Ham Radio
Experiments & Fun With Simon M0YKS
Yorkshire UK
Sunday, September 06, 2020
Amateur Satellite Bands
Its been just over a month since I purchased the COM 232B antenna rotator interface.
The neat little box sits nicely on my G-5500 control unit and is hooked up to my Windows 10 PC running Orbitron and WiSP DDE tracking software.
The auto tracking of the antenna has made making a contact into the satellites much easier allowing me to focus on the reception and uplink signal out from my FT-847. I am looking at the next step which is configuration of the cat control for auto frequency doppler correction but at first glance its a bit of a faff and is not something I have the time to commit to setting it up properly at the moment. However, I spent a couple of hours last night trying to get it functioning on Orbitron but had no success so far. I more than likely will have to try something else if I want the auto frequency control, possibly GPredict.
I made a new video of my satellite operation which features CW, SSB and FM communication. Best 73 from the family and myself and we will catch you soon.
FlightAware Aircraft Tracking on 1090 Mhz - Improving the range
The FlightAware setup that I received from my good friend Pat W1DUK recently has been performing really well with the "Cantenna" 1/4 wave vertical antenna for 1090MHz. The set up comprises of a raspberry Pi with a FlightAware SD card and a FlightAware SDR USB Dongle, into a 1090 Mhz Antenna.
Today I was up early and with a freshly fabricated bracket I managed to clip the Cantenna up high in the sky on the top of the mast. The reception footprint has now become up to 200 miles and possibly further with a greatly improved omni-directional pattern. I am in the first couple of hours of testing and have seen the number of aircraft increasing from an average of 10 to 20 + aircraft at once being tracked. A great success so far!
A screen capture taken with my first go using the "Cantenna" 1/4 wave vertical mounted in the top window inside the house
A screen capture of much improved activity and reception range taken with the "Cantenna" 1/4 wave vertical mounted outside on the mast top.
The receive footprint screen capture taken with the "Cantenna" 1/4 wave vertical mounted in the top window inside the house - Range map.
A much improved footprint on this screen capture taken with the "Cantenna" 1/4 wave vertical mounted outside on the mast top -Range Map
Hope you found this interesting! Its great fun to do and relatively low cost! Once again Thank You Pat W1DUK and the guys and girls at Ham Radio Outlet for this awesome gift! I have really enjoyed trying it out and providing the feedback and will continue to play! 73 All.
Well guys I have had a busy few months playing radio and staying safe at the same time! I am back at work now and decided to post a few of the videos that I recently created! I hope everyone is safe and healthy and if you haven't seen these yet enjoy!
Operating a Yaesu FT-847 on the Satellite bands using VHF and SSB.
A quick DX catch up with Kurt in Trinidad. Beautiful signal as always!
Upgrade made to the Diamond F-23 high gain 2M band mono band vertical antenna
On my way back from Burnley in Lancashire over the hill tops!
IOTA 2020 Warm Up
A quick pass from a couple of FM Satellites
M0YKS mobile ham radio FT-857 DX Machine
Out and about in the DX Machine with the family. We visited some great local countryside and played radio in between. Total distance travelled was 80 miles round trip.
Ham Radio Communication - RS0ISS - M0YKS
Using a PC running windows 10, Orbitron 3.71 & MMSSTV 1.13A with a Yaesu FT-847 Transceiver, connected to a G-5500 controller/rotator which operates two antenna's. The antenna used today was a 5 element Yagi beam. The reception frequency was 145.800 Mhz FM Wide band.
Signal transmitted from onboard the International Space Station ISS - RS0ISS.
Reception by M0YKS Bradford UK IO93CU.
COM - 232B - A new addition to my shack to control my satellite rotator automatically via my PC.
My good friend Pat W1DUK sent me a fantastic mysterious package. Check out the video to see what it is. THANK YOU PAT W1DUK.
Demo of the new mysterious package received from Pat W1DUK and the guys from Ham Radio Outlet. Thank you Pat!
Working into Eu and the UK using amateur radio satellites.
Satellites were AO-91 and AO-92 which are strong signals operating on FM.
EQUIPMENT- YAESU FT-847 TX/RX, YAESU G-5500 ROTATOR, COM 232B INTERFACE, 437 OSCAR X BEAM, 145 5EL YAGI, ans OBITRON.
Playing radio/p in between the family fun at the Cabin 1000 ft ASL
And finally hours and hours of live streaming from the shack
Catch me streaming live from the shack on My Youtube Channel Each and every Sunday at 21-00 UTC.
This morning I was pleased to receive an email form Kwon -HL2-0112B from South Korea. Kwon had received my signal whilst I worked OZ/DB4ST up on the 20m band. I will be writing out a QSL card for Kwon shortly, thanks for the report Kwon! 73 to South Korea hope to make it to your SWL station again soon Thank You!
Nice DX Opening Into Montserrat and USA - Late Night DXer
Messing around in the shack late night DXing paid off again, I caught a couple of nice QSO just now into Montserrat and the USA. First I worked Micheal W3MLJ operating on a remote station he was 5/9.
After that I worked Frankie VP2MNI who as usual was booming in with a solid S9 from Plymouth Montserrat. Both stations were worked on the 20m band. Thanks for the QSO guys!
