I got my SignalStick! It's working great now and is a lot better than the rubber duck antenna that comes with the ID50.

I'm slowly making plans to activate #POTA at Mount Coot-tha (AU-10071) on 2m and 70cm FM for a couple of hours sometime in the next few weeks. I'll probably do a test run for an hour or so later this week. The reason for the big day in a few weeks is that I'm going to buy a Signal Stick from the US.

Couldn't for the life of me figure out why I couldn't hit repeaters. Turns out Repeaterbook's ID52 export was backwards when it come to duplex frequencies. I had to set all the DUP+ to DUP- which was pretty easy with Excel. I can hit most of the repeaters around Brisbane now, which is nice.

I ended up getting myself an Icom ID-50A HT for VHF/UHF work on the D-STAR repeaters up here in Brisbane. Set me back $700 though.

BTW, I'll be at the Redcliffe and Districts Radio Club (VK4RC) Redfest 25 at Deception Bay North State School on Saturday, the flyer for which is attached to this post.

Attempted to join my first net but they didn't leave the space for me to break in after the regulars all showed up. Just a little disappointed. Also didn't get my new HT due to stock issues.

Well this is unexpected. I'm apparently today's featured ham on QRZCQ.com. Nice.

Probably going to buy an Icom ID-52A for my first HT. A local store has it marked down from AU$925 to AU$830ish. I've got the money saved away, so that's not an issue. Just thinking about accessories at the moment. Shame it's not the 52A Plus but c'est la vie, right?

Passed my ham radio exam on Sunday, and got my callsign on Monday. Connected to the Redcliffe repeater (VK4RRC) via echolink and tested last night.

Got way too many folks on my pseudonymous account following for ham, so moved it all here.

Didn't know bluesky had such a large ham community. Nice.