New HAM First QSO

[Deleted User] · 28-05-2019 9:42pm

bilbot79 wrote: »

What kit would you recommend for a first time buyer with a limited budget?

I'm kinda fascinated with the idea of tuning into places like France and Spain

Depends , are you just interested in listening ?

Then check out the many online sdr's on the internet, they are free and saves you buying stuff and then not being interested. You need to learn the different modes such as LSB, USB, etc, these are used on the Amateur radio bands , you will use AM for the commercial AM Shortwave stations.

If you want a radio then start with something like a Tecsun PL-660 , it's got a very good sensitive radio for Shortwave, for ham radio bands but it's useless on Longwave and Mediumwave.

You should be able to pick one up at a good price.

Get a long wire antenna , about 10-15 meters of wire and attach it to the telescopic antenna on the radio, just remove a few inchs of the insulation to expose the bare wire and connect it and remove it to see the massive difference it makes. But it can overload the radio with strong signals especially at night so you need to use the attenuation button called "DX, Local" DX being minimum attenuation to receive weaker stations.

As a start for long distance station finding you could try to see if you can catch Radio Havana Cuba on 6,000 Khz at 2am - 8am and also on 6060 Khz, 6100 Khz and 5040 Khz around Midnight.

Depending on conditions Radio Havana Cuba can boom in or sometimes can hardly hear it it due to conditions and or static from thunderstorms especially in Summer, lightning can be heard a massive distance away.

RHC English program can have very interesting programming and news you won't hear on Irish media, culture related material you also won't hear on Irish radio you will hear on Shortwave radio.

Then if you get more into the hobby of radio you can expiriment with different antennas and get a SDR Radio such as the SDR Play RSP1A , a good radio but needs a good external antenna purposely built for wide band receiving to cover all bands such as a Wellbrook loop or a Bonito Loop, the Bonito I have a love it. Or if you can find a Bonito MA305 Whip antenna it's astonishingly good for the size of it. A long wire antenna will not work well at all with a SDR radio, you connect this to your computer.

Check out the online Kiwi sdr's here at
https://sdr.hu/

I have 2 online , but are offline now because I ran out of credit for the three internet. Check back tomorrow evening and I should have them back online.

http://emeraldsdr1.ddns.net:8073

http://emeraldsdr.ddns.net:8074/

The best thing about shortwave listening and also Longwave and Medium wave is that you don't know what you are going to hear, what conversation or music or whatever.

Good luck and any questions, ask, it's a very interesting and mostly lifelong hobby if you get hooked.

If it interests you then go to the IRTS website and get the study material for the Amateur radio license and take the exam, once you have the license you can transmit when you want , you will always have it, it has to be renewed every 5 years, think it's free but anyway , get going have fun and hopefully some day you'll get on the air.

I used to think messing about with PC building and raspberry Pi's was interesting but nothing gives me the buzz of making contacts on the radio with only 5 watts of RF power, amazing , sure I'll still play about with them for my SDR projects but computers doesn't give me nearly as much satisfaction as this hobby. ( oh and cycling which I hope to get back into ) :-)

[Deleted User] · 29-05-2019 12:00am

I should also add that it's important to get the antenna up outside as high as possible and away from any house as much as possible.

Homes are plagued with electronic interference called RFI or QRM in the ham radio world.

Devices such as laptops, pc's , laptop chargers, phone chargers , old skool LCD tv's with fluorescent back lit screens are horrible sources of interference that can travel 30 -40 meters away.

Ethernet over powerline adaptors are also horrible sources of noise along with some LED lightbulbs, stay away from generic "Woodies" type bulbs and buy Philips or Osram.

If you get a radio like the Tecsun PL-660 and find it's picking up lots of noise then try locate that noise and see if it's coming from your own house first, the tecsun is a portable battery powered radio , you can cut the power to the house via the consumer unit, just hit the main trip switch until the whole house goes off and see if that makes a difference, if it does then happy hunting :-)

Those in housing estates and apartments will be particularly vulnerable to noise sources which can wipe out all but the strongest of signals.

[Deleted User] · 30-05-2019 12:34am

Jesus, this hobby amazes me more and more, get a load of this.

