File Attachment 1: 09-Apr-22_x200.jpg
File Attachment 2: 09-Apr-22_x202.jpg
BPSK receiver
Mike N2MS asked on my website's comment page if I had copies of a series I did for THE LOWDOWN in 1990 called "BPSK Receiver Explained". After digging around a long time in my stuff, I found it! Others might be interested. For what it's worth, here it is: www.maxmcarter.com/bpsk/bpsk.html (Hi-rez, takes awhile to load.)
Max
7P and PCO
Posted by ed holland on April 03, 2022 at 21:02:39.
7P and PCO audible. Coming in loud and clear here at PVC, ~ 1400 PDT.
22 m grabber changes
Posted by John K5MO on April 03, 2022 at 23:37:08.
With the great help of Andy, I've got a Pi running QRSSPig on 22M, being fed by one of my Kiwis. While I think I like Argo's display better, being able to run the grabber on a Pi3B is a big plus. I've operated an instance of the PiG on 10M on a Pi zero for over a year now, and I'm impressed by the reliability of this software on Pi's
Frames are uploaded every 10 min and I'll let the thing run 24/7, with a few minor tweaks in the upcoming days.
It's available at https://qsl.net/k5mo/ and at Scott's wonderful QRSSplus
73 Re: new hifer
John K5MO
Posted by ed holland on April 04, 2022 at 03:15:38.
In reply to Re: new hifer posted by Bob WA1EDJ on March 31, 2022
Confirming reception of WSPR signal with ID W8AC here in Northern California (CM87vi) in the afternoon and early evening, local time.
Fear Not, Citizens! No need to feel insecure.
Posted by Webmaster on April 09, 2022 at 05:02:24.
If you got a warning from your browser while trying to access this site over the past 24 hours or so, ominously suggesting that if you dared to even think about clicking one step further, evil spirits would surely fly out of your computer and bring pestilence upon the land, confiscate all your cutlery, neuter your kids, and brainwash innocent little puppy dogs...don't worry. It was all hysterical bull.
The only thing that really happened was, our security certificate ran out at midnight last night, and failed to auto-renew as it was supposed to do. (Whether that was midnight Mountain Standard, Central Daylight, UTC or what, I have no idea. I was asleep for all of them, and only found out when I got up to make my grocery run.) Nothing whatsoever had changed on the server, nobody had hijacked anything, only the certificate had run past its sell-by date. Instead of simply cautioning you with an "expired certificate" message as generally used to be the case when this sort of thing occasionally happened, FearFox, Edgy, Chromedome, etc, decided we needed the daylights scared out of us!
That's all it was. It's updated now, and all is again right with the world. Or as right as it can be at the moment, anyway.
Most readers have probably had their curiosity satisfied by this point, so I will not be offended if you choose to close this message now. However, during the day Saturday, I'll follow up this post with some additional detail for those interested in such things, and who maybe have some thoughts or experience in these matters that they'd be willing to share.
For now, enjoy!
John
HiFERs Aplenty 10-Apri-22l
Posted by Ed Holland on April 11, 2022 at 16:08:51.
Hi Folks,
Screenshots later, but yesterday afternoon (PDT) 22m was really active with a big lift in conditions that brought a lot of the watering hole to the listening station at PVC for long periods. Including:
USC, NC, SIW, EH, W8AC, 7P and probably more when I sort through the screenshots. In the late afternoon and early evening, the "waterfall" was showing all of the above simultaneously, and with a couple of the signals quite audible.
Re: Continuous Wave Arcs
Posted by Ed Holland on April 11, 2022 at 18:53:09.
In reply to Re: Continuous Wave Arcs posted by John Davis on March 05, 2022
I have begun a little practical thinking on how to conduct some experiments. A few junk-box items have been located that include:
Small 12V lead acid battery. Quite enough "oomph" to arc a pencil lead for a few seconds.
Variable capacitor ~ 70- 750 pF
2.5 mH coil, 200 Turns on a 10 mm ferrite bar.
Microwave oven transformer, or an old lamp ballast (to use as a choke between the battery and arc setup).
The LC combo tunes down to about 190 kHz. Being home made, modification is easy, if required. The next move will be some simple engineering to arrange the arc electrodes.
I'll maintain updates on this if there is any interest. I think even the briefest flicker of an arc oscillation would be considered a success. Daydreaming fun, a LowFER would be, difficult and impractical - goodness knows how to know limit input power to the final stage to 1W. Perhaps a negative resistance oscillator could work here?
