The 10m band has been very good recently with plenty of JT65 activity.
Have not had much time for radio recently, however did get an hour yesterday evening and put out a call on 10m using the JT65 mode.
Worked the following stations in an hour:
KI0QS
WB0IKF
W9TLG
LU4WAP
W9MDB
KM6CQ
KB1O
KF7GMV
N8BIF
Plenty of stations on from North and South America and very difficult to find any free space on the JT65 frequency.
Did not get a chance to try out SSB on 10m. The Windom antenna had blown down in the rceent strong winds, so the Inverted L which I usually use on the FT2000 was connected to the TS2000 which is set up for data modes.
Showing posts with label JT65. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JT65. Show all posts
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
Radio and Weather Statistics for 2013
Well, the end of another year and some statistics from my radio operation during 2013 and from the M5LMY weather station:
SSB: 229
PSK31: 39
Average temperature: 9.5 degrees centigrade
Maximum temperature of 31.9 on the 13th July at 15:30
Minimum temperature of -4.2 on the 22nd January at 03:27
The weather at the end of the year has been very wet and windy with a succession of low pressure areas running from the Atlantic across the country. December alone had 105.4mm of rainfall.
January is starting the same with so far 9mm of rain.
Radio Operation
Total number of contacts: 978Modes
JT65: 710SSB: 229
PSK31: 39
Weather
Total rainfall for the year: 713mmAverage temperature: 9.5 degrees centigrade
Maximum temperature of 31.9 on the 13th July at 15:30
Minimum temperature of -4.2 on the 22nd January at 03:27
The weather at the end of the year has been very wet and windy with a succession of low pressure areas running from the Atlantic across the country. December alone had 105.4mm of rainfall.
January is starting the same with so far 9mm of rain.
Thursday, 24 October 2013
JT65 Activity This Evening
I managed to spend some time on the radio this evening for some JT65-HF activity on 20m. Put out some CQ calls and worked the following stations:
DL7UM, KS3K, NW9T and 9Y4NW
9Y4NW in Trinidad and Tobago is I think a new one for me so many thanks for the call Neil.
I was called by KY7S in Seattle but unfortunately after the first call I could not decode anything more, so could not exchange signal reports.
DL7UM, KS3K, NW9T and 9Y4NW
9Y4NW in Trinidad and Tobago is I think a new one for me so many thanks for the call Neil.
I was called by KY7S in Seattle but unfortunately after the first call I could not decode anything more, so could not exchange signal reports.
Monday, 23 September 2013
A Day of Activity
It was grey and overcast here in the south of the UK yesterday so a good day to play radio.
It was Railways on the Air weekend so there were a number of special event stations to work. I managed to get 13 stations in the logbook.
I spent some time during the evening working JT65 on 20M.
The above is a snapshot of my screen showing an hour's activity during the evening. For this mode, I use my Kenwood TS2000 running into an M0CVO HW-40HP antenna. This system works really well on all bands from 40m through to 10m with the internal ATU on the TS2000.
JT65 is my preferred data mode at the moment. It supports long distance working with low power I get called by the type of DX that I could never work using SSB.
It was Railways on the Air weekend so there were a number of special event stations to work. I managed to get 13 stations in the logbook.
I spent some time during the evening working JT65 on 20M.
The above is a snapshot of my screen showing an hour's activity during the evening. For this mode, I use my Kenwood TS2000 running into an M0CVO HW-40HP antenna. This system works really well on all bands from 40m through to 10m with the internal ATU on the TS2000.
JT65 is my preferred data mode at the moment. It supports long distance working with low power I get called by the type of DX that I could never work using SSB.
Friday, 9 August 2013
Decoding now working - But problems remain
Following on from my last post and my JT65 problems after installing a new sound card, it is sort of fixed but I cannot find the root cause.
I tried removing the new sound card and doing a system restore to get the system back to the same state as it was prior to installation of the new card. The problem with JT65 remained, it would not switch to decode.
I also tried HRD DM780 to decode PSK, however this also was not working and could not decode, so not specifically a JT65 problem.
My next step was to switch the radio interface from the original motherboard sound to the new sound card and it worked. JT65 would switch to decode and was decoding stations as usual.
So whilst I have not fixed the problem, decoding applications do not work on the original, motherboard soundcard, they are working with the new soundcard.
What I do not understand is why JT65 would not switch to decode and why this is soundcard dependent. I assumed it was a timing function with JT65 switching to record after 49 seconds (hence the need for accurate PC timing).