Was chatting to K8NY ( Bob ) form West Virginia on my old Yaesu FT-77 pulling about 60 watts, turns out he knows a Man I met for the first time at a funeral on Saturday ! He's also a Ham but isn't that amazing ? he was here visiting him last year !

I love this Hobby, it's just amazing haha.

[Deleted User] · 06-06-2019 1:12am

Just got furthest contact so far, I'm delighted , PV8AL , 7.195 Mhz , in Brazil, just running 100 watts and an end fed half wave antenna.

I love this hobby !

7,434 Kms , amazing , love it !

[Deleted User] · 15-06-2019 1:50am

Just got TI2CF in Costa Rica , over 8,000 Kms, good QSO, happy with that. I was using the ICOM Remote RS-B1A V 2 software from the sitting room , the IC-7300 is in the Attic room, the RS-BA1 V2 is a pig to set up but got it working, had some lovely QSO's in the U.K too.

bilbot79 · 16-06-2019 8:28am

Are you able to listen to pilots and police radio etc?

[Deleted User] · 16-06-2019 1:59pm

bilbot79 wrote: »

Are you able to listen to pilots and police radio etc?

Police no, Air traffic yes.

You can get the Shanwick air traffic Shortwave frequencies here.

https://www.iaa.ie/air-traffic-management/north-atlantic-communications

You can google other air traffic frequencies from around the world.

You can also listen on VHF with a scanner to more local frequencies but unless close to the Dublin Airport Tower you will unlikely hear the tower unless you got a good roof top antenna.

To listen first go to my SDR linked below and find the frequencies, you might have to wait a little while to hear anything, reception varies from time to time.

Tune or type in the frequency and select USB mode and not AM/FM etc.

http://emeraldsdr1.ddns.net:8073

If you want to try listen yourself on an actual radio then get the Tecsun PL-660 portable radio and get about 30-40 feet of wire and throw one end up in a tree as high as you can , the way to do this is get a light piece of rope with a weight attached and fire it over a branch high as you can then get the antenna wire and tie it to the rope with pull up the antenna wire via the rope until it gets near the branch then tie off the rope to another part of the tree.

Bring the other end of the wire strip off the insulation a few cm and wrap it around the telescopic antenna on the radio.

The Difference is night and day, ou will be able to hear tonnes more stations, signals with the long outdoor antenna compared to telescopic built in antenna but at night when signals are stronger you can easily overload the receiver which will cause signals to appear where they are not actually transmitting so to reduce this you can use the attenuation switch on the radio, low,med,hi setting.

You can also get a sdr radio and connect it to your laptop, get the SDR play but this can cause other problems such as increased interference from the laptop and the laptop power supply and you will need a much better receiving antenna one designed for shortwave listening.

If using the Tecsun PL-660 keep it away from sources of electrical noise such as LED lights, Old Skool fluorescent tv's , plasma tv, LED TV for the most part seems to be ok. Dimmer switches, Broadband modems etc all introduce noise ont he lw/mw and Shortwave bands sometimes to the point it can wipe out all but the strongest of signals.

Using a good physical radio is nice but everything is going SDR even the amateur radio stuff and eventually commercial built consumer radios but there are very few manufacturers of multi band radios particularly those that include shortwave which is a shame because there is still a hell of a lot on Shortwave and will remain forever, Activity on Shortwave has slowed down for sure but there's still plenty to listen to especially the Amateur radio bands which is as popular and busy as ever.

Most of all Shortwave is fascinating and exciting and a good hobby even if just listening, there's something special about catching signals from very far away without using the internet only antenna to antenna helped by the Earths atmosphere.

[Deleted User] · 21-08-2019 11:05pm

I love this hobby, just made contact with CB70E in Chile on 14.242 Mhz.

Gotta love this hobby, amazing what you can do with 100 watts and an end fed half wave antenna !

The myantennas.com EFHW 8010 is doing good !

SlowBlowin · 21-08-2019 11:12pm

Was that SSB ? Hows the morse coming along ?

[Deleted User] · 21-08-2019 11:20pm

SlowBlowin wrote: »

Was that SSB ? Hows the morse coming along ?

