136kHz DX to end of 2012

29-30 December: Opera32 beacons received this evening were PA0OCD, RN3AGC, DF2JP and UA4WPF. After midnight, I received QRSS and DFCW beacons 137.777 and 137.781kHz from VO1NA, RN3AGC, UA4WPF (not shown below), WD2XNS, WD2XES and WD2XKO.

Top to bottom WD2XNS, WD2XES, RN3AGC, WD2XKO and VO1NA at 0600UTC

28 December: Opera32 beacons received this evening were G8HUH, DF6NM, DL3NSW and UA4WPF.

26-27 December: Overnight DFCW60 beacon from VO1NA received from 2330 to 0910UTC.

25-26 December: Opera32 beacons received overnight included DF2JP and RN3AGC.

24-25 December: Opera32 beacons received included DF2JP, RN3AGC and UA4WPF (two decodes at 1834 and 2052UTC).

Pre-Christmas 136kHz DX

23-24 December: Received WSPR from DK7FC and G8HUH. Also Opera32 from RN3AGC, DF2JP, G8HUH and G8HUH, plus no less than ten transmissions from UA4WPF (3420km) at 1929, 2004, 2039, 2149, 2227, 2302, 2336, 0011, 0046 and 0121.

22-23 December: I received WSPR beacons from PA0A, DF7FC and IK1HSS. Also saw QRSS60 from VO1NA from 2210 to 0950UTC.

20 December: During the evening, I received Opera32 beacons from RN3AGC, PA0A and DF2JP.

18-19 December: Received Opera32 beacons from DF2JP, RN3AGC, G4WGT and PA0A.

Moscow night

Still using my temporary sloper receive antenna, I decoded six beacon transmissions last night from RN3AGC, at 1619, 1658, 1743, 1934, 2117 and 0044UTC.

UA4WPF Op32

Yesterday evening on the 136kHz band, I decoded an Opera8 beacon from PA0WMR. Also Opera32 from G8HUH, DF2JP, RN3AGC and five transmissions from UA4WPF (3420km) at 1933, 2008, 2209 and 2247UTC.

Preparations are underway to rebuild my transmitting antenna. I am still waiting for the builders to repair the recent fire damage, so one of my antenna masts is down. However, I have bought a plastic shed which will house the new loading coil and will be at the far end of the garden. I have also ordered coax to feed it with.

Misc 136kHz modes

Received yesterday and overnight on the 136kHz band:

On Opera32 mode - G8HUH, UA4WPF (3420km), DF2JP, RN3AGC (2483km).
On WSPR - G8HUH.
On QRSS3 - G3XIZ.
On DFCW60 - VO1NA, RN3AGC.
On QRSS60 - Traces of WD2XKO.

Five DFCW60 Stations on 136kHz

Another good night last night for DFCW watchers. The picture below shows (top to bottom):
UA4WPF, UW8SM (left), RA3YO (right), VO1NA and RN3AGC, all between 137.776 and 137.779kHz (that just 3Hz) at around 2100UTC.

136kHz QRSS60 DX

Very good conditions to the east and west last night. Received the following DFCW60 signals between 137.777 and 137.780kHz:
UA4WPF from 1705 to 2117UTC with traces for several hours after that.
RN3AGC from 2227 to 0220UTC very strong signals.
VO1NA from 0230 to 0940UTC, that's more than 1.5 hours after UK sunrise.
A new station transmitting on the 136kHz band is UW8SM whose signals were visible between 2000 and 2117 (see picture).

UW8SM sending his prefix (dots low, dashes high) then a long dash

Transatlantic 136kHz

Last night I copied VO1NA's DFCW60 beacon all night on 137.777kHz, and got several QRSS60 transmissions from WD2XNS (W1VD).

WD2XNS (top) and VO1NA (bottom) at 0220 to 0240UTC 

UA4WPF on 136kHz Op32

Yesterday evening I monitored Opera32 beacons, receiving PA0A, G8HUH and for the first time on this mode UA4WPF at 3420km. G8HUH was also received on WPSR mode.

