10m WSPR this evening and (maybe) PI7CIS UHF?

Because of various non-radio factors I was " late on parade" getting on 10m WSPR today. I did not turn the rig on until 1750z. As yet, no spots given or received, but sunspot count is 80, and 20-30MHz conditions supposed to be "poor" with quite disturbed conditions.

UPDATE 1834z:  At 1832z just spotted CE3YP (Chile, 5W, FF46qn, 11742km) at -24dB S/N.

The other RX (70cms on the 5el beam), may have detected faint traces of the PI7CIS beacon on 70cms. Signals were well LF of the indicated beacon frequency (about 1kHz) and were too weak to copy the callsign. There was something there for about 5secs at RST229. Looks like this beacon will only be copied under lift conditions.

UPDATE 1915z:  At 1906z PY2RN (9550km) was spotted at -14dB S/N. A little later he was -9dB.

UPDATE 2030z:  No further reports in the last hour.  Unless there are very late surprises, like last night, this is probably it for tonight. I was surprised to spot Chile and Brazil on 10m WSPR!

UPDATE 2100z:  I have closed the station for the night.  A last look for PI7CIS (UHF beacon) was not successful.

VHF/UHF beacons PI7CIS Holland

Although I can copy the VHF beacon PI7CIS (144.416MHz) almost 100% of the time on my small 3el VHF beam (callsign clear but S-meter does not move on FT817) I have still to copy the co-sited UHF beacon with the same callsign.  On UHF (432.416MHz) I have the same low loss coax (Westflex) and a co-located 5el beam on the very same beam heading. I know this beacon is not GPS locked, so it may drift, but I am surprised not to have yet detected it at all, even allowing for the additional losses in the feeder (maybe a few dB?).

Indications are this 75W, coastally located (Scheveningen) beacon, is operational, unless anyone knows better? The antenna is reported to be a dipole aiming 90/270 degrees which would be poor in my direction.

Anyone know the PI7CIS UHF beacon's current status please?

The next solar cycle?

Many are suggesting the next solar cycle (cycle 25) will have a very small peak and that we may even be entering a period with very few sunspots, not unlike the Maunder Minimum of the late 1600s. Truth is no-one can be sure. If it happens, the best propagation on 10m will be summertime Es - no bad thing. We will have to use 10m mainly for local traffic - it is a big band and a good choice for this.

Beacon hunting

Maybe tomorrow evening I need to do a good search for 70cm beacons in range under (near) flat conditions. There is a distinct lack of UK 70cm beacons, with even the very good GB3BSL beacon near Bristol now QRT. This would have been copied, I feel sure, at this QTH.  Some of the nearer European ones may be  receivable.  PI7CIS (on 70cm) is probably my best hope. I can copy the co-sited 2m beacon.

10m WSPR - April 29th 2014

Nothing spectacular so far today. Sunspot count 79 with 20-30MHz forecast to be "normal" whatever that means. So far, since turning on at about 1020z, just a couple of spots from 4X1RF (3519km) in Israel.

10m WSPR this morning - very quiet so far.

I have doubts the 10m band will be open to the USA and Canada today, although openings to South America would not surprise me.

Bottom rig on 28.1246MHz WSPR, top one on 2m beacons

UPDATE 1250z:     CX2ABP (11127km), in GF15wc square, spotted my 2W WSPR at 1136z, so the band has opened to South America albeit briefly here.

UPDATE 1720z:  No stateside spots here,  given or received,  today. Others may have been luckier.

UPDATE 1836z:  Just about to switch to MF when I see I've just spotted the 5W from LU8ENU (11208km) in GF05rl square (Buenos Aires) on 10m WSPR. At 1840z he spotted my 2W.

UPDATE 2000z:    Stateside was being worked from GM, UA6 and EA5 but not from here.

UPDATE 2100z:  A few Europeans but little else (Es?).

UPDATE 2114z:  Well, well, stateside at last! AK4T (6733km), EM74vb square,was spotted running 500mW.   I was just about to turn everything off but will leave a bit longer now.  At 2122z his drift was -4Hz suggesting moving F layers.   I suspect spread-F and reflections from near the equator?

UPDATE 2135z:  A most interesting day on this fascinating band.  4 continents after all.  Time for bed!

Moonraker saga - the end?

Today I wrote to Moonraker telling them of my other issues (other end of 20m Westflex patch cable intermittent and one element on the antenna loose) and they were very apologetic, offering me a full refund if I returned the goods. When I explained I was returning nothing as my colleague had soldered good connectors on and glued the antenna it was as if they no longer wanted to know: no more apologies, nothing.

Correspondence just stopped.

Moonraker will never benefit from further business from me unless they can demonstrate their quality control has been smartened up. I was totally disappointed by the goods received and the poor follow-up response.

Sorry, but in my limited experience this is a company that deserves to fail: so little is needed to sort out their shortcomings - get on and fix the issues! In my opinion they showed me a perfect example of how not to conduct a business!

In the end, all my issues have been sorted despite Moonraker rather than by Moonraker. Sorry, but you come over as a greedy care less outfit who need to sharpen up fast.

Super simple FM TX - try on 2m?

See http://makezine.com/projects/super-simple-fm-transmitter/ .

This is a super simple TX for Band II FM using readily available parts.  With a smaller coil (1 turn less) and C4 smaller (and made tunable) I think it could be used experimentally on 2m FM, but stability is likely to be poor, so really only of use for short range and short durations.  From here, I'd expect this to be detectable at least 3km away (next village) even if the power is at uW or low mW levels. A few uW go a LONG way if connected to a reasonable antenna like my V2000 or 3el beam. There is no harmonic filtering either: a small low pass filter is advisable really.

With lower modulation levels (adjust) it should be fine with NBFM. The 2N3904 is a ubiquitous transistor available for just a few pence from many sources. The other parts are just pence.

Image at http://makezineblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/kogawa_simplest_transmitter.png?w=620&h=354

My thanks to Southgate Amateur Radio News for finding this before me.

All systems go

With the 3/5el VHF/UHF beam erected and the Par HF end-fed up again I feel I am "all systems go" again here. Reports from 4 countries on 40m WSPR, a report from WB2TQE (7097km) on 10m, reports exchanged with 4X1RF and received from DK6UG on 10m, the HF system is working fine.

On VHF, the Kent and Dutch 2m beacons were received well this morning thanks to the new small beam.

I now feel I have a decent little QRP station for the bands I'm interested in. Just need to improve the earth-electrode baseline on 630m.

UPDATE 1625z:   Most reports this afternoon are of and from 4X1RF, with just one stateside report on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1755z:   4X1RF and now 4X1DA and M0ITF (170km).  Stateside absent more or less apart from WB2TQE  just once reporting my 2W WSPR at 1228z.

3 el/5el beam

VHF/UHF beam with V2000, 2m halo and HF Par antenna behind

The dual band 2m/70cm beam is erected and is working now the useless Moonraker crimped coax connectors at both ends of the low loss Westflex coax have been replaced by decent soldered connectors. Andrew G6ALB also restrung my Par 10/20/40m end fed back up so I am now operational as follows:

630m Earth-electrode 15m baseline

40m Par end-fed
20m Par end-fed
10m Par end-fed

The Par also matches on 60m and 30m via the auto-ATU.

6m V2000 vertical
2m 3el horizontal and halo
2m V2000 vertical
70cm 5 el horizontal
70cm V2000 vertical

This means I am decently equipped for the bands I am mainly interested in. The dual band yagi is small and cannot easily be seen from the front of the house. The most I run is 5W pep, although I use 2W mostly and just 5mW ERP on 472kHz. 2W is more than enough to be copied all around the planet on 40m, 20m and 10m.

VHF beacons

With Andrew G6ALB's superb and kind help, my manually turned, Moonraker supplied, dual band 2m/70cm antenna is up and working, no thanks to the rubbish patch lead from Moonraker which had 2 dodgy crimped connectors! The N connector at the mast end has had to be replaced and at the shack end the SMA crimp is intermittent. Andrew is going to replace this with a PL259 plug shortly.

With the patch  lead working (by wiggling!) I can copy the following VHF beacons at any time: GB3VHF  Kent (144.430MHz), GB3NGI N.Ireland (144.482MHz) and PI7CIS Holland  (144.415MHz). There may be others too but I have yet to have a good look. The Cornish beacon seems too far to copy, at least so far. I have yet to check 70cm beacons. On the halo PI7CIS on VHF was just nudging the noise floor, so the 2m beam is certainly helping.

The manual antenna rotation method (out of the guest bedroom window) seems to work fine: I can reach the pole OK and can peak beacons by listening on the shack loudspeaker.

