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Exam passed.. callsign inbound.

  • 04-08-2020 9:49pm
    #1
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭


    Nice. .PDF in my newly opened Comreg E-Licensing account:
    Dear Popoutman,
    Further to the recent Amateur Radio examination held on 25/07/2020 at Maldron Hotel, Tallaght, Dublin 24, I am pleased to inform you that you have been successful and have attained a standard sufficient for the award of the HAREC Certificate which is available below.
    Section A 27/30
    Section B 24/30
    Overall 51/60
    Candidates who wish to obtain or upgrade an Amateur Station Licence based on this qualification may
    apply via the on line portal which is available on this site: https://elicensing.comreg.ie. Go to "Apply for a
    Licence" on the home page.

    Yours sincerely,
    Licensing Operations Manager

    And I've already made my application to Comreg for my callsign..

    Then I'll be finally legally allowed to play with WSPR, FT8, SSB and slowly but surely CW. I'll also be allowed to legally own the FT-817 and FT-891 that I have access to, and to use the antennas I have built and bought over the past few months..


«1

Comments

  • #2
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    Lo and behold - callsign allocated in my e-licensing account.

    PM me if anyone wants it - I'm obviously not posting it up here :D


  • #3
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    One week later, been a nice week on the air.

    I've ~40 QSOs made between FT8 and voice, and a few are validated on hrdlog.net and qrz.com.
    Mostly using the FT-891 and the DX Commander all-band vertical - that's a great antenna, especially with the 80m inverted-L addition. I'm also using an Aerial-51 404UL off-centre-fed dipole, sitting on top of a Chinese 10m carbon fishing pole from AliExpress. That's also got some great characteristics.

    My FT-817ND is proving to be a great portable item, but I have to build myself a pair of SlimJim antennas for 2m and 70cm, and I'll be able to hit the Southeast Repeater Network via the repeater on DevilsBit mountain. I've too much RG8 coax between the house and the DXC-80 for it to be useful as a transmit antenna. My antenna components will arrive later next week and I'll get the soldering iron and antenna analyser out for a bit of fun.

    After building up the QRP-Labs U3S beacon kits, it's been really good to see just how far 0.02 Watts will reach - and it'll reach transatlantic. With a power that would have trouble keeping an LED visible in daytime! Amazing.

    I think my neighbours here in suburbia are wondering what's going on, as I've got three ~10m poles sticking straight up in the air with wires hanging from them, and with me in the garden at times with the -897 transceiver saying strange things into a microphone. What's a "Calling CQ" mean anyway!

    It also appears that my repurposed ATX power supply won't work for what I had hoped it would, as it appears that the 12v it outputs means the FT-891 rolls back its transmit power to about 50w instead of the requested 100W. A good linear supply was in my future anyway..


  • #4
    Tow
    Registered Users Posts: 6,349 ✭✭✭Tow


    At lease in this day and age "Calling CQ" is less lightly to be to be coming out their TV/Radio speakers :-)

    When is the money (including lost growth) Michael Noonan took in the Pension Levy going to be paid back?



  • #5
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    Very valid. These days it's much more likely that the neighbour's network hardware between their Eircom router and their Sky box is making a hash of the shortwave spectrum..


  • #6
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Congrats for passing the Exam, it's a great feeling isn't it ?

    I was pretty nervous for my first couple of qso's.

    Don't rush out and buy more radios, that FT-891 is a superb radio with a really quiet receiver, I prefer it a lot more to the 7300 because the Audio is so good without any DSP or NR.

    If I were to know better back when I got the 7300 I would have got the Kenwood TS-590SG, why ? because it's also got a great receiver + the ergonomics are a lot better than the 7300, it's just a much nicer radio to use and it sounds better with better filters and because it's got a built in panadapter you can add your own SDR and have it on a much larger screen than they puny useless screen on the 7300.

    Originally I was considering the FTDX-3000 because of Yaesu's superior Noise reduction and Audio but as I was working shift at the time I chose the 7300 for the remote access via the RS-B1A software which isn't that good.

    The FT-891 Audio I could listen to forever it's just so good, the 7300 has a kind of harshness to the audio that is fatiguing even with NR,t he ting is that the FT-891 has much better audio without any NR or DSP, I always listen with headphones, the 891 speaker isn't great but shines with headphones.

