Yaesu FT7 HF transceiver

Yaesu FT7 - a true classic

Way back in about 1979 I owned a Yaesu FT7. This was a 10W HF rig using a modular construction.  It was a beautiful radio with a lovely, quiet receiver.  It is probably the best radio I have ever owned and used. It predates WARC bands and only covered one 500kHz part of the 10m band and the non-WARC bands from 80m-10m. Today, it looks large. It was an analogue radio - no memories, no synthesisers - just a very good HF radio transceiver.  I worked all over the world with mine using QRP SSB and simple, low, wire antennas and no beams, mainly on 10m. In those days, most (all?) USA SSB was above 28.5MHz. Canadians were mainly below 28.5MHz.

My little FT817 has more bands and modes and is about 1/10th of the size.

I can thoroughly recommend the FT7, but they are very hard to find.  A later version was 50W pep and had full 10m coverage in 4 x 500kHz sections. The FT7 was a "real" radio - no gimmicks, just a truly amazing rig. Many who owned them and sold them (like me) later regretted selling them. As they say, these rigs are "keepers".  If you find one you are unlikely to be disappointed.  Also, the handbook was complete so you could service it and not an SMA component in sight!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/ft7 .

Jackdaws - NOT amateur radio

Jackdaw

At the QTH we moved to a couple of years back, just before I was taken seriously ill, we see far fewer smaller birds. They are around but don't seem to be attracted to the bird table or nut feeders. We get a reasonable number of small birds in the garden and nearby such as dunnocks (hedge sparrows), great tits and blue tits, robins etc. Maybe they visit other bird tables or find food naturally very locally?

Our nut feeders seem to attract larger birds in the main like pigeons and collared doves. We have lots of trees and other cover. Every morning at much the same time we get jackdaws on the bird table. We have red legged partridges in the road most days and we have even had mallard ducks in the garden.

See http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/j/jackdaw/ .

Sunspots and 10m - May 18th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen again to 75 (K=2) and 10m propagation is expected to be "poor". I think a 10m USA opening is less probable today.

UPDATE 0748z:   Early Es on 10m this morning with a spots from OE (Austria) and I (Italy) before breakfast.  EA8BVP has already spotted me many times today. I think this is single hop F2.

6m WSPR and aircraft

Just checked my early spots of G8EPQ (77km) and notice 3 Doppler shifted traces suggesting the involvement of aircraft reflection in the path between us. The path is so regular that pure tropo may support propagation but signals may well be enhanced by well positioned planes on the path with sufficiently low Doppler to allow WSPR decodes.

UPDATE 1058z:  G0OQK (98km) was spotted at 1028z, presumably helped by aircraft.

10m this evening - USA again

K9AN (6505km) was the first USA station to spot me on 10m WSPR this evening at 1928z. This is much earlier than last night.  

W1VR (6965km) was the next USA station to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR at 2012z. This would be F2 propagation I guess, although there is 10m Es from across Europe this evening. It is just possible both these were multi-hop Es, although I think this unlikely.

WG2Z (5600km) was just spotting me 4 times already. This looks a better USA opening than last night!

UPDATE 2035z:  No signs here of any 6m Es on WSPR.

Microvert antennas and similar

See http://t54979899.blogspot.co.uk/?view=classic .

It looks like the Microvert antenna may have originated in Japan? The Microvert is a very compact antenna. Some believe the coax is a major part of the radiating system. Having never tried this sort of antenna I am unable to comment.  This was posted to the Microvert Yahoo group earlier:

Whether you believe it's the coax radiating or not, this is still interesting:

The Super Rad Antenna (Induced Secondary Radiation Antenna)

	The Super Rad Antenna (Induced Secondary Radiation Antenna) The Super Rad Antenna (The Induced Secondary Radiation Antenna) was thought up in 2006. It has high performance although small size.
	View on t54979899.blogspot.co.uk	Preview by Yahoo

There are other websites about SRA (secondary radiation antenna), but unfortunately all in Japanese. Its definetly a Japanese thing!

I have all the parts required here to make one of these. Whether you believe its the coax radiating or not the results will be interesting.

Rob
M0RZF

PS. My old 10m/12m modified microvert gives a good SWR.

Pedestrian portable DXing

In the past, when fitter, I had a lot of casual fun working real HF DX with simple rig mounted antennas and batteries. In fact I have worked some impressive DX with QRP SSB using just the whip on the rig, mainly on 15m and 10m SSB.  Best DX includes South America from my late mother's back garden on 15m SSB with the FT817 at 2.5W setting

One advantage is you can move the rig and antenna of optimum signal on receive. A small counterpoise wire is pretty essential to get best results. When fit again I'd like to do more of this, but currently my poor health is getting in the way.

