Antennas for 6m DXing?

Dave ON8WW sent me an email asking me about what antenna to use for 6m DXing. I replied saying that all I had on the band was a triband vertical colinear (the Diamond V2000) but this has allowed me to work over 50 countries on the band with QRP SSB/CW (best DX >5000kms). It is mounted just above the guttering at about 7m above ground level.

6m is an odd band in that there is not a lot of local SSB traffic (I think) and when the band does open up for either Es or F2 propagation the polarisation probably doesn't matter. Certainly I am able to work (at least) as much DX with the vertical on 6m as I used to work with a rotatable horizontal dipole. The antenna works very well for local (and DX) QSOs on 6m, 2m and 70cms FM of course.

OK, if you want to work marginal propagation modes (e.g. MS using JT6m) or tropo DX then a beam would help. But, if you are prepared to go DX hunting when the band is open, then I think a simple vertical is all you need.

10m/6m Sporadic-E update

It usually happens about now: after the first few weeks of frantic Es activity on 10m and 6m working around Europe (after months of silence), activity starts to drop off. The band is open to somewhere but people are less interested in working you unless you are a new country.

The next excitement is looking for more distant Es openings - into the Middle East, North & South America and the Caribbean. So far this year I've yet to hear a transatlantic opening on either 10m or 6m, but it is still quite early, so I remain hopeful.

Monitoring Monthly - gone

Monitoring Monthly, the UK magazine catering for SWLs and scanner enthusiasts, ceased publication last month with May 09 being the last edition. Their website is still in place for electronic copies to be retrieved.

One wonders, in current market conditions, how well (or not) some of the other ham radio and SWL magazines and ham equipment traders are managing. Anyone know?

LA1TPA - a fellow QRPer

Just got this nice email from a fellow QRPer, Mads LA1TPA, from Norway. Mads, I hope to work you soon on HF or 6m QRP. In this part of the UK there are no mountains to climb with the highest being less than 150m! There are a lot more in the rest of the UK though and I think SOTA is a great idea.

Hello Roger
My name is Mads and I'm a Norwegian QRPer. I'm writing you to tell you that I really enjoy reading your Ham Radio Blog. I got my licence in 2005 and my main interests are Summits On The Air activations and QRP DXCC hunting. I also write a QRP Blog myself: http://la1tpa-qrp.blogspot.com/. I'm a G-QRP member and attended the Rishworth convention last year and also intend to go there this year. Hope to work you 2-way QRP one day.

72
Mads LA1TPA

6m PSK31

Just heard CT1ESJ working an ON station on 6m PSK31. Not thought of using this mode on 6m, but it could be pretty useful for working DX on the band. Certainly the PSK31 area around 50.250 was quite quiet.

Incidentally, I was using Pocket-Digi on my Dell Axim PDA to do the decoding just picking up the signal from the loudspeaker.

7X, EA8 and CT3 on 10m QRP SSB

Sporadic E was good today on 10m allowing QRP SSB QSOs with 7X4AN, EA8CEQ and CT3FQ with the halo antenna. 32 countries worked so far on 10m QRP this year, although there are quite a few "easy" countries still missing, so the total should climb somewhat further before the summer ends. By the autumn the sunspot count should be climbing, so we may get some transatlantic F2 layer propagation this year.

10m very short skip

Just worked EI7JN in Dublin on 10m SSB. He gave me a 59 report. When the skip is this short on 10m it usually suggests the Es MUF is getting very high, so expect 2m to open shortly if not already open for Es DX.

ZB2FK on 10m and 6m

In the course of a week I've managed to work ZB2FK on both 10m and 6m QRP. No great distance, but I don't recall working Gibraltar before, apart from ZB2VHF on 4m when I was at Liverpool University (G3OUL) in the late 1960s when running 4W AM!

DSB transceiver circuits - 10m and 6m

Michele IZ8JJI has just sent me a link to a neat, very simple, DSB transceiver suitable for either 10m or 6m. It is from a Japanese magazine (CQ?). See http://www.cqpub.co.jp/hanbai/books/15/15061/15061_p.180-181.pdf

I am not sure of the power (milliwatts I think) but WHAT a neat circuit!

Working REAL 10m DX at last!!

After calling for 15 mins I eventually worked LU1HF on 28.010MHz CW this evening by F2 or TEP. He had been calling CQ for over 15 minutes without getting a reply and then he heard my 10W to the wire halo and gave me 599. OK it was a contest exchange, so probably much weaker. I think my antenna must have quite a low angle take-off as working this station, against the rest of the world's competition, shows.This is my best 10m DX for some time at 11077kms. So who needs sunspots (the count was zero today).

A few minutes later I worked ZW5B in Brazil who got my callsign but he then lost me.

At 2138z I worked UU7J in the WPX contest.

6m Lunchbox - further thoughts

Further thoughts on the G3XBM answer to the Benton Harbor Lunchbox for 6m. Maybe it would be better to make the rig DSB instead of AM? The design is almost as easy and a VXO crystal at 25.08 or close would give some 50kHz VXO range (50.15-50.20) in a useful part of the band. Also, it would be more efficient than AM. In sporadic-E openings it would produce some DX contacts too if the power out was around 0.5 to 1W pep.

Cyprus on 10m

WPX CW contest and 10m CW quite lively. Just worked C4I (Cyprus) at 599 with QRP no problem.

6m DX to the Congo

I overheard G4DEZ telling another station that he had worked the Congo on 6m CW today. This is some distance on 6m Es! G4DEZ does have an impressive station and antenna farm but this was with 100W, so no super QRO.

6m Fredbox ideas

Looking at project ideas, I am beginning to think about a simple 6m AM transceiver design. The starting point would be my Fredbox design for 2m AM from many years ago. An outline spec would be: 500mW AM crystal controlled TX, simple superregen RX, built as a small modern day "Heathkit Lunchbox" style rig with an RX tuning knob and LS. Such a simple radio would be an ideal local ragchewing radio and would give coverage up to 10-15 miles with a simple vertical colinear antenna, dipole or halo.

A very good example of a 6m superregen (also regen) RX by N1TEV can be found at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/9712039.pdf although this is more complex than I would plan to use.

6m QRPP

Worked M0BXT tonight on 6m AM when Andrew was using a single transistor TX using a carbon mic to produce AM! His signal was RS58 with me at 2 miles range but modulation depth only about 5-10%. Still, it was a QSO.

Good Es tonight

Worked ZB2FK this evening at 2126z on 50.090MHz CW. I think this is a new country for me on the band. 10m was also in good shape with lots of very strong Es DX coming through from Europe and N.Africa.

Microvert antenna

Many people are looking for that magic antenna that takes very little space and performs very well on HF bands. Some examples of this claim include the cross-field antenna, the EH antenna and the Miracle Whip. Now all of these have their place. I have used a Miracle Whip and it behaves as one would expect i.e. several S points down on a full sized antenna, but it communicates. Even decent DX has been worked with one (11000kms on 5W SSB) during the high sunspot years.

This week my attention has been drawn to the Microvert Antenna (see picture of an example). Is this a more realistic attempt at an efficient, small sized HF antenna? This antenna was developed by DL7PE. The radiator for 7MHz is only 1.33 metres long and the counterpoise is 8.2 metres. the 28MHz version is very small indeed. Perhaps this is worth a try? See also the Microvert Yahoo Group.

Multi-hop Es or Es+F2?

Last night, around 2100z, 10m was open to South America by what I assume was multi-hop sporadic-E or possibly Es linked to F2 at lower latitudes. There was strong Es to Spain/Portugal at the time so the latter may be more probable. Stations heard but not worked included YP4DYP, YV5EAH and YV4DYJ all on SSB. Distance is around 8000kms - which is some distance for Es alone.

A QRPer's brain

Yesterday I went to get my brain MRI scanned as part of a Cambridge University research project on speech and language. The result is attached. I spent nearly 90 minutes being scanned whilst listening to various sentences.

Someone suggested the missing top part of the brain explains why I am a QRPer!

6m Es

A good opening on 6m his evening with lots of 59+ signals from southern Spain and Portugal coming through. There are supposed to be some CN8 and EA8 stations on too but not heard or worked any yet.

Some Es statistics (2008)

Check out http://www.vhfdx.net/states2008.html which has some fascinating data about the extent of Es openings in Europe in the 2008 season. At times, the MUF for Es reached 250MHz. The VHF.net has a great deal of other useful data and is well worth a regular visit.

Several stations worked by Es today - LA5AKA, SM4EXP, I0KNQ and YO2QC.

Increasing sunspot activity

Sunspot number running at 18 today, a value not seen in a LONG time and solar flux in the mid 70s. Even HF conditions shown as "fair" instead of "poor". Yet more signs we are, at last, coming out of the bottom of the cycle.

GMs on 10m (Es)

Two nice 10m QSOs today with 10W SSB and halo: GM8LFB and GM4JYB (in IO88HP). Usually I have to wait until later in the summer to work GMs on 10m. I was very happy when GM4JYB found me first in a minor pileup! At times the GMs were 59+20dB and would have been audible with 100mW, or even less, given a clear frequency.

DXing - realtime maps

This is a useful resource from VHFDX.net to track openings on 10m and upwards into the VHF bands. A mapping system that plots recently reported QSOs. Thanks to G4ILO for pointing this out to me.

See http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php

Poor Es so far?

Is it just me or is this Es season well below par so far? Very little heard on 6m so far and even on 10m the openings have been short and signal strengths not exceptional. Most stations I hear I can work, even with my wire halo and 5-10W, but there don't seem to be that many on! Tonight for example, 2 EAs and 1 CT1 heard and worked, but that's all. Later I worked SM3EAE with 5W CW.

10m F2 DX

Well, last night 10m opened up a bit with PY2WAS in Sao Paulo, Brazil coming through weakly around teatime. At this time of year there are sometimes North-South openings in which part of the path is assisted by sporadic-E for the first "hop" linking then with F2 propagation further south. Last night's opening may have had a bit of this, but there was little spor-E about and that was all weakish. Earlier there was an OH8 station audible from Oulu in northern Finland and I swear he sounded auroral.

