The past few years, a lot of time was spent into analysing ionospheric propagation on 60 metres. A number of observations were published on this website showing very remarkable effects, of which signal peaks at specific times were most pronounced. These peaks occur during openings from Europe to the Oceanic region. Long path propagation to… Continue reading »
Similar to the recent retraction of the permits in New Zealand, the ACMA decision not to support amateur use of the 60 m band in Australia is a slap in the face. Invalid arguments and even secrecy were brought forward to support the decision. Why is 15 kHz of spectrum with only 15 Watts radiated… Continue reading »
About two weeks ago, my Alpin 100 suddenly failed whilst transmitting. Shutdown with error 52. The manual stated that the high voltage was less than 1500 V or over 3300 V. I tried to restart and immediately went to the HV menu, the voltage was about 2100 V, which was much lower than the expected… Continue reading »
Today, I received very sad news about expiry of the 60 m trial licenses in New Zealand. On October 24th, the 60 metres band in New Zealand will become silent. I very well remember the first contacts back in January 2018 and at the time, I did not know about the very good propagation between… Continue reading »
Having read about WSJT-X version 2.3.0 with the new FST4 protocols, curiosity drove me to perform some tests. In the past, I wrote about FT8 and the fact that its sensitivity is considerably less than JT65 or JT9, leading to lost DX opportunities. Especially on 60 metres, the restricted power levels pose an additional challenge… Continue reading »
Not too long ago, a pre-owned Icom IC-7100 was acquired, as a replacement for the IC-706 mk II. Although the 706 is a small, versatile and a “value for money” little devil, it has its habits. On 2 metres, the frequency drift is very annoying and way too excessive for narrowband digital modes. Even in… Continue reading »
There were times when there was only one type of amateur radio licence. One had to pass a technical exam and a Morse code test, because telegraphy was the standard operation mode. Later on, a separate licence became available without the Morse test and only gave access to VHF and up. My first exam was… Continue reading »
In September, I paid a visit to Bernard, F6GYH. Bernard lives in Fayl-Billot, which is about 15 minutes of driving from my French QTH. His location is excellent for VHF and up, because he has nearly 360 degrees unobstructed sight. Even with a tower of modest height, his antennas have a clear view to the… Continue reading »
This weekend, the VLF station in Grimeton was having an Alexanderson day. On Sunday June 30th, two transmissions were announced. Although I read about the station several times and watched various YouTube videos, I never tried reception myself. On Saturday, I tested a number of wire antennas that were connected to a USB sound interface,… Continue reading »
During last winter, I have been very busy with the process of buying a second home in France. For several years, this was in the making and last November, the decision was made to acquire an old farm in the department Haute-Marne, about midway between Nancy and Dijon (grid square JN27). From my home in… Continue reading »