Just out of interest, do you do any digital mode work? Olivia, MSK, Hell, PSK etc?
Ham Radio
- Thread starter Simmo
- Start date
Help Support Prospecting Australia:
No mate, I have been inactive for a while.
I did have a play with some PC based stuff years ago, but I am way behind the times now!
I'm just gonna slowly catch up with what's going on in the Ham world.
I've always loved HF.... and dabbled a bit with 2 mtrs and tropospheric ducting.... wouldn't mind doing the same with maybe 23cm.... moon bounce and stuff like that that was always on my bucket list but never checked out!
I haven't played with the Icom I have for years now since the white cockatoos found my dipole across the backyard-chewed the xxxp out of the leads.
VK4NLS out.
VK4NLS out.
You too can get an Amateur radio license quite cheaply and with very little equipment... talk to the world?!!
Very simply... you could put a radio system together that talks to back home??
https://www.acma.gov.au/amateur-radio-qualifications
Very simply... you could put a radio system together that talks to back home??
https://www.acma.gov.au/amateur-radio-qualifications
Same boat here, save getting on local repeater to listen to the ident now and then!
Never done 23 as yet, I did do AE (Aircraft Enhancement) when I was on Mt. St Leonard during the Summer VHF/UHF contest. Canberra on 2m was my best contact via AE.
I am not big on the yapyap side, I prefer digi modes myself. Although they are not always practical portable.
Not into this FT8 stuff at all, still can't understand how people call two computers handshaking a contact.
When I was portable one time I had an attack of corellas. Same thing, wire chewed to bits. I just happened to have some lengths of conduit in the trailer, since I was out for the ARRL 10m contest it kinda worked out well, made a new dipole and encased it in the conduit. Bastards never got through that, they had a good crack trying though
The conduit is a good idea CE.... give it a try if I can. Thanks.
@Cranky Emu after your post mate, I did watch a video on Olivia, and the dude reckons it knocks FT8 out of the water???
I must say, seeing the waterfall show just about nothing and still being able to decode a QSL 10dB under the noise floor is bloody impressive!!
I wonder, with the Minelab/Codan relationship, does this technology correlate with metal detectors??
Imagine pulling a target signal out when you are 10dB down??
I've never played with this type of stuff and it is very interesting!
I'm thinking maybe get a cheapy HF to leave connected to the PC if I get into it?
I must say, seeing the waterfall show just about nothing and still being able to decode a QSL 10dB under the noise floor is bloody impressive!!
I wonder, with the Minelab/Codan relationship, does this technology correlate with metal detectors??
Imagine pulling a target signal out when you are 10dB down??
I've never played with this type of stuff and it is very interesting!
I'm thinking maybe get a cheapy HF to leave connected to the PC if I get into it?
I wonder, with the Minelab/Codan relationship, does this technology correlate with metal detectors??
Imagine pulling a target signal out when you are 10dB down??
Some minor discussions I have had with Minelab staff would lead me to say 'yes', but just how deep does the rabbit hole go?
With most things like that Simmo, I dedicate a PC to the task, I have a lot of PC's around here doing single task's mostly.
Running some version of Linux or some version of Windows no longer supported.
I dislike Windows, but do have all flavours.
Imagine pulling a target signal out when you are 10dB down??
Some minor discussions I have had with Minelab staff would lead me to say 'yes', but just how deep does the rabbit hole go?
With most things like that Simmo, I dedicate a PC to the task, I have a lot of PC's around here doing single task's mostly.
Running some version of Linux or some version of Windows no longer supported.
I dislike Windows, but do have all flavours.
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2014
- Messages
- 8,936
- Reaction score
- 6,781
The other day I found that one for sale here, I like the Rack Mount styling, and the price is not too bad,
I've placed an Order for this One,
https://moonrakeronline.com/xiegu-g90-portable-hf-sdr-transceiver
Last edited:
Same one I put in my post above!
Hey, they are tiny eh?!
The photo's look like its a big rig, but it ain't!
I am looking forward to reports when you get yours!
I am working on antennae atm both mobile and home based.
Get the wire in the air, then I'll work out how to light it up!!! ;-)
Hey, they are tiny eh?!
The photo's look like its a big rig, but it ain't!
I am looking forward to reports when you get yours!
I am working on antennae atm both mobile and home based.
Get the wire in the air, then I'll work out how to light it up!!! ;-)
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2014
- Messages
- 8,936
- Reaction score
- 6,781
I'm thinking of mounting it in a PELI waterproof/dustproof case, I have a couple of them here so might as well use them,
That store has everything, A Person could go nuts in that place, I already got 6 or 7 Items added to my MUST BUY list,
I found this nice little AM/FM CB at a real good price too,
https://moonrakeronline.com/crt-2000-cb-radio-transceiver
Yay! I finally got my Advanced Radio Operators License back!