    In fact, if I were to go the SDR route I would choose the SUN SDR 2 DX the 100 watt, great radio if you want to go the SDR route, Remote access and will work with Linux.

    I am now thinking of finally getting on the repeaters. Have no radio yet for that, Mount Leinster is my nearest, I have clear line of sight, can see the flashing light at night. Anyway, I notice it has the digital modes DStar, Fusion and DMR but no idea which modes are more popular or good O'l Analogue ?


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  • #7
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    Thanks :)

    I'm not mike shy at least, I have that kind of confidence to be able to put myself out there, and not afraid to screw it all up, no-one will really care.

    Agreed re: sound quality of the -891 - it is quite pleasant to listen to, and learning how to manipulate the RF gain and the DNR, with the notch and width and shift really does help to get the voice out of the noise, no doubt about that. I also know that to get that receive quality in a form, factor that is not as menu-driven, I'd have to spend a few grand and I'm not really about to do that (yet..)

    My next purchase will be a power supply (one 23A 12-15V adjustable) on the way from Farnell; and a half-decent amp to be able to reach the 400W limit, though I'll probably get a quality one that will work for contesting as well ( ;-) ) I have my eyes on something solid-state and with ATU - though the DXC-80 doesn't need an ATU.

    I might get myself a 5W 2m/70cm handheld to access the repeaters, but I'm building a pair of SlimJim antennas for the 2m and 70cm band, with some 213 coax, and I'll be trying those with the -817 and seeing how well it works, if it can open the repeater. I can hear the transmissions but not reach the repeater in the Devils Bit from here in Castletroy.

    You sound as though you are in a good position to get on that network. (It's also on echolink and Zello..) I don't know which digi modes are good, it's a missed opportunity for a global open standard for comms; I suppose it's whatever is near you that you can use. At least the repeaters near you are multi-protocol.


  • #8
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    What's the DXC-80 ?

    I was thinking about a solid state amp but then discovered they don't like anything above SWR of 1.5:1 and internal tuners adds a big price, they're much too expensive currently and not supposed to be as reliable as the Valve Amps, there's no real advantage of solid state really and the big disadvantage is the cost so after the advice of some other HAMS Last Friday I got the Acom 1000, and boy is it an impressive amp, tuning takes seconds and it doesn't need a tuner at all up to 3:1 SWR it will output full power + they are easier to fix if they fail + Kinda need an antenna with a low enough SWR anyway when feeding it with Coax and I use the myantennas,com EFHW-8010 great antenna, highest SWR is around 1.8:1 on the higher part of 80m, I could shorten it for lower SWR on 80m but I never saw the need.

    Losses on high SWR via Coax are huge but SWR doesn't tell the full story, Doublets work great and have massive SWR on most bands and feeding them with Coax would be a disaster, most People feed them with ladder line which makes them much more efficient but you definitely need a tuner no matter what amp you get but they are a good antenna.

    I am a fan of the EFHW-8010, I get good NVIS and also good DX with it setup with UNUN around 3 feet from the ground where I have it earthed there then it goes up straight for around 5 meters then swings North up to around 50 feet then it goes East to around 60 feet so I do have a height and half of it is a kind of inverted L but it works extremely well, the Amp makes a difference an I don't need a tuner at all. :D

    If you are into contesting you can get a special temporary license to allow you work I think up to 1.5 Kw. Personally I am not a fan of contesting simply because they are allowed on too many bands and at weekends sometimes they are so annoying with no space for anyone to have a rag chew that I just abandon ship. Some of them run massive power with huge antennas and mic gain and compression turned up so high their signal splatters everywhere!

    I am going to get a handheld for the Mount Leinster Repeater, I have clear line of site from my house so it should work well even inside the house. I am not sure what to get at this time, might get a cheap Yaesu that does Fusion, Mount Leinster has 3 digital modes and of course Analogue is probably the most popular. I was keen on one of the Baofengs until I saw some reviews compared to one of the cheap Yaesu radios and the Yaesu had much better sensitivity + the transmit signal on the baofengs can be dirty causing interference and harmonics and I don't want to be responsible for that + some of the higher powered ones don't output anything close to the rated power but they are very cheap.

    The FT-891 really is a great radio and white strikes me is how quiet the receiver is compared to the 7300. So if you're thinking about a base radio I would avoid the 7300. Get the TS-590SG and use the built in panadapter for the waterfall if you want or the SUN SDR 2 DX which is a pretty great 100 watt SDR.

