File Attachment 1: 29dec2018-1750.jpg
File Attachment 2: 24dec2018EAR.jpg
File Attachment 3: 24dec2018-2.jpg
Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
Or listen online at:
http://69.27.184.62:8901/?tune=3927lsb
click on the autonotch to get rid of hetrodynes
see you there
KFS WebSDR in California
69.27.184.62
If you would like to comment while listening please send your comments to wa6owr@gmail.com and I will share them on the air.
Jerry WA6OWR
New HiFER BRS
Posted by Dave AA7EE on January 05, 2019 at 17:00:52.
A few months ago, I built a solar-powered HiFER beacon. It is powered exclusively from a small solar panel (no battery) so operates during daylight hours only. It starts up a little after local sunrise, and stops just before sunset. Output is ~1mW to a bent dipole lying on the roof of a first-floor balcony on my house. This will be a DX catch, for sure. Frequency is a nominal 13556.9KHz, which varies ± a few 10's of Hz, depending on the ambient temperature outside. It send the letters "BRS" continuously at a speed of 5WPM.
It's hard for me to say how long it will be in operation, but the location of the installation is such that it should be up for at least a few months, and possibly throughout 2019.
Just thought you might like to know of a new HiFER beacon on the air!
73 for now,
Dave Re: New HiFER BRS
AA7EE
Posted by AA7EE on January 05, 2019 at 20:26:07.
In reply to New HiFER BRS posted by Dave AA7EE (fwd) on January 05, 2019
Thank you for posting this John. I hope it's OK to post links in this thread. If anyone's interested in some details and pictures of this beacon, I posted them at -
https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2019/01/03/putting-the-hifer-brs-boris-beacon-on-the-air-finally/
The nominal frequency seems to be settling at a few 10's of Hz below 13556.9 - currently, it is at 13556.86.
Today is a cloudy and not terribly bright day, and the solar panel is still powering the beacon, so things look good for continuous operation during daylight hours. It's very much a compromise location and antenna, as the dipole is not up and in the clear, and not in a straight line. With only about 1mW out, and a very average antenna, I am not holding my breath for reception reports. However - you never know............
73 for now,
Dave Holidays, Bah Humbug!
AA7EE
Posted by John Davis on January 06, 2019 at 00:49:02.
Not really. Family time was great, but this year's holidays could've been better from the listening post standpoint. I can (almost) laugh about it now.
All I Want for Christmas is SAQ. But what I should have asked Santa for is a GPS system for the car, apparently. Thought I had everything worked out perfectly...I'd spend the weekend prior to Christmas in Kansas City with my sister, then zoom back here (home in SE Kansas) at 10:30 on Sunday night, travel the 2 hours and 15 minutes journey with time to spare for minor detours, transfer the radio and computer from the car to the truck (already booted up and warmed up during the trip), and be on the farm well before SAQ's tuneup at 0730 UTC. I'd listen to SAQ, take a nap, and return to KC in time for my sister to get off work on Christmas Eve afternoon. Nice plan.
But somehow I took a wrong turn before going even a mile. I'd driven the route on Google Street View beforehand, and have done it in person since, and I still don't know how I got turned around...but I did! Before long I was in an unfamiliar residential neighborhood with too much traffic and no place to stop anywhere and take stock. By the time I found any familiar landmarks, I was more than 30 miles from where I needed to be, in Missouri instead of Kansas. Quick decision: proceed south on I-49/US71 to take advantage of the Interstate's speed limit and backtrack once I got to Carthage.
Only two problems: the extra miles under slow stop-and-go conditions had not only eaten up my reserve time margin, but also made it necessary to stop for fuel before the final jog into Kansas. I got home at 10 minutes before the transmission time and to the field right at 0800. It then took 18 minutes to set up. Heavy sigh.
So instead of catching SAQ, I tried to salvage the night by trying for other stations I hadn't copied recently on 1750 meters. Apparently, MLS is simply not on this season. After an hour, I gave up and tuned up to EAR with more success (one of the attached files). Then I switched to the watering hole and monitored for the rest of the night. QRM was particularly heavy that morning, so SJ wasn't as clear as it had been. It, WM, and SIW all faded out an hour and several minutes before sunrise (attached), but WM and SIW returned around daybreak.
(And the second problem I mentioned? After a bump in the road near Butler, MO, the car's climate control computer switched itself from heater mode to AIR CONDITIONING--with an outside air temperature of 31 °F, and no way to turn the controls off manually. It continued in that mode all the way home, back to KC the next day, and home again the morning after Christmas. Thus, the one other thing I caught from that trip: an ear infection that I still haven't gotten over.)
And how would you like that computer fried? Not at all, thank you. But that's what happened Saturday a week ago. I had started what I hoped would become a 24 hour capture of the 1750 m watering hole. For the first hour (the 29dec2018.jpg file) things were OK apart from a bit of frequency drift due to battery charging.* An embarrassing mishap with the charger for the marine batteries then gave the computer's DC input about 50% more voltage than it could handle and something crowbarred. I was able to extract the captures, but there's no longer any way to get external power into the computer.
(*Also note that SIW on 185.185 is not exhibiting sidebands from the BPSK modulation process of EbNaut. That remained true today, when I was testing out a possible replacement computer at SIW transition time. I neglected to bring home the capture of today's result yet, but may post it later.)
Our last two independent Radio Shack stores have closed and there haven't been any company stores 'round here in years, making it impossible to get adapters and connectors I needed for testing the other laptop machine this week. One of them was also a pretty decent computer repair shop, where I was hoping to take the old Acer for examination. So, it appears full recovery from last weekend may take nearly as long for the computer as it is for my ear.
Now it's time to rest up from the holidays...once we get past Orthodox Christmas, at least. καλά Χριστούγεννα ! :)
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 29dec2018-1750.jpg
File Attachment 2: 24dec2018EAR.jpg
File Attachment 3: 24dec2018-2.jpg
Re: New HiFER BRS
Really nice job of construction, Dave!
I did take a listen this afternoon before 1:30 PM CST, but at that point only 7P was beginning to come in from the West. Not even K6FRC was making it through yet. But I'll continue checking from time to time.
John
Re: Holidays, Bah Humbug!
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on January 06, 2019 at 02:52:54.
In reply to Holidays, Bah Humbug! posted by John Davis on January 06, 2019
John,
Not sure why you're not seeing modulation sidebands when lowfer SIW is sending EbNaut. I see them fine here even using QRSS30, but QRSS120 really brings them out. Perhaps you were listening during odd half hours. The transmission scheme has been changed per request by K3RWR to send about 1/2 hour of EbNaut top of each hour, then just carrier for roughly minutes 30 through 60.
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
Re: Holidays, Bah Humbug!
Posted by John Davis on January 06, 2019 at 05:17:20.
In reply to Re: Holidays, Bah Humbug! posted by Garry, K3SIW on January 06, 2019
Garry wrote:
Perhaps you were listening during odd half hours. ....
Yes, that would be the explanation, then. Didn't know about the format change Both days in question, I tuned in at the bottom of the hour to have 30 minutes of signal prior to the transition.
Re: Holidays, Bah Humbug!
