Another big opening on 144 MHz - Tues 23rd & Wed 24th of Oct 2018

After hearing someone mention that there were French stations on 2 metres, I had a listen to the FT8 frequency of 144.174 MHz for 24 hours from 20:00 UTC 23rd to 20:00 UTC 24th Oct 2018.

This is a chart of the signals heard...

If this was a chart of signals heard with say a medium size Yagi beam then I'd say it looked pretty good. However, these signals were heard with a Slim Jim half-wave vertical in the attic of my house!

The game changer here is the FT8 digital mode. When I was pretty active on 2m SSB before, I never heard a signal from Denmark (OZ) with the 9 element beam that I had. Now with FT8, I've heard Denmark for the first time. Amazing.

OZ1BEF in Denmark was 1240 kms away which is pretty good for tropo.

Another interesting signal was that of F8DBF in Britanny. At a distance of 475 kms, it was just a reminder that the North-West tip of France isn't that far from my location in Cork and is about the same distance as Southampton on the south coast of England.

Great to see so much activity on 144 MHz!

Italy gains access to the 60 metre band

It looks as if Italian radio amateurs have just been allocated a slice of spectrum on the 60 metre band.

They will be allowed to use  5.3515 MHz to 5.3665 MHz on a secondary basis with a maximum
equivalent isotropic power of 15 W (e.i.r.p.).

This follows the pattern set by many other European countries that have obtained similar allocations.

From Google Translate....
The Minister of Economic Development approved, with Decree of October 5, 2018, published in the General Series GU n. 244 of 19.10.2018, Supp. Ord. n. 49, the National Frequency Distribution Plan between 0 and 3,000 GHZ. The aforementioned Decree will enter into force, in the absence of an express indication of a different sign, 15 days after publication. Therefore, the new frequencies assigned to radio amateurs can be used, within the limits established by the Decree de quo, after the term vacatio legis.

The frequency band 5351.5-5366.5 kHz is also attributed to the amateur radio service with the status of secondary service. The stations of the amateur radio service using the 5351,5- frequency band
5366.5 kHz must not exceed the maximum equivalent isotropic power of 15 W (e.i.r.p.)
(WRC-15).

Links...
1) http://www.mise.gov.it/images/stories/documenti/NOTE-pnrf.pdf
2) http://www.ari.it/
3) http://www.iw5edi.com/ham-radio/2907/habemus-lx-metris-italy-gains-60-meters

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz - Mon 22nd Oct 2018

After the good conditions on the VHF bands over the weekend, I was back on 28 MHz again on Monday the 22nd of October. These are the FT8 signals that were heard...

The solar flux was about 70 which is almost rock bottom.

Some notes...
1) S79LD in the Seychelles in the Indain Ocean was heard.

2) There was a distinct lack of South American stations heard. At the start of October, they were there in numbers every evening. It seems a bit more hit and miss at the moment. Conditions or time of year?

3) Two stations from the USA were heard... W2MGF and N1NK. What is unusual about these is that they are an East-West path which is much more difficult on 28 MHz than North-South.

4) The signals heard on the 19th of October are shown below. There wasn't really too much of interest there to warrant a post about it.

Big opening on 144 MHz... Sat 20th Oct 2018

Back in early September, I tried listening to FT8 signals on 144 MHz on what a pretty flat band and the results were mediocre at best. My conclusion was that I was too far west to hear FT8 signals on 144 MHz with a very basic antenna when the band was flat.

On Saturday the 20th of October, there was a big lift on 2 metres with French repeaters coming in on 145.350 MHz and 145.775 MHz. I had a listen on the FT8 frequency for about 18 hours and this is what I heard from about 18:00 UTC on Saturday to about noon on Sunday...

It was pretty amazing what could be heard using just a simple Slim Jim vertical half-wave in the attic of my house. If I heard that many signals with a basic indoor vertical, just imagine the number of stations I might have heard if I had been using a small horizontal beam outdoors.

The three furthest signals heard were...
DK5DV 1139kms, DK5WO 1008 kms & F5EZJ 984 kms.

The mode of propagation was probably tropospheric ducting which allowed the VHF signals travel well over the horizon. Unlike the openings to Canary Island and Cape Verde, this was probably an elevated duct by a layer much higher in the atmosphere.

I have worked plenty of stations in Europe like this before on 2m SSB but it's always interesting to hear. It seems as if FT8 might be giving 2 metres a new lease of life?

The K3LR Super Station

There was a presentation given recently at the RSGB convention about the K3LR super station. It gives some idea of the what is required to be a top contest station...

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz... Thurs 18th Oct 2018

The main difference today was the lack of Sporadic-E signals from Europe in contrast to most of the last week...

This would suggest that the signals from the Canary Islands and South America were all via F2 propagation. Nothing spectacular but the band was open all the same. The solar flux is 70.

Video about the International Amateur Radio Union

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is an organization that represents the amateur radio community. It consists of over 160 national amateur radio societies around the world. This video which is from the recent RSGB convention gives an idea of the work the IARU does and the challenges facing amateur radio in the future.



