Limerick Radio and Electronics Rally on Sun 15th March 2020 cancelled

Please note that due to ongoing concerns about the COVID-19 virus (Coronavirus), the Limerick Radio and Electronics Rally on Sunday the 15th of March 2020 has been cancelled.

This is a statement from the organisers... The committee of the Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club in the interest of its members and the general public has taken the decision to cancel the annual rally that was due to take place at the Radisson Hotel Ennis Road on Sunday the 15th of March 2020.

Mile EI3KO Secretary

Dermot EI2T Chairperson

Opening on 28 MHz - Sun 8th March 2020

Sunday the 8th of March 2020 was reasonably quiet on 28 MHz but there was still an opening to South Africa.

FT8 signals from ZS6BUN were heard from 13:41 to 13:48 UTC.

I got the impression that the lack of other signals from South Africa probably had more to do with a lack of activity rather than actual propagation.

I suspect more people just stay on the lower HF bands like 40m and 20m where it is much easier to make contacts.

These were the stations heard on the day...

102045 -10  0.1 1195 ~  CQ SP2OFW JO82
102430 -16 -0.2 1387 ~  CQ EI9IB IO63
104515  -9  0.1 1200 ~  F5CUN DL8MKG JO52
105845  -6 -0.0  845 ~  CQ DL1KID JO31
134330 -12 -0.0 1971 ~  CQ ZS6BUN KG43

Opening on 28 MHz - Sat 7th March 2020

There was a modest opening on 28 MHz on Saturday the 7th of March 2020 as shown above. While the map shows HZ1SK in Saudi Arabia, I also heard 3B8CW in Mauritius and ZS6LKF in South Africa. The solar flux is down at 70 which is pretty much rock bottom.

These are some of the decodes from today...

093315 -15  0.2 2657 ~  CQ DO5BV JO43
112115  -8 -0.2 1487 ~  CQ SP9MRP JO90
113830 -11 -0.4 1400 ~  4X1SK 3B8CW RR73
115245 -13 -0.3 2147 ~  ZS6AYE ES5RY +01
115530 -20 -0.2  563 ~  CQ SP3VST JO82
120245 -12 -0.3 2151 ~  CQ ES5RY KO38
120345 -17 -0.2 1221 ~  ZS6LKF IK0LKL 73
122615 -17 -0.0 1223 ~  ZS6LKF DK2CI JO50
123030   4  0.0  312 ~  CQ EA3HRU JN01
123400  -6  0.1 1642 ~  PE1NPS HZ1SK RR73
123430  -4  0.1 1642 ~  CQ HZ1SK KL91
123500   0  0.1 1642 ~  CQ HZ1SK KL91
123515  -2  0.1 1856 ~  PE4BAS IU2KXV -19
123530  -3  0.1 1642 ~  IZ5IMD HZ1SK -06
123715  -9  0.1  330 ~  EA4E IU2LVV JN45
123915  -1  0.1 1313 ~  HZ1SK EA6ET JM19
130315 -18  0.5 1224 ~  EA4AAI ZS6LKF -19
135730 -15 -0.0 1599 ~  CQ PD1WLM JO21
141615 -17  0.2  975 ~  CQ DL0ZB JN39
170200 -11  0.0 1386 ~  CQ F4BVK JN14

Opening to South Africa on 28 MHz - Fri 6th Mar 2020

Thursday the 5th of March 2020 was one of those few days where I heard nothing on 28 MHz.

Friday the 6th of March was a bit better with an opening to South Africa which lasted for about 50 minutes.

The spots from ZS95SARL didn't upload to PSK Reporter probably because of the unusual call. It was a special event station commemorating the 95th anniversary of the founding of the South African Radio League.

These are the main decodes for the day...
110930  -9 -2.2 1694 ~  CT3HF ZS6NL 73
111030 -20 -0.3  963 ~  CQ ZS95SARL
111030 -14 -2.2 1694 ~  CQ ZS6NL KG44
111100 -19 -0.3  963 ~  CQ ZS95SARL
111130 -19 -0.2  963 ~  CQ ZS95SARL
111130 -14 -2.2 1694 ~  CQ ZS6NL KG44
111230 -17 -2.2 1694 ~  CQ ZS6NL KG44
111245 -15 -0.9  634 ~  DG7LAN IS0HGX -17
111300 -17 -2.2 1695 ~  CQ ZS6NL KG44
111330 -13 -0.3  964 ~  CQ ZS95SARL
111345 -13 -0.9  635 ~  CQ IS0HGX JM49
111415 -18 -0.9  635 ~  CQ IS0HGX JM49
111445 -19 -0.9  635 ~  CQ IS0HGX JM49
114900 -19 -0.2  971 ~  CQ ZS95SARL
115730 -18 -0.2  973 ~  CQ ZS95SARL
125315 -12 -0.0 1128 ~  CQ G0OYQ IO93

EI VHF Convention - May 1970

This old photo was posted on the RSGB Twitter page recently and it shows... (L-R) Barney Patterson EI4BC, Tommy EI5BY, Jack GI5ALP,  Michael Burke EI4AL and Bob EI7AF.

I was curious as to how old it was and it seems as if it was taken at a VHF convention in London sometime back in 1969-1970.

After doing a bit of searching, I came across a copy of an old Short Wave magazine which had details of an Irish VHF Convention in Birr, Co.Offaly in May of 1970.