Posted by John Bruce McCreath on January 06, 2019 at 15:18:30.
In reply to Re: Holidays, Bah Humbug! posted by John Davis on January 06, 2019
If that had been a bit of fiction, it couldn't have been more entertaining! Thanks for the story, John, and of course the
report and Argo snip as well. I hope that the rest of 2019 treats you better!
73, J.B., VE3EAR Weekend HiFERS
Posted by John Davis on January 06, 2019 at 17:17:15.
Saturday Noon. I listened for about an hour and a half with mixed results, mainly because the notebook computer I'm trying to substitute for the old faithful Acer with Windows 7 runs my second least favorite Windows (Vista) and some bizarre mixer software that H-P felt was necessary for some reason, so it needed a LOT of setting up of the sound card to accept an external mic input. I was also tracking battery life expectancy (see my LowFER report later today), which also strained my attention span and focus. Nonetheless, between noon and 1:30 PM CST, I eventually had good copy of NC, joined a little later by USC, and accompanied by EH, RY, sometimes MTI, and a few times also J1LPB WSPR. WV was quite prominent most of the time, but I had no WAS or K6FRC, which was a bit unusual. 7P was poor at first, but became reasonably consistent copy later.
Sunday Morning. Started listening just before 9 AM CST, and already had good copy of EH, SIW slant, and RY. K3SIW WSPR materialized faintly, MTI showed up sometimes but wasn't very clear to the ear, and J1LPB started appearing too. Later in that first half hour, NC showed up for work late while USC continued to sleep in. WV was still absent when I returned to town for breakfast, but WAS was good copy. Nobody else seen or heard yet at that point.
1524 -26 -2.0 13.555382 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1526 -25 -0.5 13.555388 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1528 -27 -1.6 13.555383 1 K3SIW EN52 7 1532 -24 -1.3 13.555388 1 K3SIW EN52 7 1534 -19 -0.6 13.555393 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1536 -26 -1.3 13.555388 0 K3SIW EN52 7
PVC back on
PVC operation restored. Not sure when the power outage hit, but this knocks out the keyer, and the sig. gen. exciter.
I really need to sort out PVC's electronics - it is rather a ramshackle affair, with modules hastily linked together, multiple power supplies and other things that would benefit from better organisation, and perhaps provision of backup power.
Re: PVC back on
Posted by Jason Goldring on January 08, 2019 at 13:40:29.
In reply to PVC back on posted by ed holland on January 07, 2019
Hey Ed, good morning. I ran into power problems a while back and opted to replace my storage battery for a larger capacity (12v) with a MPPT solar charger, hooked to a small panel and the output gets put through a 12v to 5v buck converter. Simple in design and seems to be holding up ok. This gives me a fairly solid 12v and 5v supply. If the voltage drops below a threshold the charger shuts the output off, while maintaining the input connection from the solar panel to the battery. Once at 13.5v the charger turns the output back on again.
My concern was how the whole thing would fair with the varying temps and environment. The first battery was not up to par and cycled on and off quite frequently with the charger detecting low voltage. Replacing the battery with a higher capacity unit in a insulated box seems to have worked out. By the sounds of it PVC uses line power so perhaps this setup might not be feasible for you but it may be an option to consider.
Jason
The first LOWDOWN in PDF!
Posted by Kevin Carey on January 08, 2019 at 16:23:55.
For those who received the experimental 1st release of The LOWDOWN journal in PDF last month, I'd like to know what you thought... Did you find it useful to receive an "advance copy" before your printed issue arrived in the mail? What did you think of the appearance of it on screen? Would you like to see embedded sound or video files in the PDF version? What thoughts do you have for making it more useful to you as an LWCA member?
By the way, if you're not currently an LWCA member and would like to receive The LOWDOWN, you will find complete membership info at http://lwca.org/about_lwca.html. You can also contact the LWCA Publishing office with any questions at HQ.LWCA@gmail.com.
73, and best LW DX!
--Kevin
New QRSS Grabber on 13,555,300 to 13,555,500 Hz
Posted by David Hassall WA5DJJ on January 08, 2019 at 16:36:10.
Dear 13.555 MHz Experimenters,
I have put up a new QRSS Grabber in Las Cruces, New Mexico on 13,555,300Hz to 13,555,500Hz for those that use QRSS. It is permanently going to be operating 24/7 on that frequency. The Grabber was built from a modified QRPLabs QCX single band transceiver, a USB soundcard, and a Raspberry PI running PA2OHH's LOPORA V5a software. The antenna is a Butternut HF9V all band Amateur Radio antenna into a multicoupler. The grabber Amateur Radio side has grabbers on 630M, 160M, 80M, 40M, 30M, 20M, 17M, 15M, 12M, and 10M. So if you want to try them out your welcome. The grabber is located on the web at: http://www.qsl.net/wa5djj/ CHECK IT OUT. Suggestions for improvements or other frequencies to put a grabber on are welcome. Hope you enjoy it. Re: PVC back on
Take care and have fun.
73/74 from Dave WA5DJJ
Posted by ed holland on January 08, 2019 at 19:39:33.
In reply to Re: PVC back on posted by Jason Goldring on January 08, 2019
Hi Jason,
Thanks for the ideas. PVC is line powered, but really needs proper sorting out - it currently has three independently powered components - The signal generator "exciter", the keyer and the transmitter. Both the generator and keyer won't restart automatically if power is lost.
The generator was an experiment to get away from 13,558.4 nearer to the watering hole, so I could always return to crystal control, perhaps trying to pull a bit further. The keyer may be better run from a battery supply. Also, it may be configurable to restart in beacon mode, I just have not delved into the programming fine points of the system, of which there are many.
Before I get to that, on the bench there's the chassis of a 1947 Zenith AM/FM console to restore, and repair of a HiFi speaker. Not to mention domestic responsibilities that come ahead of radio!
Cheers
Ed
Re: The first LOWDOWN in PDF!
Posted by ed holland on January 10, 2019 at 21:40:39.
In reply to The first LOWDOWN in PDF! posted by Kevin Carey on January 08, 2019
Hi Kevin,
I like the paper format, but the PDF was nice to have, especially as I was travelling at the time.
I'm not sure about sound or video, but active web links would be a really nice feature, especially as articles often make reference to internet resources.
Thanks for your hard work,
Ed
Re: New QRSS Grabber on 13,555,300 to 13,555,500 Hz
Posted by Bob Confrey on January 10, 2019 at 22:37:09.
In reply to New QRSS Grabber on 13,555,300 to 13,555,500 Hz posted by David Hassall WA5DJJ on January 08, 2019
Excellent David, Thanks! I had recommended the 22M band to you some time ago and delighted to see it operating. I just checked but did not see anything. The band does have it's ups and downs almost moment to moment. I generally see EH and RY every day here in N. GA.
I will keep an eye on it. TNX again!
Bob Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
WA1EDJ
EDJ - currently not operating - will be back soon.
Posted by Jerry Parker on January 11, 2019 at 16:00:13.
Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
Or listen online at:
http://69.27.184.62:8901/?tune=3927lsb
Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
click on the autonotch to get rid of hetrodynes
see you there
KFS WebSDR in California
69.27.184.62
If you would like to comment while listening please send your comments to wa6owr@gmail.com and I will share them on the air.