Yep SSB, I was thrilled !

Sadly no morse practice yet. Would be handy if there were good apps on IOS like Android.

martinedwards · 24-08-2019 6:14am

Deleted User wrote: »

Sadly no morse practice yet. Would be handy if there were good apps on IOS like Android.

That MAY be because Hams write the apps and Apple are GITS when it comes to allowing folk to publish stuff!

I Learned with online websites rather than apps.... apple will let you use them..... probably!:p

[Deleted User] · 24-08-2019 10:21am

martinedwards wrote: »

That MAY be because Hams write the apps and Apple are GITS when it comes to allowing folk to publish stuff!

I Learned with online websites rather than apps.... apple will let you use them..... probably!:p

Yes I'll have to do something because it would be nice to have morse under my belt.

The apps I saw on youtube were very handy though.

martinedwards · 24-08-2019 5:36pm

http://www.g4fon.net/CW%20Trainer.htm

the absolute business!

DaveColt · 24-09-2019 8:55am

Nice neat setup!

[Deleted User] · 24-09-2019 7:11pm

DaveColt wrote: »

Nice neat setup!

Cheers, it's different now, got a desk :-) + IC-7300 and use the FT-891 portable + Superantenna MP1 which is really handy to setup.

Shyboy · 04-11-2019 4:13pm

Eventually, after having to cancel back in May, I have my Amateur Station exam on 14th November.

I have been studying most evenings between work and family life but have so much more to do between now and then?

Some of it is quite straight-forward as I have always had an interest in radio, but I am struggling with the electrical circuitry side of it, capacitors, resistors, etc. as I am not from a technical background so I hope there is not too much in the exam about that?

Mad_Lad, I think I remember you saying that you found the exam difficult in general, although thankfully you did pass?

[Deleted User] · 04-11-2019 4:37pm

Shyboy wrote: »

Eventually, after having to cancel back in May, I have my Amateur Station exam on 14th November.

I have been studying most evenings between work and family life but have so much more to do between now and then?

Some of it is quite straight-forward as I have always had an interest in radio, but I am struggling with the electrical circuitry side of it, capacitors, resistors, etc. as I am not from a technical background so I hope there is not too much in the exam about that?

Mad_Lad, I think I remember you saying that you found the exam difficult in general, although thankfully you did pass?

Yes , they threw in some unnecessary questions that I thought were particularly hard.

I know I shouldn't complain because the U.K full license is much , much harder to obtain I believe ? which is again, unnecessary, the idea should be to increase the numbers of Hams not intimidate them with an exam that's harder than it should be.

I got caught up in the electrical end of things, while I'm more technically minded I wasn't familiar with Ohms law etc etc so spent much more time than I should have on the electronics end because if I remember correctly they only asked one question on capacitors or resistors, can't remember which now but you still have to know because a question or more will come up, there's no telling what will come up in this exam or in May.

Know is the beacon frequencies, I got caught on that.

Know the band plan inside out and upside down.

Know regulations inside out, Antennas, SWR , etc.

Everything you need to know is on the IRTS site, forget UK study , forget New Zealand study material, 100% of everything you need to know is on the IRTS site.

I have my license 6 months ( time flies ) now and I love every minute of the hobby, I've spent way too much more than I should or more than the XYL knows

but no one needs to spend big bucks, a simple old radio and antenna will get you on the air.

I'm only now starting to think about digital modes, I ran an antenna to the sitting room for when I'm snug in the sitting room and can't be arsed going to the shack and thought I'd look in to PSK31 , I do not like FT8 and other Zombie modes that have absolutely no human interaction , at least I can still talk to a human in some form , when someone is not just interested in macros but just to try something new , when using PSK 31 I won't have to use the mic and talk with the XYL in the sitting room when she is watching the telly.

PSK31 will also work well when I go to my mother and the QRM is too bad and the kids are entertaining themselves not looking for my attention I can make some qso's even when they are going nuts. I will hopefully give it a go when I am more familiar with how a QSO works.

