Opening to India on 28 MHz? - Tues 25th Feb 2020

The map above shows the FT8 signals that I heard on 28 MHz on Tuesday the 25th of February 2020. The big suprise was the signal from VU2PTT India but was it real?

It was a really unusual signal to hear. First off, here are the decodes that I received...

093045 -16 -0.3 1864 ~  CQ VU2PTT MK82
093115 -19 -0.3 1864 ~  CQ VU2PTT MK82
093145 -17 -0.3 1865 ~  CQ VU2PTT MK82
093215 -20 -0.2 1865 ~  CQ VU2PTT MK82
093330 -18 -0.3 1867 ~  CQ VU2PTT MK82
093400 -15 -0.3 1868 ~  CQ VU2PTT MK82
093500 -16 -0.3 1869 ~  CQ VU2PTT MK82

At this time in the morning, it was the only signal that I heard on 28 MHz. What was also unusual was that according to PSKReporter, no-one else reported VU2PTT on 28 MHz. If the signal is genuine then he called CQ on FT8 on 28MHz and I was the only person to hear him.

If the signal was fake then I would have expected others to have heard the fake signal also.

I could see that he was on 14 MHz, 18 MHz and 21 MHz also today so at least I know he was active.

My intuition is that the signal was genuine and it was a double hop F2 signal from Karnataka, India, a distance of about 8,600kms.

I was wondering if the signal was related to sunset in India and it wasn't. Karnataka is 5h 30m ahead of UTC so 09:30 UTC here is 15:00 in India i.e. in the middle of the afternoon.

Some Sporadic-E signals appeared on the band around 14:15 UTC and lasted until about 19:40 UTC. A list of stations heard is shown below. The one interesting one is PY5VB in Brazil which didn't appear on the PSK Reporter page for me. Maybe the signal from India was genuine after all.

The Solar Flux today was 71 which is pretty much rock bottom of the sunspot cycle.

141415  -5 -0.0 2143 ~  CQ CT1ADT IM57
162300 -16 -0.1  879 ~  CQ EA7/LA9DL
162330 -16  0.0  734 ~  CQ EA4AGI IN80
162400   2  0.3  733 ~  CQ EA4AGI IN80
163745  -3 -0.0  849 ~  CQ EA4GYW IN80
170200 -14 -0.1 1487 ~  CQ EA7JXA IM67
171130 -15 -0.1 1443 ~  G4FVZ PY5VB RR73
180130  14 -0.2 1278 ~  F4BVK CT1IW IM58
180930 -11 -0.2  579 ~  CQ EA5AHQ IM99
182300  -5 -0.2 2213 ~  F4BVK EA1CCM IN52
184745  -9  0.1 1685 ~  CQ CT1ETL IM58
184930 -18 -0.3  687 ~  CQ CT1CEM IM58
190400  -4 -0.3 2200 ~  CQ EA7JXZ IM77
190830   1 -0.3  606 ~  CQ CT1HMN IM58

Opening to Mali on 28 MHz - Fri 21st Feb 2020

It was a pretty quiet day with just a few FT8 signals heard on the band. The most interesting signal was TZ4AM from Mali.

104430 -13 -0.2 1261 ~  CQ MM3NRX IO86
113200 -17 -0.3 1156 ~  PD0RHX PD1WLM JO21
115630 -12  0.3  552 ~  CQ F5NBX JN05
115700 -12  0.3  552 ~  CQ F5NBX JN05
115730 -13  0.3  552 ~  CQ F5NBX JN05
131030 -17 -0.6 1155 ~  CT1APN TZ4AM 73
131130  -9 -0.6 1439 ~  EB3JT TZ4AM RR73
131200 -16 -0.6 1233 ~  HB9ICC TZ4AM -14
131300 -17 -0.6 1233 ~  CQ TZ4AM IK52

Numbers stations on the short wave bands

My first encounter with a numbers station was many moons ago while I was tuning across the short wave bands on a very old radio. I came across an unidentified station where a woman was reading out a string of numbers in German. Needless to say, I had no idea at the time what it meant or what its purpose was.

This video written, researched and presented by Paul Shillito on his Curious Droid YouTube channel explains what numbers stations were and what they were used for.



Link...
1) Additional info on current numbers stations... http://priyom.org/

RTE video about the Lough Erne Radio Rally in 1990

This might be a trip down memory lane for some. This video clip from RTE is about the Lough Erne Radio Rally in Enniskillen back in 1990.

