Late start on 10m WSPR today

Today I was very late starting my 10m 500mW beacon, so I have no idea what time the opening started. At the moment the last spot from the USA was KD6RF (7547km) at 1706z.

UPDATE 1805z:  Still being spotted by other USA stations . The opening is still continuing.

UPDATE 1945z:   The last spot of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon seems to have been at 1834z by KD6RF (7547km).  I am still on both 10m and 630m (472kHz) WSPR.

More goodies found by G1KQH

From Steve, G1KQH:

Excellent VFM Pots.. I am replacing the preset on the Pixie board with one of these, works out at 16.5p each

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-pcs-Silver-Tone-Metal-Split-Shaft-Potentiometer-50K-Ohm-2015-/231446014347?

They also had 100K which I had another 99p worth.. (For another of my many projects)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Pcs-100K-Ohm-3-Terminals-Silver-Tone-Split-Shaft-Potentiometer-2015-/321636385901?

Maybe other values if you search their shop.. Of course its China again where do you think I do my shopping these days?

Internet of Things (IoT)

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things .

As the price of wifi and RFID devices continues to fall, it is very likely that we will see a number of household goods connected to the internet, so soon our fridge may tell our shops what we need, or we'll be able to start the washing on our way home from work. It is coming whether we like it or not. Already it is possible to remotely monitor our homes using internet connected cameras - of course it is most important that strong password protection is used and that passwords are regularly changed.

Falling sunspots and poorer 10m conditions

Sunspot number today was 45, the lowest for a long while and 10m conditions expected to be "poor" again. The 10m band is again open to the USA. We should remember that even with a SN of 45 the 10m band can still be good to the USA. Even if the peak of sunspot cycle 25 only reaches 45, we should still expect 10m openings to the USA by F2. Of course, as mentioned before, I expect the 10m band will still be good for transatlantic DX next autumn for the CQWW DX SSB contest, but following years will be very doubtful.

Transatlantic USA 10m WSPR spots today

 KB1YMI (5188km) was the first USA station to copy my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon today at 1212z.

I went QRT on 10m at around 1920z. At 1916z N2BJW (5262km) was the last station still spotting my 500mW 10mWSPR beacon.  As I have gone QRT, I shall never know if later spotters were possible.

472kHz WSPR

I am on 472kHz WSPR this evening and overnight. As yet, just the usual stations spotting me and being spotted. Best DX spot of me was from G4JVF (151km) many times this evening.

Transatlantic 10m WSPR today

Despite the "poor" 10m forecasts, the band opened "across the pond" at 1222z when K3ZV (5692km) spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon.

During the morning I was spotted by TA2AEG (2547km) on several occasions. I have also been spotted by other Europeans.

I closed down on 10m WSPR at 1920z and KB1YMI (5188km) was still spotting me as I closed.

Dalham Walk

View from Dalham church

Today we walked from the delightful village of Dalham up to the village church. I have updated our East Anglian Churches blog to include this.  Dalham is a truly beautiful village not too far from Newmarket. It is in Suffolk.

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

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday Feb 15th

Sunspot number today is 49 and 10m propagation "poor". This is the first "poor" forecast for a long while.

Tenner 10m CW transceiver

Click for bigger image.

The Tenner is a very simple CW rig for 10m. It produces about 500mW output and has worked across the Atlantic on many occasions. Offset RX-TX seems to work out at about right, although no special circuitry is employed. This simple circuit just works. Although I used an "at hand" SBL1, any double balanced mixer is likely to be OK. Although I did not try it, a homebrew DBM would be fine. Google it.

472kHz WSPR

I shall be on 472kHz WSPR overnight but will go QRT on 28MHz (10m) shortly.

DK7FC remains my best spot this evening an RX and PA0RDT (243km) is currently the most distant station spotting my 5mW ERP to the earth-electrode "antenna".

