Beach 40 - a 40m DSB rig

Andrew,G6ALB, has introduced me to this simple DSB project. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siSgeljr4HE and similar links for pictures and build instructions. See also http://www.spencerweb.net/Ian_and_Julie/Hobbies/Amateur_Radio/Beach_40/beach_40.html .

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The schematic above does not show the simple PA,

K1SEA - amazing 10m signals

In the middle of my 10m WSPR reports of other stations I noted K1SEA (5234km) whose 5W was peaking an amazing +8dB  S/N. At this level, 2-way SSB QSOs should be well possible at 5W or less.

10m WSPR - excellent results

As my building skills are still poor because of my stroke, I have been sticking mainly to WSPR mode, today on 10m. Results on 10m have been excellent copying stations from S.Africa, USA, Finland, Israel and central Asia,with my own 2W getting reports from all over the place including  Israel, Canada  and the USA. A sunspot count of 245 no doubt helps! It will be fascinating to  see what 10m spots are possible when the sun is very quiet again. 4X1RF manages to spot me most days when I am on. For me, 10m DX propagation closed at around 1640z.

Unique WSPR reports on 10m (2W) up to 3pm

10m QRP homebuilt

With my posts about low cost ways of getting on to the 10m band don't forget homebrew. On my www.g3xbm.co.uk main pages there are details of several simple 10m rigs including the incomplete DSB transceiver for the band that I MUST complete  when my health  (and soldering ability) returns. Look for 10m Simple Sideband. My plan was either a VXO controlled rig or a mixer-VFO rig covering 28.4-28.55MHz where most sideband activity is.  It could also switch to the CW and beacon bands. At the moment my "build" projects are on hold because of my poor health.

£150 10m radios

There are several varieties of 10m radios available for just under £150, brand ne

w, nowadays. One example is the Alpha 10 Max and this (CB oriented) video is a walk-through of the radio. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFK20rmQayg . See also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw7Qjrk01Vc . If you are only interested in 10m (28/29MHz) this sort of radio may be a low cost way of getting on the band although they are basically CB radios.

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 Image on G0IYA's blog.

Many years ago I used a Lincoln President multi-mode 10m 10-20W radio and I was able to work the world using it. One of the best QSOs with it was a solid QSO from the car whilst actually  driving around the outskirts of Cambridge one evening with an SSB station in India. The antenna was just a base loaded whip on a  mag mount. It was a very good little radio. Sorry I sold it really. For a video of the Lincoln President see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDUyLwFc2Pc .

There is a newer,smaller, version of the President Lincoln will be available for around £249 from mid-January. See eBay for details of suppliers.

6m WSPR at a quiet time

Path G3XBM-G4IKZ 6m

 

After a brief outing on 40m I have QSYed to 6m WSPR in the hope of getting a few European spots by wintertime Es or even some tropo. In  the last few hours my 2W has only reached G4IKZ who is 18km west of me. Signal reports are (expectedly) consistent within +/-2dB but I'm not sure if Nick is using a vertical antenna (like my V2000) or a horizontal beam. This evening I spotted G8EPA at 61km. Judging by how poor my report was compared with G4IKZ, I think we must be cross-polarised.

40m WSPR - instant success to Australia

Keeping at 1W from the FT817 into the Par end-fed I got instantly spotted in Australia at over 17200km this early evening. WSPR really is amazing. Reports from VK now both on 40m and 20m with the low wire antenna. Lots of other spots followed. More spots from VK7BO followed. Nearest station was G4IKZ just 18km away.

First 40m WSPR results with 1W to my Par end-fed

20m WSPR - too easy

Late this afternoon I have been on 20m WSPR with 1W RF to my compact Par end-fed antenna. Best received signal was from the USA west coast but all the reports of my signals, so far, have been from this side of the pond.

Really 20m is too easy on WSPR at this level of QRP power. I should  be running 50mW or less.

20m 1W reports late this afternoon

Home at last

This morning, Jan 3rd, I was discharged from hospital after 3.5 months due to to a bleed on the brain.I am far from well  still and have lots of work (exercises)  to do to to regain  my health,  which I hope to do in the coming months. I know it will be a hard slog.

My 2W 10m WSPR session over New Year was very successful with plenty of USA spots in the log. I hope to get back in the shack again soon.