More soon,
73s
Ed
Re: HiFERs Aplenty 10-Apri-22l
Posted by John Davis on April 11, 2022 at 19:51:41.
In reply to HiFERs Aplenty 10-Apri-22l posted by Ed Holland on April 11, 2022
Fantastic, Ed, looking forward to captures. Conditions should be interesting for a while with SFI >100 and the G3 magnetic event a recent memory. (Interestingly, however, NOAA'S X-ray flux chart currently resembles an EKG of someone with serious arrhythmia.)
Re: Continuous Wave Arcs
Posted by John Davis on April 11, 2022 at 19:57:00.
In reply to Re: Continuous Wave Arcs posted by Ed Holland on April 11, 2022
Please do maintain updates, Ed. Most interesting.
Re: HiFERs Aplenty 10-Apri-22l
Posted by ed holland on April 12, 2022 at 15:13:47.
In reply to Re: HiFERs Aplenty 10-Apri-22l posted by John Davis on April 11, 2022
Here are a couple of screenshots from the best of the day (10th April), mid evening ~1930 PDT
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 09-Apr-22_x200.jpg
File Attachment 2: 09-Apr-22_x202.jpg
SHO, Exceptional Signal
SHO has been in/out all day from 1430Z on, but from 0000Z until 0233Z an *exceptional signal*, +20db above the noise floor! Unable to get a complete copy on SHO's WSPR due to extensive distortion which has been noticed here before, probably due to the Es path rather than sky-wave.
There also has been another QRSS signal throughout the daylight hours, close to 13555527 which has been strong(?) at times, but QSB (deep fades) prevents copying the call sign.
Zeak,
Receiver KiwiSDR/Argo wspr2 hifer 5 land
Ant(s): 80m dipole at 15m and 1m Loop
Location: DM12
Posted by swlem3 on April 15, 2022 at 02:19:24.
Might have an "oops" on wspr2 hifer. Check my wsprnet decodes today for details.
Ray
Re: wspr2 hifer 5 land
Posted by John Davis on April 15, 2022 at 06:20:06.
In reply to wspr2 hifer 5 land posted by swlem3 on April 15, 2022
Wow, that's a pretty strong and conspicuous signal to be advertising such power and be drifting so badly to boot!
Re: wspr2 hifer 5 land
Posted by swlem3 on April 15, 2022 at 13:28:41.
In reply to Re: wspr2 hifer 5 land posted by John Davis on April 15, 2022
Yep, the signal didn't have the desired stability for a 2 minute wspr2 transmission. There were probably time slots that didn't decode due to the drift. Seems like it was also strong enough at my qth to be audible in ssb mode at times. Hope the situation gets corrected.
Ray
Hearing NI5F WSPRq
Posted by Ed holland on April 16, 2022 at 21:43:42.
Hi folks,
It looks like a new beacon, NI5F is reaching Northern California today. I have so far recorded 32 instances, with the day being relatively quiet excepting 7P's Friendly tone
Ed
Navtex emergency
Posted by swlem3 on April 17, 2022 at 15:57:21.
I had an interesting experience overnight, decoding Navtex. I left my station on 518khz as I slept the night. At roughly 4 in the morning, while sound asleep, I was awakened by a loud beeping sound. After stumbling around my room for a few moments, mostly in the dark, I discovered the source of the ruckus... it was coming from my headphones laying on the radio desk. I quickly unplugged the 'phones so as not to disturb others. I turned the pc display back on and checked the screen. I immediately noticed an emergency message from the "W" Navtex station. Apparently, besides generating a text message, the station also broadcasts alert tones at full modulation bandwidth to get the attention of operators at sea.
Well, I learned a new lesson. If you're monitoring Navtex overnight, be sure to disable external audio devices on your monitoring equipment! :-)
Here's the message:
www.dropbox.com/s/6hn3ts99ixpmeho/emrg.jpg?dl=0
Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq
Posted by swlem3 on April 17, 2022 at 16:46:22.
In reply to Hearing NI5F WSPRq posted by Ed holland on April 16, 2022
I propose, rather than a new beacon, it's an unnoticed error on the part of the op. I'll bet he has "band hopping" selected in wspr mode and has neglected to remove 22m from the list of bands selected. That's my take on this situation. I could be wrong ... not an expert. :-)
Ray ... N. Central Texas
Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq
Posted by ed holland on April 17, 2022 at 16:56:27.
