Yesterday I was testing with 5W on 28MHz.
With sporadic activityI worked 5 stations. Propagation was not very good, but it was definitely there.
Best QSO yesterday was 7Q5MP, Malawi. not bad with 5W
Today I am testing with 1W. My CQ has got me 2 responses, but no QSO yet.
The 1W signal was heard by 9K2HN (Kuwait).
Fun little story from today.
I was, as usual, listening to the International Beacon Project (IBP) beacons on 28.200MHz.
Suddenly a big signal was coming in. I reralized that it was a test beacon from an Italian station.
S9 signal drowning the usual 18 beacons on the frequency.
I found the email address on QRZ.com, and wrote a mail to him explaining the situation, quietly.
After a short while the signal diasppeared, and I got a reply mail telling that he was not aware of the IBP project, and he would find a suitable frequency.
All in the good ham spirit, and I do understand that we don't know every aspect of the activities, and we are usually, like here, willing to correct a mistake.
No, I am not going to reveal the call, because all went absolutely well. Mistakes happen, we have all made them.
I got a bit of space on the lab desk by now. Still much more tidying needed.
For now, part of my monitoring system for 10m consists of a half wave antenna, connected to my modified IC-703 with a loop-back for the receiver signal.
The receive signal is running through a power splitter, so part og the signal goes back to the receiver section of the '703 and two outputs go to other receivers. Two is not quite enough, as I want to monitor several frequencies around the 10m band. Some amplified power splitter is needed.
The frequencies I want to monitor on 10m are, at least:
- 28.200 (International Beacon Project) (with audio)
- 28.074 (FT8 frequency)
- 29.600 (FM calling frequency)
- 27.555 (Used by CBers as a calling frequency. Excellent propagation indicator for 10m)
- 28.126??? (WSPR and QRSS frequencies)
I have a couple of "transistor radio" portable receivers with a jack connector as external antenna connectors, so I made two cables with F-connector to jack plug. They should be used for the 27.555 receiver (up and running), and FT8 monitor receiver. I still need to set up a computer with sound card input for that purpose.
I have a monitor system like that running on 50MHz, and I would like to continue using that. Possibly a Raspberry Pi set-up.
Last year was a bit low on radio activities. I should have had a better antenna system up, but other, more urgent activities came in the way. The solar power system also needs an update. This should be a busy year. 4m and 6m antennas have priority, as the bands are good due to high solar activity. Some activity on microwave bands should be made, too, and I should finally get up a rotator, so I can rotate a small VHF/UHF/SHF antenna system. We shall see how much gets done this year.
Update:
It looks like the Sangean receiver is not suitable for FT8. (noisy local oscillator?), or not sufficiently sensitive so I will have to use another radio for that purpose, or build one myself. Still looking around.
The old modified CB radio for 29.310 - 29.700MHz that I had on the lab desk a few weeks ago, and just re-soldered the Audio output capacitor. This turned out to be insufficient, as the capacitor itself was going loose.
So I found a replacement and got it soldered in.
10 MF monitoring is a go, again.
My 10m FM monitor (modified old CB transceiver) lost its audio out a few days ago.
I waited starting the repair until I had some of the 23cm equipment better tested. As that has now happened I took the rig up to the lab and made a quick test.
Most of the receiver looked like it was working, as the S-meter acted normally, so the fault seemed to be in the audio output system.
Sure enough, when I had the rig open and rocked the output electrolytic capacitor the audio speaker went on and off.
Looking at the bottom of the TRX it looked like there was a dry solder point. I re-soldered the capacitor and the wire going to the speaker/jack, and all sounds normal.
It is possible that the electrolytic capacitor has gone bad. If that turns out to be the case, the fault is a known one, and I may change all the electrolytic capacitors in the TRX.
The TRX is a nice addition to the 10m monitoring, as signals will sometimes come through when nothing else is heard by casual monitoring, or even systematic monitoring on fixed frequencies.
In the past week end I tried to extend the challenge again.
I worked all CW in an easy going search and pounce operation. With 5W and a 1/2 wave vertical that is a slow process, and I stayed on for some hours each day, with breaks for doing other stuff.