Logging into a Windows PC and 10m WSPR

When I came to log in on my old (lab) Windows XP PC today it was a nightmare. Firstly it had not been used for almost 4 months and refused to bring up the log-in page. Then I'd forgotten my log-in details: even my old hint did not help. In the end after many attempts all was sorted but what a struggle with my poor addled brain currently. I've even made a small start on the tax return online. At the moment I am making lots of typos on the PC and everything takes twice as long as it did.

 I've started WSPRing on 10m for the first time since September! My old life is slowly returning, thank God. Not bad reports too.

Initial 10m WSPR reports with 2W out

Release Date

The latest news from Addenbrooke's Hospital is I should be  home for good by Jan 6th. After that, apart from continuing to get better, I hope to buy a new rig and do my on-line tax return! Expect blogging proper again within a week or so. I continue to slowly improve on all fronts but find I am making lots of errors typing on the PC still.

Currently on 2 days' home leave over New Year (1 night at home) but have to return to hospital by 5pm Wednesday.

IC7100 from Icom

When it comes to new 100W HF rigs the new IC7100 looks to be relatively good value at just under £1300 in the UK. This includes 4m and 70 cm coverage and DSTAR. I am a little skeptical about the clarity of the LCD touchscreen display.  Other good rigs don't cover 4m or bands above 6m.I am still tempted when I get " released" from my hospital prison. My heart is still in QRP but the Elecraft KX3 is a similar price with  just 8-10W,fewer bands and arguably less well suited to base station digital use. We'll have to see when I get out of my hospital  "prison". I may just buy a second FT817 and another auto ATU. 

Books

The last few weeks has seen me devouring a number of novels to kill the monotony of being in hospital still. Latest estimates are mid January for going home ,when I hope to be able to swallow some soft foods. Books read include:

"Oranges are not the only fruit" by Janice Winterton
"Night Fire" by Ken Follett
"Eye of the Needle "
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo " by Stieg Larsson

At the moment it takes about 3 days for a 560 page book. I am REALLY looking forward to going home when the ham radio blogging can resume.

Interestingly, I have read very few amateur radio books apart from  1 QST and a few RadComs and PWs. So far I have had visits  from around 45 people including a few local hams. My brother has raised over £1000 for the charity "Headway" as a result of my bleed on the brain.

Latest Health News

All being well, I should get home from hospital for brief home visit within the next 3 weeks. Thereafter, the is a good chance of getting home for good, probably in January. I still cannot eat or drink normally but I can do the excercises to improve my swallow as well at home as in hospital. My walking is wobbly on a walking frame, but getting better, and my writing and speech are a mess still, but also heading in the right direction. Being at home will be so much better after around 4 months in hospital wards. Physically I can see and hear well, my  memory seems to be maily intact, so  I have lots to be grateful for. The facilities lacking should work eventually. A good chance of more "normal service" on the amateur radio blog  from mid-January.

In the meantime my brother John  has raised almost £1000 for the brain injury charity Headway. I cannot thank hi  enough. My continued thanks for all donations including some very large donations from my American friends. This has been a very long haul personally and a big reminder how precious normal, everyday life is. We take everything for granted whereas we need to remind ourselves just  how wonderful everything is.

Health "progress"

Got told today that my swallow response is not progressing and it is possible I may NEVER be able to eat normally. I have been given a series of exercises aimed at helping to correctly position the larynx.Only lots of time will tell.

My return home full time is likely to be in the new year after more therapy on my walking and writing.All the hard word on speech would be at home.

8 plus weeks and still in hospital

Sorry that my stroke is still making the hardest job near impossible. This has taken 10 minutes.

Still in hospital

In hospital -bleed on the brain

At the weekend I was rushed into Addenbrookes hospital with excruciating headaches and punch drunk legs. After CAT and MRI scan they have confirmed it was a bleed on the brian from a blood vessel in the cerebellum which is being dispersed with drugs and can be treated. Service and care has been excellent at NHS Cambridge. We are lucky to have a world class hospital so close to us.

Optical forward scatter and frequency?

