Last weeks #hamchallenge was good fun. Good to „feel“ the radio propagation!
I was surprised to hear VR2B (~ 8000 km) well, but its my preferred direction with terrain sloping down eastwards.
4X6TU, CS3B and RR9O are all about 4000 km away and OH2B only 700 km.
Would expect to hear the JA2IGY beacon at a similar distance as VR2B, but we might not have shared daylight this time of the year.
BTW, the terrain slopes up westwards blocking propagation to north america.
Declaring @hamchallenge #HC02S a success. Overall I heard eight beacons on 20m, seven on 17m, nine on 15m, six on 12m, and five on 10m.
I went from being aware "beacons existed" to understanding exactly how the NCDXF system can be used to check current HF propagation conditions around the world without any internet connection (once I can copy #CW callsigns at 22 wpm that is ). That alone is well worth a checkmark in the W column.
Over the last week I was listening for signals from the NCDXF/IARU International Beacon Project. I don't have any HF antennas at home, so I remotely used the super station of a friendly ham in Croatia. Still it was harder than expected to receive all active beacons.
NCDXF beacons 16:00-16:15 UTC @ SO5CW (KO01MW), after sunset:
10m: CS3B 100W, LU4AA 100W, OA4B 10W, 4U1UN 10W
12m: CS3B 100W, OA4B 100W, 4U1UN 1W, W6WX 100W, OH2B 10W
15m: ZS6DN 1W, 4X6TU 100mW, OH2B 10W, CS3B 100mW, 4U1UN 10W, W6WX 10W
17m: CS3B 100W, 4U1UN 1W, VE8AT 100W, W6WX 100W, VK6RBP 10W, ZS6DN 10W, 4X6TU 1W, OH2B 100W
20m: CS3B 1W, 4U1UN 1W, VE8AT 1W, W6WX 100W, ZL6B 100W, VK6RBP 10W, ZS6DN 100W, 5Z4B 100W, OH2B 10W
I just spend some time listening for NCDXF beacons. Here a overview including power levels of beacon heard
10m: VE8AT, KH6RS
12m: CS3B, VE8AT, KH6RS
15m: W6WX (maybe)
17m: ZS6DN (maybe), 4U1UN, VE8AT
20m: CS3B, 4U1UN
Since i do not have a sufficient HF setup at the moment i had to cheat for the ham radio challenge #HC02S and use a Kiwi-WebSDR (http://kiwi.minish.org:8073/ from @ei6iz). Did you know there is a handy extention build in that lets you monitor the IBP beacons?
This week I am working on the second @hamchallenge #HC02S by monitoring some HF beacons. I'm using a web SDR near me, since I don't have my HF antenna up at home yet. For you non-hams, there are automated stations around the world that broadcast on these fixed frequencies at set times in rotation. They send their call sign, and then a long dash/tone at 100 watts, 10, 1, and 100 mw. By monitoring them for a few minutes, you can get a sense of what countries you have a radio path to at that time on that band, and what power level is needed for you to hear them.
Results from two monitoring sessions:
6/1/25 2145 local
14.100: OA4B 100; KH6RS 10; ZL6B 1; VK6RBP 1; JA2IGY 10
18.110: OA4B 100; KH6RS 100; ZL6B 100; VK6RBP 10; JA2IGY 100; V2RB 10
21.150: KH6RS 10; ZL6B 1; VK6RBP 1; JA2IGY 100; RR9O 100; VR2B 10
24.930: nil
28.200: nil
8/1/25 1920 local (~1 hr before sunset, hoping for some greyline to Europe)
14.100: OA4B 100; KH6RS 10; ZL6B 1; VK6RBP 1; JA2IGY 100
18.110: VR2B 100; OA4B 100; ZL6B 10; VK6RBP 10; JA2IGY 100
21.150: VR2B 100; ZS6DN 100; KH6RS 10; ZL6B 100mw; VK6RBP 1
24.930: VR2B 100; KH6RS 100
28.200: nil
Today I had the chance to complete @hamchallenge #HC02S by using the Kenwood TS-990 and an Ultra Beam antenna at a fellow radio operator’s lab. But 3 hours after sunset in JO62 I could only receive CS3B on 20m and very faintly 4U1UN. All other bands were already closed.
It was really fun to listen to beacons again. And I should use this method more often after temporarily setting up an antenna, just to find out the propagation capabilities.
#hamchallenge
Jens
Stu (Archived)
Michael - DL6MHW
Robert DK2RO
Fabian Kurz, DJ5CW/SO5CW
DF5GO
Devin
DL9DX
Owen Mehegan
Lars DC4LW