Daaang, 10,000 miles!? That's bad ass! I think the wallpaper aspect of it sounds pretty cool. I'll prob give that a whirl. Being able to receive from space is super intense. Sounds like you've been doing this a while! I'll be picking your brain, good sir!
I got my ticket in 2016. I'm still pretty new to the hobby, but I'll do my best to answer questions. The main thing is to just have fun. There's lots of different cliques -- not just at the club level, but with radio as a whole. Don't let a bad experience with an abrasive turd ruin the hobby for you. I got lucky and found a couple of guys that I get along with really well. They're both CW guys, which is nice because I want to be a better CW operator. Funny thing is, the Morse requirement is what kept me from pursuing a license back in the late 80's. There's lots of different things you can do. Explore as much, or as little, as you want to.
I really enjoy the digital modes but WORKING a pileup during our state QSO party each year is a blast! Early on I made friends with a contester. He mainly works RTTY but he taught me the ropes of it pretty quickly. I need to operate more than I do but my wires are on the ground right now. I just haven't had the motivation recently to be active. I did help start a net on Echolink for Overland Bound. We're about half way through our second year on the air. That's pretty cool too, running a net. Especially where folks can and do check in from all over the world. One of our net controllers is even from Tasmania.
Pileups can be a lot of fun -- especially if you're the one everybody wants instead of being trapped in the pile. I've never done RTTY. I've got a couple of contacts on PSK31. Contests can be a lot of fun. I'm not a big BIC (Butt In Chair) contest guy. I like to have fun and try to work new states & DX usually. Every fall, I do ARRL CW Sweepstakes with my Elmers. I cook breakfast, and sometimes try to check for spots for sections we don't have. We've tried to get a clean sweep but missed it the past two years. If you are chasing specific things, HamAlert.org is an awesome tool. You build a "trigger", which you can turn off when you're not around the radio. Band, mode, state, etc. If you have more than a handful of things, it can be overly annoying during a contest. But it's a great tool for chasing down specific things.
Thank you! Should be getting my call sign tomorrow hopefully. Time to start programming some channels into memory!
Laurel is much faster at getting calls processed than ARRL. My club was an ARRL VE club, but we switched to Laurel last year. It's a good process they have worked out.
Since you're in the habit of studying, I strongly recommend that you continue on to General. The question pool is similar in size to Technician, same number of multiple choice questions. It's a little more in-depth but I didn't find it to be over the top. General opens up the majority of space on HF, which really opens up the world. I worked CU2DX earlier tonight on 30 meters, almost exactly 3,900 miles using a 17 foot vertical on an apartment balcony.
Yes! I am one of the guys who helps with the W6K call for Oklahoma City. There are 21 different 1x1 calls (W6A thru W6U) for the event. Oklahoma has 2 other calls: W6J in Stroud, and W6L in Tulsa.If it's not too muddy, we're planning to operate tomorrow from one of the original bridges along Route 66 on the west side of OKC. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/route66/lake_overholser_bridge_oklahoma_city.html I'd been in many pileups trying to work a DX station or a special event station. This was my first experience being the guy the pile was chasing. The 13 Colonies event around July 4th is another of my favorites.
Got my APRS Digipeater/I-Gate up and running the other day. After spending 8hr editing the wrong .conf file, I finally figured out WTH I was doing. Now to get it set up in the garage and running to test my coverage around town on 10W. I've got to figure out the remote desktop thing on Linux too so I don't have to have a separate monitor and keyboard in the garage for it. Fun fun....
A guy from a local club shared this on Facebook. This is a great tool for HF operators: http://analyzer.adventureradio.de/ Feed it an ADIF formatted log, set your grid square so the map is centered, and upload. It creates a map (centered on that grid square you entered), and has lines for each QSO in your file. Filter by band, by mode.