Simple QRP projects, 10m, 8m, 6m, 4m, FT8, 160m, WSPR, LF/MF, sub-9kHz, nanowaves and other random stuff, some not related to amateur radio.
18 Sept 2022
10m FT8 RX (Sunday night)
As I totally failed in my quest to copy the EI1KNH beacon, I have QSYed to 10m FT8 RX. I was going to go QRT, but decided to leave things on for a few minutes. The FT8 segment was full of stations from South America. I went QRT then.
Hi Roger - I have been receiving the EI1KNH beacon’s WSPR transmissions pretty consistently since Saturday morning, having left my receiver running continuously since then. WSPR Net shows nearly 70 spots of the transmissions. I have now changed to FT8 to see if that mode is as successful.
To be honest, I’m at a bit of a loss to understand why I can hear the beacon so consistently with the set-up that I have, particularly in light of the antenna - nominally an end-fed half-wave for 40m which is only about 2 metres above ground and bent in the middle in a horizontal Vee!
Yes, that's great. It is odd that I could not detect it at all. I guess your antenna must have some vertical gain in that direction? What strength were you getting it?
I have been monitoring the beacon in FT8 mode since this morning, with only one successful decode. In case it was a matter of poor conditions I switched briefly to WSPR, and was rewarded by success. I went back to FT8, but no further decodes.
It would therefore seem that the path between here and the beacon is reasonably reliable, but only if I use WSPR or some other mode that is able to work with extremely low signal levels. Undoubtedly the reliability would improve if I had a better antenna, but that’s not likely to happen in the immediate future.
Hi Roger -
ReplyDeleteI have been receiving the EI1KNH beacon’s WSPR transmissions pretty consistently since Saturday morning, having left my receiver running continuously since then. WSPR Net shows nearly 70 spots of the transmissions. I have now changed to FT8 to see if that mode is as successful.
To be honest, I’m at a bit of a loss to understand why I can hear the beacon so consistently with the set-up that I have, particularly in light of the antenna - nominally an end-fed half-wave for 40m which is only about 2 metres above ground and bent in the middle in a horizontal Vee!
Regards,
Keith G0RQQ
Yes, that's great. It is odd that I could not detect it at all. I guess your antenna must have some vertical gain in that direction? What strength were you getting it?
ReplyDeleteI would say on average the signals were in the -22 to -25dB range, occasionally as low as -30 and as high as -19dB.
ReplyDeleteI did see a couple of spots by G0KTN reported on WSPR Net, and also one by DC1RDB on Friday.
Nothing on FT8 yet….
Regards,
Keith
I have been monitoring the beacon in FT8 mode since this morning, with only one successful decode. In case it was a matter of poor conditions I switched briefly to WSPR, and was rewarded by success. I went back to FT8, but no further decodes.
ReplyDeleteIt would therefore seem that the path between here and the beacon is reasonably reliable, but only if I use WSPR or some other mode that is able to work with extremely low signal levels. Undoubtedly the reliability would improve if I had a better antenna, but that’s not likely to happen in the immediate future.
Regards,
Keith