New DX on 472kHz RX

As of now on 474.kHz WSPR RX, I am up to 24 unique station reports with best DX 1269km from LA1TN in Norway (JP33SA). I still think transatlantic reception (i.e. of a W) is possible if conditions are very good one night.

As an experiment, I may try to excite my PAR end-fed via a ferrite loading coil on TX this weekend to see who can copy me. This would be a very compromised TX antenna.

UPDATE 8.2.14: I cannot find the ferrite rod, so this TX experiment will have to wait.

TCXO-9

Yesterday,  I have received a TCXO-9  0.5ppm TCXO to fit inside my FT817. This has come from G3WKW, an old colleague, on loan. He may need it back.

In the next few days I hope to fit this to see what difference it makes, particularly on 6m and upwards. Stability should be much better ( x2).

I think it just plugs into a socket on the FT817 but may need to be netted against WWV or a GPS locked VHF beacon, after giving it time to stabilise first.

Has anyone tried this TCXO?

Most popular QRP transceiver kits?

I am wondering what people believe represents best value for money in QRP kits. Rigs like the KX3 are excellent products but, here in the UK at least, are VERY expensive indeed. One can buy an FT1200 100W rig or IC-7100 for the same price as a fully loaded KX3 here.

Rigs like the BitX  20 or 17m SSB transceivers,  are good value (<£200) and look easy to make from Hendricks Kits. Then again there are several very low cost kits from Kanga and from Walford amongst many.

Some are prepared to invest a lot on a QRP kit whereas others want to spend very little. What kit(s) have YOU enjoyed and do you feel represent good value for money? At the end of the day, the rig has to be genuinely useful. Some lower cost kits have VpERY compromised receivers making the end products of limited value, such as the Pixie. The Pixie and Micro80 were fun to make but (in my view) let down by the RX parts. I did not use a kit to build mine.

10m and 2m AM in band plans

I appear to be rapidly losing friends and think I am now effectively banned from the GQRP Yahoo Group.

Why? Because I have made public (GQRP , Dom Baines, the RSGB General Manager and a letter to RadCom) my view that 29 to 29.1MHz should remain the key 10m AM slot which it has been for YEARS and YEARS. I also believe the 2m AM centre of activity (144.55MHz) deserves more than a (begrudged, anti-AM?) foot note in the 2m band plan. To the RSGB it would appear AM is a dirty word.  If I am wrong on this I could be forgiven for thinking so judging by the negative AM comments in the 2m band plan and the total lack of understanding WRT 10m AM currently.

QRP AM rigs are easy to make, cheap to buy (ex-PMR AM rigs almost given away) and a good introduction to amateur radio. I do accept it is not for all.

I am sorry to be a pain, but the RSGB band plans make no sense WRT AM on 10m and 2m currently and I felt compelled to make my voice heard.

472-479kHz in Poland

See this email:

Hi All!

New band 630m in Poland, the official regulation:

http://download.pzk.org.pl/public/KTPC/Dz.U.03.02.2014_Poz.161_KTPC.pdf

472-479kHz, power 1W EIRP

73! Marcin SQ2BXI

The same document confirms the secondary allocation of part of the 4m band too. 

The 630m band is available in Poland from Feb 18th 2014.

FT817ND UK price

Last year the Yen was around 130 to £1 whereas now it is about 165 to £1, an improvement of around 27 %. It was 174 to £1 a short while back. If  this translated to end user price, an FT817ND that retailed at £535 (with VAT) should now retail at closer to £421 but the best price is still way over £500 .  

Me thinks the UK dealers are taking us all for total idiots. 

Yes, I accept the Japanese costs may have risen because of supply shortages, but the exchange rate improvement should have SLASHED prices. Demand a very good discount if paying cash. Don't  ever tell me a UK dealer has a hard life. Dealers, please pass on your savings to us your faithful customers.

Over 1000km on 474.2kHz

Reception this evening of LA4ANA at 1042km (JO59cu) is a new personal WSPR distance record on RX this season on the 472-479kHz band. I think LA4ANA is using a version of my little transverter too. This is the 21st unique station copied so far on the band with a far from ideal RX antenna (untuned Par 10/20/40 end-fed). This is the 7th country copied too. I am hopeful of copying SM6BHZ if he comes on and don't now rule out transatlantic reception one night if conditions are very good. There are also a few EA stations yet to be copied.

Unique 474.2kHz WSPR spots on RX this winter as of Feb 4th 2014

Remembering that first QSO on 500kHz

Strange how one forgets things. My very first MF QSO, on 500kHz some years ago, was keying the antenna lead of my small AF/LF/MF generator. Power can only have been in the low mW level (at best) and both drift and chirp were terrible but it worked over the path to G6ALB 3km away in the next village. Antenna was not properly tuned and way too short.

474.2kHz TX - soon again, I hope

Up to now this winter I have confined my MF activity to receive only as I have had no suitable system of antennas for TX. Andrew G6ALB is ordering me some earth rods, so I hope to put in place a better earth-electrode "antenna" for 474.2kHz TX soon, possibly with Andrew's help. My recent stroke more or less put a stop to ladder, antenna and earth-electrode work sadly. I am improving but have a way to go still yet. I have managed to prune a few roses, but just this exhausted me! A visitor today (for 45 mins only) left me breathless.

It will be interesting to see how a longer baseline earth-electrode system works at the new QTH on MF   I had great success with the 20m baseline system at the old QTH in earlier years and the new one SHOULD be longer.  It will also be interesting to compare performance on LF and VLF. A lot depends on buried pipes and cables. The position of the new earth rods should be optimal in the space I have.

MePads and MeSquares

Someone asked me where I get these useful pads to stick to copper laminate for bread boarding. Well go to http://www.qrpme.com where you can find both varieties for $10 a sheet. They make any breadboard look so much neater and easier to build. You break out individual pads to use them.

There are a lot of pads on a single sheet (see above). A couple of each type (pads to join discrete parts and pads for ICs) should keep the average builder going for 12 months. They are much simpler than a PCB for small build runs and nearly as neat. You just stick individual pads onto the copper laminate where you need a pad.

See Dave Richards AA7EE's web pages of excellent examples of how to use these pads effectively. His layouts look superb.

http://www.pbase.com/daverichards/image/150083520/original.jpg