New 70MHz beacon from Skye (IO67)

Speaking to Ken, G3LVP he told me that GM8RBR is running a 'personal' 70MHz beacon from the Isle of Skye (IO67UF) on 70.100. The beacon was supplied by HG1YA and runs 10W to a 5element dual band 50/70MHz antenna beaming south.

The beacon has been heard by a number of 70MHz enthusiasts in the south by meteor reflections - Ken, G3LVP and John, G4ZTR both report hearing a number of meteor pings via the 70MHz website

28MHz mobile

After getting the Sirio 10m antenna on the car last autumn, I've been switching the FT8900 over from the VHF/UHF aerial to use 10m, particularly at weekends as I've been driving around. On the FT8900 I'm restricted to FM of course, so I'd been thinking about getting the Anytone AT-5555 in the car to give me SSB capability.

It was just a case of getting the bits together to do it, which in reality was just sorting out the power. I assumed that fixing would be easy, but actually as ever, there's less room in small cars than you think. And the Anytone is actually quite a big rig! In the end, I managed to fix it securely to the left hand side of the centre console. It seems quite easy to operate and doesn't impede driving.

On a test drive across to the next village, I listened and heard some activity; UA9XL and an EA8 on SSB as well as a UN9 down on CW. SWR of the antenna seems fine in the lower portion of the band.

Hopefully I shall be able to make some contacts in the coming weeks. 12W or so is quite low power for SSB but I am sure something will be possible and in any case, it's always interesting to listen.

One thing I have already tried - whilst parked - is tuning the rig to 28.120 to receive PSK and decoding it on my iPhone with the 'Multimode' application. In theory, a QSO may be possible by 'miking' the output of the iPhone to the rig.

I'm looking forward to seeing what can be done

Listening to the International Space Station

It's always exciting to hear an astronaut from the International Space Station active on 145MHz. Over the last few days I've heard activity a couple of times and the second time, I had my iPhone handy and I shot a quick video, which I hope you might find interesting.

What I love about PSK Reporter and the RBN Network

This morning, because I had to pop into the garage on the way to the station, I left the house a little later than normal on a work day. To fill the time (!), I popped onto 3.5MHz JT65 at greyline - just as the sun was rising. To my slight disappointment, although I heard several stations, I didn't make any contacts.

However, this evening, I checked the PSK Reporter website to see where I was heard. I was delighted that although I didn't make any contacts, my 25W JT65A signal was getting quite a long way into the USA

My amateur radio aims for 2012

1. VHF JT65

As you know by now, I have become a great fan of JT65 on HF. I want to start using the mode on VHF. In particular the JT6M mode for 50MHz looks interesting. Would it be viable with 100W and a vertical? Maybe! I have to try it. If not, no doubt a simple low dipole would work for meteor scatter.

The challenge is the interface with the FT847 which I have struggled with in the past. Looks like I have various options which I hope to pursue soon.

2. 70MHz

Need to improve the performance of the 70MHz receiver and probably up the power a bit. I have a plan .... Not too worried about tropo on the band but would like to be more competitive for Es and meteor scatter.

3. 1.8MHz JT65

I wonder what could be done on 160m from a 'small garden' using JT65?

4. 144MHz EME

I would love to try and work some EME. Probably my old 13el on a stepladder in the back garden then. Need that interface for the FT847!

5. 28MHz mobile

I'm planning to install the Anytone AT-5555 in the car now I have the more efficient 10m antenna.

Hope I can do at least some of these.

70Mhz and 500khz allocations for the Netherlands

I just saw a tweet from OY3JE containing a link to the IARU Region 1 website noting that the Netherlands will have allocations at 70MHz and 500khz from January 1st 2012.

Personally, I'm particularly pleased with the opportunities at 70MHz, though I suspect I will be lucky to work into the Netherlands with my current 70MHz setup.

See the Region 1 article here

My amateur radio highlights of the year

Lee, G0MTN used to publish his excellent 'Review of the Year' on the UK-Contest reflector. Hopefully he still does, I'm long gone from that reflector (and all others!). It's a fun thing to do and I have been thinking over the last few days about my Amateur Radio Highlights of the Year.

1. JT65
If you've seen my posts recently you'll see that I have been very active on JT65 on HF using the W6CQZ JT65-HF software. It's excellent for working DX with low power. And actually I get just as much satisfaction from working a station using something like a loft dipole, knowing that on any other mode, I would struggle to make the contact. It's a very relaxing mode too, also ideal for those late night contacts without keeping other occupants of the house awake.

Having seen how effective JT65 is on HF, I really want to try it on VHF. But that's something for 2012.