    We must arrange an O'l rag Chew

    Go to my thread here https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057982287&page=15

    If you're interested the usual time for meet up is around 9pm band permitting, I haven't had a meet up with some of the lads in boards in quite a while but hopefully they'll get the message and come on.

    Usually we post the frequency in the above thread.


  • #9
    Quaderno
    Registered Users Posts: 815 ✭✭✭Quaderno


    Deleted User wrote: »
    What's the DXC-80 ?
    (...)
    I was keen on one of the Baofengs until I saw some reviews compared to one of the cheap Yaesu radios and the Yaesu had much better sensitivity + the transmit signal on the baofengs can be dirty causing interference and harmonics and I don't want to be responsible for that + some of the higher powered ones don't output anything close to the rated power but they are very cheap.
    (...)

    Since I linked to the Baofeng in the other thread I just want to add something here. While you are right in general re. the issues with cheap chinese radios the UV-B5 (not to be confused with the much more common UV-5R) is an exceptional radio for the price. Test here: https://hamgear.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/review-baofeng-uv-b5-baofeng-uv-b6/
    I have been using one for years and it still is my absolute favourite.


  • #10
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    I had a play around with the UV-5R in a ham friends house today, nice radio great sound. No problem accessing the mount Leinster repeater this afternoon inside, it was rather busy which was good to see.

    I am also interested in trying out some digital but from looking at YouTube programming the radios seems to be hassle.

    I’ve seen the yaesu ft-3D which seems pretty cool ?


  • #11
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    DXC-80: The DX Commander All-Band Vertical, with 80m addition. Designed in the UK by Callum of DX Commander Ltd and built in Limerick by yours truly. It's supplied as a kit, and I took about 5 hours to build and tune mine. For the cost of the antenna, the performance is excellent. Even without looking at the cost it's great. Plus rated to 1.5kW if/when I get to that stage. Would *strongly* recommend it if you have the room. My version uses a 10m telescopic mast and up to 6 driven elements, simialr to a fan dipole, but rotated 90 degrees up. Callum is developing a larger version with an 18m pole. I'm looking at it and getting tempted, though I think the neighbours might kick up at a ~60ft spike poking up out of the lawn


    A very good antenna. I've measured my rig output at ~40W at the moment until I get my 13.8v supply on Monday from RS Components, and I'm getting decent distance with those 40W. Was about heard last night in KP20mn in Finland on 80m, and I've made voice contacts without issue on 20m in Canaries and Slovakia. On FT8 I've made QSO with Brazil and Tanzania and the US.

    I've just paid for a secondhand Yaesu FT70DE, I'll have it end of next week. €150 or so all in. Analogue FM, Fusion, and basic Wires-X. I figured it'd be a handy handy.. I got my 450 ohm ladderline today, that I'm hacking up for the 2m and 70cm antennas. Made myself a SlimJim for 145MHz, and I stuck it at the top of the 10m Sotabeams Travelpole I have; and I managed to open the repeater on the Devil's Bit with the 817ND and that's nicely impressive I think. Quite happy with that.

    The Baofengs are great for the price, but easy to overload and heavy on the harmonics. The fact they usually can transmit out of band out of the box means they are technically not legal in Ireland, but I would expect any radio amateur to be responsible about the frequencies they transmit on. I have one, as it's waterproof and it'll work in an emergency on the maritime channels.
    .


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  • #12
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Ah I had a feeling it was a dc commander, hi hi, I have a chameleon mpas 2.0 on the front lawn and regularly get to South America on 20m with just the single supplied counterpoise and 100 watts, got for portable use but because it works so well I decided to leave it up permanently.

    DX commander is good alright but XYL wouldn't like it especially with guy ropes. The chameleon is inconspicuous and the myantennas.com efhqw 8010 is hardly noticeable at all, I regularly get south america with this antenna too and furthest I got was Sidney.

    I was impressed with the little Baofeng UV-5R in my mates, good sound and worked great inside the house. But I am looking for something that will do digital and doesn't take ages to program.

    We'd be easily able to chat via the repeaters, so I'm hoping to have something for next week.


