Crawley Amateur Radio Club

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FT8 Tactics for working DXPeditions

With Bouvet Island (3Y0K) now QRV with decent antennas and amplifiers, working them should be well within the abilities of most HF stations in the UK with 100W and a wire antenna using any mode. The best opportunity for most however will be to use FT8. As with most DXPeditions, 3Y0K will be using Fox/Hound mode. There is plenty written about using this sub-mode of FT8, the best and original can be found here, https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/FT8_DXpedition_Mode.pdf However there are tricks which can be used to get your signal heard above the cacophony of other stations. One good way is to wait until the mania dies down after a week or so. Another is to be listening before 3Y0K begins working on a certain band. Another very effective technique is to transmit where the DX is listening but others are not transmitting. In regular FT8 stations can only receive up to 2700Hz above the dial frequency. This is the default for the WSJTX software. However...

Topographic Maps

In the Spring a young radio amateur's fancy lightly turns to operating portable. The joy of getting away from the S9 noise at our QTH is immense, as is the ability to hear signals that we wouldn't normally hear. We all know the phrase "height is might". This common ham radio maxim, highlights that, generally the higher an antenna is, the better it will perform. This is where topographic maps come in useful. For those new to these maps, they are described by Wikipedia as follows - 'In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterised by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines' We recently found a great site for easily viewing the topology and elevation at the location of your choice. Click the link below to take a look at a map centered on our location. https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/map-kb57/England/?center=51.09317%2C0.08102&zoom=11 By left clicking on any l...

DX Code of Conduct

With a couple of big expeditions coming up in the next few weeks, it's worth a reminder of the DX Code of Conduct. These are common sense steps which aim to make working DX more reliable and more enjoyable. Much fun can be had spotting poor behaviour and ticking off the list. Keep smiling and enjoy the chaos.

Operating Split for Beginners

With the upcoming and much anticipated 3YØK DXpedition to Bouvet Island due to start very soon (weather conditions depending), I thought it would be good time to go through the concept of working 'Split' Operating 'Split' is something which understandably confuses many amateur radio operators who are new to the hobby. It's mainly used when stations are expecting large pile-ups, and you are likely to hear something like 'Listening Up 5'. Why is it used, and how is it used? Before you start, it's really important to listen to the station before pressing that PTT button. Listen to a few QSOs and be clear what frequencies are being used for the split. Unfortunately it's often the case that experienced ham radio operators who should know better, don't listen first. Instead they end up annoying other operators. When is it used? Operating Split is commonly used during DX (long-distance) communications to manage large numbers of calling stations and re...

New Digital Mode - FT2

We all know about FT8 and FT4, but now we have FT2! Developed by Martino (IU8LMC), this new mode has transmission cycles of just 3.8 seconds. The result is a complete QSO in 7-11 seconds, compared to the full minute required in FT8. A BETA version of the software is available at https://www.ft2.it/ Our friends at Mid Sussex Amateur Radio Society have also written a great article on getting started with this new mode - https://midsussexars.org.uk/news/518-adventures-in-ft2-with-decodium-3 Have you tried FT2? If so, how did you get on with it, and what was your first contact? Do write in the comments, and let us know.

Naval Engineering

Not amateur radio but club members have an eclectic mix of interests which include general engineering, military history and aircraft amongst other things. In that light I thought that I would share two books that I have just finished reading. The first is Hurricats by Ralph Barker. The book was a serendipitous find in a second hand book shop in Stow on the Wold, the UK capital of used book stores. This book details the story of the hurricanes that were used for convoy protection during WW2. These aircraft were considered disposable in that they could not land back on the ship that launched them, and it was considered by may to be a suicide mission by the pilot. The truth is that by no means all the aircraft launched were lost and the majority of the pilots survived. The story starts in August 1940 when the German Airforce converted the Focke-Wulf FW 200 Condor to an anti-shipping aircraft to attack allied conveys. This caused alarm in the Admiralty because the allies had no effective ...

SSB DX-ing Tips by G4PEO

Although far from exhaustive, here are a few tips and observations, relating to SSB DX-ing, not only pertaining to the HF bands, but also where appropriate, VHF/UHF as well. If there is just one takeaway to be derived from this list, it would be, listen, listen and listen again before jumping in with both feet…! Transceiver Settings Apart from employing a suitable microphone, possibly with an insert whose audio frequency response is tailored for HF/DX communication such as a Heil headset/boom, it is important that mic gain, audio equalisation, (if used), and compression settings are correctly adjusted and checked. Reading the manual obviously helps, (who reads manuals!), but there are also a number of other ways that can be employed to hopefully avoid on-air embarrassment, whilst just as importantly allowing you to present a clear intelligible signal that a DX station will hopefully more easily discern through the noise and myriad of stations ca...