Justin @[email protected]

Tech, ham radio, hacking, weather. HW/FW/SW engr mapping with drones. I don't live here anymore, find me at the blue site @k5em.com or @[email protected]

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

I made a satellite pass match maker to find #hamradio satellite passes that cover two locations simultaneously. Very basic UI, and a bit slow, but functional. Enter your grid(s) to try it out https://t.co/Ve1quR0af6 #MVP @sat_match #K5EM_KH6

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@randy_ND0C Thanks for the heads up. Now fixed. Looks like you have some options for both the UK and Portugal if you have a good horizon. Good luck! https://t.co/uWsa5PRmak

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@AD0HJ @randy_ND0C All fixed.

Dreamhost changing things on my vps with super short notice is getting old. Let's do an OS upgrade with no failover, and good luck if anything we do causes your stuff to break!

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@AD0HJ @randy_ND0C Thanks, hosting provider did something, thought it was back up proper. I'll check on it.

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@k5zm_ The other POTA option I used during Salmon Run was a car hitch flagpole mount to support an 80-10EFHW. 10m spiderbeam pole on the car; far end is a 5m fiberglass pole - I used a single 24" metal stake and the pole just slips over the stake but I could have lashed it to the fence

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@k5zm_ If I'm somewhere with a shelter or picnic table, sometimes I'll use the reusable rubber twist ties to lash it to a table leg or a post. Up here in the PNW I also used to use an arborist throw line quite a bit, but I found that the 7.2m mast is just easier and quicker.

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@K5PO This radio has one of the better DSP noise reducing features I've ever used. Amazing that it's come down so much, but no waterfall for eye candy drives it there I think.

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@hennichodernich @DC7DS @PeterVogel @ZSsixSHN @K3TripleR @K4ZMF I think the logic is that it's set by the first RX you open on that band, then new RXs try to fit in an existing Rx, and if they can't, it opens a new RX. This is one opaque point of Spark, but it's never been an issue for me.

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@hennichodernich @DC7DS @PeterVogel @ZSsixSHN @K3TripleR @K4ZMF If not, you may have to set it for each band. HL2 is fixed at 192k which is where most of my experience is. 192k is usually more than enough for digi skimming

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@hennichodernich @DC7DS @PeterVogel @ZSsixSHN @K3TripleR @K4ZMF Good point. Select the sample rate on the first Rx you open for the radio, and it should be sticky

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@DC7DS @hennichodernich @PeterVogel @ZSsixSHN @K3TripleR @K4ZMF Right, the easiest way is to open favorites and then click the new RX button next to each favorite. You have to be a little strategic about the order to make sure it's opening on the right physical device. Iterate until happy, then save a profile in favorites.

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@DC7DS @hennichodernich @PeterVogel @ZSsixSHN @K3TripleR @K4ZMF It appears you have to do this and also enable scheduled decoding? It's not totally clear. I'll try it if I get some spare time. Right now I'm using CWSkimmer/CWSL_DIGI but SparkSDR is free, cross platform, and will be easiest for most to set up for standalone skimming.

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@DC7DS @hennichodernich @PeterVogel @ZSsixSHN @K3TripleR @K4ZMF OpenWebRx+ is neat, but as a long running multi band, multi-mode standalone skimmer it doesn't seem to be the right tool for the job. How would you set it up to demod every FT4, FT8, and WSPR freq on every band, across multiple HDSDR radios, and startup this process on boot?

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@hennichodernich @PeterVogel @ZSsixSHN @K3TripleR @K4ZMF SparkSDR will do the same for you, with one application running and ability to save/restore the session. It's been very reliable for me when I'm not using SkimmerServer to also decode CW. Yes, it's more power, but with Spark you also get WSPR and FT4 decoding simultaneously.

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@hennichodernich @PeterVogel @ZSsixSHN @K3TripleR @K4ZMF I found out that the built in decoders only do single pass decoding. I think this helps to explain the disparity I've seen between SparkSDR which uses WSJT-X and the onboard decoders for PDSDR and WEB-888. Peter I'd bet you could get that last 20% with HDSDR mode and SparkSDR.

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

Last day to order a SotaCAT this year! Get WiFi control, click-to-tune spotting, and SotaMAT integration on your KX2/KX3. We have a few in stock still; any in-stock orders today will ship tomorrow, then we're taking the holidays off. https://t.co/IhMRPeR6i2

[Peter Vogel @PeterVogel]

First time over 100 countries in 24 h! With the amazing PDSDR, monitoring 16 FT8 frequencies simultaneously. Just look at the coverage. Many countries I've never seen signals from before. MLA-30+ loop antenna here in Vancouver. @k5em @K3TripleR

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@PeterVogel @ZSsixSHN @VE7SAR @_VA7LM The other approach that might be fun to try is to change the configuration over to sdr_receiver_hpsdr_77_76 and use a PC with SparkSDR - this will let you receive FT4 and WSPR simultaneously as well, but it's more work to set up and uses quite a bit of PC resources.

[Justin @[email protected] @k5em]

@PeterVogel @ZSsixSHN @VE7SAR @_VA7LM I think the single-channel approach is benefiting from the pre-amp and AGC in the SDRPlay. I suspect you need 10-15dB of preamp in place, but only if it doesn't saturate. Alternatively, a random wire antenna would likely increase the signal levels and help out as well.