  • #13
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    In the interim, I've gone and bought myself a Folding Antennas Hexbeam for 10dB of directionality on 20/17/15/12/10/6, and I've ordered a 12m aluminium mast to sit the Hexbeam on, as well as some very high quality Messi.it coaxial cables to get the signals in and out.

    The Hexbeam is about 6.2m in diameter, about 7kg or so, and should be relatively easy on the eyes of the neighbours. I am suspecting that the immediate next door (those that are currently bathing in RF from their powerline ethernet boxes of crap) are 5G deniers, so I'm waiting for the explosion of indignation about what I am doing in the comfort of my backyard.. That'll be a fun conversation, as I worked out that their crappy adapters are putting into their house somewhere between x100 and x1000 the level of RF that my antennas put out. Add to that their crappy boxes put a few dB of noise onto the amateur bands and their arguments become utterly pointless.

    Looking at the relative performances of the antenna models, the Hexbeam should in theory give about 2-6dB more signal at 5 to 10 degrees up, so should give better DX capability than the DX Commander - at the loss of the omnidirectionality of the vertical. At least 20m is working well enough of late, being able to reach transatlantic from the noise of suburbia has been a good sign. So, as Cycle 25 starts to ramp up, the higher bands should get better and better for propagation, and it's no harm to me to have the equipment to take advantage of that.

    I also got my hands on a decent EAntennas dualband 2/70 Yagi, with 5el on 2m and 8el on 70cm. I can now open the local repeaters just-about with the 5W of the Yaesu FT-70D so I have a Mirage BD-35 dualband amplifier just clearing customs today, and with the amp, the Yagi, and the FT70 I should be about able to open the repeater on the ISS - but I might need a RHCP antenna instead of the linear polarisation of the Yagi for the sending up. The Yagi will go under my Hexbeam so it'll also be rotatable to get different directions.

    I also took part in SOTA over the weekend just gone, brought a 42m long OCFD wire antenna and my FT891 to the top of the nearest prominent peak (Keeper Hill) and I was chatting to other SOTA activators in Portugal, Spain, and Croatia With a few more contacts made from the top, I got my activation points, and a much better idea of what actually works for both lightweight portable and for luggable portable. I think the 817 is great but doesn't really have the horsepower to be heard on HF at a distance under current conditions, and I have a 40W amp with it but I was not being heard with it when I was trying. Swapping over to the 891 and I was getting more 5-9 reports for only 30W more, and I now have my first SOTA summit activated.


  • #14
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    The 891 is a great radio, can work QRP all the way to 100W. I love it and it's got some super sounding audio which beats the 7300 and the G90. I always listen with headphones, the built in speaker isn't the best but it really shines with headphones. The audio hasn't been mutilated by SDR, good o'l Superhet analogue.

    I haven't got a tower yet, where did you get the 12m one ?

    I can access Mount Leinster repeater no problem from the house and I got this antenna which mde a notable difference over the stock antenna supplied with the Anytone D878.https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B013U3Y36U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Have you looked into DMR yet ?

    Glad you're enjoying the hobby, I love working some digital modes mostly PSK31 and Olivia, FT8 to me is only useful to see how far I'm getting out, a lot of People don't bother replying anyway, JS8 Call is interesting but again, most People are only interested in clicking HB and Ack'ing.

    I really like FLdigi too, if you haven't already check out FLrig which is good for controlling the 891 from the computer and works great with Linux too, handy when just doing some SW listening. Yes, I really do like the FT-891, it's one radio I can guarantee I won't be selling. The G90 will be gone long before, in fact, if anyone is interested in the G90 then make me an offer.


  • #15
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    I now own two DMR radios - Retevis RT83 and RT3; I also fully agree with you that DMR setup is terrible. Once it's set up on e.g. a home hotspot, it's not *too* bad, I dislike the sound quality, makes people sound as though they have adenoid problems (either that or everyone I've heard has adenoid problems which is not an impossibility). I have the radios set up on a duplex hotspot on an RPi3, works well now it's configured. I might have a go at putting more talkgroups on the handsets, if/when I feel inclined.