Scout Regen RX kit

Hendrick's QRP Kits in the USA have just introduced a nice little regen receiver kit for beginners and more experienced hams and SWLs. The Scout is a simple 2 band regenerative receiver covering from 3.5 -11MHz. It is based on the classic design by Charles Kitchin published in QST some years ago. It is to be launched at Dayton and on sale from May 12th.

See http://www.qrpkits.com/scoutregen.html for more details.

New (lower) sunspot peak predicted

NOAA has just a few minutes ago (1600z May 8th) released a new sunspot prediction with a peak of just 90 and much later than forecast before (now in 2013).

See http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/

Maybe I'll have to give 10GHz rainscatter a go after all...

Grandson time

We have two grandchildren. One came to stay with us for the last week and this is a shot of him and I in our garden. If I recall, we were discussing something really deep and serious like the bird that had just landed on the bird table! Both grandchildren bring us such joy and being a granddad is such a wonderful thing.

DXing has to take a back seat when he is with us, but who cares too much? Now our grandson has gone back to his home, I am a little more active on 10m and 6m again.

Stations worked on 10m QRP

Pavel, UR5WCQ was a good signal, but alone, on 10m SSB at 1323z and was worked giving me a report of RS53-55.

Earlier, EA5ON/M was on 10m calling a W4 station across the pond, but I could not hear the W4.

Tuesday May 5th and nice QSO with Andy SQ9MEE in the log on 10m SSB

More sporadic-E now

This evening at 1800z I turned on the 10m rig and heard EA3BOX booming in on 28.487MHz SSB. A quick call and back came a 58 to 59+ report. Yesterday I heard SM3NQM on 6m SSB, so the season has clearly started now.

10m open (spor-E)

II0DIVA (special call) coming through on 10m SSB this evening. This is the first sporadic-E heard this season. Later, at 1910z, I worked IY7GM, another special call, with a 59 report received using the IC703 and the wire Homebase-10 halo. He was 58 with me.

Sunspots are GO!!

At the end of April we seem to be seeing green shoots of recovery not only in the economy, but also in the sunspot count: today the sunspot number reached 15, a number not seen in some while.This was just a few days after another spot was present, albeit very briefly. Can we hope that this signals the real end of the minimum with better HF days ahead? Let's see what things are like in another 28 days .....and keep fingers and toes crossed.

Sporadic-E

For most of April I've been putting out CQs on 10m CW/SSB/FM and checking the DX cluster for signs of sporadic-E propagation into Europe. So far, all is very quiet. It is still early in the season, but usually there've been some openings by now. May, June and July are the best months in the northern hemisphere.

At times, sporadic-E signals can be very strong indeed. I recall some Icelandic stations on 6m SSB 2 years ago who were truly S9+50dB suggesting that, on a clear frequency, they would have been workable with microwatts!

There is a nice tutorial on sporadic-E at this link.

As of April 29th, still no spor-E yet detected this season here.

Quaker News

The QRP community has a lot in common with Quakers (Society of Friends) , especially their ethos of living simply and fairly. If you have never done so, do check them out. They have been instrumental in much good work around the world, but this is usually done quietly behind the scenes e.g. they did a lot of work on reconciling the groups in Northern Ireland helping to work for peace there. The latest copy of Quaker News is available on-line. It has some interesting articles e.g. on the upcoming Copenhagen climate change conference later this year and on the need for urgent and fair action worldwide.

Morse's birthday

Today is the anniversary of Samuel Morse's birthday. To mark it, Google has its usual banner in Morse rather than letters - a nice touch to remind the world about CW.

Simple 500kHz TX design by GW3UEP

A very neat and simple MF TX called the E-QTX has appeared on the Google UK500khz group website. This design looks so straightforward that even I should be able to make it in the back of the garage. It comes from GW3UEP (via G3XIZ) and is aimed at encouraging more NoV holders to come on the band. It produces 8-10W with a 12V supply and more than double this from a higher supply voltage.

See http://groups.google.com/group/uk500khz/web/gw3uep-cw-tx.

Simple SDR links

Already some replies on the quest for ultra-simple SDR transceiver ideas - thank you. For example see the LY1GP site http://www.qrz.lt/ly1gp/SDR/index.html

Simon Brown HB9DRV mentions work on the SoftRock which is simple and not too expensive. 1W 30m/20m/17m with a new console being written starting July 1st.

Simplest possible SDR transceiver?

A challenge - what is the simplest possible SDR transceiver that can be built that would allow credible results on HF QRP? Does anyone know of any links to such ideas? Is there an "SDR equivalent" to the Pixie or similar ultra-simple QRP rigs, possibly supporting all modes but using just a handful of parts?

Software Defined Radio (SDR) kits

Received this today about SDR kits from Australia:

Hi Roger -

Here is a piece of information that may be of interest to your blog readers / website visitors: our little SDR KIT project is gaining momentum - we've been in business for less than one month yet we now have builders in 14 countries. See http://www.genesisradio.com.au/G40/ . We also have 2 new models coming out very soon: 20m and 30m duobander and single 80m SDR transceiver.

Thanks for reading.

Best 73
Nick VK1AA