They’re letting the terrorism button cool off a bit, considering its basically not be let up since September 2001.

I just added this to my eReader. I’ve been reading g a lot lately and while I haven’t had any difficulty, I’m eager to see if it enhances comprehension.

Good post OP.

This is the plot of The Village by M Night Shyamalan. Good movie.

I had set up this configuration around 2016 and found it a little clunky. I called it a SkyHole. It was great, and now we have the ability to install DNS profiles on most phones, or configure DNS profiles for PCs such that I use a (“free”) commercial provider and get ad blocking which takes care of 99% of the noise, and don’t have to fuss about with maintaining a dedicated device.

In which country are you located?

If you’re in the US, Hamstudy.org for the amateur bands, and if you plan to use the drone for hire (FAA Part 107), then you’d need to get a Part 107 certificate: https://www.faa.gov/uas/commercial_operators/become_a_drone_pilot#ftp.

Getting on air is what matters, POTA/SOTA are bonuses. Congrats!

At this moment, for example, in 1984 (if it was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.

Need to hook the antenna up to an analyzer and make sure it has continuity and no other issues. Manufacturing defects happen, and can be insidious if unable to see them. NanoVNAs are great, and inexpensive.

Depending on solar setup, there might be micro switches putting out awfully loud RFI. For a short time use a suitable battery and see if transmissions improve.

Hmm. Those aside has he isolated feedline continuity and grounding, and antenna?

Power supply noise?

I feel like you’ve probably tried all these, but I don’t have any better ideas.

Packet TTL (not sure if this applies in meshtastic) and local noise floor seem like reasonable things to evaluate.

Put them back.

My pleasure! Depending on the local topography and your level of motivation, you may consider using a GMRS repeater, if it makes sense. You might keep it at the lodge, or in your vehicle. But it’s value is only realized if your repeater is between you and your friends.

Sounds very much like a hold my beer solution.

Drunk: bet you couldn’t fix blindness with mah tooth!

Drunk eye surgeon: hold my beer

This is a great question. There is generally a null point which extends from the top of the antenna such that if you were to point the tip of the antenna at some distant receiver, the signal would be greatly attenuated. It’s not eliminated completely for the same reason if someone is yelling but not facing you; signals can bounce or bleed around and still be intelligible.

When I think about antennas, I like to imagine a donut: 🍩, the antenna extends through the center and the actual donut is the radiation pattern. This is good for mental modeling, but in application there are more things which influence radiation patterns. It’s still a good start.

When an antenna is placed on its side, the closer it is to the ground, the more of its energy is directed into the ground (or it may reflect back and nullify signal coming from the antenna), but for handheld radios (which are most likely VHF or UHF), having sufficient line of sight is what’s needed to have the system work properly, and where one needs to occasionally go through walls or other simple obstructions, a little more power can be helpful.

When skiing as you mentioned, have you been having any difficulty communicating with others in your current setup?

I had a fairly “traditional” vision of sitting at the radio in the evening and spinning the dial to make contacts, maybe a net or two, and maybe a ragchew—what about, I haven’t the foggiest. Medical procedures, I think is what it’s supposed to be.

As I started evaluating the gear I wanted vs the gear I needed, including the gear I hauled up a couple of hilltops in the mountains, I quickly discovered it’s a huge pain to carry the IC-7300 in addition to the telescoping mast, coax, 20aH LiFePo4, and guy wires for the additional 90W.

I do enjoy making SSB contacts, but what I’ve found is that I really enjoy making the distance, and what I need is a suitable mode on a lightweight, low-power radio and a modest antenna setup. Honestly though I’ll probably still haul up the telescoping mast, as I really like my twinlead j-poles.

Digital modes are a delight, but doesn’t give me enough of the human touch, and SSB on 10W is tough to cut through pileups. So now I need to add CW.

I went from desktop rig with permanent antenna to expedient low-power ops in about a year.

Everything old is new again.

You should give them their erasers back mate

I am.

He hasn’t.

You’re the first Internet stranger to notice! Here’s a celebration emoji: 🎉

I call ahead now.

Everything old is new again.