This evening I had a bit of fun.
Listening on 23cm, well, I was simply having the IC9700 stand by on 1297.5 FM, and nothing.
Looking at the spectrum display (waterfall) I noticed a line around 1296.912. I had not heard any signals on that frequency before, so I checked, and out of the speaker I heard the DB0XY beacon in JO51EU. The signal was easily readable at the other end of the room, so actually quite strong at times.
I was a bit surprised, as this was with my vertical 23cm antenna, and most beacons work with horizontal antennas.
Distance 438km. Not bad with such a simple setup.
I need to get a horizontal antenna up again, and also getting a power amplifier up and running.