Jerry WA6OWR
Re: Coil Inductance and Q Calculator
Posted by k6sti on January 12, 2019 at 18:59:28.
In reply to Re: Coil Inductance and Q Calculator posted by Ed, KI6R on December 21, 2018
I've updated the coil calculator with several new features, including calculation for coils made of Litz wire. You can calibrate solid-wire and Litz L and Q results based on your own measurements. The program can automatically optimize the Q of any coil.
You'll find the latest version at the end of this page:
Brian
Re: Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
Posted by Paul on January 13, 2019 at 03:45:41.
In reply to Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time posted by Jerry Parker on January 11, 2019
Does anyone participate in that net?
We have already established that nobody responds if you ask a question about it on this forum.
Re: Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
Posted by John Davis on January 13, 2019 at 05:57:58.
In reply to Re: Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time posted by Paul on January 13, 2019
Sorry that your question got overlooked, but the easiest way to answer it is to listen over the air or simply "tune in" the KFS WebSDR. This week there were four on-air participants, I joined in via the WebSDR and email, and there were a couple of others who only listened via the Web. Some weeks there are fewer, some weeks more. This week was fairly typical for a non-holiday weekend.
Re: Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
Posted by k6sti on January 13, 2019 at 11:50:40.
In reply to Re: Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time posted by John Davis on January 13, 2019
I'll bet the net would have more participation if it were not parked on a 2 kHz heterodyne. I listen via KFS and its autonotch doesn't work that well. I'll bet the heterodyne drives listeners without a notch crazy. I certainly wouldn't listen to a constant tone - the intermittent tone the autonotch yields is annoying enough. Why not QSY the net to 3925 to zero-beat the carrier? It's never been modulated when I've tuned it.
Brian
What's the watering hole?
Posted by John on January 13, 2019 at 19:19:37.
Hello All,
I've not gotten any reports of BNC , currently operating on 13,562.7 @abt 3 mW to a 1/4 wave. Im not surprised, but want to make sure I'm doing my part.
Is my choice of frequencies a bad one? If so, I can rubber the crystal with some different caps to move it a bit. Could you advise what the term "watering hole" I see here refers to? I believe it to be a part of the ISM band that I'm NOT at. :-)
Thanks for your sage advice Re: What's the watering hole?
John
Posted by Bill Stewart, K4JYS on January 13, 2019 at 20:55:05.
In reply to What's the watering hole? posted by John on January 13, 2019
Hey Neighbor,
I think the 'watering hole' refers to the area around 13.555 mc.
Some of the regulars here may be more specific. I have listened
for BNC but so far nil....probably too close. WAS is just up the
bad from you and think we are in a fairly clear area.
Oh, how come you aren't running some of your fine vintage gear in Re: New QRSS Grabber on 13,555,300 to 13,555,500 Hz
the CX today....fire up those tubes.....73 de Bill K4JYS
Posted by David R. Hassall on January 13, 2019 at 21:02:06.
In reply to New QRSS Grabber on 13,555,300 to 13,555,500 Hz posted by David Hassall WA5DJJ on January 08, 2019
I have modified the frequency of the 22M grabber to 13,555,200Hz to 13,555,500Hz at the request of N800U. It does squash the other signals down a bit but I think it is still usable this way. The Grabber is using a QRPLabs QCX transceiver kit modified for the receiver($49, a $8 USB Sound Card, and a Raspberry Pi running LOPORA software. It is an experimental setup using a BUTTERNUT HF9V as an active antenna feeding the 22M receiver along with 11 other receivers on the US Amateur bands through a multiband multicoupler. Hopefully, it will be of some use to the group that experiments on the 22M band. Comments welcome at my email address listed on QRZ.com for WA5DJJ.
Good Luck, Take care and have fun. Re: What's the watering hole?
73/74 Dave WA5DJJ
Posted by John Davis on January 13, 2019 at 22:00:42.
In reply to Re: What's the watering hole? posted by Bill Stewart, K4JYS on January 13, 2019
Could you advise what the term "watering hole" I see here refers to? I believe it to be a part of the ISM band that I'm NOT at. :-)
That's as good a definition as any. :)
Just kidding. There's no formal definition, really, but it's generally taken to mean a region centered around 13.555.400 kHz. For my own part, I usually take it to be within ±100 Hz to ±120 Hz of the center, because I can fit that much into two Argo windows with a little frequency overlap, all within the 250 Hz BW of my CW IF filter. Dave WA5DJJ runs LOPORA Linux-based software that also is able to display ±100 Hz from the center, but on a single screen, enabling his grabber at www.qsl.net/wa5djj/ to conveniently encompass the 13,555,300 Hz to 13,555,500 Hz span.
In practice, it would probably be most accurate to call it the "digital watering hole," however, because that's mostly the sort of signals one finds there. Main reason: multiple slow digital signals can fit fairly easily into such a narrow slot without overlap, provided their frequency stability is good enough; which one can take as a requirement for most digital modes in the first place.
That doesn't mean a CW signal would be unwelcome there as long as it doesn't drift into existing signals too often...but it wouldn't be a good tactic, IMO, because there are so many carriers frequently audible there. The beat notes between them often make it hard for the ear to discern CW keying. (One partial exception is MTI, whose once per minute very slow CW stands out from the others when it's strong enough. But that's not all the time. More often, I can see its mark on the visual display even when I'm not able to copy it by ear.)
There's not anything magical about the watering hole. The reason so many signals are reported there is primarily because the digital modes which inhabit it are so efficient, and only secondarily because more of us monitor it a high percentage of the time. That secondary reason also has two parts to it: (a) it gets a higher percentage of our viewing time because slow digital modes take longer to observe, and (b) it's a relatively quiet part of the band, which makes it less fatiguing to monitor for extended periods.
I cannot stress strongly enough how undesirable it is to be stuck anywhere near the middle part of this band, especially if one's beacon is running normal-speed Morse code!
(I've been accused of being too pessimistic for saying such a thing on this board in the past, but there are real facts and there are "alternative" facts, and the latter are generally wishful thinking. Yes, it's theoretically possible for even a beacon right square on 13,560 kHz to be heard outside the operator's back yard once in a while, but statistics are not stacked in its favor. Such an opportunity will be very exceedingly rare indeed! And given the strain on potential listeners, the odds of anyone being tuned in at just the right moment to catch that opportunity are vanishingly low.)
Realistically, at my receive QTH there's too much noise from 13558.5 to 13562.5 to copy any legal HiFER from outside my immediate neighborhood (and there aren't any inside it, so...). For another 500 Hz below and 1 kHz above that "no man's band," I do listen from time to time, but there's still enough excess noise that CW copy remains a rarity. I see VAN's dash-after-IDs much more often than I can copy the identifier aurally, for instance.
Solutions? Well, there are two parts of the band where I have had pretty good success with CW signals and therefor listen more regularly: 13,564 to 13,566 kHz (WAS, K6FRC and recently AMA are good examples) and 13,553.4 to 13,555.2 kHz (AZ, WV, formerly BUH/BUV, and sometimes NDB2, for instance).
