Thanks for the info. That was helpful. Being new to this, there is a lot of learning to do. 

I am new to all this. Just got my antenna built (homemade buddistick) this weekend and got on 20 and 40 meters for a while Sat and Sun for the first time. I heard a lot of State qso parties and answered a few calls mainly to see if people could hear me and make sure things were working. 

I have some logging questions as I have not started logging yet for real. I would like to so I can keep track of states, countries etc.

I understand if I was participating in a State QSO party, I could use n1mm's software. However, how would I log answering other peopled requests for their participation? For example I answered some MI qso party folks, and a couple Rookie Roundup calls. Do I log those somehow? In my general log which I have not started yet? On a weekend like this, I wouldn't think I would need to log all those in separate programs . .

I did write down these contest contacts in a text file on my laptop but that's not a long term solution.  I have logged a couple general contacts in qrz.com logbook but I don't want to use that long term as I may not have an internet connection all the time . . .

I do have HRD installed on a laptop but it seems I also need a qrz subscription?? I know this is not really a contest question but if someone could answer, that would be nice.

Just got on HF today, listening to 20 meters and hearing QSO parties.  I see there are some state specific logging programs. Can you log these in HRD? Does it generate the serial number?  

Just trying to learn some of this as today is my first day on HF.

They guy I heard was in N Dakota. He was referring to his county as "designation MTN". So I assumed that maybe most counties had a "designation". Thanks for the Link!

So I just got my homemade buddistick built and an listening to HF (20 meters) for the first time today with my new radio. So there seems to be some QSO parties happening. They are referring to county designation . . . I have been google'ing for a list or something to find what my county is. No luck yet . . anyone point me to something that would tell me?

Thanks, Wayne

I am building one of these for a first antenna and to use later as a portable antenna after I hang up something more permanent.  It only has one "radial" but it is held above ground.

https://sites.google.com/site/w3ffhomepage/new-homebrew-buddstick-plans

wayne

I think you are correct. It's not if but when you will have a hard drive failure or some other bad thing that causes access to your primary copy of data to be lost.

I disagree though on losing data. You don't have to lose any data except maybe the thing you were currently working on. I have lost hard drives and never lost a thing. That's due to a backup strategy that works.

Most people don't backup properly or think they don't need to. A backup doesn't mean you copy a few things to a thumb drive or put a few files on Dropbox. I did use Dropbox and think things there are fairly safe but I back those up with my backup solution as well. What if Dropbox shutdown? How would you get those files back?

The question to ask is this . . . if you computer was destroyed right now, would you lose any data? If you answer yes, then you should re-think your backup strategy. Call me paranoid but I have 1000's of photos of my kids over the last 10-15 years on my computer and I would rather not depend on a hard drive to keep them safe.

Something I use is called Karen's Replicator. It's available free on the Internet. Karen is a lady that write for one of the computer magazines I think. Anyways, it has a simple interface. You setup rules and define what files you want backed up. First run gets all the files. Every run after just gets changed files only. It's pretty cool and very customizable for what you want to copy. Once you define your rules, you plug in the hard drive and click go and it'll do it. I use it for my work laptop.

To answer or confirm a couple thought. Yes I am planning on this being a portable rig for emcomm, field day, comm volunteering at local events and such.  This being my only rig, I want it portable. I can see running a small LED light, and possibly something else that I don't know about now. A guy in my club recommended a MightyLIte Supply. I just now realized what he was talking about  . . http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-4235MV   This one is 35A.

I just bought a FT-857D. I am going to mount it in a portable case of some sort and need a power supply. I am looking at the MFJ-4125. It's 25 amps. According to the manual for the FT-857, it can consume 22 amps. I assume that's at a full 100 watts transmit level. I don't think I would run the radio at full power all the time . . . but I am new to HF.

I am also planning on possibly charging or powering my FT-60R. According to it's manual, that would take 1.6 amps. The only other things I can see using that power might be a small LED light. Not sure what else.

I am planning the following in the case. FT-857D, Power Supply, Antenna Tuner. Maybe the LDG FT-Meter.  I was thinking about a rig runner power dist panel but now I am thinking I might not need that, just a Power Pole spitter maybe.

Am I cutting the power too close with the 4125 at 25 amps??

Wayne

I hate Windows problems as well. Switched to a Mac for my main personal machine last year. But I still have a Win machine or two. I find that if I reinstall Windows and rebuild the machine every so often, it keep the problems away. I do my work laptop about every 6-9 months depending on the problems.

Just to throw out another option, I am going to build a "buddistick". The instructions are https://sites.google.com/site/w3ffhomepage/.

I know it may not be as good as a dipole, but I'll eventually build one or more of those as well.

One more thing . . I noticed both of those guys had stronger signal while I held the yagi horizontal than they did while I had it upright.

I got a battery for my multi-meter and did what you suggested. It is shorted like you describe.

I looked the rest of it over and found a problem. There was a couple strands of wire shorting the center conductor and the shield together before they were attached to the tape measure pieces. I fixed that by cutting them out.

I'll re-test when I hear those guys again on simplex (146.520). They seem to be on most days.

I am going to get some better coax and replace the feed line at some point when I figure out where to get some good stuff.

EDIT: I just heard the guys on 146.520 again. I went outside and re-tested. Much better results. A lot stronger incoming signal than the whip this time. I think I fixed it by removing that stray wire! Gotta be more careful next time.

I was in my driveway switching between both antennas more than once.