In reply to Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq posted by swlem3 on April 17, 2022
Interesting thought Ray,
The signal persisted, including many decodes through until at least local midnight - I have not reviewed the later captures yet. Hoever, NC an I think USC were also still received with clear traces at the same time.
Ed
Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq
Posted by swlem3 on April 17, 2022 at 17:19:42.
In reply to Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq posted by ed holland on April 17, 2022
Ok Ed. Well, you could be right. We'll keep an eye out for further developments. :-)
Ray Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq
Posted by ed holland on April 17, 2022 at 18:25:26.
In reply to Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq posted by swlem3 on April 17, 2022
Well something is odd. NI5F exists, and according to QRZ is the vanity call for a ham in Oklahoma. That puts the distance at 2321 km if the beacon is located there. WSPR reports 3500 km and a locator EM70 near Talahassee, FL.
The mystery continues.
Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq
Posted by swlem3 on April 17, 2022 at 18:41:10.
In reply to Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq posted by ed holland on April 17, 2022
Good on the lookup of the call Ed. Yea, I saw that locator as being in FLA also. I have it as 1253km from me. Perhaps someone may chime in and tell me otherwise, but I think I'd have a tough time copying an OK station here in N. Texas on 22m. As you say, a mystery.
Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq
Posted by John K5MO on April 18, 2022 at 18:11:49.
In reply to Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq posted by swlem3 on April 17, 2022
Copying NI5W here in NC at the moment. SIW has been in and out too.
Hifer Beacon QIW Has Changed QTH
Posted by Alex Engelke on April 18, 2022 at 21:02:15.
The Hifer QIW beacon has changed locations to Crown Point, IN (Grid EN61) effective Sunday 04/17/22. The antenna is a G5RV up about 40 feet. The beacon will remain in operation anytime the operator (N9QIW) isn't working the ham bands/using the G5RV antenna.
Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on April 19, 2022 at 16:22:08.
In reply to Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq posted by John K5MO on April 18, 2022
Thanks for the reports John. Nice to see all the hifer wspr-2 activity. Got 6 stations reporting decodes the last day. So far the only DX has been EA8BFK. In the distant past I recall getting decodes from an English listener. I also got decodes from Australia but perhaps that was via 30 meter MEPT transmissions of higher power.
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
Re: Hearing RF beacon
Posted by Steve VA3SC beacon on April 21, 2022 at 00:25:12.
In reply to Re: Hearing NI5F WSPRq posted by Garry, K3SIW on April 19, 2022
I've been listening to 'RF" beacon on or about 13.565.2 for about half an hour here in Burlington, Ontario Decent signal 5-4-9 Its now 00:25 UTC Using my 80 meter doublet and TS-590S Way to go!
PVC Off until later
Posted by Ed Holland on April 21, 2022 at 00:58:48.
Hi Folks,
PVC suffered a power cut this afternoon - I'll need to restore operation when I get back to the shack.
Ed
Re: PVC Off until later
Posted by Ed Holland on April 21, 2022 at 17:10:25.
In reply to PVC Off until later posted by Ed Holland on April 21, 2022
PVC was restored yesterday evening
BTW - frequency is very flexible, as the transmitter use a cheap DDS generator as a reference. Per the last discussion about band plans and WSPR opearation in the recent edition of The Lowdown, I would be quite willing to adjust PVC if it would help in any way.
73s
Ed
Midnight Hifers
Posted by Ed Holland on April 25, 2022 at 17:24:55.
Hi Folks,
No time to upload screenshots (yet), but PVC has been running monitoring 24/7 at weekends - sometimes because I simply forget to shut down.
However, this has turned up some interesting captures, including "Midnight HiFERs", notably USC, and our new WSPR beacon "NI5F" - in quotes until it is attributed to the callsign. In fact these appeared to run into the small hours of Sunday 24th April. There was only a short "quiet" period on the band before it began to wake up again as dawn advanced to the East.
High Solar activity and a meteor shower all have a potential part to play.
I'll post more on this later today, including some captures.
73s
Ed
Re: Continuous Wave Arcs
Posted by Ed Holland on April 25, 2022 at 17:53:40.
In reply to Re: Continuous Wave Arcs posted by John Davis on April 11, 2022
Hi John,
I tried a test configuration yesterday, to no avail. With just 12V it was difficult to establish even a brief arc, let alone anything stable. The setup was a piece of heavy gauge (12awg I think) wire meeting a piece of pencil lead. I made a crude adjuster bracket and screw mechanism to control the gap. The series tuned circuit (365 pF variable, and a ferrite Rod coil) was connected across the gap.