When the shack end PL259 is added, the Westflex cable should no longer be intermittent. The Moonraker crimped connectors will then have all been replaced. Says a lot for Moonraker's quality control doesn't it?  Don't think they can ever check crimped patch coaxes, which I assume they buy-in. A simple sampled ratio pull test is called for. If any fail reject the batch.

Now looking forward to Tuesday evening UKAC sessions to try the beam in contests on 2m and 70cm.

Letter to Moonraker

Sent this morning, no reply today:

"Sirs,

I recently purchased a dual band 2m/70cm yagi, some mast brackets and patch coax cables with attached plugs. Recently I had a stroke and a local ham has kindly offered to do the erection for me because of my poor health.

Unfortunately the installation has had to be postponed because the 20m long Westflex patch lead is rubbish! The N connector end just fell apart in my hands as the crimping is so poor. I would return the lead and ask for a replacement but have little confidence the replacement will be any better. The current plan is for the local ham to replace the N connector with a proper plug, if he can.

Just want to tell you how disappointed I am. In days gone by, I'd have bought the cable and fitted my own connectors but buying the patch leads was meant to save time and effort being disabled. The patch leads were almost as much as the antenna! I was expecting better quality from a good supplier.

As an absolute minimum, please improve your quality control. Expect to hear from me again shortly.

In the meantime, if I have to return anything (for free replacement under Sale of Goods Act) how do I go about this please?

73s
Roger (Lapthorn) G3XBM"

If Moonraker was really interested in satisfied customers I would have expected a  reply by return. I think the company does business on Saturdays, but I shall wait until Monday before ringing them. I am honestly deeply disappointed in their patch leads and apparent indifference to their customers. I may be doing them a disservice, so must wait until next week.

Is it really too much to ask that patch leads are reliably made? After Andrew G6ALB fitted a proper N connector for the antenna end I have found the crimp joint at the shack end is intermittent. This patch lead really is a heap of rubbish. Even one of the Allen nuts on one of the 70cm elements is stripped.

Moonraker? Sorry I am NOT impressed one bit. I cannot see myself ever doing business with you ever again.

2m/70cm yagi erection

Andrew G6ALB is erecting my new VHF/UHF yagi for me as my health is still too poor. He hopes to return later today. Andrew is hoping to fit a decent N connector to the failed Moonraker patch lead. With luck, the whole installation may be done this weekend depending on Andrew's time and the weather.

I am so grateful for Andrew's help - amateur radio spirit at its best.

472kHz spots from G3XIZ

During the day time I get -15/-16dB S/N spots on 472kHz WSPR from Chris Osborn G3XIZ who is 46km away. G3XIZ is about 20dB stronger here, which is about right for the ERP difference (500mW to 5mW).  At night, my reports are poorer, probably because the local noise at G3XIZ is higher? This all seems about right.

Chris has seen my WSPR on 137kHz from the old QTH, but with the 15m  baseline earth-electrode antenna at this newer QTH 137kHz would be marginal or not good enough except perhaps when the band is exceptionally quiet. A longer baseline earth-electrode antenna may allow the path to Chris to be useable on 137kHz again. It may be some time before I can find out.

UPDATE April 26th 0900z:   G3XIZ says my WSPR sigmal is strong enough for a CW QSO. We must have a go sometime.

Moonraker 20m patch lead is rubbish

Having spent almost as much on a low loss antenna lead (20m long Westflex with connectors) as on my dual band 2m/70cm antenna, I was expecting quality. It was NOT. The N connector end just fell apart in my hand - so poor were these crimped joints, so I am unable to complete the antenna erection when G6ALB kindly comes around later to fix the wall brackets. I want this lead replaced but have zero confidence the replacement will be any better! In days gone by I would have bought the cable and fitted plugs myself but cannot because of my stroke. This was meant to have saved time and effort!

Moonraker  - you score 0/10 for quality control on patch leads!  Folks you have been warned!  So far, the 2m/70cm antenna itself looks fine.  Such disappointment and so unnecessary.

LNR FX-4 transceiver?

https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/1278189_519456928132890_1956196588_n.jpg

See http://www.lnrprecision.com/ and scroll down the page.

This looks "Chinese" in origin and I am wondering if this is a badged product?  It looks a bit like a poor man's KX3. It is a 4 band, 5W QRP CW/SSB transceiver.  In the USA it retails for $450. It is clearly aimed at backpackers.

See https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.519456908132892.1073741827.229134337165152&type=3 for some images of the little rig.

DC0DX on 472kHz WSPR

Several spots during the night of DC0DX (467km) running 10mW ERP on 472kHz WSPR. There may have been later spots but sometime during the night the Win 8.1 PC decided to stop the WSPR software running (again). I have reset the clock and restarted the software on 474.2kHz USB dial.

472kHz WSPR unique reports over last 2 weeks

Looking at the results over the last 2 weeks, I see that I've had reports of my 5mW ERP (15m spaced earth-electrodes) from 8 different stations. Best DX is F1AFJ at 607km followed by reports from 3 different Dutch stations. I'll leave the set-up running overnight in case I get any new stations reporting me.

HF wire fallen down

http://www.lnrprecision.com/endfedz/

My Par 10/20/40m end-fed has, this afternoon, fallen down, explaining the high SWR on 10m just now. I think I must have knocked it when seeing if the brackets and pole for the 2m/70cm yagi will fit OK outside the guest bedroom window (they will).   My son, or maybe Andrew G6ALB, will be asked to help re-erection. It has come adrift at the 40m trap I think, so should be easy to fix.  Just need to remake the joint and ask someone to climb a tree (with a small ladder) to tie the end off.  I am just too wobbly for ladders, more is the pity.

I was thinking of fitting the wall brackets for the 2m/70cm antenna myself, but this will prove too hard in my current poor state of health I have decided. I am too clumsy and wobbly (stroke).

For the coming days I'll have to concentrate on 472kHz instead using the earth-electrode antenna.

Interestingly, by about 1516z, there were no USA or Canadian stations being copied here but I was getting/giving decent spots into South America, even with the antenna half down and a poor match on 10m. It appears there was some 10m propagation to the USA for others.

6m super DX

The evening of June 25th 2007 was a very memorable one here: K1TOL (Lefty) was worked on 6m QRP CW from the old QTH when I was using just 2.5W from the FT817 to my V2000 vertical fed by a long and lossy length of RG58 coax. ERP could not have been more than 1W. His big antenna certainly helped, but this was a great contact in the log. The mode was multi-hop Es.

K1TOL's 6m QSL card

2m/70cm antenna

Today I unpacked my 3/5el beam for 2/70cm, the wall brackets and the coax leads. I am missing a small SMA female to SMA female connector  (just ordered from eBay) to join the 20m long Westflex coax to the small patch lead to the FT817.

As far as I can tell, I have everything I now need, when the SMA connector comes. I shall have to wait until Andrew G6ALB can come over to help with the wall brackets. At the moment my health is still too poor (too giddy/clumsy)  to do the erection on my own, sadly.

Better 10m conditions today

With a sunspot count of 168 and a forecast of "good" 20-30MHz propagation, 10m should be good, and it is. I can say with quiet confidence that 10m will be good to S.America very soon and to N.America this afternoon. The good times are very much still with us!

Already this morning I have spotted EX1UN (5423km) and VK8TH (13800km), twice now in Darwin N.Australia, and have been spotted (Es I assume) by IZ6QZB. All between 1016z and 1040z.

At 1038z CX2ABP (11127km) was spotted (Montevideo, S.America).

10m today

10m conditions today are best described as "mixed". On N-S paths at least the band has been open but nothing was copied here from the USA and Canada. Today was much more typical of conditions further down the cycle: NEVER write the band off, but openings are much more likely to be N-S (or S-N) than E-W. Tomorrow conditions could bounce right back or we could see poor conditions for many weeks. It  is only by holding faith with 10m that we will find out how it really behaves in the "quiet years" ahead. This is where WSPR beaconing will prove so very useful.

Just spotted PY2WG (9562km) on WSPR and this sort of path will be typical of the paths likely to be manageable with far lower solar activity. PY2ZX  spotted my 2W at 9555km at 1952z and 2004z..

2004z seems to be when the band died out for N-S DX, unless it was the Win 8.1 PC just going crazy again! I am monitoring WSPR.net on the lounge PC so I can watch TV at the same time. A quick shack visit is needed.

UPDATE 2145z:  WSPR software was working fine, no DX since 2004z, but I have gone QRT now.

