Solar activity - a second peak?

Looking at the sunspot and solar flux levels in the last month, it looks like we are seeing evidence of a second peak to cycle 24.  Whether it exceeds the peak of November 2011 remains to be seen.  As the slide down from the peak(s) is slower than the rise towards the peak(s), we can expect reasonable HF conditions for several more years yet before we return to the quiet years when activity on 12 and 10m is very low indeed.

10m WSPR

My 10m WSPR system has been running most of the day with powers between 500mW and 2W. The only reports were from 4X1RF at 3519km. Best DX station copied here was DU1MGA at 10710km.

One of the reasons I like WSPR is that you can do other things at the same time whilst checking on how propagation is changing.  I am really looking forward to running WSPR in the quiet sunspot years on 10m and expect far more openings that might be found by calling CQ on CW or SSB with 5W.

New QTH work

New QTH rear garden - with the "roof tile feature"!

The work on our new (to us) QTH in Burwell is progressing steadily and if things go to plan we should be in later this summer. Today I was at the new location sorting out the garden - as much as I could - in the beautiful sunshine. There is still a great deal of builders rubbish and mess around and it will be some months before the garden can be properly worked on: for example, we have a row of roof tiles neatly stacked down the middle of the rear lawn and the front of the house has a pile or 2 of sand and bricks! The drive has a skip in it which is rapidly filling with neighbours rubbish too.

I am still thinking about ideas for antennas. At least in the new QTH I will have a dedicated shack where I can both build and operate: in 37 years at the current QTH this has not been possible. Currently I have called off the plans for VHF/UHF SSB/CW/data operation as I don't think there will be enough activity.  So, an effective, neighbour friendly stealth antenna for the higher HF bands and 6m will be the immediate priority.  

ISWL

Back in the 1960s, when in its heyday, I was a keen member of the International Shortwave League (ISWL). In those days its membership was measured in thousands from all over the world.

A few years ago I rejoined and enjoyed the monthly magazine called Monitor. I contributed a few articles too. Sadly, membership has been declining steadily and now, I believe, the membership numbers fewer than 300 people. The club keeps going as a result of the dedicated hard work by its voluntary staff who put together the magazine each month.

This last year I have started to take the magazine as a .pdf copy. It really isn't the same as a paper magazine you can take to bed and flick through. I find the pdf version much less satisfying.

After some thought, I've decided not to renew my subs this time as it is surely now only a matter of time before the ISWL folds. It served its purpose in its day, but those days have passed. This last month a final coffin nail was the closure of the ISWL QSL bureau, one of the last to process broadcast QSLs as well as amateur ones. 

The £20 DECENT HF transceiver challenge

Ideas for the £20 (or less) new HF transceiver so far, based on past experiences:

• VXO controlled, single band- GQRP crystals are inexpensive, but will allow around 10-15kHz easy pulling on 14MHz, more on 21 or 28MHz.
• Single balanced diode RX mixer - homebrew with low cost diode and toroid matching
• 2N3904s everywhere - these low cost (5p or less), ubiquitous transistors work well as oscillators, PAs (if several paralleled up) and are OK in audio stages. Maybe an IRF510 PA if a lower HF band chosen,
• Deadbug build - on  a small piece of copper laminate and low cost using a few MeSquares to help ease construction
• Low cost metal box - e.g. Maplin Aluminium box or a diecast enclosure. A mint box would be less expensive but too small.
• Few controls - a 1k pot for RF gain is all that's needed on RX
• Capable of running from a PP3 9V supply or external 12v - rechargeable 9V packs are low cost from 7dayshop.  69p each non rechargeable and £2.60 for a rechargeable one.
• Low-Z stereo headphones will be less expensive than a crystal earpiece these days - may need an extra audio stage but at around 10p for this, this is a price worth paying.
• Probably CW, although DSB not out of the question.
• No ICs at all - these are too expensive (maybe an NE602 might be cost effective and I'm not sure about a low cost IC for the RX audio).
• TX-RX offset essential - so that listening on the actual TX frequency is possible
• Does not have to be pretty - the aim is a transceiver that can be thrown in a rucksack and survive reasonable abuse levels.
• Wire antenna - a simple dipole or end fed half wave.
• At least 2W RF out, ideally 5W - so that the rig has a reasonably good chance of being heard on a busy band

Is anyone else up for this challenge? The target is a really credible HF transceiver with decent, not compromised, performance that can be made with all new parts for less than £20.