Irish VHF Convention
G3BA took time off while recovering from the strenuous EI2AX/P trip to send in this report : The Convention, which took place on May 24, was organised by Bob Williams, EI7AF, and Paul Quast, EI5BH, at the County Arms Hotel, Birr, which is in the mid -West of Ireland in Co. Offally. 

Some 55 EI and GI VHF'ers attended this first -ever event, and many had travelled long distances to get there. The Convention opened at noon and visitors spent their time greeting old friends and making the tour of the trade stands which had been set up by local radio retailers, selling good components and modules for the D.I.Y. amateur. The ladies managed to extract money for the raffile from all those who went, and the prizes were of a high standard for such an unsubsidised event.

After lunch, the lecture session started with Brian Meaden, G3BHT, giving an entertaining dissertation on the organisation, background and practical set-up of the various expeditions, which he has organised with G3BA and others, to EI, GM and the Continent. 

The second lecture was given by Tom Douglas, G3BA, who spoke on aspects of transmitter design and construction, as well as operating methods which ought to be considered for VHF working in the '70's, stress being laid on adequate filtering, the use of NBFM and translator techniques for multi -mode facilities.

The Convention ended with a high tea, raffle draw and a convivial session in the Hotel lounge and bar. Several visiting amateurs made spontaneous speeches complimenting the organisers on their efforts, the undoubted success of this first VHF Convention to be held in El, and comments were passed about the relaxed friendliness of all those who attended the function.

It was certainly a different era and there is no way you could get such numbers for a VHF convention in Ireland today.

The same issue of the magazine had details of VHF DX-pedition by G3BA and G3BHT as they traveled around the country and operated as EI2AX/P.

DX-Peditions
The El2AX/P expedition to Eire went off with the efficiency which one associates with any of the trips made by G3BA and G3BHT. From the reception point of view, it is obviously impossible to comment on success or failure over the whole country, but from the South, conditions were most favourable for Dublin, Carlow, Wexford and Wicklow. Leix was just there, Waterford extremely difficult, and Kilkenny only a little better.

Signals in the early evenings were not as good as they were must before close -down at 11.0 p.m. and the early morning sessions were best of all-which bears out what has been emphasised in " VHF Bands " for many a year.

It was interesting to observe a direct relationship between the propagation during the 80m. " admin. sessions " with G6CW and the subsequent two -metre transmissions If conditions were poor on Eighty, they were poor on Two also, and vice versa. 

The time division allowed between SSB, AM and CW appeared to be about right. It looked at first as if the SSB session was going to be too short because of the pile-up on, instead ofnear, the EI2AX frequency, but this sorted itself out eventually, particularly after the gentleman with the prolonged whistle test exactly on QRG decided he had had enough, a decision which other operators had reached some ten minutes earlier!

Sked-keeping appeared to be good, although one or two attempts on AM to pass a mass of, under these circumstances, irrelevant detail, held up proceedings unjustifiably. All in all, another very successful foray, and many thanks go to Tom and Brian for their efforts to give so many new counties to so many.

Opening to South Africa on 28 MHz - Sun 1st March 2020

On Saturday the 29th of February, I dropped the 10m vertical due to high winds and Storm Jorge passed over the country.

I put it back up on Sunday the 1st of March and I caught a Sporadic-E on 28 MHz with an opening to Spain and Portugal.

The really interesting signal though was ZS6NL in  South Africa which I heard around 11:30 UTC.

Stations heard...
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
DL1REM 10m FT8 1071 km 15:03:45
CT2FEY 10m FT8 1263 km 12:59:29
EA4I 10m FT8 1449 km 12:41:44
EA7KJE 10m FT8 1704 km 12:25:29
CT1IUA 10m FT8 1649 km 12:21:44
CT1FMX 10m FT8 1400 km 12:18:44
CT7AOL 10m FT8 1290 km 12:13:29
EA2A 10m FT8 1236 km 11:58:14
EA6XQ 10m FT8 1646 km 11:56:59
EA4M 10m FT8 1365 km 11:51:59
F4VTG 10m FT8 1315 km 11:50:14
EB1HRW 10m FT8 1164 km 11:49:59
EA4ESM 10m FT8 1318 km 11:49:29
EA4GWT 10m FT8 1330 km 11:47:14
ZS6NL 10m FT8 9328 km 11:30:14
EA6ACX 10m FT8 1601 km 11:26:14
EA6A 10m FT8 1617 km 11:23:59
EA3HKQ 10m FT8 1391 km 11:22:14
EA6VQ 10m FT8 1608 km 11:16:14
OE3WMA 10m FT8 1762 km 10:49:44
OM5XX 10m FT8 1941 km 10:48:59

Using the Yaesu FT-650 on the new 40 MHz band (8-metres)

The Yaesu FT-650 transceiver was manufactured in the 1990's and operated on the 24 MHz, 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands (12, 10 & 6m).

With an output power of 100 watts on all three bands, it was an impressive radio in its day and today it still compares well in terms of performance to some of the newer all band HF& 6m radios.

Lloyd, EI7HBB recently acquired one of these radios and he confirms that it can be 'widebanded' to operate on the new 40 MHz (8-metre) band with the full 100 watts. According to Lloyd, the radio can be made to operate outside the usual 12,10 & 6m bands by pushing three buttons at the same time.

Rear of the radio shown with the optional internal mains power supply

The current Irish amateur radio allocation at 40 MHz and 60 MHz allows a maximum output power of 50 watts PEP (17dBW).

More info about the 40 MHz band on the blog can be seen HERE

The specs of the radio are shown below...

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