Better 10m conditions

Today I put my 5W 10m WSPR beacon on for a few hours during the day and was rewarded with reports from CX, PY, 5Z4, 4X, LB and G stations. Conditions appeared better than I have noticed in some while and this is proved by a look at recent sunspot activity. See http://www.solen.info/solar/ .

Google Drive (bye bye Dropbox issues)

With the introduction of Google Drive, an online storage facility, I can at last overcome my issues with Dropbox and my VLF grabber. With Google Drive one can store up to 5GB free and more for a fixed price. With the PC or Mac add-on, the drive appears as a file(s) on the computer into which documents can be saved in the normal way. These then appear/sync on any PCs when you sign in to Google Drive.

The bonus is that you can make any file public and get a URL that others can go to. This means that a saved .jpg screen shot of a VLF grabber can be saved to a unique filename on the PC which then is visible to the world if they know the URL. From a webpage I can point people to the URL and they can see the screen grab as it is updated regularly.

I could do all this with Dropbox until about 4 months ago when it started playing silly and refused to sync on my WinXP PC complaining of a registry issue. Despite trying all sorts of recommended fixes none worked and I gave up on Dropbox.

In the coming weeks I will be mounting a more permanent E-field probe which will be connected to the PC whenever it is running and the VLF spectrum view(s) will be available on my sub-9kHz website.

Email questions

As my blogsites and websites attract quite a few visitors, I get a good number of emails from people asking me questions about my projects/thoughts. Whenever possible I try to respond to these right away but occasionally, for example when I am on holiday or have filed the email in the wrong place before answering, I don't reply. Please accept my apologies and write again if after a week or so you've not had an answer.

My standard answer when people ask advice about my circuits is that they are never guaranteed and some experimentation will be needed in any particular implementation layout. The circuits worked for me and should for you if you are prepared to "tweak" values a little.

50MHz UK Activity Contest

This evening I have been listening (and having a few 5W QRP QSOs) in the RSGB 50MHz Activity Contest. This is a good opportunity to find out how effective my wire halo in the loft is. Well, I have worked the locals (G6UW, G3PYE/P and G4BWP) and managed a "QRZ the CW" from G3MEH about 50 miles away. I suspect the results would be several dB better with the halo further up in the air co-located within my 10m halo on the external mast.

Elecraft KX3 production ramp up

Elecraft KX3 units are starting to make their way into customers' hands now, although the initial product rate has been quite low. On the KX3 Yahoo Group there have been a few reports of initial huccups although this is to be expected in any new production run and, as always, Elecraft has handled these very well. According to Wayne Burdick, production is soon expected to ramp up now these initial problems are being ironed out. Wayne writes:

"Off the top of my head....  We had one unit with a dead MCU clock crystal (extremely rare). One radio wouldn't turn off because a mic wire was touching another component (we're looking at heat shrink for that). Two had problems with EEPROM due to a firmware bug I found and fixed at 1:30 AM on Monday morning. This firmware is already in beta test. 

Mostly just new-product syndrome. We really are on the verge of serious shipping increases."

 I have still to decide if/when to order one. The initial reviews on www.eham.net have been excellent.

Low cost rotator

In my search for a low cost rotator for small and lightweight VHF/UHF yagis I see that Conrad Electronics UK sells an "external TV rotator" for £52.99, plus postage from Germany with a free 2 year warranty.

3 core cable, 70 secs 360 deg rotation, 45kg load, 300Nm bending moment, 21.6Nm torque.  See eBay item 180832166179.

Does anyone have any experience of this rotator?

Rotators or big wheels

There was a time when a small rotator capable of turning a modest 2m yagi could be bought for around £40 but there appears to be little available now below £300. The low cost Yaesu rotator (G250?) appears to be unavailable now.  I was thinking about erecting small beams for 6m, 2m and 70cm and was wondering about suitable rotators, but am rather put off by the costs.

A better alternative may be a big wheel antenna with around 3dBd gain omnidirectional, or more if two are stacked. 5dBd is at least as much gain as an HB9CV without the worry of a rotator.

Elecraft KX3 leadtimes

As a potential buyer (still thinking about it), I asked the sales desk at Elecraft what sort of leadtime I could expect if I placed an order for a fully loaded , ready assembled KX3 in the next couple of weeks. This was the reply:

Roger,

Thank you for your inquiry and interest in the KX3 Transceiver.  Orders placed now will ship in 90-120 days. We are working hard to make it less than that, but right now that is my best estimate.

Thank you,
Lisa

So, 3-4 months wait currently.

Homebase-6 (50MHz halo)

Homebase-6 50MHz halo prototype indoors ready for tests

This afternoon I had a go at scaling my Homebase-10 (28MHz wire halo) down to work on 50MHz. I simply scaled the dimensions by 28.3/50.1 (the ratio of the centre frequencies) and performance was almost spot on with a low VSWR in the DX part of 6m. So far I have only tried it in the shack holding the antenna in the air by hand and keying the TX to measure SWR. Next stage of tests will be to erect it in the loft space before erecting a more permanent version within the 10m halo on the top of the mast at the back of the house at a decent height. Still, a promising start. In the end I may opt for a small 6m beam like a Moxon or HB9CV though.

UPDATE 1600z : I have now erected this horizontally in my loftspace although it is more triangular than square. Match is good so I'll see how it performs locally next.

UPDATE 2100z: I am surprised that I'm unable to copy the more distant UK 6m beacons such as GB3BUX and GB3RAL which use horizontally polarised antennas. I need to monitor for longer to see if they appear by MS or tropo.

Winter projects review

Back on Jan 4th this year I put a list of projects that were on my "to do" list on the blog. As winter is now over it is time to review progress (or rather lack of it):

Lightbeam RX. The aim is to detect the GB3CAM 481THz optical beacon at a distance of 32km from my nearest highspot.

Well, the RX has been improved considerably and is now very sensitive and is capable of NLOS reception, but I have still to make a successful reception of this beacon.

Light beam transceiver. Following on from (1), this will either be a transceive head with a transverter or an FM transceiver that I can duplicate so I can talk to others who can borrow the second unit.

This has not progressed at all. It is still my intention to do this.

Rebuilt VLF earth mode beacon transmitter. In a few weeks time I will be able to put out a stable signal on 8.97kHz  (the usual VLF test frequency) rather than 8.76kHz. My intention is to rebuild the whole beacon TX so I can run 10wpm CW, QRSS3, 30 and 60 modes as well as WSPR.

 I have recrystalled and tested the existing beacon for 8.970kHz but the full rebuild has not happened.

Improved LF loop and E-field probe antennas. I want to erect a more permanent external antenna for VLF and LF grabber work and mount these away from the house.
Improved E-field probes have been tested but I have not erected these externally.

Case up the 137kHz transverter. This has been a rat's nest on a piece of copper laminate for too long!

Still to be done.Not started.

28MHz WSPR transceiver based on a 14.060MHz crystal doubled in a DSB direct conversion transceiver circuit.
Not started and now unlikely to be done.

In my defence, I  have done a few other projects including some 160m transmitter and 160m loft antenna work and quite a bit of experimentation on the 481THz kit although few products at the end of this. I want to do one more thing very shortly and that is to erect a 50MHz (Homebase-10 style) wire halo either in the loft space or on the mast outside in time for the Es season.

In summary, I think one can say I am what my mother-in-law called a "fireside fusilier": I'm always gunner (going to) do this and gunner do that!