Late opening on 28 MHz - Fri 12th Apr 2019

Unlike the last three days, Friday the 12th of April 2019 was pretty quiet on 28 MHz for most of the day.

MU0WLV 10m FT8 488 km 12:00:14
PD1DL 10m FT8 921 km 11:53:29
LA6RJA 10m FT8 1243 km 11:15:16

Also heard and not uploaded to PSKReporter
163845  -9  0.1  580 ~  CQ 2E0XXO IO93

In the late evening, there was a suprise opening to Brazil in South America.
202200  13  0.0 1150 ~  WP4PRD PY2BL GG67
202400  11  0.0  816 ~  CQ PY2BL GG67
202500   7  0.0  816 ~  WA4CEM PY2BL +15
202600   8  0.0  816 ~  NV4G PY2BL -24
204900   3 -0.1 1077 ~  KG5YEJ PY2BL GG67
205600 -19 -0.1 1310 ~  KN4PCQ PY2BL 73

Only PY2BL was heard and he was working into the USA.

Video on FT8 from the 2018 RSGB Convention

The RSGB have recently put up a video online about FT8 from their 2018 Convention.

Neil Smith, G4DBN investigates what really matters when you are aiming for the ultimate performance with FT8 and other digital modes. He demonstrates and explains the most common problems which affect the receive and transmit paths on analogue and SDR systems.

Opening to South America & Africa on 28 MHz - Thurs 11th Apr 2019

It's probably safe to say that the Summer Sporadic-E season has well and truly started with the third big opening on 28 MHz in as many days.

Thursday the 11th of April was the best of the three days this week with a total of 119 stations heard on FT8 on 28 MHz. That's pretty remarkable considering it was the early afternoon on a Thursday.

Even though I wasn't able to tune around the band that often, I didn't hear one other signal...no SSB, no CW, no beacons. Maybe I was just listening at the wrong time but it seemed unusual to hear nothing on the band after hearing 119 stations on FT8.

The DX stations heard were UW5EJX/MM off the coast of Angola, 6W/IK5BSC in Senegal, XT2AW in Burkina Faso as well as two stations in Brazil and South Africa.

These were the European stations heard...

Outside Europe highlighted below in Bold

Conditions on 28 MHz... Wed 10th Apr 2019

There was another Sporadic-E opening on 28 MHz on the 10th of April with a few interesting signals. It often felt during the day that the band was just about open. Beacons would appear on the band as the MUF rose and then disappear again.

In terms of DX, both VP8LP and VP8EME were heard on the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. Neither appeared on my heard list on the PSKReporter website.

143645 -12 -0.4 1889 ~  EA3AXV VP8LP RR73
143715  -6 -0.4 1889 ~  PY2UH VP8LP R+10
143945 -10  0.0  909 ~  EA3EYD VP8EME RR73
144015  -8  0.0  909 ~  OM3DX VP8EME R-19
144045  -4  0.0  908 ~  OM3DX VP8EME 73

Closer to home, there were plenty of signals from around Europe...

Good opening on 28 MHz - Tues 9th Apr 2019

As we approach the middle of April, the level of Sporadic-E level on 28 MHz seems to gradually increasing. This was certainly the case on the 9th of April 2019 when the band was open constantly for about two and a half hours.

These were the conditions for the last two days on 10-metres...

Monday 8th April 2019... A pretty poor day with just four signals heard.

075000 -17 -0.1  737 ~  CQ DX F5UJQ IN94
114115 -20 -0.7 1319 ~  CQ DJ8QX JO31
153045 -15 -0.6 1741 ~  CQ ON8DM JO10
191800 -14 -0.3 1970 ~  PY2JOS EA7DT RR73

The DL0IGI beacon was also heard but didn't last long.
EI7GL 28205.0 DL0IGI/B 12:56 08 Apr IO51TUJN57MT Fed. Rep. of Germany

Tuesday 9th April 2019... This by contrast was much better with a Sporadic-E area somewhere over the Bay of Biscay allowing really good propagation to the south from Ireland and the UK.

Some of the signals heard on FT8

New 40 MHz & 60 MHz Transverters on the way from Spectrum Communications

One of the big problems with the new 40 MHz (8-metre) and 60 MHz (5-metre) bands is the lack of equipment. Spectrum Communications in the UK are now looking at adding suitable transverters for each band to their range.

