In recent weeks a number of amateur tests have been running from the USA to Europe around 74kHz and at 29.499kHz using several hundred watts to large antennas. 74kHz has been well copied , but the surprise is 29.499kHz with SWL Paul Nicholson and Marcus DF6NM, and others, copying the test signals, for example, at over 15dB S/N in 424uHz bandwidth. As far as I know, these 29.499kHz VLF signals are the first amateur VLF ones to span the Atlantic - fantastic results by well equipped stations using suitable RXs and good software.
5 Mar 2014
10m WSPR - first Japanese spot of my signal
Although I have copied 10m WSPR signals from Japan before, this morning I received the first WSPR spot of my 2W signal. JH1GYE (PM96mi) at 9380km spotted me at 0858z. 10m is clearly in good shape again today.
Also spotting me was R0AU in central Siberia at 5579km. Of course 4X1RF spots me whenever I appear on WSPR for some reason - he must have a very low noise floor and good system there in Israel. Isn't it amazing that G8KNN just 12km west of me gets me at about the same S/N as the station in Japan!
Also worth noting is the high level of European activity. In my log this morning are OH, SM. OZ, DK, F, HB9, PA, CT1, LZ and G for starters. This could be Es or more probably F layer including some back-scatter. Come next month the regular summer Es season will bring consistently strong EUs in.
Late morning ZP5BAB copied my 2W WSPR signal at 10333km in Paraguay and at 1848z I was spotted by PY4XX at 9252km.
As before, lots of transatlantic spots both ways again today.
Also spotting me was R0AU in central Siberia at 5579km. Of course 4X1RF spots me whenever I appear on WSPR for some reason - he must have a very low noise floor and good system there in Israel. Isn't it amazing that G8KNN just 12km west of me gets me at about the same S/N as the station in Japan!
Also worth noting is the high level of European activity. In my log this morning are OH, SM. OZ, DK, F, HB9, PA, CT1, LZ and G for starters. This could be Es or more probably F layer including some back-scatter. Come next month the regular summer Es season will bring consistently strong EUs in.
Late morning ZP5BAB copied my 2W WSPR signal at 10333km in Paraguay and at 1848z I was spotted by PY4XX at 9252km.
As before, lots of transatlantic spots both ways again today.
4 Mar 2014
10m - best yet tonight
At 2100z, way after darkness fell here, my 2W 10m WSPR signal was spotted by K3ZV at 5692km. At 2108z this was bettered by KB9AMG at 6300km. This is the latest spot of my 10m signal yet and the band is STILL open
transatlantic! I had planned to stop 10m WSPR for now, but conditions
remain SO good I feel compelled to continue. The band is closing later
and later in the evenings. Transatlantic conditions remain brilliant on
10m.
UPDATE 2130z: The band appears to have closed transatlantic just after 2108z,much later than last night which was late.
Tomorrow I shall try JT9-1 instead.
UPDATE 2130z: The band appears to have closed transatlantic just after 2108z,much later than last night which was late.
Tomorrow I shall try JT9-1 instead.
Simple gear
A reminder of my current station: recently I bought an FT817ND to add to the FT817 I have owned for YEARS. I also bought a Z817 LDG auto-ATU. These are the "workhorses" of my station feeding either the Par 10/20/40m end-fed, the V2000 6m/2m/70cm vertical or the 2m halo. Via the 472kHz transverter they also feed the 15m spaced earth-electrode antenna on 630m MF. The FT817ND and LDG auto-ATU were supplied by Martin Lynch and Sons and they were a pleasure to do business with. I can recommend them for price, speed and good customer relations.
I also own an Elecraft K1 CW transceiver (40, 30, 20, 15m), a Mizuho 200mW pep MX2 2m SSB handheld, tiny Yaesu VX1 and VX2 FM hand portables and an MFJ Cub for 15m CW. These are hardly used, although all have worked some decent DX. My Elecraft T1 ATU is in need of repair as it operates intermittently. The FT817s are used at 500mW to 2.5W maximum and I have been spotted in Australia at 2W or less on 10, 20 and 40m this year. This power is quite enough.
I also have simple beacons for sub-9kHz and 137kHz QRSS3 as well as kit for optical comms to use /P. I neither need nor want QRO gear, preferring to work QRP.
