Frog 40m transceiver

This is the Pixie's "big brother". I have mentioned it before in this blog. It has more power than the Pixie and a better RX.  It costs just over £15 with free shipping from Hong Kong. Some suppliers sell it built for this sort of price! This is a real bargain.

I think it uses an NE602, with an attenuator pot in the receiver.

The image is on the eBay page and will be removed immediately if a problem.

See http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Frog-Sounds-HAM-Radio-QRP-Kit-Telegraph-CW-Transceiver-Receiver-Radio-Station-V3-/251405614850 .

See also: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/qrp-transceiver for lots of QRP transceiver bargains.

40m Pixie transceiver

Yesterday I found my rechargeable 12V battery and charged it up. I also checked the Pixie I built as a kit for dry joints and shorts. As all looks good, I hope to test this on the air over the weekend or early next week.

There are a couple of locals I'd like to test with initially, although I am expecting to suffer from AM breakthrough mainly from broadcast stations very close to our 40m band. Probably there would be less breakthrough in the daytime? My antenna is short and low on 40m (a Par triband end-fed covering 10m/20m/40m) so any contacts will be good!

I can test it first on a signal generator and then a power meter. If it works, I'd expect a sensitivity of around -100dBm and a power out of around 200mW on 40m. We'll see. Even -80dBm and 100mW would be enough to work locals as long as AM breakthrough is at a manageable level.

Cerebellum brain bleed update

Many of you know I had a cerebellum brain bleed in Sept 2013 and was in hospital for 3.5 months. Slowly I am recovering, but it is taking much longer than I expected.

Amateur radio field experiments and building work are on hold, but I hope to resume these soon as long as my fatigue improves.

The main issue is I get tired quickly,  especially after anything that is physical. Even small things leave me exhausted, quite unlike anything I have known. I still feel drunk when I walk, my speech is poor and drinking thin liquids is not easy. The profound tiredness really gets me down. It would be so good to be able to drink a cup of tea or coffee, or even a glass of water, as I used to.

Most foods are OK now.

All limbs, eyes, ears and intellect are fine. I still feel unwell and not my old self yet. Although recovering slowly, it is taking far too long.

10m USA WSPR spots

At 1314z K9AN (6505km) was the first USA station to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon today. With the lower sunspot number I had some doubt the 10m band would open to the USA today at all.

UPDATE 1400z:    W9HLY (6257km) has spotted me a couple times this lunchtime, but I have the feeling there are few stations spotting me today on 10m WSPR.  OK, it is very early afternoon still.

UPDATE 1655z:   A surprising number of USA stations have spotted my 500mW WSPR beacon this afternoon, despite the relatively low sunspot number. When the next peak occurs it is likely to be a weak affair, but assuming conditions are settled we could still be spanning the Atlantic on 10m at the right time of year. It will be interesting to see how well this path holds up as the sunspot number continues to fall.

UPDATE 1732z:  Still being spotted in the USA

UPDATE 1822z:   K9AN (6505km) is still spotting me.

UPDATE 1830z:   Still plenty of USA and Canadian 10m stations spotting my 500mW WSPR beacon. This is a much better opening than I expected.

UPDATE 1940z:  It looks like the last USA spot was KC1AWS (5408km) at 1850z. Just local G4IKZ since then. I'll probably go QRT shortly on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 2120z:  I went QRT at 2058z. I am currently not active on any band.  Back after breakfast.

Sunspots and 10m

Sunspot number has declined to 39 and 10m propagation is forecast to be "poor". Looks like we could have a struggle on 10m today.

UPDATE 1126z:  10m WSPR spots of my 500mW beacon from LZ1OI (2153km) and UR/SWL56 (2283km) this morning.  4X1RF (3519km) was copying me earlier.  These are probably single hop F2.

Homebrew rigs, fieldwork and fatigue

Quite a few of the rigs I use are home-built, although my recent poor health has stopped me being able to build much. The 40m Pixie kit built this week was the first thing built since before my brain bleed.

Although I feel I now have the dexterity to build rigs and accessories - case work is more of an issue - doing so makes me very very tired and I have to rest to recover my energy.

I hope to resume some field work soon, but the main risk is my fatigue: can I manage being in the field for any length of time without being totally exhausted? Given time, I am told that my energy levels will return, but I have the feeling the medics really have little idea how I shall end up. To them, I have already recovered well, whereas I know I am still a million miles from how I was!

10m SSB with the Lincoln Mk2

This afternoon, I have been trying out the President Lincoln Mk2 (V3) which arrived early today. I have only tried on SSB but it seems to work, with the first SSB QSO being with N8II in West Virginia at about 1430z. He was using 800W and a 5 element beam! It was hearing plenty from Asia, Europe and North/South America. Maximum claimed power from the Lincoln, controlled by a rotary control on the front panel, is 31W  PEP on SSB.

Lincoln Mk2 with the other rigs

I have still to fully get to grips with the menu but it seems pretty intuitive.  There is a choice of display backlight colours, but I find green easiest on the eyes. The other choices are blue and orange. You can alter display brightness and lots of other features - I shall have plenty of time to play.  Blue is not good for my eyes on either the Lincoln Mk2  or the FT817. To my eyes, blue is hard to see, whereas the green is very clear.

My biggest issue was getting the power leads attached to the PSU.  Before my stroke this would have been trivial.  Now it tires me out! I wanted several rigs attached to the PSU at the same time so soldering the plugs on was non-trivial. As you know, speaking too long exhausts me,so I am taking a break.

I am waiting for my 12V battery to charge to test the 40m Pixie. Visually the Pixie build looks fine.

At the moment I am not on WSPR on any band.

472kHz WSPR

Although I was on 472kHz overnight, my PC decided to close (the whole PC including WSPR) some time after 0320z to install updates. It was re-synced to internet time and restarted at breakfast time.  Wednesday overnight is usually when this happens. I could alter settings but this is not really an issue.

Local G4KPX (14km) is spotting me this morning so far on this band. G3WCB (101km) and G3THQ (88km) were spotting me just before the PC turned off.

President Lincoln Mk2 (v3) arrives

Still to be unpacked, the Lincoln Mk2 10m transceiver arrived from Nevada this morning by "signed for" parcel post. Packaging was undamaged. I shall probably fire this up later today. Delivery was fast - impressive.

Sunspots and 10m

Sunspot number today is 63. 10m propagation is expected to be "poor" although 4X1RF (3519km) was spotting my 10m 500mW WSPR at 0824z and 0912z this morning. Most spots were local - G4IKZ. No continental Europeans or further afield though.

UPDATE 1025z:   4X1RF (3519km) is now spotting my 500mW WSPR lots of times.

UPDATE 1050z:  LZ and SV9 now spotting my 500mW WSPR beacon on 10m as well. Things are warming up on 10m. Still no real DX spotting me.