* * * * *

40 MHz (8-metres)...

The proposed TRC8-10sL version will transvert 40-42 MHz down to 28-30 MHz. A 5-watt drive on 10-metres will produce 25-watts on the 8-metre band.

With a standard unmodified HF transceiver capable of transmitting 28.000 to 29.700 MHz, this gives a TX range of 40.000 to 41.700 MHz on 8-metres.

60 MHz (5-metres)...

The proposed TRC5-2sL version will transvert 60-62 MHz up to 144-146 MHz.  A 5-watt drive on 2-metres will produce 25-watts on the 5-metre band.

Note that the proposed IRTS 5m band plan has most of the activity in the 58-60 MHz region rather than 60-62 MHz.

* * * * *

Each unit fully built and tested will cost £290 and this includes shipping. While this is a pretty expensive, it does represent an easy solution to get on the band with a pretty reasonable amount of power.

Link... Spectrum Communications UK

Latest prediction for the next Solar Cycle - April 2019

SOLAR CYCLE 25 PRELIMINARY FORECAST... published: Friday, April 05, 2019

The NOAA/NASA co-chaired international panel to forecast Solar Cycle 25 released a preliminary forecast for Solar Cycle 25 on April 5, 2019.

The consensus: 

Cycle 25 will be similar in size to cycle 24.  It is expected that sunspot maximum will occur no earlier than the year 2023 and no later than 2026 with a minimum peak sunspot number of 95 and a maximum of 130.

In addition, the panel expects the end of Cycle 24 and start of Cycle 25 to occur no earlier than July, 2019, and no later than September, 2020.

Please read the official NOAA press release describing the international panel's forecast at https://www.weather.gov/news/190504-sun-activity-in-solar-cycle

28 MHz opens to South America for a third day in a row... Sun 7th Apr 2019

It was a case of three out of three today on Sunday the 7th of April as the 28 MHz band opened to South America yet again. As we are getting closer to the summer Sporadic-E season, we seem to be seeing a gradual improvement in conditions.

The signals heard on FT8 today are shown below. I'd have to say though that the signals were pretty weak. I had the radio on in the background and I didn't even notice the signals until I checked the screen.

The map of Europe in the bottom right shows who was hearing PY2BL today. There does seem to be a limit on how far north the stations were located.

These are the stations according to the PSKReporter website...
9A7JCY 10m FT8 1943 km 15:30:44
PY2BL 10m FT8 9120 km 15:14:44
G4HZW 10m FT8 439 km 15:13:29
DJ5JD 10m FT8 1070 km 15:12:44
EA7DT 10m FT8 1715 km 15:04:02
2E1RDX 10m FT8 485 km 10:26:59
DJ8QX 10m FT8 1058 km 10:08:59
DJ9PC 10m FT8 1400 km 09:53:14
G0OYQ 10m FT8 579 km 08:27:01

R.A.A. - Radio Amateurs Anonymous

😉

Opening to West Africa and South America on 28 Mhz... Fri 5th & Sat 6th April 2019

April can be an interesting time for conditions on 28 MHz as there can be good North-South paths via F2 from southern Europe to Africa and South America.

As we approach the start of the summer Sporadic-E season, there can be small openings that allow stations in northern Europe to link into the F2 paths further south.

Here is what was heard on Friday the 5th and Saturday the 6th of April 2019.

Fri 5th Apr...
As can be seen from the map below, this is exactly what happened on Friday the 5th of April 2019. There was a Sporadic-E opening from Ireland to the south which allowed me to hear Spain.

The opening obviously extended to the west also as I heard 6W/IK5BSC in Senegal and South America as well.

Sometimes I heard something but it doesn't appear on the PSKReporter website. I have added these in the map above as dots.

Catch of the day was probably VP8LP in the Falkland Island.

FT8 signals heard on the 5th of April 2019...
120000   0  0.1 1283 ~  CQ G8UBJ IO91
133030 -16 -0.1 2434 ~  CQ 6W/IK5BSC
133400  -4 -0.2 1152 ~  CQ EB4SM IN80
154100   5  0.2 2019 ~  CQ EA7JKH IM67
154245 -13 -0.3  992 ~  EA7JKH PY2DMZ GG56
160245 -11  0.0  538 ~  CQ 2E0XXO IO93
170215  -7 -0.0 1870 ~  GI4SNA VP8LP RR73
171745  -2 -0.1 1184 ~  WP4PRD PY2BL 73

Saturday 6th April...
This was a pretty similar day to Friday except there were more stations from Europe.