2. The 50/144/432MHz collinear
The aerial was installed in April and it has given me a new perspective on 144 and 433MHz in particular. There have been plenty of surprises about how much variation there is on a day-to-day basis in terms of propagation. There have been some exceptional contacts and loggings too; a repeater from Norway completely out of the blue on 144MHz as well as more recently a 144MHz FM contact to the South of France.

On 50MHz during this year's Es season, the antenna worked out well with many contacts being made.

3. 28MHz
During the summer the new Anytone AT5555 proved great fun with low power with the Es propagation. And earlier in the year, my bike ride portable operations with the FT817 and a simple antenna were always interesting.

In the autumn it was a real surprise and pleasure to find the band so good for worldwide DX again.

4. Practical Wireless
Being part of the team and writing for PW is great fun and I've enjoyed every column and review in different ways. It's been great to engage with the contributors and find out what interests them. Thanks to Rob, Tex and the team in Poole for making it such a great experience.

5. Memorable contacts
Hard to single them out as there's always something interesting in each contact. But a few contacts of different types spring to mind quickly:

The contacts that come out of apparently nowhere! Being fascinated by radio propagation, it's magical to me how signals can come up out of noise and then fade back down again (hopefully having been worked in between); 9H1BT on 50Mhz late one May evening, EA1FDI on 144MHz in August, HB10K on 144MHz on a September evening, F4FGB worked on 144MHz FM via a repeater in the South of France and F5ICN on 144MHz SSB from the South of France more recently. Earlier this week, working Rene DL6NAA on 144 and 432MHz was really pleasing.

JT65 has been quite a mind shift for me. Working W7YES from the west coast with just a few watts on 28MHz as well as KP4ED on 3.5MHz JT65 on a noisy winter's evening were QSOs that I know I would have struggled to make on other modes.

Of course it was good to work some real DX; my friends at T32C on the other side of the world did a wonderful job and it was great to work them with no hassle on 10 and 24MHz CW. In September, I realised that 28MHz was back in business when I worked NE0X with a huge signal on CW early one evening.

It's no longer all about DX for me though. Working Larry G4OXY on 70MHz FM via the Tring parrot was great. We used to work on 50MHz when Larry was in Portishead and I was in Cheltenham back in the mid 1980s, so there was much to catch up on! Likewise with Mattias DH3NAN who I worked recently on 144MHz SSB - we remembered QSOs from the SquareBashers 1985 expedition to IN79 square GB2XJ.

I always enjoy radio contacts with my Twitter friends, so it was really good to chat with Jerry KD0BIK from Denver on D-STAR. Rob M0VFC persuaded me onto 18MHz SSB for the first time in many a year when the Camb-Hams were operating from St Pierre et Miquelon - that was a fun QSO.

D-STAR provides the ability to make some nice QSOs across the world or closer to home and I particularly enjoyed a lovely QSO one August morning with Rod G3TXA on the Isle of Wight and another QSO with old friend Gordon G8PNN in Northumberland.

All in all, an enjoyable year on the radio. Always something new and interesting to try and fascinating people to talk to. 2012 will mark the start of my 30th year on the air. Short compared to some - but a hobby has to be good to keep you keen after 30 years, doesn't it?

Boxing Day holiday tropo

I remember a couple of years ago, VHF/UHF tropo conditions were good around Boxing Day. Well, although today wasn't Boxing Day, it was our Boxing Day Bank holiday.

This morning as I was dealing with some e-mails, I had the VHF FM rig running on 145.500 and heard a selection of stations from G6XOR up in Derby to others in the Midlands. Sadly, I wasn't able to respond at the time. However, I did later work John M6CTI near Heathrow, who was running 5W.

After Julie and I had come back from a walk this afternoon and the Christmas Cumulatives had ended, I checked the bands anyway. The GB3VHF beacon was loud and PI7CIS and ON0VHF on 144MHz above average. Oddly, PI7CIS on 432MHz was inaudible with me. I was just about to close when I heard DL6NAA from JO50 call 2E0NEY on 144MHz.

Happily, Rene, DL6NAA called CQ and after a couple of calls I was able to work him with good signals. He runs 750W to a good antenna system so I was not sure he would hear my little station. I listened for a while and heard him move to 432MHz. I was pleased to find I could hear him there too. Something of a pileup developed so I decided to drop my call in on CW, which seemed to work and I was delighted to work him.

Check out the DL0AR website to see pictures of the antenna system that DL6NAA uses. You'll see why he's so loud. Thanks for the contacts Rene!

Why has my DVAP started to get disconnected from the reflectors? (Win-DV users)

Last weekend I thought it was about time that I made some D-STAR contacts again. Out here in the wilderness, I use my DVAP to connect to the network. As I have noted on the blog before, I often use the Win-DV software from http://www.dutch-star.eu
That software allows me to do a bit more than the DVAP-Tool software from AA4RC - just in terms of being able to set up connections on the PC rather than having to do it on the E-92.

Anyway, last weekend I started up the Win-DV software connected it to REF001C and went downstairs with my handheld. I hadn't heard anything after a while so I did a quick check and found that I had been disconnected. No big deal, I'd probably done something silly!

Connected it and checked again. I'd been disconnected. Probably something to do with 1C so tried another reflector. Same again!

Hmmm. Now my mind was starting to wonder. I closed down Win-DV and started up DVAP-Tool. Guess what? It connected and stayed there!

I didn't have anytime to investigate at the time, but this evening I checked out the Dutch*star site. It seems that a decision was taken by 'DPLUS Network managers' not to allow DVAPs or DV-Dongles to connect to the network unless they sent the hardware serial number. DVAP-Tool was doing that and Win-DV was not, hence anyone using Win-DV would get disconnected.

Why was this done? This blog has never been about radio politics and we're not going to start now. You can form your own opinion I am sure.

However, the good news is that the latest release of Win-DV allows you to select the 'HARDWARE' option to send your DVAP serial number to the network.

I tested it this evening and it's working fine. You can read more detail on the Dutch*Star site.

More on JT65A

Since getting the JT65-HF program working with my equipment, I've been having a great time with the mode. It really is amazing what you can work. It's a very relaxing mode and you can easily be working someone on JT65 on HF and having a local QSO on VHF, which is quite fun.

Over the last few weeks, I've had JT65A contacts on 3.5, 7, 14 and 28MHz. The most satisfying bands have been 3.5 and 28MHz. On a number of occasions, I've hooked the receiver up to the computer in the morning and left the JT65 program running all day, to see what I can hear. Because I've configured the program to upload what it hears to the reverse beacon network and the PSK Reporter website, it's easy to keep track of what propagation is like, from my desk or from the train! I shall have to work out some remote control so that I can make some QSOs at lunchtime.

The image above shows a 'typical to good' day on 28MHz JT65. Generally the first signals are heard around 0700z and the last ones around 1730z - plus or minus.

In the evenings I have been trying out 3.5MHz JT65 and have been surprised by the results. Some of the notable contacts have been UN9LEI and KP4ED with lots of contacts in between! Hoping to work VK6 at some point, as that would be a nice one in the evening.

Great mode! I'm so glad I tried it. Can't wait to get the K1JT modes working with my FT847 for VHF/UHF!

Tis the season....for 70MHz FM!

Not much from me during the last few weeks. A busy time at work, with three new websites going live in the space of two weeks - so most brain cycles going towards that during the lunchtimes that I normally use for a bit of blogging!

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been turning the 70MHz FM rig on a bit more often. I realise that 70MHz FM is a winter band/mode for me. During the summer, the antenna is usually connected up to the CW/SSB rig in case of a bit of Sporadic E. With the chances of that significantly lower now, I've been enjoying some more local contacts.

Good to work Geoff, G3NPI near Buckingham last weekend and to hear how active the band is on FM now. Clearly the combination of PMR kit and imports from the Chinese market has been a popular one. Keen to work a few people using the new Wouxun Dual Band handhelds when it's warm enough to go out portable again.

This morning I had a nice QSO with Ted G3XUX/P near Winchester. I worked Ted through the MB7FM parrot, but we were also able to exchange signals directly, which is nice over the 40-45 mile or so path between us. Listening to MB7FM whilst I was doing a few jobs showed several other stations active, so if you have 70MHz FM, it's well worth switching the gear on and making some calls as you can.

JT65A, propagation and data visualisation

When I met Dave WW2R/G4FRE back in the spring he mentioned that after you've played with JT65A on HF you really don't want to do HF any other way. Having had a good weekend playing with the mode, I'm inclined to agree! Of course there are provisos - this is a mode to make bare bones contacts with minimal power or poor propagation. It's certainly not a mode for chatting!

Having said that, I have loved having the receiver running all day hooked up to the wonderful JT65A-HF program from W6CQZ with the data being uploaded to both the Reverse Beacon Network and the PSK Reporter network

The other thing about this is that when you call CQ or work someone, you can readily see who else heard you, which is absolutely fascinating.

Over the weekend I think my signals have been heard in all continents on 28MHz running anywhere between 10 and about 50 watts (depending on conditions) to the vertical. I have had some fascinating contacts and found some interesting openings.

Mike M0PRL is interested in visualising propagation data to look for openings and he kindly put together a fascinating time lapse sequence of the stations that my JT65A receiver hears over a period of 24 hours (though I confess it's usually switched off overnight, as you will see). Congratulations Mike, this is a really great visualisation!

My first QSOs on JT65a

I've mentioned before that I wanted to try out JT65A on HF but had hit some problems with the laptop's sound card and the software. Having got things going on WSPR yesterday; my 1W 20m signal got as far as VE6PDQ/1 in Edmonton. Having had an insight as to what I thought the sound card issue was with the JT65A-HF software was, this afternoon I connected it all up and started the software.

It worked!

First of all I tried it out on 20m and got a decode, having sorted out the levels to the sound card. It seemed that the JT65A software needed a slightly higher input level than WSPR. Having done that I was delighted to work DL1AAH on 20m running about 1W.

I wondered what 10m would be like and sure enough it was busy! I answered a few CQ calls, but a particularly nice QSO was with W7YES - I was running about 10W to the vertical.

By about 1830z the band seemed to have faded but I left the software running whilst we had supper. To my surprise, when I popped up later, the band had opened again and the software had logged some further US stations including WY7LL.

I'm pleased to have this working and suspect I shall have a lot of fun with it.

What's that signal on 433.075? "Beep Beep - 500 feet!"

I was passing through the shack quickly on Sunday and popped the FT7900 FM rig on to see what was going on in both the 145 and 433MHz bands. To my surprise, the receiver stopped on 433.075 - the output of the local Swindon repeater, GB3TD. However, what I heard was not GB3TD.

At strengths between S2 and about S4, fading up and down, was an FM transmission, consisting of a series of tones followed by an occasional announcement of "500 feet". I'd never heard this before and wasn't entirely sure what it might be. To start with, I thought perhaps it was a data from a balloon flight, but as the heights were increasing and decreasing quite rapidly, I suspected that was unlikely.

However, GB3TD sprang into life and Andy, G0BEQ popped up, testing his new Baofeng UV-3R (which sounded great!). I told Andy what I was hearing - and interestingly, about 15 miles away from me, he wasn't hearing the interference. He was able to tell me what it was though; equipment for model aircraft that reports the altitude of the model plane back to a receiver on the ground.

Oddly, after Andy and I had been speaking for a few minutes, I noticed that the transmission stopped. A coincidence perhaps, or perhaps the signal from the repeater being rather stronger than the few milliwatts from the plane had caused the altimeter to stop working whilst the repeater was active.

Not sure about the legality of these devices - although my suspicion is that they come under the heading of the low power devices and can thus be operated legally. However, if you are a model aircraft enthusiast reading this and you have one of these devices, may I ask you respectfully (genuinely) to try and use a channel that amateurs do not use. If you are in doubt - then your local amateur radio club can probably advise you which frequencies are likely to be in use local to you.

It's surprising how far a milliwatt or two of FM on 433MHz will travel!

Making VHF go further: Morse can help!

The first weekend in November has always been one of my favourite VHF contests. There aren't many purely CW contests on VHF these days, but the Marconi Memorial 144MHz is probably the best known. The nice thing is that all over Europe many of the top VHF contest stations and groups take part in the 24 hour event. Quite often at this time of year there is some tropo around and there's always some meteor reflections too - so there are tantalising hints of contest stations some 1500 or 2000 km away!

These days I don't treat the Marconi Memorial as a contest but as an exercise in DXing and to see what I can hear and work on 144MHz. This year despite indifferent conditions I was pleased to work TM0W in JN36 at just under 800km - it's a path that works quite well from here as I see I have worked that station before. DF0MU in JO32 was a nice one too as well as a number of other closer French and Belgian stations. There were hints of more distant Italian and Czech stations, but nothing solid copied.

Although I wasn't looking to work UK stations this weekend, I did get the impression that there were a few more people from the UK taking part which is good to hear

Each DXpedition QSO makes someone happy...

I remember a conversation way back when I was on the D68C expedition to the Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean. John G3WGV and Mark M0DXR were talking about the pleasure that people get from making contacts with DXpeditions. Mark summarised it in a way that I've always remembered, "for each QSO we make, we're making someone happy". It's a magical way of looking at it and it would be nice to think that it is true.

I was reminded of this reading Dave Richards' AA7EE's blog about his QSO with T32C on 80m with a homebrew QRP and a 40m dipole! It's a great story but what makes it even better is that the operator from T32C, Franky, ON7RU read the blog and commented on it! What really makes it is Dave's clear surprise and pleasure at making the QSO.

