Posts Tagged ‘jt-65’

China heard on JT-65? Call 3T4CAV?

Did I really hear China on 40M JT-65?

Last night I played around some more with JT-65.  The band conditions did not appear to be as good as they were the other night.  I was on both 20m and 40m.

I worked a few stateside stations in the 40 minutes I played on the bands.

When I looked at PSK Reporter this morning I was greatly surprised to see one of the stations that I had spotted.  It must have been one of the very first decodes I had after firing the rig up.

3T4CAV – in CHINA!  I can’t find this call sign on any of the online databases, so I don’t know if this is a mistake in the database, I guess I doubt it is, but this is pretty amazing.  And the signal report was -5db – which is actually a pretty strong signal report on JT-65.

I don’t remember seeing the decode on my screen, but I could have missed it as I was getting everything configured.

Anyway, that is pretty amazing if true.

Judging by the location of spots (both sent and received) around the country and down to South America, my 66′ ladder fed dipole in the attic seems to be working pretty well for this mode.

I do see lots of stateside stations working DX that I am unable to decode, so I think my initial feeling that receive is weak could still be true.  But its not stopping me from having fun on this mode!

First JT-65A Contacts!

JT-65 Spots on 40 Meter with 2 Watts

Over the weekend I setup WSJT-X on my old XP computer.  I let it do some decoding off and on over the weekend on several bands – and I was decoding well!

So last night I went down to the shack about 0350 UTC and fired up the rig on 40 meters.  I set WSJT-X to 40 meters and started seeing several signals on the waterfall, and decodes started coming in.
Over the next 45 minutes I worked 6 stations – 5 on JT-65 and one on JT-9.  It was pretty much back to back QSO’s which was fun.  I have read a few people complain about the slow speed, and the short contest style exchange.
I actually loved both aspects on this mode!  I am really not much of a rag chewer, I prefer the hit and run style of contacts.  The speed didn’t seem abnormally slow to me, about the same length of time a typical CW QSO takes at my speed.
Anyway, this mode is a blast, especially in my noisy environment.  The weak signals still come through and get decoded in the noise.
Here are the stations I worked:
WB0N – Bert in Minnesota JT-65
NC7L – Robert in Arizona JT-65
W6PDP – Charles in California JT-65
K7IPP – Neil in Arizona JT-65
KF7DRU – David in Arizona JT-9
KI5PM – Ken in Texas JT-65
This was a very fun session playing radio!  I will definitely be back to the JT modes for more contacts. 
On a side note – my little 2 watt signal was decoded in Switzerland as well!  Not bad for 2 watts on 40 meters from an attic antenna.  I did see a couple decodes of stations in South America, but I did not work them, or attempt to work them.
If you haven’t ventured into the digital modes, what are you waiting for?  Jump in and have some fun!

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