Please don't misunderstand my views on OFCOM here in the UK. Generally, they have been supportive of the amateur community and I am grateful for this.
However, I am very critical that they seem loath to make real decisions about anything hard. Perhaps this is because they need real teeth and less government fiddling in the wings? I believe they need to be fully independent of government interference and be able to make common sense decisions without excuses. All the time they seem to hide behind the law as a safe-guard from doing anything very hard.
I have been critical of the FCC many times but in several ways they take a more pragmatic approach to spectrum management. All the time OFCOM employees seem to fear taking any hard decisions in case they break the law. Perhaps we need to employ people who actually understand radio and spectrum issues. Oh sorry, I forgot, these are a dying breed. We only have "yes boys" left.
3 Apr 2015
King's Cambridge - NOT amateur radio
See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .
King's College Chapel is probably the most famous building in Cambridge and it is known the world over. Yesterday my wife and I went there for a lunchtime concert (which was great) and I have updated the churches blog. The BBC had their Outside Broadcast van parked outside, probably for another concert over Easter.
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| A punt outside King's |
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| King's College Chapel from the River Cam |
Sunspots and 10m - Friday April 3rd 2015
Sunspot number today has fallen to 31 and 10m propagation is expected to remain "fair".
So far this morning it has been good on 10m with my little 500mW WSPR beacon being spotted all over the place with best DX being VK6POP (14465km). Based on results this morning I'd expect the 10m band to open to the USA, but being 10m who knows?
So far this morning it has been good on 10m with my little 500mW WSPR beacon being spotted all over the place with best DX being VK6POP (14465km). Based on results this morning I'd expect the 10m band to open to the USA, but being 10m who knows?
40MHz amateur band?
Well, I had a letter today from an amateur in South Africa who I hear have been allocated a small band at 40MHz. There are already a couple of EU beacons around 40MHz (OZ and G).
It would be so good if OFCOM here in the UK saw the real value in even a very small, shared band around 40MHz. Instead, we get given chunks (1MHz at 2m and 1MHz at 4m) which will hardly get touched by most. Surely a small 100kHz shared band at 40MHz that would really be of value to radio science has merit?
Of course, allocating ad interim chunks of unused spectrum to the amateur service is a "no-brainer" for dear old OFCOM. Fine doing this, but there would have been far better options, but these would have needed brain engagement, so out of the question? I hope that the RSGB and OFCOM talk some more and add new bits of spectrum soon.
It would be so good if OFCOM here in the UK saw the real value in even a very small, shared band around 40MHz. Instead, we get given chunks (1MHz at 2m and 1MHz at 4m) which will hardly get touched by most. Surely a small 100kHz shared band at 40MHz that would really be of value to radio science has merit?
Of course, allocating ad interim chunks of unused spectrum to the amateur service is a "no-brainer" for dear old OFCOM. Fine doing this, but there would have been far better options, but these would have needed brain engagement, so out of the question? I hope that the RSGB and OFCOM talk some more and add new bits of spectrum soon.
2 Apr 2015
Sunspots and 10m - Thursday April 2nd 2015
Sunspot number is 69 today (K=3 so a bit more disturbed than yesterday) and 10m propagation yet again "fair".
So far today just local G4IKZ (18km) and EA8BVP (2986km) spotting me and not a single spot of my 500mW WSPR beacon on 10m from the USA. If there is to be a marginal opening later, I would expect this around teatime here i.e. soon.
I have been getting reports from G4IKZ that my WSPR dT (timing) is way out (3 seconds). I seem to have no issue getting lots of spots usually, but I wonder what errors in dT others might be seeing? My usual set-up is a stand-alone 10m 500mW WSPR-AXE-CW beacon which I manually reset to internet time after breakfast every day. I do this spot on an even minute but I could adjust this (earlier or later) if this resulted in a better dT error. Please let me know if you also see large errors as reported by G4KIZ. On 472kHz I use a PC/FT817/transverter. The PC is reset to internet time every 5 minutes using atomic.exe software.
UPDATE 1940z: Well, at the moment it looks like there will be no 10m WSPR spots of me from the USA today. It is still possible that the could be a very short opening, but this is now improbable.
UPDATE 2055z: No USA stations spotting me at all. A dire day on 10m WSPR. These were the unique stations in the last 24 hours. The USA stations shown here were yesterday.
