Hi Joao, and thank you for your work on this new RBN VHF node.  I am unfortunately ignorant when it comes to VHF, so I am putting this question out to a broader audience in the hope that someone can assist.

73, Pete N4ZR

Hello Pete!

😊

Hope you are doing fine, together with your family, in this jolly season.

Sorry to coming to you like that but, you are an OM with great experience and knowledge ang you might give a hand!

😊

I’m taking my holidays time trying to establish “decent” VHF spotter in this part of Europe.

My QHT is 1 mile from Atlantic and I might allow some surprizing data

😊

Thanks to the Bob’s N6TV good help I have a nice HF spotter running (Bob did all Red Pitaya configuration, together with Skimmer Server, Aggregator, etc).

He is really good doing that!

 

Now, I’m diving into the VHF part (started with an unexpensive RTL-SDR) to explore the existing possibilities and I have a spotter running in VHF but, only for the Beacons part of the band.

It’s running with HDSDR + Skimmer + Aggregator (Skimmer is sending the frequency as 944xxxxx and Aggregator is adding 50MHz to it)

 

Skimmer server would allow to cover the CQ and the Beacons parts of the VHF but it seems to be ready to work only to the 6m band. Nothing to 2m, 70cm or others.

Rico (DF2CK) told me that a good option could be “ELAD FDM-S2” but I’m not sure if there are dll for the Skimmer server and, if it is possible to configure the Server to proper work in VHF.

I’ve already sent an email to eladit@eladit.com asking if they know if there is a dll available

I might spend the money and end up like I am, with RTL-SDR…

 

Do you know who could give me a hand on that matter?

From sunny Portugal, my best 73 to you and your family!

 

Merry Christmas

 

CT1EYQ – Joao Pires

 

 

De: ct1eyq@gmail.com <ct1eyq@gmail.com>
Enviada: 22 de agosto de 2023 15:44
Para: 'Pete Smith N4ZR' <pete.n4zr@gmail.com>
Assunto: RE: RBN - contact from website

 

Hello Pete,

I glad to meet you (via email) and I hope to make QSO with you, one day (I’m a lousy CW operator. Still learning)

😃

Glad to know I’m not the only one thinking that way Pete. UN should be UN and that’s it.

Good that those clever guys were not “on the other side of the fence” from our blue helmets…

☹

Wish you all the best, from Atlantic Alentejo!
CT1EYQ - Joao

 

De: Pete Smith N4ZR <pete.n4zr@gmail.com>
Enviada: 21 de agosto de 2023 22:13
Para: ct1eyq@gmail.com
Assunto: Re: RBN - contact from website

 

Thank you, Joao - I actually operated from 4U1UN and 4U1A (then 4U1VIC), back in the 1980s when I was attending international meetings for NASA (now long since retired).  For a time I actively argued for giving 4U1VIC the same status as 4U1ITU, but to no avail.

73, Pete N4ZR

On 8/21/2023 11:49 AM, ct1eyq@gmail.com wrote:

Hello Pete!

😊
Thank you very much for your good information.

Bright minds from ARRL, no doubt.

The ITU gave the same “country prefix”: “4U1” but… why to follow international guidance? Let’s make it under our own criteria!

😂 😂 😂

My question was just really under curiosity, because I don’t belong to UN neither have anything to do with that organization.

Only that, by chance, both calls appeared in my log, in the same page and drawn my attention
😊

Again, thank you very much and wish you good DX!
Keep up the good work you are doing in RBN!

 

CT1EYQ - Joao

 

 

De: Pete Smith N4ZR <pete.n4zr@gmail.com>
Enviada: 21 de agosto de 2023 14:20
Para: CT1EYQ - JOAO <ct1eyq@gmail.com>
Assunto: Re: RBN - contact from website

 

This reflects a decision by the ARRL, which administers DXCCC, and which does not recognize the separate status of 4U1A.  I have not been able to find a detailed description of the reasoning behind this decision, and many people disagree with it, but it remains policy - 4U1UN and 4U1ITU are considered separate DXCC counties, while 4U1A is considered to be Austria. 

