      0·
      1 year ago

      Personally I use a DigiRig with my G90. Laptop running WinLink Express<->VARA HF<->DigiRig<->Cables<->G90

      I have heard of the X6100 running FT8 natively. I’m sure it could run some version of WinLink, but I’m not sure if it could do VARA specifically. Last I knew VARA (the modem itself) was Windows only.

      If the X6100 uses x86, you could probably just use WINE. If it’s something like ARM, you’d need WINE inside an emulator.

      I imagine there’s other options too, like packet/ARDOP/etc.

      I have personally never done WinLink over VHF/UHF, although it is a goal of mine someday. (Doesn’t help that the nearest VHF/UHF nodes to me presently are at least 30 miles away.)

      Do you have any specific questions, I’d be happy to help anytime!

      • UnexampledSalt@lemmy.ko4abp.comM
        1·
        1 year ago

        Yeah I used natively wrong. I meant without needing something like a digirig in the middle. Connected directly to the computer.

        I actually managed VHF Winlink using the digirif and a baofeng, but man it was unreliable. Going to try it with my mobile QYT KT908Plus and see if its any better.

        I would love to use my linux chromebook and the X6100 box to make a mobile packet station, but im not really sure where to start.