The end result was 41 QSOs in the contest, and I am quite happy with that result.
The battery had had the opportunity to get a bit more charge, as it had been used very little, so there was more than sufficient charge to work the contest as much as I wanted. At this time of the year the days are very short at 55 deg. North. But the system charged a little bit, even when the shy was clouded. This has been the case most days for a few weeks now.
Now for my challenge for this year.
When I received my IC-705 in January I set out to work at least 365 QSOs this year, and that is what I achieved in the CQWW CW contest.
I then extended the challenge: Doing the 365 on all solar power (and maybe 500 in total with 5W). This is a bit of an estimate, as I worked with mains power in the beginning, but soon I got to do solar in full.
The result after the ARRL 10m contest is above 500QSOs, and I do expect to do a few more before New Year.
With 500 QSOs on total I estimate that 365 of those have been made on solar power, so my challenge is a success.
Now I should think of a challenge for next year.
I have a few things I would like to do:
- expand the solar power system, so I can feed more of the radio station on solar power
- get to operate two-way on some microwave bands
- build some low powered system for more propagation monitoring
I do have some material for expanding the solar power system, but working in freezing temperatures outdoors does not work fro me. From spring time that work will resume.
For the microwave band working from home the same goes. No outdoor antenna work. I am in the process of locating a 23cm module and a TCXO for my IC-910, I have it somewhere, so in the process of tidying I should find those and get the 910 upgraded. First microwave band is possible in the spring when antennas can be installed.
I already talked about using some simple kits for some of the monitoring receivers, and/or extend their use with converters.
We shall see what I choose for next year
Today I located an old CB transceiver for FM, modified for use on 29.310 - 29.600 MHz FM with 10kHz channel spacing.
I found this radio on a ham radio rally a while ago.
Current draw at receive is 200mA, and it will be running for several hours each day.
Why now? Yesterday I had a report of US stations and repeaters coming in on 10m FM, from someone on a local channel on 2m. As I want to join the fun on 10m I will have to improve my monitoring capability.
While on the subject of 10m monitoring, today I did get to hear Europe on 28.200. The OH2B beacon signal suddenly appeared.
As I want to be able to better detect 10m openings I will have to add two more frequencies to my monitor system:
- 28.074 MHz for FT8 reception
- 27.555 MHz. This frequency is used as an international calling frequency for CBers, and can be used as a slightly early warning for 10m propagation.
Initially I should probably locate my old HF3 receivers and some power connectors/cables. Even if they are not very sensitive, with a bit of preamplification they should serve as receivers on those two frequencies. With current draw of about 130mA the 10m monitor system is getting a bit power hungry.
I may have to try building some very simple equipment for this. I have seen some good ideas. Building does take time, though.
My monitoring of the International Beacon Project on 10m has really paid off today.
As there is no beacon on the Antarctica continent that cannot count.
Today all the normally populated continents have been heard on 28MHz - yes just one frequency and CW.
Oceania: VK6RBP
Asia: 4X6TU (been there every day for weeks), VR2B
Africa: CS3B (most days for weeks), ZS6DN
South America: YV5B, LU4AA
North America: 4U1UN
The only beacon in Europe is OH2B, and that is inside the skip distance, so it has not been heard. However, many signals from the Mediterranian Sea have been heard, and in my 5W/365day challenge I worked EA5NI today. After the QSO I heard a Japanese station calling him. Not too bad with a vertical.
The challenge stands at 271 QSOs this year, so with some breaks some days I should work a few QSOs per day, one or two will likely do it. As I am not limited to any single band that should not be too difficult to do.
If the solar activity continues like it is now, with a solar flux about 140 or higher, I would expect this fall/autumn, winter and spring to be excellent on 10m, and the summer season should provide some excellent sporadic E. I think we will have a few golden years for 10m propagation.
As to 6m, IF the solar activity continues to be above the original prediction I would not be surprised to see F2, TEP and other propagation at the peak of the solar cycle 25. Right now it does look good, but we never know. A wise man once said "Prediction id hard, especially about the future." ;)
In the energy crisis (which is likely to continue for a while, I have reduced the number of radios used for monitoring.
