Re: Got 22 meter Beacon ?
Nice job, OM.
The FRC (K6FRC) HiFer beacon lives inside a temperature (and humidity) controlled radio communications equipment building on a hilltop, so temperature drift is not an issue. The antenna is a re-tuned 20 meter band "hamstick" mounted on the roof of the metal building. Still using the same antenna that was installed almost 16 years ago. It is an original Hamstick, not the cheap MFJ version. The hilltop sees intense sun, 100+ MPH winds (at times), and the antenna is still holding strong. www.k6frc.com/images/hiferantsm.jpg
The beacon itself is homebrew in an aluminum RF tight enclosure mounted to the wall inside the building. The power supply is a wall-wart type. Inside the aluminum enclosure is the beacon transmitter, keyer, and helical cavity type bandpass filter and coax static drain. www.k6frc.com/images/HiFerbcn.jpg
The keyer has a DTMF decoder chip that feeds its output to the keyer's PIC chip, so the beacon can be controlled over a microwave radio link the broadcast station at the site uses for remote control. The beacon message can also be reprogrammed remotely, if that option were to be reconnected.
The RF output ends up close to 2 mW. I measured the RF field using a FIM when the beacon was installed shortly after 2002. I adjusted the power supply voltage regulator for the correct RF output to achieve the legal limit of field intensity to meet the FCC rules.
Have sent out over 100 QSL cards since 2002. www.k6frc.com/images/QSL.GIF
Re: Got 22 meter Beacon ?
Posted by John Davis on July 01, 2018 at 17:52:05.
In reply to Re: Got 22 meter Beacon ? posted by Paul on July 01, 2018
Paul wrote:
...an original Hamstick, not the cheap MFJ version
I went looking for those online recently, with the only result being great confusion. Is the original product, or something very close to it, still being made or sold anywhere?
Re: Got 22 meter Beacon ?
Posted by Paul on July 02, 2018 at 04:54:05.
In reply to Re: Got 22 meter Beacon ? posted by John Davis on July 01, 2018
Sadly, no. The original Lakeview Antenna Company Hamstick antennas were hand made and of very high quality. MFJ started making their cheapo version maybe 15 years ago, and hams being the way they are, chose the cheap hamsticks over the really good ones, so Lakeview quit making them, and went out of business around the end of 2011. Today, there are the cheapo MFJ hamsticks and the ultra-cheapo ProComm hamsticks. That's it. Re: 398 khz too much noise to make it out
Posted by Jason Goldring on July 02, 2018 at 19:11:04.
In reply to Re: 398 khz too much noise to make it out posted by John Davis on June 26, 2018
Yup - confirmed that is what it is, took a short drive and within 1km it started to boom in. Thanks!
Running 22m on 11m....
Posted by Jason Goldring on July 03, 2018 at 02:32:33.
As an experimenter, I suppose what I did was a bit of an oddity at first but came with self reasoning, taking a half-wave CB base antenna, Sigma Venom, and running it as a 1/4 wave for 22m. I asked myself the wrong question when I muttered "does it work", yet I knew the answer was no until I get my first QSL ack.
While I may wait for some time, I am sure the few milliwatts being sent out might work their way to someone who has an interest....
Point behind this really comes down to how we can leverage readily available 11m gear for other bands. What are your experiences to enlighten the subject? ESA kaput, RIP
Jason
Posted by jimvm on July 03, 2018 at 16:45:20.
While swapping batteries, I reversed polarity and ESA no longer works.
I built this hifer beacon 14 years ago. Time to put in a reverse diode on the VAN
beacon.
ESA OUNTFN.
Re: ESA kaput, RIP
Posted by jimvm on July 03, 2018 at 18:40:03.
In reply to ESA kaput, RIP posted by jimvm on July 03, 2018
VAN beacon reactivated. 13.563.120~. Re: Running 22m on 11m....
Posted by Paul on July 03, 2018 at 22:13:17.
In reply to Running 22m on 11m.... posted by Jason Goldring on July 03, 2018
Well, Jason....
I had no idea what a "Sigma Venom" CB antenna was, so I looked it up. Appears to be an end fed 1/2 wave antenna.
The trick to getting an end-fed 1/2 wave antenna to match 50 ohm coax is with a shunt of some kind at the feedpoint and possibly a little bit of capacitance. Assuming a 1/2 wave at 27 MHz. (physical length), the feedpoint impedance at the end is very high, and the shunt must be a very short distance away from the coax center point to ground. Assuming the shunt is around 1% from feedpoint, the impedance of such an antenna at 13.5 MHz. would be very low (almost a dead short). What that means is, high standing wave ratio (SWR) and very low amount of power radiated from your antenna on 13.5 MHz. You would quite literally be better off using a coat hanger for an antenna.
If you disassemble the base load portion of the antenna and remove the shunt, then you could feed the 17 foot long element as a 1/4 wave. Assuming you add some radials beneath it, you could get the impedance close to 50 ohms at 13.5 MHz. You may have to play with the radiating element length a bit to zero it in.
2SK117 substitute for link in article in Feb 2018 Lowdown
Posted by Chris Waldrup on July 04, 2018 at 23:57:19.
Hi,
On the members material for Feb 2018 there is a link to a paper for a low noise VLF amplifier.
It is a cascade JFET input and OP27 amp.
Can I substitute another JFET such as a 2N5484 for the FETs?
Thanks.
Chris
Re: 2SK117 substitute for link in article in Feb 2018 Lowdown
Posted by Gregg on July 05, 2018 at 15:15:10.
In reply to 2SK117 substitute for link in article in Feb 2018 Lowdown posted by Chris Waldrup on July 04, 2018
I'd use a 2SK880. I use those on Moving Coil phono stages and their performace would be spectacular for VLF.
Cheers!
Re: 2SK117 substitute for link in article in Feb 2018 Lowdown
Posted by John Davis on July 05, 2018 at 16:41:12.
In reply to Re: 2SK117 substitute for link in article in Feb 2018 Lowdown posted by Gregg on July 05, 2018
I was not previously aware of the 2SK880 myself, but I wholeheartedly agree with Gregg. All of its characteristics are a much better match for the 2SK117 in this circuit.
NTE458 is a general replacement for the 2SK117 in a TO-92 package, but I don't know how consistent its characteristics are from unit to unit. A person could end up having to hand-select Q2 to make sure its Idss is higher than Q1's... although, technically, that's also true of the 2SK117 and 880 as well, since JFETs do exhibit a lot of variability in that parameter.
The 2N5484 could be made to work in a cascode stage with the 2N4416, but the noise figure, gate impedance, and transconductance are distinctly inferior. It would probably be necessary to reduce the gain of the Q1-Q2-Q3 complementary feedback "pair" considerably, too, in order to maintain adequate intermod performance; that is, by raising the value of Rs by as much as a factor of 10 times. (This might be necessary in real-world LF/VLF applications anyway, even with the right Q1. The voltage gain of the cascade-FETs-plus-BJT "pair" as shown is 200, and the OP27 is configured with an additional voltage gain of 10. Both of these are serious overkill at LF.)
For those who are not (yet) members of the LWCA, the amplifier we are discussing is from a 1989 Review of Scientific Instrumentation article by Steven R. Jefferts and F. L. Walls that can be downloaded from the NIST Web site: tf.nist.gov/general/pdf/821.pdf
John
P.S.--Dr Jefferts is apparently one smart cookie. Need the right time? Gotta have the most accurate frequency available? Thank him for it. From elsewhere on the NIST site, concerning the nation's official atomic clock standard: "NIST-F1 was developed by Steve Jefferts and Dawn Meekhof of the Time and Frequency Division of NIST's Physical Measurement Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. It was constructed and tested in less than four years. The current NIST-F1 team includes physicists Steve Jefferts and Tom Heavner."
Re: Got 22 meter Beacon ?
Posted by John, W1TAG on July 05, 2018 at 18:21:02.
In reply to Got 22 meter Beacon ? posted by michael tyler on June 29, 2018
I was going to post some info on the RY Hifer beacon earlier, but the hot weather got in the way! Finally sat down this afternoon, and updated an old article. See:
RY Hifer
John, W1TAG/1 Re: 2SK117 substitute for link in article in Feb 2018 Lowdown
Raymond, ME
Posted by Chris Waldrup on July 05, 2018 at 21:49:17.
