iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 09/09/2026

I mean... how is this not the best timeline bingo ever?

Screenshot of the OP, preceded immediately by a cartoon about United Healthcare.

n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 05/03/2026

Saw an AK stn CQing FT8. Clicked. QSO’d. Looked @ #GridTracker map. CQ MA NOMQL EN35 The immediate response? Yeah. A station in Louisiana. Of course, sun was up in MA, but not LA, so likely no shot anyway. And HI will be a challenge.

Screenshot from GridTracker2, of the map, centered on Utah/Wyoming corner, roughly. A chunk of Alaska is yellow in the NW corner. The SW corner shows Hawaii pink. Center East, Massachusetts is also pink.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 07/02/2026

But what about my transmitted reports by other stations? Well here we go. Here's one where I transmitted, and another station reported my signal. If you want to tentatively try my fast-moving unstable fork... github.com/kelvin0mql/o...

Tightly-cropped screenshot of my fork of openhamclock where I've clicked on a East (but not coast) station's dot on the map. It says

From N0MQL by N2HQI
FT8 @ 3.574 MHz
SNR: -3 dB

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 07/02/2026

So I've changed my fork of it in 3 ways so far. 1st, it shows pskreporter spots past hour, not past 15min. The 15min thing is for active operators. The past hour is more sensible for a station that hops TEN BANDS 24x7. Heck, I don't think it even gets through all 10 bands within 15 minutes.

Tightly cropped screenshot of my modified openhamclock, where I've clicked on an East Coast dot and it shows
From N2XK
FT8 @ 7.077 MHz
SNR: -7 dB

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 07/02/2026

1st problem, #OpenHamClock does not give me the same count-per-band summary. I intend to fix that soon. 2nd problem, though more annoying, click on a dot on the map that your station reported (heard), & the map shows you YOUR callsign! I mean... insanely un-helpful. I know my callsign.

Tighly cropped screenshot of openhamclock.com showing that I've clicked an East Coast station, and it says
N0MQL
FT8 @ 7.077 MHz
SNR: -6 dB

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 07/02/2026

Much heard lately about #OpenHamClock & I'm quite grateful that someone's making something that can replace the soon-expiring #HamClock However, its author is clearly more on-air than I am. My station is RX FT8 band-hopping 24x7, & my HamClock shows me at a glance what bands are hot HERE.

Tightly-cropped screenshot of just the "Live Spots" section of HamClock, wherein
160m 0
80m 0
60m 0
40m 19
30m 19
20m 116
17m 0
15m 102
12m 105
10m 161
6m 0

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 01/02/2026

Next ferrite rod loop RX #antenna test setup for #160meters has the ferrite rod taped to the window so that half the world isn’t blocked by the metal-cased ham gear on the workbench. Eager to see how #WSPR does overnight.

Close up photo of 4” ferrite (mix 61) rod, wrapped slightly loosely about 57 turns with 23AWG magnet wire. The pickup is 2 turns of 18AWG, & is halfway between the bottom end of the primary coil (oriented vertically), and the bottom end of the rod.

Photo not as close, so you can see the ferrite is scotch-taped to the window about 6’ off the floor/ground.

The leads of the primary coil come off the right side of the rod, then extend about 3 feet to the desktop, then attach to the variable air capacitor. These leads run parallel to each other, kept about 3 inches apart by also being taped to the window.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 27/01/2026

And the results? Well, at first glance, I thought the later, larger ferrite rod antenna was a dismal failure. 63 decodes vs 1 decode. But wait - the Unique column is 3 vs 1. We could chalk that up to omnidirectional vs an antenna with a couple nulls. 160m could've been dead last night.

ANT1 (Vertical)
Decodes: 63
Avg SNR: -17.9
Max SNR: -7
Unique: 3
Max Dist: 1445km
Local (<1km): 37
DX (>1km): 25

ANTR3/2 (Ferrite rod):
Decodes: 1
Avg SNR: -27.0
Max SNR: -27
Unique: 1
Max Dist: 635km
Local (<1km): 1
DX (>1km): 0

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 26/01/2026

Tonight’s (already running) A/B #HamRadio #antenna test is #160m #WSPR (RX only) between 6-80 #DXCommander vertical & this ferrite rod magnetic loop, indoors, on my bench.

I’ve built this antenna several times, the past 2 times successfully. There are 2 differences from the previous to this one. This uses 18AWG, where the other was 34AWG. And because the bigger wire makes a bigger coil, I had to glue 2 rods together.