Having operated a few DXpeditions over the years, I can safely say that it's stories like these that make it all the more enjoyable. I remember back at 3B9C, I randomly strolled over to a spare station which was free and put out a call on 10m FM on 29.600MHz. A fair few came back and I worked my way through. Soon, I heard a familiar voice calling me, MW0TTU.

Mo, MW0TTU is the aunt of my friend Kelvin, GW4TTU and we had worked many a time on VHF from the South Wales hills. Simply, I replied without callsigns, "Hello Mo, what a lovely surprise, you're five and nine in Rodrigues".

It was lovely to hear Mo's surprised voice as she said "Who's that? Who's that!". Of course I explained quickly and did the more formal exchange of reports and then got back to the pileup, but it was a magical exchange.

It's the QSOs like that that really surprise people and make them happy.

CQ-VHF magazine available as a digital download

When I lived in Canada, I regularly bought a copy of CQ-VHF magazine. Edited by Joe N6CL, it's an accessible, enthusiastic and informative look at the VHF/UHF scene.

When I moved back to the UK I occasionally looked at subscribing, but the costs to ship it to the UK were pretty high. I happened to look again the other day and was delighted to see that I could subscribe to the magazine as a digital download for a very reasonable $18.

The Fall 2011 issue should be available this week and I am looking forward to browsing it on my iPad!

Sirio 4000PL mobile antenna ready for 10m FM

I mentioned earlier in the week that I had my suspicions that the Comet UHV-6 antenna wasn't working that well on the FM segment of 10m. Unsurprising really, as I trimmed it for the SSB section of the band! In any event, the UHV-6 isn't flexible enough to go under the barrier at the station car park. What I needed was a good flexible whip which would bend easily.

I enquired of some friends about good 27/28MHz whip antennas and had the Sirio range recommended. I looked at the Sirio 4000PL which looked promising. It arrived a couple of days ago in a very long cardboard tube, prompting a good-humoured 'what HAVE you ordered now, Tim' message!

I installed it on a magmount yesterday and plumbed it in. This morning I drove over to Faringdon with Lawrence and the cats (it was the cats' annual checkup at the vet - happy to say that all was well). Driving back, once the cats had stopped miaowing so vociferously, I tried a contact and was able to have a brief contact with US7IOG. Then this afternoon as I drove over to the farm store to get some bird food, I was pleased to make a quick QSO through the KQ2H repeater in New York.

Looks like it's working well and it will be fun to have 10m FM available in the car. I may need to look at a diplexer, so that I can simultaneously use the HF and VHF/UHF antennas. 

But first, I think I'll make sure it goes under the barrier at the station ok.....

The return of 10m FM

Well, of course it never really went away. Over the last few weeks and days, I've hearing people talking about what they've been working on 10m FM. Occasionally when I've been in the shack I've put the rig on 29.600MHz FM and have heard a good few stations coming through. Many people have reported making QSOs through a US repeater (New York?) on 29.620MHz. This evening, coming home, I drove outside the car park, under the low barrier and put the Comet UHV-6 antenna on the car ( it's too tall to fit under the barrier). As I drove home, I tuned around 10m FM. Fascinating! The most distant station was, and I think I have the call correct, was KF7EZ/M in 7 land! He was looking for a friend of his in the US 4 call area! I tried to call him and let him know he was being heard in the UK. Also heard VA3QRM, a W2 in New Jersey and W5AF (I think- I wasn't writing calls down!). Not entirely sure how well the UHV-6 works on 10m FM. Fascinating listening and I'll repeat the exercise tomorrow. Hopefully I will make a QSO before long. And in the meantime, I must remember to take the big antenna off the car before I head in tomorrow morning!

Sneaking a QSO with T32C

The T32C Dxpedition to Chrismas Island (T3) has been going for a little while now. What with one thing and another, as well as poor conditions, I haven't really listened very much. Having said that, I've been in regular e-mail contact with some of the team which has been good fun. They are doing a great job and are amassing a huge QSO total; over 170,000 QSOs at the time of writing. Neville, G3NUG will be delighted!

I popped up to the shack briefly last night around 20:30z - mostly to have a look at VHF/UHF as conditions had seemed reasonable on the way home. Just out of curiosity, I had a look at the most recent T32C cluster spots. There were a few on 24MHz from Europe from a bit earlier, so I quickly tuned the FT1000MP to have a look. To my great surprise I could just hear them.

