17kHz VLF tests (amateur)

Stefan DK7FC who is well known for his sub-9kHz tests recently applied for special permission to test around 17kHz with a low ERP.

"Hi VLF,

Since 23 UTC a 700 mA carrier is running on 17.4701 kHz!
It is a little surprise to the VLF community i think ;-)

Legal? Yes: http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/VLF/17,47kHz_Sonderlizenz.jpg
Actually the document has 3 pages but the other ones are no so relevant.
My ERP is limited to 5 mW. I did not request more because more isn't possible anyway with this antenna.

I wound a big single layer coil with 0.5 mm enameled wire on a PVC tube with 315 mm outher diameter.
0.7 A is just a first careful step. The coil is designed to hold 1.5 A 'key down'.
The carrier will run the whole night and even tomorrow at daytime.

Worldwide reports are welcome ;-)
It is not sub-9-kHz but still VLF, the 17 km band!! So give it chance :-)

The tree has still some solar power to stream the signal from the EW loop down to the city, so there is a feedback spectrogram at http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/DK7FC_VLF_Grabber2.html

73, Stefan

PS: I still can hear that tone of the coil. It is terrible! Be happy when you are older than me!"

UK amateur licences

Southgate News has a report on the number of UK amateur licences according to data released under a Freedom of Information request by OFCOM. The data (not in a clear form) shows the numbers from 2010 to now. I think it shows a peak in 2014 in full licences, but numbers rising for the foundation licences, but I found it not easy to extract. It looks like a dump of data held on a database with no attempt to be very helpful.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/november/uk-ham-radio-license-statistics-released.htm#.Whvd4bp2tMs .

Sunspots - Monday November 27th 2017

Solar flux is 76 and the sunspot number 16. A=3 and K=1.

10m FT8

Not a promising start. I have been on 10m FT8 RX since before breakfast, but nothing so far. Things may change.

UPDATE 1012z: Nothing.

UPDATE 1400z: Just a couple of UK stations spotted so far, probably aircraft reflections.

UPDATE 1732z: A couple of Italians spotted on 10m FT8 RX. I have now QSYed to 630m.

Quiet MF overnight

With my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR only copied by 6 unique UK stations last night and only 10 unique spots of others, last night was not great.

6m band

Many countries in Region 1 have allocated the 6m band, but this is at the discretion of individual administrations. At WRC19, according to Southgate News, the amateur service may get a Region 1 "real" allocation.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/november/iaru-notes-progress-toward-50-mhz-region-1-allocation.htm#.WhsYELp2tMs  .

Volcanic Ash? - NOT amateur radio

A few years ago we had severe airline disruption as a result of volcanic ash over Iceland. Now it seems we may have a problem brewing near Bali from Mount Agung which last erupted in 1963.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-42126284 .

PSK Reporter Maps - a problem?

Earlier this morning PSK Reporter Maps showed I had copied a German station on 10m FT8. Now this is not shown and it shows me copying just a G station. I tried refreshing the page and altering the time over which I was looking (right out to 24 hours). I also looked in the log. Still no sign of the German. 

All I can conclude is PSK Reporter Maps are less reliable than I thought. This is a pity, as I have found PSK Reporter Maps  much more reliable than WSPRnet.

Last night on 630m WSPR

Overnight, 12 unique stations spotted my 10mW ERP QRP. Best spot was again by LA2XPA (1310km). I am amazed that anyone copies me, let alone way up the coast of Norway!

Sunspots - Sunday November 26th 2017

Sunspots! Solar flux is 74 today and the sunspot number 13. A=7 and K=1.