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| View from shack window |
From the shack window I get an excellent view of the birds in our garden.
2 Mar 2015
Birds at this QTH
When we first moved to our bungalow (19 months ago) we saw
2 red legged partridges regularly in the road and in the garden. Then we
saw 3 for one day. After that (for the last 6 months) there has been just 1. Now, today, we have just seen 2 again. I hope it is a male and a
female and they stop around and have young! The red
legged partridge is an introduced species, but it is the commonest
partridge with 82000 territories. It is a very good looking bird. The
ones locally seem quite content. See red legged partridge RSPB page .
Yesterday, there were a couple of mallard ducks in the close. Overall though we see fewer bird species than at the old QTH despite putting out plenty to attract them. I would have thought with an orchard next door, the windmill, allotments and fields close by, we'd see lots. Starlings do roost on the windmill sails and there are fewer starlings around nowadays.
From the shack window I get an excellent view of the birds in our garden.
From the shack window I get an excellent view of the birds in our garden.
40m Pixie: a tip I was given
Andy Cutland in the Channel Islands has reminded me that it is well worth checking the Reverse Beacon Network to see if the signal from the Pixie is getting out, even if no replies are received. I must admit I've not yet been doing this. From now on I'll check the RBN although I usually reply to CQs rather than call CQ when using QRP (search and pounce).
Sunspots and 10m - Monday March 2nd 2015
Yesterday was dire(ish) on 10m. Let us hope today is better. My 500mW 10m WSPR beacon has been on for 20 minutes, but only being spotted l.ocally so far.
Sunspot number today is 66 (not bad) and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair".
UPDATE 1000z: I see 4X1RF (3519km) has spotted me.
.
UPDATE 1130z: 4X1RF has spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon 4 times so far this morning. He is, so far, the only DX station to copy me. It seems pretty quiet.
UPDATE 1212z: 4X1RF has now spotted me 5 times today so far. No other DX spots received today.
UPDATE 1410z: 4X1RF has now spotted me 8 times today so far. Still no transatlantic spots received though. I am beginning to think the long afternoon openings on 10m to the USA are ending.
Sunspot number today is 66 (not bad) and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair".
UPDATE 1000z: I see 4X1RF (3519km) has spotted me.
.
UPDATE 1130z: 4X1RF has spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon 4 times so far this morning. He is, so far, the only DX station to copy me. It seems pretty quiet.
UPDATE 1212z: 4X1RF has now spotted me 5 times today so far. No other DX spots received today.
UPDATE 1410z: 4X1RF has now spotted me 8 times today so far. Still no transatlantic spots received though. I am beginning to think the long afternoon openings on 10m to the USA are ending.
1 Mar 2015
10GHz WBFM transceivers
The modern way of getting (simply) into 10GHz WBFM appears to be using very low cost 10GHz Doppler radar modules with a 100MHz FM receiver. Whilst with G6ALB for my Pixie tests Andrew demonstrated a working 10GHz link based on these low cost modules. These are useful links Andrew sent me.
Hi Roger,These are the units I found when I was looking for [definitions of] the 10.525 GHz ISM band.It looks like 3cm Doppler radar is alive and well,I’d assumed it had disappeared in favour of PIR.Some data here:These are very good pages (for wideband FM on 10 GHz).
Andrew G6ALB
40m Pixie measurements
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| Pixie harmonic measurements |
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| Pixie on the bench |
I should also case the unit! Drilling the case could be a challenge in my current state of health! Just doing the building and testing was exhausting.
USA 10m WSPR spots (or lack of them!)
It is now 1330z and so far not a single USA station has, yet, spotted my 500mW WSPR beacon. OK , it is still quite early and things may well be better later, but yesterday was far better on 10m. Plenty of reports from Eastern Europe and near Asia though.
So far, 10m has been a bit disappointing today.
UPDATE 1445z: And still no 10m WSPR spots from the USA today yet!
UPDATE 1448z: In the meantime, 4X1RF (3519km) has spotted me 22 times so far today.
On 472kHz no-one had copied my 5mW ERP so far until this afternoon when G3YAC (12km) and G8LCO (58km) copied me. My best DX on 472kHz WSPR receive is PA0A (417km) who has been coming though during the day.
UPDATE 1530z: I have the feeling that I'm not going to have my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon spotted in the USA today. If the band does "wake up", I suspect just a handful of USA stations may be lucky. By now I'd have expected some transatlantic spots. That is the nature of 10m: you can never be sure. No wonder some call it a magic band.
UPDATE 2048z: So, the day passed and not a single USA station spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon today. Conditions are on the change?
So far, 10m has been a bit disappointing today.
UPDATE 1445z: And still no 10m WSPR spots from the USA today yet!
UPDATE 1448z: In the meantime, 4X1RF (3519km) has spotted me 22 times so far today.
On 472kHz no-one had copied my 5mW ERP so far until this afternoon when G3YAC (12km) and G8LCO (58km) copied me. My best DX on 472kHz WSPR receive is PA0A (417km) who has been coming though during the day.
UPDATE 1530z: I have the feeling that I'm not going to have my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon spotted in the USA today. If the band does "wake up", I suspect just a handful of USA stations may be lucky. By now I'd have expected some transatlantic spots. That is the nature of 10m: you can never be sure. No wonder some call it a magic band.