VO1NA on QRSS

VO1NAa in Newfoundland was a good signal for most of the night (see pictures below). He was using DFCW60 on 137.777kHz (click on the images to enlarge).

VO1NA 0100-0220UTC

VO1NA 0220-0345UTC

VO1NA 0345-0500UTC

VO1NA 0500-0630UTC

VO1NA 0630-0755

VO1NA 0755-0915UTC

Other 136kHz stations received were DK7FC using QRSS3 and PA0A on Opera32.

R7NT on QRSS

Following last night's good reception of R7NT's Opera32 beacon in the UK, Alex decided to try QRSS10 (extremely slow Morse with a 10-second dot period) and to look for two-way contacts on 137.705kHz. Unfortunately I am still unable to transmit following my fire, but I was able to monitor using my temporary sloper receive antenna. I was able to receive several of his transmissions from 1800 ro 2300UTC when I switched to Opera32. The best is shown below:

Other signals received on the band were G8HUH using WSPR and F4DTL using QRSS3.

Dst and Reception of R7NT on 136kHz

The Dst figure (see "A possible way of Forecasting good Radio Propagation conditions on 136kHz" by Alan Melia, G3NYK) has been high for some time, and last night it was the highest for a few weeks. A graph of the past and forecast Dst can be seen on the website of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Alex, R7NT in southern Russia, ran tests using the Opera32 mode last night and I managed to receive 11 of his beacons between 2018 and 0535UTC at a distance of 2835km.

WSJT-X Improvement and Op32

06 December: The first opportunity to test the latest version (V0.5, r2788) of WSJT-X, the developing LF/MF data mode, since my antenna was put out of action. The transmissions of F4DTL, PA0A and DF6NM were successfully decoded. This looks promising as I had problems with the reliability of decoding using older versions.

Later monitoring of Opera32 becaons produced PA0A, RN3AGC (at 1733 and 1813UTC), G8HUH and DF2JP.

UA0 to G on 136kHz

04-05 December: Opera32 beacons received on my temporary antenna overnight were: G8HUH, DF2JP, and RN3AGC.

G8HUH in Somerset managed to receive UA0AET at 2048UTC at a distance of 5816km, a very impressive distance.

136kHz Opera32 Reception

03-04 December: On my temporary receive set-up I logged overnight DF2JP, G8HUH and RN3AGC (2483km). Activity was very low.

I have bought a new loading coil hut which will be erected after Christmas. We are still awaiting the repairs top the house so one of my masts is out of action.

136kHz Conditions Poorer

02-03 December: Received G8HUH on WSPR. Also G8HUH, DF2JP and PA0A on Opera32.

Conditions were much poorer than the previous day and the only Opera32 station to reach more than 2500km overnight was UA4WPF who was heard by UA0SNV-1 at 2895km.

136kHz Opera32 DX

1-2 December: My temporary receive antenna produced the following Op32 stations overnight:
DF2JP, DF6NM, DK7FC, G4WGT, G8HUH, PA0A, RN3AGC (2483km) and R7NT (2835km).

DX in excess of 2500km achieved by others included:
UA4WPF received by UA0SNV-1 (2895km)
RN3AGC received by G4WGT (2552km) and G8HUH (2680km)
R7NT received by G8HUH (3031km)
G8HUH received by RV3APM (2666km)
DK7FC received by UA0SNV-1 (5742km).

Some 136kHz Receive Restored

Following my fire I have had to remove one of my masts - the one at the house end (see this picture for a rough idea of the old arrangement). Whilst I await the start of the repair work, I have made a temporary sloper out of the old top section, which runs from ground level at the house to 14m high. Adding an old loading coil brings the antenna to resonance on 136kHz (the taps for 500kHz have yet to be determined). The insulation is not good enough for transmitting, but it receives OK.

Stations so far received on 136kHz Opera32 are: DF2JP, PA0A and DF6NM.