If I were to make more specific recommendations for "CW watering holes," I'd suggest new western stations try the upper segment because SWBC sidebands tend to be strong there in the mornings but aren't as much a problem after mid-day, when western propagation tends to be better. Conversely, stations from the east tend to show up earlier in the mornings, so it would behoove them to avoid the sideband infested upper segment in the mornings...although WAS doesn't seem to suffer from it too badly, truth be told.
That's a lot more than you asked for, but I hope some of it helps.
Re: The first LOWDOWN in PDF!
Posted by Kevin Carey on January 14, 2019 at 15:49:35.
In reply to Re: The first LOWDOWN in PDF! posted by ed holland on January 10, 2019
Thank you Ed, I appreciate the input. The members I've spoken with (outside of this posting) range in opinion from "I love it, please send me only the PDF" to "it's OK as an adjunct to printed" to "I didn't even download the PDF--please give me paper"!
More than anything, I've realized this is probably not the best place to ask this question. After a bit of research, I've noticed that the vast majority of posters on this board (at least recently) are not LWCA members, so they don't see our beloved LOWDOWN journal! This really surprised me, and I suppose folks have their own reasons, but they might be surprised at all the technical (and other) content they are missing. The numbers were really quite startling to me. You are one of only a handful on here who are LWCA members.
Re: The first LOWDOWN in PDF!
Posted by John Davis on January 14, 2019 at 16:53:44.
In reply to Re: The first LOWDOWN in PDF! posted by Kevin Carey on January 14, 2019
Kevin wrote:
I suppose folks have their own reasons, but they might be surprised at all the technical (and other) content they are missing.
That fact probably is a good reason to mention The LOWDOWN here from time to time.
We always list the contents of the latest issue on the home page of this site, but it seems that many users of this board are not aware there is a home page with that sort of information, along with membership details and other useful links.
Take our Part 15 beacon lists, for instance. Some weeks, the referrers log suggests that more visitors from the HF Underground site go there than visitors using our own links. Nothing wrong with that, certainly, except it means some folks are perhaps missing out on more of what we have to offer.
For my part, I think I'll try reorganizing our navigation menus to encourage wider use of our site's features.
John Re: What's the watering hole?
Posted by Jason Goldring on January 15, 2019 at 19:32:51.
In reply to Re: What's the watering hole? posted by John Davis on January 13, 2019
Just my 2 cents, I tend to look at WSPRNET.ORG for propagation based on their maps to give an idea of where the waves are headed. Given that you can filter down to a 10 minute period up to 24 hours plus do a day & night overlay, it seems pretty accurate. PVC off
Mind you, I am looking at 20m since 22m reporting is scarce but given the close proximity I would believe the 20m reporting is a good representation of what might be expected for HiFer propagation.
Posted by Ed Holland on January 17, 2019 at 06:55:47.
Hi folks,
PVC's antenna suffered the ravages of the weather system which swept through Northern California today. I will try and restore operation at the weekend and will update here.
Best regards,
Ed
Re: PVC off
Posted by Ed Holland on January 17, 2019 at 17:42:38.
In reply to PVC off posted by Ed Holland on January 17, 2019
An ugly scene on the roof this morning. PVC's sloping dipole is all over the place. The PVC [sic] centre support is bent hard over, and the guy wires and antenna elements are dangling hopelessly.
Anyway, I am looking at this as an opportunity to implement some improvemebts/changes.A transformer was included at the feed point, a true two winding design, not just a choke balun. I have always wondered if this was causing losses.
Then there is a plan to test a small tuned loop. Support for this might be very tricky..
Cheers
Ed
Re: PVC off
Posted by Jason Goldring on January 17, 2019 at 17:54:18.
In reply to Re: PVC off posted by Ed Holland on January 17, 2019
Hi Ed
Keep your hopes up, this is what I was broadcasting J1LPB 22m WSPR from. For the size, pretty good bang for the buck (which means almost zero cost):
File Attachment 1
(or: https://photos.app.goo.gl/vMBiZdYSV2MiQ7Bk9)
Balun was a 1:1 choke inside the PVC elbow.
Jason Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
Posted by Jerry Parker on January 18, 2019 at 16:02:43.
Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
Or listen online at:
http://69.27.184.62:8901/?tune=3927lsb
Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
click on the autonotch to get rid of hetrodynes
see you there
KFS WebSDR in California Re: Coil Inductance and Q Calculator
69.27.184.62
Posted by k6sti on January 18, 2019 at 22:49:09.
In reply to Re: Coil Inductance and Q Calculator posted by k6sti on January 12, 2019
I discovered that the G3RBJ expression I had been using for strand lengthening due to Litz wire twist underestimated the value, especially for complex wire with multiple bundles and sub-bundles typical of Litz with hundreds of strands. This error caused the program to underestimate coil resistance and therefore overestimate Q. To correct the problem, I used the extensive Litz wire data available from New England Wire to obtain resistivity values for individual wire sizes and bundle configurations. Then I created a look-up table, an interpolator, and extrapolator. Q is now much closer for the few Litz coils for which I have measured data. Although inductance for coils made of solid wire is quite accurate, it seems a few percent high for Litz coils. I'll be looking into that next. You can download the latest version at the end of this page:
Brian
Re: PVC off
Posted by ed holland on January 19, 2019 at 01:20:37.
In reply to Re: PVC off posted by Jason Goldring on January 17, 2019
Hi Jason,
Thanks.
For now, I put PVC on my long-wire for temporary ops. You never know what gets out!
/Ed
Re: PVC off
Posted by Ed Holland on January 20, 2019 at 02:27:41.
In reply to Re: PVC off posted by ed holland on January 19, 2019
Repairs have been conducted satisfactorily on the sloping dipole. I also fitted a choke balun at the feed point, in place of the transformer design. Tuning up seems to be a little stronger, as monitored from the nearby receiving dipole.
PVC is back on air... until the next storm at least.
Sunday 20Jan HiFERs
Posted by ed holland on January 21, 2019 at 23:28:35.
Quite a few signals at the watering hole yesterday ~10 to 11 am PST (1800 to 1900 UTC). These include very visible snippets of WSPR from SIW, very clear traces from NC, Detectable traces from EH, and another unidentified trace, possibly 7P. I have a screenshot which I'll post later.
I could not hear anything in the 13,560-13,567 region, but was not able to spend as much time/concentration here.
Cheers
Ed
WAS Makes It To Iowa
Posted by Bill Stewart, K4JYS on January 22, 2019 at 15:05:29.
After a pretty good while without any reports, I got one via email from N5PHT in Iowa who I recently had a 40m CW QSO with. He sent me a recording on which WAS could be very weakly heard. Report was from 21 Jan 2019 at 1556Z. First time I have heard WAS from a distance. Re: WAS Makes It To Iowa
73 de Bill K4JYS
Posted by John Davis on January 22, 2019 at 21:57:57.
In reply to WAS Makes It To Iowa posted by Bill Stewart, K4JYS on January 22, 2019
Bill wrote:
First time I have heard WAS from a distance.
Are you sure about that? ;) lwca.org/mbarchiv/msg0918.htm#8340
...although that's not to detract from Gary's report in any way. Looks on a map like his QTH and mine are within about 10% of being the same distance from you. I'd say your signal is still getting out pretty well!
