Struggling on 20m CW

For the last 30 minutes I've been putting out calls and listening on and around 14.060MHz CW, the QRP frequency, using my QRP OXO transmitter. Although a couple of QRP stations have been copied (DJ2GL and IZ5OVM) I have only managed to be spotted on the Reverse Beacon network myself once by DJ9IE.
Although calling CQ and hunting can be fun with QRP, it can be very frustrating with less than 1W and an indifferent antenna when conditions are poor and activity low.

G4ILO is 60 years old

Julian G4ILO - 60 yrs old on May 14th - with XYL Olga

Julian G4ILO reached his 60th birthday this week on May 14th. As those who follow his excellent blogs will know, he has been successfully battling a brain tumour, although battling the DVLA to get his driving licence back seems to be harder, HI.  I am sure everyone here wishes both Julian and his XYL Olga a VERY happy 60th birthday and many years of happiness in the future.

See http://onefootingrave.blogspot.co.uk/

472kHz in the USA - when?

Anyone know what the problem is in the USA (with the FCC I assume) that is holding up the release of the 472-479kHz band to amateurs in that country? It rather makes the USA look like a backward 3rd world failed state, incapable of passing what should be a simple piece of legislation! I am sure that many in the USA are waiting with bated breath for the release of this fascinating new band that most of us have been able to enjoy for some months now.

Come on FCC - are you a mice or men?

HT-200 QRP HF transceiver from Tokyo Hy Power?

The HT-200 HF QRP transceiver

Some years ago (in 2006) I posted news of the HT-200 HF QRP rig from Tokyo Hy Power. There was a page about it on my old website. The image showed a prototype of what looked like a very useful little transceiver but, regrettably, nothing more was seen of it.

Unless I have completely missed news of it, I assume they decided not to continue the development and production of this unit. I expect this was to do with profit margins, development costs or the general state of the economy in Japan.

If anyone knows what really happened and why this never made it to market (I think) then please let us all know.

Solar flare and cycle 24

The BBC website has news of the solar flare on Monday. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22525233 .  As we are around the peak of solar cycle 24 - the jury is still out on whether or not we will have a second peak in the cycle larger than the one of Nov 2011 - such flares can be expected. They can occur at any time though. 

Of course the media, including the BBC, likes to "hype up" the dangers of extreme flares: talk of wiping out satellites and power grids etc. All these things can occur, but we have better ways of protecting from these risks and with some advanced warning the dangers of black-outs can be reduced.

In many ways, I prefer the quieter years in the sunspot cycle: working DX with QRP is more challenging on the higher HF bands and, as I mentioned a week ago, WSPR will really be useful in winkling out the openings that fleetingly may occur.

Japanese amateur gear prices - down please!

Sorry to labour this point, but in the last few months the Yen has lost over 25% of its value against the UK pound. Why are we NOT seeing prices of Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu gear falling significantly? By now the FT817ND should be retailing for less than £500. I know there are other factors, but it would be nice if our dealers passed on SOME of the exchange rate improvements.

SSB generator using a modulated PLL (by PE1NNZ)

Guido PE1NNZ has been doing some very impressive work on direct SSB generation using a PLL and implemented it on a Raspberry Pi mini computer. I don't claim to understand a word of it (!) but this really is clever stuff. He tells me he has made several contacts on the 40m and 20m bands with his Raspberry Pi!

For your interest, here is more information about the SSB experiment: http://pe1nnz.nl.eu.org/2013/05/direct-ssb-generation-on-pll.html

73, Guido
PE1NNZ

To Argentina on 10m WSPR today

The 2W WSPR beacon was copied several times today in Argentina (LU8EX, 11208km) and by CX2ABP (11127km) a few days ago. 4X1RF seems to copy me most days. 10m seems to open mainly on the N-S paths although I did spot a DU station (Philippines) a few days ago.

This evening I have fired up the 472kHz WSPR kit into the earth electrodes. PA3ABK is coming through despite my high local noise level and 6 stations so far are copying my 1mW ERP signal. PA3ABK is the best DX report of my signal so far at 306km but the beacon has only been on for an hour so far.

WSPR - how long to get a decode?

A question for my esteemed readers please.

Using WSPR (WSPR2 that is) the transmission burst is nearly 2 minutes long, but I believe strong signals can be decoded when only a part of the burst is received. My question is, how short a burst can be decoded?  Presumably it depends on how strong the signal is.

LB9YE was coming through quite well this morning but there was no decode of a very strong (I assume MS) burst at 1048 which lasted about 30 seconds. Of course with MS there may also be some Doppler shift which can mess things up a bit.

If you know about WSPR and can help with the answer, I'd appreciate it. I am particularly curious to know how WSPR might do with short MS bursts which can be strong but only last a few seconds. It also begs another question: there is now a longer version of WSPR (WSPR15) with better decode S/N levels. I wonder if a shorter version of WSPR has been considered? Then again I think there may be better modes for MS.

Night watch on 10m

Overnight, I ran WSPR on 10m just for fun. Although my 2W wasn't spotted until 0600, a couple of Germans were spotted here around 0400 presumably by Es or MS. Without modes like WSPR such brief night time openings would go unnoticed.