ATV today

Amateur TV seems to be in decline these days with fewer and fewer interested. A well known ATV local G3KKD reports activity well down in recent times.

In a move aimed at reversing the trend G8YTZ has announced some Amateur Digital TV TX and RX modules. However, when visiting Justin's site I was flabergasted by the prices: over £700 for the transmitter and  over £300 for the receiver! To attract newcomers surely some simple low cost modules retailing below £100 are needed.

Another version of my 472kHz transverter (G8AGN)

Emeritus Prof Barry Chambers G8AGN from Sheffield (more usually a microwaves and nanowaves operator) has just sent me a couple of photos of his version of my 472kHz transverter that he's just finished. Unlike me, Barry sensibly put it in a decent sized aluminium box which will help reduce heat affecting the LO frequency stability. 

G8AGN's version of the 472kHz transverter

I've lost count how many of these transverters, or variants thereof, have now been built but there must be a good few in use around the world now. I have still to box up the 137kHz version which was used a few months ago to span 250km with just the earth-electrode antenna.

Japanese Yen and radio gear prices

Today alone the pound-yen exchange rate has improved by over 4% in favour of the pound: basically Japanese goods are 4% cheaper than yesterday. UK dealers, please note: your customers are expecting product prices for Japanese radios to FALL please in the coming days and not rise!

The yen-pound exchange rate is now around 23% better (for purchasers of Japanese equipment) than a year ago, so some VERY good deals should be expected on Yaesu, Icom and Kenwood products.

A couple of 20m JT9 QSOs in the log already

QSO with UA4PPQ on 20m JT9-1 today

Well that was pretty easy: I loaded the latest software, listened a bit, then called CQ in JT9-1 and managed a couple of QSOs within 15 minutes (it takes about 6 minutes per QSO). Reports also received from the USA, Canada and Siberia, so everything working well.

The mode certainly seems to be very useful on HF and takes up very little bandwidth - the scale on the screenshot above is in Hz above 14.078MHz, which is the USB dial frequency.

Using 2.5W to the end fed Par 10/20/40 antenna, but reports suggest much lower power would be fine too. Now QSYed to 28.078 MHz USB dial JT9-1 and calling CQ.

JT9 mode on HF

Julian G4ILO has been having some good success on HF with JT9 mode, so I am encouraged to have a go too. This afternoon I'll be firing up on HF, probably 20m.

Results with this mode on MF were very encouraging giving me my first international 2-way QSO (as opposed to WSPR report) some months back. The slower JT9 modes are similar to WSPR in terms of weak signal performance, but allow basic real 2-way QSOs similar to JT65 mode QSOs.

PSK reporter now shows JT9 spots, so it is possible to see where your signal is reaching even if a QSO does not result from a CQ call.  The new JT9 Yahoo group is rapidly gaining members and is worth joining if interested in this new mode.

Recommended JT9 mode frequencies are:

10m  28.078MHz
15m 21.078
17m  18.104
20m 14.078
30m 10.130
40m 7.078
60m 5.2872
80m 3.578
160m 1.838

JT9 software can be downloaded from http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/ As updates are still occurring it is best to check the site for later versions regularly.  The user guide for all WSJT modes is worth reading.

Good communications , or a lack of it in the NHS

My ham radio friend Julian Moss G4ILO has a brain tumour which he has been successfully battling for over a year now. Recently he had a hospital appointment to review treatment but reading his blog I see yet again he has, like many I know, been given the "run around" by the totally inept NHS service here in the UK.

This organisation needs radical surgery to get itself operating efficiently. Time and again it wastes money by messing up appointments, not having people where they should be, not having the data communicated between staff etc. It MADDENS me that sick people should be additionally stressed as a result of idiots who cannot run a business properly. They would save BILLIONS if patient records were shared electronically between health care staff (consultants, doctors, nurses, car service personnel and ambulance crews). It is not rocket science.

I have no fundamental issue with caring people trying to do their best, but they are totally hindered by the lack of decent communications at all levels.