This also raises an important point for maintaining the beacon lists. It really helps when beacon operators pass along word to the rest of us about reception reports they receive directly from listeners! Reception reports are crucial for keeping track of active beacons, but not all listeners post in online forums, and I can't always hear everyone from my own location either.* So, I really appreciate your letting us know about this reception, Bill!
John
(* Sometimes I can't even listen for anyone for extended periods at this season. Since my "bah humbug" post a couple of weeks ago, even though I've been working on solutions for the computer situation, the weather has not been cooperative for listening. It's either too cold to be out in the field, or so wet that Lake Inferior and the Okeedokee Swamp have become quasi-permanent features of the farm. I do have two belated reports, one for LowFER and one for HiFER activity, that I still need to post...maybe this week, at long last...and then I'll test out the latest repairs to both the old computer and my preferred receiver.)
Re: What's the watering hole?
Posted by John brewer on January 23, 2019 at 03:32:01.
In reply to Re: What's the watering hole? posted by John Davis on January 13, 2019
Thank you John. When I next have a few hours at the soldering iron, I'll mess with the padding caps on the crystal to move it back up near 13.565 ish...
Will post here when it's done. I think my beacon is running ok with it's solar panel and battery balance testing.
Thanks! John (BNC1 at 13.562.7)
Arab NOAA Weather Radio Transmitter Back Online
Posted by Mike Terry on January 23, 2019 at 15:26:33.
whnt.com
The NOAA Weather Radio Transmitter located in Arab went down Tuesday morning, but has since been restored ...
Re: WAS Makes It To Iowa
Posted by Bill Stewart, K4JYS on January 24, 2019 at 13:47:00.
In reply to Re: WAS Makes It To Iowa posted by John Davis on January 22, 2019
John, you are so right...tnx for the reminder. I hope you soon get back to the normal receiving activities. You are one of the few that sends in reports....which are very detailed and interesting to read. I try to do some listening, but very seldom hear anything....not even much CODAR of late. There used to be numerous 'signals' on the band such as a host of 'dits' popping up on various frequencies, odd stuff...digital maybe and the CODAR. I would even hear a HIFER beacon once and a while. I guess propagation is just shot and/or maybe it is my location here on the east coast. Reports are also few on the HFU 22 meter board, so maybe there are fewer listeners now...could be a combination of things I guess.....73 de Bill K4JYS
Re: WAS Makes It To Iowa
Posted by John Davis on January 24, 2019 at 18:06:51.
In reply to Re: WAS Makes It To Iowa posted by Bill Stewart, K4JYS on January 24, 2019
Bill wrote:
...could be a combination of things I guess.....
Probably so. Propagation is not exactly awful most of the time, but right now it tends to be favorable only for limited parts of the day. I'm one of the few people to be located west of so many stations who is also able to listen at the middle of the day around solar noon. (Often not even then, depending on the weather.) I expect there'll be more reports once we get back to the seasons when openings fall earlier and later in the day than they do right now, and more folks can be listening.
Belated HiFER Report: Jan 5-6
Posted by John Davis on January 25, 2019 at 07:00:02.
The 5th and 6th were my last weekend before a chaotic couple of weeks, and I simply forgot about trying to report these results for a while. I really ought to do so, though, because they include a relatively long (and very rare for this season) first-skip-zone reception of the Illinois HiFERs, plus my first (and thus far only) reception of new unknown beacon AMA.
Saturday the 5th. I spent most of the noon hour trying to properly configure the soundcard input on the HP Windows Vista emergency backup notebook so that it would accept external input through the mic jack. When I finally succeeded, I got some nice, clean captures of NC, USC, 7P, EH, RY and MTI at the watering hole, and a couple receptions of the J1LPB WSPR beacon. Elsewhere on the band, I caught WV, but there was no sign of WAS or FRC or anyone else. Shortly after 1 PM, I switched to 2200 m to start my LF monitoring project and test of the machine's battery life. (It let me down on the latter point later overnight, despite encouraging results on the charge indicator that afternoon and evening; probably affected by overnight temperatures.)
Sunday the 6th. The morning started out with me having to tease the notebook out of hibernate mode and salvage what I could of the night's LF captures. At 9 AM CST, WAS was nicely audible, despite SWBC sidebands, but no other CW regulars were present. At the watering hole, EH and RY were very clear, and SIW slant mode was present for the first time in a long while! SIW WSPR and J1LPB were also present, though not consistently enough to decode every time yet. Then at 9:30, NC faded up from nothing to good copy over the course of two minutes. 7P joined the party at 9:54 AM.
That remained the lineup until 10:49, when USC began appearing faintly too, but only for a few minutes. It returned in ghostly form at 11:16, finally becoming identifiable about 11:50. USC was solid from a couple of minutes past noon, then faded away altogether about 20 minutes later. SIW slant and WSPR both went away at that same time. Oddly, WM then appeared weakly for a couple of minutes around 12L42 PM.
I started a band scan just before 1 PM, turning up TON visually and sometimes aurally. A series of faint and unsteady traces appeared about where I last heard AN a couple of months ago, but no aural copy. Then I began seeing VAN's dash-after-IDs, and even caught a couple of the IDs by ear too! WAS was good and I had visual copy of FRC, but not aural.
The highlight of this scan was the new unknown, AMA, at 13565.950 at 1:17 PM. It was good copy, although the timing of the characters sounded a little odd for some reason and required a few seconds for my ear to sync up.
For the next 3½ hours I sat on the watering hole. MTI had joined NC, USC (returned again), a jumpy 7P, EH, J1LPB and RY. MTI faded away before 2:20, and 7P became weak too for a while. USC had nearly faded to oblivion by 3:50, and NC started doing so at 3:00 but took 20 minutes to depart, by which time 7P was returning. J1LPB was suddenly feeble at 3:34, though it had been very bright in the previous transmission (2126 UTC). By 4:58 PM, 7P was better, EH had grown faint, LPB was highly intermittent, and RY was showing signs of fading.
At that point, I did one more band scan. WV was visible and barely audible; same for K6FRC; no WAS or AMA. There was a weak but steady carrier just below where WAS should be. By 5:17 PM, WV was gone. TON was visible but not audible, then briefly came up enough to copy by ear. At that point, sunset was moments away, so I returned to 1750 m.
The Sunday WSPR decodes are below.