In reply to Re: 2SK117 substitute for link in article in Feb 2018 Lowdown posted by Gregg on July 05, 2018
Thanks Gregg and John,
I may have this part as I have a Toshiba sample kit. I’ll check. Holiday HiFERs
Chris
Posted by John Davis on July 06, 2018 at 05:19:20.
Noise wasn't too loud at the watering hole on the Fourth, but neither were the signals most of the time. One exception was the half hour centered on local solar noon:
1812 -25 -1.5 13.555404 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1816 -26 -1.1 13.555404 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1828 -27 -1.4 13.555404 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1836 -31 -1.3 13.555404 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1848 -25 2.1 13.555391 3 AIR6EC 12 1848 -21 -1.7 13.555404 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1856 -27 -1.4 13.555404 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1944 -28 -1.5 13.555404 0 K3SIW EN52 7Although SIW WSPR was visible off and on the rest of the afternoon, there were no more decodes after the 1944 UTC slot. MTI was visible at times and rarely also audible. Only intermittent faint ghosts of USC showed up. EH was present most of the time, as was SIW slant (immediately below), and WM showed up somewhat brokenly at times (farther below).
After mid-afternoon, WV showed up for a little while, there were snippets of NDB2, and GNK ranging from barely visible to nicely audible over spans of several seconds. Signal could sometimes be seen at WAS' spot, but not heard. Absolutely nobody showed up from the West all afternoon, however!
BUH was audible numerous times, along with what I take to be its FeldHell transmission. (I tried some variations on speed in Argo,but that wasn't enough to render any characters.) Just prior to each fat, relatively slow "BUH" ident was a fainter and seemingly faster burst of CW in which I think I heard a U and a V, but it was never as clear.
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 4julc.jpg
File Attachment 2: 4jula.jpg
File Attachment 3: 4julb.jpg
Fireworks on the Fifth (AZ & VAN Again!)
It was just after sunset tonight when I finally got a chance to start listening. A quick initial band scan turned up nothing except at the watering hole. If there was an Illinois opening during the day, it was already gone, but EH boomed in for several minutes before settling down to average levels. MTI could be heard a couple of times, too, but was generally swamped by EH.
After watching the watering hole for an hour or so, I tuned around again. Unlike Wednesday afternoon, the West was wild. Tuning around 13,554 at 9:50 PM CDT, I was surprised to hear strong CW. Turned out to be AZ--first time here in almost three months!
At 9:54 I tried for VAN, with almost immediate results. The first couple of IDs were clearly audible, but even after the signal faded a bit, some characters were audible and the dash was distinctly visible.
At 9:58 PM, K6FRC was visible and shortly became clear by ear as well.
I then tuned down to TON, which was clearly audible too. It was a more solid signal than I'd experienced over the past couple of weeks as well.
By about 10:10, EH was gone, and static was still too rough on LF to do anything down there, so I packed up for the night and returned to town.
John
Re: 2SK117 substitute for link in article in Feb 2018 Lowdown
Posted by Chris Waldrup on July 06, 2018 at 19:10:45.
In reply to Re: 2SK117 substitute for link in article in Feb 2018 Lowdown posted by Gregg on July 05, 2018
Nope. It was a NEC sample kit not Toshiba like I thought. Don’t have any but I’ll search for them. Reminder: Lowfer net 3927Khz Saturday morning 0800 California time
I’m curious if the JFETs harvested from electret mic elements would be similar.
Posted by Jerry Parker on July 06, 2018 at 20:24:27.
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 hetrodines
Hope to see you there
KFS WebSDR in California
69.27.184.62
OR Try the other Western US HF WebSDR systems: W7RNA Multiband WebSDR Receiver and Northern Utah WebSDR. They both work very well.
69.27.184.62
W7RNA Sedona AZ http://w7rna.dyndns-remote.com:18901/
KA7OEI Northern UT http://websdr1.utahsdr.org:8901/
"NOW HAS 630M RECEIVER"
Jerry WA6OWR
Re: Fireworks on the Fifth (AZ & VAN Again!)
Posted by Ward K7PO on July 06, 2018 at 23:50:23.
In reply to Fireworks on the Fifth (AZ & VAN Again!) posted by John Davis on July 06, 2018
John,
Thanks for the report (TON). By more solid, do you mean it's not moving around by a couple Hz every few transmissions? I did some thermal work. OK, I can't sell that one, let's just say I finally properly packaged and weatherproofed it.
Ward K7PO/WH2XXP
Temporary Hifer on 13556.100
Posted by Robert KC8UCH on July 07, 2018 at 00:09:57.
I have a Hifer beacon that will be on the air at least tonight, and perhaps through the weekend. It's using QRSS on 13556.100. Interested in any reports, especially frequency accuracy. The beacon is software generated on a Raspberry Pi (rpitx).
Thanks and 73.
Re: Temporary Hifer on 13556.100
Posted by John Davis on July 07, 2018 at 16:38:44.
In reply to Temporary Hifer on 13556.100 posted by Robert KC8UCH on July 07, 2018
Hi Robert. I hope you are keeping it on through the weekend. I didn't get a chance to go to the field last night and am not sure how soon I'll be able to go today; but even if I knew, the variability of the band over the distance between us would make it advantageous to have it operational for the longest possible time. In any case, I'll be listening for it.
Re: Fireworks on the Fifth (AZ & VAN Again!)
Posted by John Davis on July 07, 2018 at 16:51:04.
In reply to Re: Fireworks on the Fifth (AZ & VAN Again!) posted by Ward K7PO on July 06, 2018
Ward wrote:
By more solid, do you mean it's not moving around by a couple Hz every few transmissions?
That too. :) Actually, I was mainly referring to there being less short-term deep fading than I usually experience on signals from the West. It was still subject to about a 2.5 minute QSB cycle, but when it was anywhere but the very minimum, each letter was consistently good copy.
(And that was true even though the band was afflicted with Codar. Wherever it was coming from, it had very wide rapid-period QSB fluctuations, probably becase we were in the aftermath of a G1 magnetic disturbance at the time.)
However, I did also notice that TON showed no 1 or 2 Hz frequency jumps any more! Whatever you did, it certainly seems to have made a significant difference in stability.
John
Re: Temporary Hifer on 13556.100
Posted by Robert KC8UCH on July 08, 2018 at 03:02:41.
In reply to Re: Temporary Hifer on 13556.100 posted by John Davis on July 07, 2018
Hi John. I'll keep it on tonight, and I'll probably restart it for Sunday night, too. The wire dipole I'm using is tuned for a little higher on the 20m band, but with any luck it's putting out enough for you to copy it. Thanks! -R
Re: Temporary Hifer on 13556.100
Posted by John Davis on July 08, 2018 at 05:47:58.
In reply to Re: Temporary Hifer on 13556.100 posted by Robert KC8UCH on July 08, 2018
Conditions were very poor on the band this evening. EH was the only signal for a long time, with a brief appearance by VAN and a little longer appearances by TON and GNK. Later, SIW slant showed up long enough to get a full ID, with intermittent hits of MTI, until the band pretty much died about 11 PM. Nothing around 556.100 any of the times I checked there during the evening, though.
I hope you'll consider leaving it on until noon or maybe even 1 PM Central, as mid to late morning should be a more favorable time over the path between us.
John
2200 m WSPR Saturday PM
Posted by John Davis on July 08, 2018 at 06:25:06.
With 22 m poor in late afternoon, I switched to 2200 m for a while in hopes that static might not be as high this evening as it has been recently. I was very encouraged to be able to detect the 137.600 PLC that has usually been obliterated by QRN after mid-afternoon, but both XXP and XND were already in the pre-sunset fade by 6:30 PM CDT. Two hours later, XND just barely poked its nose up out of the noise for an hour. The 0040 time slot is the worst SNRR I've ever seen WSPR-2 decode:
0036 -28 -0.7 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0040 -32 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0044 -26 -0.7 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0048 -29 -0.7 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0052 -28 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0056 -27 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0100 -25 -0.7 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0104 -24 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0108 -25 -0.7 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0112 -26 -0.7 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0116 -24 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0120 -25 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0124 -25 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0128 -25 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0132 -28 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0136 -26 -0.7 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43Then even XND was gone for an extended time, so I tuned back up to 22 m for a while. When that band faded away, I returned and got this:
0356 -26 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0356 -26 -0.9 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0400 -25 -0.8 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0400 -24 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0404 -23 -0.9 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0404 -23 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0408 -22 -1.0 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0408 -22 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0412 -23 -0.8 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0412 -21 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0416 -24 -0.8 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0416 -21 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0420 -23 -0.9 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0420 -20 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0424 -26 -0.8 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0424 -22 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0428 -24 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0432 -20 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0436 -20 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0440 -23 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0444 -21 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0448 -23 -1.0 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0452 -22 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0456 -27 -0.8 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0456 -22 -0.8 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0500 -27 -1.1 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0500 -23 -1.1 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 0504 -25 -1.0 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 0504 -22 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43As you can see, both were present, then it was just XND again for a prolonged spell, and finally by midnight both were strong enough to overcome noise (even though the noise was several dB stronger than it had been two hours earlier). It seemed pretty clear that both WSPR-ers are likely to be around for the remainder of the night; so I'm going to try next for EAR, who eluded me all through June.