So far today just local G4IKZ (18km) and EA8BVP (2986km) spotting me and not a single spot of my 500mW WSPR beacon on 10m from the USA. If there is to be a marginal opening later, I would expect this around teatime here i.e. soon.
I have been getting reports from G4IKZ that my WSPR dT (timing) is way out (3 seconds). I seem to have no issue getting lots of spots usually, but I wonder what errors in dT others might be seeing? My usual set-up is a stand-alone 10m 500mW WSPR-AXE-CW beacon which I manually reset to internet time after breakfast every day. I do this spot on an even minute but I could adjust this (earlier or later) if this resulted in a better dT error. Please let me know if you also see large errors as reported by G4KIZ. On 472kHz I use a PC/FT817/transverter. The PC is reset to internet time every 5 minutes using atomic.exe software.
UPDATE 1940z: Well, at the moment it looks like there will be no 10m WSPR spots of me from the USA today. It is still possible that the could be a very short opening, but this is now improbable.
UPDATE 2055z: No USA stations spotting me at all. A dire day on 10m WSPR. These were the unique stations in the last 24 hours. The USA stations shown here were yesterday.
Four Metre Band and OFCOM rubbish decisions?
There was an announcement on the RSGB and OFCOM sites advising some UK full licence holders that 70.5 to 71.5MHz is being made available for one year by special permission for further digital experiments, a bit like 146-147MHz here in the UK.
Sorry, but has OFCOM gone stark raving mad???
I can see no good justification for this 1MHz of spectrum. 2m was already under-used and the 146-147MHz allocation is probably being used by a tiny handful of people from time to time only. DATV tests could quite as easily happen at 70cms.
I can think of far better parts of the spectrum OFCOM could have allocated e.g 100kHz around 40MHz (for Es propagation experiments), 73kHz, below 8.3kHz and a contiguous 5MHz allocation. Oh no, these require a brain to be engaged by OFCOM people.
Maybe this is an April fool's wind-up, although I suspect it is true.
Surely if OFCOM wants to further real experimentation in radio science there are better ways of going about it? Yet again, I am totally unimpressed. Between OFCOM and the RSGB, I think this is, yet again, a stupid stupid decision. So we now have 2MHz of extra spectrum for 12 months that a very few might use. Big deal. OFCOM, engage brains, think radio science. If you want to help grow future engineers that we so badly need, these allocations will not help at all. Think again!
See http://www.rsgb.org/ .
See http://www.70mhz.org/ .
Sorry, but has OFCOM gone stark raving mad???
I can see no good justification for this 1MHz of spectrum. 2m was already under-used and the 146-147MHz allocation is probably being used by a tiny handful of people from time to time only. DATV tests could quite as easily happen at 70cms.
I can think of far better parts of the spectrum OFCOM could have allocated e.g 100kHz around 40MHz (for Es propagation experiments), 73kHz, below 8.3kHz and a contiguous 5MHz allocation. Oh no, these require a brain to be engaged by OFCOM people.
Maybe this is an April fool's wind-up, although I suspect it is true.
Surely if OFCOM wants to further real experimentation in radio science there are better ways of going about it? Yet again, I am totally unimpressed. Between OFCOM and the RSGB, I think this is, yet again, a stupid stupid decision. So we now have 2MHz of extra spectrum for 12 months that a very few might use. Big deal. OFCOM, engage brains, think radio science. If you want to help grow future engineers that we so badly need, these allocations will not help at all. Think again!
See http://www.rsgb.org/ .
See http://www.70mhz.org/ .
1 Apr 2015
472kHz WSPR - fewer stations now?
Although I've been on 472kHz WSPR using the earth-electrode "antenna" for some months now, it is some time since I was spotted by a new station. I think the last was EI0CF and that was weeks ago. I am beginning to think the time is coming to "pull the plug" until the autumn. By then I really should try to improve my antenna and my ERP in that band. Maybe as the Es season is fast approaching I should QSY to 50MHz (6m) WSPR.
10m USA spots early today
KT5W (6314km) was spotting my 500mW WSPR beacon at 1324z, which is earlier than of late. I was expecting 10m to open to the USA, but this was much earlier than I was expecting.
UPDATE 1422z: A few more USA stations have been spotting me. Already, more different stations are spotting me than yesterday.
