File Attachment 1: 4jul05.gif
Re: Beacon List Update : Beacon K6FRC
Hi Paul,
Thanks, a QSL would be great. Do let me know if you hear PVC, as I also had cards printed up in a wave of enthusiasm. One of these is earmarked for AA0RQ though ;-)
Regards,
Ed
K3DZ / WH2XHA
Posted by Frank Lotito on July 01, 2016 at 21:48:27.
I just inherited an ICOM IC-R70 Receiver. Is there a method to make the receiver power-up to the same frequency and mode is was on when the power was turned off? If there is, darned if I can find it in the user's manual.
73 Frank Lotito K3DZ / WH2XHA
Re: K3DZ / WH2XHA
Posted by John Davis on July 02, 2016 at 00:18:33.
In reply to K3DZ / WH2XHA posted by Frank Lotito on July 01, 2016
Hi Frank, I believe the only way to retain the last frequency on the R70 is to have the Memory switch on and maintain AC power to the radio at all times. I don't believe this one featured non-volatile memory, so keeping the CPU powered up (even when the rest of the unit is off) is the only way to retain frequency settings in the VFOs.
Hope that helps.
John
Re: Night of Nights
Posted by Bill Hensel on July 02, 2016 at 02:20:30.
In reply to Night of Nights posted by Paul on June 30, 2016
I enjoy that night...brings back memories of my early days in Ham Radio when I would copy the press reports etc...
Re: Night of Nights
Posted by Paul on July 03, 2016 at 07:15:26.
In reply to Re: Night of Nights posted by Bill Hensel on July 02, 2016
Thanks for sharing that, OM.
If you would like us to send a commemorative message on the stations, please send it over so it can be included with the TFX list. SAQ in Maine
Posted by John Andrews, W1TAG on July 03, 2016 at 13:45:07.
I had decent copy of SAQ's 1200 UTC transmission this morning, at our Maine QTH (FN43sv). The antenna was a 150m wire on the ground in the woods, into a preamp, through a CAT5 feedline to the shack. An audio transformer was used to couple into a lap-top, and I ran the SAQ receiver file on SpecLab.
The only problem was the loud static clicks and the long release time of the AGC in that SAQ module for SpecLab. A loud click could wipe out most of a word, and I decided not to play with the settings during the message. Actual copy was limited to about 70% as a result. Not bad, though.
Any other reports from this side of the pond?
John, W1TAG Re: SAQ in Maine
Raymond, ME FN43sv
Posted by John Davis on July 03, 2016 at 18:47:24.
In reply to SAQ in Maine posted by John Andrews, W1TAG on July 03, 2016
Congratulations, John. Good work.
I had everything laid out for a trip to the field this morning, but moderate rains were in progress at the antenna site here, with lightning too close for comfort.
John D
Re: SAQ in Maine
Posted by Webmaster on July 04, 2016 at 15:34:08.
In reply to Re: SAQ in Maine posted by John Davis on July 03, 2016
Some additional reports forwarded from the qth.net reflector:
Received both SAQ 17.2 kHz transmissions here this morning ... the second session won out due to lower static levels. I'd rate readability as normal to slightly above normal compared to numerous previous receptions. A short .mp3, with clips from the tuneup period and message can be found at: http://www.w1vd.com/SAQ070316.mp3 Setup here (as usual): Modified Amrad E Probe>LNA > Delta 44 A/D > Spectrum Laboratory. Jay W1VD WD2XNS WE2XGR/2 ------------------------- From: "Laurence KL7 L" About the same levels here Jay - the 2nd sitting at 12Z was a little easier on the ears. About 20dB above average noise in 200Hz between cracks - so I'm going to give it 459. I had the NB a little tight, so some clipping. I knew it was going to be ok as GBZ's (in UK) MSFK close to 19kHz was visible weakly early next to a very strong NWC. Laurence KL7L http://kl7l.com/saq3rdjuly160904z.jpg I just received SAQ Grimeton Radio with good signal on 17.2 kHz CW starting at 08:47 UTC with the VVV marker, followed by the scheduled transmission on 09:00 UTC. 73 Costas SV1XV ----------------------- "Clive Carver" 100% copy of SAQ's transmission here in Hawarden north Wales, UK. SAQ showing as -56 dB the same as UK's 50.95 KHz GYW1 which both stronger than DCF77 on 77.5 kHz which showing as -60 dB. RF-Space SDR-IQ receiver and PA0RDT antenna. 73's Clive GW4EYO -------------------------- Last Week's HiFERs
--------------------------
The .mp3 recording is as received ... no post reception processing was used.
Burlington CT USA
Date: Sun, July 3, 2016 1:39 pm
Modified AMRAD probe/Speclabs/Audiocity
-------------------------
I used a Perseus SDR radio and a 7m vertical antenna.
Athens, Greece
Date: Sun, July 3, 2016 6:45 am
Posted by John Davis on July 04, 2016 at 17:36:03.