Roughly £1.30 / €1.50 of the membership fee of each national society goes towards the work of the IARU. Obviously the more members a national society has then the better.

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz... Wed 17th Oct 2018

Conditions were down a bit today but still plenty of FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz...

Some of the most interesting signals were from stations that were closest...

a) I seem to hear G0OYQ on the east coast of England every day (580 kms). Perhaps he is using a lot of power but he is one of the most consistent signals. Meteor scatter or aircraft scatter? It seems hard to believe there is short Sporadic-E every day.

b) I heard Don GW0PLP on the west coast of Wales for the first time on FT8 on 28 MHz. At a distance of 260kms, it was probably via tropo as I have worked Don in the past on SSB.

On this occasion, Don's signal was -14dB on FT8 and I could actually hear it. It was interesting to see what a steady -14dB signal on a quiet band sounded like. Iif it had been on SSB, it was almost certainly too weak to work. It would probably be a very difficult cw contact. On FT8, -14dB was no problem and I was hearing other signals down at -18dB and -20dB.

Irish Radio Telescope images Milky Way Galaxy at 44.92 MHz

A new radio telescope in Ireland was established at Birr Castle in Co.Offaly in 2016. One of the antenna arrays works at low VHF frequencies and they produced this image of the Milky Way galaxy as seen at 44.92 MHz.

The above image was taken in July 2017.

And finally for now, a movie of the Milky Way observed by the low band antennas above Birr. pic.twitter.com/GCn1fBTcGI

— I_LOFAR (@I_LOFAR) July 28, 2017

It's a reminder that this part of the spectrum around 40 MHz is used by the radio telescope and obviously any signals in the spectrum from 30 to 80 MHz in this general area may be of concern.

Any radio amateur living in the area shown in red below should be aware of the radio telescope in Birr and be careful of any transmissions.

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz... Tues 16th Oct 2018

Lots of FT8 signals heard again on 28 MHz but down a bit on previous days...

A lot of the usual signals although 9Z4Y in Trinidad was a new one heard. D41CV in the Cape Verde Islands also made an appearance. Solar flux in the low 70's.

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz... Mon 15th Oct 2018

No shortage of signals on 28 MHz today even though the solar flux is down at 72.

Again, lots of Sporadic-E signals from Europe with plenty of distant DX via F2 as well.

Some of the more usual signals were....
a) 3B8CW in Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
b) TR8CA in Gabon who is always a regular on 10 metres.
c) ZD7GWM in St.Helena.
d) VP8NO in the Falkland Islands.
e) Two Argentinian stations in Tierra del Fuego.
f) W2OR in Florida. This was possibly the most unusual. North-South signals are to be expected so hearing South America and Africa on 28 MHz is good but normal. It's the East-West signals that are harder and usually require better conditions. Looking at PSK reporter, I was the only person in Europe to hear him on FT8 on 28 MHz today. That's is almost certainly due to my westerly location.

SNOTEL on 40 MHz in the USA...

This post is about the SNOTEL network in North America which shows how 40 MHz signals from remote weather stations are relayed by meteor scatter back to base stations.

SNOTEL (SNOwpack TELemetry). Across the western half of the USA, remote weather stations in mountainous locations record the level of snowfall in their respective areas. This data can then used to calculate the potential amount of melt water in the catchment area of a particular river.

Radio bursts around 40 MHz are sent at the remote sites and these signals are then reflected off trails of ionised gas left by small meteors in the upper atmosphere. These trails decay quite rapidly so the signals tend to be of a short duration.

The frequencies I have seen listed for SNOTEL are 40.530 MHz, 40.670 MHz and 41.530 MHz.
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More information is presented below...

EchoLink now connected to Irish DMR Network

The Irish digital radio community continues to grow with more stations registering for DMR numbers every month. New digital repeaters and gateways have been established around Ireland to allow various users talk to each other.

One of the latest improvements to be made to the DMR network has been the establishment of a link to the Echolink network by John Anderson MI0AAZ. Anyone connecting to MI0AAZ-L under LINKS on the Echolink network will now connect to Talk Group 2724 on the Irish DMR network.

It will also connect at the same time to Yaesu Fusion Wires-X room  CQ-IRL  no 41411,  YSF independent fusion network no 04251 and the Allstar network no 29884.

This is an excellent way for those who are unsure about digital radio to connect to users on the DMR network so that they can ask questions and to see what the audio sounds like.

Additional info...
There are currently three Talk Group channels on the Irish DMR network with  multi bridging capability to other digital voice systems.

DMR TG 2724 links to the following:
Allstar node 29884
Fusion C4FM  YSF node 04251
Fusion C4FM Wires-x node 41411
Echolink node 883269

DMR TG 27247 links to the following:
DSTAR XRF925D
Fusion C4FM Wires-x 41280 & 41619
Fusion C4FM FCS 00430

DMR TG 27248 links to the following:
Allstar node 47137
DSTAR XRF925C
Fusion C4FM FCS 00480

Credits : Thanks to John MI0AAZ and Don EI8DJ for the above info.

