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Ever wondered what it's like to run portable from Antarctica? Paul VK0PD has been operating a amateur radio station from Casey Station since March 2021. In this video I catch up with Paul and discuss what it's like to operate in such harsh environments, the DX contacts he's enjoyed so far and what his interests are in ham radio.
VKFF-0571 is also a qualifying WWFF park at Casey Station which has become a rarity for those chasing and Paul using VK0PD is activating this where he can.
Follow Paul's activations and sked information:
Often, during the summer months, it is often possible to hear FM broadcast stations from far and wide thanks to the Ionosphere and Troposphere bending signals over the horizon. There are a few tricks to getting the most out of tuning the broadcast band looking for that distant station however.
At the next AREG meeting on Friday the 20th of November, Andy, VK5LA will give a presentation on “DXing” the FM band. He will discuss, what gear is needed, what gear works best and how to identify stations you don’t normally hear and cover topics like locations, antenna polarisation, and explore the RDS station ID feature built in to most modern FM receivers.
Andy will also discuss using the ACMA database to determine if that exotic station you’ve just tuned in to is 70, 700 or 1700 km away and describe the various propagation modes that make this interesting activity possible. Finally he will take a look at how that information can be used to predict openings on the 6 metre (50MHz) band and above.
Can you use WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter) data to predict if it's possible to make a SSB or CW contact? How can you use the data and correlate it up to make a contact?
Well after a recent comment by a viewer claiming that you can't and that WSPR is useless, I decided to provide my opinion on this.
Interpreting WSPR Data for Other Communication Modes:
https://www.qsl.net/kp4md/wsprmodes.htm?fbclid=IwAR3lqR0snC65CHecV--DYOKXZvfHsG8d2SDKZdCUqyLs5Fl8Vn-YrAhxryU
WSPR Map and Database: