Self-publishing, amateur radio and what it means for RSGB, ARRL etc

Over on Twitter, this week, my pal Rachael Lucas, who has recently self-published an amazing successful first novel, drew my attention to some 'interesting comments' from the established publishing industry about self-publishing. Let's just say, the comments weren't encouraging. They reminded me of music company executives who hadn't worked out how downloads would revolutionise their industry.

I'd casually wondered about self-publishing before, but I decided to look into what you needed to do to publish your own book. It turns out remarkably simple to get your eBook content onto Amazon. Clearly, you need to write something compelling and to be able to market it. Social Media is your friend, after all.

What does this mean for amateur radio publications? Well, if you've an idea and you want to put an eBook together, it's simple! What does it mean for established publishers such as RSGB and ARRL? Time will tell, but I'd guess they will get squeezed as we see a shift towards self-publishing. That should mean that the breadth of titles available increases - up until now, ARRL/RSGB would presumably only commission titles that were reasonably mainstream. With subject matter experts able to self-publish, it would be good to feel that a wider and more esoteric range is available ( though sales may not be that high!).

For ARRL/RSGB who have traditionally made some money out of publishing, this represents an opportunity (or a threat, depending on your standpoint).

And yes, I have some ideas - I just have to find time to apply brain to keyboard.

Listening for the SO-50 satellite with the UV-5R and the Nagoya NA-771 antenna

Inspired by David, KK4MND's video the other day, I thought it would be fun to see if I could at least listen to the SO-50 satellite with the UV-5R. I realised that I would most likely need a better antenna than the stock antenna which comes with the UV-5R.

Via eBay, I ordered a Nagoya NA-771 dual bander which seems to have quite a good reputation. Having read about 'counterfeit' antennas, I wondered what I would get, but at around £8 including shipping from Hong Kong, it would not be the end of the world if it was useless.

The antenna arrived yesterday. Some quick comparisons, inside, on local repeaters were encouraging and signals were better on several UHF repeaters that I listened to with both antennas.

This morning, SO-50 obliged with a nice overhead pass as I was out in the garden, digging out a new vegetable bed. To my delight, signals were quite audible. Rob, M0TFO had a particularly good signal and I also heard an EA7. I'm pretty sure that on a quieter pass, I should be able to make a QSO with the UV-5R.

Of course the Elk antenna is much better - but the simplicity of the UV-5R and the NA-771 is appealing.

It was one of those CQs you don't expect to be answered... (and trouble in the FT8900 PA)

If you're a VHF/UHF enthusiast, you'll know what I mean when I say that there are CQs you make, which you don't expect to be answered.

And so it was last night, around 2030 local time as I was driving back from the gym to home. I knew that 50MHz had been lively earlier on the evening as I heard a CT station on FM as I drove up from the station. As I drove out of the gym, I could hear a local QSO (local to Italy, that is, with no callsigns) fading up and down on 50.500.

I wondered if the band was still open - so as I drove out along the main road, I tried a CQ call on 51.510 - completely expecting silence to be the only reply. But there was a signal - which completely caught me by surprise with its' strength - but I didn't have the volume set right. I thought it was a local and asked for a repeat. It was EA2DVT!

Although Alejandro was obviously having some problems copying me, we were able to have a nice QSO as I drove home. A real surprise and pleasure!

The FT8900 seems to have a bit of an intermittent fault though. A few times recently, I have had reports of interference on the audio. Baz, G8DOR thought it was something to do with the PA. The issue seems to be temperature related and only seems to happen for a short time. The suggestion seems to be that there might be a dry joint somewhere in the PA. It will be interesting to see if it occurs on both sides of the radio (the FT8900 having two distinct radios in it) - at the moment, I've been using the right hand side. I'll switch it over to the left and see if that changes things.

New GB3WGI 144MHz transatlantic beacon goes live with G2FKZ legacy funding

It was good to receive the following press release from John, G4BAO this morning - excellent news!

The GB3WGI Transatlantic 144MHz beacon went live at 1600 GMT on the 4th of June in time for the peak of the 2013 Sporadic E season. The beacon runs 100 Watts EIRP in CW and JT65b modes on 144.487MHz and is located in the West of Northern Ireland (IO64bl). The plan is to apply for an increase in EIRP in due course.

The beacon's function is to provide an early warning of 144MHz Transatlantic propagation on the Europe to USA path as a complement to the existing 144MHz Transatlantic beacon network in the USA which provides alerts on the USA to Europe path. It also aims to encourage participation in the IRTS Brendan Trophy and to further study the propagation path using weak signal digital modes (WSJT) developed by Nobel Laureate Professor Joe Taylor K1JT. It is hoped that the project will benefit amateurs interested in 144MHz long distance weak signal working as well as those generally interested in digital modes, and could provide the first real evidence of transatlantic propagation from the US to North West Europe. Current 144MHz European transatlantic beacons are much further to the South and/or East in Cornwall, France and the Azores. GB3WGI has a clear sea takeoff to the eastern seaboard of the USA.

The beacon was supported by a number of amateur donations including The City of Belfast Radio Amateur Society, but the major donation of £500 was made by the RSGB Propagation Studies Committee from the legacy left by the late Charlie Newton G2FKZ. The bulk of this went on the beacon, the remainder to fund beacon driver development for future beacons. Charlie Newton, wrote the definitive book on radio auroras, and was acknowledged as one of the leading experts on the topic of VHF propagation. He was for many years a leading light in the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) Propagation Studies Committee. 

Acknowledgements also go to Brian WA1ZMS who inspired the concept of GB3WGI, Andy G4JNT who designed and built the driver, Powabeam Antennas and The DX Shop who supplied parts for the antenna system, to James G3RUH who provided a GPSDO reference, to Murray G6JYB for Ofcom liaison, to John GI4BWM and Dave GI4SNA and of course to beacon keeper and site manager Gordon Curry GI6ATZ who really drove the project through to completion.

John Worsnop G4BAO 7th June 2013

David KK4MND shows using the SO-50 satellite using a Baofeng UV-5R

It was good to see, earlier in the week via the Southgate Amateur Radio site, a video from David Mercado KK4MND, using his Baofeng UV-5R to operate through the SO-50 sateliite. David is using an after market MFJ antenna for the rig, rather than the stock antenna. Nevertheless, it's pretty impressive to see the satellite coming through so well - on a simple handheld. This is the sort of thing that everyone with a dual band handheld should try!


I have a UV-5R of course, and I've programmed up the frequencies for SO-50. I only have a stock antenna, so I have ordered something which should give a little more gain - at vast expense (£8 including shipping from Hong Kong!) to see if I can do something similar. I think the best passes for something like this will be when the satellite is almost overhead - let's say 45 degrees elevation and more. When the antenna arrives, I will let you know how it goes!

Well done David, on such a great and inspiring video.

Some more satellite experiments - and a good 70MHz day

I wanted to try out the SSB satellites today and was pleased to listen to a couple of passes of FO-29. Signals were good and there was a surprising amount of activity. With the FT817 not being full duplex, working out the Doppler is a bit interesting, but Pete 2E0SQL has given me some useful info - so I will have another try soon and see how it goes.

Another QSO on SO-50 today, none other than 2E0SQL, so I was delighted. We're only about 12 miles apart, so it's fun to make a contact the long way round.

A good Es day too. 50MHz has been going well off and on through the day but I felt like concentrating on 70MHz. I worked 2 Italian stations this morning and then this evening the band was open to the Czech Republic, Poland -with the best of signals from Denmark where I was pleased to make several contacts including Bo, OZ2M.

An Elk in the garden: satellite contacts with the FT817

For some time, I have been keen to try some portable operation through some of the amateur radio satellites. I had been particularly inspired by Pete 2E0SQL's portable operations through the satellites with his FT817 and hoped I could do the same.

Pete uses the Arrow 145/440MHz antenna and as far as I could see, it was not readily available in the UK. I contemplated ordering one from the USA but the thought of the import duty put me off a bit. AMSAT UK carry stocks of the ELK 145/440MHz log periodic which also have a good reputation albeit at a price. I'd recently disposed of a couple of bits of kit on eBay, so I felt I was in credit and ordered an ELK!

I was delighted when it arrived this morning. I wasted no time in making up a cable between the N connector on the ELK and the FT817. Assembling the antenna proved quite straightforward.

My first check with the antenna at ground level in the back garden was to see if I could hear GB3VHF, which I could, so given that's not a huge signal, I was confident the antenna was working.

I looked at GoSatWatch on my iPhone to get some satellite predictions and as luck would have it, SO-50 was passing over at precisely that instant. I heard signals, so that was promising.

The next pass of SO-50 was a nice high one, so I was all prepared and sat out on the lawn with the FT817 and the antenna. R1AO was the first station heard, and although he had a little difficulty getting my callsign, we just about made it. IZ1DBY heard me and called as well, so that was very promising indeed.

I'm hoping to try some SSB operation through FO-29 as well.

The ELK antenna comes with a neat carrying case that will easily fit in a rucksack. It will form a very useful part of my backpack portable station I think. I'm also looking forward to doing some satellite work when we're on holiday in Devon from a slightly rarer square than IO91!

WSJT-X v1 available

It was good to see, during the week that Joe Taylor, K1JT took WSJT-X from its Beta state to a 'release' version. If you've been reading this blog you'll have seen that JT9, the mode produced by WSJT-X has been very usable for some months, so the last few weeks have seen a few tweaks to the software.

It works well and it has gained in popularity recently over recent weeks - with a very considerable amount of activity now available on the mode. Interestingly, Joe says that future plans for the program call for the integration of some of the more popular modes from the WSJT software. This sounds good - particularly incorporated in the very easy to use interface provided in WSJT-X.

Don't delay, grab your copy of WSJT-X today!

Reasons to be on 50MHz FM

Driving home this evening, I had the second VFO scanning through the 50 or so memories across 29/50/145 and 433MHz, with a few in between!

It doesn't often stop on 51.51 the 50MHz FM calling frequency, but I heard a loud voice ask someone to move to 51.530. I stopped the scan and tuned there.

The station had an English accent, so I guessed it was a local or an expat. Of course, it turned out to be the latter; EA7/G0WHX. He was a great signal working a G4 I couldn't hear. There was a little fading, but I listened to the QSO for around 15 minutes.

A great reminder to call on 51.510 a bit more often! You never know who's listening!

FT1000MP and data modes: low level audio

When I first got the G4ZLP interface, I bought leads to connect both the FT847 and the FT1000MP to the computer. I hadn't really got the FT1000MP connected up, and had used the FT847 for pretty much all my digimodes activity on both HF and VHF.

Given that the receiver on the FT1000MP is a bit nicer, particularly on LF, this seemed a bit of a waste, and particularly now the Es season is upon us, the FT847 is pretty much continuously busy on 50 and 70MHz. That meant no JT9 on HF.

So yesterday, I hooked up the FT1000MP. No problem at all with the interface. However, I did notice that I needed to crank the input volume control on the computer much further up. Not a problem on WSJT-X but actually on JT65-HF there was barely enough audio output for proper decoding.

Reading around the net, it seems that a number of people have found the Audio Out jack to be quite low level on the MP. Obviously, there are options - the speaker socket would offer more audio - but at the expense of losing the ability to listen. Or even a small audio amp to increase the audio level a bit.

Either way, it is working now and it's nice to be able to play JT9 on HF and keep an eye on 50/70MHz simultaneously.

This is how to do bicycle mobile - thanks to Simon G4SGI

After I posted my picture of bicycle portable yesterday, my pal from Cheltenham, Simon, G4SGI asked if I'd seen his bicycle mobile video. I had seen it but I watched it again last night.

It's well filmed and I think inspiring! I'm sure some of you will enjoy it too. Quite apart from the well thought out mechanics of Simon's bicycle mobile station - I am very impressed about how he is able to speak clearly whilst travelling at a good speed!

Well done, Simon and thank you for the inspiration

First bicycle portable trip of the year

For one reason or another, I'm a bit late starting my bicycle portable trips this year. For one thing, the weather hasn't been great. I went to get my bike out a couple of days ago and found that it had a (not so slow) puncture. Amazon came to the rescue with a new inner tube!

So it was today that I set out with a rucksack on my back containing the FT817 and a 50MHz whip (thanks again Ian, MW0IAN). I had a great ride along the banks of the Thames, around 13 miles in total. I stopped a couple of times to get the rig out and have a listen. Typically, the band was flat - just the GB3RAL and GB3BAA beacons audible - which I guess wasn't bad going with a whip, down at river level.

And even if there was no propagation, I love being by the river....

Raspberry Pi camera, OS updates and DSTAR

Last week I noticed that the Raspberry Pi camera was available. At the princely sum of £20 including VAT, I ordered one from CPC It arrived very quickly but I didn't have time to do anything with it until yesterday.