GQRP club sales offer some very good prices for components if you are a GQRP Club member. If you are not a member then you are missing out on the very best magazine (SPRAT) available. I cannot recommend SPRAT and the GQRP club highly enough.

Back home again

Well, the week long holiday in South Devon is over and we are back home in Burwell again. The portable HF operation was very successful and enjoyable, operating from a mix of locations, mainly clifftop sites with excellent take-offs across the sea to the USA, Africa and S.America.  Average QSO distance with 2.5W SSB was over 3000km, with several QSOs with the USA and Canada on the higher HF bands using just 2W and a short base loaded whip.

In all, not that many hours of actual operation in between just relaxing and enjoying the very best part of England. I say this as this is my "promised land", where I was born and brought up. Out of season, when there are few tourists around and in weather like we had last week - perfect wall-to-wall sunshine - there is honestly no better place on this planet, but then I am biased.

My video, taken yesterday, shows the town of Salcombe in South Devon where I lived until I was 10 years old. In those far off days I took all this for granted: I knew nowhere else really. The view from my junior school window was up the beautiful estuary and the sunlight playing on the water would reflect on the classroom wall. Sunny days indeed, long before ham radio and the worries of adulthood.

Now I'm back home my challenge is that £20 (all new) portable backpack transceiver with decent performance that I've been challenged to design. In between cutting grass, weeding and paying the bills!

Farmyard DXing

A carpet of bluebells on a Devon woodland walk today

No radios out on our walks today, but a quick session outside my brother's house netted a couple of 2W SSB QSOs with Europeans on 15 and 12m.  Will have another clifftop mini-DXpedition tomorrow before we return home to East Anglia on Saturday - no real hills, miles from the sea, higher noise floor, bills, phone messages.....can I stay on holiday in this glorious sunshine?

More seaside DXing today

Location today at Rock House beach at Thurlestone, Devon

Today I was busy visiting National Trust places with the wife, but managed a little DXing on the Devon coast again. Lots of DX on 15,12 and 10m SSB with some choice ones in there. All I managed was a 51 report from Madeira Is on 12m SSB with the 2.5W from the FT817.

One thing is amazing when operating from electrically quiet spots: signals just appear out of a silent band, quite unlike the situation at home where the noise floor is always many dB higher. I had no idea how good the noise floor on my FT817 could be!

Another observation is that most DX stations would be workable 2-way (with 2W) but it is the competition in pile-ups that causes the problems most times. On WSPR, all stations have an equal chance of being copied or copying DX stations, so this gives a much better idea of real propagation with low power.

QRP DXing from clifftop and coastal sites is great fun, but it is more of a masochistic rat race in the last analysis. A few days is fun, especially in the lovely sunshine. More than that I'm not so sure. When I told my wife that I wasn't getting too many contacts as other people were using much more power and got heard first she said, "why don't you use more power then?". Hmmm.

Moorland DXing

Base loaded whip and battery operated FT817 on Dartmoor

With 2.5W SSB and the short vertical on the car I had more fun today, this time from some high spots on Dartmoor in Devon. I caught my first 6m Es opening this season with a nice 2.5W QRP QSO into Sweden. The best DX on HF was a QSO with W1HI in Rhode Island which turned into a 2-way QRP QSO when Ed reduced his SSB signal down to 2W to match mine and we carried on a perfect QSO! Other QSOs on 15m included Morocco, Sweden and several Russians. No great DX - I was again unable to beat the pile-up on ZD7FT and the D44 station - but a good enjoyable time was had in the sunshine. In the morning there were lots of Japanese SSB stations coming through, but none worked.

DXing on the Devon coast

Thurlestone, Devon

This afternoon I enjoyed the beautiful coastline of the South Hams of Devon whilst doing some operating with the FT817 and a small HF mag-mount on the car. There was plenty of choice DX around including 8Q7, ZD7, FM5, HZ, CE and CX although I only managed to work W, VE, UA1, SV and a few others with my 2.5W SSB in the time I was on. Tomorrow we will be on the top of Dartmoor and I'll try to work a few countries.