    I have a second hotspot, simplex on a PiZeroW, and that's configured for my Yaesu FT-70D to talk to, and that's working better. Almost able now to pick and choose the Yaesu room of choice.. The crossover between YSX and DMR mungles the sound a fair bit which is a pity, but the native analogue and digital to real repeaters is definitely much better quality for my ears at least. The fact I can set the Yaesu up to scan the Shannon aero frequencies and can scan through them in under a second is definitely a plus for me. I have a DBJ-2 antenna built by the students of the SlimJim antenna designer Ed Fong, and it's a brilliant little long antenna. Omnidirectional, with a radiation pattern pretty much flat to the horizon. Dualbanded as well so 2/70 both work well. It's my go-to antenna for the FT-70, as I can just hang it up on anything non-conductive and it works. The Yagi is a better directional antenna, but is also unwieldy. More YSX experimentation needed..

    My 12m mast is one of these: https://www.wimo.com/en/accessories/antenna-accessories/masts/18300 purchased from Wimo. It's currently in the UK en route :). I am also getting the associated tripod, and a guying system That should give me opportunity to have my hexbeam up high and stable. I ordered from Wimo themselves.

    The G90 - I'm definitely tempted by that one, it might fit a niche for me for digital use with my RM amplifier. I suspect though that the next transceiver purchase will be a secondhand Yaesu mobile system

    I do absolutely love the FT891 as well - the sound is just brilliant, and I tend to get readability compliments from the far side, which is good..


  • #16
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    Also - one of the really good things about the hobby of Amateur Radio, is that it's very Covid-safe..


  • #17
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Yeah DMR is cool but not designed for HAM use, the hotspot makes a difference, I have the pi-star but should get the Openspot 3 tomorrow, yes pricey but better and internal battery and doesn't need a computer to run like the pi which is slow. It can be turned on and off in seconds and doesn't need to be shut down like the pi-star and this happens via the buttons on the openspot 3.

    The crossmode sound quality is supposed to better too on the openspot. + you can create your own private talk groups which would be really convenient but it's only openspot to openspot I think.

    That mast looks handy aright and a good price.


  • #18
    martinedwards
    Registered Users Posts: 2,043 ✭✭✭martinedwards


    Popoutman wrote: »
    Very valid. These days it's much more likely that the neighbour's network hardware between their Eircom router and their Sky box is making a hash of the shortwave spectrum..

    My son's Phone charger was buzzing along nicely to me calling CQ on CW. :o


  • #19
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    martinedwards wrote: »
    My son's Phone charger was buzzing along nicely to me calling CQ on CW. :o

    what ? really ? rf issues lol. Need resonant antenna perhaps ?


  • #20
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Popoutman wrote: »
    I I am suspecting that the immediate next door (those that are currently bathing in RF from their powerline ethernet boxes of crap) are 5G deniers, so I'm waiting for the explosion of indignation about what I am doing in the comfort of my backyard.. That'll be a fun conversation, as I worked out that their crappy adapters are putting into their house somewhere between x100 and x1000 the level of RF that my antennas put out. Add to that their crappy boxes put a few dB of noise onto the amateur bands and their arguments become utterly pointless.

    You can have Comreg investigate this issue, you have a legal right as per international law not to have the ham radio frequencies interfered with and the person with the offending device has no legal right to be interfering with these frequencies no matter where they got them and no matter what fake marking is on the box, same goes with LEDs a lot of People do not understand that by having interfering led bulbs they're breaking the law, ignorance is no excuse, buy something on Ebay or junck brands in Woodies and it's your fault.

    A lot of broadband issues are related to bad laptop power supplies or bad switch mode power supplies in general.

    A lad in my old work place used to work for Eir and he discovered that a lot of issues were coming from these devices and more than one person with the dodgy device was made to remove them as it was interfering with their broadband service.

    Unfortunately when it comes to amateur radio the person most likely won't know what you're talking about and might think you're on drugs or think there's something mentally wrong with you, so best to have Comreg have someone call out.


  • #21
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    Here's the extent of their interference. Best heard when they do some form of file transfer and the RFI kicks up a few notches, and it lifts the noise floor by a few dB in the notches that are in the system's RF usage:

    Pics are large.

    12m:
    mtA5DUF.png

    15m:
    pSxD4V2.png

    17m:
    yIsA0nZ.png

    20m:
    kscpSvg.png


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  • #22
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Have you got an audio sample ?


  • #23
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    No audio samples at the moment, but it can be heard on the Kiwis quite clearly, I haven't tried to hear the interference on the protected frequencies yet.
    I have a nice cheap SW listening radio that picks it up really clearly, but those frequencies are not protected.


  • #24
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    Updates.