It's really great to go from Short wave listener to Ham radio. Being able to have QSO with someone in Chile with only 100 Watts is just incredible. I don't be on at the right times for Asia, Australia or New Zealand mostly so have no QSO's from there yet.

Anyway it's a really entertaining fun hobby that will provide me hopefully many many, years of interest.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes !

orm0nd · 04-11-2019 5:23pm

Back on the airwaves here and really having fun.

Worked a lot of JA and a few vk amongst others this am on ft8. Still have to sort more aerials.

Having a lash at the 80 mtr rsgb ft4 contest later this evening.

Best of luck to anyone sitting the exam ..73

[Deleted User] · 04-11-2019 6:38pm

orm0nd wrote: »

Back on the airwaves here and really having fun.

Worked a lot of JA and a few vk amongst others this am on ft8. Still have to sort more aerials.

Having a lash at the 80 mtr rsgb ft4 contest later this evening.

Best of luck to anyone sitting the exam ..73

I don't get the FT8 and similar modes , what's the interest ?

Shyboy · 04-11-2019 10:26pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes , they threw in some unnecessary questions that I thought were particularly hard.

I know I shouldn't complain because the U.K full license is much , much harder to obtain I believe ? which is again, unnecessary, the idea should be to increase the numbers of Hams not intimidate them with an exam that's harder than it should be.

I got caught up in the electrical end of things, while I'm more technically minded I wasn't familiar with Ohms law etc etc so spent much more time than I should have on the electronics end because if I remember correctly they only asked one question on capacitors or resistors, can't remember which now but you still have to know because a question or more will come up, there's no telling what will come up in this exam or in May.

Know is the beacon frequencies, I got caught on that.

Know the band plan inside out and upside down.

Know regulations inside out, Antennas, SWR , etc.

Everything you need to know is on the IRTS site, forget UK study , forget New Zealand study material, 100% of everything you need to know is on the IRTS site.

I have my license 6 months ( time flies ) now and I love every minute of the hobby, I've spent way too much more than I should or more than the XYL knows but no one needs to spend big bucks, a simple old radio and antenna will get you on the air.

I'm only now starting to think about digital modes, I ran an antenna to the sitting room for when I'm snug in the sitting room and can't be arsed going to the shack and thought I'd look in to PSK31 , I do not like FT8 and other Zombie modes that have absolutely no human interaction , at least I can still talk to a human in some form , when someone is not just interested in macros but just to try something new , when using PSK 31 I won't have to use the mic and talk with the XYL in the sitting room when she is watching the telly.

PSK31 will also work well when I go to my mother and the QRM is too bad and the kids are entertaining themselves not looking for my attention I can make some qso's even when they are going nuts. I will hopefully give it a go when I am more familiar with how a QSO works.

It's really great to go from Short wave listener to Ham radio. Being able to have QSO with someone in Chile with only 100 Watts is just incredible. I don't be on at the right times for Asia, Australia or New Zealand mostly so have no QSO's from there yet.

Anyway it's a really entertaining fun hobby that will provide me hopefully many many, years of interest.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes !

Thanks Mad_Lad for the head's up. I know that you never know for sure what questions will come up so I am trying to get familiar with every aspect just in case.

Really want to pass so trying to put every spare hour or two into revision...

[Deleted User] · 05-11-2019 11:11am

Shyboy wrote: »

Thanks Mad_Lad for the head's up. I know that you never know for sure what questions will come up so I am trying to get familiar with every aspect just in case.

Really want to pass so trying to put every spare hour or two into revision...

No bother, definitely concentrate on the band plans, know it inside out, beacon frequencies on each band also.

Rules, Regulations, know them all inside out and you can't go wrong, know the electrical end too because remember there are 2 sections and you have to get a pass in both. Don't focus too much on Resistors, Capacitors.