100th Anniversary of the First Trans-Atlantic Voice Transmission

On Tuesday the 19th of March 2019, the Marconi “100 Years Celebrations” marked the 100th anniversary of the first voice radio transmission across the Atlantic.

Update : Photos added below...5th Apr 2019

In the photo Jim EI8GS, Marconi’s daughter Princess Elettra, her son Prince Marconi & his wife Princess Victoria

The first voice transmission across the Atlantic in an East to West direction took place between the former Marconi Radio Station in Ballybunion, County Kerry in Ireland and Louisbourg, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in Canada. The historic event occurred on 19th March 1919 and used the call "YXQ".

A special station was set up at the former Marconi Radio Station, to commemorate this historic event, and visitors in attendance on this day included Princess Elettra (daughter of Marconi), as well as her son Prince Marconi & his wife Princess Victoria.

Marconi with a very young Princess Elettra

In 1918, after the end of the First World War, many experiments were conducted at Ballybunion to update equipment and in March 1919 the first telephony transmitter was installed using a power of 2.5 Kilowatts.

The first person to use the microphone from Ballybunion and be heard on the other side of the Atlantic in Nova Scotia, was Marconi engineer Mr. W.T.Ditcham. His voice was the first to be heard from Europe to America, and the wavelength was 3,800 Metres (approx 79 KHz).

During 2019 the Special Event Call EI-100-YXQ will be on air to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the historic event.

For further information see the Kerry Amateur Radio Group website.

Update... Photos by Jim Barry, EI8GS...



Addendum....
Report by Canadian TV
Radio Kerry Podcast

Detecting lightning strikes on 28 MHz - 4th Apr 2019

While monitoring the FT8 frequency on 28 MHz, I noticed the tell tale crackle of a lightning strike. They are usually less than one second long and are pretty distinctive once you get used to hearing them.

There was no sign of any lightning where I live so I knew it had to be some distance away.

The dots shown above are those I heard on SSB on 28 MHz.

I have heard lightning before on 28 MHz but they were about 70 kms away. This time however, I was hearing lightning strikes which were up to 130 to 160 kms away (80-100 miles).

Pretty amazing considering that the radio energy is spread out over all of the LF and HF spectrum and up into VHF as well.

One obvious advantage of this reception is that you can hear a lightning storm approaching on the radio long before it actually arrives at your location.

It also raises the question... what is the maximum distance a lightning strike can be heard on 28 MHz???

If anyone would like to give it a go then there are some links below for tracking the lightning strikes. Just be careful to make sure the delay on the websites is low and what you seen on the screen is actually the lightning strike that you heard. You should hear the crackle and then see the dot appear on the screen a few seconds later.

By the way, this will also work with a simple medium wave radio as well. Just tune to a quiet frequency during daylight hours and you should heard the crackle from the distant lightning strikes.

Links...
https://www.lightningmaps.org/
http://en.blitzortung.org/live_lightning_maps.php?map=10

Sporadic-E opening on 28 MHz - Thurs 4th Apr 2019

There was a pretty reasonable Sporadic-E opening on 28 MHz on Thursday the 4th of April 2019.

Heard on FT8...
120745   3  0.0  549 ~  CQ DL1ABR JO52
120745  -2  0.5 1418 ~  OH3SX DO8OL R-02
121215  -8  0.2  527 ~  OH3QL PD0LK -11
122815   3  0.0 1591 ~  OH3QL DJ4BO JO43
123315  -2 -0.1 1350 ~  CQ DF1XG JO53
123900  -4 -0.3  858 ~  CQ SP3AGE JO83
125300   9 -0.1 1572 ~  CQ DO1LM JO54
131430  -9 -0.2 1628 ~  CQ EI7HDB IO62
132030 -16 -0.7  405 ~  CQ OZ7MAR JO65
135315   3 -0.2 1178 ~  CQ SM6MVE JO67
140945 -14 -0.2 2169 ~  CQ LA3VL JO59
175515 -12 -0.3 1277 ~  CQ DJ8QX JO31

These were some of the beacons heard on CW, a beacon using PI4 and one on SSB.
EI7GL 28298.0 SK7GH/B 12:50 04 Apr IO51TUJO77BF Sweden
EI7GL 28279.0 DB0UM/B 12:47 04 Apr IO51TUJO73CEFed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL-@ 28271.0 OZ7IGY 12:03 04 Apr PI4 -3 dB Q=94 Denmark
EI7GL 28270.8 OZ7IGY/B 11:57 04 Apr IO51TUJO55WM Denmark
EI7GL 28245.3 DB0TEN/B 11:33 04 Apr IO51TUJO42UV Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28434.0 DB6LY 11:16 04 Apr IO51TUJO51CB CQ Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28301.8 PI7ETE/B 11:10 04 Apr IO51TUJO22QD Netherlands
EI7GL 28277.4 DM0AAB/B 11:04 04 Apr IO51TUJO54GH Fed. Rep. of Germany

What struck me about the opening was again how important the DX cluster is. It's not enough to just hear FT8 signals and upload them to the PSKReporter website. Spots need to be put up on the DX Cluster to alert people and get people on the band.

Openings on 28 MHz... 1st to 3rd April 2019

After a quiet two days on 10 metres, it finally opened to Africa on the 3rd of April.

Monday 1st April 2019... A very small Sporadic-E opening.

EA1ALE 10m FT8 992 km 15:18:45
EA7BZO 10m FT8 1682 km 14:13:45
S52EN 10m FT8 1803 km 11:37:00
G0OYQ 10m FT8 579 km 10:22:46

Tues 2nd April 2019... One of the 'dismal' days with just G0OYQ on the east coast of England heard. Probably meteor scatter.

Commercial Mobile Antenna for 40-43 MHz

The spectrum from 40 to 47 MHz is used by commercial and state agencies in North America which means that there is a certain amount of equipment available for the band.

Pasternack Enterprises is one such provider of equipment and they sell a mobile antenna which covers 40 to 47 MHz.

It would seem that this is a full size quarter wave antenna and at 40 MHz would be just under 2 metres in length!

The antenna costs in the region of $60 with the associated mount costing about $50.

They also have distributors in the UK and Europe.

Links...
1) Pasternack Mobile Antenna
2) Associated base

QRSS signals heard on 80 metres - 1st Apr 2019

I follow a number of blogs and sometimes I read something which sparks my interest. One such item was the recent post by G6NHU about QRSS... a mode where morse is sent at very slow speeds and the signals are seen on a computer screen rather than being listened to.

I spent some time on this mode before but it was back in 2011. I had assumed that with the introduction of newer digital modes like WSPR and FT8, QRSS had probably died out. I seem to remember listening to a podcast some time back which said as much.

After reading G6NHU's post, I was suprised to find that there is still plenty of QRSS activity and there is also a very active QRSS community on Groups dot io.

G6NHU has a detailed list of QRSS frequencies and they seem to be strategically positioned just below the WSPR frequency on some bands.

The net result of this is that it's possible to use the WSJT-X programme to listen to WSPR signals on say 80m and also look at the QRSS signals on the waterfall display at the same time.

Examples of QRSS signals heard on 80m - 1st Apr 2019

This is the waterfall on the WSJT-X programme rotated 90 degrees. The dashes and dots in morse for G0FTD can be seen.

Some are a bit more elaborate with full call signs shown... see OK1FCX below.

Some have gone a bit further and their signals show up as complex images like fish!

... or maybe it's a dolphin? :o)

And another fish but this one looks a bit like a shark...

Also TF3HZ as shown below. Sometimes it's a case of taking a few screenshots and then trying to put the pieces together.

Some Links...
http://www.g6nhu.co.uk/frequencies.html
https://groups.io/g/qrssknights
https://qsl.net/g0ftd/other/74%20-%20Knights%20QRSS%20Winter%20Compendium%202018.pdf

Openings on 28 MHz - Mon 25th to Sun 31st March 2019

The week of the 24th to 31st of March 2019 was pretty quiet for the most part on 28 MHz although it did open to South America on the 29th and 31st. The Solar Flux was down around 70 which is pretty much the lowest it can be at the the bottom of the sunspot cycle.

