11 August Beacons of hope

Unenthralled by the prospect of  a life lived in bed, hoisted from pillow to pot, I have allowed myself to believe that I'm not going to "beat the bugger", in other words survive the tumour with sufficient faculties intackt to lead a normal life. I have decided to leave my whissper beacons running for as long  as I'm capable to supervise them.

Sporadic E

2014 Es is gettig ander way. I will be keeping an eye on 6m and 10m bands. Now is the time for WSPR. This requires a computer. I've  managed to get the WSPR software running on the shack computer using Windows remote desctop which allow me to see whole screen on the laptop. This is more useful than I expexted. Olga discovered the shack computer keyboard is broken. It prints one letter from the next column. The funny thing is I sought it was my brain broken not the computer.
I had hoped to be using one of Hans Summers Ultimate kits I purchased several weeks ago. But I think it is beyond my ability to buibd this. Shame there isn't a bild and tested version.  

Across the pond on 10m with 200mW

WSPR never loses its ability to astound. Today I've been WSPRing on 10m, still with 0.2W. My signal was decoded by 5 different Stateside stations.

Timestamp	Call	MHz	SNR	Drift	Grid	Pwr	Reporter	RGrid	km	az
2014-01-18 14:26	G4ILO	28.126105	-25	0	IO84hp	0.02	KZ8C	EM88pm	5973	287
2014-01-18 14:36	G4ILO	28.126145	-22	1	IO84hp	0.02	KB9PVH	EN53oi	5959	296
2014-01-18 14:44	G4ILO	28.126131	-16	0	IO84hp	0.02	VE3SWS	FN06ge	5201	293
2014-01-18 15:18	G4ILO	28.126107	-9	0	IO84hp	0.02	N2NOM	FN22bg	5267	286
2014-01-18 15:38	G4ILO	28.126104	-23	0	IO84hp	0.02	K9AN	EN50wc	6175	293

More WSPR with 20mW

I've been WSPRing on 30m today, still with a power of 0.2W. I think WSPR is more interesting when you use low power: it's always interesting to see how far you can get.

20mW is not the lowest power you can use, though, it's just the lowest power the K3 will comfortably produce. (You can set the output power to 0.0W but I'm not sure how accurately the rig will maintain the power at such a low level - something to check.

Today my 0,02W into the MFJ magnetic loop in my attic was received by 30 different stations. Here's the list:

