I've got NOTHIN' to say about the main questions, and I'll take a look at the web app later this week when I have some spare time.  But I wanted to say you're on the RIGHT track as far as having fun.  :-)  I wanted to get my ticket when I was a lad, but waited until I was in my 30s because the one-year nonrenewable Novice license at the time scared me.  :-/  I finally got a first license in 1991, when they had rearranged the rules, but I then spent my first year working 10 and 15-m CW, and having a hoot! 

Didn't do much morse after that first year, until 3 years ago, when I started having a neuromuscular problem that limits my ability to send by hand. And also started doing a lot of portable and QRP work, using CW, despite the problems.   Doesn't matter! CW is still FUN! RTTY is FUN!  And PSK is FUN!  I'm embarrassed when I can't say something using the  memories in my keyer, because my muscles don't work very well ..  but I'm having a WORLD of fun with CW even at my advanced age.  And it sounds like you've got the RIGHT attitude to having FUN with your new ham license, too! 

One bit of "Old Phart" advice, if you'll forgive me:  Once you have the letters learned, you'll learn MUCH faster if you actually get on the air and USE CW.  It's not practice when you do that, it's PLAY. :-)  And it's a world of fun.  Give it a try, and you'll have a great time!  Almost all hams will be GLAD to slow down to your speed, and we'll be delighted to have you joining the fraternity!  :-)  So when you feel halfway ready, fire up the rig and answer a CQ--answer at the speed YOU are comfortable with.  The other ham will reply, 99 times out of 100!

Have fun, OM, and congratulations for giving it a try!  73 de ken ac4rd!

First, I haven't ever used one of these, but like you, I've seen talk about them.   A lot of people apparently think they're not very efficient, and that there are better choices for mobile HF antennas.  But that doesn't mean you won't have fun with the Opek.  You've already had fun with it, right?  A more efficient antenna might let you work more stations ...  but when conditions are good, you can work the world with darned near anything.   Heck, on my 6-meter J-pole I've made more contacts on 17m QRP CW than I have on 6m.  :-)  That doesn't mean the J-pole is a GOOD 17m antenna ...  just that it works.  Have fun with the Opek and if you're like most of us, pretty soon you'll start thinking of what antenna to try NEXT.     --ken

You don't actually need software to use the NCDXF beacons!   Just park on the right frequency for the band you're interested in.  They go in a cycle that repeats itself every 3 minutes.   So you try, say, the 15m beacon and listen for at least 3 minutes; you hear beacons from the places the band is open to.   It's really a great system!

Sable Island, 1997.  My original QSL request must have gone astray, and I never got a card.  A few years later and that was still my only CY0, so I tried again to get a QSL.   I tried a number of things, and VA3NCD sent me a card for the operation in 2003--a real gentleman!  He even included a mini-CD with digital photos of Sable Island.  I think 6 years is my own longest. 

That is a GREAT card design--really gives the recipient a feel for what Clipperton must have been like.  All you need is the Skipper and Gilligan!  ;-)

I've said it before, but the Clipperton expedition was fantastic.  Great ops!  TNX 73!  --ken

Another satisfied WB6BYU customer!   Thanks for the input--I think I'll give this a shot this weekend!  Thanks!   --ken

I said this in another forum, and it occurs to me to put it in the "repairs" forum in hopes it might be useful to someone doing a search:

I put my MFJ-927 autotuner in a spot I thought was protected from the weather, but I was wrong about that.  The tuner was fairly full of rainwater when it finally stopped working.

I took off the cover and dried it for a couple of days, then tried the "reset" process.  It failed, several times in a row.  I went through all the diagnostics and resets in the manual, and it wasn't working.  Ordinarily, I would have given up on it after a half-dozen tries, but I had nothing better to be doing, so I kept doing resets.  After maybe a dozen "system resets," the thing suddenly started working right.  :-)  It's been back up for a few months now and works perfectly well now. 

So, short version:  trying LOTS of "system reset" procedures isn't going to hurt, and it might just help.  FWIW.

