SAQ 24/Dec/2025

M0RVB

Today saw the Christmas 2025 broadcast from SAQ. I set up three receivers to see if any could pick the signal up. These were as follows:

YouLoop 1 (loft), Airspy HF+ Discovery, Mac SDR++

YouLoop 2 (loft), Heros VLF converter, SDRPLay RSP2, Linux SDRconnect

PA0RDT miniwhip (loft) plus associated preamp, Behringer UMC204HD, Linux VLF-RX tools

During the event the VLF-RX code refused to start because, I think anyway ALSA mixer had claimed all the interfaces - the error was that the interface was busy. I was running YouTube on that PC for the live stream. There was no copy, not even a trace of the signal via the RSP2, but the Airspy setup worked fine. Signal strength was well down on last time but still readable visually and audibly although the report I submitted was QSA 2 and QRK 3.

A screenshot of SDR++ on a Mac showing reception of SAQ on 17.2kHz plus other close by signals.

The screenshot above shows the reception plus the difference between the LNA being off (lower half) and on.

The YouTube video of the event can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSGQ0zR188Q