Others, far more dedicated than me, have worked far better DX. Some get up early to work Australia from beaches with QRP on 20m. I have also worked a long way into Europe on 2m FM with QRP. 6m SSB Es is certainly workable with small rig mounted antennas.

I think you have to believe than this is possible (HF DX) and it will happen. Think how strong some signals are. On the higher HF bands a base loaded, or better still a centre loaded, whip is not that far down on a full sized vertical.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/pedestrian .

6m update

As of now (1100z) only Gs being spotted, or spotting me, on 6m WSPR. Still hopeful of catching some 6m Es later.  Best DX currently is G8EPQ (77km) who has been spotted and has spotted me several times. G4KPX (14km) has been spotting me well.

UPDATE 1135z:   G4AYT (114km) in Kent is currently the best 6m DX spot of me today. He spotted me at 1118z and again a little later.In the past be has spotted my QRSS3 on 136kHz too from the old QTH I seem to recall. Not sure of his QTH but it is either in or near Whitstable, which is not too far from my son who lives and works in Sturry, near Canterbury.   No 6m Es seen here yet. 

UPDATE 1750z:  Still no 6m Es today, but G4IOG (106km) is a new G reporter I believe.

Sunspots and 10m - May 17th 2015

Sunspot number is 103 (K=2) and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair" today.  I was surprised that 10m briefly opened to the USA last evening, but this is where WSPR proves its worth catching very brief openings.
 
UPDATE 1055z:  10m Es in evidence with spots this morning from CT, SM and EA.  No DX outside of Europe seen on 10m so far today.

UPDATE 1815z:   Plenty of Es around and lots of spots by EA8BVP (2986km) presumably by F2. He has spotted  me 21 times today far. The K index has dropped to 1 and I am hopeful of a brief USA 10m opening later this evening.  We will have to wait and see. In the meantime, I am also on 6m WSPR hoping for some Es outside Europe.

10m USA spots again this evening

Quite late this evening 10m opened to the USA. W1VR (6985km) was the first to spot my 500mW WSPR at 2112z followed by others. This is the first time in several days that I have been spotted in the USA on 10m. I think this was F2 rather than Es.

I am still looking for those elusive 6m WSPR openings to the USA. As yet, I have not seen any sign of transatlantic 6m DX on WSPR.

Ferrite rod transmitting antennas?

OK, I only tried this with WSPR and with low power, but at my old QTH I had a good deal of success using a small ferrite rod as a TX antenna on some HF bands. As long as the ferrite is not in saturation there is no good reason why it should not work. Most problems will occur if the antenna is driven with too much power.

See the link for more details. I have no idea about this ferrite rod's properties but I think it was a fairly standard piece of ferrite rod and nothing too special at all.

Since being in hospital for 3.5 months and moving QTH I have not been able to find the ferrite rod to repeat the tests. My wife moved most of my stuff and it is probably deep in a box somewhere! At some point I guess it will just turn up.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/ferrite_tx .

6m WSPR - quiet so far

On 6m, no evidence here yet of any Es or F2 DX.  G4BRK (134km), G4NRG (58km) and G8EPQ (77km) in the logs this morning.  Early in the morning still, so plenty of time to catch those fleeting Es openings on 6m WSPR.

UPDATE 1604z:   6m Es seen today with spots from CT and DL, although I would class the Es openings as "modest" affairs.  Certainly, the band has not been wide open here.

UPDATE 1650z:   No further 6m Es seen, so far. Maybe later?

Sunspots and 10m - May 16th 2015

Sunspot number has declined to 113 today and 10m is expected to be "fair". K=2.  Es is likely to liven up the band.

EA8BVP on 10m today - early spots

EA8BVP (2986km) was spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon very early today with the first spots received when still in bed before breakfast.

UPDATE 0948z:  Evidence of 10m Es with reports from France and Italy.

6m - a good day

Today was the best day on the band this year here with some excellent spots of my 1W ERP.   So far, apart from 4X1RF, no spots yet received from outside Europe. Last Es season I was regularly seeing spots from CN8LI and others in North Africa.

For the first time this year I was copied further away on 6m than on 10m.

Unique 6m WSPR spots (arranged by distance) today.