This is too late to help, but I'll say it in hopes that it might help someone else.  I put my MFJ-927 autotuner in a spot I thought was protected from the weather, but I was wrong about that.  It was fairly full of rainwater when it finally stopped working.

I took off the cover and dried it for a couple of days, then tried the "reset" process.  It failed, several times in a row.  I went through all the diagnostics and resets in the manual, and it wasn't working.  Ordinarily, I would have given up on it after a half-dozen tries, but I had nothing better to be doing, so I kept doing resets.  After maybe a dozen "system resets," the thing suddenly started working right.  :-)  It's been back up for a few months now and works perfectly well now. 

So, short version:  trying LOTS of "system reset" procedures isn't going to hurt, and it might just help.  FWIW.  73!  --ken

I've played with a lot of wire antennas over the years, but they've all been either loops or doublets.  I've never experimented with a random wire, end-fed.  But I noticed recently that I've got a place in the yard where I could run about 150-160 feet of wire in a straight line, almost exactly due west, slanting from around 40 feet at one end to working desk height at the feedpoint. I'm thinking about putting that up in the air this week for my back-yard-QRP playing, now that the weather is turning warm.

If I remember, I could expect a bit of gain on 10-12-15 meters, pretty much due west, with an antenna like that--is that correct?  Is there an online resource for plotting the patterns?  Thanks!

Did you get a picture taken with Alan?  Post it!

    That is the quote of the year, 'RUL!   Absolute truth, and funny besides!

And K5UNX, as others have said, there are differences between the different bands, and the differences are different at different times of day and differrent seasons of the year and different solar conditions and at different locations.  THAT's why KG4RUL made the "Understanding (it) will take the rest of your life" comment.  There are huge numbers of variables.  But the good part is, experimenting and finding how the differences is flat-out FUN!   So enjoy getting to know the bands! 

Right--Canadian hams are almost always a real pleasure to work.

There's a great tourism motto for Canada:  "Canada: we're a lot like you, but nicer."   

John, you're sure right about that.  Same thing with those reviews that start "everything i hear about the Yaewood TG-4440 meens it is the transcever of the year and if i ever get a radeo other than my HT tha'tll be the radeo i buy!"

But once again, YOU made a judgement about how much weight to give to those "reviews," based on your own understanding of the reviewers' ability to provide a useful and objective summary.  And I do the same thing, as I read them.  And you and I might well have DIFFERENT estimates of how much weight to give to each individual review.  But we can make those decisions for ourselves, don't you think?  No need to try to make the moderators decide FOR us, right? 

73!   Ken

I'm not a real contester, but I enjoy playing every now and then--pick up a few band/mode fills, even an all-time new one occasionally.  I had never heard of the "MM" contest until this morning, when I heard people working it, but I looked up the rules on the web, and I've had a lot of fun with it today on 15m CW, picking up a few contacts here and there when I had some spare time during the day.  "MM" seems a bit more easygoing than some HF contests.

The PODXS 070 club's contests are usually bundles of fun, too, though I don't do much PSK these days.

I think this past January is the first time I worked the "RTTY Roundup"--that was a HOOT!

I won't ever be a serious contester, probably, but they sure can be a lot of fun even for casual participants like me.  Plus they are a nice way to work on your CW skills, for us casual part-time hams.  :-)  

I was looking forward to trying the North Carolina QSO Party this year, but they didn't allow RTTY and that is what I felt like playing with that weekend, so I didn't work it at all.  Maybe next year!

I think a lot of hams may not know how much FUN you can have playing in a contest, even if you're not seriously contesting.  :-)

The first piece of new (not used) ham equipment I bought, back in 1991 when I was first licensed, was a MFJ tuner.  That tuner still works perfectly well.  I've bought auto-tuners, keyers, paddles, car antenna mounts, and a BUNCH of other MFJ stuff over the years.  I've never had to send anything back to them.  A couple of small issues that were easily fixed, but no returns or major problems.  The prices are good, and I *like* the idea of supporting an American manufacturer.  Call me an MFJ fan!