FETer - a very simple 80m transceiver

Many years ago, I created the FETer, a one FET transceiver for 80m. Although very simple, it certainly worked. It is featured on my main G3XBM website.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/feter-80m-qrpp-cw-transceiver

HAARP WSPR tests

Last night, I decided not to bother with looking for WI2XFX in Alaska on 80m WSPR. They got no spots at all on 80m. They got 330 North American spots on 40m. I don't think they were spotted elsewhere.

My overall impression was they were HAARP experts but very amateur amateurs. I may be very wrong of course and if I am please accept my apologies. With 1GW ERP I would have expected global spots by the thousand, even on 80m.

Overnight on 80m WSPR RX

No sign of the HAARP team on 80m WSPR again. In all, 41 spots on 80m WSPR, with probably one false decode (no-one else spotted VG5). PE4BAS (455km) was spotted - thank you Bas.

Latest HAARP WSPR test tweets

The HAARP team in Alaska tweeted this an hour ago:

HAARP WSPR plan for 31 July 2018 UTC
2340: WSPR vert 02 var gain const power 80m 3.5926 MHz
2348: WSPR vert 01 var gain var power 80m 3.5926 MHz
2356: WSPR vert 02 var gain const power 80m 3.5926 MHz
0004+: WSPR vert 01 var gain var power 40m 7.0386 MHz
0010+: END OF EXPERIMENT

80m FT8 and HAARP experiments

As I was already on 6m FT8, I thought I'd try 80m FT8 for a total change. At first, no-one was spotted, then I copied G8IHT (257km) in IO94 square calling CQ. I soon went back to 6m as stations were working the USA.

I have a theory about the HAARP WSPR experiments on 80m. Perhaps they know lots about HAARP but little about WSPR, particularly how important timing is. To get no reports at all on 80m WSPR last night with over 1GW ERP seems impossible to me. OK, I may be wrong, but with this huge ERP and so many monitors, it suggests something fundamental must have been wrong. OK it could have been poor propagation, but I just wonder.

UPDATE 1805z: Now gone back on 80m FT8 RX. Most 15 second periods I am getting spots.

80m FT8 RX spots so far today

UPDATE 1940z: I am back on 80m FT8 RX. There are lots and lots of stations active. My guess is this is twice as popular (at least) as WSPR.

UPDATE 1956z: A45XR (5794km) is currently the best DX spotted. This station is being widely spotted in Europe and in India, so I think this is genuine.

80m WSPR HAARP test

Well, it appears the HAARP test from Alaska last night was only on 40m and not on 80m after all and they were only copied in North America on 40m.

Overall, using the earth-electrode "antenna" I spotted 51 different stations with best DX spotted on 80m WSPR being KC2WUF (5599km). Fellow local David G0LRD spotted 60 stations and more USA stations. Not sure what antenna he was using.

Overall I was quite surprised what I could copy on the earth electrode "antenna" in the ground. I shall have to try this on 160m WSPR or FT8 sometime. I think it acts as a loop so may be more directional than a long wire

UPDATE 1257z: According to John (see comment) they were on 80m WSPR. I shall try again tonight. See more recent post about the schedule for July31st.

80m WSPR RX

Well, I am all set to monitor 80m WSPR late this evening for the HAARP experiment from Alaska. Best results seem to be on the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. The map shows the stations spotted in the last hour. It seems to work remarkably well as an 80m RX antenna.

UPDATE 2119z:  40 different stations spotted so far on 80m WSPR this evening with the earth electrode "antenna" in the ground with best DX spot being SV8QG (2488km).

Now QRT

On both 6m and 10m I have now gone QRT and disconnected everything. I noticed a CT calling "CQ NA" , although I am not sure if he was copying stations from "across the pond" on 6m FT8.

Tomorrow I may try 10m FT8, although I want to see if I can see the 80m WSPR test from the HAARP station in Alaska in the late evening UK time.

80m WSPR using HAARP antennas and 80kW

Southgate News has a piece about 80m WSPR tests using the massive HAARP antennas and huge powers up in Alaska. This may well be worth looking for.

At one time this was a US government facility, I believe, and the centre of all sorts of conspiracy theories!

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/july/listen-out-for-haarp-wspr-80m-transmissions.htm#.W1xyh_ZFzIU

160m/80m DC transceiver

These are bands I rarely use, but some readers may be interested in the Hendricks Kits dual band transceiver. 5.5W sounds enough to work plenty.

These days, the main issue on these bands can be man-made noise from TVs, SMPUs and similar. At my old QTH I had an S7-8 noise floor on 160m and 80m. At the new QTH the noise floor on these bands is low currently, but this could change overnight. Some people use loops and nullers on RX to minimise problems. If you have a quiet noise environment then this transceiver may fit your needs. Don't forget you will need a reasonably big antenna to get decent results. A half wave 160m dipole antenna is around 240 feet long.

In my youth we had rigs like the Codar AT5 12W AM/CW 160m/80m transmitter and companion T28 RX. I had the RX but not the TX although I did use an AT5 from the QTH of the late G4PJ. The T28 was mainly used as a tunable IF for my 2m converter. I heard my first 2m satellite signals via Oscar 6 and 7 using the T28 as a tunable IF. I remember being very thrilled hearing my first transatlantic stations on the top end of 2m.