Face Lift For Longest Running Ham Radio Blog In UK
I had tried my best to avoid any changes to this well established old blog of mine, but due to constant changes such as templates and securer viewing and privacy settings I have been over ridden by blogger and the whole blog has had a makeover. This happened of course without my blessings or consent but I suppose It was inevitable as more and more people bin their PCs and browse the web on phones, tablets and I-pads. I myself do use all of the above apart from I pad due to costs lol But! I also still do most things on my desktop Windows 10 PC and have no plans to get rid of it!
So, here it is.....Bloggers supposedly better template which is pretty basic without the cluster and ISS tracking and of course very well visited flag/site meter no longer with us "Doh"
Thanks To Everyone that has passed through since 2006 and hopefully will still continue to do so! Check back soon I should have got over the shock by then and be posting HAM Radio Epic Content lol.
How to work Amateur Radio SSB Satellites - Demo Video By - M0YKS
You may have missed me on the Satellite bands as my antenna required a bit of maintenance which I managed to get sorted yesterday!
It was not my favourite pass time but all went well and I was back on the satellite bands later that same day.
I made a little mini Satellite series on video which starts with PT1 - a antenna test and demo - Moves on to PT2 - How to make an SSB Satellite QSO - Ending with Part 3 which was an actual QSO Via an SSB satellite with Peter 2M0SQL.
You may find this useful if your new or thinking of getting into the amateur satellite bands:
PT1 - Satellite Antenna Maintenance
PT2 - How to work Amateur Radio SSB Satellites
PT3 - XW - 2A Space BIRD Amateur Satellite QSO with 2M0SQL - M0YKS
A new one for 2020 QRZ? Keep calling I hear you in the noise Conditions might be changing As I can hear your voice I know it is frustrating Keep trying you'll get through I can hear your voice in there As I call CQ It doesn't matter where you are I just like the conversation So keep calling, hopefully We'll have good propagation I want to get you in my log And to hear what you've got to say So please keep trying to get through Point your antenna this way
Last week I had a slight misfortune with my GI7B valve amplifier. As I was coming to the end of a session in the shack I had made the mistake of operating without the cooling fan on full speed which resulted in a resistor overheating whilst tuning up during a change of band. I ran a bit too much anode current during a tune up which combined with the lack of cooling was too much to get away with.
The followin day, I took a careful approach and inspected the amp thoroughly for any other damage. The resistor, a 2watt 1ohm resistor was easy enough to replace and once I completed the repair and replaced the fuse I was back up and running. Whilst I had the amplifier apart I took the time to clean out the accumulated dust and also got to know exactly how it all functioned. Simple enough and very well constructed.
The past few weeks have flown by, I have continued working online with my college students and staff which has been very busy and productive. On an evening I have made the most of the DX opportunities and managed some great DX most nights. Check out the past couple of weeks log entries...... Lots of Great DX....Plenty of decent into G conditions also.....
The bands are certainly picking up late on in the evening at the time I like to be active and I keep getting some great Stations in the log. I have also enjoyed meeting a lot of you guys on Facebook and getting to know you all a bit better. Thanks!
Have a great weekend Catch you soon 73! M0YKS Simon
Hi everyone hope your enjoying the sunshine and if your reading from across the globe heading into the winter months I hope you are also having a good day. Its the hottest day of the year here in Baildon W.Yorkshire UK. I awoke this morning in my garden camping which was fun with my family, shortly after I was active on the Satellite bands trying to make a QSO. I did not make QSO this time but did get my signal into XW-2B quite nicely.
If you want to see the way I use CW to help locate my own signal on the down-link satellite band watch the video. I find this is the easiest way of getting a good up-link to the satellites that operate linear SSB transponders which in simple terms means: TX-UP On 435.100 LSB & RX-Down 145.740 USB. Most SSB Satellites operate with both USB and LSB. The frequency is for XW-2B not all SSB Sats.
Just a quickie to say how grateful I am of the online company and friendships especially in lock-down when we are not able to socialise. Thanks for watching the YouTube Videos and also joining me on the live stream on Facebook. I cant believe how many of you out there are coming on board! Its truly fantastic, best 73 have a great day! See you all on the next video or stream. Simon M0YKS.
Hope you're all well and safe during our World changing pandemic. On a positive I have been keeping my students from college engaged in online studies and experimenting with online streaming as well as using video to assist my learners.
I haven't done much if any live streaming previously so as you can imagine it's been quite good fun trying it out. Before I was a licensed ham I played music on a local broadcast station for 20 years and I have all my music as well as some new stuff. So I hit the decks and tried some live streaming on Facebook to a few friends. I must admit I have enjoyed it a bit too much lol. For information I play reggae.
I used the DJ setup to familiarise myself with Facebook live and see how I could get a clear and quality sounding audio with a view to trying it all in the shack. This turned out fairly cool and I have since live streamed my station on air working DX. The next thing that I thought I would have a look at was a group page to put the shack stream on where others could watch or add their own shack stream. So.....I created this group for anyone to join. Follow the link if you would like to listen or participate. Ham Radio Operator Live
I will still be making my usual videos of DX and other Ham radio activities on my YouTube channel the Facebook streaming is an additional option to follow the latest antics from myself M0YKS Simon. Stay safe. Get a radio. 73
The past few evenings have been awesome up on 20 meters and also 17 meters has been good with reliable openings into the USA, Caribbean and South America. I also heard VK3MO two nights running and tonight I squeezed a quick QSO in with Ian before he had to do some work over there down under.
My log shows some great DX over the past week all of which have taken place late in the evening.
