Following my fire last November, my transmitting antenna has been down. I have been waiting for the repair work to be done by my insurers. Tomorrow some of the repairs will be carried out, and I hope it will all be finished within a few weeks so I can re-erect my main mast. Meantime, I have a lash-up receve antenna which works quite well.
The new transmit antenna will be similar to the old one but it will be fed from the end remote from the house. Not only will this reduce the possibilty of another fire, but it should reduce the amount of electrical noise picked up from my house and those of my neighbours. It will be much more difficult to engineer, and will involve a plastic shed for the remote loading and tuning coils.
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Saturday, 2 February 2013
January Catch-up
Updating this blog - and for much of the time, LF receiving - has taken a back seat as I have had the flu for a few days. Here is a brief summary of recent activity (note that I am still not able to transmit on LF/MF).
Sat 26 January: A very good QRSS3 signal from EW6GB today on 137.7kHz (picture below). Overnight, I received QRSS60 from WD2XGJ. Also logged DF2JP and RN3AGC on Opera32.
Huge signal from EW6GB, with G3XBM's "earth stake antenna" signal at the top
Thu 24 January: On 136kHz Opera32 I received RA3YO and RN3AGC.
Wed 23 January: On 136kHz Opera32 I received RN3AGC.
Mon 21 January: Monitored 472kHz WSPR mode and logged: G3XBM/1, G3ZJO, PA0A, G4KPX, DG3LV, PA3FNY, PA2RF, DK6NI, G4HJW/1, PA3EGO, G1SLE, PA0O, SM2BHZ and M1GEO.
Sun 20 January: Re-tuned the antenna to 472kHz and received:
WSPR from G4KPX, G4HJW/1, G1SLE, M1GEO, G0VQH, PA3ABK, PA2RF, G3XBM, DG3LV.
Opera4 from DJ8ES, G4WGT, G0NBD, PA3BHT and DD2UJ (977km from me).
Opera8 from G0NBD.
Sat 19 January: Monitoring the 136kHz band produced daytime QRSS3 from G3XIZ and Opera32 from 1933 to 2311UTC from UA4WPF peaking -30dB S/N.
Sat 26 January: A very good QRSS3 signal from EW6GB today on 137.7kHz (picture below). Overnight, I received QRSS60 from WD2XGJ. Also logged DF2JP and RN3AGC on Opera32.
Huge signal from EW6GB, with G3XBM's "earth stake antenna" signal at the top
Thu 24 January: On 136kHz Opera32 I received RA3YO and RN3AGC.
Wed 23 January: On 136kHz Opera32 I received RN3AGC.
Mon 21 January: Monitored 472kHz WSPR mode and logged: G3XBM/1, G3ZJO, PA0A, G4KPX, DG3LV, PA3FNY, PA2RF, DK6NI, G4HJW/1, PA3EGO, G1SLE, PA0O, SM2BHZ and M1GEO.
Sun 20 January: Re-tuned the antenna to 472kHz and received:
WSPR from G4KPX, G4HJW/1, G1SLE, M1GEO, G0VQH, PA3ABK, PA2RF, G3XBM, DG3LV.
Opera4 from DJ8ES, G4WGT, G0NBD, PA3BHT and DD2UJ (977km from me).
Opera8 from G0NBD.
Sat 19 January: Monitoring the 136kHz band produced daytime QRSS3 from G3XIZ and Opera32 from 1933 to 2311UTC from UA4WPF peaking -30dB S/N.
Saturday, 19 January 2013
136kHz Op32 DX 15-18 January
Fri 18 January: 136kHz: Opera32: RN3AGC and UA4WPF.
Thu 17 January: 136kHz Opera 32: UA4WPF between 1954 and 2147UTC; RN3AGC between 2135 and 2240UTC.
Tue 15 January: 136kHz Opera32 mode: UW8SM received between 0254 and 0440UTC; DF6NM received at 2035UTC.
Thu 17 January: 136kHz Opera 32: UA4WPF between 1954 and 2147UTC; RN3AGC between 2135 and 2240UTC.
Tue 15 January: 136kHz Opera32 mode: UW8SM received between 0254 and 0440UTC; DF6NM received at 2035UTC.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
USA Night on 136kHz
Last night, there was much beacon activity around 137.777kHz. The picture taken at 0300 shows (from the top):
WD2XNS in CT using QRSS60 (visible 0115-0530UTC) in locator FN31LS 5424km from me.
WD2XFJ in MA using QRSS60 (visible 0115-0745UTC) in locator FN42HI 5275km from me.
WD2XES in MA using DFCW60 (visible 0200-0345UTC) in locator FN42CH 5305km from me.
UW8SM in the Ukraine using DFCW60 - his "SM" is on the same frequency as "XES" at 0310.
WD2XKO in NC using QRSS60 (visible 0130-0445UTC) in locator EM95TG 6380km from me.
The bottom scale shows the time. The frequency scale on the right is in Hertz relative to 137.777kHz.
Click on the image to enlarge it.
Note that the US calls on 136kHz and 472kHz are run by amateurs operating under special experimental licences as the US. They cannot use their own callsigns as the US does not currently have an amateur allocation on these bands.
WD2XNS in CT using QRSS60 (visible 0115-0530UTC) in locator FN31LS 5424km from me.
WD2XFJ in MA using QRSS60 (visible 0115-0745UTC) in locator FN42HI 5275km from me.
WD2XES in MA using DFCW60 (visible 0200-0345UTC) in locator FN42CH 5305km from me.
UW8SM in the Ukraine using DFCW60 - his "SM" is on the same frequency as "XES" at 0310.
WD2XKO in NC using QRSS60 (visible 0130-0445UTC) in locator EM95TG 6380km from me.
The bottom scale shows the time. The frequency scale on the right is in Hertz relative to 137.777kHz.
Click on the image to enlarge it.
Note that the US calls on 136kHz and 472kHz are run by amateurs operating under special experimental licences as the US. They cannot use their own callsigns as the US does not currently have an amateur allocation on these bands.
Monday, 14 January 2013
UW8SM on 136kHz
I logged several transmissions from UW8SM, when he was using Opera32 yesterday evening and then QRSS60 overnight.
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