Shack limited access this week

Busy birdwatching

We have different grandchildren staying this week depending on the days so I have limited access to my shack.  I should be able to do some WSPR for the first few days, but later in the week will be more difficult as there will be a cot in the shack!

Today we went birdwatching, counting the different species spotted on a 1 mile village walk. The elder grandson (aged 7) is into categorising and collecting. 12 species mostly seen (a couple heard).

Sunspots and 10m today - Sat Feb 14th 2015

Sunspot count is marginally higher at 59 today. 10m propagation is again predicted to be "fair". Although the 10m band has opened to the USA again, this morning on 10m was pretty flat with just the odd European station logging my 500mW beacon.

UPDATE 1310z:   GM4WJA (624km) has been spotting me on 10m.   This could be back-scatter or even winter Es. The distance is far too short for F2.

Stateside spots on 10m WSPR today - Sat Feb 14th 2015

During the morning the odd European was copying my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon.  No "astounding" DX from distant countries.

The first transatlantic spot today was at 1222z by K3ZV (5692km).

Last USA 10m spot of my 500mW beacon was K3EA (5657km) at 1854z.

472kHz WSPR

Earlier this morning I turned off my 472kHz WSPR station. G0LRD (25km) was being regularly spotted and PA0RDT (243km) was copying me overnight.  Best DX spotted by me was F1AFJ (607km).

10m WSPR - DX spots of my 500mW beacon

The first USA spot of my 10m 500mW beacon was by K9AN at 1304z. I see I have also been spotted by VK6XT (14719km) a couple of times today and by FR5ZX (9740km) a couple of times. Considering the forecast of "fair" 10m propagation, today has already been very good.

UPDATE 1630z:   Plenty of USA stations still spotting my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon.

UPDATE 1745z:  Still plenty of USA stations still spotting my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon.  I suspect this opening will continue until well past 1800z. It has been dark here  since about 1715z.

UPDATE 2140z:  The last USA station to spot my 500mW 10m beacon was K9AN (6505km) at 1824z. Still being spotted in Europe until 1908z.

10m beacon now ON

My 10m beacon was turned on just before 1100z. So far, it has still not stabilised so is drifting a little as the reference warms up, only G4IKZ (18km) has seen me. It will be well after 1200z I expect before any stateside stations see me today.

UPDATE 1109z:   LA9JO (2096km) is the best DX spot of my 500mW 10m WSPR so far this morning. He was spotting me at -8dB S/N, which was very strong. I assume this was single hop F2 propagation?

Digital experiments

In all my time in amateur radio I have never once experimented with microprocessor programming and I have done very little "digital" design.  This seems to be a gap in my knowledge, although I am still not really interested, preferring RF design, especially QRP.  I must say I remain very impressed with Wolf's (W5OLF) tiny WSPR-AXE-CW beacon: this goes to show just how much can be achieved with so little physically. Maybe this is a whole area I should embrace? The trouble is it is impossible to be an expert at lots of things, unless you are very bright. Certainly I do not consider myself a polymath! 

Pixie kit from China

My low cost 40m Pixie kit - although G1KQH only paid about 60% of what I paid - is on its way from China but has not yet arrived here. I assume, with free shipping, this comes by sea. I am in no great hurry. As I mentioned before, I very much hope to build this unit as I have not built much in ages because of my brain bleed.

UPDATE 1600z:   My kit arrived in the post today.  Still to open the package, but judging by the speed this must have come by air. It looks well packed.

Falling sunspots?

Sunspot number today has fallen to 50, the lowest for quite a while and 10m propagation is forecast to be "fair" again.

Yesterday, 10m did open for me to the USA and plenty of stateside stations copied my 500mW beacon in the end after a late start. I suspect today it may be harder going as we seem, on average, to now be on the downward slope towards the next minimum, although this is years away. If predictions of the next maximum are to be believed, a SN of 50 would be considered a decent figure for the next sunspot peak! Of course, the predictions could be wrong, although the predictions have improved a lot and most got cycle 24 pretty accurately.

