3 countries now on 472kHz WSPR with short earth-electrode antenna

Limited success this evening on 472kHz with the earth-electrode antenna with the copper pipe grounding at the house end. Reports from G8HUH, OR7T and PA3ABK/2 this evening, but I am left feeling that results are still some 6-10dB down on at the last QTH. The system is far from optimised yet though.

Tomorrow evening I will have a go at the 2m UKAC contest with the halo but hope to try some different antenna arrangements on 472kHz later in the week. So far 6 unique station reports on 472kHz WSPR in 6 different QTH locator squares. I do feel that a better antenna is needed, somehow!

VHF tropo (non ducting) history

Whilst trying to locate an up-to-date list of VHF 2m beacons I am likely to be able to copy here on a halo, I chanced upon a site with a history of non-ducting tropo (NDT) going back to the work by Marconi in the 1920s and 1930s. See http://www.quercus.demon.co.uk/thistory.html. Interesting reading.

2m halo added to VHF/UHF antennas

This morning, whilst waiting for the Virgin Media installers to arrive, I added the 2m halo to the mast supporting my V2000 6/2/70cms vertical, allowing me horizontal 2m operation again. The picture shows the antenna on the gable end of the bungalow.

V2000 and 2m halo antenna installed

I have also been trying a different ground point for the 472kHz earth-electrode system at the house end. I shall have to wait until this evening to try this. Current into the loop is higher, so I hope performance will be a bit better.

The second picture was the sunset last night as seen from the shack window. It was beautiful.

GB3VHF on the halo

Removing earth rods?

At my old QTH I have 3 solid copper earth rods driven in about 0.8m into the soil. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to remove these please? They are pretty solidly embedded in the soil but it would be good to be able to reuse these at the new QTH as solid copper earth rods are not cheap.

Initial results on 472kHz at the new QTH

Well, I have been WSPR beaconing over a period of about 24 hours at the new QTH on 472kHz. Actual operating time has been just a few hours this evening and last night plus a little bit this morning. Based on the (limited) reports received - just from G6AVK (78km), G3WCB (101km) and G4KPX (14km) and no-one else despite quite a bit of activity - I think the earth electrode antenna is some dB down compared with results "down the hill" at the old location.  On RX, the noise level here is lower using the earth electrode antenna but that may also suggest less efficiency - less signals and less noise being picked up. Having said that, I have spotted stations never seen before (I think) such as G3WCB and have spotted a couple of PA stations.

The QRP operating kit in the shack

The reasons for the poorer performance could be the shorter baseline or the directionality is such that my usual reporters are getting a weaker signal. It may also be due to the use of the mains earth at the shack end and not the copper central heating piping: some of my central heating piping here is plastic, so grounding to the radiator in the shack does not guarantee a good low loss ground! At the old QTH all the central heating pipes were copper and the copper extended into the road.  I need to do a test with a fairly local station to see how signals compare such as G4HJW although I am not sure Bernie is still on 472kHz currently.

So, conclusions so far? Mixed and a little disappointing, but it is early days and lots to try still.

M0UKD's version of my 472kHz transverter

It is always pleasing to see other versions of my designs being successfully built. This evening I chanced upon M0UKD's website showing his nice version of my 472kHz transverter. He added an output for a frequency counter which is a useful addition. John gets around 12W out, which is about right.

MS Essentials

My wife's PC just flagged up that its McAfee anti-virus protection runs out in 15 days time. Rather than renew it I decided to uninstall the entire McAfee suite of programs and instead install the FREE MS Essentials protection program. I have this on my own PCs and, as far as I can tell, it seems to protect them pretty effectively.  Like others have found, MS Essentials runs in the background in an unobtrusive way without undue overhead.

50 nanowatts ERP tests on 70cms FM

This afternoon I did a quick test using my signal generator on 432.975kHz FM using my V2000 vertical. I put up a 50nW ERP FM signal with a 1kHz tone and looked for the RX signal on my little VX3 hand portable with its tiny helical antenna at my old QTH some 300m away from the new location. Although unable to copy the signal downstairs, the signal was S3 in the old shack upstairs. Based on this test with a pretty inefficient RX antenna, I think the 10nW signal would be copyable around 1-2km away with a mag-mount on the car. It goes to show how far QRM can travel.

Back on 472kHz WSPR and 8.97kHz

This afternoon, I put my earth-electrode antenna in the garden at the new QTH with the remote electrode against the far fence and the local ground connected to the mains ground in the shack. Check your mains earthing before trying this. Separation is about 15m i.e. a little less than at the old location. On 8.97kHz the current into the ground looks about right and the TX current similar to that at the old QTH. On 472kHz the match seems a little different but I have had several spots from G6AVK at 78km when using low milliwatts ERP. I need to optimise the match on 472kHz.

I am now going to try the earth-electrode antenna on 160m and 80m. All being well I'll do a remote RX test on 8.97kHz to see how my VLF beacon compares.

Shack pic

Well today I completed the set-up of my "building desk" in the new shack. After several weeks out of action, I am now ready again to start building gear. For the first time my desk for building kit is in the same room as the operating position, so I can readily test gear "on-air" by simply connecting a coax cable or wire. This image is not very good quality I am afraid.