Crawley Amateur Radio Club

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...

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...

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.