Ossi OH8HUB @oh8hub@mastodon.radio

Short intro!

I'm trying to get back into ham radio. I've had license since 1999, but just now building my first HF setup. I have a lot to learn.

I'm currently interested about learning HF and digimodes (FT-8, JS8Call, VARA). Just a bit over 10 QSOs on logbook now. I also hope going outdoors portable to do WWFF activations when it's not freezing cold in northern Finland.

Currently I have second hand FT-891 and temporary random wire antenna to get on air. 73

#introduction #introductions

Yesterday was weekly virtual meeting at #Tarlab (a #hacklab
here in Oulu, Finland)

We talked about what we would need to receive downlink from Wisa Woodsat satellite which is scheduled to be launched end of this year.

Sources only mention LoRa and amateur radio band, so it might be 70cm LoRa. But that's pretty much it. We'll have to wait for future to get more information.

https://wisawoodsat.space

#amsat #satellites #lora

A break from radios today. I have things to improve before getting back on air so a bit of planning beforehand.

I had a huge urge to play #Barotrauma. A game which is is so agonizing and fun at the same time. I have not much experience with the game so there's plenty of learn.

The latest release also has one of the best trailers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrfuGfolLZk

On Air today:

I once again tried to send one email in my #Winlink outbox. Started really well, but 40m band faded away and so did the RMS I was connected into. I think I had half email sent. My #EFHW skip zone is really bummer for Winlink.

Then I went to check out what's going on in #FT8. Dunno what's wrong with my WSJT-X, but it can't even flicker the ALC on my FT-891 and TX power output is really weak. Had three QSOs tho.

Finally to 40m #JS8Call and had a quick QSO with Dafcho, LZ1DAF.

JS8 QSO Party!

There's #JS8Call QSO party tomorrow, on saturday 2021-04-10 starting at 1900 UTC.

Check the event details from:

https://groups.io/g/js8call/viewevent?eventid=1067359

Yesterday I had a quick visit on 40m #JS8Call and a familiar callsign appeared in the list of heard stations: @M0YNG

Tried to call him back, not no QSO this time.

Today was virtual meeting for local hacklab Tarlab, and I extemporely stole the Jitsi stage for few hours to show and explain #Winlink and #JS8Call.

Of course the conditions seemed to be really bad and nothing really worked. Oh well. Maybe next time...

Did nothing new on bands today.

I checked my email via #Winlink by calling LA1T on 40m band, distance 1011km. Had to adjust RF gain during session to keep the S/N on acceptable levels. Dunno if that helps anything, but at least it kept me entertained.

Then went to see what's happening on 40m #JS8Call and had a chat with Gregory from radio club station HB9BV.

And according to pskreporter.info a station ZS1PDE heard me in Cape Town, 11000km away.

Today I finally managed to send email via #Winlink using #VARA HF.

I seem to have about 1000km skip zone around me so I had to find a RMS to connect into. Today I managed to hear LA3F 952km away and later got connected.

It was thrilling 10 minutes watching computer and radio working their magic to send that mail.

Just having a chat with Pierluigi, IK2PYX from Northern Italy using #JS8Call on 40m band. 15W to EFHW goes all the way to Italy, 2443km.

And here's a list of stations I heard. #FT8 is just amazing.

Today I got my 40m #EFHW up to replace the random wire antenna I had borrowed. Spend some time tuning it, but didn't perfect it yet. Maybe a tad shorter would be better. Still SWR was below 1.5 on 40m and 20m bands.

I wanted to see it in action and tuned up to 20m #ft8 and was mind blown about the amount of stations who heard me. I started with 5W and increased to 15W and my signal was heard on three continents.

I tried to answer to CQs from both North America and Japan, but no QSO this time.

Today in the exiting episode of HUB does ham I built a 49:1 transformer (some call it unun) to be used with end-fed half wave antenna (#EFHW).

Box was too small, my fingers too big and result is not beauty. But if this one performs at all then I'm going to build a new and better one!

There's two FT240-43 toroids stacked, windings done with 1mm magnet wire and one 100pF 20kV capacitor. Hardware is M6 because that's what I had.

This is the original screenshot, but since it doesn't fully show the 3rd harmonic I waited for new message. But this one matches the numbers in the first message.

Sorry, there's error between screenshot and numbers!

I have wrong base frequency here. Screenshot doesn't match the numbers. Clearly in screenshot it's not 889Hz, but something between 900-1000Hz.

My numbers are wrong due to earlier screenshot I took where the base frequency was 889Hz. Sorry about this!

However, the math should still work (just change numbers) and waterfall screenshot shows how it looks.

Harmonics.

I was on 40m #JS8Call when OH8STN sent Heartbeat message from few kilometers away. It was overwhelming my RX and I managed to catch a screenshot.

His message was sent on frequency 889Hz, but we can also see signal harmonic on 1778Hz (2 * 889Hz) and 2667Hz (3 * 889Hz).

Also notice how the width doubles on 2nd harmonic (1778Hz) and triples on 3rd harmonic (2667Hz).

Maybe this doesn't have any other point, but to show how harmonics look like on waterfall.

#digimodes

I was also able to pick up YO8SDE's APRS message via JS8Call and relayed it to internet. This was also over 2000km distance.

It's amazing what really simple setup can achieve. I have desk in my garage, coax going through the door and random wire antenna from eaves to nearby birch tree.

Today I made my first JS8Call QSO with M6KFI/P. Over 2000km and I was using just 15W of power.