The new Soundcard is an ASUS Xonar DS and the motherboard is the usual Realtek. Operating System is Windows 8.
I tried removing the new sound card and doing a system restore to get the system back to the same state as it was prior to installation of the new card. The problem with JT65 remained, it would not switch to decode.
I also tried HRD DM780 to decode PSK, however this also was not working and could not decode, so not specifically a JT65 problem.
My next step was to switch the radio interface from the original motherboard sound to the new sound card and it worked. JT65 would switch to decode and was decoding stations as usual.
So whilst I have not fixed the problem, decoding applications do not work on the original, motherboard soundcard, they are working with the new soundcard.
What I do not understand is why JT65 would not switch to decode and why this is soundcard dependent. I assumed it was a timing function with JT65 switching to record after 49 seconds (hence the need for accurate PC timing).
The new Soundcard is an ASUS Xonar DS and the motherboard is the usual Realtek. Operating System is Windows 8.
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Why Are Computers So Unpredicatble ?
Why does what seems like a simple change cause what seems like unconnected problems on computers.
I installed a new sound card today to provide a second sound device in addition to the one on the motherboard.
Installation went well but when I started JT65, signals were displayed on the waterfall but it would not decode. The program stayed in Receiving mode all the time and would not attempt to decode.
Tried a new installation but exactly the same. Checked all the configuration parameters but nothing that would impact decoding.
Not sure where to go now, have done the usual Google searches but nothing similar to this problem. Have put a question on the JT65 group, hopefully someone has seen this before and can suggest a fix.
Monday, 29 July 2013
An Evening On JT65
Spent the evening on 20M using JT65 to give the MV5LMY callsign a bit of use before it expires at the end of July.
Put out some CQ calls and received a run of replies which was good. Must be the special call.
Stations worked: RU4PT, EA3GBL, DL2KWA, UT7IX, OH5CX, GM4XAW, RA1ZN, DF3NA, OE6KLG, WA4MIT, JE4CIL and W7VP.
Mainly Europeans except for the stations from Japan and the US at the end of the evening.
My signal was getting out well as shown by the following screen shot from PSKReporter:
Put out some CQ calls and received a run of replies which was good. Must be the special call.
Stations worked: RU4PT, EA3GBL, DL2KWA, UT7IX, OH5CX, GM4XAW, RA1ZN, DF3NA, OE6KLG, WA4MIT, JE4CIL and W7VP.
Mainly Europeans except for the stations from Japan and the US at the end of the evening.
My signal was getting out well as shown by the following screen shot from PSKReporter:
This was taken just after close down at 21:30 GMT. The MV callsign comes to an end on the 31st July so just a couple more evenings of use.
Thursday, 23 May 2013
JT65 and will I ever make contact with Hawaii?
One of the data modes I use frequently on HF and have done for about 18 months is JT65. The software I use is the excellent JT65-HF by W6CQZ which is based on the JT65 protocol, the creation of K1JT.
It is amazing the distances that can be worked with low power and a small wire aerial.
It is also good for understanding propagation by using sites such as http://pskreporter.info which displays which stations are receiving your signal.
The following picture is a snapshot of PSKReporter earlier this evening showing where my 20m JT65 signal was being received:
For data modes such as JT65 I use my Kenwood TS2000 feeding into an off centre fed dipole fed by a 4:1 balun and tuned using the internal ATU within the TS2000.
I have worked most US states using JT65 including Alaska which I have not been able to do via any other mode in over 10 years on HF. The key one that is missing is Hawaii. Even when I have seen stations monitoring and reporting on PSKReporter, they have not seen my signal. Hopefully it will be a matter of time and getting propagation right.
So if any radio amateurs from Hawaii read this, I would really appreciate a contact !!
It is amazing the distances that can be worked with low power and a small wire aerial.
It is also good for understanding propagation by using sites such as http://pskreporter.info which displays which stations are receiving your signal.
The following picture is a snapshot of PSKReporter earlier this evening showing where my 20m JT65 signal was being received:
For data modes such as JT65 I use my Kenwood TS2000 feeding into an off centre fed dipole fed by a 4:1 balun and tuned using the internal ATU within the TS2000.
I have worked most US states using JT65 including Alaska which I have not been able to do via any other mode in over 10 years on HF. The key one that is missing is Hawaii. Even when I have seen stations monitoring and reporting on PSKReporter, they have not seen my signal. Hopefully it will be a matter of time and getting propagation right.
So if any radio amateurs from Hawaii read this, I would really appreciate a contact !!
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