Timestamp	Call	MHz	SNR	Drift	Grid	Pwr	Reporter	RGrid	km	az
2014-01-13 11:52	G4ILO	10.140243	-11	0	IO84hp	0.02	ON7KO	JO21ce	637	124
2014-01-13 11:52	G4ILO	10.140209	-23	0	IO84hp	0.02	DL8HAF/P	JO53dm	899	92
2014-01-13 12:32	G4ILO	10.140206	-26	0	IO84hp	0.02	DK6UG	JN49cm	973	121
2014-01-13 12:54	G4ILO	10.140217	-22	0	IO84hp	0.02	DC5EO	JO31ed	760	117
2014-01-13 12:54	G4ILO	10.140210	-18	0	IO84hp	0.02	G8CRB	JO02bf	355	138
2014-01-13 13:18	G4ILO	10.140195	-19	1	IO84hp	0.02	G0GSJ	IO84jc	61	170
2014-01-13 14:20	G4ILO	10.140199	-19	0	IO84hp	0.02	G4ILR	JO02pp	379	124
2014-01-13 14:20	G4ILO	10.140224	-29	0	IO84hp	0.02	M0BLP	JO02ad	359	139
2014-01-13 14:30	G4ILO	10.140210	-20	0	IO84hp	0.02	OH8GKP	KP24rt	1945	43
2014-01-13 14:30	G4ILO	10.140203	-19	0	IO84hp	0.02	GM4SFW	IO77sn	331	349
2014-01-13 14:30	G4ILO	10.140199	-11	2	IO84hp	0.02	OH3HTI	KP21ag	1760	54
2014-01-13 14:30	G4ILO	10.140182	-13	0	IO84hp	0.02	LA5GOA	JO29oi	737	41
2014-01-13 14:38	G4ILO	10.140197	-23	0	IO84hp	0.02	OZ7IT	JO65df	1001	80
2014-01-13 14:38	G4ILO	10.140194	-13	0	IO84hp	0.02	SA6BSS	JO68	1084	60
2014-01-13 14:48	G4ILO	10.140189	-21	0	IO84hp	0.02	SM6WZI	JO67mp	1067	65
2014-01-13 14:56	G4ILO	10.140208	-21	0	IO84hp	0.02	DC8SE	JN48xi	1155	122
2014-01-13 14:56	G4ILO	10.140180	-7	0	IO84hp	0.02	ON7KB	JO21ei	634	122
2014-01-13 15:04	G4ILO	10.140204	-11	0	IO84hp	0.02	DK4TJ	JO31fc	768	117
2014-01-13 15:04	G4ILO	10.140236	-25	0	IO84hp	0.02	PA1GSJ	JO22da	586	117
2014-01-13 15:14	G4ILO	10.140238	-21	0	IO84hp	0.02	DL1WER	JN58dd	1189	122
2014-01-13 15:24	G4ILO	10.140195	-13	0	IO84hp	0.02	DL1KCQ	JO33uc	746	99
2014-01-13 15:36	G4ILO	10.140188	-25	-1	IO84hp	0.02	M5LMY	IO91oi	405	154
2014-01-13 15:36	G4ILO	10.140197	-12	0	IO84hp	0.02	PI4THT	JO32kf	729	107
2014-01-13 15:36	G4ILO	10.140196	-15	0	IO84hp	0.02	LA9JO	JP99gb	1949	26
2014-01-13 15:36	G4ILO	10.140191	-20	0	IO84hp	0.02	SM0FGT	JO89xg	1384	60
2014-01-13 15:36	G4ILO	10.140182	-12	0	IO84hp	0.02	LA5GOA/RX2	JO29oi	737	41
2014-01-13 15:46	G4ILO	10.140222	-12	0	IO84hp	0.02	DC0DX	JO31lk	776	113
2014-01-13 15:46	G4ILO	10.140215	-17	0	IO84hp	0.02	DC4LC	JN48np	1088	123
2014-01-13 16:22	G4ILO	10.140208	-17	0	IO84hp	0.02	DK4LA	JO54ae	868	88
2014-01-13 16:48	G4ILO	10.140196	-23	0	IO84hp	0.02	HB9FGQ	JN36kk	1163	137

Whispering with 20mW

Many people who operate the weak signal mode WSPR use too much power. If you don't use very low power (QRPp) you'll never find out what this mode is capable of. So to remind myself I thought I'd do some whispering on 10m using 20mW of power. It's easy to use low power with the Elecraft K3 as the power level is adjustable in 0.01 watt increments.

10m stations hearing or heard by G4ILO on 8 Jan 2015

It's a pity that the WSPRwebsite can't display a map showing only spots of one callsign. The map shows spots involving one callsign. sent or received. So the map shows WSPR signals I decoded, not only those who heard me. Some of those stations were using as much as 37dBm - whatever that is in watts. Here are the stations that decoded my tiny signal. My 20mW into an attic diopole made it across the pond on several occasions

Timestamp	Call	MHz	SNR	Drift	Grid	Pwr	Reporter	RGrid	km	az
2014-01-08 15:44	G4ILO	28.126104	-24	0	IO84hp	0.02	W9HLY	EN70mt	5930	291
2014-01-08 15:24	G4ILO	28.126112	-21	0	IO84hp	0.02	KZ8C	EM88pm	5973	287
2014-01-08 15:24	G4ILO	28.126104	-27	0	IO84hp	0.02	K4RCG	FM08xl	5688	284
2014-01-08 15:06	G4ILO	28.126103	-24	0	IO84hp	0.02	W8AC	EN91jm	5649	289
2014-01-08 15:06	G4ILO	28.126110	-18	0	IO84hp	0.02	KB9VLR	EN54vj	5845	296
2014-01-08 15:06	G4ILO	28.126144	-19	0	IO84hp	0.02	ND6M	EM55se	6594	289
2014-01-08 14:56	G4ILO	28.126106	-21	0	IO84hp	0.02	KB9AMG	EN52tx	5964	295
2014-01-08 14:46	G4ILO	28.126167	-22	-1	IO84hp	0.02	KC9YSR	EM69il	6175	291
2014-01-08 14:38	G4ILO	28.126106	-18	0	IO84hp	0.02	VE3SWS	FN06ge	5201	293
2014-01-08 14:18	G4ILO	28.126098	-26	0	IO84hp	0.02	K9AN	EN50wc	6175	293
2014-01-08 14:00	G4ILO	28.126101	-28	0	IO84hp	0.02	ZR6LU	KG43av	9468	152
2014-01-08 13:40	G4ILO	28.126015	-7	0	IO84hp	0.02	LZ1OI	KN22id	2470	113