I do think it got close, but no sustained oscillations yet - at one point there were some vaguely "tuned" scratchy noises on the nearby radio (tuned to ~250 kHz, USB). A little like brief snippets of switch mode power supply noise. Otherwise it was just the broader band crackling from sparks, filtered somewhat by the tuned circuit.
I think a beefier electrode configuration may help - it was easy to drive the pencil lead to a bright red/orange glow... at which point the copper would oxidise. More power might be do-able with an extra battery.
All of which makes it more fascinating to think they made this work so well in the early days.
More as progress & time allows.
Ed
Re: Midnight Hifers
Posted by ed holland on April 26, 2022 at 14:35:39.
In reply to Midnight Hifers posted by Ed Holland on April 25, 2022
Here is a screenshot from midnight (PDT) on 24-April
USC quite clear, NC just visible top left
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 23-Apr-22_x39.jpg
New "ZigZag" trace
Hi Folks,
Spotted this unusual, new signal while shutting down monitoring last night
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 23-Apr-22_x294.jpg
Re: New "ZigZag" trace
Ed,
See this post on groups.io - QRSSKnights forum.
[Note: URL removed. You couldn't read it anyway unless you're already a member, which apparently is no trivial matter. - JHD]
Mike N8OOU 73
Re: New "ZigZag" trace
Posted by Ed Holland on April 26, 2022 at 17:29:56.
In reply to Re: New "ZigZag" trace posted by Mike N8OOU on April 26, 2022
Mike,
Thanks - I'm not (yet) a member of the group, but awaiting approval. Thanks anyway.
If you can shed some light in the meantime, that would be appreciated.
Cheers
Ed
Re: New "ZigZag" trace
Posted by John Davis on April 26, 2022 at 19:08:34.
In reply to Re: New "ZigZag" trace posted by Ed Holland on April 26, 2022
Yes, do please copy and paste the relevant info. I don't care to sign up for any group that only has a small percentage of content I'm interested in.
That's why we don't require registration to use the essential functions of this board. We want everyone to see what we do here, and if they choose to also post, that's great; but if they find they're not interested, that's OK too. At least they haven't wasted any time or compromised their privacy by having to sign up merely to take a peek behind the curtain.
Re: New "ZigZag" trace
Posted by Mike N8OOU on April 27, 2022 at 03:06:05.
In reply to Re: New "ZigZag" trace posted by John Davis on April 26, 2022
OK, here goes;
********************* PASTE ***********************
I am back on 13.555,300 MHZ
Paul Cianciolo W1VLF
7:51am
Hello All,
I am back on the 13.555.300 to 13.555.305 MHZ triangle wave using 0 DBM From FN31LS
For anyone who cares to check.,
Thank you.
PaulC Hifer 6780
W1VLF
Posted by KB7AQD on April 27, 2022 at 04:12:22.
6780.0 Long dash, multiple dits detected on the W7DJS KiwiSDR in the center of the Canadian ISM allocation. Heard a number of stations with identical format, offset by a few Hz, different timings.
Re: New "ZigZag" trace
Posted by John Davis on April 27, 2022 at 06:36:17.
In reply to Re: New "ZigZag" trace posted by Mike N8OOU on April 27, 2022
Thanks Mike, very helpful; though I am sad to see another new signal on top of an existing one...especially when it obscures your own, which is hard enough to copy at this spacing inside the first skip zone much of the year.
Re: Continuous Wave Arcs
Posted by John Davis on April 27, 2022 at 07:00:20.
In reply to Re: Continuous Wave Arcs posted by Ed Holland on April 25, 2022
Fascinating stuff, Ed. Some random thoughts and semi-random questions:
* What polarity are you using for the carbon electrode?
* Possibly a second carbon electrode would make it easier to avoid oxidizing copper, in the absence of water cooling but in the presence of breathable (~20% O2) atmosphere.
* Do you have a larger inductor that could let you attempt oscillation at lower frequencies? (It's harder to achieve stable oscillation at higher frequencies, especially without a volatile hydrocarbon atmosphere.)
* Higher voltage might indeed permit operation in a steeper portion of the negative resistance slope, but it is also possible to go too far the other way, so some power supply adjustability could be desirable. Also, bear in mind that your ballast will dissipate more heat, too.
Keep us posted. Thanks.
Re: Continuous Wave Arcs
Posted by Ed Holland on April 27, 2022 at 19:09:55.