Perhaps some of my readers can help me - what optical frequency is likely to be best for forward scatter off air molecules and dust particles? My tests to date have been over non line-of sight paths up to about 9km at 481THz (red light), but IR should work in daylight with filtered PIN diodes on RX, but I don't know whether infra-red frequencies scatter more easily or worse than red light?  With red light, the RX can easily be de-sensitised by bright sunlight, and this should be (?) less of an issue with filtered IR detectors, I think.

As the atmosphere scatters blue light very well (giving it a blue colour) one might expect IR to scatter less well than shorter wavelengths like visible red or ultra-violet? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth .

On 472kHz again this evening and future plans

In the next few days I need to buy some more wire and coax to continue my antenna experiments. The first thing I shall be trying is the larger "in the air" TX loop for the LF and MF bands - probably 136kHz , 472kHz and 1.8MHz coverage. The lower part of the loop can be several strands of PVC covered wire or coax in parallel to reduce resistive losses but the "up in the air" part will have to be 1mm diameter to avoid sag and being visible to the neighbours. I think I should be able to increase the loop area by 50% and reduce the wire losses by about 50%, so there should be a useful increase in ERP. This could be some weeks away though.

In the meantime I am continuing to TX and RX on 472kHz WSPR with the odd shape loop I currently have running along the garden fence and back along the surface of the lawn. It works, but as I said yesterday, it is some dB below what I can achieve in my small back garden whilst maintaining low visual impact to avoid neighbour issues.

After confirming the performance with the larger loop in the coming weeks, I shall try a short Marconi vertical to compare results - better omni coverage expected, but may not be as effective as the loop in the best directions?

After that, I shall probably be returning to 481THz and infra-red frequencies for more over the horizon scatter tests. I particularly want to try some IR scatter tests in daylight as I find going out on dark nights unpleasant.

World's oldest photographs

As I have come down with a bug of some sort, feeling light-headed and with a headache, I've been sleeping a lot today and not doing too much. My 472kHz WSPR has been running periodically.

Sitting here this afternoon, I chanced on this interesting YouTube video showing the world's earliest photos. Fascinating to look at - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LkaFCa29mQ .

You may also like The World's 10 Most Mysterious Photos - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7Cd5FWMusE.

472kHz (630m) WSPR experiment results

Comparing the loop in the air against the simple earth electrode (EE) antenna across the garden these are the results. Remember the loop could be improved by making it larger, using thicker wire and mounting it more fully vertical.

G4KPX - about 6dB better on loop
G6AVK - little difference
PA3ABK/2 - 1-3dB better on loop
G8HUH - little difference
M0PPP - copied on loop, no copy on EE
G3WCB - just copied on EE, no copy on loop

Conclusions?  Well the loop, as it currently is arranged, is a bit better than the EE antenna by a few dB, in some directions, but not amazingly so. Will try a loop up in the air more in the coming weeks and we'll compare results again.

TXing tonight with a 472kHz "in the air" loop

As the next stage in my experiments from the new QTH at LF and MF, this afternoon I converted my earth-electrode antenna into a complete "in the air" loop by removing the earth connections and joining the wires with a length of wire along the grass. The DC resistance of the loop is 0.9ohms and the enclosed area somewhere around 60-100 sq m although the loop is far from vertical and the bottom wire actually runs along the grass rather than up in the air. The measured loop current is around 0.9A and tuning very sharp with around 1.7nF in series and matched with a 3C90 step down transformer. According to my calculations of radiation resistance, the ERP should be in the 20-40mW region, considerably greater than with the earth-electrode antenna.

630m WSPR spots of G3XBM so far this evening

My first report this evening was from PA3ABK/2  at -28dB S/N but I am hopeful of a few more 472kHz spots tonight. I expect that the results with the loop will be better than with the earth-electrode system, but the loop can be further improved by raising the upper wire (bigger vertical enclosed loop area) and thickening up the lower wire to reduce resistive losses further.

I am doing things one step at a time so I can assess the difference.

UPDATE 1800z:  M0PPP has spotted me several times this evening but had failed to copy me in the last 2 weeks, so this is encouraging. Also reports from G8HUH and G6AVK.

More 10m WSPR

With the weather miserable here today - I just managed to cut the grass before the rain set in - I went on 10m WSPR mid-afternoon to see what was doing. With 2W I got a couple of reports from 4X1RF at 3519km at -3 and 0dB S/N, which is VERY strong, but nothing else so far.