The camera is a PCB on the end of a ribbon cable - all very simple. I found the following instructions on the CPC site for installing the camera. OS and firmware updates are required to the Pi in order to use the camera. I followed the instructions through and didn't encounter any problems, although somehow I managed to download the wrong script for the rpi-update (in the end, I used the procedure here https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update)

I did have to take the Pi out of its' case in order to connect the camera - and I have seen some correspondence which suggests that a case which accomodates the camera might not be far away.

Getting the camera going was fine, although this is where the CPC instructions fell down.  They mention software on the Pi called raspicam. I tried running it, only to find that the software wasn't there. Initial reaction was that I'd messed up, but actually no, the software had been renamed and you need to look for raspistill and raspivid

I found the easiest way to attach the camera to something to hold it still was BluTack although trying to make that work on an odd angle, pointing the camera out of the window was a little frustrating!

Picture quality was good. It struck me that you could easily use the Pi and the camera for a shack webcam.

My other Raspberry Pi is dedicated to running my DSTAR gateway. I thought that I would upgrade the OS  in the same way today, although I've not upgraded the firmware as I didn't want to use the camera on that machine (doubtless there are other improvements). The upgrade procedure took over 2 hours.

I also took the opportunity to upgrade Jonathan, G4KLX's DVAPNode and Gateway software to the latest version. First time I brought the system up, the processor went to 100% and stayed there and I wondered what I had done! However, after a rather inelegant shutdown, involving removing the power - and bringing the system back up everything seemed to be working as it should, once again.

Proving it, I had a really nice DSTAR QSO with Horacio LU1BJW in Buenos Aires. I understand that DSTAR is not everyone's cup of tea, but it does enable some very interesting QSOs to be made.

PSK on 50MHz: Good activity on datamodes

It's been a good Es day. From the time that I came into the shack this morning, 50MHz has been open pretty much all the time - sometimes a little less and a little more. There have been some nice contacts to be made, nothing very distant or rare, but very enjoyable none-the-less. And some 70MHz Es too - always welcome.

Zipping up and down 50MHz this morning to see what was on, I was surprised to note a fair amount of PSK activity around 50.250. So much so that I stopped off there, and started up the Datamodes window in PZTLog. There was even some PSK63. However, all my QSOs were on PSK31, the best DX being IK8YSS down in JN70, who actually, I could barely hear on the speaker (always a test of a good QSO!).
A call that got my attention coming back to a CQ on PSK was YV5JDT/I1 !

Plenty of more traditional CW and SSB QSOs during the opening, but I shall have to keep an eye on the datamodes section during other openings. I did try a couple of CQs on JT9-1 around 50.293, but had no takers - although I notice my signals were heard by IZ0MIT, IK2WJT and my neighbour, Neil, G4BRK. It would be nice to find JT65A activity too.

First 70MHz Es QSOs (and a friendly scarecrow)

Since last weekend, I've been keeping a much closer eye on 50 and 70MHz. Being Sunday, having a bit more time made all the difference.

50MHz was already opening as I got into the shack this morning. I checked 70MHz, not really expecting anything and immediately heard my neighbour, Neil, G4BRK working something I couldn't hear. I listened a bit longer and there was propagation to the east. SP2JYR came up briefly, but not well enough for me to work. As the Es closed down this morning, a 70MHz CW contest started up, but this didn't enthuse me!

This afternoon we were out at the village open gardens. By the way, Julie won a prize for her excellent scarecrow, Gardenia De Hessian!

When we came back from an enjoyable afternoon, I checked the bands. 50MHz was going well; EA9UG was a nice one on 50MHz CW. CT8LI was a got away on phone. I checked 70MHz and initially although I could hear some signals, it was all a bit faint.

I spent a few minutes trying to work EA4DS on 50MHz JT6M without success, but couldn't resist working EA4HW on RTTY for my first ever RTTY QSO on the band.

Finally a bit of luck went my way on 70MHz; I had a nice QSO with Jo CT1HZE and also great to work EA7KB.

Lots of other nice QSOs in the log over the weekend; YU6MM and E77OA yesterday, LY1R today - all on six.

Good fun!

WG2XPN 70MHz beacon active

As in previous years, Brian Justin, WA1ZMS has kindly arranged a US 70MHz beacon for the summer season. This year the callsign is WG2XPN and the frequency is 70.005 beaming towards Europe.

