ZachTek WSPR beacon

As you may recall, I have used my ZachTek WSPR beacon most days (and some nights!) on 10m and I have been very pleased with it. 

I just connect power and antenna and the device does the rest. No PC is needed. GPS works out the locator and it defaults to 200mW although this can be changed in software e.g. if you use attenuators or have a lossy coax.

10m 200mW WSPR TX (Friday)

My Zachtek beacon has been on since breakfast.

UPDATE  2020z:  13 stations spotted me, presumably Es. See table.  Now QRT.

Zachtek WSPR beacon

I have a 10m 200mW WSPR beacon by ZachTek in Sweden. 

What I really like is that, apart from switching it on, nothing at all has to be done, Maidenhead locator and timing are all done by GPS. 

There is a much cheaper product from China, but this is inferior.

With a very average wire antenna it seems to get spotted widely around the world.

Sunday plans

Later, I shall probably try 10m 200mW WSPR TX with my Zachtek beacon. I have yet to try it stepping through different bands as 10m seems good at the moment.

Once set up the TX does not need a PC and gets all its timing and Maidenhead info from GPS. Ideal for /P operation.

Although the RX has a 400Hz wide audio filter I might try it later on FT8 RX. Some signals will go through the filter towards the middle of the pass band.

630m WSPR RX overnight

Last evening and night I was monitoring 630m WSPR with my Zachtek WSPR RX using the outer of the coax up to my 2m big-wheel antenna via a ferrite rod ATU and a mains plug ground. 7 different stations were copied. The RX certainly works with DX over 1000km with this poor setup.

Although more expensive, I preferred to buy from Zachtek in Sweden although I know there is a Chinese copy of the Zachtek TX and probably the RX now.

Zachtek WSPR gear

For the last few days I have been using the 200mW Zachtek WSPR TX. In the end I bought the original kit although it is being copied in China. 

As far as I can tell, the Chinese copy does not have the low pass filters fitted so will have poor harmonic rejection. The Swedish version is far more expensive.

So far, with 200mW WSPR, it has reached 5 continents,

All timing is by GPS, which is built-in. Once programmed the unit needs no PC, so can run unattended. Mine comes covering 40m-6m. I also bought the all band RX, but I have not used this yet.

See https://www.zachtek.com/wspr-tx .

ZachTek WSPR transmitter

These are handmade in Sweden, although there is a Chinese rip-off that is available for much less. I think if files are available on the internet there is always a danger of this happening. 

I am not sure what protection registering the design gives, but I guess it must offer some help.

As I understand things, the Chinese rip-off does NOT contain switchable low pass filters, so the harmonic output is unlikely to be very good.

See https://www.zachtek.com/product-page/wspr-desktop-transmitter