Australia... The first was the signal from VK3MO and VK3QN in Australia, always interesting because of the distance. I'm not 100% sure though if they were short path as shown on the map or long path. Might be something worth checking another time.
The one that really caught my eye was the VE3KCL callsign with the strange locator. I assumed at first a decoding error but no, it turns out to be a very small WSPR transmitter hung underneath a helium balloon over the Arctic Ocean!
As of the evening of the 10th of June, it was at an altitude of 10,000 metres, in constant sunlight, has a temperature of minus 6 deg C and is travelling at 18 knots.
It sends out a WSPR signals on 20m with a power output of 10 milliwatts. It was launched on the 16th of May 2020 and has is now starting its third circumnavigation of the planet.
More info here... http://qrp-labs.com/flights/u4b9.html
There are some of the WSPR decodes that I got which shows the locator square changing...
Timestamp Call MHz SNR Drift Grid Pwr Reporter RGrid km az
2020-06-10 20:58 VE3KCL 14.097177 -30 0 MR20 0.01 EI7GL IO51tu 4047 266
2020-06-10 20:38 VE3KCL 14.097178 -29 0 MR10 0.01 EI7GL IO51tu 4011 264
2020-06-10 19:48 VE3KCL 14.097178 -25 0 MR11 0.01 EI7GL IO51tu 4024 262
2020-06-10 18:38 VE3KCL 14.097184 -25 0 MR01 0.01 EI7GL IO51tu 3992 260
The image I got a grab of isn't great but you can make out the circle in the waterfall.
1 comment:
Hi John,
VK3QN is fixed 130 degrees long path Europe. But the signal may arrive via a non-LP path at certain times of day. VK3MO moves about a bit, but is generally on LP also, in order to determine the low-angle performance of each set up (they are both operated by VK3MO).
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