I have not yet turned on the 10m beacon this morning as we have visitors. It will probably be turned on just before lunch. I am still on MF but there are few active stations in range.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/ .

Transatlantic spots on 10m WSPR

VE3GEN (5593km) was the first stateside station to spot my 10m 500mW beacon today at 1346z. Since then (quite late) lots of USA stations have spotted me. At 1734z, there were still plenty of USA spots coming in.

UPDATE  2140z:    The last USA station to spot my 500mW 10m beacon was NY2M (5587km) at 1844z

472kHz WSPR

This morning G0LRD (25km) has been copied several times. During the overnight period my PC turned off to install updates so no 472kHz spots between about 0300z and breakfast time. Currently I am active with 5mW ERP (20% TX, 80% RX) ) on 472kHz and 500mW on 28MHz (10m) WSPR (100% TX).

UPDATE 1205z: G0LRD has been copied 16 times here on 472kHz this morning using my earth-electrode "antenna".  Signals have varied by up to 9dB in S/N, which is probably my local noise floor changing rather than propagation?

Sunspots and 10m - Feb 12th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen slightly to 76. 10m propagation is again forecast to be "fair".

The WSPRnet database is working again this morning and I notice that last evening my 500mW 10m beacon was copied by KB9AMG (6300km) as late as 1734z.  This was the last USA spot last night.

Nothing yet this morning from anywhere on 10m WSPR.

472kHz WSPR today and last night

DK7FC, G0LRD and G3WCB are all good signals on 472kHz WSPR this evening. Last night I was spotted by G3XKR (347km) in IO70ux (North Devon). I think G3XKR is a new reporter, although I do need to double check.

East Anglia Churches blog

Sorry, this is not amateur radio.

Today my wife and I visited her old ancestral home at Wymondham in Norfolk. Some of her family lived here in the 1800s.

We visited the fine abbey there which was founded in 1107AD. We record our visits on a blog, which we updated.

The photo is of the market square in the middle of the town.

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

WSPRnet database back again and 10m DX

The WSPRnet database is back again. I had an e (mail when the database was still down from KC1AWS (5308km) saying he first copied me today at -18dB S/N at 1158z. I now see that VK6XT (14719km)  also copied me many times.

UPDATE 2107z:   The last USA spot today seems to have been K5XL (7660km) at 1702z.

Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday Feb 11th

Sunspot number today is 82 and 10m propagation expected to be "fair".

UPDATE 1024z:  The WSPRnet database seems to have a fault currently, so spots are not being uploaded (I think) and not displayed, so I have no idea what is happening to my 500mW WSPR-AXE-CW beacon at present. Let us hope they can fix the issue soon.

70cms UKAC

This evening was the Feb 2015 leg of the RSGB's 70cm cumulative contest. My very poor voice was a real handicap as was my QRP SSB (5W pep) and my small 5 el beam fixed in the SW direction.  I was only able to manage about 40 minutes before I had to stop.

70cms UKAC - stations worked with 5W/5el fixed SW

Best DX heard (off the back of the beam) was OZ9KY. Best DX worked was G4CLA at 105km. Before the next session I must mend my beam so I can turn it.

Narrow Band TV (NBTV)

Partly because bandwidths are very low, there has been a revival of interest in NBTV systems similar to the early TV transmissions by Baird in the 1920s and 1930s.

There is even a Televisor kit available for about £40 delivered (in the UK) with a CD with some still and moving images and its own test card generator. I am quite tempted!

The televisor kit is available for £35.94 + shipping from http://www.mindsetsonline.co.uk/Site/Home (search for televisor). This is compatible with the 32 line standard of the NBTV Association.  The NBTV Association home page is at http://www.nbtv.wyenet.co.uk/index.htm .

Bandwidths are audio only, so a tape recorder or CD are fine. Over the air transmissions only require audio bandwidths too. Of course, with just 32 lines don't expect brilliant images! The narrow bandwidth should make it possible to transit moving images over a standard FM or AM link.