This evening, I hope to be WSPRing on 472kHz again (using the original earth-electrode arrangement still) whilst we entertain my brother and his wife. They are coming to stay for a few days. I shall be checking results periodically using my iPod Touch monitoring the WSPRnet database in between drinks and eating dinner.

POSTSCRIPT: I was just about to QSY away from 10m when I noticed I had spotted K3NAL at 5930km. At the time of writing, I seem to be the only European station copying him. Maybe I shall stay on 10m a little longer this afternoon, or perhaps try 10m PSK31 for some QSOs. 10m is another "magic band". Less so at the peak of the cycle but often open to distant places when not expected and definitely under-used in the quiet solar years.  

472kHz - 7 unique WSPR reports so far on earth-electrode antenna

Although not working as well as I had hoped, my very simple earth-electrode antenna is getting WSPR reports. As of this evening, I have been spotted by 7 unique stations so far. Results remind me of my first efforts on 500kHz with a simple wire down the garden some years back. My ERP then was in the uW range and this may well be the sort of ERP I am actually using now currently. A better antenna IS a must!

First 10m spot from the new QTH + more on 20m

Today I ran WSPR on 10m to see what propagation was like. Although European stations further south were catching N-S openings trans-equatorial openings and even VK6, it was harder going from here in the UK and I only managed 1 spot with 2W and that was from 4X1RF - thank you.

Back on 20m it was a different story where I had a huge number of reports from places including KL7L in Alaska,  with just 500mW to the Par EF-10/20/40 antenna. 20m is always a good bet, although not one of my usual favourite bands.

As the autumn progresses I hope 10m will come back to life again. Conditions should be excellent in October and November with still decent sunspot numbers and of course the big CQWW DX contests to add to the activity levels. By autumn next year things will certainly be on the slide down to the next minimum, but the slope down is gradual and conditions can remain decent for several more years yet.

I really must get the full transceiver version of my 10m WISPY WSPR rig boxed up so I can free up the FT817 to do other things.

Earth-electrode antenna for 472kHz in the new garden - not too brilliant

After trying a number of different orientations of earth-electrode pairs in my garden, I have come to the conclusion that this antenna structure does not work very well here in the new QTH. I am a little surprised as the earth-electrode antenna worked well just 350m away at the old QTH. Whatever orientation I try I seem to be always in the -22 to -28dB S/N region with G6AVK 78km away.

Why is it not so good? Well, the most likely answer is that the effective distance between the far and near ground rod electrodes is smaller, even with a similar physical separation. This could be because of buried water pipes and utilities criss-crossing the garden, although I wasn't aware of any, or different soil/rock conditions, although the chalk layer is about as far down here as at the old QTH and the soil is a similar alkaline sort. The fact that the 8.97kHz earth-mode results were so poor last week rather hinted at a problem that was not present at the old QTH.
 
I haven't quite exhausted every layout possible in  my strange shaped back garden, so there are more things to try with earth-electrodes, but it is looking like I shall have to erect a short Marconi or a fully in the air loop antenna to get better ERP on 472kHz. On my previous tests at the old QTH, a full in the air loop with 1mm diameter wire and an enclosed area of around 80m sq was around 8dB better than the earth-electrode antenna, but far more critical to tune and match because of the hi-Q. If my earth-electrode antenna is several dB down on the performance of the same structure at the old QTH then I could be expecting >10dB improvement or even more.

Half the fun is the testing and finding out what does and does not work.  The coming week we have visitors staying, so not too much time to experiment. I shall have to stick to WSPRing on 20 and 10m.

Portuguese Lesser Chirpy 10m transceiver

CT5JZX version of the Lesser Chirpy transceiver for 10m CW

In an email from CT5JZX, Pedro tells me he has made a version of my Lesser Chirpy 10m QRP CW transceiver. He has already received some beacons with it - he only has a crystal in the beacon part of the band at present - and hopes to TX with it soon when he has some other crystals. He has made a neat job of it in the plastic casing.

It is some time since I fired mine up and currently it is in a box in the loft after my recent QTH move.

