Index of ~/ct1ete on CT1ETE

About this site

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

On this site I share the themes of amateur radio that intrigue me and shape my experiments and discoveries. It is a ship’s log and, at the same time, a small archive of curiosities: you will find content on satellites, digital communications, DX contacts, mesh networks and many other subjects that this fascinating world, as old as it is inexhaustible, keeps offering to those willing to listen.

My fascination with contacting stations in Antarctica and the Arctic endures, in the frozen reaches of the planet, where every signal that arrives seems to defeat isolation itself. It is also the compass of my journey to complete DXCC on HF, entity by entity, and to enrich DXCC on satellite, where space is the go-between and patience the best ally.

Logbook

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Drag the globe with the mouse (or your finger) to spin it. Each green circle is a locator square (4 characters) where I made contacts; the bigger, the more QSOs. The station is in orange. Click a circle for the locator and the number of contacts.

Drag the globe to spin it; click a circle to see its locator.

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Propagation

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Everything I like to check before switching the radio on: the state of the Sun, the ionosphere and the magnetic field, updated live.

Now

Kp–

SFI–

X-ray–

Loading NOAA data…

APRS

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The station’s position and history on the APRS network:

📍 APRS · CT1ETE

View on the map (aprs.fi) Position history

How it works

Equipment

Kenwood TH-D75E (2 m / 70 cm · 5 W) — Built-in GPS and TNC, analog and digital APRS (positions and messages), built-in digipeater, D-STAR and Bluetooth. The most complete of the three for APRS.
Yaesu FT-5DE (FT5D) (2 m / 70 cm · 5 W) — Built-in GPS (GPS, Beidou, Glonass, Galileo), C4FM and FM, position sharing also over C4FM, Bluetooth for headsets.
VGC VR-N76 (2 m / 70 cm · 5 W) — GPS/BDS and compass, TNC that works with APRSDroid and WOAD (Winlink), KISS modem for compatible apps, Bluetooth with a phone app.

Frequencies

MHz	Use
144.800	APRS in Europe and Africa (IARU Region 1), 1200 bps AFSK, FM.
145.825	APRS via the ISS (onboard digipeater) and satellites. Follow the pass; it may be active only at times.
432.500 / 433.775	LoRa APRS is usually on 433 MHz in Europe; check the frequency used in your area before transmitting.

Network and lookup

aprs.filive real-time map, history, messages and nearby stations aprs.fi APRS-ISnetwork the server network that iGates connect to aprs-is.net aprs.orgdocs the site of Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, creator of APRS aprs.org APRS Foundationdocs protocol documentation and specifications aprsfoundation.org findu.comlive station and position lookup findu.com

Software

APRSDroidsoftware APRS client for Android, with Bluetooth TNC or internet connection aprsdroid.org Direwolfsoftware software TNC, digipeater and iGate github.com YAACsoftware Java APRS client for desktop ka2ddo.org Xastirsoftware APRS client for Linux xastir.org

LoRa APRS

LoRa APRS (OARC)network UK parameters and guidance (439.9125 MHz, BW 125 kHz, SF12, CR 4/5) wiki.oarc.uk LoRa APRS Gatewaynetwork community project for LoRa trackers and iGates lora-aprs.info

Satellites

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Where I keep up with amateur satellites: what I have worked, where to listen, which frequencies they use, which ones are alive and when new launches happen.

Passes in the next 24 hours

RS-44, FO-29, ISS, SO-50, JO-97 and other satellites with an amateur transponder, for the locator you choose (default IN51uk, Guimarães). Computed in your browser right now.

Locator Calculating passes…

DX and contests

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Latest spots (DX Summit)

Loading the latest spots… Open DX Summit

DX is long-distance contact: the rare station, the entity that is still missing, the signal that crosses the planet. Here I gather what I use to follow DXpeditions and contests, and what I am learning about getting heard when everybody calls at the same time.

Audio Archive

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recordings of contacts with space stations and satellites, and of telemetry received, grouped by type and in chronological order.

Crewed space stations

Contacts with astronauts and cosmonauts onboard the MIR station and the International Space Station.

1999 08-14

MIRR0MIR

QSO with Jean-Pierre Haigneré, onboard Space Station MIR

1999 08-15

MIRR0MIR

QSO with Jean-Pierre Haigneré, onboard Space Station MIR

2001 06-23

ISSNA1SS

QSO with Susan Helms, onboard the International Space Station

2001 06-24

ISSNA1SS

QSO with Susan Helms, onboard the International Space Station

2001 10-21

ISSNA1SS

Sferics

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sferics (short for “atmospherics”) are the radio impulses produced by lightning. You do not need a transmitter: a very simple receiver, a small antenna and an audio input are enough to hear the Earth’s atmosphere at work.

What you hear

Sferics are broadband pulses, with most of their energy below 100 kHz and a peak between 5 and 10 kHz. They travel in the waveguide between the ground and the ionosphere with little attenuation, so they arrive from storms thousands of kilometres away. On VLF they sound like a crackling Geiger counter.

Contact

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

You can reach me on the air (callsign CT1ETE), through my QRZ.com profile or on X, at @ct1ete.

Where to find me

QRZ.comnetwork my profile and amateur radio contact details qrz.com HamQTHnetwork callsign lookup and profile hamqth.com X — @ct1etenetwork direct messages and quick news x.com

In Portugal

REP — Rede dos Emissores Portuguesesnetwork the national amateur radio association: repeaters, contests, information and membership rep.pt IARU Região 1docs band plans and spectrum resources for Europe, Africa and the Middle East iaru-r1.org

73!

Search

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Photos

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The pictures I have posted on X since I started. Click a thumbnail to see it larger, with its original caption.

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The chaos on FM satellites

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 10:30:00 +0000

An SO-50 pass is about to start. Ten, fifteen minutes with the satellite above the horizon, all the time we get. I switch on the radio, tune the Doppler, and what reaches the speaker is not a conversation: it is a flood of callsigns, one on top of another, filling the only channel there is. The minutes go by. Not a single complete QSO. The pass ends, and I am left with the same question as always: was it worth it?

The DXCC trap

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

I came to amateur radio because I am fascinated by the phenomenon of radio wave propagation. Communication, yes, but also white noise, atmospheric noise. Even when there is nothing but noise, the radio fills me. None of this can be bought and none of it can be measured. And yet here I am, looking at a list of entities the way you look at a heavy burden.

This text is a reckoning with myself, and a question for whoever reads it: when does a hobby made of freedom and pleasure turn into a prison?

What I miss in DX’peditions

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 16:30:00 +0000

The 3Y0K Expedition to Bouvet Island, one of the globe’s most remote locales, has been operational since the outset of March, generating considerable excitement within the amateur radio community. As usual, enthusiasts are striving to log this diminutive, icy isle. The fortunate operators bask in elation, while others grapple with frustration, which often erupts into toxic behavior across bands, social media, and several clustering platforms. However, do the majority of operators embody best practices in this endeavor? This could be just a simple rhetorical question, yet it is anything but, as it is absurd what they are doing to themselves and others.