After a couple of minutes, the signals came up a little and I could hear that they were listening up 1. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Dropped my call in a couple of times and was completely surprised when they came back with my call!

What a great surprise. This morning, I'm pleased to see my callsign in the online log.

I may look a little earlier, if I have the chance, on 28MHz. That's a handy opening over Central and South America in the evenings. Over the years, I've worked ZL7, ZL9 and now T32 on 24 or 28MHz around that time.

A very unexpected QSO

On Friday evening I was just heading up to bed and I did my usual check on VHF/UHF to see what was happening. The FM box stopped on 145.7375. The normal station there is GB3AL but the station I could hear seemed to be in France - or at least the stations using the repeaters were. Signals were fairly weak but seemed to be fading up and down. I kept listening and the box identified; F1ZPL. A quick Google search and I was amazed. The repeater is in JN24WB - over 500 miles from me!

Could I make a QSO through it? I disabled my CTCSS so that when I transmitted I wouldn't bring up GB3AL. I waited for a break in the conversation (in French) and dropped my call in. There was a pause and then I was welcomed in English!

Having had a short QSO, I was delighted to almost immediately get an e-mail from one of the group. It was also fun to get an e-mail from 2W0EAD, Alan near Newport, who could also copy the repeater.

I checked the details of F1ZPL and it is at(from memory) around 1600m ASL. The coverage area includes the Meditteranean coast. Amazing!

I'm sure this was my most distant ever 144MHz tropo QSO on FM!

Playing a little HF again

Over the last few months, I didn't have any HF in the shack other than the Anytone 10m rig. One evening a few weeks ago on Twitter I noticed that Pete 2E0SQL and Mark M0MJH were having a chat on 7MHz SSB. I quickly routed the HF aerial to the back of the FT847 so that I could listen. That worked fine! Then I tried to call them, but discovered that the FT847 wouldn't transmit in the 'new' part of 7MHz.

Well, of course that was just the motivation I needed. I got the FT1000MP out and have installed it. And since then, it's been nice to make some casual contacts on the various HF bands again. Mostly I've been looking at 28MHz with a few nice contacts made around North and South America in the late afternoons and evenings. 14MHz has been quite fun later on in the evening - I've been having a quick tune around just before going to bed and have made some nice CW contacts, mostly into the USA. Al, WA7GSK in Idaho was a nice one the other evening.

Of course, I've been listening for my friends at T32C, but conditions haven't been good to that part of the world when I have had a chance to listen.

Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes (PMSE)

I just came across this fascinating post on Roger G3XBM's blog.

The openings from Europe to Japan - and perhaps Europe to West Coast USA on 50MHz sound candidates for this. Many years ago when I was part of the Square Bashers Expedition Group that activated squares around the UK mostly for 144MHz meteor scatter, we found that we could work well equipped Scandinavian stations such as SM2CKR pretty much any time we wanted. At the time we thought it was ionoscatter, but perhaps not.

I've got some reading to do now. Thanks Roger!

New version of WinDV available

I was playing with my DVAP and the Icom E92 earlier in the day and I wondered if there was a new version of the WinDV software available. I'd previously been running 1.1.3 successfully. I checked over at http://www.Dutch-star.eu and sure enough there was! Version 1.3 was there. As before, installation was very straightforward. First impression was of the changed user interface, with a light blue background and and more rounded controls. The program works well. I quickly hooked up to the K6MDD repeater in San Francisco and had a nice QSO with Darryl, WA6YTD. Darryl confirmed the audio was good and that the program was doing everything it needed to. I enjoyed the option that if the station you are working or hearing is sending a lat/lon, then that is shown in terms of a Google Maps link that you can click on and see the position of the station. Easy to do, but enjoyable to use.

When did 28 MHz get good?

I noticed a few tweets this afternoon about 28MHz being good. It wasn't until just now that I listened on the little Anytone rig. Sure enough there was some SSB coming through and some good signals on CW too. Now, so far I haven't connected up a keyed to the Anytone. Somehow it didn't seem right to hear conditions like that and not try to make a QSO or two. I quickly diverted the coax from the Anytone to the HF port on the FT847, my VHF rig which has a built in keyer. Despite being after 1930z there was still plenty coming in. Some quite big pileups as I suspect a lot of people, like me, wanted to get on and make some contacts. KG9N was first in the log. YV8AD next and then the band started to fade. But one last spin up the band and there was NE0X finishing off a QSO. Very happy to work Ron for the best DX of the day. Good to hear 28MHz in such great shape.