See http://www.qrpkits.com/mbdc.html .

80m WSPR overnight

Unfortunately my Windows 7 PC decided to try an update at around 0300z so the PC (and WSPR software) closed down about then and never restarted until I helped it at breakfast time!  All 80m WSPR results are before the (premature) close down or just after breakfast.

80m WSPR TX  unique spots overnight

Best spot of my signal was from OH8HTG (2002km) a couple of times. Even my "useless" 80m antenna can get spots across Europe it seems.

Now trying 80m WSPR since 1812z

After the successes on 160m WSPR last night, this evening I am having a go with the "strapped feeders" antenna on 80m WSPR. The first 2W (from FT817) burst resulted in 5 reports across the UK, Belgium and The Netherlands. Reports are generally good. My first receive burst netted 3 stations.

UPDATE 1900z:  A decent selection of Western Europeans spotting me and being spotted.

80m unique WSPR spots this early evening

UPDATE 2135z:  Best DX on 80m WSPR so far this evening is OH8GKP (1994km).

New band tried with "compromise" antenna.

This afternoon I tried 80m WSPR with the "compromise" antenna (V2000  + 2m halo with strapped feeders) with some success. On 80m I copied M0BLP and PA0WMR although there were very few stations active. I was not copied by anyone. I was going to try 160m but decided there was too little activity.

Later I used 40m and 20m with the Par end-fed.  On 40m, just one transmission resulted in 10 spots in 7 countries. The next transmission resulted in not a single report, probably because I was sitting on the frequency of a very strong station who was TXing at the time?

I later returned to 10m, and spotted EA5CYA (1376km) and LZ1OI (2145km) by Es around teatime. The Spanish station was pretty strong but the LZ was much weaker.

Even more on 80m QRP - 15m baseline earth-electrode antenna

I decided to leave my 2W 80m WSPR station running a little longer and the tally has now jumped to 24 spots of my own signal and 45 spots of other stations. The earth-electrode antenna is no " also ran" - it performs well on both TX and RX.

Great success -80m WSPR with15m earth-electrodes

Last evening and overnight I left the 80m WSPR running using just the 15m E-W earth-electrode "antenna" and was well rewarded: best reception (here) was of a Canadian station and the best report of my own 2W was from Finland. In all, I received 20 unique spots in 9 countries with my best DX report from OH6GAP at 1852km. Reports are rarely what I would call marginal ones too.

80m 2W TX WSPR spots with 15m baseline E-W earth-electrode antenna

On RX here, I spotted 34 unique stations in 12 countries with best DX VA3SK (running 2W from FN06jf) at 5514km. A decent distance on 80m.

The antenna certainly works OK on 80m as well as 630m. Next try will be on 160m, probably starting after lunchtime today.

80m WSPR with 15m earth-electrode "antenna"

Since lunchtime, I have been using the 15m E-W earth-electrode "antenna" on 80m.  On RX it has netted me 17 unique spots with best DX OH8GKP in Finland at 1994km.  With 2W on TX best DX so far is OZ7IT at 853km. The antenna current with 2W RF from the FT817 is lower than on 474.2kHz. This is the status at 1925z.

80m WSPR unique RX spots using 15m E-W earth-electrode "antenna"

Hard to believe this is without a conventional antenna

As 40m went rather quiet, I QSYed to 80m WSPR on the earth-electrode antenna this evening. The log below is from just one single 2 minute transmission with 2W.

12 spots in one 2min burst this evening with 20m spaced earth-electrode antenna

Earth-electrode antenna on 80m

This evening I have been using the 20m baseline earth-electrode antenna on 80m. From the shack (upstairs) there is a 20m coax down to the back of the garage where it picks up the earth electrode wires. On 160m the match is poor but on 80m a near perfect 1:1 match, so no radiation from the coax.

On receive there are plenty of signals visible and decoding on WSPR and on TX it seems to be getting out pretty well with 1W RF from the FT817.  I am not sure of the ERP on 80m, certainly higher than on 630m (472kHz), but it does appear to be quite effective.

Tomorrow evening I'll match the earth-electrode antenna with the Elecraft T1 auto-ATU and see how it performs on 160m. I'll put the ATU right at the earth-electrode end of the coax so that we'll see the radiation from the earth-electrodes and not the feeder.

80m FETer outing

This evening I came on 80m to listen for G6ALB who was taking part in the valve QRP day. Using my  18mW output FETer transceiver (18 parts total) I was able to hear almost all of the stations active around 3.56MHz using QRP.  G6ALB was worked (599 each way, but we are only 3km apart). I had forgotten how effective this little transceiver was and it was a pleasure to use it once again.

5mW on 80m - best DX 1310km

80m WSPR with 5mW output

This evening I ran 5mW output on 80m WSPR to see what sort of distance I could achieve. It was quite an eye-opener with lots of reports and some good DX, the best being LA2XPA at 1310km. The report from LA3JJ suggests that almost 1000km would have been possible with 500uW. And it is not as if the antenna here is anything: just 5m of coax to the 10m halo with inner and outer joined together as a vertical and tuned through a tiny T1 auto-ATU!