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| Reports yesterday evening |
After the balloon event I still had the IC-706 connected for VHF/UHF. And since
Paul PA0K efforts with PE1BVQ and his success with FT8 on 2m were inspiring I asked PE1BVQ for a 2m FT8 sked yesterday evening. Unfortenately I only have my vertical W2000 which is not really a DX antenna, the distance between Hans and me is about 170km. So I had my doubts...But the sked went surprisingly well. Hans using a X300 vertical and about 85W, I was using 50W from the IC-706. Signals on FT8 were +00db which is very strong. I listened to the audio and was shure we could try in SSB. So we made a QSY to 144.310 USB to see if we could hear each other. I did receive Hans very well but he didn't receive me. Switching to his Kenwood TS-790 he was able to just get my signal report and he gave me a signal report back so even on SSB the contact has been made. I was really surprised my VHF system works so well although I have a lot of loss (3dB) because of several coax cables, a switch, PL259 connectors and a lightning surpressor. It seems the height and free sight does the trick...
2 comments:
Hallo Bas. FT8 qso is zondermeer geslaagd. Vanmorgen, toen ik alle kabels e.d. weer zetten naar de staat zoals het altijd staat geschakeld, kwam ik tot de ontdekking dat de coaxswitchen voor de amp voor de FT-897D in "bypass" stonden dus het uitgangsvermogen van de FT-897D is zo rond de 50W max geweest tijdens onze test. Met de TS790 was het ssb signaal een stuk beter te verstaan dan via de 897. Voordeel van een rustige ontvanger HI. Al met al toch weer een geslaagde test.
Bedankt en 73 Hans, PE1BVQ.
Great stuff! Perhaps FT8 is promoting more activity on 2m, like it has on the WARC bands? One day, I will get a rig with USB for 2m. So many things to do...
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