Ossi OH8HUB @oh8hub@mastodon.radio
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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
My after action report from our overnight expedition to island of Hailuoto, #IOTA EU-184 and #WWFF OHFF-0970.
I ran into issues and had to operate on completely different way than planned.
https://oherrala.medium.com/overnight-ham-radio-activation-in-hailuoto-finland-1e71662de1f8
Ossi OH8HUB
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What's your primary OS?
Boosts appreciated for sample size :)
I'm packing for overnight ham radio #expedition. Tomorrow we'll land on #IOTA EU-184 and hopefully #WWFF OHFF-0970.
I hope at least 24 hours on site. WX forecast shows wet snow, 17 m/s gusts of wind and below freezing temperatures ❄️ ☃️
If we get there I'll be on air using callsign OH8HUB/P or OF8HUB/P.
Modes are #JS8Call and #FT8, maybe #SSB. If laptop runs out of battery and I'll go old school with voice and paper log. I might also check my Winlink email (address to use is OH8HUB).
Ossi OH8HUB
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Three years ago today I registered the mastodon.radio domain
To celebrate our birthday I am super excited to reveal our new mascot @alex!
@Atsuko has done an amazing job at bringing them to life and we have a server banner too!
More birthday surprises to come...
PS: I don't need any money to keep our instance running or pay for this great art, but if you want to help I'll be able to buy that raspberry pi 4...
https://liberapay.com/M0YNG
This is my current 70cm LoRa antenna.
It's dipole made out from 1mm2 copper wire taped to plastic tube and I have piece of coax soldered to it.
And the plastic tube is hanging with a string from the coax to my EFHW. The dipole is just about one meter above ground level just outside my garage door.
The antenna of my TinyGS ground station is really poor and it still manages to catch LoRa packets from satellites. Mostly from Norby, but also some from FEES.
Ossi OH8HUB
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Tip: when making up a charging cable for your cheap Chinese radio that didn't come with a plug for your country - don't guess at the polarity of the connector or assume it will have reverse polarity protection.
Today I finally got my TinyGS satellite ground station connected to Internet. However, my antenna is probably really really bad. That should be improved next.
But TinyGS is neat little project utilizing cheap ESP based LoRa boards for TRX for LoRa based experimental satellites.
Ossi OH8HUB
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Ossi OH8HUB
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Ossi OH8HUB
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WSJT-X 2.4.0 GA is out.
This adds Q65 (a new mode) and some decoder enhancements (as well as a few other things mentioned in the notes).
Release notes at: https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/Release_Notes.txt
Announcement at:
https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/37288737/
and since I've not looked at it for a while, user guide at: https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-2.4.0.html#NEW_FEATURES
This screenshot shows #JS8Call decode attempts (those "H" shaped bars) on empty band (40m).
26 points for me in YOTA contest.
I have apparently terrible amounts of RF interference so SSB phone QSOs are really difficult.
However during the two hours I participated I managed two contacts, 14 year old from Russia and OT from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Next round is 17.7. and now I have a score to beat there.
YOTA Contest 2021
First round coming this Saturday, 22nd of May, between 0800 – 1959 UTC. SSB and CW.
Objective: Increasing youngsters activity on the air, strengthening the reputation of the YOTA program and demonstration of support for youngsters across the world.
Ham radio activation in Hailuoto island in Finland. My story of our trip with OH8STN.
Activating #IOTA EU-184 and #WWFF OHFF-0970.
https://oherrala.medium.com/ham-radio-activation-in-hailuoto-finland-2e6fe76113e8
WWFF JS8Call Island Activation | Hailuoto Kirkkosalmi OHFF-0970
On 8 May 2021, OH8STN and myself will be activating WWFF “OHFF-0970 Kirkkosalmi”. Which has never been activated. It’s also an IOTA island. Primary mode for the activation is JS8Call.
See OH8STN blog post for details:
https://oh8stn.org/blog/2021/05/06/wwff-js8call-island-activation-hailuoto-kirkkosalmi-ohff-0970/
Today I installed my new #EFHW antenna as inverted-V'ish configuration and started tuning it.
After cutting some decimeters of wire it has SWR below 2:1 on 80m, 40m and 20m. 15m is bit above 2:1, but not bad either.
I think my compensation coil might have one turn too many, but oh well.
The final result can be seen in above screenshot. Used NanoVNA for measurements.
