First contact

This was a little bit of trial an error.

First, I tried Aurora Net, but I couldn't hear anything. I tried VE6SLP's KiwiSDR, and I still couldn't get it. One day I thought it'd be nice to have some "company" while working, so I loaded up VE6SLP's site around 15:00 Pacific time. I found folks on Aurora Net, including some British Columbia call signs!

Next, I tried my SDR again at the time I'd found. No dice. I think either my antenna isn't up to the job, I'm on the wrong side of my building, or I have the wrong config for gqrx. Either way, no luck.

A few days ago, I found my local amateur radio group (WARA, VE7VIC) is VHF-only. I had been configuring my SDR to listen in the 7.1 MHz range, but they're all talking in the 146 MHz range! I set up my phone one evening around 19:00 and low-and-behold, there were a few folks on!

VE7VIC at 146.85 MHz

Success! I even heard some call signs:

1. VE7JDY
2. VA7ACO

Even more unexpectedly, there was a weak and intermittent signal around 146.9 MHz. This seemed to be a Utah-based group as I managed to make out one call sign: KC7YQR. They are roughly 2,000 km away!

I count this as a huge success for my first amateur radio "contact" -- even if it's only one-way ^.^