Sunday Morning Mystery
Currently parked and watching 13,556,100 ± 120 Hz, but earlier I scanned the band and watched the watering hole for a few minutes--see attachment. A mystery maybe-signal showed up at 13,555,470, but was too incomplete to identify. Regulars USC, EH, both SIWs, MTI and WM were present, but also slightly battered by propagation and general noise.
Just before then, NDB2 was clearly readable but with wide level swings, and GNK was faint but often audible. Nobody else seen or heard during the 9 AM hour, CDT.
John
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 8jul22m1.jpg
Re: Temporary Hifer on 13556.100
Yes, I'll keep it on throughout the day. Thanks for your efforts!
Re: Sunday Morning Mystery
Posted by Ward K7PO on July 08, 2018 at 16:48:22.
In reply to Sunday Morning Mystery posted by John Davis on July 08, 2018
Hi John,
I might know who that is. . . . 7P is back on QRSS3. Turned it on last night @ 9:00 PM(AZ time). Both TON and 7P are in Tonopah, DM33. Antennas are identical, on opposite corners of the property.
-73-
Ward K7PO/WH2XXP
Re: Long wave broadcasting in Canada and USA
Posted by Mike on July 08, 2018 at 17:22:02.
In reply to Re: Long wave broadcasting in Canada and USA posted by John Davis on January 11, 2018
In the 1930's the FCC in the US considered allowing LW broadcasting to cover thinly populated regions of the country underserved by regular MW stations but decided against it.
In the 1950's the idea was revisited for civil defense broadcast's but it was felt that the public wouldn't invest in dedicated receivers so CONELRAD (and later EBS) was adopted instead.
Australia also toyed with the idea of putting its ABC stations on LW but ultimately opted for a mix of MW and tropical band SW (the latter for remote parts of the country).
Re: Sunday Morning Mystery
Posted by Chris Waldrup on July 08, 2018 at 21:49:22.
In reply to Sunday Morning Mystery posted by John Davis on July 08, 2018
Also I just changed battery on PBJ a few hours ago (probably in 12 pm central hour).
Apologies for it being off a few weeks. The huge oak that supports the inverted V for it died in last summers drought and I’m going to have it cut at some point this year. Will re orient the antenna to a similar pattern in a neighboring tree.
Chris
Re: Sunday Morning Mystery
Posted by John Davis on July 08, 2018 at 22:12:39.
In reply to Re: Sunday Morning Mystery posted by Chris Waldrup on July 08, 2018
The NC QRSS3 "squarewave" is back! Dex has fixed a bad piece of coax. It was about 555.455 at 1 PM, but has wandered down later in the afternoon from heat. It will trek back upward later.
The signal at 555.470 could indeed be 7P, but as of mid-approaching-late afternoon, I've had no luck seeing entire characters. It's still better than I've been able to do with TON today, or for that matter, most stations away from the watering hole. No more NDB2 late this afternoon, and even GNK was poor. No sign of PBJ yet this afternoon, either, although it's more of a pre-solar-noon and early-evening critter anyway.
Am currently taking a break while the band is poor and the shack is h/o/t, and will take another look before (and maybe for a while after) sunset.
John
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 8jula26.jpg
Re: Long wave broadcasting in Canada and USA
"In the 1930's the FCC in the US considered allowing LW broadcasting..."
It was actually still the Federal Radio Commission at the time. This was the nearly 90-year-old notion I alluded to in my post, which was being promoted publicly in 1931 by a certain Lieut. William H. Wenstrom. His articles in the April and June issues of Radio News that year were intended to demonstrate how 7-10 stations of 500-1000 kW power in the vicinity of 1500 meters could cover the nation reliably. His ideas were based heavily on the work of former BBC Chief Engineer P. P. Eckersley ("Service Area of Broadcast Stations," Proc. I. R. E., July, 1930). The big questions back then included whom to entrust with such a virtual monopoly on program delivery (the idea of Sirius XM would have filled regulators back then with horror) and how it would be funded. Lt. Engstrom estimated the power bill for each such station at over $1,000 per day ...which was real money in those days.
"In the 1950's the idea was revisited for civil defense broadcasts..."
More like the 1970s, I believe. Someone might have had the idea earlier, but it was never seriously floated until DIDS was given a limited trial in the form of "doomsday station" WGU-20. Broadcast infrastructure, including program distribution channels, were so ubiquitous by the 50s that CONELRAD (which recently celebrated its 60th birthday) was considered adequate if somewhat awkward to coordinate. As a young mediumwave DXer in the early 60s, I remember the remarkable day when CONELRAD received a full-scale operational test and the entire AM band went silent except 640 and 1240 kHz for the duration.
After there was no longer deemed to be any threat of enemy navigation by AM radio, EBS was simpler and should have been still more reliable. But I suspect it was the big mix-up at NORAD in 1971 that finally got the longwave idea trotted out for real. I was on my way to work at an AM station with an EBS Primary designation and fallout shelter/generator plant/emergency control room to match, and it was a day when the regular national test of the wire service teletype notification process was due to be made. Instead, someone inserted the paper tape for the attack warning, complete with the valid authenticator words for that day, "HATEFULNESS HATEFULNESS." Nobody had ever had to open the dreaded sealed red envelopes before!
When attempting to correct the error, they somehow sent the same transmission again! That gave all of us in the industry serious chills that day, and those in charge ulcers for years to come. I have to think that the event likely prompted more serious consideration of alternatives, such as direct LF transmission. Now, NOAA Weather Radio and cellular communication provide abundant supplementation to broadcast emergency notifications.
"Australia also toyed with the idea..."
Interesting you should mention that. I recently ran across a short but informative article on Australia's LWBC experiments in the late Twenties. Good stuff.
Re: Sunday Morning Mystery
Posted by Bob Confrey on July 09, 2018 at 22:35:05.
In reply to Re: Sunday Morning Mystery posted by John Davis on July 08, 2018
Just switched to a ground plane from a long wire today. Normally on the lw, EH is booming in, all day long. When I switched to the GP, I started seeing NC's square wave.
EH still 5/9 copy. USC pop's in every now and then. Hopefully I'll be seeing more western beacons with the omni GP.
I will get EDJ back on the air one of these days!
Bob REMINDER: Night of Nights
EDJ
WA1EDJ
Posted by Paul on July 09, 2018 at 23:06:04.
Reminder that Night of Nights will begin at 00:01 GMT (5:01 PM Pacific time) on July 12.
KPH will be on LW 426 kc. and 500 kc. in addition to the usual SW frequencies. Other stations may appear on the air as well.
ZUT
SIW WSPR
Posted by Bob Confrey on July 11, 2018 at 12:26:48.
With new GP antenna, copying SIW WSPR. Sporatic but got 5 decodes over the early evening. NC, EH and I think the other non WSPR SIW also copied. Hope to have my U3S on WSPR soon. Will announce when active.
Bob EDJ EM83du
Re: SIW WSPR
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on July 12, 2018 at 14:48:49.
In reply to SIW WSPR posted by Bob Confrey on July 11, 2018
Thanks for the report Bob. Your new antenna is working very well. MHO from the field
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
Posted by Bill Hensel on July 12, 2018 at 15:37:57.
While out in the National Forest at 0100 utc on the trusty old KA1103 I Re: MHO from the field
Heard MHO on 13565 khz...nothing else being heard at the time...
Posted by John Davis on July 12, 2018 at 22:50:46.
