Activated US-0282, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Illinois. Bands weren't great, but a nice park visitor center porch and a great view helped. #POTA

My assistant for the CQ WW WPX #contest. #catsofmastadon

Trying out participating in the CQ WPX #contest. 15 WPM feels so slow compared to the other stations. I greatly appreciate when people calling me slow down, or at least don't mind repeating their call a few times. #cqwpx

Lengthened my end-fed "random" wire #antenna from 30ft to around 130ft. The main goal was to get the SWR for 40 and above low enough that the internal tuner in my IC-7300 could handle it. The second goal was getting on 80 meters, which ain't gonna happen without an external ATU. One out of two ain't bad. I'lll be looking for a LDG tuner for sale at Hamvention.

@AF0AJ Which LDG tuner is that? I'm looking for a tuner for my IC-7300, which has a built-in but very limited ATU. Hoping to find something used or at a good discount at hamvention. Love the 7000, BTW!

I'm not sure "What is your favorite pastime?" is a good security question for creating an account when you purchase tickets for hamvention...

Tested my backpack “pedestrian mobile" setup yesterday during a POTA activation. Icom 705 in my backpack connected to an ATU-10 and Elecraft AX-1 antenna in an outside pocket. Using the SDR-mobile app on my iPhone to wirelessly control the radio. It's a compromised system, but it works. 13 CW QSOs in just under an hour. Even had some of the locals join me.

Went to a friend's food truck opening on Saturday and then activated two parks on the way home. The first one I had been to before, Sandy Creek Covered Bridge State Historic Site (US-3362). Picnic tables, grills, trash cans, water spigots and pit toilets. The second park, Gravois Creek State Conservation Area (US-12209), is just a little sliver of muddy woods along a popular trail. Need to work on my pedestrian mobile setup, things started sinking into the ground. #POTA

@stu Thanks! I'll grab one and give it a try.

@stu plugging directly in. The display does show that it’s charging when powered off, but the backlight is off and it’s very difficult to read. And it shows charging from empty even if the battery is full. Gonna try completely draining the battery and completely charging it so if that helps recalibrate it or something.

@stu It’s charging very slowly, takes multiple days to charge the battery from the wall wart. I’m going to call Yaesu support next week and I know one of the first questions they’re going to ask is if I’m on the latest firmware.

Upgrading the firmware on a Yaesu FT5D is a PITA. Install .NET *3.5*, then a Visual C++ redistributable, then install a driver that requires you to disable some windows security settings. Then flip a tiny switch on the radio, remove the battery, plug in the wall wart, plug a mini-USB cable, but only the one that came with the radio because the USB port is too narrow. Then flip the switch to a different position and do it again for a "sub" firmware. Then do a complete reset of the radio.

Removed the VHF/UHF Yaesu FTM-100DR from my car (Chevy Volt) and installed a used all-band Icom IC-7000 with an LDG tuner. Tested it yesterday during a POTA activation with a ham stick and it worked great. I did discover that the 3.5mm “Aux In” jack in my car has a slight, nearly imperceptible delay that makes CW frustrating, so I installed an extra speaker just for the radio.

Found a nice spot at the office to do some POTA hunting. Using the Elecraft AX1 with a capacitance hat on the IC-705 for a 1:1 SWR. Worked six activators. #POTA

After a few days of first false spring, then two weeks of near 0 (F) temperatures, it finally warmed up enough for me to get out to a park. Activated US-5699, August A. Busch Memorial State Conservation Area west of St. Louis. Everything was muddy, including me. #POTA

@AF0AJ The SST is nice. I got about six stations split between 20 and 10 this afternoon. I'm always amused when someone replies that isn't aware of the SST and I have to figure out what all the extra beeps mean.

Sending and receiving QSL cards is one of the coolest parts of amateur radio but wow, my handwriting is *horrible*.

Activated my first summit on Saturday, Knob Lick “Mountain”, about 80 miles south of St. Louis. (W0M/SF-030). #SOTA

@KC8JC I can barely hear you above the noise, sadly. Looks like you're making QSOs though!

@KC8JC 16 WPM is pretty fast for me, can you come down to 15? 😄