UK radio ham copies Canadian 144 MHz signal

RSGB VHF Manager John Regnault G4SWX in Suffolk, UK has received a signal from the Canadian station VC1T on 144 MHz 

Amateur Radio operators from Atlantic Canada were operating from Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, until 12 July 2014 in a bid to complete a 2 meter transatlantic contact and claim the Brendan trophy.

The "Brendan Quest" team were on the air as VC1T from grid GN37os on 144.155 MHz. The group activated on 4 July 2014, and a couple of days later, on 6 July 2014 at 1341 UTC, G4SWX was able to completely decode an FSK441 transmission from VC1T.

“They attempted to complete the QSO for 4 hours, but were not successful,” the team reported. “However, this reception should qualify for the Brendan Plate.” 

The team said a station in Ireland was able to copy parts of three transmissions. Because of the initial success, the group now will use FSK441 exclusively in its Brendan bid.

Full story - http://www.arrl.org/news/view/brendan-quest-team-s-2-meter-signal-copied-in-the-uk

Pi Slow Scan TV wins 'Make' contest

The Raspberry Pi contest, sponsored by Make, attracted nearly 40 projects. The panel of judges were impressed by the range and quality of the entrants and while the competition was close, one project rose to the top, Gerrit Polder’s Slow Scan TeleVision (SSTV) Camera.

The Raspberry Pi with the PiCam is used as a wireless camera which can transmit images over long distances, usually tenths of kilometers. Images will be transmitted by amateur radio (ham-radio) using slow scan television (SSTV) on the 2 meter band (144.5 MHz).

Since the Pi can generate the HF FM signal itself, no additional electronics are needed for low power transmissions. For a little bit more power a one or two transistor amplifier will be suitable. Furthermore a low pass filter is recommended to filter out higher harmonics of the signal.

This project also contains a Python script which detects movement. Using this script, the Raspberry Pi can be used as a wireless security cam at distances far outside the range of normal WiFi networks.

Listening to D-STAR with DSD 1.7

D-STAR digital voice can now be decoded using DSD 1.7 software

Up until recently it was possible to decode D-STAR headers using either DSD 1.6 or dstar.exe and an RTL-SDR, but it was not possible to decode voice. Now amateur radio hobbyist PU2VLW has brought to our attention that the latest DSD development version 1.7 is capable of decoding D-STAR audio.

RTL-SDR - http://www.rtl-sdr.com/listening-d-star-digital-voice-dsd-1-7/

PU2VLW (Google English) - http://tinyurl.com/DecodingDSTAR