In reply to MHO from the field posted by Bill Hensel on July 12, 2018
Any idea who that is?
Re: MHO from the field
Posted by Bill Hensel on July 12, 2018 at 23:44:11.
In reply to Re: MHO from the field posted by John Davis on July 12, 2018
NO...first time I heard it...
Re: MHO from the field
Posted by John, W1TAG on July 13, 2018 at 00:08:46.
In reply to Re: MHO from the field posted by John Davis on July 12, 2018
Conductance is NOT futile.
Re: MHO from the field
Posted by John Davis on July 13, 2018 at 06:08:55.
In reply to Re: MHO from the field posted by John, W1TAG on July 13, 2018
I didn't realize this board had so much susceptance to electronic wordplay, but I guess this is my admittance that it does.
Re: REMINDER: Night of Nights
Posted by Bill Hensel on July 13, 2018 at 14:06:16.
In reply to REMINDER: Night of Nights posted by Paul on July 09, 2018
Paul, 2200M WSPR-2
I put the KA1103 in my breast pocket and went on a two hour hike and listened to KPH
on the 8642 and 17017 khz freqs.
Posted by John Bruce McCreath on July 14, 2018 at 14:21:40.
If anyone wants to try WSPR-2 on 2200M over the weekend, I'll be watching for you. Antenna is a 10 foot loop oriented in a NE-SW plane, favouring most of North America.
73, J.B., VE3EAR Re: 2200M WSPR-2
Posted by John Bruce McCreath on July 15, 2018 at 11:55:13.
In reply to 2200M WSPR-2 posted by John Bruce McCreath on July 14, 2018
I had multiple decodes of K3MF, K3RWR, WH2XND, and WH2XXP overnight July 14/15th.
73, J.B., VE3EAR Re: Got 22 meter Beacon ?
Posted by Kelli N2CHX on July 15, 2018 at 16:52:21.
In reply to Got 22 meter Beacon ? posted by michael tyler on June 29, 2018
Pic of half complete "Beacon in a mini Altoids tin" I'm working on, which will be keyed by an ESP8266 and replace everything else I have on the air right now. Will post followups when complete and on the air.
http://www.kellimcmillan.com/storage/n2chx/SAM_0203.JPG
Re: REMINDER: Night of Nights
Posted by Paul on July 16, 2018 at 16:22:54.
In reply to Re: REMINDER: Night of Nights posted by Bill Hensel on July 13, 2018
Thanks, Bill!
You are one of the "true believers" indeed. If you ever find yourself on the leftist coast, would love to give you a tour of the place.
EDJ WSPR 13.555 410
Posted by Bob Confrey on July 17, 2018 at 00:47:38.
Testing EDJ WSPR on 13.555 410, just above SIW. VERY intermittent operation daily due to lots of TS activity. Some coming from the west now. Georgia in the summer!
EDJ EM83du Unknown HiFER (fwd)
Monroe,Ga
Posted by Garry K3SIW on July 20, 2018 at 23:00:32.
I shut down my hifers briefly Thursday to take a look at the band. Saw EH and NC as usual at the watering hole, but also another signal that apparently was sending CW higher up. Didn't have time to tune it in to confirm that was really the case. The frequency scale in the attachment hasn't been calibrated for quite awhile but it shouldn't be too far off. Do you know who/what that was?
--
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: SIW_07192018.jpg
Saturday HiFERs - morning
Went to the field in the 8 o'clock hour CDT to start warming up Old Drifty (Kenwood R-5000 #3). I spent some time at LF first, marveling a bit at how quiet the band was after last night's storms, then after 9 AM switched to 22 m. The radio was still warming up, so you'll notice the continuing drift in the attached captures, but it was nice to see PBJ again. The watering hole contained only USC, NC, EH and MTI each time I looked there. There was some Codar early on, and the occasional random ditter, but no sign here yet of Garry's mystery signal.
Up the band, GNK was present with rapid QSB level changes... sometimes s full ID nice and clear, the next time only one or two letters audible, and other times not even visible. Nobody else above PBJ was present that hour, while below the watering hole there was a hint of what may have been WV, but no clear copy.
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 21jul001.jpg
File Attachment 2: 21jul005.jpg
Re: Saturday HiFERs - morning
John,
Unfortunately I had EDJ WSPR off air today (Sat) morning due to big TS's. I have not had any reports of reception. Don't need a decode but confirmation someone sees it. I will be right above SIW at 555.410. It is back on as of 1:00 PM ET. Let me know if you or anyone sees it.
I did catch WM last night. First copy. Always EH,SIW WSPR,USC sometimes. NC square wave sometimes.
TNX...Bob...EDJ
WAS Off For Listening a Bit
Posted by Bill K4JYS on July 21, 2018 at 20:13:59.
I have shut down the mighty ??? WAS this afternoon for a bit of listening (no rpts seen on WAS for a good while...still a sig locally). First stn heard was GNK, varying from nil, into the noise to about a 449 on slow QSB...1944-1950Z, 7/21/2018. Max at about 1/2 S-unit above the noise floor. Nothing else heard so far. Using a Ten-Tec RX340 and the WAS 22 mtr dipole at abt 40ft. Will listen a bit longer and then fire WAS back up. Think condx are normal....STINKO. Re: WAS Off For Listening a Bit
73 de Bill K4JYS
Posted by Bill K4JYS on July 21, 2018 at 21:00:26.
In reply to WAS Off For Listening a Bit posted by Bill K4JYS on July 21, 2018
Nothing heard but GNK, per previous post, during this short listening session. WAS is back on. Sat. HiFERs mid-morning: 7P, more or less
Bill
Posted by John Davis on July 21, 2018 at 22:28:43.
In reply to Saturday HiFERs - morning posted by John Davis on July 21, 2018
From about 10:20 to 10:50 AM CDT, the mysterious mid-watering-hole HiFER from a couple of weeks ago was a little less shy and made an appearance here in SE Kansas that was identifiable with extended observation. It kept using propagation to try to disguise itself, though, especially the "7."
On this screen, it tried to pass itself off as BW, GEP, MEP, ZW and/or who-knows-what. :) But over the course of time, it was pretty clear 7P was its true identity.
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 21jul012.jpg
Beacon 1665.0
JHG01 DUNDAS ONTARIO, started up today at 2200UTC 1665.0 7WPM Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish
Posted by John Davis on July 21, 2018 at 23:38:09.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - morning posted by Bob Confrey on July 21, 2018
Bob wrote:
I had EDJ WSPR off air today (Sat) morning due to big TS's. ... It is back on as of 1:00 PM ET.
Yes, it certainly is! I returned to the radio and computer just in time to see the beacon settling back onto frequency, apparently.
It took me a while to figure out that you are running a lower duty cycle than SIW, which was OK as I hadn't opened the WSPR 2.12 software or set the computer clock to WWV yet...plus I wanted to do another quick band scan before settling in at the watering hole for the next few hours. When I returned to the watering hole:
1730 -22 -0.9 13.555412 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1740 -31 -0.9 13.555409 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1820 -24 -0.8 13.555410 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1830 -25 -0.8 13.555410 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1840 -23 -0.9 13.555409 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1848 -24 -1.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1850 -21 -0.9 13.555409 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1856 -26 -1.9 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1910 -26 -1.1 13.555411 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1920 -23 -0.9 13.555410 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1924 -23 -1.4 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1928 -22 -1.3 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1930 -21 -1.0 13.555411 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1940 -20 -1.0 13.555411 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1950 -21 -1.1 13.555410 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1952 -21 -1.1 13.555401 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2000 -16 -1.0 13.555410 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2020 -20 -1.6 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7Since EDJ and SIW only overlap time slots three times an hour, and since propagation inside the first skip zone (IL) and just outside it (GA) tend to trade places over time, I haven't had any luck getting simultaneous decodes of both together. The one time both were about the same level was 1800 UTC, but it looked to me as if there was a frequency overlap of about 2 Hz, so there was no decode. Will continue observing for a while this evening.
John
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 21jul021.jpg
Re: WAS Off For Listening a Bit
Glad to report I tuned across WAS at 12:24 PM CDT before my extended watering hole session. It faded away after about s minute, though, but was pretty distinct at first.