Magnetic Loops on HF

10m band loop

A magnetic loop can be a very effective HF antenna, especially when the very sharp tuning is not an issue. They can be very efficient but there is a trade between bandwidth and efficiency. They are ideal for modes that do not need frequent retuning such as PSK31, JT65 or WSPR. Ideally the inductor should be made of copper pipe or thick coax and the capacitors need to be low loss and high voltage types. Tuning is usually very sharp. Having said all this. quite decent results have been obtained with loops made of quite thin wire.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/magloop .

6m WSPR - real VHF DX

4X1RF (3519km) has spotted my 1W ERP on 6m VHF WSPR already 6 times this morning by 0914z. This is my best DX so far on 6m this season. Probably Es?  There was plenty of European Es about on 6m WSPR very early, but this just possibly could be single hop F2? It is a long way for Es and 4X1RF often spotted me on 6m last summer. Multi-hop Es is the likely propagation although I am surprised no intermediate range stations were spotted.

6m VHF WSPR spots of my 1W ERP by 4X1RF early today

UPDATE 1148z:  As well as G stations this morning I see I have been spotted on 6m WSPR by OH1KK (1848km) and EA4ETR (1325km) both I assume via Es. Funny how both of these would be "real DX" but are nothing compared with the spots from Israel earlier.

10m conditions

Although still very early, I see my little 500mW 10m WSPR beacon is being spotted all over Europe by Es. It is soon easy to forget these summertime conditions. This autumn and winter I expect 10m F2 conditions will still remain quite good but things on 10m will be tougher later in the solar cycle which is when WSPR will be very useful indeed.

Unique 10m WSPR spots in last 12 hours - lots of Es

UPDATE 1635z:  EA8BVP (2986km) is again spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR (F2?) but no DX spots from further afield, so far today. Plenty of 10m Es about.

Sunspots and 10m - May 15th 2015

Sunspot number has dropped back to 126 (K=2) and 10m propagation expected to be "fair". With fairly undisturbed conditions anything is possible on 10m today especially if we get Es linking with F2 further south.

Elecraft K3S

See  www.elecraft.com .

I see Elecraft has launched a de luxe version of its K3 transceiver. The K3 was already a pretty good rig and the S version will be even better, but sadly far too expensive. I guess Elecraft is right that this will be many times less expensive than similarly spec'd transceivers, but to me this is still far too much for an amateur radio rig. Don't forget that lots of the features cost more - like the mic and 2m!

At half the price maybe, but certainly out of the question here in the UK when shipping, import duty and VAT have to be added. I am able to get lots of fun from our hobby spending just a small fraction of the cost. There will always be people who will pay these prices and buy a tower and a big beam.  Sorry, but this is not for me. I wish Elecraft well but feel they will need to slash prices soon to compete with the Chinese. An alternative is for Elecraft kits to be shipped from China. Sorry, but this may be the only way they will be able to compete in the future.

Plenty of 10m Es today

As well as 6m, 10m WSPR has been alive with Es today. Below are the unique 10m WSPR spots today. No real DX, but plenty from around Europe spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon.

Unique 10m WSPR spots by Es today so far

6m Es - at last a decent Es opening

This lunchtime there was a significant Es opening on 6m WSPR.  Although there have been minor openings before, this was the first decent 6m Es opening I have seen here.  So far, best DX was OH5XO (1943 km). Nothing outside Europe so far.

Unique 6m WSPR spots so far today.

UPDATE 1528z:   Best DX spot on 6m WSPR is now OH7AI at exactly 2000km.

UPDATE 1552z:  6m Es has been present most of the afternoon.

UPDATE 1844z:   HB9 and I stations have also spotted me on 6m WSPR.

E-field probes

A very successful antenna for VLF, LF and MF receive only is an E-field probe. Ideally these should be mounted outside the house with some experiments to find the quietest spot. Size is not important and these are much smaller than many antennas for much higher frequencies.  The picture shows an example EFP. This is the complete antenna - no wires or loops etc are needed in addition. They can be made by just about anyone, so there is nothing stopping you having fun on 136,472 or even VLF RX.   Some people have built these inside a short length of uPVC pipe. The important thing is they are very small and work well on the lower bands.

I have also used EFPs as mag mounts on the car when looking for my signal on 136kHz QRSS3. These are very compact antennas. PA0RDT has created a good design that many people are using.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/efp .

6m PC closed down for updates

The PC I use with the FT817 closed itself down overnight and I have only just restarted it, so 6m WSPR has been off until about 5 minutes ago. It is synced to internet time and the FT817 was still on, so it should soon be reporting any spots.  When the PC closes (usually around 0300z) the WSPR program, and everything else, has to be restarted. This usually happens once a week and I am aware I could choose to install updates manually if I wanted.