VK on 20m WSPR this morning

5 VK (Australian) spots in the very first transmission slot

Whilst waiting for the bathwater to fill, I went on 20m WSPR this morning with the Par 40/20/10 end-fed antenna to see what was about. To my amazement I got no less than 4 VK reports (Australia) in the first transmission plus a lot of other reports too. The little antenna down the garden is certainly working just fine.

2m contest this weekend

After several PSK31 QSOs on 20m, I returned to 2m SSB to see what was doing in the contest running this weekend. First impressions are there are far fewer stations active than last Tuesday evening in the UKAC contest. I have worked a few stations using 5W and the halo but so far only JO01, JO02 and IO92 squares i.e. not that far away.

.....me thinks it is time to QSY to 472kHz WSPR and watch the TV, HI.

First PSK31 QSO from new QTH

E74DO in his shack

After a little while on WSPR I decided to try PSK31 on 20m running 2W to the Par antenna. I replied to a CQ from E74DO and got a 599 report. PSK31 is not a mode I too much like, but it does work when the band is busy and with QRP.

A little later (1646z) I had a nice PSK31 QSO with Svan TF3FIN in Reykavik on 20m.

HF antenna erected at new QTH

This afternoon, I strung out my Par 40/20/10 horizontal end-fed HF antenna for 40, 20 and 10m from the base of my V2000 vertical to a tall branch of the silver birch tree at the end of my garden. Being a bungalow, the height is nothing great at around 4m above ground average. Match is excellent on 10m and 20m but the end wants trimming a few cm to improve the match on 40m.

I have just started WSPR beaconing at 1W on 20m to see how it performs and on the first transmission was spotted by N6RFM, LA6TPA, LA9JO and 4X1RF with reasonable reports. So, initial results look OK.

This now means I have the following TX capability from the new QTH:

(1) 630m - earth-electrode antenna
(2) 40, 20 and 10m HF - Par 40/20/10 antenna
(3) 6, 2 and 70cm - VHF/UHF V2000 vertical
(4) 2m - horizontal halo antenna
(5) 481THz optical - 110mm lens TX

All these antennas are unobtrusive and neighbour friendly. Now let me see how soon I can achieve QRP DXCC from this new QTH.

Experimenting will mean these antennas will come and go.

472kHz - next steps

Ok, so after several more hours I am still getting WSPR spots from just G4KPX and G6AVK. Clearly the ERP with the present earth-electrode set-up in the new garden is in the low uW region only.

I'm going to try to string up a full wire loop for TX and see how this performs. I have a couple of options: (1) a thickish wire loop along the fence made from coax cable about 10m x 2m, or (2) a 1mm diameter PVC coated wire loop with a larger enclosed area. The former would be totally hidden and, because of the higher Q, may perform as well as the larger loop with thinner wire. The former is worth trying as it would be a very "stealth" antenna, totally invisible to neighbours ....and the XYL.

472kHz experiments continued

In my narrower, but wider, garden, I am still trying to work out the best layout for an earth-electrode antenna for 472kHz.

Today I started by trying to find out about the ground connections at the house end, measuring the resistance between various radiators and the mains ground to see which ones had a direct copper connection to a good ground. The answer is none! All the radiators seem to be connected with plastic pipes in the roof. The only direct "copper to ground" connections found in my water system were in the airing cupboard, the kitchen taps and the utility room taps.

The other tests (ongoing) are to a different remote ground further up the side of the garden, further from the shack but not further from the house. I am trying to see if this gives, effectively, a longer earth-electrode baseline between ground points.

So far this evening, with the (perhaps) slightly longer baseline, I am getting consistent reports from G6AVK (78km) but no-one else yet. As best I can judge, reports are very similar to those with the earlier grounding arrangements.  PA3ABK is a very strong signal at -6dB S/N.

First 8.976kHz VLF earth-mode tests from the new QTH

This evening, I did a couple of tests on 8.976kHz earth-mode from the new QTH with my 5W beacon TX. Initially I used the far earth rod about 12m from the house paired with a mains ground and set out on my travels with my loop to my usual first test site just outside the village. This is a car park for the Devil's Dyke walk. Unfortunately the car park has been invaded by gypsies, so I decided to move on to my next test site in the village of Reach (2km). Nothing at all was copied of my beacon.