John
Re: Saturday HiFERs - morning
Posted by Mike N8OOU on July 22, 2018 at 01:53:23.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - morning posted by Bob Confrey on July 21, 2018
Bob - EDJ
Thanks for listening and reporting a copy of WM. Did you capture the QRSS or CW id? Just curious about any details.
Thanks, Mike N8OOU
Re: Beacon 1665.0
Posted by Jason Goldring on July 22, 2018 at 11:42:55.
In reply to Beacon 1665.0 posted by Jason Goldring on July 21, 2018
**Update** Grid FN03BH
Re: WAS Off For Listening a Bit
Posted by Bill K4JYS on July 22, 2018 at 11:55:01.
In reply to Re: WAS Off For Listening a Bit posted by John Davis on July 21, 2018
Tnx John for the report..Bill
Re: Saturday HiFERs - morning
Posted by Bob Confrey on July 22, 2018 at 13:11:01.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - morning posted by Mike N8OOU on July 22, 2018
QRSS, kind of weak but got ID. I recently installed a GP ant only about 12 high tha replaced the LW. Been copying more HiFERs since.
Bob EDJ
Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish
Posted by Bob Confrey on July 22, 2018 at 13:22:19.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish posted by John Davis on July 21, 2018
Thanks John! I think I'm running the default 2 min timing on WSPR. I did not know much about it when setting up the U3S so left the default. If long cycle would be better or some offset to SIW, I'd try it. I just learning WSPR. As you see I used my full call. Tried your recommendation of 1EDJ and the U3S kept giving error and not accepting it. So I figured if SIW is using full call, so be it. Since the U3S was off all night, the GPS was still pulling it to .410. Do you recommend a freq shift up or down? I will keep it on anytime TS activity is low. Yesterday we had numerous storms, close by with golf ball size hail near but not here. That is significant size in this area, maybe not for you though!
TNX Bob EDJ
Sunday 2200 m WSPR
Posted by John Davis on July 22, 2018 at 17:17:55.
1556 -20 -0.9 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 1556 -18 -0.9 0.137527 0 WH2XND DM33 43 1600 -21 -0.9 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 1600 -18 -0.9 0.137527 0 WH2XND DM33 43 1604 -21 -0.9 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 1604 -18 -1.0 0.137527 0 WH2XND DM33 43 1608 -21 -1.0 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 1608 -18 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 1612 -22 -0.9 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 1612 -19 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43 1616 -22 -0.9 0.137507 0 WH2XXP DM33 37 1616 -17 -0.9 0.137528 0 WH2XND DM33 43Just a sampling of conditions late this morning. The band was a little noisier than yesterday at the same time, but not too bad yet. S1 to S5 static, with a median value around S3, which does break up the 137.500 PLC cluster a little but scarcely bothers the cluster at 137.600, or the actual signals.
Wish some of the Eastern hams were more interested in daytime groundwave experiments--if so, I'd resume listening this afternoon, but will probably spend the rest of the day on 22 m instead for lack of other activity.
Sun. Late Morning
Posted by John Davis on July 22, 2018 at 17:24:20.
1620 -20 -1.0 13.555406 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1624 -20 -1.4 13.555405 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1628 -20 -1.3 13.555407 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1632 -21 -1.1 13.555399 0 K3SIW EN52 7The frequency discrepancy on the last one was a receiver tuning adjustment. I got a late start, and Old Drifty was still warming up.
Prior to noon, USC was strong, so were NC and EH (but in collision frequency-wise at the time), EH was fair to good, SIW slant was strong, MTI was audible about half the time, and WM was fair to good with CW IDs audible once in a while.
John
7P
Posted by Ed Holland on July 23, 2018 at 22:43:29.
I was able to listen for a short while on Saturday evening CA time. Very little signal evident, but the one exception was a nice trace from 7P which I think is a new logging here.
Otherwise the bands were quiet.
Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish
Posted by John Davis on July 24, 2018 at 03:02:40.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish posted by Bob Confrey on July 22, 2018
Bob wrote:
I think I'm running the default 2 min timing on WSPR. ... If long cycle would be better or some offset to SIW, I'd try it.
The 2 minute timing (WSPR-2) is probably the most nearly optimum for 22 m, given the typical QSB periods on the band. Part of that seems to be due to there being two or more QSB cycles at work at any given time...one short-term that can cause a few deep fades during any given two-minute transmission slot, and one or more longer cycles that can cause signals to be additionally attenuated for anywhere from 10 to 90 minutes, depending on conditions.
The short cycle is steep enough to punch holes in a typical WSPR-2 transmission. Fortunately, though, as long as the message header is not obliterated, there's a fairly good chance that the built-in Forward Error Correction of WSPR-2 can successfully fill in the gaps. You can see an example of this in the attached screen capture. Now, it's possible to receive the header OK and still not decode because of a fade or noise hit at another crucial spot in the time slot, but in my experience that's much less common. The key seems to be getting enough of the header for the receive software to correctly identify the signal as WSPR, and then not taking too many other hits during the rest of the time slot.
During a 15 minute duration time slot (WSPR-15), there is a higher probability of a short-term fade during the (longer) header, then a greater number of fades during the rest of the transmission, and finally a risk of the longer term cycle taking out a major bite too. That last factor would make one or two WSPR-2 transmissions go away at a time, also, but you can fit more of them into a WSPR-15 slot, improving the odds of their getting through.
WSPR-15 works great at LF and makes a significant improvement over WSPR-2 against random noise, provided the propagation path is more stable. WSPR-15 does wonderfully for SIW on 1750 meters, for instance. However, extended fades and/or multipath distortion such as occur on LF at the day/night transitions affect it more than WSPR-2...and multipath is definitely a regular fact of life at 22 m.
Thus, I recommend sticking with WSPR-2, but what I think would help is a higher duty cycle; that is to say, more frequent repetitions. SIW WSPR uses a 50% duty cycle, sending one two-minute transmission every four minutes. With the continuous carrier of SIW slant emanating from the same antenna to watch, I can attest that one WSPR transmission every four minutes correlates well to what I see from the continuous signal ...meaning that the 50% duty cycle gives a pretty decent picture of propagation.
Do you recommend a freq shift up or down?
After reviewing the whole afternoon's Argo captures versus WSPR decodes, I'd say yes.
The question is which. :)
When the EDJ and SIW time slots overlapped at nearly equal levels, which was the most common case, there were no decodes of either signal. Only once, when there was a sudden enhancement of K3SIW, did there appear to be a "capture effect" that allowed it to decode, but at the expense of EDJ. To the eye, there was no frequency overlap between the two signals, but the highest tone of SIW and the lowest of EDJ were so close that I suspect WSPR couldn't decide where one sequence of steps ended and the other began. The decode times for those slots ran very long and evidently were inconclusive.
So, three possibilities come to mind:
• If you go up in frequency, I'd suggest +8 Hz. That'll clear RY when it returns this fall, and it'll give you a safety margin below SIW slant.
• If you go down in frequency, I'd suggest at least 15 Hz below SIW WSPR; but not more than 20 Hz below, or else you may experience disruptions from MTI.
• Or, if the U3S allows you sufficient latitude in transmission start times, you could possibly share the 13,555,400 frequency with SIW. Garry transmits every four minutes beginning at the top of the hour, so if you could transmit every fourth minute beginning at :02 after the hour, we'd have a frequency with near-continuous WSPR on it--storms permitting.
Yesterday we had numerous storms, close by with golf ball size hail near but not here. That is significant size in this area, maybe not for you though!
In my view, golf ball size hail is "hardhat significant" wherever it falls! 
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 21jul4.jpg
"The Purge"
In the aftermath of finding out that I've been futilely trying for KC7MMI while it's actually been off the air for 21 or 22 months, apparently mere weeks after it first went on (!), I am about to commit violence on the beacon list to remove other long-unreported and/or unconfirmed-by-operator listings.
If you have copied one of these in the last few months, or if you are the operator but have forgotten to let us know the status, be sure to post here! The most endangered species:
13555.260 COM Last reported Mar 2017; no response from op to inquiry this year.
13557.75~ PLM Op & QTH unknown. I was the first (and for a long time, the only listener) to report this one, and nobody has reported it since Sept 2017.
13562.5~~ TDV Op unknown, few reports initially, and none noted since January.
Others on the less endangered list:
TSN, GNB, OH, MMK These had operator contact last winter, but no reports to indicate they are actually on yet and/or are still on.
