3 May 2014
GB3ANG (Angus 2m beacon)
Have now turned the beam about 20 degrees further north and looking for GB3ANG. Unlike GB3NGI this one seems a little low in frequency, as if the stability is not as good. I have had 2 brief periods of copy and these may have been off an aircraft or by MS. This beacon is considerably weaker than the one in Northern Ireland and below the noise floor here. Being just below the noise floor means it will be a useful indicator of conditions to Scotland: if the beacon is audible it will suggest a lift in that direction.
10m - South America
At the moment I am spotting CX2ABP (11127km, 5W)) on 10m WSPR. The band is open(ing) to that part of the world, although there are no signs yet of North Americans. Maybe these stations will appear later? No other South Americans yet seen. Just 4X1RF (Israel) and DK6UG (Germany) around closer to home.
On 2m, beacon GB3NGI (530km) is still coming in here just above the noise - callsign and QTH locator can be copied. I have not listened for other beacons yet. Quite amazed the Northern Ireland beacon near Ballymena is so consistent here. I don't think conditions on 2m tropo are above average? Should I expect to copy some beacons at 530km regularly? Seems like this is a good one. Not sure about GB3ANG (near Dundee) yet - will have to beam further north to see.
Based on these 2m CW beacons, WSPR or JT9 at similar ranges should be possible for stations with even small beams. I did have a quick try on 10m JT9 (supposed to be just 2dB worse than WSPR but fully 2-way) but no stations seen. A 2W CQ brought no replies.
On 2m, beacon GB3NGI (530km) is still coming in here just above the noise - callsign and QTH locator can be copied. I have not listened for other beacons yet. Quite amazed the Northern Ireland beacon near Ballymena is so consistent here. I don't think conditions on 2m tropo are above average? Should I expect to copy some beacons at 530km regularly? Seems like this is a good one. Not sure about GB3ANG (near Dundee) yet - will have to beam further north to see.
Based on these 2m CW beacons, WSPR or JT9 at similar ranges should be possible for stations with even small beams. I did have a quick try on 10m JT9 (supposed to be just 2dB worse than WSPR but fully 2-way) but no stations seen. A 2W CQ brought no replies.
GB3NGI - there again today
A few moments ago I came into the shack to start 10m WSPR (immediately spotted by 4X1RF).
I turned on the other rig to 144.482MHz CW and the GB3NGI N.Ireland beacon (530km) was immediately copied and is still there keying away with callsign, QTH locator and a dash. Maybe this is audible more often than not? It may be GPS locked as the frequency is very accurate. Here it is spot on 144.482MHz dial.
Someone asked about the noise floor here on 2m. Well, currently I am lucky as on any beam heading man made noise is very low, not lifting the FT817ND's S-meter at all. For reasons I don't understand it is quieter here than at the old QTH which was on the village edge. Maybe the slightly greater distance from other houses is helping? I can hear the odd whistle as I tune through the beacon band. These are very weak though.
Back on 10m, nothing around yet apart from 4X1RF. Conditions 20-30MHz are meant to be "good". Not here as yet! On 10m WSPR RX only a few wispy traces, none decoded.
I turned on the other rig to 144.482MHz CW and the GB3NGI N.Ireland beacon (530km) was immediately copied and is still there keying away with callsign, QTH locator and a dash. Maybe this is audible more often than not? It may be GPS locked as the frequency is very accurate. Here it is spot on 144.482MHz dial.
Someone asked about the noise floor here on 2m. Well, currently I am lucky as on any beam heading man made noise is very low, not lifting the FT817ND's S-meter at all. For reasons I don't understand it is quieter here than at the old QTH which was on the village edge. Maybe the slightly greater distance from other houses is helping? I can hear the odd whistle as I tune through the beacon band. These are very weak though.
Back on 10m, nothing around yet apart from 4X1RF. Conditions 20-30MHz are meant to be "good". Not here as yet! On 10m WSPR RX only a few wispy traces, none decoded.
Ultimate 3 Beacon
So far today I have not yet been on the radios at all. No 10m WSPR, no 2m/70cm beacon hunting.
Later, if I feel well enough, I may make a start on my Ultimate 3 Beacon Kit. It would be good to get this running but I have been waiting until I felt a bit better (less giddy). Now is maybe the time? Perhaps I'll start on an easy board today.
Later, if I feel well enough, I may make a start on my Ultimate 3 Beacon Kit. It would be good to get this running but I have been waiting until I felt a bit better (less giddy). Now is maybe the time? Perhaps I'll start on an easy board today.
2 May 2014
2m - GB3NGI Ballymena beacon
This beacon is about 530km from me yet it appears to be on the edge of copy at all times - wait a few minutes and out of the noise pops the callsign and QTH locator. This appears to be a high powered beacon at an excellent site. Its 4 el beam aims towards England so is just about optimum. This is another useful propagation indicator and at a good distance too.
I am still in the process of finding out which 2m beacons are always there, which are usually below the noise floor and which ones can be expected to be copied in reasonable lifts. At the moment it looks like this:
GB3VHF (Kent) always there
ON0VHF (Belgium) always there
PI7CIS (Holland) always there
GB3NGI (N.Ireland) just below noise (peaks copied)
GB3ANG (Angus, Scotland) just below noise (peaks copied)
GB3MCB (Cornwall) below noise - not yet copied
Others - still TBA.
As a reminder, I am using a barefoot FT817ND with a 3 el 2m yagi (5m AGL) fed with 17m of low loss coax. My site is on top of our local"hill" (20m ASL) next to the windmill with a decent take-off in nearly every direction.
On 70cms SSB/CW I have still yet to hear anything - no beacons or stations yet, but I am still looking. The antenna is a 5 el with the same low-loss Westflex coax feeder.
I shall be active in the next 2m and 70cm UKAC contest sessions (next 2 Tuesday evenings) trying to find out how well the station works.
I am still in the process of finding out which 2m beacons are always there, which are usually below the noise floor and which ones can be expected to be copied in reasonable lifts. At the moment it looks like this:
GB3VHF (Kent) always there
ON0VHF (Belgium) always there
PI7CIS (Holland) always there
GB3NGI (N.Ireland) just below noise (peaks copied)
GB3ANG (Angus, Scotland) just below noise (peaks copied)
GB3MCB (Cornwall) below noise - not yet copied
Others - still TBA.
As a reminder, I am using a barefoot FT817ND with a 3 el 2m yagi (5m AGL) fed with 17m of low loss coax. My site is on top of our local"hill" (20m ASL) next to the windmill with a decent take-off in nearly every direction.
On 70cms SSB/CW I have still yet to hear anything - no beacons or stations yet, but I am still looking. The antenna is a 5 el with the same low-loss Westflex coax feeder.
I shall be active in the next 2m and 70cm UKAC contest sessions (next 2 Tuesday evenings) trying to find out how well the station works.
More 2m beacons
This morning (around 1100z) I positively identified - full calls and QTH locators by ear - GB3ANG (Angus,Scotland) and ON0VHF (144.418MHz, 350km - Belgium). As yet, I'm not sure if I can copy these in totally flat conditions, or not, but certainly ON0VHF is a very solid signal and is still there now hours later. It is weaker than the Kent VHF beacon, but not too much. This should be a very useful marginal signal.
Tuning through the beacons there are a lot of very weak carriers that are not beacons, so it is important to listen for callsigns and QTH locators to be sure of the beacon ID. I am still exploring beacons and beam headings, so it will be some time before I know what can be copied at any time on 2m. On 70cms I have hardly started looking.
UPDATE 1900z: ON0VHF is still audible, so I think this beacon will be a very good propagation indicator in that direction. Likewise PI7CIS (2m).
Tuning through the beacons there are a lot of very weak carriers that are not beacons, so it is important to listen for callsigns and QTH locators to be sure of the beacon ID. I am still exploring beacons and beam headings, so it will be some time before I know what can be copied at any time on 2m. On 70cms I have hardly started looking.
UPDATE 1900z: ON0VHF is still audible, so I think this beacon will be a very good propagation indicator in that direction. Likewise PI7CIS (2m).
After local midnight transatlantic on 10m
Well, 10m is full of surprises!
As late as 2318z (after our local midnight) I was still spotting K3NAL on 10m WSPR. He was using just 5W and was a decent -17dB S/N suggesting he could still have been copied at 500mW on a clear noise-free frequency. This is very late for 10m and way after dark here. I was surprised to see the band open to the USA at all. W4MO was also copied until quite late.
This morning, 4X1RF was spotting me on 10m as early as 0636z, so maybe conditions will be good again today? Sunspot count is 93 (a tad higher than yesterday) with 20-30MHz conditions shown as " normal" whatever normal means! The WSPR kit is running on 10m in readiness.
UPDATE 1000z: Apart from 4X1RF, all reports so far have been Europeans, presumably by Es propagation. Nothing special as yet.
UPDATE 1615z: DX into South America (PY2RN) in evidence, but no signs here of North Americans. Maybe the 10m band will open up to the USA and Canada much later this evening as it has done a few times this week?
UPDATE 1800z: 4X1RF has been pretty consistent on 10m all day. Several Europeans are coming through now, presumably by Es.
As late as 2318z (after our local midnight) I was still spotting K3NAL on 10m WSPR. He was using just 5W and was a decent -17dB S/N suggesting he could still have been copied at 500mW on a clear noise-free frequency. This is very late for 10m and way after dark here. I was surprised to see the band open to the USA at all. W4MO was also copied until quite late.
This morning, 4X1RF was spotting me on 10m as early as 0636z, so maybe conditions will be good again today? Sunspot count is 93 (a tad higher than yesterday) with 20-30MHz conditions shown as " normal" whatever normal means! The WSPR kit is running on 10m in readiness.
UPDATE 1000z: Apart from 4X1RF, all reports so far have been Europeans, presumably by Es propagation. Nothing special as yet.
UPDATE 1615z: DX into South America (PY2RN) in evidence, but no signs here of North Americans. Maybe the 10m band will open up to the USA and Canada much later this evening as it has done a few times this week?
UPDATE 1800z: 4X1RF has been pretty consistent on 10m all day. Several Europeans are coming through now, presumably by Es.
1 May 2014
10m opens to the USA (after all)
Much to my surprise W4MO (7177km) running 1W from Florida, has just been spotted, by me, on WSPR at 2120z and 2128z.. After the mainly N-S propagation this came as a surprise.
With a lot of Doppler (2Hz) I wondered at first if this was coming by moving spread-F from clouds close to the equator? We saw similar a few evenings back. He has just spotted me (-26dB S/N) with 0Hz drift, so that is my spread-F theory gone out of the window!
Still puzzled why just W4 (Florida) call area though i.e.. only lower latitudes of the USA.
With a lot of Doppler (2Hz) I wondered at first if this was coming by moving spread-F from clouds close to the equator? We saw similar a few evenings back. He has just spotted me (-26dB S/N) with 0Hz drift, so that is my spread-F theory gone out of the window!
Still puzzled why just W4 (Florida) call area though i.e.. only lower latitudes of the USA.
GB3VHF
The GB3VHF beacon on 144.430MHz (and soon to be GB3UHF on 432.430MHz) is 107km more or less due south of here. Although it is decent signal on the 3el beam, it does not move the FT817 S-meter.
Does anyone know roughly the difference in the Cambridge area of this compared with the old Wrotham beacon? As I recall it Wrotham was a lot stronger.
A weaker signal is no problem, but I hope it is not just me that gets the Fairseat beacon on the North Downs in Kent weaker than the old Wrotham beacon used to be.
I expect to be able to copy the GB3UHF beacon when it comes on-air on 432.430MHz. Currently it is awaiting site sharing permission. It already has a licence from OFCOM.
Does anyone know roughly the difference in the Cambridge area of this compared with the old Wrotham beacon? As I recall it Wrotham was a lot stronger.
A weaker signal is no problem, but I hope it is not just me that gets the Fairseat beacon on the North Downs in Kent weaker than the old Wrotham beacon used to be.
I expect to be able to copy the GB3UHF beacon when it comes on-air on 432.430MHz. Currently it is awaiting site sharing permission. It already has a licence from OFCOM.
10m - all N-S so far today
No signs (yet anyway) of North American stations. PY4AJ and FR1GZ are there, along with others, but all these are N-S rather than E-W paths. I suspect this is going to be the pattern in the months ahead with fewer openings across the N.Atlantic. Summer time we will get a few E-W openings on 10m and 6m by multi-hop Es too.
The path to 4X1RF seems to be regularly open. This is a single hop by F-layer.
UPDATE 1800z: IK1WVQ has been consistent in the last hour. I assume the propagation is Es. IZ6QZB is spotting me.
UPDATE 1902z: EA5CYA being spotted. Es.
UPDATE 2050z: M0MVB (30km) the only station exchanging spots with in last hour. Has the 10m band died out for today? No, then I spot EA5CYA again!
UPDATE 2110z: After resetting the clock and restarting the WSPR software (yes, it had stopped) I see that EA5CYA running 200mW WSPR is still a decent signal. This must be Es.
The path to 4X1RF seems to be regularly open. This is a single hop by F-layer.
UPDATE 1800z: IK1WVQ has been consistent in the last hour. I assume the propagation is Es. IZ6QZB is spotting me.
UPDATE 1902z: EA5CYA being spotted. Es.
UPDATE 2050z: M0MVB (30km) the only station exchanging spots with in last hour. Has the 10m band died out for today? No, then I spot EA5CYA again!
UPDATE 2110z: After resetting the clock and restarting the WSPR software (yes, it had stopped) I see that EA5CYA running 200mW WSPR is still a decent signal. This must be Es.
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