600 amateur radio enthusiasts from all over Ireland have gathered in Enniskillen, county Fermanagh for the ninth annual Lough Erne Radio Rally. The rally is an opportunity for many to put faces to names and radio call signs. Here ‘ham radio’ radio enthusiasts can swap stories and experiences. The event also offers the chance to buy radio equipment that is not normally available in the shops. 

Reporter Andrew Kelly meets enthusiasts Alec McKeown (GI1RBI), Phil Cantwell (EI9P) and Joe Maguire (GI4NRE) who share their experiences of using radio to contact people throughout the world.

An RTÉ News report by Andrew Kelly broadcast on 9 April 1990.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/0409/692949-amateur-radio-rally-in-fermanagh/

Opening to South Africa on 28 MHz - Mon 17th Feb 2020

Things have been very quiet here on the radio front of late. With the recent storms of Ciara and Dennis passing over, I lowered my vertical antenna for 28 MHz to avoid any damage.

On Monday the 17th of February, I put the antenna back up again as Storm Dennis moved away and I heard just one station - ZS6BUN in South Africa.

There was no sign of any Sporadic-E signals from Europe, just ZS6BUN on his own with about 4 decodes.

The Solar Flux was down at 71 with no visible sunspots on the sun. We are still well and truly in the solar minimum and I think it's going to take another six months before we see any real change.

NASA Space Probe finds Sporadic-E on the planet Mars

NASA’s MAVEN Explores Mars to Understand Radio Interference at Earth

From a NASA press release... NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft has discovered “layers” and “rifts” in the electrically charged part of the upper atmosphere (the ionosphere) of Mars. The phenomenon is very common at Earth and causes unpredictable disruptions to radio communications. However, we do not fully understand them because they form at altitudes that are very difficult to explore at Earth. The unexpected discovery by MAVEN shows that Mars is a unique laboratory to explore and better understand this highly disruptive phenomenon.

“The layers are so close above all our heads at Earth, and can be detected by anyone with a radio, but they are still quite mysterious,” says Glyn Collinson of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, lead author of a paper on this research appearing February 3 in Nature Astronomy. “Who would have thought one of the best ways to understand them is to launch a satellite 300 million miles to Mars?”

At Earth, the layers form at an altitude of about 60 miles (approximately 100km) where the air is too thin for an aircraft to fly, but too thick for any satellite to orbit. The only way to reach them is with a rocket, but these missions last only tens of minutes before falling back to Earth. “We’ve known they exist for over 80 years, but we know so little about what goes on inside them, because no satellite can get low enough to reach the layers,” says Collinson, “at least, no satellite at Earth”.

At Mars, spacecraft such as MAVEN can orbit at lower altitudes and can sample these features directly. MAVEN carries several scientific instruments that measure plasmas in the atmosphere and space around Mars. Recent measurements from one of these instruments detected unexpected sudden spikes in the abundance of plasma as it flew through the Martian ionosphere. Joe Grebowsky, former MAVEN project scientist at NASA Goddard, immediately recognized the spike from his previous experience with rocket flights through the layers at Earth. Not only had MAVEN discovered that such layers can occur at other planets than Earth, but the new results reveal that Mars offers what Earth cannot, a place where we can reliably explore these layers with satellites.

“The low altitudes observable by MAVEN will fill in a great gap in our understanding of this region on both Mars and Earth, with really significant discoveries to be had,” says Grebowsky, a co-author on the paper.

MAVEN observations are already overturning many of our existing ideas about the phenomena: MAVEN has discovered that the layers also have a mirror-opposite, a “rift”, where plasma is less abundant. The existence of such “rifts” in nature was completely unknown before their discovery at Mars by MAVEN, and overturns existing scientific models which say they cannot form. Additionally, unlike at Earth where the layers are short-lived and unpredictable, the Martian layers are surprisingly long-lived and persistent.

Press Release

BBC podcast about the Solar Wind

The Solar Wind is constantly streaming out from the Sun and can have a huge impact on radio propagation.

The In Our Time programme on BBC Radio 4 is hosted by Melvyn Bragg and covers various topics with a panel of experts. Recently they covered the Solar Wind.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the phenomenon behind the auroras at Earth's poles, the stream of charged particles spreading out from the Sun to the border of the solar system.

The 55 minute podcast can be heard here... https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dg9n

Anyone who has an interest in radio propagation or in astronomy should find it interesting.