In the wake of a recent crash of my home computer, I've fallen way behind on reporting reception results. It may take a while to catch up. First, the WSPR results from Wednesday, the 29th. These decodes came after four hours of beautiful WSPR captures on Argo (about 11 AM - 3 PM CDT), that I saw weren't decoding when I took a break from brush cutting on the tractor.
The previous Saturday (the 25th) there had been Argo captures without decodes, but those had significant gaps in them from QSB. Most of Wednesday's looked just fine, though. It took me a while to remember that I set up in a bit of a hurry and had skipped my usual WWV time check, trusting the Microsoft time server to have me in the ball park, as is usually the case. This time, however, it had the computer's RTC 3.5 seconds off! Once I corrected the time by hand, all was well til SIW finally faded for the day, leaving only EH and a bunch of power line buzz by sunset.
John
2028 -25 -1.4 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2032 -21 -1.4 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2036 -23 -1.3 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2040 -22 -1.6 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2052 -22 -1.5 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2056 -25 -1.4 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2104 -26 -1.7 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2108 -18 -1.6 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2112 -19 -1.5 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2116 -20 -2.3 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2120 -26 -1.8 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2124 -23 -1.7 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2128 -22 -1.5 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2132 -26 -1.3 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2140 -25 -1.9 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2144 -25 -1.8 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2156 -31 -1.7 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2228 -27 -1.3 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7
This Week's HiFERs
It was finally feasible to reach the tower on the afternoon of the Fourth. Around 1:30 PM CDT, USC was barely visible (it disappeared entirely within an hour) while NC was clear and remained that way until nearly sunset, and SIW slant and WSPR were both visible for a few hours. EH was absent all afternoon, though, as was WV. A quick band scan turned up PBJ and MTI, the latter audible about 50% of the time. GNK was also visible and mostly audible (30-50% of the time). By late afternoon, MTI and PBJ were much weaker and GNK was absent. FRC never showed up.
I watched the watering hole after 1:45 PM long enough to get a couple of WSPR decodes, then tuned down to LF to look for XND on 75.50 kHz, followed by XIL in QRSS60 on 185.285, but neither of those showed up. I returned to HF later, but forgot to alter my frequency settings on WSPR 2.12, as you'll notice below.
1848 -22 -1.1 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1852 -25 -2.2 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1944 -26 -1.7 0.075507 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1948 -26 -1.5 0.075507 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1952 -29 -1.6 0.075507 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1956 -25 -1.5 0.075507 0 K3SIW EN52 7
In my own defense, my memory wasn't the only thing that shut down. I discovered this morning that it had gotten so hot by late afternoon that my cell phone had powered itself down to protect the battery from the heat! Worse is expected this afternoon, so I don't know how much monitoring will happen today.
John
Re: This Week's HiFERs (WM July 4)
Posted by John Davis on July 05, 2016 at 20:55:02.
In reply to This Week's HiFERs posted by John Davis on July 05, 2016
I forgot to mention how well WM was coming in during the first and middle parts of the afternoon! Most times, the CW ID was quite clear, even with all the other tones 100+ Hz above it. See attached.
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 4jul05.gif
Re: This Week's HiFERs (SIW July 5)
Here are the day's total SIW decodes. I started in late morning, actually, but only listened briefly before attempting XND and XIL on LF. After no success on either, I returned to HF at mid-afternoon.
1944 -29 -1.5 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 0004 -28 -2.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 0016 -25 -1.5 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 0020 -28 -2.2 13.555407 1 K3SIW EN52 7 0024 -28 -2.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 0036 -24 -1.7 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 0220 -30 -2.0 13.555405 0 K3SIW EN52 7 0228 -30 -1.8 13.555405 0 K3SIW EN52 7 0304 -24 -2.0 13.555405 0 K3SIW EN52 7 0308 -26 -2.1 13.555405 0 K3SIW EN52 7 0416 -27 -2.2 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7While the decodes were sporadic at best, notice how late into the night they continued! I finally gave up at midnight CDT/0500 UTC, by which time there were no more appearances of even slant mode SIW, and only rare snippets of WM (who came in more of the time than SIW did yesterday). Only NC remained visible at midnight, and GNK and FRC were still audible at times. More about the other stations later.
John
Re: This Week's HiFERs (WM July 4)
Posted by Mike N8OOU on July 06, 2016 at 16:07:49.
In reply to Re: This Week's HiFERs (WM July 4) posted by John Davis on July 05, 2016
John,
Thanks for the report. I did a station inspection on Saturday July 2nd, and found that the antenna and transmitter numbers were holding in the proper ranges. It's good to see your report confirm my measurments.
Thanks - Mike 73
Re: This Week's HiFERs (WM July 5)
Posted by John Davis on July 06, 2016 at 17:50:50.
In reply to Re: This Week's HiFERs (WM July 4) posted by Mike N8OOU on July 06, 2016
WM continued to do well yesterday, too, with signals strong enough to copy the CW IDs clearly in early afternoon, and almost that strong again right after dark. Even as late as 11:30 PM there were still occasional snippets of WM coming through.