To be built is a GPS locked, stand alone (no rigs or PC needed) Ultimate 3 WSPR beacon TX for 10m, but I am waiting until my stroke is somewhat better before starting this as I am still a bit too clumsy and tire very quickly.
The VLF and LF beacons, the 472kHz transverter and various other QRP rigs (e.g. the WISPY, Fredbox and Sixbox) not listed are homebrew and much fun too.
I also own an Elecraft K1 CW transceiver (40, 30, 20, 15m), a Mizuho 200mW pep MX2 2m SSB handheld, tiny Yaesu VX1 and VX2 FM hand portables and an MFJ Cub for 15m CW. These are hardly used, although all have worked some decent DX. My Elecraft T1 ATU is in need of repair as it operates intermittently. The FT817s are used at 500mW to 2.5W maximum and I have been spotted in Australia at 2W or less on 10, 20 and 40m this year. This power is quite enough.
I also have simple beacons for sub-9kHz and 137kHz QRSS3 as well as kit for optical comms to use /P. I neither need nor want QRO gear, preferring to work QRP.
To be built is a GPS locked, stand alone (no rigs or PC needed) Ultimate 3 WSPR beacon TX for 10m, but I am waiting until my stroke is somewhat better before starting this as I am still a bit too clumsy and tire very quickly.
The VLF and LF beacons, the 472kHz transverter and various other QRP rigs (e.g. the WISPY, Fredbox and Sixbox) not listed are homebrew and much fun too.
Very early start on 10m
Overnight I left my 2W 10m WSPR running and was surprised to exchange spots with 4X1RF just after 0700z. I was exchanging WSPR spots with FR5ZX very early too and have spotted several Japanese stations such as JE8GSV and JH1GYE (both running 5W) around 0900z. The band looks wide open and very early too. There is plenty of other activity too.
At 1212z a single 10m 2W WSPR transmission resulted 6 spots with 3 N.Americans, 1 S.American (CX2ABP at 11127km) and the rest EUs. 10m is fair humming.
UPDATE 1650z: a couple of stations in S.California (KD6RF and N6RY - the latter 8756km) have just spotted my 2W WSPR signal.
At 1212z a single 10m 2W WSPR transmission resulted 6 spots with 3 N.Americans, 1 S.American (CX2ABP at 11127km) and the rest EUs. 10m is fair humming.
UPDATE 1650z: a couple of stations in S.California (KD6RF and N6RY - the latter 8756km) have just spotted my 2W WSPR signal.
3 Mar 2014
More 10m JT9-1 and WSPR success today
On 10m, UR5LOS responded to my QRP CQ call on JT9-1 this morning and my signal was also being copied in Greece. There were also 10m JT9-1 signals coming through from Brazil and all around Europe.
I then switched to 10m WSPR and already at 1120z my 2W was being spotted in Eastern Canada by VE1MDO at 4651km and at 1144z by WG2Z at 5600km. You can tell we are at sunspot maximum alright. Most days the transatlantic path is wide open in the afternoons. At 1252 FR5ZX in S.America spotted my 2W WSPR at 9740km and later so did CX2ABP at 11127km. Later still TI3/AB4AW (Costa Rica, Central America, WJ89au) at 8752km copied my 2W 10m WSPR.
At 1812z I got 9 spots off just one transmission and ALL the reports were from transatlantic stations with DX from 4561km up to 8664km. Even at 2016z I am getting 5 posts per transmission on 10m and ALL these are transatlantic, several hours after local dark here. I am still spotting a 5W Californian WSPR station KD6RF at 8553km at 2022z.
In all, a good day on 10m.
UPDATE 2110z: The transatlantic path appears, finally, to have closed here at 2042z, which is late.
I then switched to 10m WSPR and already at 1120z my 2W was being spotted in Eastern Canada by VE1MDO at 4651km and at 1144z by WG2Z at 5600km. You can tell we are at sunspot maximum alright. Most days the transatlantic path is wide open in the afternoons. At 1252 FR5ZX in S.America spotted my 2W WSPR at 9740km and later so did CX2ABP at 11127km. Later still TI3/AB4AW (Costa Rica, Central America, WJ89au) at 8752km copied my 2W 10m WSPR.
