Another glorious day and Olga and I took a picnic lunch up to Watch Hill. We go there not because it is a SOTA summit but because it is near home, a nice walk, not a steep climb (so Olga is happy to come with me) and one of the easiest operating sites for me to reach when I want to get away from all the electronic QRN I'm plagued with at home. Unfortunately there isn't a picnic table up there and I haven't yet found a way to support the MP-1 antenna on a bare hilltop. Using a right-angled PL-259 adapter and a 259 to 3/8 adapter on the back of the FT-817 only works if you have a level surface to put the radio on and no breeze. So despite taking them with me I wasn't able to get any use out of them. No doubt a photo tripod would do the job but that is too much ironmongery for me.
I did also take the Intek H-520 Plus and a couple of BNC mounted whip antennas but although there clearly was propagation on 10m I didn't manage to work anything. I did hear something puzzling though. After one call on 29.600 I heard what I'm sure was a native English speaking voice announced something on the lines that this was the EA????? repeater. Unfortunately I'm getting increasingly slow witted these days so I don't remember the exact announcement nor the full call and I didn't hear it again. 29.600 is supposed to be the 10m FM calling frequency and not a repeater output so what could it possibly have been?
Back home later in the afternoon and VHFDX.net showed that there was a big Sporadic-E opening on 6m and even 2m in Eastern Europe. I decided to try 10m which seems to be the neglected band and managed to make several contacts including a new country for me, OD5NH in Beirut, Lebanon.
Hi Julian,
ReplyDeleteI heard what I thought was a repeater on 29.600 this afternoon also. At least I hear the carrier come up followed by a "k" tone several times. I thought it odd as that was always the FM calling frequency. Has the bandplan changed? Lebanon on 10 is pretty impressive, when I tuned the band today I heard mainly Italian stations.
73 Kevin
Hi Julian, Lebanon is a great catch. I had no time for ham radio today, I only let WSPR run on 10 meter. I was reported by many European stations, most of them from Italy, but also Israel. 73 Paul
ReplyDeleteI did some Googling to try to find out what this repeater was, and as far as I could see 29.600 is still the FM calling frequency. The K tone could have been a "roger bleep" type thing on a modified CB rig rather than a repeater.
ReplyDeleteGood catch with Lebanon on 10m. What aerial are you using for 10m?
ReplyDeleteI am missing all the fun at the moment, due to work getting in the way and delaying my antenna re-building!
73
André
It's a multiband dipole folded into the attic, comprising a G3OJV 80plus2 with added elements for 10m and 6m. You have to love Sporadic-E - it's the only time a station like mine gets reports like "you're a big signal over here" from an Italian!
ReplyDeleteThat would be so much fun but not many "Hills" here in Arizona that my wife could go up in her wheelchair. But she sure has the spirit to try it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteulian,
ReplyDeleteI just heard a computerised voice ID for (I think) EA1CEL on 29.600 It really sounds like a repeater. A few seconds later somebody was "Allo Allo..ing" through it.
There is no trace on QRZ of this call (I may have it slightly wrong as the signal peaked up for just a moment). Whatever it is its a mystery.
Just heard another ID. It is a cross band repeater. I think its EA1ACL, sorry for the earlier incorrect call. It comes up with an ID maybe every 15 minutes. Its a bad choice for a repeater output, right on the FM calling frequency!
ReplyDeleteHi.
ReplyDeleteThis day between 15:00 and 18:00 UTC I was calling on this frecuency from north coast of Spain.
EA1HFQ/p
Maybe it was my call :-)