The Practical Wireless 70MHz contest

I almost forgot! But I popped upstairs to have a quick listen just after lunch and decided to call CQ on 70MHz FM. I was pleased to be called and then a little surprised when a serial number was sent! I worked about 3 stations on FM and then decided to QSY onto the SSB end. As you know by now, the FT847 with the poor receiver and a vertical antenna is not an ideal tropo system. I was pleased to work G5RS/P in JO00 for a new square. One entrant who I suspect will feature in the leading stations made rather hard work of things by gabbling a report and locator and not sending a serial number! It took ages to get it out of them - long enough to make a quick QSO with a local in the meantime! Back on FM later, it was interesting to listen to Walt G3NYY/P operating from Broadway Tower. He was a great signal and it was good to be able to hear stations such as 2E0UAC in Coventry and even something from a station further north in Tamworth. Not bad for FM. I could also hear some fragments of a GW portable near Merthyr but sadly not enough for a QSO. A good afternoon on 70 MHz though.

My new club talk: 'My World of VHF'

A few months ago, my friends at the Oxford and Harwell clubs both asked if I could come and give a talk to them. It's something that I enjoy doing - it's always good to meet people and if in some small way that I can encourage them to try something new or take a deeper interest in the hobby, then I'm delighted. What could I talk about though?

I decided to base the talk around the VHF/UHF column that I write for Practical Wireless in which I aim to cover as many aspects of VHF/UHF as I can and perhaps encourage people to look at their VHF/UHF radios in a different way.

I presented the talk for the first time at the Oxford club on Tuesday evening and I think it went ok! If as a presenter you enjoy it, it's generally a fair sign! It's always interesting to hear different perspectives from people.

- A first reaction from one attendee, 'VHF? Is there anyone on it these days?'. It was fun explaining that yes, there really is!

- Another interesting suggestion was that the introduction of CTCSS on VHF/UHF repeaters had led to a decline in activity. I explained that although to use many repeaters you need to send a CTCSS tone, you don't have to have CTCSS Decode on. So, if another repeater comes up on your frequency, you can still hear it. That's certainly how I set my rigs up, although it sounded like not all rigs allowed this. I'd be surprised if CTCSS' introduction had singularly led to a decline, but I've been surprised before....

- A very interesting discussion and heartfelt plea from an attendee about the RSGB's VHF/UHF awards and how poorly supported they are. Obtaining QSL cards, on 432MHz in particular, apparently, had proven very difficult. But the member in question said that details of the RSGB's VHF/UHF awards had not featured prominently in Radcom for many moons - did the society still have a commitment to them?

An interesting and enjoyable evening - thank you, ODARS! And I'm looking forward to visiting Harwell in a couple of weeks - and I'll try and tweak the talk a bit by then!

Revised 50MHz bandplan for Region 1

Via an article on the Southgate ARC site, I noticed that the UK Six Metre Group had published a commentary on the new bandplan for 50MHz as agreed at the IARU Region 1 conference held in August 2011 in Sun City, South Africa.

The main new feature of the bandplan is that the majority of beacons will move from the lower portion of the band to the segment between 50.400 and 50.500, although synchronised beacons will share a segment from 50.000 to 50.030. Also, the new CW segment sees a 'Future International Calling' frequency at 50.050 and an Intercontinental Calling frequency at 50.090.

EME has a segment from 50.310 to 50.320 and MS from 50.320 to 50.380

A WSPR frequency is established at 50.401 plus or minus 500Hz with a beacon exclusive band from there to 50.500.

Digital Voice gets a mention in the top section of the band for the first time.

The new bandplan is set to take effect from 1st January 2012, although beacons have until the end of 2014 to move. See the bandplan here

T32C expedition - dxpeditioning never runs smoothly

The FSDXA who are putting on the forthcoming T32C expedition plan things enormously well. Even when you plan and plan again, things go wrong. And so it is that their container with 6 tonnes of equipment is stuck in Tarawa (T30) and not where it should be. A boat has broken down, but despite promises, it has proved impossible to get the container to T32. The container has all the equipment required for the station so this is a significant setback. However, Yaesu have sprung to the rescue by lending 10 FT450s which can be hand carried. Lightweight linears, masts, aerials and computer equipment all need to be carried by the expedition operators. Knowing the group as I do, I am confident they will make a success of this. Read the full story at T32C.com

MMVARI - a skimmer for RTTY

I enjoyed a drink and a meal with Justin, G4TSH on Monday evening. One of the things we talked about was some software called MMVARI. This software to decode RTTY has the ability to decode a number of streams. Ideal if you're running a pileup from a DXpedition. Or, for those of us at home, to have a display of RTTY activity across a portion of the band.