RF Common until April, then suddenly no reports. Temp off? Permanently?
MR.X One report in June, then nothing further from anyone.
Thanks for any and all information.
John
Re: "The Purge"
Posted by Chuck, N1KGY on July 25, 2018 at 19:06:46.
In reply to "The Purge" posted by John Davis on July 25, 2018
John,
MMK was operational intermittently this winter, but the HF antenna + ground I was temporarily loading up was too problematic to keep it running continuously.
So please list MMK as presently 'off for the summer' - I am planning an antenna party at our agricultural property for mid-August, so should begin by labor day. Will post something here once it's operational again.
Thanks, Chuck Re: "The Purge"
Posted by John Davis on July 25, 2018 at 21:31:14.
In reply to Re: "The Purge" posted by Chuck, N1KGY on July 25, 2018
Thanks Chuck. Best of luck with it.
Re: "The Purge"
Posted by Dave on July 26, 2018 at 10:40:20.
In reply to Re: "The Purge" posted by John Davis on July 25, 2018
Both of my hifers, FL in FSKCW and FL transmitting in QRSSCW, are still on 24 hours/day. Dave
Re: "The Purge"
Posted by Ed Holland on July 26, 2018 at 20:12:37.
In reply to "The Purge" posted by John Davis on July 25, 2018
Hi John,
Good idea to keep the list current, but is it possible also to keep an archive, please?
PVC is still on, 13,558.4 kHz and will be around for the forseeable future. Alas, it doesn't ever seem to have the reach of other stations.
Cheers
Ed
Re: "The Purge"
Posted by Bill Hensel on July 26, 2018 at 22:08:48.
In reply to "The Purge" posted by John Davis on July 25, 2018
PCO is still on the air 13563.55 Khz, 1/4 wave vertical and is solar powered with battery.
If I decide to take it off the air I will inform you John. Re: Beacon 1665.0
Posted by Steve on July 27, 2018 at 11:23:36.
In reply to Re: Beacon 1665.0 posted by Jason Goldring on July 22, 2018
In west end Burlington. Just noticed your listing last night. Can't hear anything at the moment...is it on 24/7? You can respond direct to my email if you wish.
Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish
Posted by Bob Confrey on July 27, 2018 at 16:56:00.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish posted by John Davis on July 24, 2018
John,
I'll have set the freq +8 Hz for now. I want to study you suggestion of:
• Or, if the U3S allows you sufficient latitude in transmission start times, you could possibly share the 13,555,400 frequency with SIW. Garry transmits every four minutes beginning at the top of the hour, so if you could transmit every fourth minute beginning at :02 after the hour, we'd have a frequency with near-continuous WSPR on it--storms permitting.
But need to study the U3S manual. I don't quite understand the "beginning at :02"? So start transmitting at 2 seconds after the 4th minute? The goal here is I transmit when he is not and vice versa. Since I can see both of us on Argo, I can tell if I'm interleaving transmissions.
Bob EDJ
Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish
Posted by John Davis on July 27, 2018 at 21:21:36.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish posted by Bob Confrey on July 27, 2018
Bob wrote:
I don't quite understand the "beginning at :02"? So start transmitting at 2 seconds after the 4th minute?
Sorry for the confusion. That was intended to be two minutes after the hour. As you say, the goal of the suggestion was to interleave transmissions.
Will watch for EDJ in its new spot. Didn't see it earlier this afternoon, but even if I had, it might not have been possible to get good decodes...NC had wandered down below SIW slant before I came to town for lunch about an hour ago, indicating the temperature was probably in the low 90s in Stanfield, NC, at that time. (Ironically, EH drifts upward with increasing temperature, and when it got hot enough there, I could see it had been sitting on top of 7P for a while.)
Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish
Posted by Bob Confrey on July 27, 2018 at 22:59:52.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish posted by John Davis on July 27, 2018
John,
I've moved up to 555,418 for now so won't be interleaving just yet. Let me study the U3S manual and experiment into a dummy load. For now though, look at .418. Post any sightings or decodes. Right now at 1900 EDT, not even EH is showing up. He and RY (when on) are a pipeline down here most times.
Bob EDJ
Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish
Posted by Bob Confrey on July 28, 2018 at 00:09:34.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish posted by Bob Confrey on July 27, 2018
John,
I've reconfigured the U3S to FRAME 04 and START 02. I THINK that will interleave SIW and EDJ time wise. I am still at .418 for now. If you confirm it works, I'll drop to .400.
I can't see SIW WSPR right now.
Going live on antenna now.....
Bob...EDJ
Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish
Posted by John Davis on July 28, 2018 at 04:20:17.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish posted by Bob Confrey on July 28, 2018
Will keep an eye out for it, Bob. No sign of EDJ even after I returned to the field late this afternoon. In fact, around the time of my earlier posting, everybody began fading away and only codar was left, like the grin of a big noisy Cheshire cat.
Not sure when I'll next get to go to the field. We're supposed to have storms sometime tomorrow, but the different forecasts don't agree on either the probability or the timing yet.
John
Re: Beacon 1665.0
Posted by Jason Goldring on July 28, 2018 at 11:21:25.
In reply to Re: Beacon 1665.0 posted by Steve on July 27, 2018
Good morning, we had that storm surge come through on Thursday and the solar panel took a direct tree limb hit. Voltage dropped down below 11.8v on the battery so the unit turned off when the safety kicked in. New panel is in the garage and the battery is charged ready to go, should be up in the next few hours. Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish
J
Posted by Bob Confrey on July 28, 2018 at 12:56:34.
In reply to Re: Saturday HiFERs - noonish posted by John Davis on July 28, 2018
Thanks John. Well it's running now as described earlier. If I can see SIW I may be able to determine if we are interleaving. Today looks quiet here in Ga. so will be leaving it on. Yes, last night was one of the worst I've seen lately. EH is almost always visible down here but only briefly last night.
Bob....EDJ
Fri. 27 July (7P, PCO, WAS, more)
Posted by John Davis on July 28, 2018 at 19:37:40.
If you recall several weeks ago, I mentioned in connection with CW signals that QRN favored the beacons sending slower, while faster speeds seemed to cope better with Codar. Well, on Friday afternoon I had about equal portions of both, so all the CW signals suffered from difficult decoding.
At local noon (CDT), the usual watering hole gang was all present. USC was quite strong; 7P and EH were both fair, but in collision with each other, unfortunately; NC was fair; both SIWs were strong; MTI was frequently audible; a chirper was present; and WM was good to fair, with the CW ID at the start of the capture audible. See the attached 27jul-A.jpg file.
I next did a band scan starting about 12:06. No WV, no PBJ yet, VAN was visible for a couple of DAIDs but not copyable by ear, there was no PCO, and GNK was invisible and inaudible at first, finally showing up and becoming audible about 12:09. A faint trace of keyed RF was visible at 12:11 on 13564.836 but never materialized into anything definite. K6FRC was barely visible at 12:14, but became audible long enough to confirm the ID a minute later.
I returned to the watering hole to find that SIW had diminished considerably, but I figured it might improve again around solar noon (about 1:26 CDT on this date), so I parked there and let the computer capture for a while. This was the not-exactly great result:
1804 -23 -2.0 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1812 -24 -1.6 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1816 -23 -1.3 13.555404 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1820 -24 -1.3 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1824 -21 -1.1 13.555404 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1828 -22 -2.0 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1836 -23 -2.0 13.555403 0 K3SIW EN52 7By 2 o'clock, USC was still strong most of the time, EH was good but still walking on 7P, SIW slant was highly variable in level (as was the WSPR, apparently more so than could be decoded) and NC varied from barely visible to distinctly audible over about a 9-minute cycle. A very similar pattern applied to MTI.
Shortly after, I gave up at the watering hole for a while and scanned the band again, this time with a little better outcome. K6FRC was visible at a level that normally results in aural copy, but the noise combo made that impossible this time. By 2:15, I had nice copy of PBJ. At 2:21 I tuned up to look for VAN without luck. At 2:23 I parked on PCO's spot for a while and got a trace that also would normally be audible copy, but most of the time wasn't, thanks to the combined effects of codar and QRN. I did finally discern a C here, a P there, and a couple of O's. (See the attached file 27jul-B.jpg for these attempts.)