UPDATE 1612z: My 500mW WSPR beacon has been copied by PY3OL (10412km) as well as by lots of USA stations. So far, 12 different USA stations spotting me.
UPDATE 1946z: PY3OL has spotted me 20 times so far today at up to -18dB S/N. As the solar cycle declines I expect these N-S 10m openings will be far more common than E-W ones. As I have mentioned before, I have worked LUs on 10m SSB when using QRP in the sunspot minimum before, so expect these N-S paths to still be there even with very low sunspot numbers. Often the maximum usable frequency (MUF) is much higher for paths over the equator, possibly as the F layer splits (equatorial spread-F) and the "bounce" over the equator occurs at a shallower angle than a normal F2 reflections - no ground reflection occurs over the equator. Don't quote me on this as I am no propagation expert, but it is a fact that N-S paths over the equator "work" at much higher frequencies than paths in other directions. Of course, here I am referring to F layer propagation. Most years you may strike lucky and hear USA stations in the summer time by Es. Some Es paths are massive and it is not that uncommon for S.America,The Caribbean and N.America to be worked on 6m in the Es months. In summer 2007 I worked a USA station on 6m CW when I was using real QRP to a vertical V2000 omni antenna. I have heard 6m DX from S.America, The Caribbean and N. America by Es many times. My best DX on RX by F2 (years ago) was the USA and South Africa. I doubt I'll see these F2 conditions ever again in my lifetime.
UPDATE 2210z: KT5W (6314km) was spotting my 500mW WSPR beacon at 2100z. I think this was the last spot from the USA today as it has been quiet now for over an hour.
UPDATE 1422z: A few more USA stations have been spotting me. Already, more different stations are spotting me than yesterday.
UPDATE 1612z: My 500mW WSPR beacon has been copied by PY3OL (10412km) as well as by lots of USA stations. So far, 12 different USA stations spotting me.
UPDATE 1946z: PY3OL has spotted me 20 times so far today at up to -18dB S/N. As the solar cycle declines I expect these N-S 10m openings will be far more common than E-W ones. As I have mentioned before, I have worked LUs on 10m SSB when using QRP in the sunspot minimum before, so expect these N-S paths to still be there even with very low sunspot numbers. Often the maximum usable frequency (MUF) is much higher for paths over the equator, possibly as the F layer splits (equatorial spread-F) and the "bounce" over the equator occurs at a shallower angle than a normal F2 reflections - no ground reflection occurs over the equator. Don't quote me on this as I am no propagation expert, but it is a fact that N-S paths over the equator "work" at much higher frequencies than paths in other directions. Of course, here I am referring to F layer propagation. Most years you may strike lucky and hear USA stations in the summer time by Es. Some Es paths are massive and it is not that uncommon for S.America,The Caribbean and N.America to be worked on 6m in the Es months. In summer 2007 I worked a USA station on 6m CW when I was using real QRP to a vertical V2000 omni antenna. I have heard 6m DX from S.America, The Caribbean and N. America by Es many times. My best DX on RX by F2 (years ago) was the USA and South Africa. I doubt I'll see these F2 conditions ever again in my lifetime.
UPDATE 2210z: KT5W (6314km) was spotting my 500mW WSPR beacon at 2100z. I think this was the last spot from the USA today as it has been quiet now for over an hour.
First (restarted) VLF earth-mode test
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| 5W VLF beacon TX |
TX frequency 8.976kHz initially with 10wpm CW, 300Hz bandwidth, sending my callsign and a dash. Nothing copied at first using a dummy load but over 70dB over noise using the earth-electrode "antenna" with no attempt to optimise match (fed via the same 3C90 step-up transformer used on 472kHz). With no probe at all (i.e.no RX antenna) the S/N was still some 40dB i.e. very good using the TX into the earth-electrodes.
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| QRSS3 signal received on Spectran (0.37Hz BW) |
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| E-field probe |
Honestly, this has really exhausted me!
Sunspot number and 10m propagation - April 1st 2015
Sunspot number remains at 53 today and 10m propagation is again expected to be "fair". Is this the same as I haven't a clue"? So far this morning just G4IKZ (18km) but it is very early still. Based on yesterday when conditions were slightly more disturbed (K==1 today, but yesterday K=2) and there was a marginal 10m opening to the USA, I would expect 10m to open to the USA later this afternoon.
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