Author: M0AWS

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First time on air in 15 years!

I had a fun couple of hours this afternoon. I found my 30m band Delta Loop antenna packed away in the loft, got it out and put it up in the garden, 1.2:1 SWR across the band and I was soon listening to Morse conversations on the band.

WSJT-X FT8 mode on the 30m Band

Connecting my MacBook Pro to the Yaesu FTDX10 I soon had WSJT-X FT8 mode running and started working a few stations. I found I needed to reduce the output from the Apple MacBook so that the ALC on the radio barely moved, this tidied up the transmitted signal and ensured I wasn’t splattering. Setting the radio O/P to 10w my first contact was into Cyprus, followed by a couple of contacts into Ukraine.

One thing I did notice was how strong many of the signals were. I’m sure some operators are using huge power levels on the FT8 part of the band with some of the signals +10db or more over S9. FT8 is supposed to be a weak signal mode, there really is no need for huge power levels. The funny thing is, many of these high powered stations are heard by DX stations but, they don’t hear the them coming back to them, classic case of shouting louder than they can hear. There really is no point being heard if your station isn’t capable of hearing the replies coming back.

I’d forgotten how good my Delta Loop antennas are, super quiet on receive and great for finding weak signals on the band.

I checked the PSK Reporter site to see where I’d been heard and was pleasantly surprised to see I was heard in Australia! I did call an Australian station but, never got a reply from him, so it was great to get confirmation that my signal was making the trip.

PSK Reporter showing where my signal was heard

Due to the direction of my garden the antenna is beaming north west / south east, long path to Australia. It’s amazing how 10w of RF can cover almost 9000 miles!

So what next?

Well, I need to purchase some coaxial cable as the bits I have from France have gone stiff/brittle and really are past their shelf life.

I also need to buy some wire to start making some antennas. I’m going to put together a top loaded vertical for the 160/80/40m bands and some delta loops for the higher bands.

I’m also going to make some end fed half wave verticals for 20m and upwards.

Lots to do, if only the weather would improve!

More soon …

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New radio ordered!

Yaesu FTDX10

After much research and decision making I finally decided to purchase a Yaesu FTDX10 HF/6m transceiver. Out of all the radios on the market and there are many, this is the one that I’ve decided has the functionality I need and gives the best performance for the money.

I really liked the little Icom IC705 but, it’s a lot of money for a QRP radio and performance wise isn’t as good as the FTDX10.

I also liked the Icom IC7300 but, this is now a 7 year old radio (at the time of writing this) and the tech has moved on substantially since then.

The FTDX10 is a hybrid SDR radio that combines the best of both worlds to give a performance level that exceeds many of the other transceivers on the market today. Ranking 3rd on the Sherwood Engineering Receiver Test Data it’s a great radio for the money.

The other thing that really impressed me with the FTDX10 was the DNR and Contour noise reduction functionality. Watching videos online it is amazing how when these two tools are used correctly together extremely weak CW signals can be recovered on a noisy band.

So, with the radio ordered from Martin Lynch and Sons I now need to start building some antennas and impedance matching circuits so that I can get on air once the transceiver arrives.

More soon …

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New Radio

Sometime back I decided to sell all my HAM radio equipment as I’d completely lost interest in the hobby and decided to utilise the money to build a custom motorcycle. (Yes I build and ride motorcycles http://www.trailsoftheunexpected.co.uk ). Selling all the equipment raised a few thousand pounds which covered the cost of building the motorcycle.

So after a 10+ year break from HAM radio I’ve decided to get back into it, this means I need to buy a transceiver. The HAM radio market has changed considerably over the time I’ve been away from the hobby and there are a lot more manufacturers from China selling some interesting looking radios.

I’m currently considering two QRP transceivers, the Xiegu X6100 and the Icom IC705. These two SDR based QRP radios offer a lot of the facilities that I had with my Flex3000 and have peaked my interest for different reasons.

Firstly the Xiegu X6100 HF/6m transceiver is an Arm CPU based unit that runs a somewhat cutdown Linux operating system, being a UNIX/Linux admin professionally for many years this really appeals to me.

Xiegu X6100 SDR QRP Transceiver

This little radio has a small colour screen that displays the normal waterfall, VFO frequency and more however, it’s not a touch screen which is a shame. The plus for this radio is that it has a built in ATU, amazing considering the size of the unit.

I’ve joined the TOADS Discord group that are actively working on the O/S side of this little radio together with the manufacturer to try and get the code released into the Open Source world so that a community group can start developing it to its full potential. There’s some interesting reading in this group from some very knowledgable people and is well worth joining if you’re considering buying this radio.

Sadly the current firmware for the radio is very buggy and a fair bit of the functionality doesn’t work but, overtime I’m sure this will be resolved however, it’s a concern especially since it will be my only radio.

I’ve not been able to find any receiver test details for the transceiver so I’ve no idea how it performs. Since I’m only looking to use weak signal modes having a good receiver is paramount and is top of my list of priorities at the moment.

At £589.95 it’s at the lower end of the price spectrum for SDR radios but, it’s still a fair chunk of money to spend if it turns out problematic.

The Icom IC705 HF/6M/VHF/UHF QRP SDR transceiver is getting rave reviews and has a huge following. Coming from a long standing radio manufacturer you just know that this radio is going to be a high quality device that will just work out of the box.

With a price of £1299.99 here in the U.K. it’s more than double the price of the Xiegu X6100 but, it covers the VHF/UHF bands as well as the HF/6m bands and has a touch screen with GPS built in, there’s a lot packed into this little package!

When I look back at the little Yaesu FT817 I had years ago and how much fun I had with it, the Icom IC705 takes QRP radio to a new level.

What I really need to do is visit a HAM Radio store and sit down and try out these two radios side by side. Sadly the nearest store is over a hundred miles away!

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Hello world!

Welcome to the new M0AWS Amateur Radio website.

I’ve been out of the hobby for 10+ years now and am only now starting to get back into Amateur Radio.

I lived in France for some time and was on air using the callsign F5VKM. Having many acres of land I was spoilt with large home built full wave vertical Delta loop antennas for most of the HF bands.

I’ve spent a lot of time on the 160m to 30m bands, mainly CW and digital modes but, since moving back to the U.K over 10 years ago I never bothered setting up a station again as I have a limited size garden and antenna unfriendly neighbours.

Having retired I was planning on travelling the world on my motorcycle but, since the world has been in the grip of the COVID19 pandemic since 2020 those plans have been put on hold.

Being stuck at home a lot due to various lockdowns and rampant infection rates I’ve decided that now is a good time to get back into radio!

At present I have nothing, no radio, no antennas, no PSU, no coax, nothing, so I’ve got a long way to go!

I’ll be designing and building all my own antennas and matching circuits and will be posting article on here showing my progress and results.

I’ve started researching radios and will definitely be going SDR and low power (QRP). Digital modes and CW will be the only modes I’ll use and power will be 5w or less.

I’m hoping to document things here as I build the new station so please drop by from time to time and see how it’s going.

More soon …