John
1524 -26 -2.0 13.555382 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1526 -25 -0.5 13.555388 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1528 -27 -1.6 13.555383 1 K3SIW EN52 7 1532 -24 -1.3 13.555388 1 K3SIW EN52 7 1534 -19 -0.6 13.555393 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1536 -26 -1.3 13.555388 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1540 -27 -1.1 13.555390 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1542 -25 -0.6 13.555397 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1548 -27 -1.4 13.555390 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1550 -15 -0.7 13.555396 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1556 -25 -1.2 13.555389 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1558 -1 -0.7 13.555395 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1600 -24 -2.0 13.555390 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1608 -25 -1.5 13.555389 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1610 -17 -0.8 13.555390 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1612 -25 -1.3 13.555388 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1616 -24 -1.1 13.555388 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1618 -25 -0.8 13.555394 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1620 -25 -1.1 13.555387 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1626 -18 -0.8 13.555393 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1628 -22 -1.4 13.555388 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1632 -24 -1.3 13.555388 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1634 -20 -0.8 13.555393 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1636 -25 -1.0 13.555388 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1640 -22 -2.1 13.555390 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1642 -5 -0.8 13.555393 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1644 -24 -1.5 13.555390 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1648 -23 -1.4 13.555390 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1650 -7 -0.8 13.555395 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1652 -21 -1.4 13.555392 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1656 -24 -1.2 13.555391 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1658 2 -0.8 13.555399 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1700 -19 -1.1 13.555392 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1704 -19 -1.6 13.555394 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1708 -21 -1.3 13.555393 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1710 -7 -0.8 13.555398 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1712 -17 -1.2 13.555393 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1716 -17 -1.3 13.555394 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1718 -7 -0.7 13.555402 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1720 -16 -1.1 13.555396 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1724 -14 -2.1 13.555396 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1726 -10 -0.9 13.555402 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1728 -13 -1.5 13.555396 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1732 -16 -1.4 13.555396 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1734 -10 -0.9 13.555403 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1736 -12 -1.5 13.555397 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1740 -17 -1.1 13.555399 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1742 -6 -0.9 13.555404 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1744 -21 -1.2 13.555398 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1748 -20 -1.6 13.555398 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1750 -7 -0.9 13.555404 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1752 -20 -1.6 13.555399 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1756 -19 -1.4 13.555399 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1758 -15 -0.8 13.555405 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1800 -19 -1.4 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1804 -21 -2.3 13.555401 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1808 -24 -2.1 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1810 -11 -1.0 13.555405 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1816 -22 -1.4 13.555400 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1818 -11 -1.0 13.555407 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1820 -26 -1.4 13.555399 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1826 -9 -1.0 13.555405 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1834 -5 -1.0 13.555406 1 J1LPB FN03 0 1842 -9 -1.0 13.555407 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1926 -6 -1.1 13.555412 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1934 -5 -1.1 13.555411 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1942 -7 -1.1 13.555412 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1950 -4 -1.3 13.555413 0 J1LPB FN03 0 1958 -6 -1.2 13.555412 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2010 -13 -1.1 13.555400 1 J1LPB FN03 0 2018 -16 -1.2 13.555404 -1 J1LPB FN03 0 2026 -10 -1.1 13.555403 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2034 -10 -1.3 13.555400 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2042 -8 -1.2 13.555403 1 J1LPB FN03 0 2050 -8 -1.2 13.555404 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2058 -14 -1.3 13.555404 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2110 -5 -1.3 13.555409 1 J1LPB FN03 0 2118 -9 -1.2 13.555415 1 J1LPB FN03 0 2126 -6 -1.3 13.555418 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2134 -27 -1.3 13.555421 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2210 -25 -1.4 13.555418 1 J1LPB FN03 0 2218 -20 -1.4 13.555420 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2226 -21 -1.5 13.555422 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2234 -27 -1.4 13.555419 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2242 -22 -1.5 13.555418 0 J1LPB FN03 0 2250 -18 -1.4 13.555418 0 J1LPB FN03 0
Lowfer net 3925Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
Posted by Jerry Parker on January 25, 2019 at 16:22:52.
Reminder: Lowfer net 3925Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
NOTE FREQUENCY CHANGE TO AVOID
HETRODYNE
Or listen online at:
http://69.27.184.62:8901/?tune=3925lsb
Reminder: Lowfer net 3925 Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
click on the autonotch to get rid of hetrodynes
see you there
KFS WebSDR in California
69.27.184.62
Jerry WA6OWR
Short Listening Period Today
Posted by Bill Stewart, K4JYS on January 25, 2019 at 20:35:25.
I took a short (30-45 mins) stroll around the band around dinner time (NC) today. After previously fussing about not hearing anything at least today I did hear one HIFER and a mystery beacon. Heard, between 1737 and 1800Z, GNK, ranging from at the noise to as high as RST 569. Also around 1744Z and around 13556 plus a tad, I heard a signal that either had an M in the ID or the dah-dah was a part of another letter....not sure. The signal had a slight chirp. It never really got above the noise long enuf to copy anything else. I also heard some strong CODAR bursts and even a few 'ditter' sigs. Not much to log, but at least I heard something.....and WAS is back up....73 de Bill K4JYS
Re: Belated HiFER Report: Jan 5-6
Posted by George on January 25, 2019 at 21:08:09.
In reply to Belated HiFER Report: Jan 5-6 posted by John Davis on January 25, 2019
AMA is a black cat systems beacon kit. Nominal freq. 13.566 +/- Location Hamilton ON (FN03).Ant: half wave inverted V.
2100 Meter Trivia
Posted by Bill Stewart, K4JYS on January 25, 2019 at 21:17:58.
I was thumbing thru a July 1924 QST magazine and found an article about the Canadian Gov't Steamer 'Artic'. It was sailing to the far northern parts of Canada. The radio equipment partially consisted of a 600 meter 2 kw spark transmitter and a long wave CW transmitter working on 2100 meters with which to communicate with the long wave ship station at Louisburg NS. The ship had three 80ft masts and was maybe a couple hundred feet long (?). It was made of wood. It was impossible to insulate the heavy mast guys so losses were "considerable". "Nevertheless, by installing as much power as practical it is hoped to offset this to a certain extent." The ground was "200 sq. ft. of copper plate secured to the side of the ship" and most probably would all be scrapped of by the ice flows which would leave the prop shaft for a ground. What brought this post on was that I recently saw where KB0VBR was testing a 2200 meter CW beacon and was running 1KW with a EIRP of 1 watt....think I saw he was heard in TN. It is hard for me to imagine what the 2100 meter antenna efficiency was on the 'Artic'. Probably a lot worse than at KB0VBR. It was interesting to see that such a long wave station could be installed on a fairly small ship, with very poor antenna efficiencies and most probably worked to their expectations....just my assumption.
73 de Bill K4JYS Temporary MEDFER on air Tucson
Posted by Robert B on January 26, 2019 at 03:06:33.
Hello to all,
I am once again the US for a business trip and have set up a MEDFER beacon on 1635 (+/- 0.5) khz from a site just outside the city adjacent Pima college. Callsign is GLD repeated six times followed by a short message. I expect to keep the beacon on air until February 21st.
Kind regards,
Robert Broughton/M6GLD
Thursday HiFERs
Posted by John Davis on January 26, 2019 at 07:14:13.
Thursday the 23rd offered some unusual signals and unique propagation, plus apparently a CW-like mystery signal that I've never encountered before.
It was the first time in over two weeks that I'd had a chance to listen, and I also wanted to test repairs on my notebook computer and the power connector re-soldering on my R-75 receiver with its high stability L.O., so I can once again retire Kenwood R-5000 #3, "Old Drifty". (Who knew that entire new motherboards could be found for a seven-plus year old Acer?) The hope was to finally be able to resume using my preferred setup. Both seem fine...only subfreezing temperatures and an unpredicted snow shower kept me from the field today.