Watts conversion

The original version of K1JT's WSPR software had pop-up "tip" windows that showed the power in watts when you hovered the mouse over the dBm setting. Very useful for duffers like me that can't do a watts to dBm conversion in my head. The new version WSPR-X doesn't, however.

I found (or more truthfully Google did) an online watts to dBm converter on the web which I have duly bookmarked.

10m still lively

Still seeing plenty of transatlantic stations on 10m WSPR. I wonder how long it will last?

WSPR spots on 10m band at G4ILO

Interference to 10m WSPR

Take a look at this diabolical interference on the 10m WSPR frequency.

Fortunately it doesn't seem to affect decoding too much. The PSK31 sub band is free of it too.

10m 16 May 2013

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 1242z 16 May 2013

By running WSPR day after day on the same band you start to get a feel for how propagation behaves that you don't get from casual operation. It's interesting to compare this map of WSPR spots for G4ILO around lunchtime today with the kind of results I was getting in November. Then I was getting DX spots throughout the day. Now I'm getting mostly local spots, within Europe.

In the autumn the picture changed slowly through the day. Now, in springtime, the picture changes all the time. Stations pop up for a few cycles and then disappear, never to be heard of again. The signal reports vary wildly as well, from just above the noise to +10dB or even higher in the space of a few minutes. This didn't happen in November. It is a clear indication of Sporadic-E propagation: reflections from fast-moving clouds that are highly ionized and very reflective, creating a path with very little loss.

From time to time I pause the WSPR and tune the band to see what activity there is. I've also tried 6m for short periods. I've had a few spots on 6 (this is with 5W to my attic dipole) but the magic band is still fairly quiet at 55 degrees north. 10m is far from being wide open yet too. I've still to see what WSPR is like when the band is open and signals are romping in at S9+. So I will continue with my WSPR monitoring in the expectation that things will get even more interesting.

Classic WSPR vs WSPR-X

Are you a fan of WSPR mode? Have you tried K1JT's new program WSPR-X yet?

Comparing classic WSPR to WSPR-X

I decided to switch to the newer program as the older 'classic' version won't work with VSPE virtual serial ports. But I had a sneaky feeling that WSPR-X was not decoding some of the traces it should. So I decided to run both programs in parallel, using the same sound card, the same radio, the same data source. Sure enough, WSPR-X is missing about 1 decode in 10 compared to WSPR 2.11. There is no apparent common factor between the signals it missed. They are not at the extremes of the frequency range, close to the limit of timing error nor especially faint.

Look at the screenshot above and look at the decodes for 1540. Classic WSPR has decoded two signals for this interval whilst WSPR-X has decoded only one. The signal from W3CSW was missed. Later signals from the same station were decoded. That is just one example. I only needed to wait a few minutes to find another.

I set the older WSPR to save .wav files and when these were processed by WSPR-X using its File Open option the result was the same as when the signals were received off-air. The same transmission was missed in each case.

WSPR-X seems a bit faster to run the decodes than WSPR. It prints them up on the screen before classic WSPR does. There are sometimes slight differences in the dB and DT figures, but not enough to worry about. Has anyone else noticed this?

First WSPR spots on 630m

A few of my blogging colleagues have written about having surprising success WSPRing with modest antennas on the 474kHz VLF band. I thought I would try to see what if anything I could spot using my attic dipole as an antenna.

Receiving WSPR-15 on the 630m band

I downloaded the WSPR-X software which supports the new WSPR-15 mode. (The standard WSPR for HF and VHF is now called WSPR-2, the number indicating the duration in minutes of the transmit cycle.)

