Spectran screenshot of 481THz "treebounce" test 30.1.12 |
Yesterday my 1W ultra-bright LEDs arrived from Hong Kong. When fitted to the beacon these will be VERY bright and will extend the range possible on 481THz yet further. All good fun!
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.
Spectran screenshot of 481THz "treebounce" test 30.1.12 |
"Please rest assured that Yaesu does care about its products, their reliability and performance. We certainly look to resolve any problems as soon as they become known to us. The FT450D is a splendid radio, having done excellently at the T32C DXpedition last year when over 200K QSOs were made with no reports to us of any hum problems."I thought this was an excellent and totally professional response. Yaesu is a first class manufacturer and it is reassuring to see they have taken on board the hum issue in this otherwise excellent little radio and have now taken steps to properly fix it on new build units.
"PSK2k is high speed meteor scatter software written by Klaus DJ5HG (Prof. of Computer Science at University Hamburg). It allows 2 way MS QSO’s to be conducted with any suitable transceiver/PC/soundcard combination.PSK2k is fully error correcting and call specific in operation so you will only see the QSO in progress and any non-QSO CQ or QST text. All other transmissions (other people also in QSO) are discarded. This allows multiple QSO’s to take place on a single frequency.
PSK2k can be operated in fully automatic mode if required. This enables QSO’s to be completed fully automatically without user intervention. Important advantages are that long term testing can be done, on QRP power for instance, without having to sit an monitor every period."
G8CYW Optical head (April 2011 RadCom) |
RX set-up at Nine Mile Hill on 481THz tonight |
481THz optical receiver with 100mm lens |
The basic KX3 includes:
* 10 watts output typical (13.8V) on 160-6 meters. (Up to 5W using internal batteries)
* All modes (SSB, CW, Data, FM, AM)
* Many features from the Elecraft K3, including the same full-size LCD
* Advanced DSP features, including PSK31 and RTTY text display, noise reduction, auto-notch
* Built-in 8-AA-cell battery holder
* USB serial cable for firmware upgrades and for use with logging/contesting software
Available options include:
* KXPD3 precision attached keyer paddle
* KXFL3 dual-bandwidth roofing filter module for SSB/CW/Data modes
* KXAT3 internal wide-range automatic antenna tuner
* KXBC3 internal NiMH battery charger
* MH3 hand mic with UP/DN VFO controls
* RS232 control cable (optional replacement for supplied USB cable)
"Thilo DL9KCE, reports a threat to amateur radio kits and modified equipment arising from changes to the EMC directive. Currently amateur radio kits and modified equipment are specifically excluded from the directive but under the proposed changes they would be fully subjected to the EMC directive. The resulting high compliance costs could make it uneconomic to develop and sell kits so killing off the kit market. If radio amateurs wished to modify equipment it appears they would also incur additional costs and bureaucratic hassle."The aim of the EU as a common market for trade is sensible but, like many here in the UK, I abhor it when the bureaucrats in Brussels start to interfere and try to fix things that are not broken. I don't want to get into a debate here about the merits of the Euro, but do feel that 2012 will be a year in which the citizens of Europe, and that includes the UK, will face some very tough decisions.
Today, my plan is to go on 10m WSPR with 10mW to see how it goes. If there is some Es, I am hopeful.