At about 1617 UTC on Tuesday 17th January 2023, I tuned in to Radio Ethiopia broadcasting in the Amharic language on 7110 kHz.
The overall reception of Radio Ethiopia was good. There was a slight screeching sound on the frequency.
| S | I | N | P | O |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Below is a short video of my reception of Radio Ethiopia.
At about 1312 UTC on 11th January 2023, I tuned in to Reach Beyond Australia broadcasting on 15380 kHz in the English language.
The broadcast was coming from the Kununurra 100kW transmitter in Western Australia.
The program consisted of music and religious content.
The overall reception of Reach Beyond Australia was excellent. The signal strength was excellent and there was no interference and no fading.
| S | I | N | P | O |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Below is a short video showing my reception of Reach Beyond Australia.
A few days ago I received my FT8 Digital Mode Club certificate.
It always makes me happy when I am the first VK in the log for a station. It is even more special when that station is portable.
On the 8th January 2023, I spoke with Peter G5AIB/p who was activating SOTA summit Ros Castle G/SB-009), a little east of the Northumbrian town of Wooler, in the North East of England, near the Scottish Border.
Peter sent me an email and said:
“You were my first ever contact outside of Europe, so I was delighted to speak to you”.
Peter was using a Elecraft KX3 on 15 watts, with a SOTA beams Band Springer Midi, end fed antenna-Bandspringer Midi , end fed antenna, 10m-60m – SOTABEAMS
Peter sent me the photo below of his set up at the time.
It was a pleasure to get Peter in the log.
Last night (14th January 2023) Nick VK9DX undertook some on-air tests for RadioDX Norfolk Island 5045 kHz.
The overall reception was fair. Unfortunately the static crashes were terrible here last night and that affected listening pleasure.
Below is a video of my reception of RadioDX Norfolk Island.
One of the things I had promised myself in 2023 was getting onto the digital mode FT8.
I had previously done digital work using the PSK31 and 63 modes, but that was 7 years ago. Back then I was using my Yaesu FT450 and the SignaLink USB interface device. With FT8 I decided to use the Yaesu FT450 exclusively for the digital modes.
I downloaded WSJTX and JTDX and with both programs I was able to monitor the incoming FT8 signals but I could not get the radio to talk. John VK5BJE kindly came over on Thursday but we still could not get the radio to operate. I then reached out to Peter VK3ZPF who gave me the settings for the FT450, and BANG IT WORKED.
Thanks John and thanks Peter.
FRIDAY 13th JANUARY 2023.
On Friday night (13th January 2023) I worked a total of 27 stations on 20m and 40m FT8.
Countries worked on 40m FT8:
My first ever FT8 contact was with Gildas F4HRG.
Above:- screen showing my contact with F4HRG
Above:- Gildas F4HRG
Countries worked on 20m FT8:
It was a nice taste of FT8.
SATURDAY 14th JANUARY 2023.
Yesterday (Saturday 14th January 2023) I worked a total of 172 stations on FT8 on 15m, 20m, & 40m.
Countries worked on 15m FT8:-
Countries worked on 20m FT8.-
Countries worked on 40m FT8-
USA states worked on 40m FT8
FT8 has opened up another exciting aspect of amateur radio for me.
A selection of the latest QSL cards received in the mail for VK5MAZ and VK5PAS.
I received this certificate last week….the Russian Districts Award. Issued for having worked at least 100 different Russian districts.
Over the past few weeks, I have been having fun chasing the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) stations.
Below is a video of some WRTC stations heard and worked from my QTH.
So far I have worked the following WRTC stations:-
At about 1419 UTC on 7th January 2023, I tuned in to KNLS Alaska broadcasting on 6110 kHz in the English language.
The broadcast was coming from the Anchor Point 100kW transmitter.
The program consisted of music and religious content.
The overall reception of KNLS was good. The signal strength was good, however, there was some slight interference from PBS Xizing in China broadcasting on the same frequency.
| S | I | N | P | O |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Below is a video showing my reception of KNLS.
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