I think the very first transatlantic DX tests were done using the Baird system in the late 1920s  or early 1930s.

VHF AM and the RSGB

Recently, I wrote to the "Last Words" column in Radcom. I very much doubt my letter will be published. The main thrust of the letter is the (very negative) attitude of the RSGB to the AM mode.

My letter (as sent) is reproduced here. I'd be interested to hear your views.

At the present time G6ALB is experimenting with very low cost 70cms AM modules as the heart of a possible short range (3km) voice transceiver. We have had some success already.

"Thank you for publishing the latest Band Plans in the February 2015 RadCom. Although because of my poor voice (stroke) I tend to use digital techniques, I still enjoy the occasional outing using AM. Like many, I have worked transatlantic AMers on 29-29.1MHz with real QRP and simple antennas.

Yet again, one could be forgiven for thinking AM, especially 28MHz and up, is a dirty word at the RSGB.  AM gets no mention on 28MHz and 50MHz and gets a (begrudging?) comment as a footnote only in the 144MHz Band Plan when other modes get "centres of activity" mentions. For the avoidance of any doubt, AM is alive and well in the 29-29.1MHz sub-band. AM on the 144MHz (2m) band can be found on and around 144.550MHz. There has been AM on 29-29.1MHz for years and years and years! Yes, this is the all-mode section, but why not say this is the 28MHz (10m) AM sub-band? Also, why are 144MHz AM users asked to "consider adjacent channel activity"? AM should easily fit in 6kHz!!

Sorry, yet again, AM is being treated as a dirty and outdated mode. May I remind readers that ex-PMR AM rigs ripe for use on VHF can be picked up for virtually nothing and that there is room for AM on all bands from 28MHz upwards. AM has its enthusiasts on other bands too, but yet again the RSGB seems hell bent on killing off this mode. Why?

73s
Roger Lapthorn G3XBM"

Motorola for sale?

Is the end in sight for Motorola?

See http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-06/motorola-solutions-said-to-explore-sale-of-87-year-old-company .

When I was at work (I retired 7 years ago) Motorola was our greatest rival. Since coming into existence in the early years of this century, my own company Sepura has been in profit every year. The demise of Motorola is a salutary lesson never to be complacent. How the mighty have fallen.

Cambridge on a winter day

Cambridge Punts

Every Tuesday I travel into Cambridge for my weekly U3AC course called "Maps in the Computer Age".  I am enjoying the course very much.

Usually I drive to the "Park and Ride" car park at Newmarket Road and get the bus into town. The U3AC course is at the U3AC headquarters in Bridge Street, which is about 30m from where the punts are on the River Cam.  At this time of the year the punts are quiet. Come the summer and this spot is very busy. Cambridge has lots of foreign visitors when the usual students go home. If you see a foreigner with a map wobbling along on a pink bicycle it is a good idea to be well clear!

Round Church - very old building

From the punt place you can punt right up via St John's, Trinity, Clare and Kings College.  Kings College Chapel is lovely from the river.   The secret is not to leave your punt pole behind. It is easily done. Luckily the Cam is not too deep. If you prefer, you can pay someone else to do the punting so you can just sit back and enjoy a timeless Cambridge moment.

Bridge St,  Cambridge

Some of the views have not changed much in centuries. The Backs in Cambridge are very beautiful and it is little wonder people travel from all corners of the Earth to visit this beautiful centre of learning.  It is all too easy just to take it all for granted. Certainly, when I worked in the city, I did.  Now being retired, I properly enjoy it. It is still a very beautiful city with fine very old buildings and the River Cam winding its way up behind the colleges. If you have never been, you are unlikely to be disappointed.

Many years ago I was with a friend who parked at the multi-storey car-park just off Bridge Street. We worked a VK6 (S.W. Australia) from the car on 10m SSB.