RSGB Bennett Prize - G8PF

In the last few days I received my prize from the RSGB for my article last year on earth-electrode antennas for the 472kHz band. Because of my ill health I was unable to pick up my prize at the RSGB's AGM in Manchester. It was posted instead.

The prize was in 2 parts: (a) a certificate and (b) a lovely copy of The Times Atlas of the World.

The certificate

To say I was thrilled is an under-statement: I never thought that my article would merit such an award. I was both honoured and humbled.   RSGB, at times I criticize you, but  I am greatly indebted and thankful.

10m WSPR - local only so far Easter monday am

10m WSPR spots to 0940z today - all local

Only G0LRD (25km) - 13 spots so far -  is copying me this morning on 10m at 0952z.  No signs yet of Asian stations despite sunspot count of 192. The forecast for 20-30MHz is "poor" with disturbed conditions and blackouts.

By lunchtime, only  EA1KV and GM4WJA were vaguely DX stations spotting me. Condition so far today have been very poor indeed  on 10m.  David G0LRD, from Fowlmere, is testing a new 10/6m loft fan-dipole. There were about 24 decent spots from him by lunch, but little else of note. 4X1DA (3597km) was coming through at 1210z, which is very late indeed.

UPDATE 1800z: My Windows 8.1 PC still does odd things with the WSPR program, sometimes not uploading RX spots etc.  Since resettng the clock and program I am uploading my spot of V53ARC and I see I've been spotted in Brazil, S.America.

GM on 10m WSPR: back-scatter?

In the last 2 weeks my 2W WSPR signal has been spotted no less than 55 times by GM4WJA (624km) in IO87mn which is midway up Scotland, not too far from Elgin. Skip this short is not uncommon on 20m but rare on 10m in my experience. This seems too close for Es so maybe it is F layer back-scatter? It is also a bit early in the spring  for Es.  It is too regular too. It seems too far for tropo too or aircraft scatter.

Easter Sunday 10m WSPR

Early morning 10m unique WSPR spots today

A modest start this morning with a few Asians coming through. Sunspot count is 259 (high) but HF conditions are again disturbed so conditions are only shown as "fair" at present. I wonder if the band will open to the USA /Canada later?

UPDATE 1045z/1300z:  UA6AAK  has been a massive +3dB S/N signal here at 1038z.   Single hop F layer I presume. At 1300z he was +6dB S/N with 5W.

UPDATE 1255z:   First spots of my 2W 10m WSPR today from Brazil PU2BFG (8852km) at 1122z and my first spot of CX2ABP (11127km) at 1208z.

UPDATE 1910z: I notice several USA and Canadian stations in the WSPR log for late this afternoon. Most activity seems to have been N-S into S.America, but at least there was a stateside opening after all.

UPDATE 2210z: All the DX now seems to be South American.e..g. spots of my signal from PY2ZX (9555km).

MF WSPR again - 15m earth-electrode antenna

There are a few G's on this evening, so I have returned to 474.2kHz WSPR to see who spots me. So far G8ALS  (126km), G3XIZ (46km) and G6AVK (78km) have spotted my 5mW ERP signal.  G3XIZ is always a huge signal on MF and the difference between his report and mine is about correct for the difference in ERP.  Chris is always a good CW signal on Sunday mornings.

I shall leave the set-up running overnight in case any more distant stations spot me.

In the end just these 3 stations plus PA3ABK/2  copied me. Disappointing.

Wake Is (Pacific) again on 10m WSPR

WA2YUN /KH9 (11946 km) on Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean signing WA2YUN on WSPR has again been copied this morning on 10m WSPR along with an Israeli station 4X1DA. No Australians copied here. Solar activity looks good again (sunspot count 296), although HF conditions are  disturbed and the 20-30MHz forecast only "fair".   Nonetheless, I expect USA and Canadian stations will be coming through soon.

Wake Is was famous in WW2 and is, these days, a US pacific base. It is not that far west of Hawaii and a fair bit east of Japan. The direct path is quite close to the pole from the UK.

Signing without the right prefix or suffix is very confusing and it took the internet, and the QTH locator, to determine exact location last time.

I also notice that PY5EJ (9886km) has been spotted around late morning.

UPDATE 1530z:  so far the only USA/Canadian station copied is VE2PEP  at 5037km A very limited transatlantic opening.  PY5EJ (9886km) is a very good signal at -11dB S/N.

