Practical Wireless article on Network Radios from July 2018

An article from the July 2018 issue of Practical Wireless about Network Radios has now appeared on the G7DDN website. He is the author of the article and it is published on his site with permission from the publishers.

It gives an overview of what Network Radios are and how they might be used.

The article in PDF format is HERE

Link...
Previous article on Network Radios from April 2018

IRTS CW Tests for 2019

From the IRTS News...
CW Tests
CW testing will be carried out at the following rallies over the coming months starting with Coolmine on February 17th, Limerick on March 10th and at the IRTS AGM in Athlone on April 14th.

Booking for these tests is essential and intending candidates should contact Dave EI4BZ by email “davebeag /at/ gmail /dot/ com”.

Full details of the Morse test are available on the IRTS web site under licensing at www.irts.ie

Italy heard on 144 MHz... Sun 6th Jan 2019

Compared to the previous two days, there were a lot fewer FT8 signals heard on 144 MHz on Sun 6th Jan 2019.

Best DX heard was IK4ADE at 1679 kms! As for how??? Meteor scatter?

Another day of FT8 signals on 144 MHz... Sat 5th Jan 2019

Another day listening to FT8 signals on 144 MHz and the map looks like I had been on 80m or 40m. All those shown above were heard with a vertical Slim Jim antenna in the attic of my house, pretty amazing.

There were 9 which were over 1000 kms with the nest DX being DF6PW at 1261 kms.

The conventional convention is that anyone using FM on 145 MHz uses a vertical antenna where as anyone using SSB on 144 MHz uses a horizontal beam.

I wonder how many guys are just using a simple vertical with FT8? A lot of people have deserted SSB because it was dead but FT8 seems to have given new life to the band. Are most stations just pressing their verticals into use with FT8 rather than putting up horizontal Yagis???

It just seems a bit strange that I can hear so many signals with a basic vertical antenna.

Addendum...
Following the publication of this post, Hardy DF6PW kindly sent on his station details...

FYI: I was operating from a hilltop QTH in JO40AQ 652 m asl. In your direction I was using the 6-over-6 homebrew stack on the right hand side of the pic attached (36m above ground) . Rig was a Icom-IC-706 boosted by a very gentle 4CX250 tube amplifier ... no pre-amp.

Hardy, DF6PW

Good opening on 144 MHz... Fri 4th Jan 2019

The map above shows the FT8 signals heard on 144 MHz on Friday the 4th of January.

It almost looks like it might have been on say 80m but this is in fact the 2-metre band. And all with an indoor Slim Jim vertical in the attic!

Five stations were over 1,000kms were heard so conditions were pretty good.

The common mantra is that the VHF bands are dead and nobody is on. The map shows the impact that FT8 mode is having on the VHF bands with plenty of people active.

SD Contest Software now Free

As of the 1st of January 2019, Paul EI5DI has kindly made his SD contest software free.

While the appearance may look a bit old fashioned, the most important thing is how it functions. Back in 2017 when I was dabbling in the odd contest, I found the software great. The priority for me was for it to tell if the person I was hearing was a dupe, something that would calculate my score and for it to generate a format so that I could submit an entry.

As with anything, there is a learning curve but it's reasonably easy to use with practice.

As someone who wasn't hugely interested in contesting, I didn't want some bloatware with loads of features. I wanted something easy and functional and I found SD did what I wanted.

The contest software can be found on Paul's website at http://www.ei5di.com/

FT8 signals heard on 144 MHz... Thurs 3rd Jan 2019

After spending most of the day on 28 MHz and hearing just a few European signals on FT8, I changed over to 144 MHz at about 18:00.

Despite the fact that I was using just a simple Slim Jim half-wave vertical in the attic of my house, I still picked up some nice signals.

Best DX heard was EA2XR at 1011 kms on the north coast of Spain.

Also heard was GM0EWK at 639 kms.

All of this is of course due to a high pressure system over the British and Irish Isles at the moment.

IRTS 80m Contest on New Years Day

The annual IRTS 80m Counties Contest on New Years Day seemed to be pretty busy this year with lots of EI stations on the band. I'm not all that interested in contests but anything that gets EI stations on the air and communicating with each other is a good thing.

The highest contact number I heard was around 100 which is well up up on 78 which was the highest last year.

I didn't bother calling CQ and just went up and down the band giving away points. All said and done, I worked 26 stations and 6 of these were on CW.

It's been ages since I have used morse but it was nice to give the key a rattle again. I'm as rusty as anything but it's something I must get back into again.

Looking back on 2018...