The daily operation runs a 2m/70cm transceiver (the IC-910 at the moment) scanning FM frequencies and making the occasional local QSO. The drawback is the rather high power consumption, about 2A at 12V, so about 25W, just for reception. At the moment the 910 is running on mains power, as the only radio running daily. I may change this into another (FM only) transceiver consuming less power, and still running 2m and 70cm. I do have another (FM) transceiver monitoring a local frequency on each of the 2m and 70cm bands. A mobile rig using about 500mA.
Most of the remaining daily activity runs on my small solar power system:
24/7 monitoring of the FT8 frequency on 50MHz, running an old ("handheld" brick) transceiver with 120mA current consumption.
Day long monitoring of diverse HF frequencies, mostly CW, and a bit of QSOs with 5W, RX current consumption about 300mA
Day long monitoring of 28.200, the frequency on 10m for the International Beacon Project, at the moment using my old IC703 with 600mA current consumption. As soon as I set the 703 to 28.200 the 4X6TU beacon was received with good signal strength. Yes, 10m is open.
There is a possibility of reducing the power consumption of the monitoring system, but this requires some building and other activities. At the moment I am working on getting the heating for the house, so I am ready for the winter, because, as they say: "Winter is coming!"
10m FM.
Having a receiver running on 29.600 FM gave results today.
Twice this evening French stations were coming in with S9 signals, so QSOs were attempted calling them with just 5W, as a part of my 5W challenge this year. Both stations came back and I had two real QSOs, as I call them. exchanging more than just reports.
The sporadic E (Es) season is still going on, and 10m has been quite good today. Yes, it is up and down, but there is a reason we name it "sporadic".
HB-1B transceiver.
Also I did some listening with my small Chinese CW transceiver, the HB-1B transceiver for 80,40,30 and 20m. The sensitivity is absolutely sufficient, on 40 and 80 I usually have the attenuator switched in. As the TRX has only about 5W output the sensitivity is not all too critical.
The variable crystal filter works nicely, but the AGC is not quite as good as I would like - it has a slow attack, but it does give some protection against signals that are very strong. Most of the time it actually works well enough to listen to (not all too strong) signals. I need to be able to extend my CW keyer "distributor", so this radio can be added to my CW system.
This could be a nice addition to use in my 5W challenge on the 20-30-40-80m bands. I should probably make myself a diplexer, so my 10-15-20-40-80m dipole can be used on the lowest bands (40 and 80m) with the HB-1B, and another transceiver on 10-15-20m simultaneously. Long term I might make some more multiplexing, so the antenna can be used on all 5 bands (plus 4 and 6m) with different transceivers, or receivers .
Over the week end I found some older scanner receivers etc that I want to use for propagation monitoring and general (local) traffic monitoring.
Because I like to have the monitoring running for hours every day, and using solar power, I want to limit the power consumption.
Monitoring FM channels:
I have a 10m FM transceiver that I intend to use for monitoring 10m FM on 29.600. Draws 160mA on receive, which is acceptable, though not ideal. Current consumption is still about 160mA, but it is better than using the IC-703. For 10m FM it is also possible to use a Bearcat UBC92XLT handheld scanner running 6V with 70mA current consumption. A voltage regulator reducing the 13V to 6V will be necessary for this (easily built).
For 6m FM, monitoring frequencies in the 51-52MHz segment I can use my older Yaesu VX-5.
The best results of those came with 2 handheld scanner receivers, Bearcat UBC65XLT. These are 10 channel units capable of running in the 4m, 2m and 70cm bands. They draw 5mA when off, and 50mA when receiving.
I think that one of those should scan the 4m FM segment - 70.300 - 70-500 - 9 channels, and 69.900. the frequency pair 69.900/70.500 is allowed in Denmark for use with repeaters - yes 600kHz spacing, just like the 2m repeaters.
The alternative would be using a (Wouxun?) handheld for this purpose, if I can find out how to program its memories.
The second one can be used for 2m, and the 143.625 MHz, all in 25kHz spacing system. 143.625 has been used by the space stations Mir and ISS for communication with the ground stations in Russia.
