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SOTA Signal Reports Using 2m FM
9 September 2024 | by 
Everyone wants to know how their signal sounds on the air and often the best way to find out is a signal report from other ham radio operators. The standard signal reporting method for amateur radio is the RST (Readability-Signal Strength-Tone) system. See Practical Signal Reports on HamRadioSchool.com.
When using 2m FM on Summits On The Air (SOTA), we can simplify the signal report. Because it is a voice mode, we drop the reading for Tone and just give RS reports, so a perfect signal on voice is RS 59 or simply “five nine.” The Readability report is a number between 1 and 5, while the Signal Strength report goes from 1 to 9. (See the listing at the bottom of this article.) The signal strength generally corresponds to the S meter reading on your radio but most FM rigs have very basic meters. Some don’t provide a meter reading at all. The photo to the left shows a typical bar graph on a Yaesu FT-60. Don’t expect high accuracy, so if the meter reads full scale, give an S9 report. If it reads half-scale, that’s probably S5, etc.
On VHF FM, signal reports may also be given in terms of FM quieting. A strong FM signal is said to “quiet the receiver” since there is virtually no noise present in the received audio. As the signal strength is decreased, noise starts to appear on the received signal. At lower signals levels, the noise increases dramatically and the signal becomes unreadable. This dramatic increase is called the threshold effect, meaning that FM signals do not gradually fade out, they tend to fade quickly into the noise. The key idea here is that you want your signal to be strong enough to be above this noise threshold. In terms of a signal report, a strong signal may result in a “full quieting” report. If the signal is less than full quieting, you may hear a report like “90 percent quieting” or “you have about 10% noise”, which both describe the amount of noise present in the signal. If the signal is really noisy, the report might be “50% quieting.”
Keep It Simple
For practical 2m FM operating, don’t overthink these signal reports. If the signal is easy to hear and is full-scale, give a 59 report. If it is easy to hear but the meter reading is less than full scale, reduce the signal level report to something like 56 or 57. If there is some noise present, you might want to reduce the readability to 4, so maybe give a 44 or 45 report. (Usually, if there is a readability issue, the signal strength will also be lower.) If you are having a difficult time hearing the signal, it’s probably a 33 or less. Readability of 1 or 2 is rarely used because it indicates you are not actually hearing the other station.
One final note is that sometimes the operator on the other end is looking for a more critical evaluation of his signal quality. If he says something about “checking out this new microphone” or “have been working on solving an audio problem”, that may be the clue to spend a little extra time really listening to the signal and providing more comments on how it sounds. For most of us, we don’t actually get to hear our own signal on the air, so it’s very helpful to get quality feedback from other radio amateurs.
73 Bob KØNR
The RST system as listed on the ARRL web site, Quick Reference Operating Aids:
Readability 1 – Unreadable 2 – Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable. 3 – Readable with considerable difficulty. 4 – Readable with practically no difficulty. 5 – Perfectly readable.
Signal Strength 1- Faint signals, barely perceptible. 2- Very weak signals. 3- Weak signals. 4- Fair signals. 5- Fairly good signals. 6- Good signals. 7- Moderately strong signals. 8- Strong signals. 9- Extremely strong signals.
Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].
ICQ Podcast Episode 438 – Huntsville Hamfest 2024
In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT, Colin Butler M6BOY and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and the episode's feature is Huntsville Hamfest 2024
We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate
- ARRL IT Security Incident - Report to Members
- PRESENTER OPINION : ARRL IT Security Incident
- The RSGB is getting ready for National Coding Week
- Children's Museum Provides A Spectrum Of Experience
- Silent Key Who Made A Difference
- Route 66 On The Air 2024
- Yaesu, Icom & Kenwood Feature New Transceivers at Ham Fair Japan
- Transistor Promises Faster, More Energy-Efficient Operation
Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].
Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 346
The highest sunspot number in 23 years
Fall 2001 was the last time sunspot counts were this high.
SpaceWeather.com
APRS Foundation accepting members
Becoming a member helps secure the future of APRS and assists with the foundation’s operating costs.
Amateur Radio
National Traffic System celebrates 75 years
As NTS 2.0 emerges to modernize the radiogram system, ARRL takes a look back at the origin of NTS which began in 1949.
ARRL
2024 Route 66 On The Air
This year marks the 25th year of this great radio event.
Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club
SkywarnPlus
US government-issued alerts via AllstarLink, HAMVOIP, myGMRS, GMRS Live, and more.
SkywarnPlus
The September – October SARC Communicator
Projects and articles in this issue including a CW decoder, an HF amplifier, and a web server for HamClock using an inexpensive Raspberry Pi Zero.
SARC
A return to Ham Radio
My dad was thinking about whether I’d have any interest in his Ham Radio callsign when the time comes that he becomes a silent key.
AFØAJ
A brief history of barbed wire fence telephone networks
In need of a practical way to overcome social isolation; communicate emergencies, weather, and crop prices; and chafing under attempts to curtail free speech, ranchers and farmers began to take advantage of the growing ubiquity of both telephone sets and barbed wire fencing.
loriemerson
Amid wildfires and spotty cell service, Northstate residents turn to Ham Radios
Head even 20 minutes into the mountains from cities like Redding, Red Bluff, and Chico, and you’ll quickly lose cell phone service.