Just like the propagation, my own levels of activity on the radio has been sporadic over the last few years. I was off the air from 2012 until October 2016 and then went off again in April of 2017.

At the start of 2018, my interest was renewed and I have managed to stay on for all of 2018. These are probably the main highlights of 2018 for me.

January 2018... DMR
In January of 2018, I purchased a DMR handheld radio and explored the world of digital radio. Between making up my own code plugs and using the radio, it has been interesting over the last year learning about the system.

April 2018... VHF Activity Nights
At the start of the year, it was very obvious that the levels of activity on the VHF bands in Ireland was very low. It seemed that it would make a lot of sense to try and have particular activity nights where there might be a better chance of making contacts.

I approached the IRTS to ask that they would help publicise activity nights on the Tuesdays of each month which they duly did in their publications and on their website. This became the EI VHF Activity Nights in April of 2018 and it has been a modest success to date.

After 6 months, we did a review of the activity net in Cork and this was refined to become the Cork VHF Net. This has certainly resulted in more activity locally in Cork on several VHF bands which is welcome.

April 2018... 40 MHz
When the IRTS announced at the start of the year that there would be new allocations at 40 and 60 MHz, it really grabbed my interest. There was however very little information to the found. To remedy this, I set up a special page on this site for all 40 MHz information so that others could find out about the band. By the end of 2018, it had been looked at 776 times according to the website stats.

May 2018... FT8
Since the start of May 2018, I have been monitoring FT8 signals on 28 MHz for most of the time and feeding the reception reports up to the PSK Reporter website. At the height of the Sporadic-E season, I was uploading about 6,000 to 8,000 reports per week.

For me as such, it was very low maintenance and required very little of my time. The radio just listened on the FT8 frequency on 28 MHz and I just checked the PC from time to time. Checking what I had heard out of curiosity was the difference between having the radio turned on or having it turned off completely.

Website Traffic...
The year ended with the website getting about 6,000 page views for the month of December. There are some spam clicks buried in amongst those so the number of real click is probably around 5,000. In the second half of 2018, the site has been getting between 4,000 and 10,000 page views per month.

And for 2019???
I'm not exactly sure but probably all of the above. I was reading another blog recently when I saw something which pretty much sums up the reality for a lot of radio amateurs. Many people are just more interested in experimentation rather than communication. Making a contact on the HF bands like 20m is no real challenge as is talking on a local repeater. A lot of people just want to experiment. To try out new bands, modes or new equipment. To build something rather than just use a black box. I'd guess that experimentation is the one facet of the hobby that is likely to keep me interested in the future.

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz... Sun 30th Dec 2018

Another day listening to FT8 signals on 28 MHz. The interesting ones today were W2UH and W2VW in the state of New Jersey in the USA.

At 5000kms or so distant, they were interesting because they were East-West paths on 28 MHz which is much harder than the more usual North-South paths.

The other interesting thing was that I seem to be the only person in Europe that actually heard them according to the PSK Reporter website. This certainly wasn't due to my antenna but more likely due to my westerly location.

FT8 Signals Heard on 28 MHz... Fri 28th Dec 2018

There was a modest opening on 28 MHz on the 28th of December 2018 with a mixture of Sp-E and some F2 signals.

The most interesting signal was probably J28PJ in Djibouti.

The solar flux is 69 which is very low and would suggest that the band would be closed.

New VHF Repeaters & Simplexers Planned for the Midlands of Ireland in 2019

The IECRO Ireland Radio Club (EI0IPN), located in the Midlands Region of Ireland has big plans for 2019 with several repeaters and simplexers (parrots) in the pipeline for the VHF bands.

These include a Gateway on 2 metres, Simplexers (parrots) on 4 metres and 10 metres and a FM/DMR repeater on 70cms.

145 MHz... On 2 metres, there will be a Gateway with the call sign EI2SNG on 145.2375 MHz FM with a 88.5Hz CTCSS.  This will allow users access to the Allstar and Echolink networks online (AllStar: 48781, Echolink: 5224).

Using DTMF commands, the 2m gateway can also temporarily connect to both the 4m and 10m systems (thus creating a temporary triple-band service). This will provide (1) Maritime Mobile, (2) portable 2m HT operators, and (3) allstar+echolink users to access these bands with ease.

70 MHz... On 4 metres, there will be a Simplexer (Parrot) on 70.475 MHz FM with carrier access and it will use the call EI4SNR. As outlined above, it can be used in conjunction with the 2m Gateway or on its own as a Simplexer.

A Simplexer operates on a single frequency and records a block of received audio and then relays it again on the same frequency (i.e. like a parrot). This allows users who cannot hear other directly to make contact. It is also a valuable service for any other users in Ireland or overseas who want to check their signals under enhanced conditions.