At 2:26 I tried again for GNK with fair aural copy but lots of QSB. Two minutes later, I looked for WAS and found a keyed signal at 13564.805, but the aural ID was uncertain.
About 2:40, I parked back on the watering hole until nearly dark, but SIW was gone by then. WM showed up about 2:50, came in very clearly from about five minutes later to the top of the hour, and then was gone again by 3:20. MTI was nice and clear that whole time. And, EH had drifted up above 7P, leaving it in the clear for several minutes.
USC slowly faded away around 4:30. EH and NC started getting a little ragged by 5 o'clock, but 7P had a bit of a renaissance for 20-some minutes (see 27jul-C.jpg for an example). By 7:00, all the HiFERs were gone and only codar remained.
Sat. 28 July-Midday WSPR and More
Posted by John Davis on July 28, 2018 at 20:07:54.
The time interleaving between EDJ and SIW appeared to be successful, once the latter finally showed up today. In addition to the signals in this screen, there were also USC and EH above NC, and there had been 7P half an hour or so earlier. Some of the MTI IDs were audible, and so were most of the WM IDs that same half-hour.
There are some frequency jumps because of the need to retune Old Drifty. I've really got to get around to re-soldering the power connector on the IC-R75 so we'll have use of its OCXO stability once again!
1750 -22 -0.8 13.555418 1 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1754 -23 -0.9 13.555418 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1758 -22 -0.8 13.555420 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1810 -25 -0.8 13.555423 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1814 -27 -0.8 13.555424 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1822 -19 -0.9 13.555426 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1830 -27 -1.0 13.555424 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1834 -26 -0.9 13.555426 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1836 -33 -2.1 13.555399 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1838 -22 -1.2 13.555419 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1840 -29 -1.5 13.555401 0 K3SIW EN52 7 1842 -29 -0.9 13.555419 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1846 -23 -1.4 13.555418 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1854 -20 -1.0 13.555420 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1858 -26 -1.1 13.555418 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 28jul3.jpg
Re: Sat. 28 July-Midday WSPR and More
Thank you John for confirming this experiment! I will move EDJ down to Garry's .400 tonight. No need to check again to confirm this unless you're in the field. It would be good to know you decode when we're both on .400.
I'll be on until the next TS's. Looks good through Sunday.
Bob...EDJ
Re: Sat. 28 July-Midday WSPR and More
Posted by Kel N2CHX on July 29, 2018 at 00:08:06.
In reply to Sat. 28 July-Midday WSPR and More posted by John Davis on July 28, 2018
I also have a U3S and have hesitated to use it with WSPR on 22 meters, because that would mean my ham callsign being used as an ID outside of the amateur bands. Not sure how great of an idea that actually is.
Thoughts?
Re: Sat. 28 July-Midday WSPR and More
Posted by Bill Hensel on July 29, 2018 at 00:32:44.
In reply to Re: Sat. 28 July-Midday WSPR and More posted by Kel N2CHX on July 29, 2018
I see nothing wrong with that. Someone who stumbles across the ham call can find you easy on QRZ.com and not locate you on LWCA. I switched over to my ham call a few years ago as an experiment and actually had more contacts compared to hardly any reception reports with the traditional three letter call PCO (Pine Colorado) witch by the way is being currently used on my Hifer Beacon. I received an e mail from a ham in TN who copied little PCO. I offered a QSL caed but he did not collect QSLs.
The Low Down
Posted by Bill Hensel on July 29, 2018 at 00:36:05.
I was wondering if it is still being published? John Davis makes a great sacrifice Re: The Low Down
keeping this web site up an running. I have my own personal web site that I have
paid for on my own for the past 10 years. Thanks John for all your hard work.
Posted by John Davis on July 29, 2018 at 01:12:17.
In reply to The Low Down posted by Bill Hensel on July 29, 2018
Thanks for the kind words, Bill. Yes, The LOWDOWN is still being published. Kevin Carey took over as publisher after Bill Oliver's passing. It is temporarily being printed on an every-other-month basis at present, due to Kevin's work load, but I'm going to propose an idea soon that I hope will expedite a return to monthly publication.
You can always find the contents of the current issue at the LWCA Home Page and get business contact and subscription information at our "About" page.
Re: Sat. 28 July-Midday WSPR and More
Posted by John Davis on July 29, 2018 at 04:28:21.
In reply to Re: Sat. 28 July-Midday WSPR and More posted by Bob Confrey on July 28, 2018
Bob wrote:
I will move EDJ down to Garry's .400 tonight. No need to check again to confirm this unless you're in the field.
Ironically, I was on my way to the field when you were posting, according to the timestamp--but I got waylaid by a pop-up summer thundershower that crept up from Oklahoma. Returned to town, refueled the generator and truck, and looked at a storm cloud building north of town. The first shower ended quickly and cleared up, but the new cloud was building rapidly and started heading south...the opposite of the other storm...right toward the farm! I got there first, unhooked the antenna buffer, and started disconnecting stuff in the shack just as the first rumbles of thunder sounded in the distance. Heading out the driveway, I was accosted by the gust front, and before I quite made it back to town we had a bit of road flooding. Not surprising after 1.5" of rain in about 10 minutes.
Just like being back at work in downtown Atlanta during the summer. I'll probably have nightmares tonight about being unretired. 8>0
At any rate, that ended today's monitoring. We're predicted to have a high chance of further precip in the morning. If the ground is solid enough afterward, I'll try to check things out before the band passes its prime tomorrow afternoon. We're not complaining, though, after being in extreme drought the past several weeks.
Reminder: NA LF QSO Stations List
Posted by Paul N1BUG on July 29, 2018 at 09:41:36.
It's summer and everyone is busy building their LF station... right?
I want to remind those who may be building about the North American LF (2200 meter) QSO Stations List:
www.n1bug.com/lfmf/files/NA-LF-Stations.pdf
This is a list of stations which:
1) Have made QSOs
2) Have QSO capability and interest
3) Are building a station with intent to make QSOs
If you fit any of these categories and are not yet on the list, please submit your information so I can include you! This list helps us all find stations to QSO.
If you are on the list but your information is not up to date, please send corrections.
If you know of other stations that should be on this list, please send whatever information you have about them.
For purposes of this list, QSO takes the standard ham radio definition: an over-the-air two-way exchange of call signs, signal report or other piece of information, and acknowledgement between two licensed amateur radio stations.
73, Re: Sat. 28 July-Midday WSPR and More
Paul N1BUG
Posted by Bob Confrey on July 29, 2018 at 13:50:32.
In reply to Re: Sat. 28 July-Midday WSPR and More posted by John Davis on July 29, 2018
Thanks John. I think it was a few hours after that email that I actually got down to the shack to make the change. I did though. Somehow, I enabled the CW ID at the end of the WSPR transmission. You will also hear, at 12 WPM cw,1EDJ before SIW. Hopefully the CW ID will not step on SIW. Let me know. If it works, I'll just leave the CW ID. Makes an easy to ID signal.
Yes, I'm going to have that nightmare tomorrow morning at 4:30. I so want out. It will happen soon though....
Bob EDJ
Re: Reminder: NA LF QSO Stations List
Posted by KJ4ADN - Bill on July 29, 2018 at 14:58:08.
In reply to Reminder: NA LF QSO Stations List posted by Paul N1BUG on July 29, 2018
We're slightly delayed at the moment with HAMfest, but plan on returning to lay the foundation and then build a suitable antenna for 630m. JT9, FT8 .... and with a little luck SSB Phone between KJ4ADN (Virginia) and N9NLP (Wyoming).
Why? Because it's Air (or groundwave)... and exciting!
Expertise - none.
Willingness - no known limit.
Recklessness - still alive, aren't I?
Personal Status - Wife (KJ4ADQ) and 8 HAM kids (Family of 10 HAMs).
Motivation - Enjoyment of Experimentation & Propagation of the Hobby.
QRZ.com has other details.
Sunday Afternoon (Interleaving A-OK)
Posted by John Davis on July 30, 2018 at 00:04:50.
It finally became dry enough to get to the Little Shack on the Prairie shortly before 1 o'clock this afternoon (CDT), with solar noon due at 1:26. USC (strong), EH (fair/good), NC (strong), SIW slant (weak to fair), and MTI (fair to strong) were visible at the watering hole, and EDJ WSPR was often visible in its new time slots. A couple of times it was quite strong, but simultaneously so were the signals right above it, so I couldn't really make out the CW ID clearly.