VK4 XP !
Watch out Europe! I'm gonna point an antenna at you guys!!
Got so much I didn't do back then with Ham Radio, moon bounce, talk to the ISS, get into digi modes etc?!
VK4 XP !
Watch out Europe! I'm gonna point an antenna at you guys!!
Got so much I didn't do back then with Ham Radio, moon bounce, talk to the ISS, get into digi modes etc?!
Last edited by a moderator:
Congratulations
Mackka
Mackka
Here is my 'home made' 8 meter long portable vertical antenna underway!
It's cut to a quarter wave on 7 megs, so hopefully will work on 14 and 28? I don't think i will be able to get 80 mtrs (3.5 megs) out of it by my research??
View attachment 20220805_170908.mp4
It's cut to a quarter wave on 7 megs, so hopefully will work on 14 and 28? I don't think i will be able to get 80 mtrs (3.5 megs) out of it by my research??
View attachment 20220805_170908.mp4
Have a Barrett 550 in my ute but rarely use it now, but it is a good emergency back up. Most memorable events were talking too a Qantas captain flying to Melbourne from WA and listening to geologists making their way to an outback station, one of the geos had been bitten by a Gwadar. The Station owner lined up their vehicles on the edge of the runway with headlights on to guide the RFD pilots landing. (They had used most of their flares in another emergency previously) Pic showing antenna without flexible extension.
Last edited:
FT8 in my opinion is a wank!
It is nothing more then two computers (albeit connected via a radio) handshaking and that's it - That's what the FT proponents define as a contact and get all wobbly at the knee's over.
Olivia (as other modes do) require user input. You have to type your message/qso. As with nearly all of these types of two-way convo digital modes, you will be typing your reply as the person your communicating with is sending theirs, as soon as they finish, you hit send and it whirls away. Otherwise the gap between you reading their text, typing yours and then sending is to long. There are quite a few guys on Olivia, especially on 20m. 141065 from memory, or close to, 16/500 rate is the typical. There is a guy from Japan, Ken (Kenji) who gets on a bit, he is a big digi user, as his English speak isn't so great, but he has no problems with the typography side of it. There was a guy in South Korea as well, although when I was on last he was speaking of moving back to the US then, so I dare say he would have made the hop by now.
Not sure how the G90 would fair with digital modes, but you do need some decent power, at least 100w, think they are only 20w, so you would be pushing it uphill a fair bit. I had an FT-891 and it worked fine, I may even still have the menu settings to get the best out of it if you get one. For the price of the G90, I would definitely recommend saving a few more bickies and getting something along the lines of FT-891. If you are going to run digi, buy a small fan to point at the rear of the radio, it will get hot, as digi is 100% duty cycle, so the finals are working hard, I ran mine at 80 watts just to stay on the safe side when doing digi. But it still got hot!
There are other modes as well, Hellscriber, MFSK, PSK, Throb, Thor and so on. I've never had any contacts on the last two, but have QSO on MFSK with a guy in Tasmania a few times, we yapped a lot using Olivia on 40m.
I would also recommend getting the HRD software, it is a really nice package. Whilst DM780 in HRD does not support all digital modes, it does most of them. Or you can use FLdigi which is free, but takes a bit more to drive. HRD is a good package though.
I downloaded Multipsk which looks confusing bu I think I can work through it if I go down that route?
Yep MultiPSK will work well too. Whatever radio you get, you will need a CAT controller for it - A. To control the radio and B. To TX/RX data via your computers/laptops sound card.
The reason I pumped HRD was it is the full package, logbook, digital modes, cat control plus heaps of other stuff all in the one wallop. If you sign up to their email thingo, they do pretty good deals almost on a monthly basis as the US is the home of holidays, celebrations and fiestas for everything, so there will be a 'holiday' deal on a regular basis.
If you do end up going the FT-891 route let me know, I have a Interface here for it I can send to you, as I have no further use for it.
Do a bit of research before launching out buying a radio, unless you are very handy at electronics and are able to make your own interface - ensure the radio you purchase has an interface available (check eBay, there is a guy in the UK who makes interfaces for a bucketload of radios). Definitely stay away from radios that require an 'extra' box for digital modes, they are typically quite expensive. For example the now discontinued Yaesu FTDX-1200 required a separate box/interface for digital modes, think it sold at around $250 or the likes. The FT-891 cable cost me $60!
I am getting a FT-991A in the coming months, just need a USB cable for digital with it, as it has its own sound card/interface built in. Was hoping to get it this month, but had to fork out for Starlink Internet, as NBN Satellite has sucked up all my patience.