    My FoldingAntennas Hexbeam arrived, I put it together without many issues. The mast and guying system also arrived. First attempt to put up at 12m height made me feel a little uneasy about how much the top was moving around, so I took two sections out and put the hexbeam fibreglass fixing post into the third section's clamp for a very positive hold. I have the Hexbeam at the top of 7 sections of the mast, so about 9m above the ground, and it's well guyed. I am happy enough to have it up during high winds as I was watching how little it moves in the gusts, I'm really glad the Hexbeam has very little wind load.

    The usable results? Well yesterday I had SSB contacts on 10m into Italy and Spain, and 6m into Majorca and Tarragona in Spain, and FT8 contacts on all bands tried. Very happy with how open the bands were, I now have a better understanding of how things are supposed to behave under normal non-solar-minimum conditions, and my appetite is whetted for the future.

    I also had SSB contact on 20m into Bonaire Island and Curacao on Sunday evening, and both stations reported my having a huge clean signal at 59+ to them. I had 57-58 contacts to the American Midwest at about the same time.

    I have a suspicion that I have a narrow lobe on the rear-side of the antenna that is allowing strangely high sensitivity at times, I could hold an SSB conversation with an Italian station (my report was 57-58) when the antenna was pointed to Florida at 280 degrees.

    However the FT8 station A91APD in Bahrain has not responded to my FT8 calls, though I could hear them at -5dB..

    The DX Commander antenna is genuinely amazing, and for the size and space it doesn't take up it is an impressive performer. I am tempted to upgrade to the Nebula antenna that Callum has just released with an 18m pole and the possibility of an 80m 1/4 wave vertical and 40m and 20m 5/8 waves (better dB gain at 5-10 degrees compared to the 1/4 wave). However, with the Hexbeam, I'm seeing SNR improvements of 14-18dB when on-axis for certain signals and that is a huge difference for making signals hearable.

    An interesting observation is that the direction to places is a little non-intuitive if one is used to seeing Mercator projections - it's not intuitive that Sydney Australia is closest at 53 degrees to the NE, and Christchurch is at ~348 degrees to the NNW, and that California is at 311 degrees and Miami Florida is at very slightly north of West at 274 degrees. If one keeps a straight line (note not a constant compass bearing) starting due west from Kerry, the next landmass hit is actually Cuba and not Newfoundland. Great Circles are weird, and Azimuthal projections can be exceptionally useful for radio directions.

    I'm currently at 94 DXCC countries/entities worked in 9 weeks of holding the license, and north of 60 of those are by voice. I've contacted all continents via FT8, and I have only Oceania to contact by voice to make it all continents by phone.

    I now feel a decent QRO amplifier 1-1.5kW in my near future, funds allowing (the Q7 car tax is also due this month..) And the neighbours have not indicated they have any issues, so all good..


  • #25
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Popoutman wrote: »
    Updates.

    My FoldingAntennas Hexbeam arrived, I put it together without many issues. The mast and guying system also arrived. First attempt to put up at 12m height made me feel a little uneasy about how much the top was moving around, so I took two sections out and put the hexbeam fibreglass fixing post into the third section's clamp for a very positive hold. I have the Hexbeam at the top of 7 sections of the mast, so about 9m above the ground, and it's well guyed. I am happy enough to have it up during high winds as I was watching how little it moves in the gusts, I'm really glad the Hexbeam has very little wind load.

    The usable results? Well yesterday I had SSB contacts on 10m into Italy and Spain, and 6m into Majorca and Tarragona in Spain, and FT8 contacts on all bands tried. Very happy with how open the bands were, I now have a better understanding of how things are supposed to behave under normal non-solar-minimum conditions, and my appetite is whetted for the future.

    I also had SSB contact on 20m into Bonaire Island and Curacao on Sunday evening, and both stations reported my having a huge clean signal at 59+ to them. I had 57-58 contacts to the American Midwest at about the same time.

    I have a suspicion that I have a narrow lobe on the rear-side of the antenna that is allowing strangely high sensitivity at times, I could hold an SSB conversation with an Italian station (my report was 57-58) when the antenna was pointed to Florida at 280 degrees.

    However the FT8 station A91APD in Bahrain has not responded to my FT8 calls, though I could hear them at -5dB..

