Spots with WISPY RX

FR1GZ and others coming through just fine

This is the PC screen capture using WISPY as the 10m receiver for WSPR in the last hour or so. It is working just fine.

WISPY Schematic (more clearly)

For some reason when I put multiple images on a post it is not easily possible to see them clearly when clicked (at least with Firefox). So here is the schematic again. Clicking this image should bring up the full sized image clearly.

Hum fixed on the 28MHz WISPY WSPR RX

Rev B 28MHz WSPR receiver

Adding more audio decoupling around the oscillator and adding a common base FET RF preamp has totally fixed the common mode hum issues with my Polyakov mixer based DC receiver (WISPY) for 28MHz WSPR. Even running from a mains PSU I am getting good sensitivity and no hum. The board is working on the bench with no attempt at screening and appears totally fine. The oscillator buffer appears redundant, so has been removed.

Wispy Rev B (built using MeSquares)

One possible further mod is to make the input to the RF amp a series tuned circuit. This would be needed when the full transceiver version is made (back-to-back diodes would short the cap to ground on TX).  For now, I will leave the little RX running to see what I spot.

WISPY (Polyakov RX) - 1st spot

I rebuilt my 10m WSPR RX today (the rig has to be called Wispy) onto a tidier, smaller board using MeSquares and took a few steps to reduce the 50Hz common mode hum pickup, although there is still too much there and more work is needed. Someone suggested it was radiation of the 28MHz 2nd harmonic of the oscillator mixing with 50Hz in nearby PSUs being re-radiated and detected. Still unsure of the mechanism but there are lots of things to overcome this.

EA8FF on the Polyakov RX (note the 50Hz and harmonics lines locally generated)

However, the good news. The RX, even without a preamp, can detect down to an amazing -127dBm MDS, possibly lower but this is as low as my signal generator will allow and I did not try with an attenuator. My first reception of a WSPR signal was EA8FF at -18dB S/N. Remember this is a DSB RX so the noise figure is actually 3dB worse as it is picking up noise from both sidebands.

Next stage is to add a small preamp to see if this helps reduce the common mode 50Hz pick-up and increase the sensitivity another few dB.

Polyakov mixer and 50Hz hum

There is something strange about my Polyakov mixer based direct conversion receiver for 28.1246MHz WSPR at the moment.

On the bench, when connected to a 50 ohm signal generator or sitting on the bench without an antenna connected, the background noise is a quiet hiss. With an earpiece in a quiet room I can just hear a -125dBm signal, even without an RF preamp: it is a good, sensitive and simple design.

However, the moment I connect my outside halo antenna via a coax to the (unscreened) breadboard RX the 50Hz hum level is quite high, certainly some 40dB higher audio than the MDS signal. This is with the RX run from a small sealed lead acid battery. With a mains supply I might expect some hum, but what is going on? Why the high hum pickup?

My coax antenna feed passes through the loft and then outside passing plenty of mains cables, so I must be inducing some 50Hz pick-up on the coax outer which is coupling into the copper laminate breadboard ground plane. A tidy rebuild will be needed before I could put the RX into a screened box.

I do not recall having a similar problem with other DC designs I have tried (single balance diode pair, NE602, SBL1 etc.) when used in a similar lash-up breadboard.

Anyone any suggestions?

KX3 leadtimes shortening

The KX3 image on the Elecraft site

The Elecraft website now shows "New Order Lead Time: 60 days" for the KX3 10W transceiver. At one time this was around 120 days, so they are working hard to get products out more quickly now that any initial teething troubles have been addressed. www.eham.net still shows a satisfaction rating of 5 from 25 reviews, which is excellent.  A 2 month lead-time would put delivery around the end of October when DX on HF is likely to be at its best for many years.  I have to admit that I'm very tempted, but it is a lot of money.

The second 472kHz transverter (with MeSquares)

Partially built 472kHz transverter using MeSquare islands

This afternoon I started the build of my second 472kHz 10W transverter to confirm repeatability of the design. This time I'm using MeSquares from www.qrpme.com as islands to aid construction. The build is about 75% complete so I thought I'd take a photo to show the technique before the board gets too crowded. With some care the results can be almost as neat as a PCB.

MySquares and MyPads arrive

My order from www.qrpme.com arrived today by airmail from the USA. The PCB stick-down island pads look just the job and my plan is to build a second sample of my 472/500kHz transverter using these on a piece of copper laminate. There is no doubt that these pads will be a big improvement on my own rough-cut homebrew pads. I especially like the islands for SO8,  DIL8 and DIL14 ICs as fixing these with Manhattan construction has always been a real pain.

LF/MF Loop antennas on transmit

For the last few winters I've used a wire loop antenna on 136 and 500kHz transmit with moderately successful results. Well, considering the extremely low ERP it is better to say excellent results. My wire is not that thick: around 1mm PVC covered multistrand wire and the loop area around 80m square, with the lower part of the wire either very close to, or actually on, the ground.  Using the TX loop calculator at http://www.66pacific.com/calculators/small_tx_loop_calc.aspx the efficiency is around -30dB at 500kHz, so that 5W from the PA would result in around 5mW ERP radiated. My calculations and measurements, with less than ideal loop geometry, suggest the ERP is some 3dB lower at around 2-3mW. At 137kHz the loop is considerably less efficient at around -50dB.

For a small plot with nearby trees I am not sure how well this compares with a small Marconi with a short vertical section (around 6m max) and a horizontal section of around 6m. Anyone know the answer?

Another country on 472-479kHz

Lubos OK2BVG reports that he has been granted access to the new 630m MF band and is already working stations.  Gradually more countries are gaining access although I doubt UK amateurs will be allowed access to the band before January 2013.

A few years ago I was extremely excited when Lubos managed to copy my 2mW ERP 500kHz WSPR beacon at over 1000km for the first time. Since then the beacon has reached Finland at almost 1800km. 

It is good to hear that several German stations are now active in the new band with conventional CW QSOs being quite common.