Tuesday 11 September 2018

FT-8 QSOs with the Elad FDM DUO: Slovenia, Switzerland

Hi there, when I recorded this video I only sort of knew what I was doing lol. The set up was pretty straight forward and fortunately, the Elad was supplied with the CAT control cable. Audio is piped from the Elad to WSJT-X via a virtual audio cable. The other hardware I'm using is the SE-X80 wideband vertical antenna (now installed on the end of my house) via an MFJ-949E ATU. The Elad puts out 5 Watts, but the ERP is going to be a bit less than that. Since this video was taken, I've made over 100 QSOs, as far North as Iceland, West to Arkansas, South to Colombia and East to Kazakhstan - near the Mongolian border. The FT8 digital mode has it's detractors - some say it's ruining CW and that little skil is involved, once the system is set up and running. I think I would have to agree with those sentiments. However, it is slightly mesmerising watching the signals arrive, particularly via the map on GridTracker. Make your own minds up. In the meantime, the Elad has proven itself to be a very competent QRP rig.

Recorded in Oxford UK on 06/09/18 at 06:54 hrs UTC. Thanks for watching.

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