UPDATE 1030z:  So far on 6m, just exchanging spots with Eddie G3ZJO (79km).  No sign of 6mWSPR signals via Es today, well not yet.

70cm UKAC last night - missed

We had visitors yesterday, so I missed the May 2015 70cm leg of the UK activity contest (UKAC).  Although I only run 5W pep and a small hand-rotated 5 el beam I seem to be able to work out to about 200km on this band. Hopefully I shall be on for the next leg.

There was a new raft of 70cms beacons about to come on the band in the UK.  I must check if any of these are on the air yet.  There was a real shortage of UK beacons on this band. The last time I looked only 2 UK 70cms beacons were active but that was some months ago.

Still no 10m real DX

EA8BVP (2986km) and CT1JTQ (1843km) have spotted my 500mW on 10m WSPR several times, but no real DX so far today on this band.

East Anglian Churches blog updated - NOT amateur radio

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Today we visited North Norfolk and called in at Cley and Wiveton churches. I have updated the churches blog with Cley church. Wiveton church will be added shortly. A few more images will also be added later.

6m WSPR update

Since yesterday evening 7 unique stations have been spotted on 6m WSPR and 6 stations have spotted me (best DX was G4AYT at 114km). Still just G stations either by tropo or helped by reflections off aircraft. No Es seen here on 6m in the last day or so. I shall be on 10m and 6m WSPR all day.

UPDATE 1900z:   Sadly, no 6m Es today, well at least not for me. However, quite a few spots given/received from G stations.

A poorer day ahead?

Sunspot number has declined to 170, still high, (K=6) and 10m propagation is expected to be "poor" today, so unless Es livens up 10m we are unlikely to see great things. I think the disturbed conditions will be the killer.

UPDATE 0812z:  GM4SFW (662km) spotted my on 10m WSPR last evening via Es.

UPDATE 0814z:  Despite the "poor" 10m predictions I see that VK has been spotted in Germany on 10m already. There is hope yet?

Nepal second earthquake - NOT amateur radio

News is just breaking that a second large earthquake has struck eastern Nepal. This was a 7.3 magnitude quake and it must have been so frightening for those poor people already struggling to come to terms with the first earthquake a few weeks ago. It must be so hard for the children.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32701385 .

6m WSPR - early Tuesday

G4DUL (68km) has been exchanging 6m WSPR spots with me this morning as has Eddie G3ZJO (79km). No 6m Es seen yet on WSPR, but it is still very early.

Early 6m WSPR spots today

UPDATE 1104z:  G4FFC (45km) has recently been spotted. His signal has 2 distinct traces but no clear signs of any aircraft reflections. The 4Hz drift  (on both his traces) maybe his warm-up drift and some movement of my RX.

UPDATE 1500z:   As well as spots exchanged with G3ZJO, I have received G8EPQ (77km) a couple of times on 6m WSPR. This looks like pure tropo studying at the RX traces, but Bob G8EPQ tells me there are lots of Easy Jet flights going over his QTH. Certainly there was no evidence of aircraft on the traces I saw. Maybe with planes with the right amount of Doppler (i.e. low) I might see G8EPQ at other times too?

UPDATE 1522z:  Although quite a few UK stations on 6m, no Es seen so far today. I shall keep looking.

10m - I know why no WSPR spots!

I just found out why I had zero spots with my 10m WSPR beacon! The positive power lead was open circuit so the beacon, although supposedly connected to the PSU had no power! Doh! I must be so stupid. I check on a lounge PC and although 6m was fine, the stand-alone 10m beacon was not. I must have disturbed the wires when I disconnected it last week. Anyway, it is now on and I am hoping for some spots today.

UPDATE 0925z:  Almost immediately being spotted by G4IKZ (18km) and Italians via Es on 10m.

UPDATE 1055z:   OE3BUB (1229km) has spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon several times in the last 1/2 hour. This is Es.

UPDATE 1510z:  Only local G4IKZ (18km) spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon so far this afternoon.   Despite the high sunspot number and the Es season, it is very quiet, so far, here.  Maybe things will liven up later? Maybe tomorrow I'll go on 10m RX for a change? It is quite a while since I looked for WSPR spots on this band. As I can only RX on one band at a time, I shall have to go QRT on 6m tomorrow.

10m yesterday

With my 500mW WSPR beacon I was on 10m TX all the time but was spotted by no-one yesterday. However I see that G4IKZ was spotting a reasonable amount on his Moxon beam. I think Nick was beaming south. He must have a useful gain in the favoured direction compared with my compromised antenna. Nick copied nothing after early evening yesterday.

