This was a short SOTA outing on 2.3GHz in the somewhat vain hope (given the conditions) of contacts to the north. However I was hopeful that I would get at least one contact – which is what happened.
SOTA – Scald Law GM/SS-125
The first Summits on the Air outing for a while – a post by Barry GM4TOE in the gm13 group had made me decide to do a little local hill, so I went up Scald Law which is a good walk on a nice day.
PLL boards for microwaves
Great talk yesterday evening from Brian Flynn GM8BJF on the use of Chinese PLL boards using ADF devices.
Hello world!
Welcome to GM8OTI’s blog website. Here will be all things amateur radio related …
FUNcube1 reception on the cheap
Off to give a talk to LRS …
Marwyn could not stop giggling when I was loaded up on Wednesday to walk up to my talk at Lothians Radio Society – maybe the photos explain why, I don’t know ….
Chinese 2m MRF186 PA
This has just arrived from China – part of my intention to do a bit more amateur radio this next year. I’ll be using your instructions Jon 😉
435MHz satellite antenna
This is the 70cm (435MHz) omnidirectional antenna for satellites I have just finished – called the “eggbeater” for obvious reasons. It also appears to work well – this afternoon I heard HO-68 telemetry, and FO-29 twice – once on a low pass to the north, then again on a much higher pass, during which I clearly heard Italian (IW3RGK) and German (DL5OCD) amateur stations calling through the satellite. This is very satisfactory for an omnidirectional antenna, especially as I find the receiver in the FT-817 radio is as deaf as a post on 70cm. I shall make a little preamplifier for it before I try any satellite contacts.
144MHz satellite antenna
I’ve made a new omnidirectional satellite antenna for 2m – a turnstile. Set it up on the balcony this morning (ignore the washing line ) and heard three satellites on 2m – the International Space Station, FUNcube-1 and UKube-1. Also heard HO-68 as a weak signal on 70cm. The next step is to make a 70cm omni antenna so I can hear the UHF signals better, and transmit through the FUNcube satellites.
Gpredict – for satellite tracking
For my satellite tracking buddies – I’ve just come across Gpredict http://gpredict.oz9aec.net/index.php which is something I’ve been looking for – Linux software that will drive an antenna mount to track the satellite. It looks very good indeed. Apparently there’s a Windoze version too …