SWR, Antennas oh and definitely know the block diagrams of the receiver they will probably ask questions on this.

orm0nd · 05-11-2019 11:50am

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't get the FT8 and similar modes , what's the interest ?

horses for courses, just another branch of the hobby,

started on cb in the early 70's literally worked the world on 11 mts ssb , mostly mobile with 50w into a k40

always had a slight hearing difficulty and could never master cw, over the years my hearing loss has increased and I now struggle big time with voice, (having said that I'll try to give out a few point (very few I reckon but taking part is waht's it's all about) in the UKEI contest 2 moro night.

tried psk , rtty , fell. jt65 etc, etc, and now other than a couple of RY contests they don't appeal to me anymore,

I contest for fun and to try to improve my operating procedure,

had a better than I expected run last night . I had worked out a plan and it seemed to work ok, having said that I failed to work a couple of the longer distance stations , lesson learned there and need to work on aerial system (again this is only for my own achievment and keep upping my game)

good conditions on 30m this morn and plenty of ei activity working ja etc on ft8

sorry for a very long reply to a simple query , i know hams licensed for decades who never tx on air, instead they're into home brew, aerial design, and in later years software, so whatever tickles your fancy

enjoy the hobby , hopefully work some of you folk on air or on the waterfall soon, 73

[Deleted User] · 05-11-2019 11:59am

orm0nd wrote: »

horses for courses, just another branch of the hobby,

started on cb in the early 70's literally worked the world on 11 mts ssb , mostly mobile with 50w into a k40

always had a slight hearing difficulty and could never master cw, over the years my hearing loss has increased and I now struggle big time with voice, (having said that I'll try to give out a few point (very few I reckon but taking part is waht's it's all about) in the UKEI contest 2 moro night.

tried psk , rtty , fell. jt65 etc, etc, and now other than a couple of RY contests they don't appeal to me anymore,

I contest for fun and to try to improve my operating procedure,

had a better than I expected run last night . I had worked out a plan and it seemed to work ok, having said that I failed to work a couple of the longer distance stations , lesson learned there and need to work on aerial system (again this is only for my own achievment and keep upping my game)

good conditions on 30m this morn and plenty of ei activity working ja etc on ft8

sorry for a very long reply to a simple query , i know hams licensed for decades who never tx on air, instead they're into home brew, aerial design, and in later years software, so whatever tickles your fancy

enjoy the hobby , hopefully work some of you folk on air or on the waterfall soon, 73

Thanks for the reply,

I guess being one who likes to talk to other people a lot I kind of fail to understand the attraction to some digital modes and when you said some hams never talk on air it reminded me of a ham friend of mine who doesn’t frequently talk on ESB he’s more of a tinkerer and experimenter, unfortunately I lack that level of time and commitment having to work shift and take care of two small boys when I’m off but I’m hoping to attract them to the hobby, my youngest is shown a keen interest , just messing about with the radio tuning and pressing buttons but he loves it.

So I suppose whatever keeps people in the hobby.

Shyboy · 14-11-2019 9:58pm

So, I sat the exam this afternoon. It was the first exam of any description I have sat in about 25 years, so I was so bloody nervous over the last few days leading up to it.

I found the first section much easier than the second. I thought I would not remember the band plans, but surprisingly I answered any questions fairly confidently on them. Also, regulations, safety, etc. I found not too difficult. I thought they would be worse...

But....Section two was a different story for me. I am no way as confident with how I did here? I drew a blank at a fair few questions and had them narrowed down to a 50/50 choice between two answers, but there was certainly guesswork for about 50% of the questions. Even on the long drive home to Galway and recapping it all in my head, I realised that I picked wrong answers to a few...I could kick myself!! :mad:

So, all in all...I feel I may have scraped the 60% pass in the first section...but will be shocked if I have in the second one...:(

[Deleted User] · 14-11-2019 10:26pm

Shyboy wrote: »

So, I sat the exam this afternoon. It was the first exam of any description I have sat in about 25 years, so I was so bloody nervous over the last few days leading up to it.

I found the first section much easier than the second. I thought I would not remember the band plans, but surprisingly I answered any questions fairly confidently on them. Also, regulations, safety, etc. I found not too difficult. I thought they would be worse...