First problem was to find a receiver that would tune to 474kHz. My K3 would not tune below 490kHz nor the KX3. My K2 doesn't have general coverage at all. My SDR-4 receiver would not go anywhere near the frequency. My FT-817 came to the rescue. I took it out of the drawer, blew the dust off it, found a power lead, switched it on and it tuned to 474.2kHz quite nicely.

The next problem was to find a sound card to receive the audio. I have three USB sound devices currently connected to the shack PC and I could only identify which driver was for which sound card by trial and error. After I realized that WSPR-X can be used for HF WSPR as well I tried it out first on 30m. For about an hour I had confusion as I did not seem to be receiving any WSPR signals at all. Eventually I tried WSPR-X on the sound card used by my K3. Once I verified that the program worked and was decoding spots I then tried receiving 30m WSPR on the '817. Once that was successful I tuned the receiver to 474.20kHz, set the mode to WSPR-15 and left it for a few hours to see what would happen.

I was doubtful whether I would receive anything on my 80 - 6m multiband dipole which is too short and totally unmatched on the 630m band, but when I came up to the shack later this evening I saw there were three spots of PA0A in JO33 at 30 minute intervals! These spots were not reported to WSPRnet as I had been so pessimistic of my chances of decoding anything that I hadn't bothered to tick the "Upload spots" check box.

So the experiment was a success. I doubt that I will receive anyone else on this antenna so it is probably not worth leaving the radio set up for it but it was fun to see what can be received here on this new amateur band.

10m 26 November 2012

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 26 November 2012

What this map doesn't show is that all the spots are barely visible, -25 to -27dB, so propagation would not be good enough to support a regular communication mode.

10m 24 November 2012

The first day of the CQ WW DX CW contest and propagation on 10m is disappointingly down compared to previous days.

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 24 November 2012

No propagation to USA as you can see.

I have made a handful of contest contacts on 10m but I have been too preoccupied with computer issues to really get into it. Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

10m 23 November 2012

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 23 November 2012

Propagation on 10m was not as good as yesterday. WSPR traces were fainter as signals were weaker. On the air conditions were not stable and deep QSB affected most QSOs. An hour in the afternoon resulted in these contacts:

2012/11/23	14:29	28.121	BPSK31	KC2VOU	599		539		Jon	Earlville, NY
2012/11/23	14:41	28.122	BPSK31	K2PSD	599		599		Ron	Randolph, New...
2012/11/23	14:49	28.122	BPSK31	KF2GQ	599		599		Robert	Jupiter FL
2012/11/23	14:58	28.122	BPSK31	WA4FLZ	599		589		Shep	Miami FL
2012/11/23	15:21	28.121	BPSK31	N0BIV	599		599		Don	Jefferson Cit...

---

Gotaways were: CN2OS (Morocco) and HK2LS (Colombia).

10m 22 November 2012

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 22 November 2012

Really excellent propagation this afternoon to the eastern USA as the WSPR spots show. An hour's break before afternoon tea resulted in QSOs with 7 new stations.  I actually had people calling me after I signed with another station. I like the callsign of the first station...

2012/11/22	14:41	28.123	BPSK31	W2PSK	599		599		Andy	South River, ...
2012/11/22	14:53	28.121	BPSK31	KB8ZUN	599		599		Jeffrey	North Ridgevi...
2012/11/22	14:57	28.122	BPSK31	KD4JMV	599		599		Harry	Naples FL
2012/11/22	15:07	28.123	BPSK31	W3SW	599		599		Andy	Binghamton NY
2012/11/22	15:20	28.120	BPSK31	KA3UJE	599		599		Terry	Lykens, PA
2012/11/22	15:26	28.120	BPSK31	WA2VMO	599		579		Bob	Staten Is. NY
2012/11/22	15:36	28.121	BPSK31	KB3CUP	599		599		Elza	Greensboro, PA

WSPRnet issue with Chrome

Has anyone else noticed that when you open the map page at wsprnet.org in Google Chrome the sliders (the bit you drag to scroll up/down or left/right) are missing from the scroll bars? They still work if you drag on where they ought to be, but as they are invisible it's a bit confusing.

