I’ve posted a lot about the low power, low signal modes, JT65 and JT9 in the past and now there’s a new kid on the block. This one is called FT8 which stands for ‘Franke and Taylor, 8-FSK modulation’, developed by Steven Franke (K9AN) and Joe Taylor (K1JT). The biggest change from the slow, plodding […]
Category: Data
What can be achieved in twelve hours of 20m JT65/JT9?
WSPR is great, I enjoy running WSPR and seeing how far I can transmit using very low power but there are a couple of drawbacks. I appreciate this will sound as though I’m knocking WSPR but trust me, I’m really not. Firstly, it’s not a QSO mode. I accept that many years ago, some QSOs were […]
Returning to data modes after an enforced break
My shack computer is an Apple iMac. For a few years, I’ve operated a lot of data modes and been very successful in data contests. I’ve always enjoyed data modes and in 2012 I operated GO6NHU to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics exclusively using data. Back in 2015, Apple released a new operating system called El Capitan and […]
MB7UIV is back
A little history In January 2000 I started running the first licensed APRS Internet gateway in the UK originally with the callsign GB7UIV. Within a week of experiments starting on the 26th January 2000, the gateway was on air and connected to the internet 24/7 except for periods when the connection dropped out and the […]
Setting up an APRS RX only iGate using a Raspberry Pi, RTL-SDR dongle and a pre-built image
After my previous post, it was suggested that an easier way to set up a receive only APRS iGate would be to provide a pre-built image which only needs slight tweaking to go live. That seemed like a good idea to me so I’ve prepared an image that just requires a handful of configuration changes which I will […]
A guide to setting up an APRS receive only iGate using a Raspberry Pi and an RTL-SDR dongle
** This is now outdated, I recommend the pre-built image from here rather than following these instructions. I can not support this method any more ** I originally bought a Raspberry Pi back in October 2012 but as I didn’t have a specific purpose in mind for it, I quickly sold it again. A few […]
ADS-B setups – Comparing internal and external aerials
Following on from my last update, I’ve spent a fair bit of time experimenting with two very different ADS-B aerial configurations. I have two Raspberry Pi3s, both running identical software and exactly the same receivers, the FlightAware Pro Stick Plus which is a version of the RTL-SDR dongle with a built in preamplifier and bandpass filter. […]
Building an ADS-B receiver setup
I realised recently that I’ve barely touched this blog for most of 2016 and I suppose that’s because I’ve not done a massive amount of radio this year. My low powered QRSS/WSPR transmitter continues to run mostly 24/7 on various bands (on 30m at time of writing) and my radio high point of the year […]
Video of the ten minute multi QRPp mode transmission
After my entry a few days ago, I’ve made a video of my Hans Summers Ultimate 3S transmitter going through all four modes in a single ten minute frame. It’s annotated with comments along the way describing what’s happening at every stage.
Running four QRPp modes in a ten minute frame
Over the last month or so I’ve been doing some experimenting using a newly built Hans Summers Ultimate 3S transmitter fitted with the new oven controlled crystal oscillator and I’m now running four different modes in a single ten minute frame with space at the end for a calibration cycle. You should note that to […]