You can see it in action from CE0Y/I2DMI in this video

From some quick googling around it looks like the software can be integrated into the N1MM contest logging software for RTTY contesting. I know one DXpedition group who are planning to use it too...

Haven't downloaded this and tried it out myself, but it definitely looks of interest.

More on JT65A and why there there's more to Ham Radio than Morse Code

Despite the fact that I haven't managed to make JT65-HF work on my laptop yet, the more I read about the JT65 modes and how people are working great DX with them, the more I'm impressed.

When PSK31 came out, it slipped into the 'almost mainstream' as a mode for people to work DX when they didn't have a big station for CW/SSB (wonder if we'll get to call them legacy modes one of these days...). PSK31 has built a great following over 10 or 12 years. I see JT65A for HF following in these footsteps.

Oh yes! Talking of legacy modes... someone who I greatly admire for a number of reasons recently posted on his Facebook status,'without CW it's just CB'.

Maybe it was a bit tongue-in-cheek - but I did laugh! What a 1980s view of the world! Sure Morse code is fun and it'll get through in many challenging conditions. I enjoy it myself and try to use it as well as I can. It's hardly the centre of the hobby or even advancement of the hobby, is it? To even suggest that without morse code that ham radio is just a 'appliance service' is pretty demeaning to people who have broader interests! And I think it's pretty demeaning to people who enjoy CB too ;-)

Anyway - have a look at these great articles from W6DTW and NW7US about JT65 - how it works and how you can use it in operation.

See the articles from David and Tomas here

Low power portable on HF

If you've been reading this blog recently, you may have got the impression that I've rather lost interest in HF operation. That's not entirely true. But I do think that DXing in general has lost its appeal on HF for me. There's the antisocial behaviour which dogs a lot of DX operations these days. And also, once you've played with WSPR and JT65 on HF, there's the nagging doubt that using CW or SSB at 100w or more is somewhat akin to fishing by lobbing a hand grenade into the water and seeing what floats to the surface. Of course, that's completely unfair, but it's a fun analogy! Nevertheless, it's clear that efficiency of an 'average' HF DX contact is suboptimal compared to a few mW and a 'decent' mode.

All that having been said, I still love being able to connect up a simple HF transceiver such as my FT817 and a simple antenna like my MP1 vertical and make CW contacts over hundreds or thousands of miles. It's particularly satisfying to do that from a portable location.

And so it was yesterday that I thoroughly enjoyed some 17 and 20m CW QSOs around Europe. It was good, too, to hear Mongolia coming in loud and clear on 30m. But I wasn't remotely tempted to get involved with the pileup!

Adventures in programming the Anytone AT5555

As the Anytone 10m rig arrived, the different band segments were fine, but I thought it might be fun to reprogram it a little. One thing I was keen to do was to be able to listen (only listen, mind you) lower down on 27MHz ssb. I guessed that activity would be higher there than on 28MHz and that it might provide some useful propagation indicators.

I ordered the programming disk and lead which arrived quickly. However, I had an enormous amount of frustration getting the lead to install on my PC (and actually I tried pretty much every PC in the house). Sometimes the PC would detect it as a COM port and sometimes it wouldn't. I thought it must be me doing something wrong. However in the end, I talked with Paul in the sales/service department at Nevada and we agreed that I would send it back. I completely expected him to say that it worked fine for him, but happily he declared it a faulty lead. Unfortunately, though they were out of stock so I had to wait for a replacement.

The replacement duly arrived last week and the PC immediately picked up the COM port. I still had to fiddle and faff somewhat as I didn't realise that my Anytone had v4 software in it rather than v3. Once I ot that sorted out, I was able to retask one of the band segments so that I could listen around 27.555. This works well (on receive!).

And as I hoped, it has already shown that the band is open more often than activity on 28MHz would have us believe. Sadly, I have already heard music and mildly abusive language on there! Not much difference, in case anyone's feeling smug, to your average DX pileup on the amateur bands.

Positively though, the Anytone has been a real favourite through the summer, listening for Es on 28MHz. With the reprogrammed segment, I'm certain that it will be a great indication of when to put a CQ out on 10m.

Just as I thought the 70MHz Es season was over

I was only saying to Andy G6REG this evening that I seemed to have missed all the 70MHz Es openings this year. After supper I popped up to the shack to listen on 28MHz and noticed a tweet from Gav M1BXF to say that 50 and 70MHz were open to Scandinavia. I was pleased to work several stations and new squares. After I'd got the ones in the log, I put the iPhone video camera on to record OH1LEU working one of my locals, G8CUL.

Remember, this is a little 70MHz station - the antenna is just a vertical