UPDATE 0926z:  See later post. The problem was at my end! Doh! I am so stupid.

Better today?

Sunspot number has climbed to 188 (K=3) and 10m conditions are forecast to be "good". Just maybe things will be better on 10m today. It is hard for them to be worse than yesterday.

10m - no luck today?

I only switched on my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon mid-afternoon after being off-air for several days. Unlike 6m, which has been fairly productive with G stations today, 10m has been a total blank, I think EA8BVP may be off the air on 10m as he has regularly spotted me for weeks.

Both 6m and 10m will be running overnight now I am back home, although I think the K=4 suggests conditions are rather too disturbed to support much DX at my power level on 10m WSPR. Just maybe my 500mW on 10m will be spotted by some moderately distant Gs tonight?

UPDATE 2047z:  Still absolutely zero on 10m WSPR today.  This has been the worst day on 10m for a very long time. Not even a single Es spot to liven things up and not a single G station, not even the locals!

UPDATE 2128z:  Still no luck on 10m WSPR today.

6m WSPR - aircraft reflections?

I am pretty convinced that some of my 6m and 2m WSPR spots are only possible when aircraft are in the right place at the right time with acceptably low Doppler. This evening Eddie G3ZJO was spotted several times with quite high Doppler on occasions. I am not convinced that I am copying Eddie as a result of planes - I think his signal is copied by pure tropo, but I am convinced some signals are only copied as a result of aircraft reflections, much as happens on bands like 23cms upwards. G3WKW (134km) is an example of a station I only seem to copy by aircraft reflection on 6m and 2m.

G3ZJO has analysed M0YOU's signals in his blog. See http://g3zjo-radio.blog.co.uk/2015/05/11/six-meters-aircraft-reflections-20343648/ .

UK General Election - NOT amateur radio

The Conservatives are back in UK government with a small overall majority. Unless they lose this majority in by-elections in the coming years (people do die) they will be in power for around 5 years to come. Of course, if they lose this slim majority and lose a confidence vote there could be another general election sooner.  The people of the UK voted in a "first past the post" election, so what will follow is largely due to us entrusting them with power.  We can expect more cuts to welfare benefits but, arguably, this is what the majority wanted.

The Labour party failed to explain why they should be entrusted with power and our money. Instead the nation chose a majority Conservative government.  We will have an EU referendum in 2017. I personally expect we will vote to stay in, but the UK expects more common market and less federalism in return.  A lose common market, i.e.a big free trade area, is what we joined, not a United States of Europe. I like France, Spain and Italy etc because they are unique and special in their own ways. Long may this continue.

WSPRnet issues (still sluggish at 1740z)

I am not sure if this is just a temporary blip but I am having great trouble accessing the main online database for WSPR called WSPRnet. It is taking an age to load. Although I have managed to access the database (after some minutes) I an shown as receiving no spots on either 10m or 6m.  This may just be poor conditions or others failing to upload spots. I hope it is just temporary.

UPDATE 1545z:   G6IMT (65km) is exchanging spots with me on 6m. With low Doppler, this could be pure tropo. I just checked the online traces from G6IMT and there are plenty of reflections from aircraft evident, although the traces that decoded may have been the direct tropo signal. Typically G6IMT is about -15 to -17dB S/N with me running 5W. Not sure what antenna he is using.

UPDATE 1740z:  So far nothing at all on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1742z:  I see that I spotted G3ZJO earlier this afternoon on 6m WSPR (-21dB S/N)

Pye PF8

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/pf8 .

In my younger days I was a design engineer with Pye Telecom and one of the projects I worked on back in the 1970s was the Pye PF8.  In its day this was a very novel transceiver, with few controls to get broken, an internal antenna and a DC-DC converter so it ran on a couple of rechargeable batteries.  I was responsible for the antenna and the TX audio but was also heavily involved in debugging the many issues we had.  The product became world famous as Bodie and Doyle used the radio in the TV show "The Professionals".  Not that many were sold and on the second hand market they are very hard to find. I know some have been put to use on 70cms. They worked well in the end but they were a nightmare to work on at the time.

It was around this time I met Clive Sinclair.  He was interested in compact antennas for his little TV and was interested in co-operating  on RF ICs. Neither happened but I was flattered he had asked me for advice!

Been away from home

2 of our grandchildren

We are back home now and I am beaconing on 10m and 6m WSPR again, but I have been off the air for a few days visiting our son and his family near Canterbury in Kent. I took no radio gear with me and blog entries were few and far between. Normal service has now been resumed.