Max says it's time to look at 50MHz again

The 50MHz and higher Es season seems to have taken a while to get started this year. For the last week or so, there have been some openings, but I've missed them.

This weekend, I've at least managed a couple of contacts. The first, yesterday, with Max the cat's help was a local one; M0RSE. A special call to promote morse code operated by members of FOC. Yesterday afternoon and evening there was some Es, but I didn't get on until later. I was pleased to work CT1BXT for my first Es of the year.

You may remember that MW0IAN very kindly gave me a portable whip to work with the Palstar 50MHz handheld. It occurred to me this morning that it should work very well with the FT817, so I will try that on bike portable expeditions this summer. Thanks Ian!

A new dual band multimode radio for 50 and 70MHz: Noble Radio NR6N4

Earlier in the week, via the Southgate Amateur Radio feed, I saw details of a rig I'd heard rumoured for some time - a dual band 50 and 70MHz multimode. The manufacturer is a new name, Noble Radio.

Technical specs, provided by the Noble Radio website are as follows:


1. RECEIVER SPECIFICATIONS
Frequency Coverage: 4M: 69.9 MHz to 70.5 MHz
6M: 50.0 MHz to 52.0 MHz

Modes: SSB (USB & LSB) and CW

Circuit Type: 
Downconverting Design
Dual Converesion: 1st IF: 10.7 MHz 2nd IF: 25 kHz
Sideband elimination using phasing techniques with digitally generated Quadrature carriers and Image Reject Mixers preceeded by 15 kHz crystal roofing filters
Ultimate receiver bandwidth set by adjustable SCAF filters (two 8th order filters used. One for High Cut and one for Low cut) 

Sensitivity: MDS = -130 dbm

Dynamic Range Figures:
Blocking: 110 db
IMD (3rd Order) = 95 db

Selectivity:
500 Hz to 4 kHz adjustable with the SCAF filters
Ultimate attenuation of filters are 55db or better

2. TRANSMITTER SPECIFICATIONS

Frequency Coverage: 4M: 69.9 MHz to 70.5 MHz
6M: 50.0 MHz to 52.0 MHz

Modes: SSB (USB & LSB) and CW

OUTPUT POWER: 20 Watts CW or PEP SSB

SCAF Filters can be used to tailor SSB Transmit audio.

3. GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

SYNTHESIZER: DDS/PLL synthesizer with 10 Hz minimum step size. Tuning rate is variable depending on the Tuning Knob speed (Variable Speed Tuning - VST)

MEMORIES: 10 Memories per band

ANTENNA IMPEDANCE: 50 ohms unbalanced

SUPPLY VOLTAGE: 11.5 to 14 Volts Regulated DC (Negative Ground) at approximately 3.6 Amps at full output power.

DIMENSIONS: 8 in (203 mm)W x 12 in (305 mm) D- including knob and heatsink x 3.75 in (95 mm) H - including feet

WEIGHT: Approximately 4 lbs (1.8 kg)

4. SPECIAL FEATURES

The NR-6N4 has the capability of being controlled by a standard PC type keyboard that plugs into a rear connector. Once a keyboard is interfaced to the radio, it can be used to directly enter a frequency, skip directly to various functions by a single press of a function key without having to navigate the menus from the front panel buttons as well as being used to send CW via the keyboard. There is also a built in keyer function that operates with a standard keyer paddle for CW operation with or without a keyboard connection.

The low level 10.7 MHz IF signal is also brought out to a rear connector so that it may be used for panadapter or SDR applications.

* All specifications in this document may be subject to change without notice or obligation


No details of availability are provided as yet - no doubt the CE approval hoops will have to be jumped through.

This is sure to be a popular rig. A commercial 70MHz multimode has been long awaited. The fact that it is a dual bander including 50MHz will no doubt add interest, although I guess the majority of people that want 50MHz radios probably have one. Is the power level right? 20W is certainly useful - though 50W would be better still for tropo contacts, I feel. Hopefully datamodes interfacing (JT65A/JT6M/JT9 etc) will be straightforward - I haven't yet seen a photo of the back of the rig!

Exciting news for 50 and 70MHz enthusiasts!

JT9 and the FT817

It occurred to me the other evening that it might be fun to get the FT817 going on JT9. Many of my QSOs using the FT847 have been made using 5 watts or so, really there shouldn't be much difference.