It may be that a more interesting A/B test will be comparing the 2 ferrite rod antennas, to see how much better this one is.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 26/01/2026

Expanded what data is gathered/displayed. Added output of 3 local files, so I could do post-test analysis not unlike what Callum was describing.

More of the same, but now it also calculates/estimates...
Max Dist
Count of "Local (<1km)" vs "DX (>1km)"

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 26/01/2026

Left this running all day. Could I make it gather more info? Sure. I could have it split the logs into two files, one for the "A" antenna, another for the "B" antenna, & use those to do all sorts of other analysis. I just wanted to prove the concept of unattended long-time comparison.

Another screenshot like the previous post.
Ant1 (Vertical)
Decodes: 795
Avg SNR: -21.4
Max SNR: -8
Unique: 129

Ant2 (Ferrite rod)
Decodes: 257
Avg SNR: -21.6
Max SNR: -10
Unique: 93

Yeah, the outdoor, full quarter-wave (with ground radials) vertical out-performed. But for a 4" long ferrite rod indoors on my workbench at ground level, I'm pretty impressed with it.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 25/01/2026

WSJT-x waterfall & WSPR decode window, next to a python GUI which switches antenna ports every 4 minutes, & keeps a running count of decodes, average SNR, max SNR, and unique calls. This is on 40m, but the ferrite antenna is for 160m. This was just to prove the script works. Building 40m ant now.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 30/09/2025

Sometimes the other station is an #ExtraClass #HamRadio operator. Sometimes, dude's just extra.

I still need Hawai'i on this band, and I see the band appears open, so I CQ for HI stations to call me.

Some dude NOT in Hawai'i calls me back. App is set to auto respond to whomever calls first, and I shrug my shoulders & let it go.

But dude is not actually hearing me. I'm at 30w, & I'll bet you he's running QRO.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 19/09/2025

Y'know, I used to love the #StarsAndStripes - even the original 13-star one. But RWNJs & MAGAts have ruined it for me. I used to love the word "Patriot", & identified with it. Got an email invite to join a "Patriot" #HamRadio club, & sad to say, it immediately got my hackles up because of #Fascism

I could be wrong. For the love of all things good and just, I HOPE I'm wrong. But this email rubbed me the wrong way right out of the gate.

The 13-star Old Glory used to conjure up pure, patriotic feelings (remember how most of us felt in 1976 during our nations bicentennial?). But now when I see it, I immediately think, "Oh, you mean like back when white people owned black people, and thought that was OK?"

Grr.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 14/08/2025

This is from an FCC PDF about low power non license transmissions. I wish it was a reading in mW, like many others. But no, for 2 meters, it's a formula including microvolts at 3 meters distance that I do not even comprehend. Only of interest because my wife is not a ham.

Screenshot from an FCC PDF on Low Power Non Licensed Transmitters.

Someone tell me what that math means. I don't get it.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 14/08/2025

Well, #AirTag won't work. She walked 1.25 mi in a half hour; stopped 5 min to talk to neighbor & dog by the park. The icon only moved 5x. No sign of her by the park. If she fell there, she could lie there FOR AN HOUR without much chance of the AirTag telling me where she is. NOT a dense suburb.

I took a screenshot of the FindMy map every time the AirTag icon moved, over the half hour from 7:37 (when she texted "I'm heading out") to 8:07.

There's zero evidence that she took Peterson Trail to Fox Run, which goes East-West below Tracie McBride Park.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 13/08/2025

...for the APRS node forces focus & gets my attention. (My APRS screen already does this every couple weeks when this Michigan station's ping manages to hop this far. Except for the 3D print, it seems a project I could do myself. But it also seems like such a no-brainer that someone probably HAS.

Screenshot from aprs.fi showing the EMMET COUNTY EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER.

I have attempted to inform them that the whole word "EMERGENCY" does not need to be and SHOULD NOT be in that beacon text, because many radios and APRS software systems have an emergency reaction (alarms, etc.) when that word is found in APRS beacon text, and this presents a "cry wolf" situation. But they do not respond to email, or have not understood the ordeal. A station in the St. Paul, MN area does not need to be ALERTED that there's an EOC in Michigan that is not currently experiencing an Emergency, but merely is there, existing, on an ordinary day.

Side note, if you go hiking in Michigan, and think that if you get lost/injured & change your beacon text on your HT to say "EMERGENCY", nobody will come find you, because they have all shut off their APRS alerts because these dimwits are doing it wrong.

Also, if you're a Michigan Ham, & you know these people, please explain to them that everybody who needs to know what "EOC" means, already knows, & it is very important that they fix this.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 16/07/2025

Check out The Holy Cluster screenshot I took a little while ago.