Powerline interference

This appeared on  Facebook today:

"Leaked: EN 50561-3 - the latest revision of the interference-disaster-in-waiting 
 

Our thanks goes to our spy in the camp who has kindly and anonymously leaked the latest revision of EN 50561 (EN 50561-3) - the highly dubious "Standard" which will allow a new generation of powerline networking devices to produce an extra ten thousand times more interference than the current generations do, exposing innumerable radio services to impossible levels of interference.

The EMC industry remains deeply concerned about the continuing progress of this laughable standard, which makes a mockery of the European EMC regime. We strongly recommend that all interested parties lodge protest with their national representatives for the appropriate service - and do so without delay.

Link:http://www.scribd.com/doc/215301704/Draf...EN-50561-3
Back-up link, should an attempt be made to pull this from the public domain: http://bit.ly/1e0OXvf 
We recommend you download this without delay."

If this spec is not changed before final release, we will be in trouble if interested in weak signal modes on  HF.

10m stirring into life?

PY2RN spots on 10m mid-morning

PY2RN (9550km) has exchanged 10m WSPR spots with me at around 1030z, suggesting the band is "coming alive" again. It will be interesting to see how it opens transatlantic to the USA and Canada later. Up to now, conditions on 10m today are best described as patchy, certainly not as good as on some previous mornings of late.

Both PY2RN and CX2ABP (11127km)  have been spotted (by me) later in the morning.

UPDATE 1530z: so far, all propagation on 10m here is N-S over the equator into S.America or that way (e.g. EA8) and, as yet at least, not a single N.American station spotted on 10m WSPR. I shall now be surprised if the band opens at all to the USA. Even with a high sunspot count 10m is a fickle band!

UPDATE 1950z: much to my surprise WA9JWL and ND6M in the WSPR log around teatime here. Hardly a massive opening to the USA, but at least 10m did open after all, just.

UPDATE 2050z: no further USA stations spotted. Most DX on 10m is coming in from S.America.

UPDATE 2100z: surprise, surprise WA9JWL just spotted. As I said, 10m is a fickle band!

My OTHER blog

My Miscellaneous Musings blog is my OTHER blog site. This is updated most days and contains my thoughts and views (mostly) on non-radio subjects. As always, your views are as important as my own, even if we disagree, so please add comments where appropriate.

Feel free to take a visit and browse the postings on Miscellaneous Musings.

10m - late finish last night and early start today

Transatlantic spots were being exchanged here with the USA at 2W as late as 2252z last night and with Israel at 0610z (very early) this morning. I have the feeling that today will be good on 10m WSPR. Sunspot count is extremely high (245) but conditions on higher HF are said to be disturbed with blackouts and "poor" .

Recent 10m WSPR spots

Interesting that since 0612z 10m seems to have gone very quiet. Maybe blackouts? Only G7FYO copyable here now this morning (162km) at -19 to-24dB S/N.

I am periodically checking the WSPR software is still running and the clock spot on internet time. Usually there are several Europeans visible as well as FR1GZ if active.

VHF/UHF antenna arrives

A large package arrived today: my 3el/5el VHF/UHF beam, brackets and feeder cable. I must now await Andrew G6ALB to help me erect it.

We have grandchildren here over Easter, so I am hoping Andrew can help next week or the week after in time for UKAC Tuesday evening contest sessions. I am quite looking forward to having some modest gain on 2m and 70cms SSB/CW/digital. I gather there are also Sunday and Wednesday activity sessions on 70cms.

10m update - 2200z

Well, the PC is still running and there are still lots of WSPR spots from both North and South America. I shall reset the PC clock and WSPR software (DONE) before going to bed so I  hope to catch any very late openings on 10m tonight and early in the morning. A few days ago 10m was open until past midnight local time and conditions this evening look good.

UPDATE 2154z:  8 spots as a result of my 2W WSPR burst at 2154z and 7 of these were from the USA.

PC turned off WSPR - again

Yet again, the afternoon appeared very quiet on WSPR until I realised my main shack PC had decided to close the WSPR program yet again.  I have only just turned it back on again and am seeing W4 and PY in the logs. I thought it very odd not to be seeing any USA transatlantic reports: it helps if the program is actually running!

The turning off seems to be a bi-product of Windows 8.1 as this never occurred with my old XP machine. It is not a major issue.