10m 21 November 2012

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 21 November 2012

20 November 2012

Today my main rig has spent even more time on other things than WSPR. Besides trying to work some PSK31 DX I have also been testing a beta release of K3 firmware. This new version has an improved CW decoder that is a bit less finicky about settings. It works very well but is still beaten by the Windows program MRP40 which I regard as the gold standard for CW decoders. As Wayne N6KR says, the MRP40 algorithm is probably ten times more sophisticated and the K3 MCU doesn't have enough code space for it.

I've been interested in Morse decoders since the first home computers and can remember keying in a program listing in BASIC from a QST article in the late 70s. Later I wrote a decoder in Hisoft Pascal which ran on my ZX Spectrum. It actually decoded strong, perfectly sent Morse but it was not reliable enough to be useful. More recently I tried implementing a Morse decoder in KComm but it was a total failure.

I didn't have a lot of success with PSK31 DXing on 10m either. I only made two contacts but I heard what would have been two new South American countries: HC7AE in Ecuador and CE4BRO in Chile. I didn't need to look up HC in a book as I remember from my teenage SWLing days hearing HCJB Quito, the Voice of the Andes!

I think band conditions were better today but they supported more propagation from Europe so there were higher QRM levels (and lower operating standards ;) ) I moved up the band to try and get away from all the IMD products but hardly anyone was listening up there so it was a bit futile.

Someone who did hear my CQ calls was Vito IZ7DMT. He was a whopping signal but was signing IZ7DMT/QRP. He told me he was running 5 watts from an FT-817 and was rather indignant that I wouldn't use the illegal /QRP suffix during handovers. Nice QSL though!

Here is the result of today's WSPRing:

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 20 November 2012

10m 19 November 2012

Another day of good propagation allowed my love affair with 10m to continue.

2012/11/19	12:34	28.121	BPSK31	NP4EG	599		599		Edgar	N. Puerto Rico
2012/11/19	12:50	28.122	BPSK31	UT5AJ	599		599		Vlad	Kramatorsk
2012/11/19	13:50	28.123	BPSK31	UR4QX	599		599		Yuri	Berdyansk
2012/11/19	14:11	28.121	BPSK31	RG5A	599		599		Alex	Moscow
2012/11/19	14:25	28.122	BPSK31	YY4HAH	599		599		Heiroun	Valencia Vene...
2012/11/19	14:35	28.122	BPSK31	N4PJL	559		599		Pete	Deep Creek La...
2012/11/19	14:41	28.122	BPSK31	AB8O	599		599		John	Milford, OH n...
2012/11/19	14:59	28.122	BPSK31	KJ4LEC	599		599		Marion	Cumberland Ga...
2012/11/19	15:08	28.122	BPSK31	W5FER	599		599		Jim	San Antonio, TX
2012/11/19	15:17	28.122	BPSK31	VE3NOO	599		599		Michael	Sandhurst, On...
2012/11/19	15:23	28.122	BPSK31	AE5XI	599		599		Terry	Las Cruces, NM
2012/11/19	15:44	28.122	BPSK31	K9ZJ	579		579		Rich	Waukesha, WI

Besides these contacts I heard, but couldn't catch, stations in Mexico and Paraguay. I'm hoping the good propagation will continue so that I can add these to the log.

Because of this, not too much time was spent on WSPR today, so the WSPR map looked like this:

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 19 November 2012

10m 18 November 2012

I nearly got myself locked out of the WSPR map page today. I must have managed to save the settings to try to display spots for all bands for the last 24 jours, or something like that, because whenever I went to the page the web browser froze up while it tried to render the map and I couln't get back to the settings boxes to change it. I had to find out how to delete all cached files in Chrome before I could access it again.

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 18 November 2012

I lost quite a lot of time trying to sort that out. I also spent an hour or so seeing what I could work on 10m PSK31. I managed to QSO with several US stations including N7WET in Tucson, Arizona and KB5IAV in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

I worked two all time new countries as well. Fabio CU3HN in the Azores has one of those QSLs that never fail to bring a smile to my face.

QSL of CU3HN

Victor, HP1AVS in Panama I had heard before but not managed to work. So I was pleased to add his call to the log as well.

QSL of HP1AVS

I love 10 metres!