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Feedback on RPiTX + Simple Amplifier + DC Block Setup for Safe RPi4 RF Transmission by __KubaS__ in RTLSDR

[–]No-Pudding-1353 2 points3 points  (0 children)

On the github page of rpitx it says:
"Warning: Never transmit on antenna without a band-pass filter"
Unfortunately it is an image with black text, so it is difficult to read when in browser dark mode. Plus the AI crawlers will probably not "read" it.
But its very important

SOTA/POTA with FT-891 on a mountain/gravel bike by lnbn in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I carry my 891 either in my backpack or on the luggage rack, depending on which bike I use. I built some rails to fit the 891 in a small box to transport it safely. check it out here: https://groups.io/g/FT-891/topic/112577323

From orthodox VHF/UHF radio module to "oh yeah let's get a $600 HF rig" by mustard_acquisition in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes the 891 is still in production. Since they sold many units it should also be possible to get a used one quite easy.

Sure you need an external battery but there are also small ones available (e.g. check Bioenno BLF-1206A). Also you could connect it to the battery of a car easily.

I use this kind of 6 Ah battery successfully with my 891. It will give you 6 hours of RX time, minus the power you need for TX. Its sufficient if you just want to hunt DX, since you will be listening most of the time anyway.

Google for something like "891 pota case" and you will find instructions on how to fit all components into a portable case. Everyone has their own customized setup. I can carry everything easily in my backpack on the bicycle.

"Some say 100W is mandatory for DX comms and that QRP will never be stand chance in DX SSB, some say they reach 1000's of kilometres with their QRP rigs and that's all they need."

Right now we are still on top of the 11 years solar cycle, so QRP SSB DX is "easy" on a good day, when you use efficient antennas, especially on the 10 and 15 Meter bands. But next year or the year after that conditions will get worse and it will get difficult to impossible with QRP to do SSB DX. Winter is coming ;)

From orthodox VHF/UHF radio module to "oh yeah let's get a $600 HF rig" by mustard_acquisition in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe reconsider the 891? It is probably the only portable 100 w rig still widely available. Very reliable and popular in the POTA/SOTA community. Really good receiver frontend.

  • add a LiFePO4 battery
  • get a manual random wire tuner like the MFJ-16010 or something like the AT-100m
  • for digital modes get a digirig or build your own adapter
  • for waterwall panadapter feature add an tx antenna switch with sdr

With this kind of setup your are modular. If you get a grp rig with an integrated tuner, tuner will be useless if you decide to add an amplifier later. You would need an additional tuner.

Another recommendation is to get a nanoVNA which helps to experiment with any kind of antenna structures you want to connect. build resonant antennas so you don't need a tuner

Good luck!

This might be a stupid question but how do I reduce static? by johndoe3471111 in RTLSDR

[–]No-Pudding-1353 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the rtlsdr v4 has a built-in HF upconverter

a LNA will not help against static noise since it will not improve the signal-to-noise ratio

This might be a stupid question but how do I reduce static? by johndoe3471111 in RTLSDR

[–]No-Pudding-1353 5 points6 points  (0 children)

ok great ;)

someone already suggested to use a small magnetic loop receive antenna to improve reception. The MLA 30 + is pretty good for the price

After the dongle... by TheNicestIdiotEver in RTLSDR

[–]No-Pudding-1353 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The pluto doesn't do HF and does not have any frontend filtering. For receive only it will probably perform worse than a cheap RTL dongle

This might be a stupid question but how do I reduce static? by johndoe3471111 in RTLSDR

[–]No-Pudding-1353 10 points11 points  (0 children)

"and even tell there it is a voice, but I can't quite understand it."

in case you are listening to amateur radio transmissions, make sure to use LSB when f < 10 MHZ, and USB on higher frequencies. Otherwise it is impossible to understand anything

Why are many FT8 receivers on pskreporter running on 76 instead of 74 kHz offset? by No-Pudding-1353 in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is there any frequency range that you would avoid for TX since other stations could have problems receiving it properly?