UPDATE 2048z: So, the day passed and not a single USA station spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon today. Conditions are on the change?
Sunspots and 10m - March 1st 2015
Sunspot number has climbed again to 70 and 10m propagation is forecast to be "fair".
So far this morning reports of my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon from G4IKZ (18km), G4KPX (14km) and 4X1RF (3519km). I had to remove the antenna and turn off the beacon for a period to use the antenna on 40m CW.
So far this morning reports of my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon from G4IKZ (18km), G4KPX (14km) and 4X1RF (3519km). I had to remove the antenna and turn off the beacon for a period to use the antenna on 40m CW.
First 40m Pixie QSO
At 1000z this morning I exchanged RST 579 reports with G6ALB who is 3km from me on my 40m Pixie on 7.023MHz CW. This was my first on-air QSO. Netting was perfect and I used the rig directly into my low Par triband antenna. An ATU might have helped. Andrew G6ALB said the channel was pretty busy but that I was a good RST579 with no hint of chirp. This afternoon we'll put the rig on his spectrum analyser. I gave Andrew 579 probably reflecting the poorer MDS of the Pixie. I have no idea of his power or antenna.
My initial goals have been met: I built the kit and have managed a QSO on the air with it. With the fatigue associated with my brain bleed still very apparent (I am well and truly shattered currently), I was well pleased. A few more QSOs with the 40m Pixie would be good, HI.
$10 well spent. Excellent little kit. FB little transceiver. Works surprisingly well.
My initial goals have been met: I built the kit and have managed a QSO on the air with it. With the fatigue associated with my brain bleed still very apparent (I am well and truly shattered currently), I was well pleased. A few more QSOs with the 40m Pixie would be good, HI.
$10 well spent. Excellent little kit. FB little transceiver. Works surprisingly well.
28 Feb 2015
40m Pixie - bench test went well
Well, it took a super-human effort on my part as a result of my extreme fatigue (brain bleed issue) but today I bench tested the little 40m Pixie kit I managed to build earlier this week. It is hard to explain just how exhausting this simple task was for me currently. I now need to recover my energy!
On receive a 1uV signal was perfectly readable and I could detect carrier on/off down to at least below 0.5uV. On TX it was putting out about 250mW into a 50 ohm load. On my antenna it was suffering some AM breakthrough, but less than I was expecting. I was using standard Walkman stereo headphones and a rechargeable 12V sealed lead acid battery. On a small 9V battery I'd expect about 100mW RF out, although this was not tried.
Overall, these results exceeded my expectations: it is more sensitive than I was expecting and the breakthrough of AM broadcasters is certainly OK in the day time. This is of course with no casing at all and no ATU. Using the fitted pot and fitted 1N4001 as a varicap it is easy to get the TX frequency and RX frequency to correspond, often an issue with very simple QRP rigs.
Next stage will be some on-air tests, but it most definitely works. Working the locals should certainly be possible. Sked with G6ALB (3km) arranged for 1000z Sunday on 7.023MHz CW.
UPDATE 2120z: There is a contest in full swing and several Russians and Asiatic Russians copied on the little 40m Pixie. I did not stay on long but there was no apparent BC interference noticeable. So, on a quiet night I should able to use the rig in the evenings. The main issue on RX seems to be the lack of AF filtering, so one has to use "the filter that is between the ears" i.e.the brain.
On receive a 1uV signal was perfectly readable and I could detect carrier on/off down to at least below 0.5uV. On TX it was putting out about 250mW into a 50 ohm load. On my antenna it was suffering some AM breakthrough, but less than I was expecting. I was using standard Walkman stereo headphones and a rechargeable 12V sealed lead acid battery. On a small 9V battery I'd expect about 100mW RF out, although this was not tried.
Overall, these results exceeded my expectations: it is more sensitive than I was expecting and the breakthrough of AM broadcasters is certainly OK in the day time. This is of course with no casing at all and no ATU. Using the fitted pot and fitted 1N4001 as a varicap it is easy to get the TX frequency and RX frequency to correspond, often an issue with very simple QRP rigs.
Next stage will be some on-air tests, but it most definitely works. Working the locals should certainly be possible. Sked with G6ALB (3km) arranged for 1000z Sunday on 7.023MHz CW.
UPDATE 2120z: There is a contest in full swing and several Russians and Asiatic Russians copied on the little 40m Pixie. I did not stay on long but there was no apparent BC interference noticeable. So, on a quiet night I should able to use the rig in the evenings. The main issue on RX seems to be the lack of AF filtering, so one has to use "the filter that is between the ears" i.e.the brain.
Amateur Radio Weekly
Yesterday I subscribed to this online newsletter. It is also available every Saturday on www.amateurradio.com
One of the items was about Deutche Welle (German broadcaster) vacating a slot in the 49m band. A group of radio amateurs have obtained permission to use a 10kW commercial station there. This is their website http://www.channel292.de/ . Best of luck to them!
One of the items was about Deutche Welle (German broadcaster) vacating a slot in the 49m band. A group of radio amateurs have obtained permission to use a 10kW commercial station there. This is their website http://www.channel292.de/ . Best of luck to them!
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