Then I returned home and used the mysterious copper rod that goes into the ground just outside my shack as the local ground and still keeping the ground rod 12m away as the "far" electrode. I think this may have at one time been an oil pipe from a central heating oil tank. I have no idea where it goes. This earth-electrode pair has launched my 472kHz WSPR signal which has been copied in Belgium and Holland, but results have been disappointing, so I was not expecting much on 8.976kHz.

Rather than travel 2km, I parked outside my old QTH about 0.35km away in the village. My 8.976kHz signals were copied, but not very strongly. I suspect that this was true earth-mode without any real assistance from utilities as I do not believe either ground rod at the TX end is coupled to utilities grounds or copper pipes going into the road.

Weak signals over a 0.35km path

Path tested this evening plotted with Google Earth

Conclusions so far are that both for VLF earth-mode work and for 472 and 136kHz radiated work I need to much improve the earth-electrode arrangement in my garden to get credible results. I need to do some sort of mapping of the garden to see where would result in a good solid connection to copper water pipes going into the road (probably at the outside copper tap) and the best place to locate the "far" electrode as far away from the house (and other houses) and buried pipes as possible.

Loop preamp

After some thought I'm almost certain now to buy a Wellbrook RX loop for use on 136 and 472kHz receive. This loop will also be useful for a number of other applications such as 160m and 80m monitoring and possibly some VLF work.

The ALA1530LF looks perfect for the task being able to cover 20kHz to 30MHz with excellent IP2 and IP3 performance. One concern is that a receiver is being hit with signals from right across the spectrum: although the loop preamp itself will not fall over, the receiver after it might. So, I think a small, high dynamic range tuned preamp with a few dB of gain may be needed ahead of the receiver.  The additional gain may be needed as many HF rigs have poor LF and VLF sensitivity.

A simple preamp is easy to design for either 136 and 472kHz bands. Something along these lines (see below) should be suitable for 472kHz reception. I'm not actually sure that the ceramic filter will be needed: just the single hi-Q tuned circuit on the input may be enough to protect the subsequent RX from being blasted with everything.

Bitsbox - excellent service yet again

www.bitsbox.co.uk

A couple of days ago I realised I needed a few tools to help me: a "helping hands" clip to hold PCBs and breadboards whilst soldering, a desoldering tool, some trimming tools, more solder, switches etc. So, I placed an order with Bitsbox, a small UK supplier I've used before. The order was easy to place, a Paypal payment was accepted and the order received very quickly indeed with a low fixed price for delivery by first class post. They have a good range of parts in stock and their service has always been first class. I can highly recommend Bitsbox if you need a few bits for your amateur radio hobby.

2m UKAC this evening with QRP and a halo

Stations worked on 2m SSB with 5W and halo tonight

After 90 minutes of 2m contesting this evening I decided to QSY to 472kHz WSPR even though there was another hour to go.  The contest was my first from the new QTH running 5W into the 2m halo on the roof. In all I managed 12 QSOs with the best DX GW4FZN/P near Bala at 272km. Best DX heard was G4PPT/M in IO70 near Penzance, Cornwall.

The RSGB UK Activity Contests are every Tuesday evening on different VHF/UHF bands each week of the month. Great fun for an hour or so and well supported.

Early morning 6m Es opening

After breakfast I checked 6m beacons this morning at around 0730z and was surprised to hear IW3FZQ/B and YU1EO/B coming through marginally. I then went on to work YL3IQ in KO17OD square at 599 each way on 5W CW at 0736z. Conditions on 6m are still good at times, and surprisingly at such an early time so late in the sporadic-E season. Currently WSPRing on 6m but only UK spots this lunchtime.

3 countries now on 472kHz WSPR with short earth-electrode antenna

Limited success this evening on 472kHz with the earth-electrode antenna with the copper pipe grounding at the house end. Reports from G8HUH, OR7T and PA3ABK/2 this evening, but I am left feeling that results are still some 6-10dB down on at the last QTH. The system is far from optimised yet though.

Tomorrow evening I will have a go at the 2m UKAC contest with the halo but hope to try some different antenna arrangements on 472kHz later in the week. So far 6 unique station reports on 472kHz WSPR in 6 different QTH locator squares. I do feel that a better antenna is needed, somehow!