Still here and Active as always.
W9LF was slightly further away and I was 5/6 at his end and Carl W9LF was 5/7. A great start to the day as headed off to work.
This evening was even better as I made more 80m DX with Russ VE9FI with a signal exchange of 5/5 both ways. After that I was on a roll and worked a Net with K2RR Rich who gave me a 5/7 report, Rich was loud and coming in very well with a 5/8 signal. Next up was VE1CHW Rob, Rob was also strong with a 5/8 signal I received a 5/7 signal report back. I also worked Vlad UG5A 5/9 both ways and finished off with W2FFE Dave, again another good copy and a 5/7 exchange both ways.
The new EFHW Inverted V is certainly surprising me and seems better than the centre fed dipole which I did not expect. I seem to have got lucky, my QTH and surroundings seem well suited to the configuration of the EFHW Inverted V. A nice bit of DX on 80 meters and conditions are good but I have experienced better so its positive vibes this side. Good DX thanks for following.
73 All, keep a watch out on 29 MHz FM straight forward simplex operation, as you might just get lucky and catch some real rare DX on FM of all modes! Try your hardest to have plenty of fun and as always thanks for the visit. I will catch you back again next time.
Until then the video below is the actual FM QSO with TO8FH - Mayotte Island. Hope You Enjoy It!
I arrived home after work and decided to check out 10m before the sun went down and we hit the grey-line. The New York repeater was up at 5/9+20 as was VE3MMX -R, both were easy to access with 100w.
Tonight I was looking for AM signals so I swept the band carefully listening out for signals from the USA hoping to find someone using AM. I came across one very weak signal but decided to try again at another time, as I tuned back up the band I heard WA3JR Joe calling CQ on FM simplex. Joe was 5/7 at times with QSB, we had a pretty good qso that was crystal clear Q5 at times. The straight FM carrier waves were propagating well as we had some fun chatting for a while. It was a lot of fun for sure and a nice opportunity to work across the Atlantic DX FM on 10m. It reminded me of my youth when we used do this kind of stuff regularly on the CB Bands. It happens every now and then on 29 MHz, usually around 29.400 -29.500 FM for straight/simplex FM, over the years I have had some pleasant surprises with interesting DX operating around there, its been a long time coming back, but yes it is back!. Have fun and enjoy the openings.
My ground station was working well at my location here in Yorkshire earlier today, the NOAA weather Satellites were coming in well on 137 MHz as NA-18 and NA-19 passed by
NOAA 18 Pass
The full reception and decode can be seen here below in the video I made. I use WXtoIMG as previously mentioned . This software will auto track weather satellites and decode weather images from a simple 137 MHz FM receiver set up using a laptop/PC with the receiver audio fed into the line or mic in.
Here in my ham radio shack I use additional tracking software to control my antenna and radio which is not necessary if you wish to receive weather images. In the past I have tried many setups which were very basic and they all worked. These days I am lucky as my station is well established and performs automatically without requiring any manual assistance. More time for me to drink a coffee and enjoy the image of the day! 73 have fun..