At last! A new spotter on 472kHz WSPR

At 1954z I returned to 472kHz WSPR and was immediately copied by G7NKS (46km) as my 11th unique reporter this summer. OK, not too far away, but a new station for this summer.

Storms permitting, I hope to be on 472kHz WSPR all night.

UPDATE NEXT DAY:  I was on 472kHz WSPR overnight.

First sub-9kHz NoV application with OFCOM

G7NKS has already submitted his application for an NoV to operate below 9kHz. Mine will be prepared in the next few days. Approval (or rejection) may take some time as OFCOM has to consult with the Met Office first. The Met Office monitors <9kHz for sferic activity to track storms and lightning.

5W (from the PA) on 500kHz

With the arrival of some IRF510 FETs I've built a small PA to go on the end of my WSPR beacon transverter. The output (from the PA) is now 5W, so my ERP should be up by around 10dB to around 50-60uW. Already I have been spotted by G7NKS some 10dB stronger than ever before - most encouraging!

500kHz WSPR screenshot from G3XVL

Chris, G3XVL, in Ipswich has just sent me a screenshot of my 500kHz WSPR signal this morning when I transmitted at 100% for about 30 minutes. It clearly shows the drift when I go on TX continuously. The drift is about 40-50Hz worst case. I now suspect this is drift in the FT817's reference oscillator as the box heats up and NOT drift in the transverter. I may try using the IC703 as this has a larger mass and should drift less.

The very strong signal is M0BMU and the one towards the top is G7NKS. No new reporters overnight, so it remains at 4 reporters with best DX 69kms when using less than 1mW ERP.

A new reception report on 500kHz

This morning I was received on 500kHz WSPR by G7NKS near Biggleswade. This is his screen shot showing my signals. Notice my drift upwards when left on 100% TX - must do something to slow this down. It's not a problem when not on continuous TX, it's a thermal issue in the up-converter oscillator.

So far I've received reports now from 4 different stations on 500kHz, which is encouraging.