Station seen since restarting the software:

1602 -16 -1.4  28.126026  0 WB4KLJ FM18 33
1602  -5 -0.8  28.126066  0 PY5EJ GG54 40
1604  -3 -0.8  28.126096  0 WA9JWL EN70 37
1606 -11  0.5  28.126161  1 K3NAL FM18 37
1610 -18 -0.8  28.126080  0 CX2ABP GF15 37
1614  -3 -0.8  28.126065  0 PY5EJ GG54 40
1624 -17 -0.5  28.126079  0 CX2ABP GF15 37
1624 -21 -0.7  28.126089  0 KZ8C EM88 37
1628 -26 -0.5  28.126003  0 PY2RN GG66 30

PY2RN WSPR analysis

Bert PA1B has analysed my recent reception on WSPR by PY2RN to see just how little power could have been used and still be successfully decoded in Brazil - the answer is very little for a lot of the time! Most times even 1mW should have been enough. This of course assumes local noise levels allow decoding to the lowest levels for WSPR at around -30dB S/N. In some cases this may not be possible because of local QRN/QRM.

Late evening reports on 10m

Before my program stopped running, 10m WSPR was in good shape up to (at least) 2200z last night. TI3/AB4AW (Costa Rica, Central America) was last reported (by me) at 2200z.

10m 2W WSPR spots last evening until very late

It may well have been open later still, but my WSPR program decided to close! This morning, I have re-opened the WSPR software and reset the clock to internet time. This morning, sunspot count is 149 with "stable/good" propagation forecast. 10m should be good today.

Some building in the shack!

For the first time since my stroke last year I decided to build and test something in the shack (other than a loading coil). For my very wobbly self, this is a major step.  I decided to have a go at the Petitico 10 parts rig from PY2OHH shown a few posts back.

Somewhere I have a 7MHz crystal, but I could not locate it, so I built a bench version, for 3.560MHz instead. I still haven't managed to optimise values yet.

On RX the sensitivity with 600 ohm headphones was, at best -70dBm, so a strong signal is needed to hear anything. It was less sensitive with a crystal earpiece. It is possible that further optimisation might yield a few dB more, but this level I expected. The RX-TX offset seems ideal. The only real operating technique, with this sort of sensitivity, is LISTEN (for a good, strong signal) and then POUNCE. I have yet to check TX output power.

 I'd like to try it on 7MHz really and may buy some 7.030MHz crystals from GQRP club sales. On 7MHz I have an antenna and can listen for my signal on the Twente SDR RX in Holland.

The actual results are almost academic. What mattered was that I actually built something with my soldering iron, didn't burn holes in the carpet and, sort of managed, despite my severe balance problems.

I am wondering if I should open the Ultimate 3 Beacon kit box and build it or wait a few more weeks. At the moment I think I should wait. My confidence levels are still low.

The 481THz NLOS test I had planned will have to wait until I feel less giddy I have decided. Everything for now will be shack based.

Slow start on 10m this morning

Time now is 1030z and so far only DK3SML (733km) at 0854z has been spotted on 10m WSPR.  Sunspot count is 105 with "normal" HF conditions, so hopeful of improvements as the day progresses, but signs are not encouraging: it was better at this time yesterday and yesterday was not a very good day.

UPDATE 1148z: spots exchanged with PY2RN,  also CX2ABP (11127km) spotted here. The band is livening up on N-S paths only so far here. No transatlantic stations yet copied.

UPDATE 1950z: transatlantic spots, 2-way spots by exchanged with CX2ABP (11127km) into S.America with 2W, and a TJ3 - in all a good day on 10m, despite the slow start.

UPDATE 2042z: still being spotted by K1OF (5500km).

Unique 10m WSPR spots of my 2W signal today

481THz RX issue - now fixed

As mentioned in an earlier post, my sensitive non line-of-sight NLOS optical (red LED at about 481THz) RX packed up when I clumsily dropped it yesterday when out in the field at the test site. An investigation this morning revealed a wire had dropped off the battery feed and this was easily fixed. The  RX now works as before.
 
I shall have to try the NLOS test again when my wife can drive me out there. I shall have to do it soon as tree leaves will soon obscure the path at the home QTH end. Just wish I was not so clumsy still following the stroke last year. In the field I feel so much less able than last year. I feel really disabled and hate being so useless and clumsy.

UPDATE 2050z: for now, all my tests will be shack-based because of my poor health, so no immediate plans to repeat NLOS tests until I feel a lot less wobbly.