WM Lowfer antenna relocation
Posted by Mike N8OOU on July 07, 2016 at 01:28:05.
I am testing the loop antenna now supported by taller trees, and suspended in fairly open space. The wire loop runs N-S, and I plan to run this configuration for the next few days. Reports welcome. Thanks
Mike 73
Re: This Week's HiFERs (July 6)
Posted by John Davis on July 07, 2016 at 05:33:19.
In reply to Re: This Week's HiFERs (SIW July 5) posted by John Davis on July 06, 2016
Wednesday was not a very good day to Illinois, or much of anywhere else in Kansas. Codar was back today, stronger than in recent days, but only EH and NC were consistently visible at the watering hole (with marginal appearances by USC). Early in the afternoon, PBJ and MTI were visible and the latter audible, but they were gone by 4 PM CDT. GNK and FRC behaved similarly, though I could still hear one or two characters at a time from FRC in late afternoon. Strong...and only partially predicted...storms overnight had the ground too soggy for an early start today, but maybe Thursday will be a little better.
John
PVC QSL
Posted by Bill Hensel on July 10, 2016 at 00:03:38.
I received a very nice QSL from the operator of the PVC Hifer beacon, it will go up on the shack wall. Thanks Ed
Re: PVC QSL
Posted by Ed Holland on July 10, 2016 at 13:01:41.
In reply to PVC QSL posted by Bill Hensel on July 10, 2016
Thanks Bill
Glad it arrived safely,
Ed
Re: WM Lowfer antenna relocation
Posted by John Davis on July 11, 2016 at 07:00:01.
In reply to WM Lowfer antenna relocation posted by Mike N8OOU on July 07, 2016
Been checking for your signal the past couple of days, including after sunset tonight, but no luck so far. (HiFER WM came in for an extended time today, though.)
John
Re: WM Lowfer antenna relocation
Posted by Mike N8OOU on July 11, 2016 at 09:43:18.
In reply to Re: WM Lowfer antenna relocation posted by John Davis on July 11, 2016
John, thanks for taking time to look for the Lowfer. I plan to do additional testing and tuning on it today (7/11/16). The Hifer is running on autopilot, while I attend to the Lowfer. It's good to hear that it continues working as designed.
Re: WM Lowfer antenna relocation
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on July 11, 2016 at 19:51:19.
In reply to Re: WM Lowfer antenna relocation posted by Mike N8OOU on July 11, 2016
Mike, I saw your signal for quite awhile around 1830Z, despite plenty of storm racket compared to my copy on July 9. Not seeing it right now (1950Z), perhaps because the storms to the north have intensified.
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
Re: WM Lowfer antenna relocation
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on July 11, 2016 at 21:33:02.
In reply to Re: WM Lowfer antenna relocation posted by Mike N8OOU on July 11, 2016
Mike, I see WM nicely again beginning around 2030Z.
Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
Night of Nights
Posted by Paul on July 12, 2016 at 18:29:43.
Just about 5.5 hours away from the beginning of Night of Nights. Spent yesterday moving antenna feedlines and retuning baluns for the NoN frequencies. Transmitter Supervisor SH rigged up the keying for the transmitters for the special event.
This morning, we started arriving at the transmitter site around 10:00 PDT. We are currently in the process of bringing up the H set and the L and K sets. Patience is required. Nothing has gone "BANG!" yet.
Should be a magical night!
VY 73, PS Re: Night of Nights
Posted by John Davis on July 12, 2016 at 18:46:49.
In reply to Night of Nights posted by Paul on July 12, 2016
Am getting the receiving setup all charged up now to be ready for the night's events! We're not predicted to have any more storms through the scheduled operation here in SE Kansas, so we'll see what happens.
John
Re: This Week's HiFERs (July 11)
Posted by John Davis on July 12, 2016 at 18:57:50.
In reply to Re: This Week's HiFERs (July 6) posted by John Davis on July 07, 2016
Not a great day Monday, but not bad either. The SIW duo showed up as soon as I got to the field around 11 AM CDT; NC and EH were in full collision at the time, but distinguishable, and USC was the best I've seen it in some weeks. WM was also visible, and occasionally audible.
Up the band, PBJ and MTI were slightly visible, and once in a while a letter or two of MTI was strong enough to receive by ear. GNK was highly variable...easy copy for one or two letters at a time, and totally gone other times.
The rather long gap after the first two SIW WSPR decodes turned out to be due to broadband noise from a "smart" battery charger I'd brought along to boost a new battery I was testing, which (even though brand new) had apparently not taken enough of a charge the day before from a few hours on my small charger to keep the computer running all afternoon on external power. Why any charger needs to put out hash at 13.56 MHz I do not know, but it was about the same level as the Codar noise. Being continuous rather than pulsed, it did even more damage to the signals. At any rate, these came through:
1608 -21 -2.0 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1612 -20 -1.7 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1732 -27 -1.6 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1736 -29 -1.6 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1744 -23 -1.7 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1748 -24 -1.7 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1752 -24 -1.6 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1756 -28 -1.6 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1828 -30 -1.7 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1836 -24 -1.7 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1840 -24 -1.7 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1844 -28 -2.5 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1852 -22 -2.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1900 -26 -1.7 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1904 -27 -1.7 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1912 -27 -2.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1916 -23 -1.8 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1920 -19 -1.8 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1924 -28 -1.6 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1932 -23 -2.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1936 -25 -1.8 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1948 -21 -2.0 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1952 -23 -1.9 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1956 -25 -1.8 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2000 -21 -1.8 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2008 -22 -2.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2012 -20 -2.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2140 -25 -2.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7
I continued monitoring HF until nearly 11 PM, by which time nobody was left at the HF watering hole, and only hints of GNK and FRC were audible at the other end of the band. I switched to 185.3 kHz for half an hour, and 75.5 kHz for another half hour, but nobody showed up there, either.
Right at midnight, I put the computer in sleep mode, then returned the receiver to HF before disconnecting and packing it up for the return to town. Suddenly, there was one very loud tone audible! Powering up the computer and reconnecting the audio cable, I saw the mess at the left side of the attached picture. Realizing the spurious products to be interaction with the strong Codar that was also present, I switched AGC to slow, which helped some, then switched out the R77's preamp so that the Codar pulses were not actuating AGC at all. Then I could tell for sure that the amazingly strong carrier was EH, all by itself! Whatever the reason for the enhancement, it didn't last long, as you can see in the attachment.
John
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 11jul-b.gif
Re: Night of Nights
Well, I spoke too soon about no predicted storms. They started predicting 'em, and the clouds started looking like it at 9 PM CDT/7 PM PDT, so I vacated the premises. No MF signals were heard from the coast, nor anything below 6 MHz for that matter. KPH at 6477.5 was subject to terrible QSB at first, and a little less two hours later. The 8 MHz frequencies of KPH and KSM were both great, as were the 12 and 16/17 MHz spots of both, and the 17026 transmitter of KFS. The KPH 22 MHz signals were weak, apparently on the high side of MUF for the path between us.
There were a couple of times that I thought I detected faint echoes on the stronger frequencies. On 8642 at 7:28, there was unmistakable long-path propagation for a short time.
Two slightly problematic copies: KSM at 12993 was solid in every way, but was accompanied by another (somewhat weaker) station about 30 Hz higher. The weaker one never seemed to identify during KSM's breaks, so I have no idea who it was. (If they did, I wasn't able to sync up mentally fast enough to copy at that speed.) And, the KFS transmitter on 12,695.5 was very strong but wandered a bit and had a peculiar note. The attached waterfall image first shows about minutes of copy of KPH 6477.5 at 8:12 PM after QSB had settled down somewhat, dead on frequency; after which I switched over to 12695.5 kHz.
Quite remarkable signals over a wide range of frequencies! Unfortunately, I forgot to take along my printout that had the NMC and WLO frequencies.
John
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 12julm.gif
Re: Night of Nights
Thank you, John!
I will ask Chief Operator Dillman about the 12.993 +30 signal.
The KFS 12.6955 transmitter gave us a few problems a couple times, but we found it pretty quickly and made the repairs in record time. It is a 15 KW Press Wireless unit that was built in 1943 and gets a little cranky now and then.
The guy from NMC dropped by our site a few minutes ago and told us that NMC didn't get on the air tonight. They had some problems with their new circuits that feed the transmitter site next door to us.
Re: Night of Nights
Posted by Paul on July 13, 2016 at 05:34:54.
In reply to Re: Night of Nights posted by John Davis on July 13, 2016
Chief Operator Dillman informed me that the signal you heard at 12.993 +30 (approx) was almost certainly WLO.
Re: Night of Nights
Posted by John Davis on July 13, 2016 at 18:21:55.
In reply to Re: Night of Nights posted by Paul on July 13, 2016
Paul wrote:
Chief Operator Dillman informed me that the signal you heard at 12.993 +30 (approx) was almost certainly WLO.
Thanks, Paul. I didn't suspect WLO, even after I returned home and checked the list I'd made from the newsletter, because I had them down as being a kilohertz lower than that.
John
Re: Night of Nights
Posted by John Davis on July 13, 2016 at 18:32:42.
In reply to Re: Night of Nights posted by Paul on July 13, 2016
Paul wrote:
The KFS 12.6955 transmitter gave us a few problems a couple times, but we found it pretty quickly and made the repairs in record time. It is a 15 KW Press Wireless unit that was built in 1943 and gets a little cranky now and then.
It certainly puts out the power! It was the strongest signal of the lot. My antenna buffer deliberately attenuates everything above 600 kHz by 20-40 dB (except for a peak at 13.56 MHz that's still 6 dB down from LF), so I usually run one of the R75's preamps on HF...but I had to turn them off for that signal, and it was still above S9 at times.
