XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated, rec.radio.amateur.space

EI7GL....A diary of amateur radio activity

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IARU propose more space for data modes on the amateur radio HF bands - Nov
2021

Posted: 02 Nov 2021 11:26 AM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/11/iaru-propose-more-space-for-data-modes.html


The Irish Radio Transmitters Society recently put a document in the uploads section of their website outlining the IARU proposal to increase the amount
of space allocated to data modes on some of the HF bands.

Some of the key changes are shown above. The largest one is for 40m
although the paper does point out that 20 kHz of that 27 kHz was
effectively data anyway.
I suspect the proposals will cause quite an amount of debate. Some people
don't like change and even more don't like data modes like FT8 and will
resent losing any spectrum.
Considering the popularity of the FT8 mode, I suspect a lot will welcome
the additional spectrum for existing data modes and ones that may appear in
the future.
You can view the full PDF document HERE

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Mystery signal heard on 28.124 MHz - 2nd Nov 2021 - RESOLVED

Posted: 02 Nov 2021 06:40 AM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/11/mystery-signal-heard-on-28124-mhz-2nd.html



I got tired of monitoring FT8 signals on the 28 MHz band so I switched over
to WSPR for a change. While I was listening during the morning, I heard an unusual signal on SSB.
It sounds like a slightly rough tone that lasts for about 7 seconds, stops
for 1 second and then restarts as a different tone for another 10 seconds.
It then turns off for a second and the cycle starts again. The whole
process seems to last for about 2-3 minutes.
The waterfall display above from the WSJT-X programme shows that the tones
are in fact composed of several distinct frequencies.
It is not an amateur radio signal and I am assuming that it might be some
sort of military OTHR (Over The Horizon Radar) signal but I have no idea
about it's source?
Others must have heard this signal, anyone have any idea about its source??? Update: It looks as if this is Over The Horizon Radar (OTHR) from Iran. "Ghadir, is an Iranian over the horizon radar Ghadir is a 360°, 3D-radar,
with a ceiling of 300 km, and a maximum range of 1,100 km. You can hear a
high and a low tone, corresponding to the sweep rates of 870 and 307 sweeps/sec. sent in two separated bursts."
Info... https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/%27Ghadir%27_OTH_Radar
This video from YouTube from IZ0KBA shows what it sounds like...

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Another big opening on 28 MHz - 1st Nov 2021

Posted: 02 Nov 2021 12:33 AM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/11/another-big-opening-on-28-mhz-1st-nov.html



Monday 1st Nov 2021: It was a case of Deja Vu as conditions on the 28 MHz
band were almost identical to the previous day. A total of 981 stations in
65 DXCC countries were heard on FT8.
Beacons: During a short break, I had a listen around the beacon portion of
the band and there was a Sporadic-E opening in full swing. The familiar
beacons from Belgium and the Netherlands were coming through which meant
the skip distance went as short as 1000kms.
EI7GL 28188.0 OE3XAC/B 13:04 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JN78SB Austria
EI7GL 28207.1 ON0RY/B 13:03 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JO20CK Belgium
EI7GL 28210.7 DB0FKS/B 13:02 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JN49IT Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28214.5 FR1GZ/B 13:00 01 Nov IO51TU<F2>LG79RC Reunion Island
EI7GL 28270.4 PY4MAB/B 12:59 01 Nov IO51TU<F2>GG68RE Brazil
EI7GL 28273.0 DB0BER/B 12:55 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JO62QL Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28301.8 PI7ETE/B 12:53 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JO22QD Netherlands
EI7GL 28279.0 DB0UM/B 12:51 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JO73CE Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28265.0 DB0ANN/B 12:50 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JN59PL Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28245.2 DB0TEN/B 12:49 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JO42UV Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28225.0 YM7TEN/B 12:48 01 Nov IO51TU<F2>KN91RB Asiatic Turkey
It was nice to see some F2 signals (in bold) in there as well from Brazil
and Turkey. The pick of the lot though was the FR1GZ/B beacon on Reunion
Island in the Indian Ocean.

It's fine for my PC to decode a FT8 signal that may be buried in the noise
but it's nice to actually listen to a CW signal coming though from an
exotic location so far away.
The solar flux on the day was down to 98.

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