    The DX Commander antenna is genuinely amazing, and for the size and space it doesn't take up it is an impressive performer. I am tempted to upgrade to the Nebula antenna that Callum has just released with an 18m pole and the possibility of an 80m 1/4 wave vertical and 40m and 20m 5/8 waves (better dB gain at 5-10 degrees compared to the 1/4 wave). However, with the Hexbeam, I'm seeing SNR improvements of 14-18dB when on-axis for certain signals and that is a huge difference for making signals hearable.

    An interesting observation is that the direction to places is a little non-intuitive if one is used to seeing Mercator projections - it's not intuitive that Sydney Australia is closest at 53 degrees to the NE, and Christchurch is at ~348 degrees to the NNW, and that California is at 311 degrees and Miami Florida is at very slightly north of West at 274 degrees. If one keeps a straight line (note not a constant compass bearing) starting due west from Kerry, the next landmass hit is actually Cuba and not Newfoundland. Great Circles are weird, and Azimuthal projections can be exceptionally useful for radio directions.

    I'm currently at 94 DXCC countries/entities worked in 9 weeks of holding the license, and north of 60 of those are by voice. I've contacted all continents via FT8, and I have only Oceania to contact by voice to make it all continents by phone.

    I now feel a decent QRO amplifier 1-1.5kW in my near future, funds allowing (the Q7 car tax is also due this month..) And the neighbours have not indicated they have any issues, so all good..

    It's a really great hobby, so much to do, so much to learn. I'm happy enough with my EFHW 8010 for now, just last Friday I think it was I had a quick QSO with a station in Sydney on 40m, I had the Acom 1000 on, I did make it before with 100 watts.

    That same night I even heard traffic from Australia for the first time on 80m but it was weak but heard an Irish Ham make contact with 2 of them, he was using a home made vertical. So it's something I must look into in the future, maybe make a loading coil and some wire and my 12 M spiderbeam.

    Interestingly my MPAS 2.0 performs quite well especially on 20m with just the single counterpoise. I can get to South America on it SSB @100W, I've made several contacts to South America with it.

    On 40M Monday Night on FT8 and 50W I got to Antarctica to a research station. Pretty chuffed with that because Performance would be down with this antenna on 40m but I must try it with more radials.

    I would like a 20 meter tower and Optibeam.......someday, for now I don't have the time for this kind of investment and I spent way too much since May 2015 already.

    regarding contacts replying on FT8, yes I have a big issue with stations not replying despite them hearing me and I them but at least I can see how far I'm being heard, pskreporter is a great tool to have, FT8 stations can set filters to only respond to stations of interest and this is a real shame.

    I love PSK31 and Olivia, they are great digital modes for keyboard to keyboard QSO.

    Even though solar activity is very low the bands are very far from dead.

    If you're considering an Amp I can definitely recommend the Acom 1000, it's so easy to tune and it's got an Attenuator feature which you engage before tuning so you don't have to turn the power down on your radio each time. It's something I hope to keep forever.


  • #26
    orm0nd
    Registered Users Posts: 4,172 ✭✭✭orm0nd


    Popoutman wrote: »
    Updates.

    My FoldingAntennas Hexbeam arrived, I put it together without many issues. The mast and guying system also arrived. First attempt to put up at 12m height made me feel a little uneasy about how much the top was moving around, so I took two sections out and put the hexbeam fibreglass fixing post into the third section's clamp for a very positive hold. I have the Hexbeam at the top of 7 sections of the mast, so about 9m above the ground, and it's well guyed. I am happy enough to have it up during high winds as I was watching how little it moves in the gusts, I'm really glad the Hexbeam has very little wind load.

    The usable results? Well yesterday I had SSB contacts on 10m into Italy and Spain, and 6m into Majorca and Tarragona in Spain, and FT8 contacts on all bands tried. Very happy with how open the bands were, I now have a better understanding of how things are supposed to behave under normal non-solar-minimum conditions, and my appetite is whetted for the future.

    I also had SSB contact on 20m into Bonaire Island and Curacao on Sunday evening, and both stations reported my having a huge clean signal at 59+ to them. I had 57-58 contacts to the American Midwest at about the same time.

    I have a suspicion that I have a narrow lobe on the rear-side of the antenna that is allowing strangely high sensitivity at times, I could hold an SSB conversation with an Italian station (my report was 57-58) when the antenna was pointed to Florida at 280 degrees.

