Russian Vega VEF-206 repair
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14552.0 : RUNY CW XXX XXX DU78 DU78 85509 KRUGLΓ K 331 331 UPSOPSIH ... 77K (23AUG23 1010) (AJT)
12461.0 : RUNY CW FBMC FBMC DE Y87S Y87S (28AUG23 0600) (AJT)
Using Tecsun PL660 and Telescopic whipΒ
50.5823Β° N, 3.4644Β° W
Β As you may know I have been listening to the Russian Navy morse code messages on HF in my latest shortwave adventures. Last night I received a message from Yakov Grebelsky UCBC5 which was something like this:
UCBC5 .......SML FOR RCD88 RMB97.....17181 99568 10118 41598 71304 10170 40240 54000......
This is a routine weather observation which can be decoded by hand (eg 99568 means latitude 56.8 degrees north etc). In fact even just those two first sets will give you its lat 56.8N and long 11.8E in Kattegat.
But inputting these codes intoΒ metaf2xmlΒ will give you all the data including temperature, wind direction, pressure etc in a visually appealing and easily understood format.
This is quite an intricate area of shortwave that many may be unfamiliar with but keen to have a bash at, so hope this gives you inspiration! It's great fun. And CW, unlike SSB, propagates much better.
GL 73 Adam
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08784.0 : RUNY CW RCLH RPT (06AUG23 1815) (AJT)
08784.0 : RUNY CW RMP DE RBDF QSA? QTC K (07AUG23 1606) (AJT)
08784.0 : RUNY CW RBDF OK QR SK (07AUG23 1810) (AJT)
12464.0 : RUNY CW RBCS OK QYT4 QCMK (08AUG23 1448) (AJT)
08784.0 : RUNY CW RMP DE RBDF QSA? QTC K B48 J4 8 1800 SML (08AUG23 1608) (AJT)
08784.0 : RUNY CW RMP DE RCLH QSA? QTC K (08AUG23 1815) (AJT)
12464.0 : RUNY CW QYT4 QSX678 QWH1237 ..... (09AUG23 0954) (AJT)
14555.0 : RUNY CW UCTA5 DE RIW Moscow clg Ru Navy Replenishment Tnkr Eljnia (10AUG23 0845)
11000.0 : RUNY CW UCTA5 DE RIW QSL 592 K (10AUG23 1525) (AJT)
08821.0 : RUNY CW Naval Air Ground Station βSβ Mkr (10AUG23 1730) (AJT)Β Β
These are some of my recent logs from listening to shortwave stations for Russian Navy activity in morse code. I record the transmissions on a digital voice recorder and playback slowly. If I still can't get the code, I record that into my phone, and run it through an MP3 speed reducer app. It's easy then!
RMP is Kaliningrad and RIW Moscow.Β
Lots of information can be found here atΒ UDXF Utility Files Info
All this on just my Tecsun PL660 and it's own built-in whip
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Β This is a photo of the Orion nebula taken with my Celestron 70mm Travelscope and Huawei P20 Lite. No stacking, no tracking, just a simple 2.5sec exposure. Great fun! Next project is to try to capture a moving video of the Moon and also in the autumn a planet, hopefully Saturn. If I'm lucky enough to capture the latter I shall try to use the PIPP program and Deep Sky Stacker to create a photo.Β
I've seen some cool videos on YouTube of people using a budget 70 mm (and even a low-cost 60mm) to obtain photos and videos of Saturn where surprisingly the rings are discernible.Β
I tried taking multiple exposures of the Orion Nebula and stacking them in DSS, but despite multiple attempts none of the final images looked half as good as the single shot taken on the camera.Β
As you can probably tell I don't want to get into the hobby in too much depth, but it has been great fun to dip my feet in with budget equipment and obtain results that I have found pleasing.Β
Β Don't hear this one very often so it was great to catch Bodo radio on 8891 this morning (20.May.2021 0544UTC)
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After reminiscing about former HF activity on 11300 on the Civilian Aviation forum, I decided I'd listen in for a while last night and I caught a huge signal from this Ethiopian Airlines Cargo 737-800 as it entered Khartoum airspace on its way to Addis Ababa from Benin. All this on a little Tecsun PL660 with it's telescopic whip in the kitchen!
Β After an interesting message exchange with IrishSea about HF listening, I am posting a few of my top logs over the past few weeks.
Bear in mind that due to horrendous local QRM I'm only listening on a portable (Tecsun PL660) with it's built-in whip, or homemade broadband active loop from here in Dawlish, SW England: