HAARP to be saved?

The (controversial) HAARP project in Alaska is closing and the facility being dismantled, but scientists are trying to save it. See http://www.adn.com/2014/06/03/3500302/scientists-make-last-ditch-effort.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1 .   There have been all sorts of conspiracy theories. One of the objectives was to generate uW or mW level ELF signals (to communicate with submerged nuclear submarines) by heating the ionosphere with AM modulated HF signals.

http://media.adn.com/smedia/2014/05/14/19/42/1qEGYg.AuSt.7.jpeg

"What a shame if they have to tear it down, they just finished the build out to the full array a couple of years ago!

I was fortunate to get a tour of the site about 10 years ago as my friend Steve W4YHD was the Chief Engineer, quite impressive! I have some photos (35mm film, not digital) which I need to scan.  The HAARP transmitters were true AM transmitters as they were used to heat the ionosphere and generate e.l.f. waves by modulating the carrier with low frequency audio tones, very inefficient (but all elf transmission schemes suffer from lack of efficiency),many megawatts of HF energy used to excite milliwatts (or perhaps microwatts?) of elf radiation from the ionosphere.

See:http://vlf.stanford.edu/research/experiments-haarp-ionospheric-heater

    I recall that they had a Radar on site and were supposed to shut down in case an aircraft flew through the beam. They also had an ICOM R72 receiver so they could listen before transmitting so as not to cause QRM !  The whole lashup was powered by a series of 5 generators driven by diesel locomotive engines.   The transmitter was actually a bunch of final amplifiers, solid state driver and a 3cx5000 PA tube, housed in trailers below the antenna array, each trailer housed a number of 3cx5000 PA's - the PA's were fed by an HP synthesizer (don't recall the model #, might be in one of my photos) and fed with equal lengths of coax so all PA's would be in phase. There was a method to shift the phase across the array so as to change the shape and direction of the beam. The antennas were bow-tie dipoles broadband from 3-10MHz.  The whole thing was controlled by Sun Sparc workstations from a master control room.  Just for fun I tuned up one of the transmitters on 7.290 MHz AM to see if I could strap Ashtabula Bill W8VYZ, of course it was daytime and I don't think anybody was affected!

   Was hoping to make a return trip to see the fully built out site but its looking very questionable at the moment.

73 Warren K2ORS"

6m - results so far this spring

Just seen how many spots I have had of my 1W ERP 6m WSPR signal so far. 28 unique reports in 3 continents with best DX 3519km from 4X1RF.

Not bad with an FT817 set to 2.5W, V2000 vertical and coax with a loss of more than 3dB.

6m unique spots with 1W ERP this Es season so far.

Anytone and Wouxun Chinese radios

Steadily, the Chinese are entering the amateur radio market. In addition to the "back shed" HF radios, there are now several neat looking VHF/UHF dual band radios and a quad band mobile (Anytone AT5888UV) for 10, 6, 2m and 70cm. See http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/11197  for reviews of the quad bander.

See also the Wouxun KG-UV8D 5W dual band handheld with a  large screen available from UK dealers for under £100.  This is even cheaper on eBay.

Anytone also offer a couple of 28MHz radios at bargain basement prices. They are around £199 or less.

The Chinese are coming. Watch out Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu! Your easy ride is nearly over.

I give the Chinese less than a year to come up with a good FT817 replacement at a decent price. Yaesu seem totally uninterested, so I bet the Chinese will be. The market for a good FT817 replacement is certainly measured in hundreds of thousands of transceiver units.  Enough to wake anyone up, apart, it seems, from Yaesu.

IF Yaesu is working on a replacement for the FT817 it had better be quick about it as the "window of opportunity" is rapidly closing. Band conditions are slipping, the KX3 is selling widely (but expensive over here in the UK as is the Argonaut VI) and the Chinese are coming up fast on the outside.

Doppler on locals and a VERY quiet day on 6m

Today, so far, it has been exclusively local G4IKZ (18km) on 6m WSPR  One thing I have noticed both on his spots and those by G4FFC (45km) yesterday is that when there is a lot of Doppler my reports are poorer. I assume the aircraft reflections sometimes result in destructive interference and an effective drop in S/N.

This month, so far, sunspot numbers have been lower (70 today), although 20-30MHz propagation is described as "normal". I think the slide downwards is starting, sadly. But, even next autumn 10m should still be good though - we are a LONG way from the minimum yet. I think long distance 6m F-layer propagation openings will be few unless one is lucky enough to be closer to the equator and may catch TEP openings. CN8LI and stations in Israel were managing to catch 6m TEP openings quite recently, as were some VK and JA stations.

UPDATE 1700z:   Just G4IKZ (18km) spotting me since I switched on 6m WSPR at 0556z - a very very quiet day on 6m so far today: no Es and no GDX seen here, so far. There is at least one "wandering" signal that has been seen several times drifting across the band but with too much drift to decode. Strong, but no Doppler. At one point it was stable enough to decode but the signal faded out after 1 minute. I think this was an Es signal. May never know though. I am tempted to QSY to 472kHz WSPR this evening unless things markedly improve on 6m.

UPDATE 1808z:  another new local(ish) station has just appeared on 6m spotting me:   M0MVB (30km) up in the Fens.  Still no 6m Es here.I presume M0MVB is just in from work and just turned the gear on.

UPDATE 1925z:   Still no 6m Es here today. Tomorrow can only be better.

UPDATE 2050z:  I stuck with 6m, but only locals today. Very disappointing indeed.

Quiet 6m evening

Apart from G4IKZ (18km) and G4FFC (45km) all has been quiet on 6m WSPR since the 14 spots exchanged with CN8LI (2113km) - last spot 1558z.

On 2m late afternoon stations were calling "CQ sporadic" on SSB, although when I listened no DX was heard from Europe.  I think the Es MUF must have exceeded 144MHz briefly.

Quiet 6m morning

Apart from G3RCE (GDX tropo) there has been no EU DX here on the band all morning. There is some doubt that OZ7IT, in the early hours, was Es, but if it was Es it was indeed very early at 0438z. I shall stick with 6m for a while to see what happens.

UPDATE 1328z:  Right out of the blue CN8LI (2113km 5W) was spotted at a strong -11dB S/N . Magic Band does it again!

UPDATE 1420:  Now CN8LI spots my 1W ERP  at a massive +5dB S/N! During the afternoon we exchange spots 14 times at colossal strengths even though I run 1W ERP only.

2m UKAC results

Last night I went on 2m SSB with 5W in the monthly UKAC activity contest. After 1 hour and 40 minutes I had to stop as my voice was gone (stroke).  Best DX missed was GI6ATZ in N.Ireland. I called him a few times without success.

In all 16 QSOs were completed showing that modest power and antenna from the home QTH is enough to enjoy the contest. Had I stayed on longer I'm sure I would have worked more squares. Quite a few stations in northern England worked too on the small, hand rotated, 3el beam, from the home QTH.

Looking at the map, I should have turned the beam towards the SW.  Hardly likely I'll come other than close to the bottom, but that was not the point - it was good fun taking part.

2m stations worked with 5w/3el UKAC June 3rd 2014

Odd start on 6m today

As 0438z OZ7IT (853km) spotted my 1W ERP 6m WSPR signal by very early morning Es I assume. Then, just spots from local G4IKZ (18km) until I spotted G3RCE (185km) a little while ago, presumably by tropo with some aircraft reflection (2Hz Doppler). Interesting that a lot of the local spots by G4IKZ had a fair bit of Doppler too.

eQSLs

Today, whilst checking my eQSLs I noticed one from an HA station for a 2m SSB QSO. This QSO never took place!  This would have to be Es and I have never worked Es on 2m.   It may be a band error or someone just hoping I would not check the log so he would get a credit for G on 2m SSB.   Please note DO NOT try to claim for QSOs that did not take place. I check and this is FRAUD.  I'll have no part in this.

2m UKAC contest tonight

A reminder that the RSGB's 2m UKAC (activity) contest is tonight from 1900-2130z (i.e it starts at 8pm UK clock time).  Activity levels are good in these contests. Next Tuesday it is the 70cm contest, but I fear I'll miss that as we have visitors next week.

Not sure how long my poor voice will hold out this evening. Last month I managed 90 minutes (10 QSOs) before I had to stop because of my poor, stroke damaged, voice. We'll see this evening. Talking in a contest is very hard for me at present, which is one reason I use WSPR a lot.

I shall be running 5W to my small, hand rotated, 3 element beam from the home QTH (JO02dg). I doubt I shall come other than near the bottom, but it's fun nonetheless.

See http://www.rsgbcc.org .