First night of the shadow-beacon experiment.

I've submitted the first nights logs for the shadow beacon experiment. I was initially confused about the desired format but on careful reading of the FAQ, it became apparent that 'arbitrary' formats are acceptable, so went for a filtered dataset from the aprx-rf.log file that showed only receptions from my satgate, G0HWW-4 containing the string RS0ISS. The full logs, with time stamps are here.

At first I didn't notice anything unusual, and then I realised that there were two digipeaters active.  The first clue was in a beacon from Nigel, G4DCQ:

G4DCQ-2>CQ,RS0ISS-4*::G4HBI    : Both Radio's running - RS0ISS & dash 4

 I wasn't really sure what Nigel meant, but then I noticed subsequent messages were being relayed by different digipeaters and some were coming via 3 hops:

G4DCQ-8>CQ,RS0ISS-4*,RS0ISS:=5255.81N\00117.76EL..JO02PW..g4dcq@yahoo.co.uk
G4DCQ-8>CQ,RS0ISS-4*,RS0ISS*:=5255.81N\00117.76EL..JO02PW..g4dcq@yahoo.co.uk
IK3ZGB-2>CQ,RS0ISS*:=4542.75N/01142.00E`73' Via ISS de Cris {UISS53}
IK3ZGB-2>CQ,RS0ISS-4*:=4542.75N/01142.00E`73' Via ISS de Cris {UISS53}
G4DCQ-8>CQ,RS0ISS-4*,RS0ISS::G4HBI    : Double Digi
G4DCQ-8>CQ,RS0ISS-4*,RS0ISS*::G4HBI    : Double Digi

If you look at the telemetry report for G0HWW-4 you can see an increase in activity the day before the experiment started, and another increase for the first day.  If you are viewing this page some time in the future, look for telemetry for the week starting 2013-01-28.

Update: Some time ago I received a QSL card.

PSKmail with the KX3

I've been dabbling with PSKmail over the past few weeks, using my KX3 and a variety of antennas, operating on 10.148MHz as G0HWW-5.

The new jPSKmail client 2.0.x has an embedded modem, but I like to run fldigi in waterfall only mode too, as I get better awareness of what is going on around the PSKmail frequency and how the rigs filters are set up.  I'm also using Xastir to plot stations heard.

So far I've managed to add mail records to 4 servers, DL4OAH-8, SM0RWO, OE5RTL and DL9YCS-3.

This map shows the PSKmail servers that I've connected to and configured my mail settings with.


I've been using an indoor Alex Loop Walkham mag loop and more recently an indoor NORCAL doublet, with the KX3 running at a massive 8W.

This map shows all/most/some of the PSKmail server's and clients that have gated my beacons to the APRS-IS, and of course PA0R, Rein's last reported position.