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Hi Jamey,
I think a slow-speed contest would be an excellent form of practice for you. One of the most important skills to learn early is how to accurately copy callsigns. A contest such as the one that you mention should give you some good practice in this area and will be a lot of fun!
Mike’s advise is very good Jamey. The most important thing for you to do is to get on the air and give it a try!
I had a little time to play with my IC-7300 today. The radio can be set to have a receive bandwidth of up to 3.6 KHz in Digital mode via the CAT interface. I have it working with DXLab Commander and I am able to open the receive BW up to this level using that program. The Tx BW is limited to about 2.6 KHz max in Digital Mode. With the radio set to a 3.0 KHz TBW and in Digital Mode, the usable audio frequency range for Tx is from about 200 Hz to about 2.8 KHz. Outside these limits, the skirts in the Tx bandpass filter kick in and they reduce and somewhat distort the audio signal into the radio. This is identical to what I see on other Icom radios that I have here. I believe that WSJT-X has a mode that can take advantage of a radio with a wide Rx bandwidth than Tx. I hope that this helps everyone.
Great questions Jamey. Others who are more experienced with CW than I may be able to answer your questions better. As a beginner, I would try to work near the top end of the CW sub-bands. This is where the folks who are learning CW tend to hang out. If you send at 20 wpm and space you letters out, I think you might get a similar response from folks who answer you. The 20 wpm rate may be too fast for other beginners even with the added spacing. If that happens, I’d suggest trying sending at 12 wpm and spacing things out as this is probably more likely to be a speed that other beginners can handle. You’ll definitely want to send “QRS” if someone comes back to you too slowly. Once you have a QSO going, you can explain to the other OP how you are learning and they will probably match your speed and spacing if they can.
Thanks for posting this Layne. Looks like there will be some interesting DX on for the On Air activity.
Hi Jamey,
A quick google search will yield many different plans for this type of antenna. One that I like is at this link. I used 3/4″ PVC and a 1″ wide tape measure. Buy the cheapest tape you can find (as long as it’s metal). I used liquid tape to cover the sharp edges after cutting the tape.
Another antenna I’ve just started playing with is a 2 meter loop. I’m going to compare the two and see which I like better. The loop is smaller and easier to handle. Stay tuned. ;^)