For 2m FM I could also use my older Kenwood handheld TRX, or a Baofeng as monitor, again if I can figure out how to program the beast. Since I have no intention of transmitting with those I have no problem using those Chinese radios for monitoring.
For 70cm I could use the Baofeng's again.
Now, what to do for 23cm? I do have an old Kenwood TM741 triband radio, and that could be useful for FM monitoring on that band. I will have to test the power consumption of this one, but it does have the advantage of being capable of running 3 bands simultaneously, with additional transmit capability. I can likely find a low power scanner capable of running 23cm. We shall see.
I am well aware that some antennas will be necessary for all this (and more) monitoring.
The advantage of receive-only antennas is that the preamplifier, if it is necessary, can be placed close to the antenna, so a low cost coax cable (cheap satellite cable) can be used.
The 10 - 6 - 4m, and 8m bands could be covered by a TFD antenna about 2.5m long, hanging in a tree in the garden. Essentially invisible.
For 2m, 70cm and 23cm a short tri-band vertical can be used, with a wideband preamp, and stilll the low cost cable. Not invisible, but relatively discreet. Yes I am aware of the possible overload of some receivers when transmitting, but that is, for now, an acceptable compromise.
For reception on bands in between - such as air band and FM broadcast radio of both Western European and Russian stations, a wide band antenna, such as a discone or a log-periodic antenna could be used with a wideband preamplifier.
The next level will be some monitoring using FT8 and beacon reception, and this requires more sophisticated reception systems capable of SSB. I have some ideas, but this will have to wait for another time.
It is no secret that one of my favourite bands (especially on HF) is 10m, and I want to be able to make the best possible use of that band.
At the moment several receivers are used for monitoring the 10m band:
- the FRG-100 for 28200 "International Beacon Project" (IBP), current draw 500mA
- The IC-703 for 10m FM, 500mA
- The AR-8200 for 10m FT8, 200mA
All in all 1.2A of current consumption, just for monitoring 10m propagation using existing (older) equipment. Even using IC-705s for all it would be less. But for monitoring this could be considerably reduced by using simple home made receivers:
- Polyakov DCRX for FT8, using a (pulled) 14.04MHz Xtal as LO, 20mA?
- Polyakov DCRX for WSPR/QRSS, using a (pulled) 14.06MHz Xtal as LO, 20mA?
- Simple DCRX or superhet w/AGC for monitoring 27.555 (20-50mA?)
- simple FM RX with FM-IC for 29.6 FM likely 25mA
- simple superhet w/AGC for 28.200 IBP, likely 25-50mA
- the box could incorporate a Raspberry Pi 2 for decoding WSPR/QRSS and/or FT8, ???mA
Some LO signals could be made with an Arduino controlled Si5351 synth board.
A modular build of this is feasible, and could start with the 28.200 IBP TX.
After this the priority would be like:
- FT8 RX
- 29.6 FM RX
- 27.555 DXB RX
Signals from all could be mixed/matched into a stereo amplifier for "placing the audio", e.g.
28.200 in the centre, the 29.6 in the left channel and 27.555 in the right channel. If more audio monitoring, the 29.6 FM channel (squelched) could be shared with another (SSB or CW) channel audio.
The new solar charge regulator connected into the system, and more radios connected as loads. With the new controller I can manage around 600W peak power from the solar panels. Right now the panels provide only a maximum of 230W, so there is room for improvement, and I have some panels available
Setting this revised system up took a few hours.
Radios connected now:
- IC-705 (running 6 - 80m with the new 30m "long wire" antenna).
- IC-7300 (running 4-6-10-(12)-15-(18)-20-40-80m with the dipole antenna)
- IC-703 (running 10 FM RX)
- FRG-100 (running 28200 Beacon RX)
- AR-8200 (running FT8 RX) will run continuously
- FT-8900 (running 70cm)
Total current consumption for all the above radios is about 2.7A, though not running all the time.
Main radios for use will be the IC-705 and the IC-7300 and the FT-8900 for now.
As the system has been running all evening, the batteries indicate about 85% capacity left. Let us see how much sunshine is needed to get the power back up to above 95% tomorrow.
