Tackling The Microwave Bands - Part Two

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Other parts in this series:

Part One: https://tauntonarc.blogspot.com/2026/05/tackling-microwave-bands-part-one.html

Part Three: https://tauntonarc.blogspot.com/2026/05/tackling-microwave-bands-part-three.html

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In Part One of this series, G7BEH had just started out on his journey into the microwave bands. He started with listening to beacons on the Wessex websdr and using an old Sky dish and LNB to receive signals via rainscatter.

In this part, we'll take a look at some of the useful apps, websites and software, that can really help get the most out of operating on the microwave bands.

The 10GHz system used by G7BEH

"Because you can't just start calling CQ and make contacts on 10GHz (like you can on HF), you'll need to get some assistance from some helpful tools", David says. So, in no particular order, here goes...

WhatsApp

There's a high chance that you are already using WhatsApp anyway and it seems to be the go-to application for setting up contacts and is often used as a talkback.

ON4KST & KST2You

Using WhatsApp is ideal if you have the other person's details already, but if not, there's 'KST'. The ON4KST website provides a means of communication with other operators. The full site covers VHF, UHF and microwaves.

The main page for the ON4KST chat website

However, once you are out and about, it's easier to use the KST2You webchat, which is a slightly pared down version which works very well with a phone.

Maidenhead Locators

It is usual for Maidenhead locators to be used to find out the bearing between two sites (see Path Profiling below). Whilst there any number of phone apps, GPS devices, or websites, one of the best is the TK5EP QRA locator map at https://www.egloff.eu/qralocator/

This site allows you to really drill down into a position and find the exact Maidenhead locator. Whereas on HF, you might give your locator as IO80, or IO80OR, when you want to complete path profiling it's better to go a stage further. This site will allow you to do that - Allington Hill, for example, becomes IO80OR77HF and you can use this in the next piece of software we will cover.

The TK5EP QRA Locator website is an excellent tool for finding the Maidenhead locator

Path Profiling

There are some great tools for profiling the path between two site, which is extremely useful. There are websites - such as HeyWhatsThat and applications such as Mike Willis's excellent Path Profiler (which runs on Windows machines).

Path Profiler software by Mike Willis - an excellent application!

It would be easy to write an article on each tab available in this software, but suffice to say that you can enter in the transmit location and receive location... the software then provides a wealth of detail including a profile of the path. The more accurate you are with the location details, the more accurate the software!

Propagation Predictions

The final piece of the puzzle (for now!) is to have some idea of what the propagation is doing - or will be doing. The F5LEN website is a go-to place to check it out.

The F5LEN tropospheric propagation prediction tool

The site allows you to scroll through several days of predictions to see if there is any likely good propagation - remember though, it's just a prediction, not fact!

UK Microwave Group

Finally, don't forget to take a look at the Microwave Users Group (UKμG) as they have listings for beacons, beacon spotting as well as a wealth of information. You will need to be a member of the UKμG to use some functions and access the Scatterpoint newsletter.