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Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Japan on 160m FT8

While testing and documenting a new antenna setup I discovered it did very well on 160m. Actually I was surprised. I will have to test a bit more before I can write about it but so far I can tell it is several dBs better compared to my inverted-V on 160m. Probabely as good or even better as my previous all band coppertape vertical. To prove it is good I made a QSO with Japan:


I was using 50W FT8. I always thought that working Japan on 160m could not be done without a good 160m antenna and a lot of power. I know much is the setup of JA8WKE, but he's certainly not the only one I heard. Unfortunately PSK reporter does not display all stations I have seen...


Info: To work Japan on 160m you need to work split. Japan is transmitting on 1908KHz and we are transmitting on 1840KHz.

4 comments:

  1. John AE5XTuesday, February 19, 2019 at 8:45:00 PM GMT+1

    Hello,It sounds like you have a very low-noise antenna. My own attempts at FT8 on 160m always result in stations that can hear me better than I can hear them. I wish I had room for a dedicated rx antenna - are you using separate tx and rx antennas, or is this with your H-Pole antenna or something else?

    73 - John

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    Replies
    1. PE4BAS, BasTuesday, February 19, 2019 at 9:37:00 PM GMT+1

      Hello John, the amount of noise is indeed not that big...actually unexpected. The H-Pole has been tested but didn't find it good enough to keep it in the mast it has been dismantled last weekend. I do not use a separate RX antenna yet although I think that should be best on 160m. I didn't want to tell my secret yet though I can't keep it for myself. I found a way to shunt fed my grounded tower with the automatic tuner. I use 2 separated elevated radials 15m long and grounded with a 1m long copper rod near the tuner. More about the setup later! 73, Bas

      Delete
  2. John, EI7GLWednesday, February 20, 2019 at 12:45:00 AM GMT+1

    Well done Bas, JA on 160m with 50w is excellent. It just goes to show how FT8 opens up the band to modest stations.

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  3. PhotonWednesday, February 20, 2019 at 10:31:00 AM GMT+1

    Well done Bas! Quite an achievement! Now I no longer have 'flu or a cold, I think I might recycle my Vee-beam, which ultimately proved not very good, into a 160m dipole and see if I can do anything useful with it.

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Thanks for your comment. Bedankt voor je reactie. 73, Bas