Lately, I have been most interested in a variety of HF antennas. My primary radio is a Yaesu FT-991A. It gets used for a 2 meter net on Sunday nights. When I have time, I have my Linux system configure with WSJT-X driving a USB cable to the FT-991A where it controls frequency, power, mode and an internal sound card where digital audio is sent and received. All of the high powered DSP occurs back in the Linux system. I have 46 of 50 states worked via FT8 right now. Missing MT, KS, VT and CT. I've connected to South Korea, China, New Zealand, Australia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, Canada, Spain, Scotland, Germany, France and a few more. My antenna is a simple Off Center Fed Dipole. One leg is 55 feet. The other 11 feet. The 4:1 balun dangles off my rain gutter at 20 feet above ground. The 55 foot leg is connected to an insulator, then paracord into a very tall pine tree. The 11 foot leg goes to a nearby spruce.
In my earlier years, I did lots of packet radio around San Diego and participated in the monthly transmitter hunts. All participants met at a starting point. Odometers were recorded and the transmitter went live at 5 PM. The boundaries were the San Diego county line. When a hunter found the transmitter, the time was noted and odometer reading taken. The final score is time in minutes plus miles on the odometer. Like golf, the low score wins. Aside from the technical things, lots of service related work. Red flag patrols during fire season. Packet radio support of fire camps. Communications for charity fundraisers and the Miramar Airshow. Animal Rescue Reserve collecting livestock in danger of a fire, relocating and coordinating return to owners. Same for humans in the line of fire.
My primary radio is also the FT-991a.
KD9VLV, General Class
It would be awesome if there was a Freeper net!