Merry Christmas everyone

Whatever your circumstances I hope you have a peaceful and happy time this Christmas shared with the people you love.

G3XDV on 136kHz QRSS

Getting a very strong signal this evening from G3XDV on 136.177kHz QRSS60 receiving Mike on the earth electrodes fed straight into the deaf (at 136kHz) FT817. He is sending "XDV" preceded by G3XDV in normal speed CW.

160m QRP DX on WSPR

WSPR reports - 160m 5W QRP

Last night I used my 5m long vertical feeder to the 10m halo as a TX antenna on 160m WSPR, matching it with a few turns on a ferrite rod on the bedroom table and the Elecraft T1 auto-ATU. Results were very encouraging for 5W and an indifferent antenna with best DX reports from Norway and Spain. On RX the best DX was RA3LW at 2036km.

160m DX on WSPR

Last night I decided to take a look on 160m WSPR to see what could be heard/seen with my strapped feeder up to the 10m halo as an (untuned) vertical. 21 unique stations copied and best DX was K9PAW (running 2W) at 0222z who is 6370km away. I may now try some overnight TXing with this antenna properly tuned and matched to see how far away my own QRP WSPR signals can be heard.

13cm handheld "DX" QSO

My iPod Touch 4g has the free Echolink app installed and last night, when I went to bed, I decided to give it a try. I managed to work a mobile station in Brisbane, Australia using the Brisbane repeater. In effect, the iPod Touch is used as a 13cm QRP handheld transceiver (using the 802.11 wi-fi functionality). Fun, with simple operation and good audio reports. I continue to be amazed by the iPod Touch 4g which is a truly amazing piece of kit for around £160. There are very many useful amateur radio applications including a free oscilloscope and audio spectrum analysers and spectrograms for a few pounds only.

SAQ transmission on Dec 24th (17.2kHz)

The historic VLF alternator transmitter SAQ in Grimeton, Sweden will be transmitting next on Dec 24th at 0800z on 17.2kHz with tune-up some 30 minutes before. QSL cards will be issued for reports of successful reception if sent by email  to info@alexander.n.se or the SM QSL bureau (I think). This is a good chance to try out your VLF receivers. The antennas at Grimeton are a bit bigger than mine on VLF!

Long duration VLF test on 8.7608kHz yesterday

Yesterday I ran my 5W 8.7608kHz beacon into the earth electrode antenna on a quasi-continuous basis with transmissions of 30-60 minutes interspersed with 30-60 minute breaks. The tests lasted from 0900-2200z. Several stations between 25-70km were looking for my signals and Paul Nicholson up in Yorkshire has still to analyse his recorded files. So far, no station has detected any sign of the signal, which was not surprising considering the radiated ERP would have been in the pW level.  I was hoping that a few stations 10-20km  from JO02dg might have been looking as these would have had some chance of copying something. So, an unsuccessful test this time.

Paul Nicholson (Todmorden) advises me to use a GPS locked source so that the TX frequency is known with great precision. Then he, and others, can look for statistically significant weak signals at precisely the times and frequency of transmission. My HF crystal and divider source would not have been sufficiently stable to allow this sort of "digging in the noise" over any great time period.  For QRSS3, the current stability is fine. For the record, these were my transmission times: 0840-1000z, 1029-1229z, 1330-1500z,1531-1600z, 1630-1800z, 1830-1900z,1930-2207z on 15.12.10.

Yaesu FT450D (new version of the FT450)

Stateside magazines and websites are talking about a new version of the FT450 from Yaesu.  See the Universal Radio page about the FT450D. Apart from differently styled knobs and a couple of fold down feet - the original did not have a stand - I cannot really see what has changed. The FT450 has consistently got good reviews as a relatively inexpensive 160-6m 100W rig. As someone who has always been very pleased with Yaesu products right back to the FT7 days, I would consider this if buying a new HF radio for general use.

CamBeam Dec 2010

The latest edition of CamBeam the magazine of the Cambridge and District Amateur Radio Club (CDARC) is now available giving notice of future club activities and projects and of the upcoming AGM.  Currently I am a lapsed member of the club, although back in the early 1970s I was very actively involved when I first came up to Cambridge.

10m transatlantic F2 propagation today

Just got a -7dB S/n report from N4AU on 10m WSPR at a distance of 6976km. I believe this is my first 10m F2 report in many years. Not a bad report for 5W as it suggests the signal would have been copyable with about 25mW.