Sputnik valve TXs on air this week

All being well, for a few days starting October 4th I shall be on 21.060kHz using G6ALB's "Sputnik" valve TX which puts out 400mW. Several other stations around the world will be running similar rigs and with luck we will manage a few Sputnik-Sputnik QSOs. DL2BQD will certainly be on and also, with luck, some transatlantic propagation will be possible.

A decent 500kHz allocation a step nearer?

From a post on the GQRP Yahoo group....

"On the IARU Region 1 website Colin Thomas, G3PSM, reports on progress in Mainz towards an Amateur Radio allocation in the vicinity of 500 kHz.

WRC12 Agenda Item 1.23 says "To consider an allocation of about 15 kHz in parts of the band 415-526.5 kHz to the amateur service on a secondary basis, taking into account the need to protect existing services;"

The CEPT Conference Preparatory Group Project Team C (CPG PT C) meeting took place in Mainz, Germany and Colin Thomas, G3PSM, reports:

At its meeting between 26 and 29 September, 2011 the CEPT project team approved a draft ECP for an 8kHz-wide band between 472 and 480kHz. This draft ECP now goes to CEPT's Conference Preparatory Group for formal ratification in November. This breakthrough, at the 11th and final meeting of the project team, occurred with the submission by the UK's Ofcom of an RSGB-drafted compromise ECP proposal supported by France and Sweden. But the prospect of an agreed CEPT position is good progress, representing a 48 country block vote going into next year's WRC-12. It needs to be noted that the draft ECP comes with significant caveats to avoid interference to the primary user, as well as the existing secondary user services. These are the maritime and aeronautical radionavigation services respectively. As secondary users we would also not be afforded any protection. It should be acknowledged that we have had support from a number of Region 1 national societies in getting to this position."

Hospitals and life's (nasty) surprises

Yesterday we had a sudden shock when my wife was rushed into Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge suffering from severe back pains and sickness. The day before she had been fit and well. She has been diagnosed with acute cholecystitis and is now on intravenous antibiotics and drips.

As Julian G4ILO has recently found, life has a nasty habit of suddenly throwing a spanner in the works, usually just when things are going very well. Hopefully she will make a full recovery although she has to have her gall bladder removed in the next 6-8 weeks.

....and I haven't a clue how to drive the washing machine :-)

Reverse Beacon Network - brilliant resource

A couple of times in the last few days the Reverse Beacon Network (a worldwide network of receiving stations automatically uploading spots to to the internet) has come to my aid. Today for example: a couple of CW calls on 28.060 with 5W to the halo got no audible replies, but a RBN report from PJ2T in Curacao in the Caribbean at 10dB S/N on CW proved my signal was getting a very long way.   A few days ago I found my brief call had been copied in K3 land (that's the call district and not the Elecraft factory)..

Sputnik across the Atlantic today

The "team" today

This afternoon Andrew G6ALB, Ted G4NUA and I got together to finish building the "Sputnik" transmitter for 15m based on old Russian valves of the same type used in the first Sputnik satellite in 1957. These were given to us by AA1TJ. Andrew G6ALB did all the building work but I was the "air tester" as his CW is, he says, worse even than mine.

After a few false starts with the PSU arrangement we fired up the transmitter into Andrew's inverted-L antenna and had almost immediate success with a QSO (following our CQ) with K1GDH (Ed) near Cambridge USA who was running 5W and gave us 539.

From Andrew:

Our power out was 400mW.  PSU was nominal 24V AC @ 500 mA plug top followed by doubler for about 74V no load and 72 on load.  Grid Block keying uses -36V rail.  In all 3 diodes, 3 caps, 3 bleed Rs.  Very simple, fairly safe also. Filament supply is 5V DC plugtop [stabilised] and 18R resistor which gets warm!

A second Sputnik rig is being built now and all being well we will be on the air on Oct 4th (Sputnik Day) to try for some more QSOs.

Disappointing day on 10m today

Most of today 10m was relatively quiet here with just inter-G WSPR reports. I was about to switch things off when I noted a report from CX2ABP (11127km) just appeared. Maybe tomorrow conditions will be better.

10m - AMAZING propagation again today

Starting with reports of my QRP WSPR signal from VK6BN at 0640z, the day on 10m has been simply amazing. The band has been WIDE open to all continents today and sounded (almost) as good as I ever remember it. Several USA stations worked (with 59 reports) on QRP SSB. One report on WSPR from VK4 suggested just 50mW would have been enough to get me reports from Australia!

I just hope this upsurge in conditions lasts a while. Just maybe, the peak of cycle 24 could yet be a good one. An indication of conditions is how far above 28.5MHz stations spread out. Stations were spreading out to at least 28.6MHz on SSB and this is a weekday with no contests.

10m WIDE open - best for me in MANY years

Having just got back from France I switched on the FT817 on 10m to find the band wide open. Not that much on SSB (W4, 5B4 etc) but on WSPR with just 5W to my halo I was getting reports right away from the southern USA (-12dB S/N from W4DJW at 6537km and KB9AMG at 6300km). K9AN was giving me reports of +5dB S/N suggesting 5mW would be enough to cross the pond. Sounds like this autumn conditions are going to be excellent in 10m and possibly 6m.

UPDATE at 1845z: band still open to the USA, S.America and Europe. Just like the "good old days"!

Earth Mode VLF article in October RadCom

If things go to plan, there should be a 3 page article of mine in the October RadCom. As I am away in France I've no idea if this appeared or not.

IC7000, FT450D or KX3?

After many years I am thinking of upgrading my "main" HF/6m rig and these are my main options. Any views on which one to go for? I shall only use the rig for QRP mainly but a bit more power could be useful at times. VHF and UHF could be a nice addition with the IC7000 but the FT450D has better reviews. Of course the KX3 is some months away from production, especially in a CE approved European version. Ideally I'd like an FT817 successor, but this doesn't look likely before I die.