10 Meter Beacon Monitoring

Guys,

For the last few days HF Conditions have been poor during the day here in Brisbane.  Today however I started checking the other lower bands then tuned into 27355 and here the old CB LSB call channel going off.   So I raced up to 10 m and done a scan and a few CW Beacon staying were coming through nice and cleanly.

Because I'm no expert yet in morse :( I rely on CW Skimmer v1.6 to decode the signals.  Well with no problems I decoded the following stations and with the help of "10 Meter Beacon List" got the correct frequency and have attached a recording of each:

1. 28256.5 khz - VK3RMH


2. 28260.0 khz - VK5WI

3. 28261.6 khz - VK2RSY

Well now that I found the 10m Bacon List, there was a stack of beacons listed round the world.  A great feature of CW Skimmer is its water fall display. Slowly tuning the bands, I could see more stations appearing on the display and very very faint on the headphones.  So thats what I'm do now, trying to get a few DX examples of the weaker signals.  Lets see how I go.

4. 28268 khz - VK8VF and also heard 1khz down VK7RSC

The audio stream I feeding up to USTREAM when its compressed is doing obvious bad things with weaker CW signals.  Sorry about that.  Maybe one day I'll get a nice Digital record and record cleaner samples :)


5. 28270 khz - I could here a signal key on for 4 sec, key off for 4 sec.  Looking at the list it will probably be "VK4RTL QTH TOWNSVILLE ,QLD" but with no station ID to be 100% sure.

Well it appears I can hear all from all of Australia except the western part.  I'll tune in this afternoon when WA normally would come through fro 10/11m.

Mark

Radio Caroline - Requesting UK MW Frequency Allocation

Guys,

While researching Flag and Pennant Antennas again, looking for examples of how well the directivity is when used on 6516khz (~46m Band) I came across a bloke's (in Scotland) blog called "David Hamilitons TV and MW DX DIARY IN SCOTLAND".  Here is has recordings of his MW dx'ing using a Flag Antenna and other experiments.

However in his blog for "December 20th 2010" he has a recent video of Radio Caroline requesting a frequency allocation within UK's MW band.  Have a listen, it brought a smile to my face, on what Radio Caroline have to face in regards to good old  UK Politics.

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 2010 - HF Comms Coverage Finished

Guys,

We've just shut down the live HF Comms coverage / USTREAM Feeds for the 2010 Sydney Hobart Race.

If I was to give a quick review of how well our broadcasts were, from Brisbane end, my coverage of 6516 khz was fairly poor, due to poor HF Condition during the day.   However this is were having another HF Stream provided by VK2MPJ located near NOWRA, NSW was able to provide most of the time good coverage of the 6516khz (0735 and 1705 AEDT) Position Reports.  But even VK2MPJ had a few times where the HF Conditions did not play nice ;)

However for 4483 khz, I was able to provide great coverage of this frequency especially the 2305 Sked for M2H (East and West Coast Race) and M2L.  Aswell as the 0005 Sked for the S2H.

The ALA-1530 Loop antenna worked a treat as always. However the interference from 6518khz was just a pain in the arse.   Chatting with VK2MPJ I'm keen to test a couple of directional antenna designs such as Hex beam, Moxon and other possible wire beams antenna.   After a lot of research of locating a directional antenna over the last few month prior to the 2010 S2H Race, I found / digested / learnt a stack of info regarding beverages, flag / pennant and EWE antennas.  The main flaw with these antennas is that their directivity is only effective for the low HF / MW bands.  And Since I'm dealing with 6.516 Mhz I need a design that would be directional at this frequency.   So it looks like I have a year to get my act together and see if a Hex, Moxon or yagi (wire beam version) monoband cut /designed for 6516 khz will reduce the interference from 6518 (Voice of People of Korea).

Or I could always hope the Signal 6518 goes off-air or changes frequency :) :)  But since starting the HF coverage of  2007 S2H the 6518 khz has been a pain in the arse and hoping they'd go away each year, just doesn't seem to work.

On another note, it would be great to tee up a couple more people to provide HF and possible VHF coverage of the yacht race.  Its hard to say where exactly would be good, but at a stab in the dark, I would love someone at the following extra locations:

• SE Corner VIC (Lakes Entrance, Sale .....) 
• St Helens (NE Tas)
• Hobart (HF and VHF Coverage)

I've just joined AURFSCAN and they have great forums for "Scanning and other communication" topics and especially appear to have a diverse set of members which may be a great possible means of locating people to give us a hand in providing HF / VHF Comms Coverage for S2H 2011......

Thats All Folks

Mark (AussieDrifter)

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 2010 - Live HF Broadcast(s)

Hey all,

I've got the ICOM R75 and ALA-1530 loop antenna up and running to monitor the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race for 2010.

Here is the link to my USTREAM feed : http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sydney-hobart-yacht-race---hf-comms-6516--4483-kh


Here is a link to VK2MPJ USTREAM feed:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/rshyr-2010

Hope you all enjoy the broadcasts :)

Mark