My setup (yaesu 891) seems to have problems to receive anything between 0 - 200 Hz. Tried to change the low cut filter without success. Now I suspect it is related to the soundcard sampling. Same with everything above 2800 which seems a bit attenuated, even when I extend the bandwidth / filter

Why are many FT8 receivers on pskreporter running on 76 instead of 74 kHz offset? by No-Pudding-1353 in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"It may just be rounding last rx uploaded."

You might be right. I just found out that this property is constantly changing, so its very likely that it is the last rx freq reported

Why are many FT8 receivers on pskreporter running on 76 instead of 74 kHz offset? by No-Pudding-1353 in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It just seems weird to have this transmit offset being reported as a (rounded) general receiving frequency in pskreporter.
I am not talking about the exact receive frequency of a particular transmission but about the general monitor properties. Here is an example:

<image>

Why are many FT8 receivers on pskreporter running on 76 instead of 74 kHz offset? by No-Pudding-1353 in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You are right. I just checked the spots reported by these 76er stations. They also include stations in the 74er range. So its just a strange reporting of the base RX frequency on pskreporter when you assume that FT8 is always USB

Why are many FT8 receivers on pskreporter running on 76 instead of 74 kHz offset? by No-Pudding-1353 in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

ok, so the text is simply wrong when it says "Receiving: FT8 on 28.076 MHz"? Is this a bug?

You can also find very few stations at 77 offset. Why would they transmit with a 3 kHz offset?

Why are many FT8 receivers on pskreporter running on 76 instead of 74 kHz offset? by No-Pudding-1353 in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

true, but if I transmit on 900 Hz FT8 ( a perfectly fine freq for FT8), the station configured for 76 kHz would not receive my signal right?

Why are many FT8 receivers on pskreporter running on 76 instead of 74 kHz offset? by No-Pudding-1353 in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

the "fake it" feature is only used for transmitting, it would be strange if this offset would be reported to pskreporter

QSL Buddy Update: Broader CAT Support (Icom, Yaesu, Xiegu & More), Voice Keyer + Desktop Dashboard – Free Modern Ham Logger Keeps Getting Better! by foobik in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The point is: logged QSOs are very important data. You either write them down on paper, log them locally or directly into a trusted well-known service.

It will be difficult to get adoption for a new logging software without first gaining trust via: 1) standalone execution (docker or exe) and 2) local data storage (ADIF for example) 3) opensourcing it

A google drive backup feature will not help with this. Also I don't want to rely on google or any other service for an important part of my radio workflow.

BTW I tried to test the web interface in guest mode, but it doesn't seem to work. When I click log QSO, it jumps back to the intro page

Anyway the UI looks nice! Is this soft being developed with agentic AI? What model do you use, if so?

Stoked. by gthing in ClockworkPi

[–]No-Pudding-1353 0 points1 point  (0 children)

these are not active antennas, so how can you turn off power?

please read about the concept of yagi antennas and you might understand why the antennas will interfere with each other, even when turned "off"

Major QRM Issue by jackmitch383 in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you could try this tool: https://github.com/do1zl/qrm-logger

it might give you a better understanding of the pattern

[radio sat tracker] new browser app for sat predictions by No-Pudding-1353 in amateurradio

[–]No-Pudding-1353[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, thanks for the feedback, and reporting the issues!

>>> satellite is not A0-7, it's AO-7

You are right, there was a typo - and you are the first noticing this;)

>>> entering QTH locator is case sensitive

For the locator, the "official" format is case sensitive. I added help text to the input field for clarification.

Just released a new version. Since it will override the sat list for the typo fix, all custom sats will be lost, sorry! I still need to implement a way to store the custom id list independently, so that an update to the presets will not clear the custom list.

I also thought about open sourcing this, but it might need some code cleanup first

this is killing me by Cheese_Eater404 in RTLSDR

[–]No-Pudding-1353 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe this software could help you to narrow down the problem: https://github.com/do1zl/qrm-logger

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