But....Section two was a different story for me. I am no way as confident with how I did here? I drew a blank at a fair few questions and had them narrowed down to a 50/50 choice between two answers, but there was certainly guesswork for about 50% of the questions. Even on the long drive home to Galway and recapping it all in my head, I realised that I picked wrong answers to a few...I could kick myself!! :mad:

So, all in all...I feel I may have scraped the 60% pass in the first section...but will be shocked if I have in the second one...:(

Don't let it torment you the next 2- 2.5 weeks, I felt the same , you did your best and that's all you can do.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

[Deleted User] · 14-11-2019 10:37pm

orm0nd wrote: »

horses for courses, just another branch of the hobby,

started on cb in the early 70's literally worked the world on 11 mts ssb , mostly mobile with 50w into a k40

always had a slight hearing difficulty and could never master cw, over the years my hearing loss has increased and I now struggle big time with voice, (having said that I'll try to give out a few point (very few I reckon but taking part is waht's it's all about) in the UKEI contest 2 moro night.

tried psk , rtty , fell. jt65 etc, etc, and now other than a couple of RY contests they don't appeal to me anymore,

I contest for fun and to try to improve my operating procedure,

had a better than I expected run last night . I had worked out a plan and it seemed to work ok, having said that I failed to work a couple of the longer distance stations , lesson learned there and need to work on aerial system (again this is only for my own achievment and keep upping my game)

good conditions on 30m this morn and plenty of ei activity working ja etc on ft8

sorry for a very long reply to a simple query , i know hams licensed for decades who never tx on air, instead they're into home brew, aerial design, and in later years software, so whatever tickles your fancy

enjoy the hobby , hopefully work some of you folk on air or on the waterfall soon, 73

I had my first PSK31 contact a few days ago, I was happy, something different, I was slow and not used to the Macros but hey, everyone has to learn.

There is a massive amount of FT8 traffic which is disappointing for me who likes some form of Human contact but still a decent amount of activity compared to PSK31.

I'm using the Xiegu G90 which is a very good little 20 Watt SDR transceiver. I have used the IC-7300 but just want to keeps things separate for digital and 20 watts is enough.

I am getting a RC LiFeP04 battery 8.4 ah 4 S which should give me a good few hrs use, at full throttle the little 20 watt SDR radio consumes a little above 4 amps , that would be 2 hrs continuous use which doesn't happen so I am betting for 3-4 hrs use the same for 100 watt SSB, I can use this with my FT-891 100 watt rig also.

I was using a car battery and have a watt meter hooked up and 8 amp hrs can get me a good few hrs @100 watts so the little 1 Kg battery should keep me going for the same time.

I will use digital more in the sitting room for when I don't want to go up to the shack and I won't be disturbing the XYL and in my Mothers where the QRM can be bad from all the electrical noise.

For PSK31 I am using FLdigi and an old dell laptop, I got it installed on my chromebook which I intend to try out sometime next week, Chrome OS now allows you install linux apps which is dead handy.

SlowBlowin · 14-11-2019 11:32pm

Shyboy wrote: »

So, I sat the exam this afternoon. It was the first exam of any description I have sat in about 25 years, so I was so bloody nervous over the last few days leading up to it.

I found the first section much easier than the second. I thought I would not remember the band plans, but surprisingly I answered any questions fairly confidently on them. Also, regulations, safety, etc. I found not too difficult. I thought they would be worse...

But....Section two was a different story for me. I am no way as confident with how I did here? I drew a blank at a fair few questions and had them narrowed down to a 50/50 choice between two answers, but there was certainly guesswork for about 50% of the questions. Even on the long drive home to Galway and recapping it all in my head, I realised that I picked wrong answers to a few...I could kick myself!! :mad:

So, all in all...I feel I may have scraped the 60% pass in the first section...but will be shocked if I have in the second one...:(

I will keep my fingers crossed for you, do let the thread know, its an annoying wait.

I remember sitting mine, we lived in the South of the UK at the time and my mum drove me to Matlock in Derby to take the test (it was the last minute venue for the UK). I was 14 at the time (in the 70s) and the results took months and like you I was positive I failed, by the time they came through (I passed) I had discovered girls, and it was 30 years later before I applied for my licence.

orm0nd · 14-11-2019 11:38pm

Shyboy wrote: »

So, I sat the exam this afternoon. It was the first exam of any description I have sat in about 25 years, so I was so bloody nervous over the last few days leading up to it.