France Inter on 162 Khz
Posted by Mike Terry on July 15, 2016 at 12:19:03.
News about France Inter on 162 Khz LW, at this moment in time will be closing down on Saturday 31st December 2016, possibly switching off at Midnight (European Time) into 2017, so for UK listeners switch off on 162 Khz would be 23.00 hrs on 31/12/16. Re: This Week's HiFERs (July 12)
Would be great shame to lose this and for many years people I knew who were French lived in the UK listened to 162 Khz which at the time 30 - 25 years ago was only way to listen to it, unlike now with Digital & Internet is here.
Adam Birchenall on Ydun's Medium Wave Info (13/7-2016)
Posted by John Davis on July 15, 2016 at 18:33:16.
In reply to Re: This Week's HiFERs (July 6) posted by John Davis on July 12, 2016
First, a correction. The recent post named "Re: This Week's HiFERs (July 6)" should have been headed "(July 11)." I will go back and fix that later.
Meanwhile, I'll let you in on another little mistake. On Tuesday the 12th, I thought conditions were just generally poor on HF, because I could see the SIW slant mode signal OK but couldn't get enough of the WSPR signal for any decodes. NC was only fair, and EH and USC were barely present. Faint copy of MTI and GENK, one or two letters at a time, were all I could copy aurally. Really bad day, right?
Well, no. If anything, it was probably an extraordinarily good day!
I missed out on it because of what I discovered at 7 PM when I switched over to 500 kHz to start the Night of Nights listening. The frequency was dead quiet! Well, I knew that wasn't the case in reality, so I began hunting for bad connections. Found one--but not where I ever would have expected it. Turns out I'd laid the DC cable to the coaxial power inserter right beside the battery terminals that morning...but forgot to hook it up!
The antenna buffer was unpowered the whole day. Its feed-through loss is around 90 dB at LF and lower MF, and somewhat less at HF, obviously, or I would have gotten nothing at all there, either. I've not measured it precisely at 22 m, but it's in excess of 40 dB. So, the attached capture truly demonstrates the power of detection at QRSS30 slow speed. It shows SIW slant, plus the two frequencies of the NC square wave drifting below it and then rising back above. It also reveals that the high temperature of the day at NC occurred around 5:35 PM EDT, when the frequency was at its minimum.
Yesterday's storms here delayed access to the field today due to soggy ground, but maybe we'll see what the rest of this afternoon brings.
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 12julc8.gif
Re: This Week's HiFERs (July 12)
John, that seems to be the ultimate in low power reception, hi. Interesting way to measure temperature too.
Re: This Week's HiFERs (July 12)
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
Posted by John Davis on July 16, 2016 at 04:36:26.
In reply to Re: This Week's HiFERs (July 12) posted by Garry, K3SIW on July 15, 2016
Gerry wrote:
John, that seems to be the ultimate in low power reception, hi.
:-) Yeah, I think it's kind of pushing the limit.
Today I attempted a better measurement of the unpowered buffer's attenuation using WWV on 15 MHz. Still didn't quite get enough feed-through signal voltage to fall within the calibrated part of my scale, unfortunately, but the difference with power applied appeared to be around 52 dB, perhaps greater. Will try to take some actual lab instruments down there one of these afternoons, but that will require a multi-vehicle expedition because of the need to also provide AC power.
Today (the 15th) really was less than optimal propagation, but I did obtain two WSPR decodes from SIW in the early evening. More of today's results in a later post.
Re: Night of Nights
Posted by Paul on July 16, 2016 at 19:15:22.
In reply to Re: Night of Nights posted by John Davis on July 13, 2016
Thanks, OM!
We were running around 5 KW into an H/2 antenna, so about 40 KW ERP on that freq.
BetweenFER !
Posted by John Davis on July 17, 2016 at 04:24:33.
Thought you might like to know about an opportunity to hear something a little different on HF. The 44 meter ISM band is only available to experimenters in Canada under the RS-210 rules, and Bill de Carle previously worked with it some years ago. Tonight I finally got a chance to check email for the first time since yesterday, and found that he's at it again. Here's a selection of his posts over the past 24 hours from the qth.net reflector.
----------
"Bill de Carle"
Date: Fri, July 15
11:43 pm:
If you want something to look for, just activated the old "2IQ" PSK31 beacon on 6776.8 Khz. It puts out about 4 milliwatts but has been successfully copied in the past by John (TAG). Good luck!
Bill VE2IQ
- - - - -
Date: Sat, July 16, 2016
9:15 am:
I'll leave it running over the week-end in case anyone wants to try for it. Frequency is approximate (just an oscillator module, no ovenized standard), so if you can't see anything it would be difficult to tune. DigiPan working FB here for monitoring.
- - - - -
5:35 PM:
Antenna is low dipole, not resonant on this frequency. Same ant I was using when John (Andrews) copied this signal years ago. I believe he was in Maine then too, but distance is nearly the same from here to Maine or Mass.