When I got everything set up yesterday, it was after 1 o'clock CST, so I figured I'd missed all the interesting stuff. Not so. I was greeted with good copy from NC, USC, a somewhat nervous 7P, EH and RY. I decided to do a band scan before settling down at the watering hole and caught WV, but nobody else at that time.
Returning to get a screenful of the watering hole, I also saw and sometimes heard MTI. In the large 24jan1.jpg capture (attached) you can also see early hints of two others, K5LVB and WM!
Next I tuned upward a bit, looking for signs of PBJ. I encountered a broken carrier that looked promising at nearly the right frequency, but then it exhibited a way-over-length "dash" that proved it to be only a random carrier.
I tuned up another 200 Hz in hopes of maybe running across PLM. There was nothing audible, but some odd little marks showed up periodically that might have been the PLM dash-after-ID...except it was wandering a Hz or two between repetitions, so I've got my doubts. About 1:54 PM, there was a sudden audible "UUU" in conventional CW a few Hz lower, as if someone were trying to send VVV but left out a dit from each character. And there were a few other wanderers around 12557.770 that I couldn't figure out.
At 1:58, there were several odd traces among the faint but numerous QRM traces around 13562.900. One looked like QRSS at first but turned out to be random. I thought briefly that I could hear an "AN" in the mix, but not enough times to be sure. Nothing visible from VAN. WAS was fair to very good about six minutes later, and about four minutes after that I saw K6FRC faintly but couldn't hear it.
Back at the watering hole, nothing seemed much different. Suddenly, somebody switched on the path to Texas and a QRSS3 "B" appeared onscreen just below MTI, followed by a WSPR transmission from K5LVB, the first of 10 to decode that afternoon (see below my signature). A couple of anomalies are worth noting, though:
1. The 4 Hz total downward frequency drift on the 2032, through 2044 UTC slots was in my receiver. Although the ICOM's OCXO is incredibly immune to temperature variations in the shack, it still has about an 0.3 ppm response to voltage fluctuations, and I had just shut down the generator (and hence, the battery chargers) to go do other work on the property.
2. The 10 Hz jump between 2044 and 2050 was real. The QRSS "LVB" preceding the 2050 time slot was safely below MTI, but the WSPR transmission was suddenly 10 Hz higher. It remained more or less that same way the rest of the afternoon, often in collision with MTI and sometimes grazing RY. No decodes in those time slots, of course.
the 13,555.370 location was really a good spot for LVB. The attached file 24jan-LVB.jpg shows some examples of what I mentioned above, along with a couple more appearances of WM.
Now, about that propagation anomaly. Up to 3:15 PM, all the signals I previously mentioned at the watering hole were pretty stable and consistent. About a quarter past three, though, USC began gradually falling apart. MTI and LVB stopped showing up. Ten minutes later, NC went into a fade, leaving only 7P, EH, and RY. At 4:19, RY took a deep fade. At 4:20, so did EH, and then 7P about a minute later. After 7P vanished, a very faint trace of what appeared to be broken carrier appeared at 13555.505. That's significant in what follows.
By 4:31 the band was dead except for the intrusion of some faint codar lines. Then the "Chinese measles" started up at 4:35, along with a little more codar. Around 4:48, 7P started a very slow return to visibility, and a couple of minutes later, so did EH for only a couple of minutes--and the mystery signal at 555.505. It got strong enough by 4:56 to exhibit what appeared to be keying sidebands!
I can only say appeared to be, unfortunately, because I was just returning to the building at the time. When I got the generator reconnected and got back inside around 5:10, not only had 7P finally become positively identifiable, but NC and USC had also returned. The latter straddled the mystery signal, and it could not be discerned by ear. Pretty soon it couldn't be seen any more either. See examples in the file attachment named 24jan-unk.jpg.
The propagation anomaly was probably the product of the G1-level magnetic storm that occurred in late afternoon. G1 and G2 storms often cause enhancements in this band, especially for short (first skip zone) paths, but I am baffled by the enhancement of the unknown signal that's never been seen here at all before.
By 5:11, MTI had also returned, but not EH or RY. Enough of K5LVB returned for a partial QRSS ID and then a WSPR decode at 5:20 CST/2320 UTC.
Good copy of FRC right at sunset as I was shutting down. Arctic-feeling winds were already gusting, so no after-dark listening for me yesterday!
John
2014 -16 -0.5 13.555370 0 K5LVB EM10 7 2020 -11 -0.5 13.555370 0 K5LVB EM10 7 2026 -15 -0.6 13.555370 0 K5LVB EM10 7 2032 -16 -0.5 13.555368 -1 K5LVB EM10 7 2038 -19 -0.5 13.555367 0 K5LVB EM10 7 2044 -13 -0.6 13.555366 0 K5LVB EM10 7 2050 -14 -0.5 13.555376 0 K5LVB EM10 7 2056 -14 -0.6 13.555375 0 K5LVB EM10 7 2102 -18 -0.5 13.555375 0 K5LVB EM10 7 2320 -24 -0.5 13.555376 0 K5LVB EM10 7
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 24jan1.jpg
File Attachment 2: 24jan-LVB.jpg
File Attachment 3: 24jan-unk.jpg
Re: Thursday HiFERs
Thanks for your report, John. Was not sure if I was being heard.
Guess I'll keep the VAN beacon on. My battery goes dead sometimes and will be off for recharging.
jim vm Re: Thursday HiFERs
Posted by Mike N8OOU on January 26, 2019 at 17:59:13.
In reply to Thursday HiFERs posted by John Davis on January 26, 2019
John,
I have been watching the new 22m grabber WA5DJJ has put up. On Thursday for a short period I found the WM Hifer there with a fairly strong signal around 21:00Z. His calibration was still a little low at that point.
At the risk of being accused of doing a little self promotion here is a link to that screenshot;
https://www.dropbox.com/s/29zxrzwc1cpu9wp/djj22m2019-01-24_15%3A21%3A01.jpg?dl=0
I then started checking some of the west coast on-line SDR's and was able to get an ARGO grab of WM off of the KPH receiver at Point Reyes Ca. Propagation that day was good for me.
Mike 73
Re: Thursday HiFERs
Posted by John Davis on January 26, 2019 at 19:55:54.
In reply to Re: Thursday HiFERs posted by Mike N8OOU on January 26, 2019
Fantastic, Mike! Looks like WA5DJJ caught you along with a bit of USC, EH, and RY in that shot, too.
Saturday HiFERs
Posted by John Davis on January 26, 2019 at 21:12:48.
Conditions on 22 m at midday were not nearly as good as Thursday. In addition, codar was a little stronger, and behaving oddly as well.
Didn't look to be much going on at the watering hole right at noon, so I tuned around a while first. No WV or anyone else below it. Above the w.h., I was caught by a loud signal I first took to be 5 wpm Morse, but it quickly became apparent it was "fake CW," dits and dah-like on-off keying with elements of random length. Other items from my log:
1211p strong random pseudo cw 13557.580 1213p TON faint visual, aural brief 1217p WAS nil to gd 1219p FRC faint visual, nil to poor aural 1222:30p more codars suddenly join thrummingThese can be seen on the Argo display in the attached file "26jan-misc.jpg."