This is a breakdown of the week...

Mon 25th March ... A quiet day on 10 metres with just two stations heard on FT8.
DJ8QX 10m FT8 1058 km 13:53:55
PC4N 10m FT8 897 km 10:38:02

Tues 26th March ... Another quiet day with just three stations heard.

094000   6 -0.9 1153 ~  CQ G0OYQ IO93
124215   0 -0.0 1159 ~  CQ PD4KK JO21
124215  -5  0.1 1400 ~  CQ DO8WA JO30

SIRIO Quarter Wave Ground Plane Antenna for 40 MHz

While it is pretty easy to build an antenna for 40 MHz, the difficulties of mechanical strength and waterproofing are always a problem. Some may considering buying a commercial antenna and this is an example of one from SIRIO.

The SIRIO GPA is a basic quarter wave ground plane antenna and there are several models available to cover various frequency ranges.

GPA 27-45: 27 … 45 MHz Tunable
GPA 40-70: 40 … 70 MHz Tunable
GPA 66-108: 66 … 108 MHz Tunable
GPA 108-136: 108 … 136 MHz Tunable
GPA 135-175: 135 … 175 MHz Tunable
GPA 170-230: 170 … 230 MHz Tunable

As there are no loading coils, it's just a case of adjusting the length of the vertical radiating element and each of the three ground plane radials.

ZETAGI power amps for 43 MHz

ZETAGI is a brand usually associated with CB radio products for 27 MHz although it seems that they also make RF power amplifiers for Italian CB band at 43 MHz.

The B149 and B129 models are shown below. Note that the Irish regulations for 30 to 49 MHz stipulate a maximum power output of 50 watts PEP.

ZETAGI B149

This is designed for 42-44 MHz and runs off 12v DC. It's likely that it will work down to 40 MHz as well although the power may be slightly reduced.

Note the AM / SSB switch on the right is missing and is just a blank plate. It would seem as if this unit is very similar to the B150 27 MHz model and uses pretty much the same hardware for the B149 43 MHz model.

The B149 amplifier is intended for increasing the output power of 43 MHz FM transceivers so there is no need for a TX/RX delay to stop the relay clattering on SSB. As such, it is not suitable for SSB and is more suited for just FM and CW.

ZETAGI B129

The Problem of Two WSPR Frequencies on 80m

Considering that there is pretty much no chance of any 28 MHz propagation at night, I decided to set the radio on the 80m WSPR frequency for the last two nights.

On the evening of Tuesday 26th March 2019, I set the radio to 3.59260 MHz which is the frequency that I had written down in my own notes and the one I had used in the past. It seemed to work fine and I heard plenty of stations that evening and the following morning on 80m.

On the evening of Wednesday the 27th of March, I went to tune the radio to 80m again but this time, I noticed that the frequency on the WSJT-X programme was different, it was 3.56860 MHz.

I used the new frequency and this is what I heard overnight on 80m on the night of the 27th - 28th of March 2019...

Signals heard on 80m WSPR - night of 27th to 28th March 2019

Closer view of European stations

So it would seem that there are two WSPR frequencies on 80m and both are in use.

After doing a bit of research, it looks as if there was some issue with stations in Japan being able to use the old frequency of 3.59260 MHz. As a result, it was decided to change to a new frequency of 3.56860 MHz.

The problem is that not everyone has changed and the net result for the moment is that WSPR users on 80m are split over two frequencies which is a bit of a mess.

I would guess that over time, the new frequency of 3.56860 MHz will gradually replace the old one but it might take a while.

Addendum :
Which is most used? ...Old or New Frequency?

As an experiment, I listened to the two WSPR frequencies on Wednesday the 27th of March from 20:00 to 22:UTC to see which one had the most activity.

This was well after sunset and to get a fairer idea of activity, I listened to the new frequency for 30 minutes at 20:00 and 21:00. I listened to the old frequency for about 30 mins from 20:30 and 21:30.

The result was that I heard 113 WSPR transmissions on the new frequency and 99 on the old one. I'm sure if I listened again on another evening then I may get a sightly different result. That works out at 53% to 47%.

It's probably fair to say that the WSPR activity on 80m is pretty much split pretty evenly between the old and new frequencies at the moment.