However, SIW WSPR was not yet visible at all, nor was WM, so I figured we didn't have much of an opening to Illinois yet.
I therefore took several minutes to do a band scan. At 1:07 PM, WAS was barely audible, although the frequency is down a bit from what's in the list. GNK was fair at 1:09 PM. At 1:11, WAS was good, but no trace of FRC yet. And, at 1:12 PM, WV was weak to fair, on a different frequency too, at 13,554.980.
Finally returning to the watering hole for the long haul, I saw that WM was now present with a fair to good visual signal and intermittently audible CW, but SIW WSPR was still struggling to be seen. Over the next two hours, WM became harder to copy but SIW WSPR finally reached decoding threshold in the 3:32 PM time slot, shown immediately below! (The full list of spots appears after my signature.)
After this shot, both EDJ and SIW faded away for a few time slots, so I did another band scan. At 3:41 PM I had good copy of WV. There was no copy of NDB2, PBJ or VAN, but a slightly wandering keyed signal appeared where PCO ought to be and was seen/heard Friday. At 3:51, GNK was undergoing wide swings in level, but tended to be particularly good for two or three letters at a time. Two minutes later, WAS did a great job despite rapid, deep fluctuations in level. No sign of FRC. I then returned to park on the watering hole; we'll see what that gives us shortly.
John
1758 -17 -1.0 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1802 -27 -1.0 13.555403 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1818 -18 -1.4 13.555400 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1822 -21 -1.1 13.555401 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1826 -18 -1.0 13.555402 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1830 -22 -1.0 13.555402 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1834 -26 -0.9 13.555402 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1838 -22 -1.1 13.555402 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1842 -24 -1.0 13.555402 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1846 -26 -1.0 13.555403 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1850 -24 -1.0 13.555403 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1854 -26 -1.0 13.555403 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1858 -24 -1.1 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1902 -22 -1.1 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1906 -21 -1.0 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1910 -20 -1.0 13.555403 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1914 -20 -1.0 13.555405 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1918 -23 -1.0 13.555403 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1926 -23 -1.1 13.555405 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1930 -22 -1.0 13.555403 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1934 -26 -1.0 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1938 -20 -1.0 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1942 -21 -1.0 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1946 -16 -1.1 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1950 -29 -1.2 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1954 -22 -1.1 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 1958 -23 -1.1 13.555404 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2002 -20 -1.1 13.555405 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2006 -20 -1.1 13.555405 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2010 -25 -1.1 13.555405 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2014 -25 -1.1 13.555405 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2022 -25 -1.1 13.555405 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2026 -21 -1.1 13.555405 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2030 -24 -1.3 13.555402 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2032 -27 -1.4 13.555402 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2034 -23 -1.7 13.555402 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 29jul1.jpg
Re: Sunday Afternoon (Interleaving A-OK)
TNX John for your diligence! I watched the interleaving and it appears even with the CW ID there is no interference. We'll continue as TS's permit. Lots more coming this week. I appreciate your help with this!
Bob EDJ
Re: Sunday Afternoon (Interleaving A-OK)
Posted by michael tyler on July 30, 2018 at 01:41:55.
In reply to Sunday Afternoon (Interleaving A-OK) posted by John Davis on July 30, 2018
Thanks John for the report on WV. Yesterday I found WV off the air.When I checked the SG8002 oscillator was bad. I replaced it but the new one is slightly lower in frequency as you noticed. The ardinuo was was undamaged as was the regulator. Thanks ..mike
Re: The Low Down
Posted by Ed Holland on July 30, 2018 at 04:18:15.
In reply to Re: The Low Down posted by John Davis on July 29, 2018
..And I would like to add, that the latest edition is an excellent read.
Of particular interest was the article on "low Noise Antennas". The recommendations there follow my own observations using the simple practice of isolating the signal and ground systems of the aerial and the receiver using one or more transformers, before conveying signals back to the receive desk via coax. I have found, at my location and setup, that this can really help to prevent carrying noise from the house out onto the antenna. That includes a random wire aerial, and a dipole. Although the responses are different at different frequencies (just as expected), the noise carried along the shield - readily revealed by touching it to the receiver's input - is absent once the circuit is connected as intended. Were it allowed to add to the signal, weak signal HiFER work and other reception would be compromised severely.
Regards,
Ed
Re: Sunday Afternoon (Interleaving A-OK)
Posted by John Davis on July 30, 2018 at 04:18:41.
In reply to Re: Sunday Afternoon (Interleaving A-OK) posted by Bob Confrey on July 30, 2018
After the time period covered by my previous post, there was only one more time when SIW WSPR was again strong enough to decode (below). This had no apparent connection to EDJ, but resulted from the usual short-skip problem from IL to here, combined with a dramatic increase in Codar as the evening approached. There were a couple of stretches where EDJ couldn't overcome the QRM, either.
Midway through the 6 PM CDT hour, there were also extended bursts of something that could have been a demented long-duration ionosonde, or a superspeed Codar source at 5 pps rather than the usual 2 pps. See the attached image for a sample.
By 9 PM, even NC and EH were barely discernible, and nobody else was seen or heard in a band scan.
Glad to be of assistance, Bob. It's great to have another WSPR signal to watch for.
John
2102 -27 -1.2 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2106 -23 -1.4 13.555398 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2110 -25 -1.2 13.555398 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2114 -23 -1.2 13.555398 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2118 -24 -1.3 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2122 -26 -1.1 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2130 -25 -1.4 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2134 -26 -1.2 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2138 -25 -1.4 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2142 -23 -1.2 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2202 -23 -1.3 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2206 -22 -1.2 13.555398 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2214 -21 -1.4 13.555398 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2218 -23 -1.2 13.555398 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2222 -21 -1.4 13.555398 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2226 -22 -1.2 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2230 -22 -1.4 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2234 -26 -1.4 13.555399 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2242 -22 -1.4 13.555397 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2246 -23 -1.3 13.555397 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2250 -26 -1.3 13.555397 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2254 -23 -1.3 13.555397 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2258 -28 -1.3 13.555397 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2302 -26 -1.4 13.555397 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2304 -27 -1.9 13.555398 0 K3SIW EN52 7 2306 -23 -1.6 13.555397 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7 2314 -28 -1.6 13.555397 0 WA1EDJ EM83 7
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 29jul037.jpg
They come and Go
I think the Hifer kit that was created a few months ago stimulated a lot of Hifer beacon growth. However, because it was easy to build a beacon and throw an antenna on it and get quick results, the beacons come and go. The kit builders lost interest and have moved on to something else. Some of those beacons got more reports then mine has gotten in 3 years of operation. LOL
So that's my take...just one man's opinion.
Re: They come and Go
Posted by Ed Holland on July 31, 2018 at 20:20:07.
In reply to They come and Go posted by Bill Hensel on July 31, 2018
I know how you feel Bill!
However, I think it is good that the HiFER world gets a boost of interest. Let's face it, It's pretty niche - and takes a certain sort of strange determination to care about such low power signals...
Mostly, it's annoying that they "get out" so much better than those of us who put serious old-time effort into the homebrewing and antennas - even if it is fun.
Cheers,
Ed
Re: They come and Go
Posted by Bill K4JYS on July 31, 2018 at 22:57:05.
In reply to Re: They come and Go posted by Ed Holland on July 31, 2018
Hi Ed,
I am one of those 'newbies' to this niche radio hobby. I got interested after running across a few beacons and joining the LWCA. From what I had seen, solid state was the way to go with these QRP rigs. I am not a solid state guy...boatanchors and tubes are my true technical love. I still wanted to play so got one of the Blackcat kits and stuffed the parts w/o any problems. It worked and have had a few reports....very gratifying and have been amazed at what such low power can do. Oh, and also what great 'ears' we have listening and giving such detailed reports.
I don't quite follow your statement:
"Mostly, it's annoying that they "get out" so much better than those of us who put serious old-time effort into the homebrewing and antennas - even if it is fun."
If we are all running relatively the same EIRP then the only thing left to "get out" better is the antenna. I can't see where the type of xmtr would make any difference. I do admire you guys that design and build the homebrew solid state xmtrs. Guess I will still be using my 140 watt Weller gun on my ham radio tube projects....hi.
73 de Bill K4JYS/WAS
potrzebie