630m WSPR (Sunday)

Now that my 630m station is working well on "split", I can be on both TX and RX on 630m WSPR. For a change, I am sticking with 630m WSPR in the daytime to see what happens. I am surprised by the activity that is there. Perhaps it is because it is a weekend? 

UPDATE 1411z:  QRT on 630m. On again this evening. In the last day I have been spotted by 11 stations with the furthermost OH1LSQ (1733km). Pleasing with a very low ERP and the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.  Some while back, I measured the ERP as 10mW.  The transverter produces 10-15W into a 50 ohm load. See my website for details.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/630m-472khz-transverter

UPDATE 1555z:  630m WSPR gear turned on again at 1554z.

UPDATE 1905z:  At the moment WSPRnet seems not to be working, so I am looking on WSPR Rocks. So far this evening these are the stations spotting me (see map).

UPDATE 2125z:  OH1LSQ (1733km) and a station in Norway have spotted my 10mW ERP 630m WSPR this evening. The station in Finland has spotted me for 2 days running.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Sunday)

My 500mW beacon is on again. Spots from the Canaries as well as some stations in Europe are again being received. I guess these latter ones could be F2 backscatter or Es. 

UPDATE 1326z:  So far today, my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon has been spotted by 34 stations (see table).

UPDATE 1511z:  46 spots of me today.

UPDATE 1806z:  Spotted by 53 stations today.

Yesterday on 630m WSPR

Now "split" is working I am fully active on 630m WSPR. DX spots with the earth-electrode antenna in the ground are as good as ever. Great to be back. 

Sunspots - Sunday October 8th 2023

Solar flux is 157 and the SSN 145.  A=4 and K=2.

LoRa devices at 863-870 MHz

 As far as I can gather, this band is licence exempt in the UK and may be of use to experimenters. I have not read the regulations wrt ERP etc.. 

It may be of use for short-range experiments over a few kilometers. I expect there are several RF modules available. 

Helsinki, Finland - NOT amateur radio

In all, I have been here 5 times, 2 for work and 3 times on holiday. On holiday it was summer time and mild. For work, it was once in winter and very cold and once in May. We travelled north to Oulo where there was still ice in May!  

Helesinki is a fine city with a nice feel.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki .

Quy Hall near Cambridge - NOT amateur radio

This morning, we went for a walk to Quy Hall, near Cambridge. 

8m QRP FT8 (Saturday)

My 2.5W to the dipole was turned on at about 0830z. Already spotted by G4WSZ (12km) , but really hoping for some excellent F2 propagation and transatlantic spots like last F2 season. 

UPDATE 1319z:   Still just the local spot. I think for F2 it has to be good with just 2.5W.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Saturday)

 My 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was turned on at about 0830z. It seems almost every day I get spotted in the Canary Islands. 

UPDATE 1129z:  So far today, 16 stations have spotted me.

UPDATE 1803z:   50 stations have spotted me today.

630m split?

I can't remember the last version of WSJT-X I used on 630m. It appears a problem with split may be linked to a earlier version, so later today I may try split with WSJT-X v2.6.

UPDATE 1310z:  First problem - locate the FT817ND manual to find how to set up split as I cannot remember how to do this!

UPDATE 1755z:  Split seems to be working so I can both TX and RX on 472 kHz WSPR.

UPDATE 1900z:  OH1LSQ (1723km) is the furthermost spot of me in the last few days (see table). Not bad with the low ERP (10mW) and earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. This REALLY works and nothing is visible.

UPDATE 2012z: These are the stations I have spotted on 630m WSPR RX in the last few weeks (see map).