It was a case of ordering an interface lead from my G4ZLP interface unit to the data socket on the FT817 which was a modest amount.

After the lead arrived today, I connected it up and the rig would switch to transmit, but the tones were not transmitted. I soon found that I had to change menu 26 on the 817 to User-U from the default. Also in menu 38 on the rig, I turned off the filtering.

That was all that was required. I tried a test transmission from the FT817 and monitored it on the 847 - it sounded good. I've already some JT9 QSOs in the log and the 5W signal has been heard in North America.

JT9 and the FT817 ought to be a very good combination indeed.

Life of my PI and low budget SDR experiments: presentation slides

Back at the end of last year, Malcolm G8NRP, secretary of the Harwell Amateur Radio club asked me if I'd be willing to give a talk there. Of course, I said, but at the time I had no idea what I might speak about it. Of course, it didn't get much more brain time until a few weeks ago when Malcolm contacted me again...

"Did you decide what you were going to talk about -as we need to put it into GB2RS news"! Ah...

So, a quick decision was needed. I'd been playing with my Raspberry Pi computer a lot at the time and also with the USB receiver dongle for SDR applications. I thought I could probably put together a talk along those lines.

Earlier this month I gave the talk. I think it was ok. I think I was better on the SDR stuff than the Pi stuff, but anyway, it seemed to go down ok.

I promised the Harwell club a link to the slides which is here

As ever, I'd do it slightly differently next time!

Hints of Sporadic E and a QSO with a Ham Radio Hero!

Over the last few days there's been a sense that a few Es openings have taken place. Last Saturday, some people caught an opening on 50MHz, but there was nothing here. It's always nice to get the first 50MHz Es opening of the year in the log - a feeling that Summer is on the way!

This evening when I got back to the car at Didcot, I popped the 28MHz rig on and had a scan around. The EA4Q beacon from Madrid was coming through nicely and down on 27MHz, there were Spanish CBers coming in.

Changing the subject, last night I was on 14MHz JT9, using the WSJT-X program (which has become a firm favourite here). I was really delighted to work the Father of WSJT, WSPR and WSJT-X, Joe Taylor K1JT. Joe's software is in virtually constant use here, so it was a pleasure and an honour to work him for the first time in a two way contact. Joe's definitely one of my Ham Radio Heroes!

EME with the washing line - maybe?

A few weeks ago, Julie bought a new rotary washing line. Our old one was almost 10 years old and had seen better days. At the time I eyed it up and decided it ought to be good for making into some sort of antenna, although I didn't work out quite what - so I stored it down at the bottom of the garden.

When this month's Practical Wireless arrived through the door, I laughed. For there in Bob G3NRT's Antenna Workshop was the tale of how he'd turned a rotary washing line into an antenna support - and another one into an antenna.

Well, after I'd finished some of my garden work today I decided to take Bob's lead and fashion it into a tripod. It's nice to be able to try out antennas in the back garden without too much hassle and I'd always fancied having a tripod.

And here it is!

Although some further guying would be required if large antennas, I found I could slot another aluminium pole over the top section, so that it overlapped and slid down onto the top of the tripod, which made the mast quite a decent height, certainly fine for simple VHF/UHF portable operation

EME with the washing line? Maybe not yet, but I have an idea....!!

JT9 first impressions

Since the breakthrough last week in getting WSJT-X to work by switching the output audio device to 'Direct-X' I have been quite active on the mode, mostly on 14MHz. Incidentally, it appears that the 'Direct-X' isn't necessary for all systems. Dave G4FRE reported that it worked fine without for him - I'm guessing it is something specific to my configuration.

Results so far have been good and I have been amazed to receive reports from the other side of the world at the 5W power level or less. Last night, was a nice example - as I worked K0KC and W8BB at around 2130z, it was great to get a report from VK2AJF via the PSK Reporter website.

The new WSJT-X release has a pleasing interface - I like the way Band Activity is split out from the details of the QSO you are having.

This is a good mode and overtime I can see activity switching from JT65 to JT9-1.

New 28MHz beacon from Gibraltar

Via Ronald ZB2B comes news of a new 28MHz beacon from Gibraltar on 28.170

This should be very useful for us here in the UK - I'm looking forward to hearing it!

WSJT-X: It works, it works (or Julian is a genius)

It's always good to hear from Julian, G4ILO. However, an email received today was of immediate interest. I'd posted a couple of weeks ago that I was having problems getting WSJT-X to work, on account of the stuttering audio.

