A SUCCESSFUL WEEKEND

TOO POORLY FOR SSB

I had a few things planned for this weekend, but on Friday night I started to feel unwell with cold symptoms, so I had an early night in the hope of feeling better Saturday morning. Unfortunately, I just felt worse and started with a sore throat too.

So I went into the Shack and started on a job that's been hanging over me for a good few days now - putting together a speaker-mic for my (truSDX). A kind soul had 3D printed a special connector for me so it was time to fit it.

I tested it briefly on SSB and using just 0.5W and a 9V PP3 battery on the radio, I managed to get a 55 report (albeit from a UK station G0OOQ). I also received an email from M7PJD (Patrick in Westcliffe-On-Sea) to say that he also heard my 0.5W transmission very well. 

I then tested the mic using the HackGreen WebSDR, which is a very useful site for me. It all sounded pretty good, so I was pleased with the outcome. The Retevis speaker/mic is a bit on the large size, but it has great volume which is adjustable with the dial on top.

The bands were very much in full swing this weekend and although I wanted to do some SSB work, my croaky voice wouldn't really permit it, so I switched to FT8 and managed to work seven bands! 10,12,15,17,20,30 and 40M.  I also tried 80M but there was no one on during the day and I couldn't be bothered during the evening, due to feeling grotty.

I was particularly pleased with my -09 report from Indonesia 7,500 miles away! Thanks YB1APD. I was using my simple EFHW antenna which is only 20ft up in the air. The transceiver was the wonderful QRP-LABS QDX - a beast of a machine for FT8 work.

 

People think that FT8 is robotic and laughably easy, but I certainly don't think so - certainly not at QRP levels. It can often be very hard work to complete a QSO for the log, involving multiple attempts. But that's also what I like about it - the chase - the fight.

Thanks for visiting my blog! If you have any comments/tips, leave a comment below with your CallSign.

73, Tom, M7MCQ.