Screenshot of The Holy Cluster.

Station WW1L in NE US is absolutely POUNDING Europe on 6m.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 19/06/2025

The monitor above my day-job screen is almost always on #HamClock, but when someone creates an #EOC object in #APRS in Petosky, #Michigan the #YAAC map pops to foreground. The word “EMERGENCY” in the beacon triggers. Cool!

Map of the Petoskey, MI area, with an APRS object (red house icon with “EOC” in white) shown.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 06/06/2025

Some days, THIS old Kelvin thinks it’s impossible. #HamRadio

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 04/06/2025

Past 24h, 6m only. This #SporadicE event is unlike anything I've witnessed in #AmateurRadio Really wild.

Screenshot of pskreporter.info map showing 6m stations heard in Minnesota (EN35) over the 24h of 11:00 UTC 3 JUN 2025 to 11:00 UTC 4 JUN 2025. The map is thickest with pins on an arc from Maine to Texas, but includes some pins as far away as Puerto Rico.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 03/06/2025

I've occasionally seen some 6m FT8 spots a few states away. I've NEVER seen the "pink blob" prediction anywhere for 6m, definitely not the entire Eastern Seaboard AND the #GulfOfMexico

pskreporter.info map, showing that my MN station can hear and/or is heard by stations in an arc from Maine to Texas... ON SIX METERS!

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 03/06/2025

6m has since opened up for me significantly.

My #HamClock with 6m activity shown in Live Spots pane.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 03/06/2025

When the #HolyCluster indicates that 6m is super hot right now, so I switch my station to 6m & start calling CQ… And then #pskReporter coldly says “Not like that.” It’s like #HighSchool all over again.

Holy Cluster showing 6m spots all over the place. Indicative of a major #SporadicE opening.

My last hour on 6m according to pskreporter.info showing that my station can be heard a few counties away at best.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 25/05/2025

LOVE that #FreeDATA works as a web-app. I can operate it completely from iPad in the back yard shed. But I think I’m going to have to poke around in the code to fix some alignment. See alt txt.

The chat/qso interface of FreeDATA, with iPad in vertical orientation. Notice that the “Start a new chat” button is visible.

The chat/qso interface of FreeDATA, with iPad in horizontal (i.e. correct) orientation. Notice that the top of the UI is cropped off.

Main GUI screen of FreeDATA, with iPad in vertical orientation. Notice the top row of widgets, particularly the all-important STOP button.

The main GUI screen of FreeDATA, with iPad in horizontal (i.e. correct) orientation. Note that the STOP button and entire top row of widgets is inaccessible.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 19/04/2025

Although I do sometimes get European hits on 10m, it seems more often it’s like this, where ALL the 10m stations I hear are Central & South America. Is this what you other midwest hams see? Or should I consider moving my #DXCommander vertical?

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 03/04/2025

As a #HamRadio guy with 4 displays on all the time, 75% of which are doing something #AmateurRadio related, but 2 of them are rarely interacted with. Just something interesting to look at, like #HamClock or #TheHolyCluster I found myself occasionally moving my mouse to... (cont'd in alt txt)

...to switch between which full-screen app is in the foreground.

e.g. DireWolf, YAAC, HamClock, firefox

I've got 3 of those rotating every 3 min on the #RaspberryPi and 2 of those rotating on my #AndysHamRadioLinux box.

This not only makes my WFH environment a little more interesting, visually, but also reduces #ScreenBurnIn

The pictured example bash script handles rotating between active screens listed in an array.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 28/03/2025

Somewhat more amazing to me, every month, is the wide area from which my iGate had sent a position packet to aprs.fi on behalf of a station "out there". Several are so far away that at least 1 (& likely a few) digipeater would've been needed to get that packet to here.

Another screenshot of a map from aprs.fi, similar to the previous, but it's zoomed further out to show faint purple squares indicating locations from which a position packet was forwarded by my station to the internet.

North almost to Grand Marais.
South to Austin, MN.
East almost to Stevens Point.
West to Paynesville.

SE to LaCrosse.
NW to Brainerd.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 28/03/2025

Stations heard directly, according to aprs.fi, over the course of March, 2025.

Cropped screenshot of aprs.fi website showing the stations heard directly this month (Mar, 2025) by 2-way iGate W0MHR-2, which I host at my house, atop my tallest mast.

It shows good coverage of I-35E from Forest Lake, MN to Vadnais Heights. Also covers a good bit of I-35W from Arden Hills up to where it merges with 35E.