I was also thinking after dark should be better, maybe 0200 .. 0400z?
- - - - -
5:52 pm:
Just now (2049z) measured the carrier frequency: 6,776,791 Hz. At this high BPSK rate there is some forgiveness in the tuning: within a couple Hz should be close enough. I'll measure it again later and report here.
Bill VE2IQ
----------
This Weekend's HiFERs
Posted by John Davis on July 17, 2016 at 06:14:23.
A good day for SIW WSPR:
1512 -22 -1.3 13.555405 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1516 -25 -1.1 13.555405 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1524 -29 -0.8 13.555405 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1528 -25 -0.8 13.555405 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1532 -28 -1.6 13.555405 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1536 -27 -1.2 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1540 -19 -1.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1548 -22 -0.9 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1552 -25 -1.7 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1556 -20 -1.4 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1600 -21 -1.1 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1608 -23 -1.0 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1624 -18 -1.0 13.555408 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1628 -23 -0.8 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1636 -23 -1.1 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1640 -25 -1.2 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1644 -24 -0.9 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1648 -20 -0.7 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1652 -20 -1.2 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1700 -23 -1.2 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1704 -27 -2.1 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1708 -25 -1.7 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1716 -28 -1.3 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1916 -32 -1.9 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1920 -29 -1.3 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1924 -29 -1.6 13.555408 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1928 -21 -1.3 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1932 -23 -2.1 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1944 -18 -1.1 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1948 -27 -1.2 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1952 -20 -2.2 13.555408 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1956 -27 -2.0 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2000 -28 -1.6 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2004 -28 -1.4 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2012 -30 -1.1 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2020 -30 -1.6 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2320 -26 -1.7 13.555403 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2328 -29 -2.3 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7Nice copy of the slant mode most of the day as well. USC and NC were strongest when I started about 9 AM, and EH gradually faded in later in the morning. It had its heyday after about 6 PM, though, when USC and even NC were gone, all the way to sunset. EH was gone an hour later, though, and NC made a fair return for a while.
Away from the watering hole, MTI and PBJ were faintly visible this morning, and audible only rarely. GNK was quite prominent around 4 PM CDT, and FRC was pretty good despite a lot of codar around 9 PM.
Nobody else showed up. In fact, I haven't hear WV in at least a month.
John
Leo Bodnar GPSDO
Posted by Frank Lotito K3DZ / WH2XHA on July 17, 2016 at 13:00:23.
ref: http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=107&products_id=234
and QST, June 2016, pages 60 - 61
Has anyone tried this device? What can be done if more than 3 meters of cable length is required to locate the "active antenna" for a clear view of the sky? If this unit is housed in a protective enclosure at or near mast head, do temperature swings cause a problem?
73 Frank Lotito K3DZ / WH2XHA Sweden’s SAQ Alexanderson Alternator station receives nearly 300 repor
Posted by Mike Terry on July 17, 2016 at 14:04:35.
Lars Kalland, SM6NM, at the SAQ Grimeton Heritage Site station in Sweden issued a preliminary report on July 12, noting that 297 listener reports were received, and most listeners were able to copy at least part of the July 3 'Alexanderson Day' commemorative transmissions on 17.2 kHz. The vast majority of the reports were from Europe, but four listeners in the US were able to hear the SAQ signal.
“Thanks again for the nice job to keep the old machine in perfect working order,” said Jean Louis Descombes, F6BNL. “It is such a thrill to hear it on the air!,” said John Collins, KN1H.
Dating from the 1900s, the Alexanderson alternator - essentially an ac generator run at extremely high speed — can put out 200 kW but typically is operated at less than one-half that power level. Once providing reliable transatlantic communication, it is now a museum piece and only put on the air on special occasions. It was built in the 1920s.
The station is managed by the Grimeton World Heritage Foundation.
http://www.arrl.org/news/sweden-s-saq-alexanderson-alternator-station-receives-nearly-300-reports Re: This Weekend's HiFERs
Posted by John Andrews, W1TAG on July 17, 2016 at 14:26:02.
In reply to This Weekend's HiFERs posted by John Davis on July 17, 2016
Did some Hifer looking-around this morning between 1300 and 1415 UTC, from my QTH in southern Maine. No surprises for the time of day, though many of the signals were on the weak side.
13555.300: WM, weak.
13555.400: SIW WSPR2 SNR around -15.
13555.43 : SIW slant, similar on Argo screen to the WSPR.
13555.492: NC, heading for the daily ballet with USC.
13555.505: USC, waiting for NC. Both good signals.
13555.83 : Nothing seen of WV. Was good copy back in May.
13557.51 : MTI, CW, copyable by ear on peaks.
13557.53 : PBJ, weak in QRSS6. Long periods of invisibility.
13563.98 : GNK, good signal.
Nothing else seen - checked all freqs in the Medfer/Hifer list. Copy of the western stations would be better in the early evening. Will check tonight.
