Build log
A running log of the radio projects, operating lessons, and experiments I’m working through.
My first Field Day as the club’s satellite operator was a huge learning experience.
Despite heavy competition on the FM satellites, I successfully completed contacts that contributed to the club’s score. The club finished with 1,036 points, and I left looking forward to doing it again the following year.
Unfortunately, 2026 didn’t go quite as planned. Only a couple of FM satellites were truly usable throughout the weekend, and the available passes were low on the horizon and heavily contested.
Despite several attempts, I wasn’t able to complete a satellite contact this year. Even without making the log, it was still valuable operating experience, and I’m already looking forward to improving for Field Day 2027. Club results are still pending.
Lately I’ve been experimenting with both Meshtastic and MeshCore, running multiboot firmware on compatible hardware to compare features, performance, and usability for off-grid digital communications.
It’s been a fun way to learn more about low-power mesh networking and how the two projects differ.
I built this website from scratch using GitHub Pages and Cloudflare.
One of my favorite projects has been automating satellite TLE updates with GitHub Actions, allowing my tracking pages to stay current without any manual maintenance.
I’ve recently started learning Morse code. Like most new operators, I’m focusing on accuracy and consistency before speed. My goal is to become comfortable enough to confidently make on-air QSOs in the future.
CQ CQ DE KJ5EDM K