Now I can use digital modes, and 20 metres among other things.

Just happy it’s all come through. And I’m looking forward to the weekend.

Wow, I really wish we could of decoded it but at least we heard it.

~Ivy

But it appears I won’t have this call sign for too long as I just took the standard exams (and regs exam) so in a couple of weeks a new call sign.

Yay no more second operator for me.

So Hannah and I decided to build a fan dipole, to cover 80 metres, 40 metres, and 20 metres.

Not a 100% success as it we still need to tune it correctly, but still it worked well. We didn’t really have as much time to work, as by the time we got to set it up, we realised we had left our balun at home, which was a bit annoying, but a quick visit to Strictly Ham, we bought another one. To be honest it wasn’t a short drive, but it allowed us to set up the following.

dipole

80 40 and 20 metre dipoles

~Ivy

CQ CQ CQ de VK3GNU VK3GNU VK3GNU
CQ CQ CQ de VK3GNU VK3GNU VK3GNU pse k
… ??? de VK5EX VK5EX DE VK3GNU VK3GNU PSE K VK3GNU VK3GNU VK3GNU de VK5EX VK5EX VK5EX pse kn VK5EX DE VK3GNU VY GUD TO HEAR YOU. 1ST PSK QSO 1ST QSO. HOW COPY? 599 IN MELBOURNE NAME HERE IS HANNAH. HANNAH KN… VK3GNU de VK5EX

Hi Hannah, ur report is 599 599 my name is Andrew , Andrew
and Im located in Adelaide South Australia , Adelaide South Australia.
My locator is PF95HA , PF95HA … so BTU Hannah, VK3GNU de VK5EX k VK5EX DE VK3GNU. QSL 599 ES PF95HA. QTH HERE IS QF22. QF22. QF22. USING ICOM 706 ICOM 706 AND 100WATTS. BTU VK5EX VK3GNU… VK3GNU de VK5EX

All ok Hannah, here are my station details. Im using a Kenwood, TS2000 running 25 Watts
with a RigExpert Standard USB Sound card interface into a OCF Dipole @ 30ft.
The software Im using is HRD + DM780 v4.0 SP4. .. Im noticing that your signal has many sidebands and is probably a bit too wide for this mode .. have you adjusted your radio for no ALC . ?? .. maybe knock your power down to 50 watts or less as well … … so BTU Hannah, VK3GNU de VK5EX k VK5EX DE VK3GNU TU VY MUCH FOR THE REPORT. NEW TO PSK SO STILL LEARNING. HAVE REDUCED GAIN AND POWER OUTPUT. USING ONLY A LAPTOP RUNNING LINUX AND FLDIGI USING AUDIO CABLES AND VOX CIRCUIT ON ICOM 706. ANTENNA HERE IS DROOPY DIPOLE AT 4 METERS. JUST GOT LICENSED A FEW WEEKS AGO AND MADE QSO WITH RUSSIA, UE6MAC/0 LAST NIGHT. ENJOYING RADIO VY MUCH. GOOD TO SEE YOU ON THE AIR, AND IT IS ALMOST TIME FOR ME TO PREPARE TEA. THANK YOU VY MUCH FOR QSO AND YOUR SIG IS FINE BUSINESS HERE. BEST 73 AND WAITING FOR YOUR LAST. BTU VK5EX DE VK3GNUe..&Tz3GNU de VK5EX .. al ok Hannah .. ok on the setup there .. It is great to see more lunux / fldigi users . I think that Linux will become the altimate operating system for hams as time goes on. .. Yes very good to work you for the first time , and Im sure you will gain a lot of enjoyment from the hobby. Ive been licenced since 1982 , and I still cant get bored with the hobby .. hi hi .. also notice that your still generating some sidebands there. yre o robably need to knock your mic gain down even further so as to not to ovverdrive the radio .. PSK31 is a bit temprimental with regards to drive levels .. really its probably better to underdrive than ovverdrive things .. also make sure that you have any mic processors etc etc .. tutrned off as well .. so anyway Im sure you’ll be able to adjust a few things there to get your station operating perfecntly, Takes a bit of time a guess , like all things , .. ok then .. well Ill leave you with it , go go and organise tea. I think we are going out for Itallian tonight I believe. .. only 3.30 ish here in adelaide ,, sm we have still got a couple of hours befre we decide where we’re going .. ok then btu for a final and then we’ll go clear … so BTU Hannah, VK3GNU de VK5EX k COPY FIND HERE VK5EX DE VK3GNU TURNED THE MIC GAIN DOWN EVEN MORE SO HOPE IT WORKS BETTER IN THE FUTURE. THANKS AGAIN FOR THE FIRST PSK QSO, HOPE TO TALK TO YOU SOON. BEST 73 ES 88. ENJOY ITALIAN. VK5EX DE VK3GNU CLEARonA VK3GNU de VK5EX 73 Hannah and thanks for this BPSK-31 QSO on 40m, good DX in 200
VK3GNU de VK5EX sk

Before we could only pick up the odd strong signal on 80 metres, but now we can pick up a whole lot more.

A better antenna would help a heap at home, but unfortunately in a rental property there is little we can do.

Also now looking at joining a radio club, the Eastern and Mountain districts radio club seems to be the most interesting.

And I’m really looking forward to getting licensed.

~Ivy

• Icom 706 mark IIg radio
• Icom PS-300 power supply
• LDG AT-7000 automatic antenna tuner
• Diamond X50 V/UHF antenna
• Diamond SRH-771 HT Whip

We got most the gear from StrictlyHam. Ross didn’t have the tuner so we went to visit Dave from TT Systems. He was really nice and showed us his high power remote antenna tuner project, and even fitted off some coax for us. We couldn’t wait to get to Ivy’s parents’ to start operating. What perfect timing, too. This weekend was both the Lighthouse weekend and the Australian Rememberance Day contest. So after plugging everything in, we tested out the X50 at first on the repeater which could only barely be heard on our Yaesu VX-5, which worked really well. On HF, we were still trying to figure everything out. No matter what we did, we couldn’t get our SWR down. Our dipole was resonant at 1.5:1 for 40 metres, which is what it should be, but infinite through the tuner. Hm. So we ended up listening for a few hours, working out the DSP and other filters. The radio is quite amazing in what it can pick up, compared to the Yaesu FT-707. Early in the day we were able to pick up CE1KR clear as day. South America! Later on a VA2 station from Toronto was on. Only just before the rememberance day contest started at 20:00 local did we finally realise. The bloody tuner was plugged in backwards. I guess thats what happens when you try to operate radio after a few beers.

Once we figured everything out, it worked really well. The contest was a great way to start transmitting on HF. We managed to talk to 30 different Australian and New Zealand stations. We didn’t put a whole lot of effort into the contest, as I had done with previously ARRL V/UHF contests. We ended up going to sleep about 00:30 and listening to the WIA news at 09:00.

Some stations we talked to in Queensland reported we had a strong signal. Quite amazing considering we only have 100Watts and an antenna about 3 metres off the ground. There is much room for improvement, but at least now the upgrades will only be the cost of wire for better antennas

de VK3GNU

I really look forward to getting a Ic-706 or so, so I can join in.

de GNU