In reply to Re: Continuous Wave Arcs posted by John Davis on April 27, 2022
All good thoughts and questions John.
Polarity was chosen as + to the copper, - to the Carbon. Per the practice described in the texts I found.
Good idea to try two carbons. I may spring for some better material. Pencil graphite may be too resistive, as there is clay added to the composition. A more massive metal electrode (not just wire) may also help, by conducting heat away.
The thought to try more inductance is a good one, and had already been considered. In fact one starting point may be to go for audible frequency - the "singing arc" - first and then try progressively higher frequency.
Best regards,
Ed
Hifer rx using Linux
Posted by swlem3 on April 28, 2022 at 14:54:00.
For my hifer rx'ing, I've been using the Linux platform lately. I thought I'd show a screenshot of the activity, as well as mention a few things about running amateur software in Linux. First, a big thanks to Mike N8OOU for helping me get wspr2 going in Linux.
I take the easy path now to running amateur software in Linux. I install each program of software into Linux using WINE. Here's a list of ham programs I've installed for my rx activities:
WSJT-X
ARGO
FLDIGI
QSSTV (a very nice MMSSTV alternative)
GQRX (sdr program for my Airspy HF+ Discovery)
You can click on this link to see a screenshot of Linux decoding hifer wspr2 with wsjt-x, while displaying QRSS3 in Argo. Note also the sdr program GQRX running the Airspy on 13.5539 mhz.
www.dropbox.com/s/jwehwjvnp0kri6u/linux%20screen.jpg?dl=0
Re: Hifer rx using Linux
Posted by John Davis on April 28, 2022 at 18:15:36.
In reply to Hifer rx using Linux posted by swlem3 on April 28, 2022
That's impressive, Ray! Which distribution of Linux and what sort of hardware platform do you have it running on?
Re: Hifer rx using Linux
Posted by swlem3 on April 28, 2022 at 19:08:15.
In reply to Re: Hifer rx using Linux posted by John Davis on April 28, 2022
John, I'm running Kubuntu 20.04, but with the Xfce desktop instead of its native KDE. My pc is getting old now, it's a Dell desktop Optiplex 755. It dual boots Win7 and Kubuntu. I really should upgrade, but I've held off because it still does everything I need it to do in the hobby. On the Windows side, I can't upgrade further than Win 7 because of MoBo issues. It's nice that I can still stay up to date with the Linux distribution.
Re: Hifer rx using Linux
Posted by John Davis on April 29, 2022 at 04:54:40.
In reply to Re: Hifer rx using Linux posted by swlem3 on April 28, 2022
On the Windows side, I can't upgrade further than Win 7 because of MoBo issues. It's nice that I can still stay up to date with the Linux distribution.That's an excellent point. Why waste perfectly good hardware that still does what you need, just because some latest-greatest OS demands to be installed on something newer! Thanks for that encouraging news, Ray.
Re: Continuous Wave Arcs
The 1/4" carbon rods I was sure were in my posession have gone AWOL, so will not turn up before the replacements arrive.
I'll turn my attention to winding some larger inductance to obtain a resonant circuit down in the 10-50 kHz range. Could also try a larger fixed cap and a ballast inductor I salvaged from a defunct CFL, that would likely make for a resonance in the audio range. All worthy points on the experimentation front.
/Ed
new wspr2 hifer
Posted by swlem3 on April 30, 2022 at 03:55:27.
Another new hifer on wspr2...
2022-04-30 03:40 KG7BZ 13.555449 -30 0 CN84pk 0.005 SWLEM3 EM03rf 2422 113 2 2022-04-30 02:40 KG7BZ 13.555449 -28 0 CN84pk 0.005 SWLEM3 EM03rf 2422 113 2 2022-04-30 02:10 KG7BZ 13.555449 -28 0 CN84pk 0.005 SWLEM3 EM03rf 2422 113 2
Ray ... N. Central Texas ... e-probe w/ airspy HF+ Discovery
Re: new wspr2 hifer
Posted by John Davis on April 30, 2022 at 16:07:36.
In reply to new wspr2 hifer posted by swlem3 on April 30, 2022
I think you may have captured SHO before? This is the WSPR portion of his transmission cycle...some serious DX.
Re: new wspr2 hifer
Posted by swlem3 on April 30, 2022 at 22:29:18.
In reply to Re: new wspr2 hifer posted by John Davis on April 30, 2022
Wasn't me John. I've not reported SHO before, nor the wspr2.
Ray
potrzebie