In the 21st century, any organisation as bad as the National Health Service today would be in administration by now and its bosses sacked.  NHS sort yourselves out!

Tripods for optical comms

The one I missed on eBay

This evening I was annoyed with myself for not bidding for a tripod on eBay in time that went for just £6.50 in the end.  It had a nice solid structure and a 360 degree marked calibration on the horizontal pan adjustment and would have been ideal for my non line-of-sight optical comms over the horizon, where the ability to return accurately to a know bearing is important when hunting for weak signals.

So, can readers make any recommendations for something similar?
My requirements are:

1. Solid construction so it won't wobble around in wind with the optics and detector mounted on top.
2. Some way of calibrating the direction to within a degree or so horizontally so that known directions can be confidently returned to. Ideally a large 360 degree marked scale.
3. A way for leveling the head assembly so it can be aimed just above the horizon.
4. Low cost as I am looking for an inexpensive solution (don't want the tripod and mount to cost much more than the rest of the kit, which is about £5-10 total!)

Not being a great photographer, I know little about tripods and heads. Looking on eBay I didn't find anything close to the one I missed. It was SO annoying as I only missed it by 5 minutes having been out treating a fence in the (rare) sunshine today.

Low cost signal generators for QRP

Elecraft's XG3 signal generator

Although I have a couple of (loaned from friends) signal generators, these are rather large in a small shack. There are times when something small but calibrated is useful. Elecraft sell the XG3 signal generator which can be PC programmed to give a number of fixed output levels on a wide range of HF, VHF and UHF frequencies. It is the same (small) size as the T1 auto ATU i.e. about the same size as a packet of cards.

The Norcal S9 signal generator

Norcal also sell a kit for a small fixed frequency signal generator called the S9 Signal generator that can provide a fairly well controlled range of output levels. Currently it is out of stock, but the circuit is simple and could easily be built from scratch "dead bug" style.

Writing for radio magazines

In recent years I've written articles on a wide range of subjects, from VLF to optical, for several different radio magazines around the world. Now I don't do it for the money as I have a pension that covers my needs adequately, but I am surprised how poorly radio magazines do pay authors. This may be one reason why they find it hard to find new authors.  I won't quote figures here as I don't want to embarrass anyone, but you have to write articles for the pleasure of doing so and not for the financial rewards, especially when tax is deducted.

One of the lowest payers appears to be the ARRL, which I find particularly surprising considering that QST must have one of the largest circulations in the world. Considering how long it takes to put a decent article together  with illustrations and schematics (very many hours), the rewards are probably better if one stacked shelves at a local supermarket or worked on the local dustcart.  It doesn't exactly encourage budding authors.

Times are hard and revenues in amateur radio magazines from adverts is probably falling, but reading QST, Practical Wireless and RadCom I see pages and pages of adverts that must bring in a decent amount. Maybe they'd get, and keep, more readers if they encouraged people to write interesting articles by paying a little more?

Royal Mail - postal/packet costs

I'm frustrated and actually quite annoyed with Royal Mail.  Have you visited the barely understandable Royal Mail website recently?  All I wanted was to find out how much a small parcel (a book - the Scatterpoint compendium sold on eBay) would cost to send to Germany on Tuesday. It appears you now need a PhD to navigate the darn website and understand all the options. It is nearly as hard as trying to find a utilities tariff.

Having done a bit of eBay trading this last few weeks, I'm surprised how expensive it now is to send a small packet by post using Royal Mail or Parcel Force, even more so if sending it abroad. Unless I have misunderstood the incredibly confusing information on how to send a small packet to Germany, one weighing 760g costs an astounding £6.62. Go above 1kg and the rates are extortionate.

Thankfully we still have a helpful local post office staffed with people who try to sort this out for you. Not having receiving my doctorate yet, so unable to navigate the Royal Mail website, I'll have to ask the nice lady at the local PO for the price and a stamp.

Why can't we have a SIMPLE postage tariff based on weight and whether it has to go surface or by air? OK, add a few options if you want a guaranteed delivery.