There were two odd things about codar today. First, the basic sweep repetition rate was only one per second, rather than the normal two. Note the blow-up in the attached file "26jan-wh.jpg" showing the spectral lines spaced at 1 Hz intervals instead of the usual 2 Hz.
There were multiple sources audible again today, as there were several weeks ago, whose start times were offset from each other by a rough average of 30 ms. Given the slower sweep rate, this made for broader banding than we had previously. That effect can also be seen in the file attachment, along with the only three watering hole stations that showed up today...7P, EH, and a little of RY.
John
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 26jan-misc.jpg
File Attachment 2: 26jan-wh.jpg
Belated Capture of SJ, WM, SIW
"And now the late news: Normans Invade England! Film in about 850 years."
Here's the last all-night capture I attempted with the interim setup three weeks ago. It was actually a 24 hour attempt, but the interim setup was an even bigger battery drain than the regular one, apparently, so the receiver died shortly before I woke up to recharge everything. But at least it captured the entire night's reception of SJ.
The initial frequency drift of SJ is real (beacon start-up). Later in the night, all three drift together somewhat with temperature fluctuations in the building and the pre-midnight battery charge.
You can view the scrollable view here.
I attempted an updated 24 hour view last night, but it turned out to be a 23 hour capture instead. May post it later anyway.
John
Sunday HiFERs
Posted by John Davis on January 28, 2019 at 00:34:05.
In reply to Saturday HiFERs posted by John Davis on January 26, 2019
So far as mid-day goes, I could just recycle yesterday's screen captures...nobody but 7P, EH, and RY at the watering hole all afternoon, actually.
Elsewhere on the band, only WAS was present during the 1 o'clock hour CST. Later in the afternoon (between 4:00 and 4:30), WAS was gone, but K6FRC was back. The dashes after ID of VAN were poor to fair and keying was audible from time to time, TON was visible and frequently audible, and AZ ranged from inaudible to quite good.
Codar was represented by three of the 1 sweep per second signals most of the afternoon, with delays between them randing from as little as 33 ms to around 1/8th of a second. By late afternoon, one codar site using "normal" 2 sweeps/second could also be heard faintly.
John
DX from Chile
Posted by John Bruce McCreath on January 28, 2019 at 18:14:28.
I decoded some Navtex DX overnight, with two station from Chile making it into my YaND log!
73, J.B., VE3EAR
YYYYMMDD HHMM KHz ID CALL STATION COUNTRY DIST (Km)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
20190128 0532 518 $15D CBD Puerto Montt, CH 9525
20190128 0535 518 $15E CBM Magallanes, CH ?
RAW LOG
---
20190128 0532 518 $15D UNID 0
2019-01-28 05:32:26> ZCZC DK59
2019-01-28 05:32:28> 280440 UTC JAN 2019
2019-01-28 05:32:32> ~.-&-))-,3` 4-$89~/C~M
2019-01-28 05:32:36> COASTAL WARNING 017/19
2019-01-28 05:32:41> VALPARAISO - PUERTO MONTT -~
2019-01-28 05:32:43> PUNTA ARENAS.
2019-01-28 05:32:48> NAVTEX SYSTEM MAGALLANESNRA~I~/CBM
2019-01-28 05:32:55> MMSI 007250380, TEMPORARILY OFFF AIR,
2019-01-28 05:33:00> PUERTO MONTT RADIO/CBP ~MSI
2019-01-28 05:33:00>
2019-01-28 05:33:06> 007250230 ~-~`7.3` :9,549) ,-=53/ -,$
2019-01-28 05:33:11> =-)0-4-8`9 0)-6- -,:#- 4-$89/CBV
2019-01-28 05:33:17> MMSI 00~251~6~ EMULATHON BY ~~SAFET~NET.
2019-01-28 05:33:36> N~N~T~~~~ U ~~~{}CZI~EKBT~~WIP~R~~UT~{}CB~
2019-01-28 05:33:58> CORATA~ WAE~~F~~{}O./07~~~3~{}BM MMS~ 007~5~380, [TEMPORARILY] OF~~AIR,
2019-01-28 05:34:00> TALCAHU~NO RADIO~XCBZ
2019-01-28 05:34:07> MMAI 007250170, ~-``~,3` :9,~49).
2019-01-28 05:34:08> NNN~
2019-01-28 05:34:17> ~~~~~~
--- Monday HiFERs--The Drought Eases
20190128 0535 518 $15E UNID 0
2019-01-28 05:35:08> ZCZC EA33
2019-01-28 05:35:12> 280440 UTC JAN 2019
2019-01-28 05:35:16> MAGALLANES RADIO/CBM
2019-01-28 05:35:20> COASTAL WARNING 003/19
2019-01-28 05:35:25> SOUTHEASTNPACIFIC OCEAN, CHILE.
2019-01-28 05:35:30> CANAL BEAGLE - ISLAD GRAFTON.
2019-01-28 05:35:32> CHART NO 570.
2019-01-28 05:35:37> 1.- CABLE VESSEL SRENE DESCARTESS
2019-01-28 05:35:42> WILL PERFORM CABLE~LAYING TASKS!
Posted by John Davis on January 29, 2019 at 09:22:00.
In reply to Sunday HiFERs posted by John Davis on January 28, 2019
On Monday I got an earlier start, but things didn't look any better here in EM27kc. Only 7P, EH, and RY were visible at the watering hole at 9 AM CST, and there was still no sign of WV, just as the past two days. TON was visible at times.
By 11 AM, though, NC was appearing faintly from time to time. Eventually, USC showed up for several minutes. SIW slant mode appeared for several minutes too, and even SIW WSPR materialized for about a minute. Just before noon I did a quick band scan and had a good, strong signal from WAS but nobody else using CW. Even so, WAS' level varied significantly from one ID to the next.
Just after 1 PM, WV was finally present, but with signal levels varying from nil to easy copy and back, in the interval from one letter to the next. TON was a little stronger, but still only visible; it probably would have been audible were it not for the three (and sometimes four) slow codars, plus one regular 2 pps one that joined in from time to time.
The highlight of the hour was appearances by AN, which had quite a bit more chirp than the last time I heard it (the frequency swept about 30 Hz downward during each element according to Argo), and by AMA. Both of them were affected by the rapid QSB as well, but were sometimes briefly nice and clear to the ear.
Attached are recordings of WAS, AN, and AMA made between 1:00 and 1:30. They are more distorted than the signals sounded to the ear. I did not have the line-to-mic adapter cable with me, so the audio sample was what Argo was taking from my outboard audio clipper/passive filter. It helps Argo clean up a lot of impulse noise, but it's terrible for copy by ear. So, these samples have been post-processed with passband filtering in Audacity to clean up some of the distortion, but the level compression remains and sometimes reduces the apparent level swings caused by QSB.
John
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: WAS28jan2.mp3
File Attachment 2: AN-28jan18.mp3
File Attachment 3: AMA1d.mp3
Re: DX from Chile
Great Navtex catches J.B.! Sorry I was off looking for EbNaut signals on 137 kHz from Europe and missed the action. Maybe frigid temperatures and high winds will keep the propagation us for a few more days. It's definitely winter here, hi.
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
potrzebie