Lone signal from South Africa heard on 28 MHz - Tues 4th Feb 2020

The last two days on 28 MHz have been very poor.

Mon 3rd Feb 2020 - This was was unusual because I didn't hear one single FT8 signal on 28 MHz for the whole day. I nearly always hear something every day but Monday the 3rd was a complete blank.

Tues 4th Feb 2020 - Due to a Windows update, I didn't start listening until about 12 noon but I'm not sure if I missed much anyway.

Just before 13:00, I heard one lone signal from South Africa.

These were the decodes of the day...

124915 -10  1.2 1782 ~  CQ ZS6BUN KG43
124945 -10  1.2 1780 ~  CQ ZS6BUN KG43
125000 -12  1.5 1364 ~  CQ EC7ZR IM77
125315 -17  1.2 1765 ~  ZS5ZP ZS6BUN -15
125345 -20  1.2 1764 ~  ZS5ZP ZS6BUN RR73

Amateur Radio numbers in Germany continue to decline in 2019

At the end of 2019, there were 63,070 amateur radio licence permits in Germany, a drop of 1,406 or 2.2% on the figure of 64,476 for 2018.

As can be seen from the chart above, the numbers have been in decline for some time and are down about 12% in the last decade.

The chart below shows the number of people taking the amateur licence test every year.

Even allowing for a high pass rate, the numbers are well below what is needed to stop the overall decline.

As one of the largest countries in Europe, the figures from Germany are significant and are probably reflect what is happening in other European countries as well.

Link...
1) Stats from Germany

Sporadic-E on 28 MHz - Sat 1st Feb 2020

After a very quiet week, there was a modest Sporadic-E opening on 28 MHz on Saturday the 1st of February 2020. In total, 36 stations in 8 countries were heard.

There was also a shorter opening to Germany and Poland on Friday the 31st of January but it was hardly worth mentioning.

The solar flux is at 74 which is still really too low to allow any kind of F2 propagation on 28 MHz at this latitude.

Video: Amateur Television on the Microwave Bands

This 39 minute talk about Amateur Television was given at the Cardiff Microwave Roundtable in the Spring of 2019 and it has just been uploaded to YouTube.

It gives a good summary of the current state of Amateur TV in the UK and the techniques and frequencies used.

Opening to Africa and the Middle East on 28 MHz - Sun 26th Jan 2019

After a quiet two weeks on 28 MHz, the band finally opened up on Sunday the 26th of January 2020.

While the signals didn't seem that strong, 48 stations in 17 countries were heard.

There seemed to have been Sporadic-E over Europe and this then linked to paths to South Africa and the Middle East.

ZN6NL in South Africa was heard as well as 4X4MF in Israel and 9K2KH in Kuwait.

The Solar Flux was 73 which is up a tiny bit from the more usual 68 of late.

Things might start getting better as we heard towards the equinox.

Czech RF10 Military Radio covering 44 to 54 MHz

The RF10 is an old type of Czech military radio operating on FM with 400 channels from 44.000 to 53.975 MHz. The output power is supposed to be just over 1-watt.

The RF output is via a socket for a whip / long wire antenna (shown above on the far left) or via the BNC socket alongside it.

An example of the radio is shown in this LINK

While it does not cover the new 40 MHz 8-metre band, it may be of interest to those listening on the low VHF frequencies or anyone on the 50 MHz / 6-metre band.

Thanks to Robbie, EI2IP for the above link.

Additional info HERE

Commercial Kenwood transceivers for 40 MHz

There are a large number of commercial and utility companies making use of the low VHF band in the USA from 30 to 50 MHz. Several manufacturers including Kenwood sold radios to service this market.

In the past, these were largely operating on FM but many systems are now being replaced with their digital equivalents. As a result, many old Kenwood commercial FM transceivers can be picked up on sites like eBay.

These radios are a potential source of relatively cheap FM radios for the 40 MHz (8-metre) band.

It should be noted that commercial radios are usually programmed to operate on certain frequencies. Any second hand models will need to be re-programmed.

Here are the Kenwood radios that operate on the Low VHF band.

* * * * *

Kenwood TK-190... This handheld radio comes in two versions. The TK-190K covers 29.7 to 37.0 MHz and the TK-190K2 covers 35.0 to 50.0 MHz. Both versions have an output power of 1-watt (Low) and 6-watts (High).

This radio had a list price of $643 in 2007.

* * * * *

Kenwood TK-630... This radio was released in the early 90's.