The IC-703, the FRG-100 and the AR-8200 are very inefficient as stand-by receivers and should be replaced with less power consuming receivers. Some of it should probably be home made, especially the FT8 receiver and the 28200 beacon receiver. This will likely reduce the total power consumption of the system by almost 1A - this could then be used for other purposes, like a Raspberry Pi for running WSJT-X (FT8 monitoring).
In general, for general monitoring, the receivers should be really low power ones, as much as can be done
I will need to test a Raspberry Pi 2 to see if it runs WSJT-X smoothly, and how the current consumption is.
Now I will have to see how this works as an independent power supply. I expect no problems from now, until October or November, but the few winter months will likely provide too little power from the solar panels. We shall see when that time arrives.
The 30m long piece of wire has found its place for a while.
The feed point is placed 2m high at the end of the out-house under an apple tree. It then goes up through the tree and lead to the second apple tree - the largest in the garden, then down to a smaller tree where the end is attached. Most of the wire is about 5m above ground, not particularly high, but definitely better than 1m above ground.
The antenna now has a counterpoise added, about 50m of wire, about 2m above ground (and lower).
The system works nicely on 30m, and does not need a tuner when operating from 80 - 6m. On the resonant bands of the dipole, the dipole mostly works better, but on 20m in particular the wire gives signal mostly equal to the dipole. On 30m the dipole is useless, as it is not resonant at all, and the wire works nicely. A TZ station (Mali) was coming in nicely with up to S9 signals, but 5W was (as expected) not sufficient to break the pile -up. I will have to try again when signals are good, and less stations are calling.
The present set-up of antennas and transceivers for the 80 - 4m bands is now as follows.
IC-705: Wire antenna, workable on all bands 80m - 6m.
IC-7300: Dipole working on 4,6,10,15,20,40,80m
IC-7600: The old R-6000 antenna running 10-12-15-17-20m, and the 6m part of the V-2000 antenna.
IC-7100: A vertical Sirio half wave antenna for 4m, mostly used for the local FM traffic.
My HF dipole antenna for the IC-705 has been hanging very low for quite a while. Even then my 5W (mostly CW) challenge for the time of the year is on track.
Yesterday I made an effort to raise the feed point for the "inverted V"from 3.5m to just over 6m, just at the top of the largest apple tree in my garden. It can be brought higher, but for now it stays there, because some of the wires are somewhat entangled in the branches of the tree, and I have not yet un-tangled them.
The antenna is a Diamond make, 5-band dipole with one branch for 10 and 20m, and the other for 15 - 40 - 80m. It is likely that I can add 30m, maybe even 60m to this antenna, as I have some coils from a previous antenna. But this will be for later.
The result? It may be too early to say, but tests yesterday indicate more band noise on some bands.
First of all, the resonance frequencies are a bit high on the bands, mostly in the SSB parts of the bands, so the antenna is too short. I will have to "cut on" some wire (yes, I know, add a bit of wire, but I couldn't help playing with the words)
10m has not done too much, neither has 15m.
On 20m I have had clearly better signals, and it looks like more stations than before are coming back to my calls.
On 40m the band noise is clearly higher, as are the signals. Same for 80m. Some CQ calls on 80m gave a QSO to SP3CW last night.
This concludes the first stage of my antenna maintenance and improvement work, there is a lot more to do.
I got the modified IC-703 connected to a RX signal splitter with 3 outputs. One is connected back to the '703, so I have 2 more outputs available. The signal level is high enough for sensitive receivers, and could be amplified for use with more receivers. The idea is to have monitoring receivers near the 10m band, e.g. on the following frequencies:
27.555 CB activity centre for early propagation detection (other CB frequencies?)
28.074 FT8 tuning frequency. This could become a simple Polyakov type DC receiver.
28.126 WSPR/QRSS monitoring (could also become a Polyakov type DCRX).
28.200 International Beacon Project audio listening (could become a very simple superhet).
28.322 secondary QRSS (could be simple DCRX)
29.600 (FM calling frequency) - I should probably use my AOR7030 for this, but it looks like it needs some repair.