10m USA WSPR spots today

KE2N (5934km) was the first USA station to spot my 500mW beacon today at 1318z. Compared with yesterday, 10m conditions appear way down. We'll see how the afternoon progresses.

UPDATE 2002z:   K9AN (6505km) was the last USA station to spot my 500mW beacon on 10m WSPR today at 1752z.

Sunspots and 10m

Sunspot number is 82 today and 10m propagation expected to be just "fair".  Yesterday 10m was (for me) exceptionally good.  I very much doubt they can be as good today.

Radio Shack files for bankruptcy protection

So Radio Shack has filed for bankruptcy protection.

See http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-radioshack-sprint-shops-bankruptcy-20150206-story.html .

This had been on the cards for some time, but the USA's famous radio store has been in trouble for some while. It was formed firstly in 1921. Radio Shack filed for bankruptcy protection last Thursday.

10m USA WSPR spots today (and South America)

The first USA station to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was KC1AWS (5308km) at 1214z today. With all the DX spots from Australia this morning, it make the USA seem like just the back door and hardly DX at all!

UPDATE 1420z:  10m is wide open today.  YV5ESN (7294km) spotted my 500mW beacon at 1412z.

UPDATE 1900z:   USA stations are still spotting me, The last was W9ZOC (6259km) at 1854z. This may not be the last.

UPDATE 2115z:   W9ZOC at 1854z was the last USA station to spot me from the USA today.

Handheld of the future?

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2015/february/ht_of_the_future_at_orlando.htm#.VNi6BC4WKPc .

Southgate News reports that Bruce Perens K6BP will be demonstrating a handheld platform that can cope with many modes at VHF/UHF at the Orlando Hamcation in Florida. This looks like a demonstrator at 100mW RF. With SDRs, quite a flexible, and low cost, architecture is possible.

I wonder which of the "big names" will be first to market with a real SDR design? This could enable them to sell very low cost units, but maybe they would rather shaft us and make big profits?

10m WSPR - multiple spots from Australia

It is now 1140z. Already this morning VK6XT (14719km) in Western Australia has spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR 13 times so far on 10m! This is far from over too! This is now. In a few years this will be stuff of dreams. In the last few minutes he has spotted me yet again.

UPDATE 1246z:  VK6XT (14729km) has spotted me 21 times so far today. This for 500mW seems amazing, but WSPR is amazing. That the WSPR beacon is totally contained in a tiny box (no PC needed) I find quite staggering. As you can see, most of the reports were good ones, certainly not "on the edge" at all.

472kHz WSPR this morning

I am being spotted well by G8HUH (250km) this morning. I know he has a good system as he has even copied me on 136kHz from the old QTH. If I can succeed on 472kHz with no antenna in the air, then I am sure anyone can! Mine is a far from optimum set-up.

Early morning on 472kHz WSPR (5mW ERP earth-electrode "antenna"

Sunspots and 10m

Sunspot number has risen to 94 today and 10m propagation is expected to be "good".

I have only just switched on my 10m 500mW WSPR-AXE-CW beacon, so it is still stabilising. My first spot (still showing stabilisation) was at 0916z from local G4IKZ (18km). To avoid drift and interference, the beacon is on TX 100% but the frequency is randomised to avoid warm-up drift and the risk of sitting under a stronger signal all day. This works well. Even on my 10m version there is no drift after the first 20 minutes..

UPDATE 0954z:  Surprisingly,  no spots yet from Israel, Russia or continental Europe and only a single spot (so far this morning) from G4IKZ.

UPDATE 1008z:  Spots are coming thick and fast now with best report so far from VK6XT (14719km) in Western Australia at 1002z.

UPDATE 1012z:   OH7AZL (2000km) was spotting me at 1006z at an enormous -2dB S/N. I think this was F2 propagation. Such strengths suggests he might still have spotted me at the uW power level rather than the 500mW I was using.  So far today, he has spotted me 5 times already. Other stations in Finland are also spotting me very strongly.