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz... Fri 12th Oct 2018

Another day listening to FT8 signals on 28 MHz and it was pretty much the same as previous days...

Not too much in terms of Sporadic-E but some nice North-South F2 signals to South America and Africa. Solar Flux about 70.

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz - Thurs 11th Oct 2018

There was a lot less Sporadic-E from Europe today but there were still some nice DX signals on FT8 on 28 MHz...

3B9FR in Rodriguez Island in the Indian Ocean and VP8LP in the Falkland Islands were heard again.

The lack of Sporadic-E made me wonder if some of these distant signals were via F2 propagation only? I'd have no doubt that many of those distant signals are due to a mix of Sporadic-E for the first hop from Ireland and then F2 for the rest of the way. But is it for all of them? The solar flux is down at 68 which is pretty much rock bottom.

QRP Labs announce new 10 watt HF amplifier

QRP Labs have just released a new 10 watt amplifier for the HF bands and it looks pretty impressive considering the modest price of $26.

According to the release notes, it can comfortably produce 10 Watts from a 12V supply and will not overheat even on continuous 100% duty-cycle operation.

It has 26dB gain with +/- 1dB gain flatness from 2 to 30MHz. This means that it requires just 25 milliwatts of drive to achieve 10 watts output.

It has lower gain above 30 MHz with a potential output of 4 watts on 50 MHz and 1.7 watts on 70 MHz.

There are no Surface Mount Components (SMD) to solder and a number of small transformers need to be wound.

Key Features:
10W output from 2 to 30MHz, using 12V Supply
Generously-sized heatsink, will not overheat even on continuous 100% duty-cycle modes
2-stage amplifier provides 26dB of gain
Push-pull driver and push-pull finals, for high linearity and low harmonic content
+/- 1dB gain flatness from 2 to 30MHz
4dB down at 6m (50MHz) and 8dB down on 4m (70MHz)
Standard 50-ohm input and output
Through-hole plated PCB, all through-hole components (no Surface Mount Devices)
Standard inexpensive components throughout
Tested for 1 hour at full-power 10W, 100% continuous duty-cycle with no forced air cooling
Tested for 15 minutes at 20W, 100% continuous duty-cycle with no forced air cooling
Tested at 20V supply
Tested into open load, shorted load and various mismatches without instability (oscillation)

http://qrp-labs.com/linear

Amplifier with supplied heatsink.

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz ... Wed 10th Oct 2018

Wednesday the 10th of October started off with a very quiet 28 MHz band with very little being heard...just one G and DL in the morning.

The afternoon was better though as the European Sporadic-E started up and the DX signals came in from further afield...

Some nice distances but much the same as previous days. One OD5 in Lebanon was heard.

IARU Monitoring System issues September 2018 Newsletter

The September 2018 Newsletter of the IARU Monitoring System for Region 1 has just been released and it again shows the various intrusions into the radio amateur bands.

The newsletter reports that Russian radar is causing interference on the short wave bands again.

The contributor for the IRTS is Michael EI3GYB and he reports many instances of fishermen heard on the 80-metre amateur band.

The full newsletter can be seen here... http://www.iarums-r1.org/iarums/news2018/news1809.pdf

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz... Tues 9th Oct 2018

Another remarkable day of FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz. It's almost like we were a few years out of solar minimum rather than actually being at the very bottom.

As can be seen from the map below, there were a load of stations in Europe heard via Sporadic-E and this no doubt helped with the F2 signals to further afield.

Highlights....
Two stations heard in South Africa.
A second St.Helena Island station in the form of ZD7GWM was heard.
Lots of South America including Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Falkland Islands.
Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.
The most unusual signal was probably KE8M in Ohio in the USA mainly because it was an East-West path. Perhaps it was a skewed path? Impossible to tell. What was strange was that I was the only person in Europe to hear him.

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz... Mon 8th Oct 2018

Just like yesterday, there was plenty of FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz on Monday the 8th of October 2018...

The band seems to have been more or less open all day with lots of Sporadic-E signals from Europe and some F2 signals further south. Interesting to hear 3B9FR on Rodriguez Island in the Indian Ocean as well as ZD7JC on St.Helena and VP8LP on the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. WP3MM in Puerto Rico was also heard.

Pretty amazing conditions considering the solar flux is just 68 and we're at the bottom of the sunspot cycle.

I suspect a lot of this is due to the FT8 digital mode. In the past, I have often heard the band open in October at the solar minimum but I would be just hearing weak cw beacons in Europe and then maybe the occasional DX signal on SSB or CW working back into Europe.

With FT8, everything is different. Everyone is on the one frequency so if the band is open, it's obvious. It's a bit like everyone is congregating around the 'watering hole' of 28.074 MHz as opposed to being spread across the band.

Lots of people might complain about FT8 but it is certainly increasing activity on bands like 28 MHz at solar minimum.