Possibly other 10m frequencies
My old FRG-100 receiver was also connected to the solar power system, as a test. This radio is far too power consuming, up to 1.2A. I checked consumption. Right now that RX is set up for monitoring 10m FT8, with the antenna connected to the IC-703 signal splitter
The FRG-100 is *very* inefficient to use with solar. Stand-by current ("off") is about 130mA and with the RX running, 600mA. Not suited for the small solar system I have here. For alternatives, see above.
I decided to run the FRG-100 from a mains power supply for now. If I can find a "female" cigarette lighter 12V connector, I will try to connect the hand-held 10m multimode TRX (w/"mobile adapter") that I have, to see the power consumption. This could work as an intermediate solution for monitoring 10m FT8 using the solar power system.
10m FT8, just running for less than an hour, has yielded spots from as far away as VK and HS and South America, 5 continents already. More spots are expected in the afternoon and evening.
The International Beacon system has had audible signals from VK (Aus), RR9 (Siberia), ZS6 (South Africa), 5Z4 (Kenya), 4X6 Israel and CS3 (Azores), already before 1200 UTC, with the IC-703 RX. 10m is very lively.
Yes, 10m is may favourite HF band when it comes to propagation, and solar cycle 25 looks like it will be good.
Almost every day I have been working QSOs with the 5W output CW, mostly from the IC-705. QSOs have been made on 10-12-15-17-20-40-80m.
Now we wait for 4 and 6m to open - and 2m in the summer Es season. I suspect that I will mostly run more power on those bands, but some 5W work will be tested in the big openings.
New antennas are needed, so I can include 30-60-160m. Initially I expect to make and use a 30m vertical 1/4 wave GP, usable on 30-10-6-4m, probably good enough to listen on 8m (40MHz).
Next antenna will probably be an EFHW wire antenna for 80m. That should work on all HF bands except 60m, and with an extension coil it should be extended to work on 160m. I do have the transformer (49:1), it must be built into a box, but then it should be ready for deployment when the weather gets a bit warmer. Yes, I am waiting for spring weather. It may be variable, but I think I can find some warm and dry spells to play with antennas.
We have got more sunspots than I have seen in several years, and we are getting more daylight, so the HF propagation is already better than I have seen it in years. Good times for HF QRP operation ...
Now that we have more daylight in my area (55 deg. N), the propagation on the higher HF bands is improving again.
On top of this, the solar flux numbers have been above 100 for several weeks, with very few days below 100 SFU, I is now about 60 days ago we had no sunspots visible. Cycle 25 has started in earnest.
In my 5W challenge I have now had QSOs on the 10-12-15-17-20-40, and 80m bands.
Testing the SWR with my 5-band dipole showed that it is also useful for a few more bands than the design frequencies - 10-15-20-40-80m. The dipole can operate on 4-6-12 and 17m. SWR is too high on 30 and 60m, and far too high on 160m. But not bad to be able to operate 9 bands on a 5-band antenna. This may change when I get the feed point higher up, as it is less than 4m above ground. I will have to improve the HF/MF antenna system, so I can include the remaining bands, and maybe try out the 630m band, or the 2200m band.
Last night I made what I refer to as a real CW QSO on 80m. F6BBQ with much more exchange than calls and report. Nice and moderate tempo, perfect for my modest CW capabilities.
As it is right now, I am using the IC-705 for all the 5W QSOs. When I add an antenna for 30m (planned as a 1/4 wave ground plane), that should be usable on 10m (possibly with a tuner), 6m and 4m on thr 3rd, 5th and 7th harmonic. Not ideal, but probably slightly better than the performance of the low dipole on 10-6-4m, until I can get my 4-6m Moxon rectangle assembled and mounted.
The 30m vertical could be expanded to other bands with parallel (band) elements. This antenna would most likely be used with the IC-7300, with higher power on 4 and 6m, and likely set to 5W on the HF bands. Spring is allowed to begin, but I will probably have to wait another month here.
I said that 10 was a bit down yesterday.
Today I just left the RX on a "random" frequency on 10m CW.
Being in the other end of the living room I suddenly heard a CQ call, went o answer, and voilá:
First 10m QSO of the year, with 5W. No real DX, but nice to get 10 included in my 5W challenge.
The 5W of the year is now up to 80-40-20-17-15-10m bands, all with the low hanging dipole.
