We now have six stations in Galway operational on Yaesu Fusion. Steve EI5DD, Tom EI2GP, John EI1EM, Arthur EI7GMB, and Gerry EI8DRB, have FTM400XDR transceivers and Andrew EI3FEB has an FTM100. Dermot EI7IX from Westport recently purchased an FT100, whilst Joe EI3IX, and John EI7FAB, from Castlebar Co Mayo, should be on shortly so the efforts have finally borne fruit. Arthur EI7GMB will have an FTM100 in Galway shortly. Gerry EI8DRB owns a Yaesu FT991 which incorporates C4FM. Nine on the air in a short time is impressive.
The Limerick area, due South of Galway, have a Yaesu Fusion Repeater which provides a good signal throughout Galway and into Co. Mayo as far west as Westport. The current number of Fusion operators in the Limerick area would appear to be around ten or eleven.
Plans are to place a Wires-X gateway online by the end of April, which will serve Galway City and the surrounding area of 25 Km radius.
The Limerick area, due South of Galway, have a Yaesu Fusion Repeater which provides a good signal throughout Galway and into Co. Mayo as far west as Westport. The current number of Fusion operators in the Limerick area would appear to be around ten or eleven.
Plans are to place a Wires-X gateway online by the end of April, which will serve Galway City and the surrounding area of 25 Km radius.
The first experiment was carried out between EI3FEB in Headford and me in Galway City - a path of 23.5 Km but it had a few hills in between the two stations so was a poor path at the best of times. The path was chosen as this was probably the worst signal strength achievable.
Both rigs were set up to transmit 5 watts and the initial transmission was made on FM
As can be seen on the display the signal strength did not even register and the FM signal had the usual hiss encountered with FM signals received on the fringe area. For an S0 signal, it was not to bad. The FTM 400 recorded the returned signal as S 0.5 - S 1. Readable with plenty of hiss. Note the FM displayed to the right of the frequency displayed indicating this was in the FM mode. The lower green light indicates FM reception.
The mode was changed to C4FM and the signal received was most impressive
This signal was still received at an S zero level but his time in C4FM. The quality of audio was crystal clear with absolutely no background noise. Note the DN displayed to the right of the frequency displayed denoting in digital mode. The blue light denotes the reception of a digital signal. When the digital signal is received other information is embedded within it which includes the Call sign and also GPS coordinates. The distance as shown was derived from that information.
Check out the YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I90774lrNvU
Quite impressive with no R2D2 sounds from the received signal.
