Temporary 28MHz Beacon.

 Fun little story from today.

I was, as usual, listening to the International Beacon Project (IBP) beacons on 28.200MHz.

Suddenly a big signal was coming in. I reralized that it was a test beacon from an Italian station.

S9 signal drowning the usual 18 beacons on the frequency. 

I found the email address on QRZ.com, and wrote a mail to him explaining the situation, quietly.

After a short while the signal diasppeared, and I got a reply mail telling that he was not aware of the IBP project, and he would find a suitable frequency.

All in the good ham spirit, and I do understand that we don't know every aspect of the activities, and we are usually, like here, willing to correct a mistake.

No, I am not going to reveal the call, because all went absolutely well. Mistakes happen, we have all made them.

CB Radios From Long Ago.

Yes, I have started doing a bit more radio again, let's see how long this lasts, as I need to de-clutter a lot.

Some time ago I got a box with a few CB radios, totally for free.

4 radios in different states, and all FM rigs.

First one (40 channels) tested worked in TX and RX. Power on and 3.5W TX output.

Second one (40 ch) had no TX output (nominal 4W) I had found that before, so not such a surprise

Third one (40ch) had about 2.8W out, and needed an external speaker to receive.

The last one was a 23 channel FM rig with 700mW out (nominal 500mW), b

I could probably find a replacement for the blown final transistor in #2.

All sets had, to my ear, poor sensitivity of about 2uV (-100dBm) for a well readable tone.

All worked on receive. #4 had poor audio., probably a defective electrolytic capacitor.

I think all those radios could use an alignment

Are any of those radios useful for anything ham related? In my view, yes.

- one or more could be used as a monitor receiver on 27MHz, for propagation monitoring (maybe a good use for the one with the blown final.)

- one could be modified and used for monitoring or transceive on 29MHz FM. I already have such a rig, so not so likely.

- I could use the casing of those radios, and build some home construction transceiver or receiver. The channel switch could be replaced with an optical encoder, and the squelch/volume pots for volume (duh!) and RIT control.

I have been thinking of some simple low power transceiver projects.

Anyone with other ideas?

23cm DX With the Vertical.

 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.