Insane reception of a very low-power QRPp beacon in Sweden on 30m ham band!
SA6RR is operated by "Radio Rud" aka SK6RUD, from a small village of Oxaback, near Goeteborg. According to information specified on a QSL card automatically generated upon submitting a reception report to a form on the beacon's webpage, it uses a homebrew "Mighty Mite" transceiver with just 0.5 watt of power into a half-wave dipole half-wave (15m) above ground -- although the website itself says it's a vertical. Which info is correct?
See for yourself: www.radiorud.se/fyren.php
Anyway, I was stunned with the signal I got from this beacon. It could rival several strong broadcast stations in the nearby 31m broadcast band. The best recorded peak in this video was at S7, or about -82dBm (well, dBFS, but who cares? 🤷‍♂️), but later I could see it rise even further to -75dBm -- just 2dB shy of a 599 report! 😮
Again, it's just HALF A WATT!!!
I received this beacon utilising my recent RX marvel, a 2.46m square terminated loop w/ 660 Ohm resistance, which beamed ~0deg at the time of reception. The receiver was Airspy HF+ Discovery. Distance to the beacon's QTH is said to be 815 km.
HALF A WATT AT 815 KM 🤯🤯🤯