29 MHz... Like the 4 metre unit, there will also be a 10 metre Simplexer on 29.610 MHz FM. A 67.0 Hz tone is required for access. The callsign will be EI0SNR.

Like the 4 metre unit, this can also be connected to the 2m Gateway. Considering how often the 10m band opens during the Summer months, this might be of particular interest to European stations.

DMR Repeater on 70 cms... It is also proposed to establish a new FM/DMR repeater on 70cms.
Output : 439.700 MHz / Input : 430.700 MHz
FM Access by CTCSS : 167.9 Hz

All of these units will be located near Mullingar in the midlands of Ireland and the map above shows roughly the coverage area.

Additional info from IECRO...
IECRO is keen to encourage increased usage of the 4m (70MHz) and 10m bands. As such, two parrot/simplexers operating on these bands will be linked together to form a cross-band mini parrot network. The 2m gateway mentioned above will be able to temporarily through user requests connect/disconnect to the 4m parrot as and when required, thus providing RF and AllStar/EchoLink
users to access all of the parrots too. What does this mean for the ham community? Well it means
the following dramatic improvements in terms of FM range across the middle of the country from East to West:
4m - 4m
4m - 10m
10m - 10m
2m - both linked parrots
(plus Allstar and Echolink services)

Thanks to Mark EI6HPB for the above info.

FT8 Signals heard on 28 MHz... Sun 23rd Dec 2018

Another day of FT8 signals on 28 MHz with a few strange signals.

At first, the big suprise was the signal on the map to South Korea! I knew that this had to be suspect. This is the trace from what I heard...

111700  -9 -0.6 1719 ~  G0JEI DS0DNX JO61
111800  -5 -0.6 1716 ~  G0JEI DS0DNX R-08

The JO61 suggests that it was someone in JO61 locator square which is the same one as for Berlin. Had someone in Germany made  a mistake putting in their call sign? A pirate? Whoever it was, it certainly wasn't Sotuh Korea.

The other two signals of interest was C5YK in the Gambia in West Africa and ZS5JES in South Africa.

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz - Sat 22nd Dec 2018

In contrast to yesterday, there were plenty of FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz on Saturday the 22nd of December 2018.

I was a bit suprised to see so many as I had the radio on while I was working. I could hear some weak signals but nothing really caught my attention. Once I did check, it was a bit of "Wow, look at all them".

I suspect that maybe it was due to the 'weekend effect'. Maybe the conditions weren't that much better than yesterday, it was just that it was a Saturday and more people were on the radio.

Again, all those heard were using the updated version of FT8 so it looks like a lot of people have changed.

FT8 signals on 28 MHz... Fri 21st Dec 2018

After the big Sporadic-E opening on the 19th of December, it was back to the more usual conditions on 28 MHz on Friday the 21st of December. The map above shows the FT8 signals heard on 10m by listening all day (using WSJT-X Ver 2.0).

This is pretty much what it is like most days at the moment...just a handful of signals from around Europe. It might be worth noting that this was a Friday as opposed to the weekend so a lot of stations might be missing.

The one signal of note for me is G0OYQ on the east coast of England at a distance of about 580kms. I seem to hear him every single day with fail. It's probably not Sporadic-E so meteor scatter for me is probably the most likely mode of propagation.

The solar flux was 71 which is about as low as you can get at the bottom of the solar cycle.

EU Directive Requires All Cars To Have Digital Radio By 2021

In terms of radio broadcasting on the VHF Bands, FM still reigns supreme as it is firmly established and many people find little reason to upgrade to digital DAB / DAB+ services.

All that may be about to change though as a new EU directive says that all new cars must have radios capable of receiving digital radio broadcasts by 2021.

As of December 2019, each EU member country has two years to introduce national legislation in accordance with the EU directive. It is therefore expected that all EU member countries will put in place their respective national laws requiring all new car radios to be capable of receiving and reproducing digital terrestrial radio broadcasting by the end of 2020.

In Europe, the most common form of digital terrestrial radio is DAB/DAB+ and the new directive will mean that these new radios are more widespread.

In Norway, the first country to have switched off national FM services, 98 percent of new cars are equipped with DAB+ radios. In Switzerland, this figure stands at 85 percent, with a digital switch over scheduled to be completed no later than 2024.

Despite the new directive, it's likely that FM broadcasting will remain the mode of choice for many listeners and it's unlikely to be turned off any time soon.

FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz - Wed 19th Dec 2018

The conditions on 28 MHz for the last one to two weeks have been pretty awful with slim pickings. There was however a nice mid-Winter Sporadic-E opening to Europe on Wednesday the 19th of December.

It started quiet enough with VP8LP in the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic appearing as the third station of the day.

114845 -10  1.6  678 ~  CQ MM0HVU IO85
114845 -14 -0.4 1337 ~  CQ G0OYQ IO93
114915 -20  1.6  678 ~  CQ MM0HVU IO85
123300 -19 -0.1 1865 ~  CQ VP8LP GD18

What was suprising about this was that the band appeared dead. I had the rig turned on and I heard nothing. I glanced at the screen at one point and noticed VP8LP had been heard.

In the afternoon at about 14:15 UTC, the band opened up with several hours of Sporadic-E to Europe.

What's interesting about all these signals is that they were all using the new version of FT8 i.e. WSJT-X Version 2.0. If they had been using the older versions like version 1.8 or 1.9, I wouldn't have heard them as the two systems are incompatible.

It just goes to show that a lot of people have upgraded already and are not waiting for the end of the year to change.

FT8 - The Big Changeover

On the 10th of December 2018, the new upgraded version of FT8 was officially released. The new WSJT-X Ver 2.0 version replaces the earlier 1.8 and 1.9 versions which were hugely popular.

The BIG problem however is that the new FT8 protocols have been enhanced in a way that is not backward compatible with older versions of the program. i.e. those using the new version can't talk to those using the old version.

There is a three week window for users to upgrade by the start of the new year.

“The new protocols become the worldwide standards starting on December 10, 2018, and all users should upgrade to WSJT-X 2.0 by January 1, 2019.” ... Joe Taylor K1JT, WSJT-X home page.

Considering the huge number of people using FT8, it might seem at first like trying to herd some cats. Will everyone change over? Will there be people using both systems in 2019?

On the 10th of December, I adopted a 'wait and see' policy to see how many people changed. On the 12th and 13th of December, I noticed that I was hearing FT8 signals on 28 MHz and not decoding them. I checked the usual time and frequency settings and all was ok.

Perhaps the old 1.9 version might be ok on the lower HF bands like 20m where there are plenty of signals but there are very few signals on 28 MHz. If I can't decode a signal then it's a big deal.

On the 14th of December, I changed over to Version 2.0 and one of the first signals I heard on 28 MHz was VP8LP on the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

I have no doubt that there will be plenty of people using the old version for a while but upgrading to version 2.0 as soon as possible seems like the best option.

More info here... https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html

VHF net in Cork every Tuesday evening

Back in April and May of 2018, the idea of having an EI VHF Activity Night was born and Tuesday evenings were selected as they tied in with some of the 2m and 70cms RSGB contests in the UK.

Over the first 6 months, there was some activity on each of the Tuesday evenings in Cork and at the start of November of 2018, we did a review to see how things could be improved.

The main suggestions were...

1) Set a specific time and frequency for a net in Cork.
Having a general activity period like 7pm to 10pm is fine for a countrywide proposal where different groups might like to do their own thing. However for a specific area like Cork, we felt it would be better if we could meet up at a specific time on a certain frequency.

2) Reminders by e-mail.
We thought a reminder by email would help as people forget.

For November 2018, we tried the new format and it was certainly better. While the numbers are still small, we have had a good net every evening with each one lasting about 70 mins.

We also established an online White Board where a very brief record of what was discussed is kept with links for more info.

*****

The VHF activity nights for Cork are now as follows...

1st Tues of the month - 8pm - 2m - 145.475 MHz FM

2nd Tues of the month - 8pm - 70cms - 433.475 MHz FM

3rd Tues of the month - 8pm - 4m - 70.2625 MHz FM
3rd Tues of the month - 9pm - 6m - 50.150 MHz SSB

4th Tues of the month - 8pm - Digital - DMR Talk Group 2724 / Echolink node 88269 / Fusion C4FM YSF node 04251 / Fusion C4FM Wires-x node 41411 / Allstar node 29884.

*****

At the moment, we are looking to expand the net and if anyone would like to be added to the email list, they should contact ei7gl AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk.

Only one email per week is sent out.

Shannon Basin Radio net on 145 MHz every Thurs night

The Shannon Basin Radio Club hold a net on 145.350 MHz  FM every Thursday evening at 8pm.  This initiative to promote more activity on the VHF bands started in late 2018 and has been pretty successful to date.

The net is not confined to club members and they welcome anyone that can hear them to call in, even if it's just for a signal report.

The Shannon Basin Radio Club website can be seen here... http://www.shannonbasinradioclub.com/