    However the FT8 station A91APD in Bahrain has not responded to my FT8 calls, though I could hear them at -5dB..

    The DX Commander antenna is genuinely amazing, and for the size and space it doesn't take up it is an impressive performer. I am tempted to upgrade to the Nebula antenna that Callum has just released with an 18m pole and the possibility of an 80m 1/4 wave vertical and 40m and 20m 5/8 waves (better dB gain at 5-10 degrees compared to the 1/4 wave). However, with the Hexbeam, I'm seeing SNR improvements of 14-18dB when on-axis for certain signals and that is a huge difference for making signals hearable.

    An interesting observation is that the direction to places is a little non-intuitive if one is used to seeing Mercator projections - it's not intuitive that Sydney Australia is closest at 53 degrees to the NE, and Christchurch is at ~348 degrees to the NNW, and that California is at 311 degrees and Miami Florida is at very slightly north of West at 274 degrees. If one keeps a straight line (note not a constant compass bearing) starting due west from Kerry, the next landmass hit is actually Cuba and not Newfoundland. Great Circles are weird, and Azimuthal projections can be exceptionally useful for radio directions.

    I'm currently at 94 DXCC countries/entities worked in 9 weeks of holding the license, and north of 60 of those are by voice. I've contacted all continents via FT8, and I have only Oceania to contact by voice to make it all continents by phone.

    I now feel a decent QRO amplifier 1-1.5kW in my near future, funds allowing (the Q7 car tax is also due this month..) And the neighbours have not indicated they have any issues, so all good..

    We had a ft 8 qso on 15m about a week ago , I saw you on earlier to day trying for that guy in Sudan ( I Think) . I was throwing everything bar the kitchen sink at him ,to no avail. I hadn't much time and came back a couple of hours later and he was still on but I wasn't copying him.


    running an old hexbeam here which has been patched up a good few times over the years

    Been meaning to erect something for dx on 80 & 160 this winter but so far haven't made a move.

    worked ZL on 40 the other evening and a few VK's on different bands but other than that nothing exotic.

    watch out for openings on LP , point the hex south west and you'll be amazed at the signals from pacific area.

    73 & GD DX


  • #27
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    orm0nd wrote: »
    We had a ft 8 qso on 15m about a week ago , I saw you on earlier to day trying for that guy in Sudan ( I Think) . I was throwing everything bar the kitchen sink at him ,to no avail. I hadn't much time and came back a couple of hours later and he was still on but I wasn't copying him.
    Ah yes, I have you now, you don't have much of an address on QRZ other than the nearest town. You're the other side of the river from me. I was curious where you actually were, given how loud you were to me here!

    orm0nd wrote: »
    watch out for openings on LP , point the hex south west and you'll be amazed at the signals from pacific area.
    Good point - I had not thought much about long path, but of course it may work better than a short path through the auroral regions. Cheers for the pointer.


  • #28
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Did any of you hit that Antarctica station on FT8 the last few nights ?


  • #29
    Malmsteen
    Registered Users Posts: 131 ✭✭Malmsteen


    Hi There Popoutman can I ask what SDR software that is and do you have a link?
    Thanks. 73.


  • #30
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 21,179 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    https://www.sdr-radio.com/download

    It's SDR Console, Windows only Unfortunately.


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  • #31
    Popoutman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭Popoutman


    Yep, I am using SDR Console, written by the same guy that wrote the free versions of Ham Radio Deluxe.

    I use it for a handful of reasons:
    • I can have multiple "profiles" with an instance for each of my SDRs - so one pane for an HF+ Discovery, and another with the output from an RSP1a, and a third from an Airspy, for example.
    • There's a pretty good network client for streaming the SDR's output to an SDR console window on another PC on the network.
    • With the FT-891 and my modification of the buffer amp board picking off signal at the first IF point, I can have a very effective panadapter-type output. Plus, I click on the waterfall and the radio tunes to that point. Absolutely fantastic for hunting for signals.
    • There's an ability to use the ILGRadio SWL database to figure out what the source of a signal may be.
    • The noise cancelling is impressive.
    • I like the look of the waterfall in the "inferno" colour palette. Never underestimate the usefulness of a reasonable UI when spending a fair bit of time looking at it..

    I do use the other SDR software packages, but for my use case the SDR Console ticks the most boxes as the actual radio interface UI.


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