#APRS #HamRadio #AmateurRadio #PublicService

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 27/03/2025

Being a #HamRadio guy who plays with all the audio bits-n-bobs, I've been using #RogueAmoeba #Loopback for several months, under #macOS #Monterey to combine the Mac's audio with the input from a USB mixer. Allows me to listen to whatever plugs into the mixer, broadcast and ham, with the #AirPods ...

Screenshot of the Loopback app, showing the input and pass-through of audio to my AirPods.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 19/03/2025

I keep a few of these stickers in my truck in case I come across an electric dumpster in a parking lot.

https://www.teepublic.com/sticker/71981628-fuck-leon-skum

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 18/03/2025

Switched things up a little in the 4-screen madness that is my office & shack. The upper-right screen is now #TheHolyCluster which I learned about from #VE9CF #HamRadio #AmateurRadio

The 4 screens of my office and ham shack.
Lower left is where I work my day-job.
Upper left is #HamClock
Upper right is #HolyCluster
Lower right is my main Ham machine, running #WSJTxImproved, #flrig, #CQRLog, and #GridMaster

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 08/03/2025

CQ-ing FeldHell on 7048

Tightly cropped screenshot of fldigi and me calling CQ on FeldHel on 7084kHz

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 09/02/2025

Ah. I’ve known of this sort of thing for many years. I’ve just not heard anyone describe them using the word “intruders”. So when I saw that novel (to me) term, in all caps, no less, I thought ya might be the tin foil hat type.

2 actors in “Signs” movie wearing tin (aluminum) foil hats

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 02/02/2025

I can’t seem to stop. www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/7188...

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 02/02/2025

Oh my word. I went to find my login info for the ULS in 1Password. I edited that record in 2022?! Huh. Go to QRZ... NOT EVEN TWO YEARS AGO I RENEWED IT, and I'm already thinking "Oh, geez, I'd better go check!"

Tightly cropped screenshot from QRZ.com shwing my license is...

Effective 2022-05-27
Expires 2032-03-10

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 01/02/2025

Latest #HamRadio Tshirt design. New to cartooning, but I hope to do more of this 1940s style. www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/7185...

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 31/01/2025

Here’s my 1st of many #HamRadio T-shirts of my own design. Arrived yesterday, but it got rushed into the laundry basket. I’m superstitious about wearing anything new (1st layer) before washing.

Puffy old ham wearing a self deprecating T-shirt, posing next to ham radio gear that he operates in a mediocre fashion.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 21/01/2025

They’ve ARRIVED! Excited for next #HamRadio #Antenna experiments.

Two extra large metal Slinkys, sitting by FTdx3000 transceiver.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 20/01/2025

CW is very retro cool. I like it a lot, but boy howdy do I struggle with it.

T-shirt. Pic of microphone upper-left, and straight key lower-right.

The text: "MIC LIKE A CHROME FIST

FIST LIKE A LEAD CLUB"

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 20/01/2025

I've designed a #HamRadio #TShirt that's available at www.teepublic.com/user/kelvind A bit of #SelfDeprecating humor.

Picture of a light purple t-shirt with a white graphic of a big chrome old classic microphone in the upper-left. To the right of it, text says "MIC LIKE A CHROME FIST".

Below that is text that says "FIST LIKE A LEAD CLUB" next to a graphic of a straight key (for morse code).

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 30/12/2024

I feel so click-baited. Apparently the "Controversial Hams" are literal hams, not amateur radio operators.

The Controversial Hams That Helped a French Cathedral Save Its Organ
A bell tower in the Saint-Pierre cathedral hides a meaty secret.
by Emily Monaco December 26, 2024

(Photo from inside a church steeple, with a few racks of hams haning in cheesecloth-like bags.)
Winds from the surrounding plateaus create an ideal environment for curing ham.

In Saint-Flour, a town in the Auvergne region of central France, the highest cathedral in Europe perches at 892 meters (nearly 3,000 feet) above sea level. Saint-Pierre sits at the confluence of the dry winds blowing across the surrounding plateaus, making it, surprisingly, the ideal place to age local hams to perfection.

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n0mql.com @n0mql.com · 23/12/2024

It is one thing to note that 7 stations were heard on #160m #FT8 #HamRadio #HamClock It is yet another thing to note that it is almost a guarantee it’s the same 7 as yesterday… & as last week.

Screenshot of a couple panels of HamClock. On the left: Live Spots, which is merely a count from pskreporter of how many stations I decoded in the past hour on each band.
160m 7
80m 31
60m 10
40m 82
30m 32
20m 56
17m 20
15m 27
12m 26
10m 5
6m 0
2m 0

The square to the right shows the moon phase. Slightly less than the left half is illuminated.

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