Julian kindly emailled this morning to ask whether I'd got it going yet, because he'd heard of someone else having the same problem. And better still, he related how the person had fixed the problem, changing the output audio device to Direct-X.

I received the email at work today and frankly was tempted to remote control to my PC at home and have a play, but alas it was a busy day. However, this evening, I popped up to the shack after supper and had a look.

Sure enough, I had a 'Direct X' output available for my audio, so I mapped WSJT-X's output to that and wondered. And hoped.

I called HA3LI who was calling CQ with a huge signal on 14MHz JT9-1. It sounded good on my monitor receiver. No stuttering.... And then, magic of magic,HA3LI came back and we completed an easy QSO.

Just as good, looking at the HAMSPOTS site, my signal was also copied by VK3AMA and KE5SSH.

It looks like I am in business. I am so pleased! Thank you Julian!

It's funny where the mind leads sometimes: Remembering Nose KH6IJ

Over the last couple of days I've been playing some 28MHz JT65A in the late afternoon and early evening. The band hasn't been great but there have been plenty of reports from South America and good to see some other stations too.

I was looking at the PSK Reporter website and the mapping of stations that had heard me and those I'd heard. As I looked at the Pacific Ocean, where I haven't been heard in the last few days, my mind went back to my first QSO with Hawaii on 28MHz.

It was probably back in the late 1980s or maybe early 1990s. I was living in Cheltenham in a house with a garden around 9 feet wide by 20 feet long. I had a Butternut vertical up (26 feet tall). I had to retreat into the house to get it to an angle such that I could then walk out into the garden and get it to the vertical plane!

At the time I was very active on CW on HF. Late one afternoon, I heard an individual sounding morse signal on the bottom end of 28MHz. It was Nose KH6IJ. Nose was probably the most famous operator from Hawaii at the time and I was thrilled to hear him. Even more thrilled and surprised when he came back to my call. We had a brief QSO - a really nice one.

I doubt I have worked Hawaii on 28MHz from the UK since - I don't chase these things anymore. But it's always a thrill to work half way around the world.

Wind forward to this evening. I googled KH6IJ and I found a really fascinating article about him, with lots of facts that I didn't know before. I hope you enjoy the article as much as I did!

A low power FM transmitter with your Raspberry Pi

After seeing the piece about making the Raspberry Pi into a WSPR transmitter, I was also intrigued that it could be made to be an FM transmitter using the PiFM code.

Sure enough it can! I followed the instructions on the Imperial College Robotics website then downloaded the code and compiled it up. The default sound file that's transmitted is a simple tone, but you could easily record a WAV file announcing your callsign!

What a clever bit of code by Oliver Mattos and Oskar Weigl! I'm not a bad programmer, but I wouldn't have known where to start with this!

I didn't even bother putting an aerial on the GPIO pin - I wasn't looking for DX! The RF signal was strong enough to be detected by handheld receivers on the desk.

Great fun! Just the sort of thing for a snowy March day.

I am so pleased with the Raspberry Pi. What fun I have had with it, since I got it at Christmas. Unwisely, I have agreed to do a talk about 'Life of My Pi' at the Harwell Amateur Radio Club on April 9th. I'd better get around to preparing it, but there's certainly going to be plenty of material.

A Raspberry Pi as a WSPR beacon

Thanks to the Southgate Amateur Radio news, I've just seen that Guido, PE1NNZ has turned a Raspberry Pi into a 10mW WSPR transmitter that works up to 250MHz. Just a low pass filter and an antenna are required in addition to the Raspberry Pi and the software.

The code is available here

The Readme file at Github says the following:

Makes a very simple WSPR beacon from your RasberryPi by connecting GPIO

 port to Antanna (and LPF), operates on LF, MF, HF and VHF bands from

 0 to 250 MHz.

Credits:

  Credits goes to Oliver Mattos and Oskar Weigl who implemented PiFM [1]

  based on the idea of exploiting RPi DPLL as FM transmitter. Dan MD1CLV

  combined this effort with WSPR encoding algorithm from F8CHK, resulting

  in WsprryPi a WSPR beacon for LF and MF bands. Guido PE1NNZ extended

  this effort with DMA based PWM modulation of fractional divider that was

  part of PiFM, allowing to operate the WSPR beacon also on HF and VHF bands.