It is available with power output levels of 110 watts on FM! The TK-630 is available in three frequency ranges... 29.7 MHz to 37 MHz, 35 MHz to 43 MHz and 41 MHz to 50 MHz.

Winter 2019 - 2020 edition of ECHO IRELAND now available

The Winter 2019/2020 edition of ECHO IRELAND is now available for IRTS members to download in PDF format. Any member wishing to change from the print version to the electronic PDF format should contact the Membership Records Officer... www.irts.ie/officers

ARRL release 'On the Air' magazine for beginners

In an effort to reach out to more people, the American Amateur Relay League (ARRL) have produced a new magazine aimed at beginners and those new to the hobby.

There are a number of interesting articles in it including a simple ground quarter wave ground plane antenna for 144 MHz and 432 MHz as well as a multi-band HF antenna.

From what I understand, the first one is free and future issues will be only for ARRL members.

You can view the Jan/Feb 2020 issue HERE

Commercial 40 MHz transceiver from a Polish company

RADMOR are a Polish company who manufacture radio transceivers for the commercial and military markets. One of their products, the Mobile Radiotelephone 3005 operates at 40 MHz.

To be more precise, the 3005-40 model comes in two variants... one can operate from 30 MHz to 41 MHz and the other one can operate from 40 to 52.5 MHz.

According to the specs, it has up to 32 channels max which suggests that it is designed to be used for a specific purpose i.e. operate on a fixed number of channels. It's not really suitable for say scanning the low VHF spectrum to see what can be heard.

It operates on FM and there is a choice of 12.5 or 25 kHz spacing. The power output is 5 to 10 watts.

The specs also say the current consumption on receive is 3.5 amps. This is 42 watts! It's very likely that it is the power consumption while transmitting.

More info about the radio can be seen on the company website HERE

I suspect that the company may only be interested in selling to companies rather than individuals but I like to keep a list of any 40 MHz equipment on the site.

Thanks to Rob PE9PE for the link for this radio.

ARRL to introduce $5 radio kits...

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) has announced it hopes to introduce a number of low cost kits in an effort to spark some interest in amateur radio.

ARRL is developing low-cost (target $5.00), build-it-inan-hour receiver and transmitter kits. We intend to make these available at nominal cost to members and radio clubs who want to have a different “soldering experience” at their next hamfest. 

In a world of smartphones and social media, the thought of talking to someone in another country over a radio is no longer the novelty that it once was.

Building kits and actually getting something to work may well appeal to a lot of people and they get to learn something in the process.

Considering the size of the ARRL, it's likely that these kits may well prove to be very popular and widely available in time. At a $5 price point, they are likely to be very basic but at least it's a start.

Source... http://www.arrl.org/files/file/QST/This%20Month%20in%20QST/February2020/February%20%20Editorial.pdf

28 MHz wide open again - Sun 12th Jan 2020

28 MHz was wide open to Europe again today with loads of Sporadic-E signals on the band. Despite the fact that it's the middle of January, the band was as good as many days during the summer months.

The skip distance was slightly longer today compared to yesterday with not too many from the Netherlands making it through.

There were a few long distance stations heard which I assume were via double hop Sporadic-E but I guess you can never be too sure on 28 MHz. It's just possible some of the more southerly ones were via F2.

Two signals that stood out were LA5SJA way up in the north of Norway. I'd guess he must be in almost 24 hours of darkness at the moment. Also heard was R9XM deep into Russia.

Opening to N America on 28 MHz - Sat 11th Jan 2020

After a quiet start, 28 MHz on Saturday the 11th of January 2020 sprang into life from the late morning on with plenty of Sporadic-E signals on the band.

In total, I heard 247 stations in 30 countries. The unusual ones were ZS6NL in South Africa, LU8YD in Argentina and K1CA and W2VW in the USA. The American ones were interesting as it's unusual to get East-West propagation this far north during mid-Winter at the bottom of the Solar Cycle.

The Solar Flux was at 74 which is up a bit on recent weeks, sign of the next cycle starting?

The European stations heard on 28 MHz are shown below. The best thing about FT8 is that it really shows if a band is open or not. It seems as if there is some sort of Sporadic-E on 28 MHz on most days even throughout the winter.

In the days before FT8 when we only had cw beacons to listen to, that really wasn't so obvious. You could look at the text books and read that there is a Summer Sporadic-E season with a mid-Winter peak. It looks are if it never really dies away, even in the depths of Winter.