More EbNaut VLF testing

Stefan DK7FC is doing another EbNaut test tonight:

Hi all,

Hereby i'm announcing the next EbNaut attempt for a longer night transmission, starting in a few hours:
f = 8270.100000 Hz
Start time: 22.Feb.2017   18:00:00 UTC
Symbol period: 30 s
Characters: 8
CRC bits: 16
Coding 16K21A
Duration: 11h, 12m, 0s
Antenna current: 700 mA

73, Stefan

QRP and QRP Club

More from Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,
Thanks all QRPers for activity in the game! See results on the Club 72
web page (Archives in the menu).

Winners in nominations:
R4NX - the lowest temperature in the field position (-13C in the garden)
UT3XT - the unusual original field position (in the forest)
UA1CEG - the original home brew radio in the field (DC TRX 3 W in the forest Wigwam)
RU3NJC - the lowest power in the field (Pixie 200 mW in the field)
OM6TC - the greatest number of QSOs in the field (52 QSOs on the summit 970 m ASL)
ON6WJ - the greatest number of QSOs with field operators in home (6 QSOs)

The memorable certificates has been sent to all participants.
See you all in the next Snowman QRP Game 2018!

72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"


This is a periodic Newsletter of the Club 72. Don't reply to Newsletter address! Send any requests or news to mr72@club72.su please.

6m MSK144 RX

As usual, I am monitoring 6m MSK144 RX in the background, So far only EI7BMB (462km) spotted in the last 12 hours. I assume this is aircraft reflection rather than random MS.

UPDATE 1712z: Spots of stations in G, GM and GD today so far, but nothing yet outside the British Isles.

Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday February 22nd 2017

Solar flux is 82 today and the sunspot number 19.  A=4 and K=3.

Given up on 10m?

It would appear that most have given up on 10m and migrated to lower frequencies where there are easier pickings. Understandable, but a shame as it means there are now far fewer people around to catch the openings that still do occur on 10m.

For a long time I have recommended digital modes like WSPR or JT65 running in the background. Only low power is needed.  WSPR creates its own beaconing format, but sending "B callsign locator" in JT65 appears on PSK Reporter Maps, so you can soon see where your JT65 signal is being copied. Yes, 10m DX is still there, but harder to find now than a few years ago.

But, are you man enough to take the 10m challenge?

I have said before, but if all you want to do is chat to friends around the world you can do this by video for nothing on the internet. Amateur radio is about learning and pushing the boundaries. For many years 10m will be that final HF frontier.

Care to join us?

Back on 10m WSPR

For about 15 minutes now I have been back on 10m WSPR TX (100%, randomised frequency, 500mW). It will be interesting to see if anyone spots me on 10m WSPR. As yet, no spots.

UK Pound to Euro exchange rate - NOT amateur radio

It is my view that the Euro will lose value this year so the UK Pound will buy more Euros. Of course, I could be entirely wrong! The reasons for thinking this are:

• Greek debt is still a big issue and there will be fewer nations able to bail them out.
• Several nations are disillusioned with the Euro project and are worried by totally free movement within the EU.
• Several nations are in favour of tariff-free borders to trade but are nervous of ever closer integration.
• I think the UK will show the world it can succeed outside of the EU.

No, several things point to an improved exchange rate. As for the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen exchange rates, I am less clear.

By the way, in last year's EU referendum I voted to "remain" in the EU. I believe the EU faces a difficult year ahead and this year will be "crunch time".

10GHz made simple

The HB100 Doppler radar modules can be bought for just a few UK pounds on eBay. These are the modern day equivalent of the Gunnplexers of old. A range of 161km has been achieved with one of these at the focus of a dish antenna on wideband FM.

In conjunction with a separate LNB converting down to 600MHz and a wideband FM RX and you have the makings of a low cost 10GHz system. This was recently used by G4HJW to cover a 10km path. I think Bernie was using just the HB100's own antenna. The HB100 is basically a small PCB unit.

At least one UK station is trying to design a stand-alone 10GHz transceiver based on the HB100 module. Watch this space!

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday February 21st 2017

Solar flux is 80 today and the sunspot number 25 . A=10 and K= 1

6m MSK144 RX again today

At the moment I am on 6m MSK144 RX again, but only receiving G stations (G3RED and G4CLA) so far today. No real DX as yet, although both these stations are at a good range.

UPDATE 1422z: Now 5 stations received including GD and EI. I suspect these are aircraft reflections.

UPDATE 1648z: SK0TM (1156km) now spotted on 6m MSK144.