John Andrews, W1TAG Re: This Weekend's HiFERs
FN43sv
Posted by John Andrews, W1TAG on July 18, 2016 at 00:14:29.
In reply to Re: This Weekend's HiFERs posted by John Andrews, W1TAG on July 17, 2016
Checked this evening, nothing heard beyond this morning's lineup.
John, W1TAG
Re: BetweenFER !
Posted by John Davis on July 18, 2016 at 03:11:30.
In reply to BetweenFER ! posted by John Davis on July 17, 2016
Nothing copied thus far in SE Kansas from 2IQ in PSK31 mode.
I had some odd copy on MultiPSK this evening, though. Every few minutes, out of the usual random characters, the phrase "e MJoeN aar i" would recur. Other shorter peculiar character strings also appeared a number of times each, but that one was far and away the most common amongst all the gibberish. Anyone have similar experiences with that program?
John
Re: BetweenFER !
Posted by Bill deCarle VE2IQ on July 18, 2016 at 13:04:28.
In reply to Re: BetweenFER ! posted by John Davis on July 18, 2016
Thanks for posting the info about 44 M BeFER beacon 2IQ. While it was on, the measured frequency was 6776.792 Khz +/- 2 Hz. I shut down at 11pm Eastern (0300z). Happy to run special tests on request. Maybe the next step would be to devise a more robust scheme that can get short messages through even with heavy QRM? QRSS100 on 137.7770 kHz tonight
Bill VE2IQ
Posted by Joe VO1NA on July 18, 2016 at 22:57:30.
The TX is on until 1000 utc tomorrow (19 July). 3.7 amps, 500 watts to the low (12m) 100m wire. TX location GN37, east coast of Canada. Reports most welcomed, especially frequency reports.
73 Joe VO1NA
Re: QRSS100 on 137.7770 kHz tonight
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on July 19, 2016 at 12:00:09.
In reply to QRSS100 on 137.7770 kHz tonight posted by Joe VO1NA on July 18, 2016
Joe, I monitored for your signal using QRSS120, slow. Storm noise wasn't too bad here (the noise floor was up only about 5 dB) but results were disappointing. Your signal was identifiable right at 137.7770 kHz through much of the night, but just barely. Around 0700Z the sequence "dot, dash, space, dash" came through well but those were the only clear symbols and no letters were copied.
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
Re: QRSS100 on 137.7770 kHz tonight
Posted by Joe on July 20, 2016 at 00:54:32.
In reply to Re: QRSS100 on 137.7770 kHz tonight posted by Garry, K3SIW on July 19, 2016
Hi Garry and many thanks for your efforts. The TX is on again until 1000 utc tomorrow nd soon a better antenna will be QRV. BPSK on 55.500 kHz
73 Joe
Posted by Jim Vander Maaten on July 22, 2016 at 18:05:03.
I live in northern California and recently discovered a strong BPSK signal on 55.500 kHz (-57 dBm). My guess is it's coming from Dixon, Ca. Sounds just like the DGPS stations around 300 kHz.
Just a FYI for the lowdowers.
jim vm GNK loud and clear
Posted by Ed Holland on July 27, 2016 at 16:54:07.
Hi Folks,
Jet lag was a great excuse to head to the listening desk this morning around 16:00 UTC
The old computer was a little reluctant to start, so no spectrum lab work was possible, but I heard nice instances of GNK, plain and clear.
I hope to do more listening soon - there is nothing like an enforced break to stir one back into action.
Cheers,
Ed
Anticipating some LF tinkering
Posted by Ed Holland on July 28, 2016 at 23:47:09.
Hi Folks,
Tempted by the reasonable price, I have just ordered the LF converter from WB9KZY:
Whilst two of my receivers tune down below 100kHz with fair results, I thought it would be interesting to evaluate this module, and report back to the board.
Of course, I now need to do something in the aerial department in time for the winter LW season. Not sure what I can arrange that would be effective here (ideas welcome) but I suspect the main difficulty will be dodging noise. To that end, it might make sense to use the converter in a remote location if it proves capable.
Cheers
Ed
Re: Anticipating some LF tinkering
Posted by John Davis on July 30, 2016 at 19:14:37.
In reply to Anticipating some LF tinkering posted by Ed Holland on July 28, 2016
Looks like a fun kit, Ed, and probably a pretty capable one within certain limits.
Intermod. The chief limitation is the dynamic range of the SA602 IC. It doesn't have very good intermodulation performance in the presence of strong signals, such as you are likely to encounter from the MW broadcast stations in your area. Therefore, you may want to supplement the filter with an additional LPF and/or wave traps to reject out-of-band signals.
Stability. Another gray area is frequency stability. The kit will certainly be good enough for conventional CW, but may be less so for slow digital modes. There are two or three things you can do to help with that concern.
