VLF tests continue

Experiments at VLF by amateurs continue with DK7FC leading those TXing on bands from 970Hz to 8270Hz. People as far away as Italy and the UK have been trying to receive these transmissions, some successfully.

Unlike commercial stations, these are amateurs using modest powers and "back yard" antennas. At one time people said, "we'll never get over the garden wall at VLF". Instead, signals are being received over hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometres. I think in the past I have copied 5 different amateur VLF signals from as far away as Germany and the Czech Republic.

The secret is long integration periods, very narrow bandwidths and great stability. Casual listening will not work. Amateur VLF work requires care and dedication, quite different from reception of commercial VLF stations with huge powers and antennas.

MS on 2m

Martin G8OFA has been using 2m MS (meteor scatter) this year and has worked some impressive DX as the photo shows. The MS QSOs are shown as squares with bold outlines. As you can see, these are far into continental Europe. Such contacts would be rare on 2m by tropo and QTH, power and antennas would be important.

MS is available at any time (random MS) but is best in showers. It works at any time in the solar cycle. QTH is less important. On 6m, pings tend to be longer, although antenna elements are bigger.

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday May 7th 2017

Solar flux is 72 today. The sunspot number is 26. A=4 and K=3.

QRP and QRP Club

Each week Oleg reports:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,

Weekly QRP Rendez-Vous Report (May, 7, 2017)
Visitors  of  the week: R1CAF, UY1IF, UW5EKR, US5ERQ, TF/RA1M, UR0ET,
OH6NPV,  DK2QX,  F3MB,  OK1KW,  DL8NAV,  RU3NJC, G3XJS, RV3GM, ON6WJ,
UA1ADF,  UA0SBQ,  US5ERQ, OM6TC, ON6KZ, RA4ABI, UR5EFD, DG2VM, R2FAE,
LA8BCA
Congrats!
DK2QX entered in the Honor Frequenters list
Personally! Dear Red, members of the Club 72 invite you to the Club, please
Welcome new Visitors:
F3MB, DL8NAV, RA4ABI, DG2VM
See full Frequenters and Visitors lists on the Club 72 web page
Comments...
See full WQR Report including comments and pictures on the blog page -http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/

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

So far, 17 stations in 10 countries spotted this morning on 6m MSK144 RX. This is a very good start. Just before breakfast I was briefly on TX in this mode on 6m and was spotted locally by M1BXF/SDR and G4KPX. Most of the time I have been RX only.

UPDATE 1112z:  29 stations in 11 countries so far today on 6m MSK144 RX. This mode is getting popular!

UPDATE 1706z: Lots and lots spotted today on 6m MSK144 RX.

Early Es on 10m

I turned on the 10m WSPR beacon (500mW) before breakfast and was spotted by LA9NKA (930km) at 0740z. For Es, this is early.

Compact 10m beam

If you are after a small beam for 10m you might try this Moxon 2el.

Moxons have useful forward gain, decent F/B ratio, a fairly broad forward pattern and are easy to make. When up in the air, a 2el Moxon on 10m won't look too big.

See http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=9325 .

Some years ago I tried a Moxon on 70cms where it worked well.

6m MSK144 TX (1W ERP)

Just for a short while, I am transmitting (30 second periods) on 50.280MHz MSK144 in beacon mode sending, "B G3XBM JO02" (1W ERP) to see where in Europe I am being spotted.

At the same time, I am still on 10m WSPR TX running 500mW.

New ICOM D-Star dual-band handheld

ICOM has announced a new digital dual-band 5W handheld that as well as conventional FM supports D-Star both over the air and via a PC, tablet or similar. It has built-in GPS as well as a slot for a micro-SD card. To me, it seems expensive but it is a "state of the art" dual-band handheld with GPS.

See http://www.icomuk.co.uk/ID-51E-Plus2/Handheld_Amateur_Radio_Ham

137 and 472kHz bands in the USA

My conclusion is the FCC is a bunch of morons and pen pushers. I may be wrong and this is my personal view. To others, they may be wonderful.

According to Southgate News, these bands are still not available in the USA years and years after these bands were released in the rest of the world. As my own experiments on both bands with very low ERPs show, great ranges can still be achieved. I just don't understand their reasons for delays. OK, I know some utilities pump RF over cables in this frequency range in the USA, but if there is any harmful interference just instruct the station to go QRT or reduce power. With a low ERP limit initially I very much doubt there would be any problems.

FCC - get your fingers out and release these bands! To the rest of the world you appear a bunch of idiots incapable of making any decisions. Does anyone there understand RF? Wake up!