At 1812z I got 9 spots off just one transmission and ALL the reports were from transatlantic stations with DX from 4561km up to 8664km. Even at 2016z I am getting 5 posts per transmission on 10m and ALL these are transatlantic, several hours after local dark here. I am still spotting a 5W Californian WSPR station KD6RF at 8553km at 2022z.
In all, a good day on 10m.
UPDATE 2110z: The transatlantic path appears, finally, to have closed here at 2042z, which is late.
2 Mar 2014
Ultra-simple 50MHz rigs and a spectrum analyser
Some years ago G6ALB and I did some tests with a QRP handheld 49MHz rig re-crystalled for 50MHz. As I recall we had a QSO over about 3km.
Here is a schematic of a typical 3 transistor QRP AM transceiver for 49MHz that would easily work on 50MHz. Because the RX has a super-regen detector and no isolating RF amp, QRM could be caused to nearby weak signal band users, so any tests done should consider this. Simply replace the crystal and re-peak the tuned circuits to 50MHz. I have a couple of such rigs and should retune them into the 6m band. This schematic is from the YO3DAC/VA3IUL site at www.qsl.net/va3iul .
Also on the same site is a neat 0-100MHz spectrum analyser. See http://www.qsl.net/va3iul/SA/spectrum_an.html
Here is a schematic of a typical 3 transistor QRP AM transceiver for 49MHz that would easily work on 50MHz. Because the RX has a super-regen detector and no isolating RF amp, QRM could be caused to nearby weak signal band users, so any tests done should consider this. Simply replace the crystal and re-peak the tuned circuits to 50MHz. I have a couple of such rigs and should retune them into the 6m band. This schematic is from the YO3DAC/VA3IUL site at www.qsl.net/va3iul .
 |
| 49MHz 3 transistor transceiver - suitable for 50MHz conversion |
CW, PSK31, JT65 and JT9-1 QSOs
As I have more or less fulfilled my aims with WSPR until I get my longer baseline earth-electrode antenna laid out (stroke - so need help), the aim is now to amass a decent number of digital QSOs using the above modes, thereby saving my poor voice. Already I have worked W4 on JT65 and an RA4 on PSK31. The RA9 on JT9-1 should be the first of many QSOs using this narrow band and sensitive mode. It is only a couple of dB worse than WSPR but is a proper 2-way QSO mode. I shall have to try this mode on 160m and 630m.
JT9-1 success
Whatever I did I could NOT get version V1.3 of K1JT's latest software to work on my PC. No decodes, zilch.
Reverting to V1.1 and success was sweet and immediate with a nice 20m JT9-1 QSO with RA9KT at 4309km. I still don't understand the problem with V1.3, but V1.1 is nearly the same and allows me to have JT9-1 QSOs on any HF/MF band I want.
UPDATE 1840z: In my ignorance I forgot to close the JT9-1 software and as a result my signals were spotted until a few minutes ago on both sides of the Atlantic on PSK Reporter. I have now closed the program and my apologies.
Reverting to V1.1 and success was sweet and immediate with a nice 20m JT9-1 QSO with RA9KT at 4309km. I still don't understand the problem with V1.3, but V1.1 is nearly the same and allows me to have JT9-1 QSOs on any HF/MF band I want.
UPDATE 1840z: In my ignorance I forgot to close the JT9-1 software and as a result my signals were spotted until a few minutes ago on both sides of the Atlantic on PSK Reporter. I have now closed the program and my apologies.
WSJTX help!
I am still struggling with the latest JT9-1 and JT65 combined software (V1.3 from the Princeton University site) and getting absolutely NO decodes, despite good signals in the waterfall. Requests for help have been answered by a few, without success so far.
Again any help will be appreciated. I am using an FT817ND set on USER-U option in menu 26 (works fine with JT65HF and WSPR) , normal SSB filter, have internet time set every few minutes, a SignaLink USB audio interface and a windows XP laptop.
What am I doing that is so wrong? I can see my JT65 CQs are getting out all over the place on PSK Reporter, but until I can decode stations, I cannot have QSOs.
Help!
Again any help will be appreciated. I am using an FT817ND set on USER-U option in menu 26 (works fine with JT65HF and WSPR) , normal SSB filter, have internet time set every few minutes, a SignaLink USB audio interface and a windows XP laptop.
What am I doing that is so wrong? I can see my JT65 CQs are getting out all over the place on PSK Reporter, but until I can decode stations, I cannot have QSOs.
Help!
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