One is to keep the crystal frequency as low as practical, maybe even something less than the 4 MHz furnished with the kit; certainly not 10 MHz as they suggest as one alternative. The reason for this is that a drift of, let us say, ±10 ppm in an oscillator running at 2 MHz results in a tuning error of ±20 Hz at the receiver, whereas one running at 10 MHz would present a ±100 Hz error to the receiver. (Having said that, you also don't want to drop the oscillator frequency too low, either, or you will risk passing signals that are not adequately rejected by the LPF, resulting in possible problems with feedthrough and aliasing. Unless you beef up the input filter considerably, 4 MHz may be the best compromise between stability and spurious rejection.)
Another stability factor will be to keep the converter in a temperature controlled environment. This is one reason not to try locating it remotely, and there's another I'll mention in a moment.
And finally, of course, don't be tempted to run without the voltage regulator, even if you have a battery that's within the permissible voltage range of the IC.
Output Impedance and Location. The input and output impedance of this design do not match 50 ohms, and this has certain consequences that may be more or less serious, depending on how it is deployed. We'll look at the output end first.
The single-ended emitter follower used in the project has a couple of limitations, one of which is the other reason I don't recommend locating the converter remotely from the receiver. It's satisfactory for short cable runs to the receiver, but longer runs will be problematic. This is because there is no attempt to "build out" the impedance of the follower to match the characteristic impedance of the transmission line.
Consider what a voltage follower does: it attempts to match the voltage at its output to the voltage present at its input, by sourcing however much current is needed through the load at a given moment in order to produce that result. A 50 ohm resistor right across the output poses little difficulty for the transistor; even as much as a 1 volt negative-going step only causes Q1 to have to conduct an additional 20 mA beyond its resting current, which is usually within its capabilities. But parallel that resistor with a capacitive reactance (such as a long run of coaxial cable may well present when not terminated adequately at both ends), and suddenly the current requirements increase dramatically. At some value of voltage change per unit of time, the transistor can't keep up, and distortion results.
The most direct solution for this is a build-out resistor in series with C9 at the output connection. Given that the real-world output impedance of the follower is not actually zero to begin with, a value of 39 to 47 ohms turns out to be fine. If the transmission line "sees" a close enough resistive approximation its characteristic impedance present at both ends, its inductive and capacitive reactance characteristics balance out nicely and both devices connected to it are then optimally matched. But there is a downside to this approach--a 6 dB reduction in signal level. That need not be an issue if the source has ample gain, low noise figure, and sufficient dynamic range; but we've already mentioned that dynamic range is not the strong suit of the NE/SA602 IC. Thus, the output section limitations, along with the challenge of maintaining frequency stability, are the two reasons why I wouldn't recommend operating this converter remotely.
(Also worth a brief mention in passing...the fact that it is a single-ended output with passive load imposes greater restrictions on dynamic range than if it were a push-pull output--which might be hard to achieve in this case--or even an active constant-current emitter load. The emitter follower transistor can pull current in one direction with relative impunity up to a point; whereas, for conduction in the opposite direction, the passive emitter resistor R1 is effectively in series with the load resistance, forming a voltage divider. For very small signals, this is not an issue, but as signal voltage increases, both slew rate and peak voltage limitations come into play that are asymmetrical with polarity. While making the converter output more robust wouldn't overcome the inherent input signal voltage limits of the IC itself, it might at least improve its output characteristics enough to be worthwhile.)
Input Impedance. This is already discussed to a degree in the kit's PDF manual and indirectly in the input filter discussion at Jack Smith's website linked from it. The main effect that would concern me is its impact on filter characteristics, particularly if I had to use a fairly substantial coax run between the antenna and the receiving location. Placing a terminating resistor across C6 might have more benefit in that circumstance, but probably only if the source were also matched to 50 ohms...which a long wire antenna would not be, but an active whip or an amplified loop are more likely to be. That's something you may wish to discuss further when the time comes.
Meanwhile, best of luck with the kit, and keep us all informed of your progress.
John Re: Anticipating some LF tinkering
Posted by ed holland on July 31, 2016 at 01:01:48.
In reply to Re: Anticipating some LF tinkering posted by John Davis on July 30, 2016
Hi John,
Thanks so much for your advice - lots of great detail. I certainly see your point about the undesirability of remote location on stability, but had not considered the aspect of matching (or not) to feedlines. Crystal frequency choice vs stability is also prescient. The 4 Mhz crystal was going to be my first choice.
As to problems caused by broadcast band stations, I did invest the extra $ and choose the the kit option to add extra low pass filtering. My local surplus store can likely provide extra parts for this if necessary.
My final challenge is what to do for an antenna, and where to site it. There are a few interesting ideas out there, including active loops and whips. Active designs would at least allow one to provide a good (or at least predictable) match to the converter. Reception goals certainly include Lowfers in the 100-200 kHz band at first, maybe heading lower once I see what works around here, and what the noise is like.
This is definitely a tinker project. Step 1 will be to add it into the present receive setup, and compare reception using the converter to the case where the RX's are directly tuned on frequency. After that, antenna experiments.
Best regards,
Ed
potrzebie