KRCR
Video
From zero to APRS in 10 minutes
Let’s build an APRS packet igate in under 10 minutes for just 99 dollars.
KM6LYW Radio
900MHz POTA – Leave no band behind
Operating on 902.300 MHz FM using an Alinco DJ-G29 HT and a DMS Wireless YA90014 Yagi antenna.
N2MAK
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Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.
The Operation Market Garden Special Event Station
Commemorating 80 years
An important stage in the liberation of Western Europe
Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the German-occupied Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944. Its objective was to create a 103 km salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine River), creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany. This was to be achieved by two sub-operations: seizing nine bridges with combined US and British airborne forces (´Market´) followed by British land forces swiftly following over the bridges (´Garden´).
The airborne operation was undertaken by the First Allied Airborne Army with the land operation by XXX Corps of the British Second Army. The airborne soldiers, numbering more than 41,000, were dropped at sites where they could capture key bridges and hold the terrain until the land forces arrived. The land forces consisted of ten armoured and motorised brigades with a similar number of soldiers. The land forces advanced from the south along a single road surrounded by flood plain on both sides. The plan anticipated that they would cover the 103 km from their start to the bridge across the Rhine in 48 hours. About 100,000 German soldiers were in the vicinity to oppose the allied offensive. It was the largest airborne operation of the war up to that point (Wikipedia ©). Perhaps the most famous, after D-Day, in the history of the Second World War.
As part of Operation Market Garden paratroopers of the Allied forces, such as American, British, Canadian, Polish and Dutch troops, landed in the Nijmegen region on 17 September 1944. The region became a battlefield during Operation Market Garden and most of the inhabitants took refuge in the woods or neighbouring towns. It took more than a week of heavy fighting before parts of the region were temporarily liberated. Many people and military were killed and buildings and bridges were destroyed. At the cost of many young soldiers the important Waal-bridge in Nijmegen was conquered. In our collective mind the entire region was completely liberated in 1944, but this was only for a period of three weeks. There was still hard fighting during the winter and complete liberation was not achieved until may 1945.
YouTube video: Operation Market Garden
The special event
From September 13 to 19 a special event station will be operating in the Nijmegen region of the Netherlands commemorating 8Ø years of freedom. The callsign is PA8ØOMG.
During 7 days they will activate the callsign PA8ØOMG and work amateur radio operators across the world. If you find yourself in the vicinity of Groesbeek and Nijmegen, be sure to visit us throughout the activities of the special event station. We are situated at one of the exact landing grounds of the 82nd Airborne division in 1944. Our website https://radioclublimburg.nl/pa80omg/index.html
~
Long Duration M-Class Flare, and More (Livestream)
This livestream recording is from September 1, 2024 – the NW7US Radio Communications Channel Livestream. We do this livestream every Sunday at 21:15 UTC. Here is the link to the livestream from this past Sunday:
The livestream list is here:
https://www.youtube.com/@nw7us/streams
I hope to see you in our livestream live chat, during the next session on Sunday, at 21:15 UTC. See you there!
Visit, subscribe: NW7US Radio Communications and Propagation YouTube Channel
Ground rods intalled.
This ground rod took forever to pound in.
I had the opportunity in the spring to pick up free of charge 2 copper-clad 8-foot ground rods free of charge as long as I picked them up. It was about an hour's drive for me but free ground rods were well worth the trip. Also, I was able to meet one of the hams from our contest club and have a coffee and a nice chat. As things go I had many things to do around the house and installing ground rods was low on the list. Well, September was here and I did not want to wait any longer and the decision was made to pound in two ground rods.
I did some online searching for ways to install ground rods and one way was to rent a tool that basically pounds them in. It's like a concrete hammer drill but for ground rods. I contacted the local building store who rented them and I was told for 1/2 day it was about 250.00!!!! Well, it first was time for plan B to see how that worked out. Plan B was to put the ground rods in on my own steam! Online there were many videos of folks who lifted the ground rod and slammed it into the ground. They kept doing this and added water into the hole as they went along. When the ground rod was close to the surface they used a hammer for the rest. Another common thread in the videos was best case was to do this job after a few days of rain as this also helped out. As plans would have it did rain here for a few days and just after the rain I thought "It's a nice day to pound some ground rods in". Out I went with my trusty water bottles, work gloves and lots of ambition. I have to say the first ground rod at the base of my Hustler 4BTV went in very easily. So bubbling with confidence I moved to the second location which was for a ground rod that was to ground my station.
This spot was not as smooth going, the first attempt came to an abrupt stop at about the 4-foot mark. The only thing I could figure was I hit a tree root from one of our Maple trees. The second attempt was a charm BUT it was not easy going. I added water and slammed the ground rod down and it did go in but very very very slowly. Finally, success and both ground rods were in and connected to the antenna and the other to a ground bus in my shack.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
The September – October SARC Communicator
We're back!
Read in over 150 countries, we bring you 125+ pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and elsewhere. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.
You can view or download it as a .PDF file:
Previous Communicator issues:
Search for past Communicator issues
and a full index is HERE.
As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome.
The deadline for the next edition is October 15th and we're especially looking for articles and stories about 3D printing for amateur radio.
If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at [email protected]
73,
John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor
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