  [1] PiFM code from http://www.icrobotics.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Turning_the_Raspberry_Pi_Into_an_FM_Transmitter

To use:

  In order to transmit legally, a HAM Radio License is required for running

  this experiment. The output is a square wave so a low pass filter is REQUIRED.

  Connect a low-pass filter to GPIO4 (GPCLK0) and Ground pins on your

  Raspberry Pi, connect an antenna to the LPF. The GPIO4 and GND pins can be

  found on header P1 pin 7 and 9 respectively, the pin closest to P1 label is

  pin 1 and its  3rd and 4th neighbour is pin 7 and 9 respectively, see this

  link for pin layout: http://elinux.org/RPi_Low-level_peripherals

  The expected power output is 10mW (+10dBm) in a 50 Ohm load. This looks

  neglible, but when connected to a simple dipole antenna this may result in

  reception reports ranging up to several thousands of kilometers.

  This software is using system time to determine the start of a WSPR

  transmissions, so keep the system time synchronised within 1sec precision,

  i.e. use NTP network time synchronisation or set time manually with date

  command. Reception reports are logged on Weak Signal Propagation Reporter

  Network: http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/spots

  As the WSPR band is only 200 Hz wide, some frequency calibration may be needed

  to ensure that the transmission is done within the WSPR band. You can correct

  the frequency error manually in the command line or adjust CAL_PLL_CLK in the

  code.

Usage:

  sudo ./wspr <callsign> <locator> <power in dBm> <frequency in Hz>

        e.g.: sudo ./wspr K1JT FN20 10 7040074

  WSPR is used on the following frequencies (local restriction may apply):

     LF   137400 - 137600

     MF   475600 - 475800

    160m  1838000 - 1838200

     80m  3594000 - 3594200

     60m  5288600 - 5288800

     40m  7040000 - 7040200

     30m  10140100 - 10140300

     20m  14097000 - 14097200

     17m  18106000 - 18106200

     15m  21096000 - 21096200

     12m  24926000 - 24926200

     10m  28126000 - 28126200

      6m  50294400 - 50294600

      4m  70092400 - 70092600

      2m  144490400 -144490600

Compile:

  gcc -lm -std=c99 wspr.c -owspr

 

This looks amazing! Congratulations to Guido and also to Dan Ankers, MD1CLV whose work led to Guido's enhancements.

After spending £2.19 I still can't get WSJT-X to work!

The new USB soundcard arrived today and I was hopeful it would resolve the problem I am having with WSJT-X. I installed it simply, tested it on PSK and JT65A and then fired up WSJT-X hopefully.

My replies to loud CQs, as before, went unanswered! I am certain that the stations just aren't decoding me. But why? I am decoding others' signals easily.

This evening I completely uninstalled and reinstalled WSJT-X. I think the next step will be to try a different computer. Remembering that I have so far tried two different rigs, two interfaces, two soundcards - the only thing left in common is the computer. But I don't see what the problem should be.

Fascinating, puzzling and a little frustrating in similar measures....but I am sure in the end I shall get it working!

Update! After chatting to Charle M0PZT about it I recorded the signal off air. It didn't decode for me. Listening to the tone direct from the computer it sounded clicky and horrible, regardless of the audio level. This must be why. Now, what to do...

WSJT-X: Why won't it work for me?

Over the last month or two, I've been watching the development of WSJT-X and the increase of activity on the mode. In fact I tried it quite early on, on 3.5MHz with Mark, M0DEV. However, although I could get it to receive and transmit, Mark couldn't decode me.

Mark looked at my signals and there seemed to be some sort of artefact with the audio. We wondered if that was the problem. Time came and went and I didn't have a chance to look at it properly.

New versions of the software have come out and seeing Julian G4ILO's post at RTTY and JT9 earlier this week, I thought it would be fun to try it again. Although this morning, I have tried two different rigs and two different interfaces, no one has yet decoded me! Of course, that could be sheer bad luck - but no decodes on PSK Reporter either.

I've tried reducing the audio output as much as I could in case there was anything causing an issue.No! Bear in mind that I can use exactly the same setup on JT65A and pretty much any other data mode that you care to shake a stick at. It's all rather puzzling.

The next experiment will, I think, be to try a different USB soundcard and see if that makes a difference.

It'd be great to get it going, as it looks an interesting and a useful mode.