73, Pete N4ZR

On 8/21/2023 7:43 AM, CT1EYQ - JOAO wrote:

Hello dear colleagues.

This is just "curiosity".

Why 4U1UN appears as "UN flag" and 4U1A does not show "UN 

flag"?

I understand they are not in the same place/country but, they 

are both UN entities ...

Greetings

CT1EYQ - Joao

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IP:      77.54.203.169

AGENT:   Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/115.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 OPR/101.0.0.0

REFERER: www.reversebeacon.net

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skimmer information:

id: 15924

callsign: CT1EYQ

name: JOAO PIRES

qth: ST ANDRE   PORTUGAL

grid: IM58OB

obs: 

last_seen: 2023-08-21 11:40:52+00

id_dxcc: 85

id_cq_z: 14

id_itu_z: 37

cont: EU

de_info: CT - Portugal - EU - cq zone:14 - itu zone:37

sk_ver: 

ag_ver: 6.3

info: Skimmer Server v. is operated by JOAO PIRES, CT1EYQ

first_seen: 2023-07-01 20:46:23+00

lat: 38.0625

long: -8.7917

last_id_band: 

last_ip: 77.54.203.169

last_port: 7300

show_ip: t

skimmer_accessible: f

last_id_bands: {22,32}

last_bands: {15m,20m}

sk_validation: normal

sk_cq: t

agg_filter: f

telnet_data: 

fingerprint: 

band_data: 

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last 25 posted spots:

DX de CT1EYQ 4X6TU  21150  2023-08-21 11:38:50

DX de CT1EYQ IT9ATQ/B  21149  2023-08-21 11:35:38

DX de CT1EYQ SK6CD  14018.6  2023-08-21 11:33:21

DX de CT1EYQ SM3FBS  14030.6  2023-08-21 11:30:59

DX de CT1EYQ YU4EWW  21015  2023-08-21 11:30:54

DX de CT1EYQ F4CZV  14020.3  2023-08-21 11:29:59

DX de CT1EYQ DO1VK  21011.8  2023-08-21 11:29:54

DX de CT1EYQ SP9DC  21020  2023-08-21 11:29:43

DX de CT1EYQ IT9ATQ/B  21149  2023-08-21 11:25:30

DX de CT1EYQ 4X6TU  21150  2023-08-21 11:23:49

DX de CT1EYQ DJ4DY  14035.1  2023-08-21 11:20:13

DX de CT1EYQ OK2BVX  21050.1  2023-08-21 11:18:56

DX de CT1EYQ DF4XX  21023.1  2023-08-21 11:18:36

DX de CT1EYQ SP9DC  21020  2023-08-21 11:18:26

DX de CT1EYQ DL0CB  14033  2023-08-21 11:15:30

DX de CT1EYQ IT9ATQ/B  21149  2023-08-21 11:15:23

DX de CT1EYQ IU0HSP/8  21020.9  2023-08-21 11:14:33

DX de CT1EYQ OV1CDX  21015  2023-08-21 11:12:52

DX de CT1EYQ LY2PX  21029  2023-08-21 11:11:31

DX de CT1EYQ 4U1A  21016  2023-08-21 11:09:29

DX de CT1EYQ 4U1UN  21150  2023-08-21 11:06:47

DX de CT1EYQ KP4TF  21010  2023-08-21 11:06:17

DX de CT1EYQ IT9ATQ/B  21149  2023-08-21 11:05:16

DX de CT1EYQ LY2PX  21029  2023-08-21 11:01:23

DX de CT1EYQ OY1CT  14020.1  2023-08-21 10:58:09

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last 25 spots as DX:

DX de IK4VET  CT1EYQ 14051.1 2023-08-21 06:13:13

DX de DF2CK  CT1EYQ 14051.1 2023-08-21 06:12:53

DX de IK4VET  CT1EYQ 14051.1 2023-08-21 06:05:35

DX de OE6TZE  CT1EYQ 14051 2023-08-20 06:14:04

DX de DL0PF  CT1EYQ 14051 2023-08-20 06:11:18

DX de OE6TZE  CT1EYQ 14051 2023-08-20 06:05:24