I found the first section much easier than the second. I thought I would not remember the band plans, but surprisingly I answered any questions fairly confidently on them. Also, regulations, safety, etc. I found not too difficult. I thought they would be worse...

But....Section two was a different story for me. I am no way as confident with how I did here? I drew a blank at a fair few questions and had them narrowed down to a 50/50 choice between two answers, but there was certainly guesswork for about 50% of the questions. Even on the long drive home to Galway and recapping it all in my head, I realised that I picked wrong answers to a few...I could kick myself!! :mad:

So, all in all...I feel I may have scraped the 60% pass in the first section...but will be shocked if I have in the second one...:(

you done your best, hopefully you'll get through ok, fingers xx

Deleted User wrote: »

I had my first PSK31 contact a few days ago, I was happy, something different, I was slow and not used to the Macros but hey, everyone has to learn.

There is a massive amount of FT8 traffic which is disappointing for me who likes some form of Human contact but still a decent amount of activity compared to PSK31.

I'm using the Xiegu G90 which is a very good little 20 Watt SDR transceiver. I have used the IC-7300 but just want to keeps things separate for digital and 20 watts is enough.

I am getting a RC LiFeP04 battery 8.4 ah 4 S which should give me a good few hrs use, at full throttle the little 20 watt SDR radio consumes a little above 4 amps , that would be 2 hrs continuous use which doesn't happen so I am betting for 3-4 hrs use the same for 100 watt SSB, I can use this with my FT-891 100 watt rig also.

I was using a car battery and have a watt meter hooked up and 8 amp hrs can get me a good few hrs @100 watts so the little 1 Kg battery should keep me going for the same time.

I will use digital more in the sitting room for when I don't want to go up to the shack and I won't be disturbing the XYL and in my Mothers where the QRM can be bad from all the electrical noise.

For PSK31 I am using FLdigi and an old dell laptop, I got it installed on my chromebook which I intend to try out sometime next week, Chrome OS now allows you install linux apps which is dead handy.

a lot of activity on ft8 alright, I done a lot of psk years ago when the kids were young and either studying or gone to bed as the shack is indoors.

have a problem here I can't get to the root of,
the waterfall screen on Flidgi or MMVARI is almost completely dark with only a slight flicker from the strongest signals, on all modes, yet wsjt-x seems to work ok with the same hookup/settings , decoding signals fine but to find them is the problem

using a microham usb2 interface , all levels are up the max, and tried 2 different laptops , swapped leads, sound cards etc, all radio settings double checked , and reinstalled the interface router

I run the MMVARI engine with N1MM logger and the issue arose during the rsgb data contest, a few evenings back ,

any how we'll sort it eventually (hopefully) though not much help on google etc,

[Deleted User] · 15-11-2019 12:39am

orm0nd wrote: »

a lot of activity on ft8 alright, I done a lot of psk years ago when the kids were young and either studying or gone to bed as the shack is indoors.

have a problem here I can't get to the root of,
the waterfall screen on Flidgi or MMVARI is almost completely dark with only a slight flicker from the strongest signals, on all modes, yet wsjt-x seems to work ok with the same hookup/settings , decoding signals fine but to find them is the problem

using a microham usb2 interface , all levels are up the max, and tried 2 different laptops , swapped leads, sound cards etc, all radio settings double checked , and reinstalled the interface router

I run the MMVARI engine with N1MM logger and the issue arose during the rsgb data contest, a few evenings back ,

any how we'll sort it eventually (hopefully) though not much help on google etc,

Sounds like audio levels , strange if it was working.

You didn't by any chance turn the sensitivity of the waterfall down ? try turn it up. Maybe your interface is bust ?

Shyboy · 15-11-2019 9:35am

Deleted User wrote: »

Don't let it torment you the next 2- 2.5 weeks, I felt the same , you did your best and that's all you can do.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

Thanks Mad_Lad. I am a bit of a perfectionist at heart, so I do beat myself up a bit when I feel that I have slipped up on things I should have known?

Anyway, the worst that can happen is that I take it again next May. At least, I know the format and know the topics that I need to concentrate a little more on.

I will keep you posted.

New HAM First QSO

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