WSPR is a ground-breaking mode that, for the first time in amateur radio, allows objective assessments of signal paths and antenna performance, free of human bias.
As I have written previously, WSPR arrived on the scene only recently, and as such, has adopted 'standard' frequencies towards the lower, digital end of the bands, without any coordination or assigning of protection such as is required by continusously-operating beacon-type modes.
Whilst most operators are aware of beacon modes, many are not. A large number tune, hear a faint pure tone, assume it's just noise or something of no interest to them, and start operating some other mode, most commonly, RTTY. Because RTTY uses LSB, the emissions frequently appear within the beacon segments.
Of course, for the most part, there is no 'correct' or 'legal' allocation to any particular mode, unless it's specificially included in the licence terms. However, there is a wide, catch-all clause (section 7(3)) in the UK's Wireless and Telegraphy Act that prohibits interference, and in this legal context, 'interference' means just that - to interfere with other transmissions, whether on the amateur bands or otherwise.
During a recent incident where SSB was destroying WSPR modes on 5MHz, I politely contacted one of the operators, simply to advise he had stamped on on-going transmissions by WSPR stations.
The response wasn't favourable!
Whilst the person involved was of fairly advanced years, his aggressive defence, largely borne of feeling silly, I think, broke down into three basic parts:
(1) Ignorance of WSPR, and that he couldn't hear anything on the frequency.
(2) There was no breach of the licence or NoV terms, because the bandplan is voluntary.
(3) There was no other frequency available to use.
Let's take them in reverse order:
It is possible that (3) is true, but I did in fact listen across the band, and with S9+40 signals from the southern England station in question, it seems much more likely that other frequencies were, in fact, clear at the time.
(2) looks appealing, but without recourse to close legal argument, it's clear that simple protocol and the ability to use the ham frequencies effectively means that one operator should not 'stamp' (interfere) with an ongoing transmission. WSPR operates continuously, and so commencing a transmission when one or several are already underway would appear to be, or could certainly be argued to be, a breach of s7(3).
(1) Is simply a non-starter. Ignorance of a mode is perhaps understandable. But amateurs are granted licences on the basis, like all citizens, that they keep themselves abreast of new laws and regulations, and that they do not breach them by causing interference. So, ignorance of WSPR is no real defence.
If, as appeared to be the case after a couple of bun-type exchanges on e-mail, the operator still won't accept any error, then a question must be asked. Is he saying that I can just jump on a frequency, claim ignorance of SSB because I'm a CW or digimodes-only operator, and then start transmitting away over an ongoing QSO, without any legitimate cause for complaint from anyone? That, in fact, is precisely what he was trying to argue, ladled heavily with a value judgement on modes other than his own as being undetectable and of less worth.
It is true that WSPR, to the uninitiated, can be somewhat difficult, at times, to detect by ear alone. But mostly, WSPR signals are strong, and readily detected as some form of digital transmission. It is a new, but not that new a mode. It is clearly allocated to a narrow segment of the 60m band, as part of the beacon modes, although it is not legally a beacon mode in itself. That issue itself needs attention, because it's obvious that many, if not most operators transmit WSPR signals whilst unattended, and do so 24/7/365.
WSPR is a mode, because of its immense and universal utility, that needs a special allocation where it may not be interefered with by those who can't be bothered to listen, watch, or pay due respect to a crucially-important digital mode. I have argued this case to the RSGB and IARU, to no real avial thus far...
Monday, 21 December 2015
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Yagi, Yagi, Yagi...
And for those who know Max Boyce from the days of old, the response might be "Terrain! Terrain! Terrain!"
Many moons ago, I wrote about a comparison I ran alongside an operator in south Wales - about 125 miles away from me. He's near the sea, runs a 4-element SteppIR, and runs about 400W.
So, it was a bit of a surprise - not accepted by some - that my simple delta loop was being heard at the same signal strength by the same operator, at the same time, on the US east coast, as the south Wales station.
To me, this is easily explained. It's the terrain, stupid!
Living on a ridge, with ground that slopes initially steeply, then gently to the coast, is of enormous benefit in terms of ground gain. According to the ARRL HF Terrain Assessment model, my 3-ele Yagi gets a ~7dBi boost from ground reflections, even with the antenna being set at no more than 6m high. What's more, that total peak gain of over 14dBi occurs at just 2.5 degrees above the horizon. By lowering the antenna to about 4 metres above ground (remembering we live on an elevated plot), the peak gain comes down to just 1 degree at 14dBi. That is very tough to achieve from most sites.
True, DX doesn't always come in at such incredibly low angles. But more often that not, access to very low angles is of benefit, not hindrance.
Now, I saw the same thing happen again this week. A west Wales operator this time, operating a 3-ele SteppIR (the make of the antenna is irrelevant, of course). I don't know the power in use, but that's OK, as I didn't have a chance to make contact with the US station, so it's a listening test only.
The result? The station was a 5/5 to me on a delta loop with base at 1.8m, and 5/5 to the other operator on a Yagi up at about 10m. No difference!
If we now look at the terrain, we see some profound differences. The west Wales operator (red) is much nearer the sea than I am (blue) in the same beam direction for the USA. But the terrain for me slopes away continuously, if not smoothly, whereas the other operator has land that rises significantly. That said, the mast puts the west Wales Yagi pretty much above most of the surroundings, if only just so.
OK. You are probably not convinced just yet. That's understandable. So, let's look at how the ARRL HFTA software models the gain for both stations. This time, I'm comparing identical Yagis, except mine is only 6m up on the tower, whereas the west Wales Yagi is set at 10m.
Are you starting to warm to the argument now? My gain (blue) is +14.3dBi at 2.5 degrees, whereas the SteppIR in west Wales (red) is way, way down at minus 2.5dBi at the same elevation. Rather self-evidently, the other station stays well down on gain until we reach parity at 11 degrees, beyond which the west Wales Yagi then has a marginal advantage for a while.
So, whilst I again stress and accept that not all DX comes in low, a lot of it does. So, a lot of the explanation for the ability of my simple wire antennas to match the gain of big, expensive antennas atop big, expensive towers, is likely to be in the advantage of my terrain.
True, I haven't compared the delta loop against a Yagi, which was my original position. That's because HFTA can only handle horizontal antennas; my delta is vertically polarised. However, whilst ground gain is likely different, the delta is able to access very low angles, due to the sloping ground in front of it in most directions.
Antenna modelling with MMANA-GAL suggests that my vertical delta has anything between 4.4 and 7dBi gain, and real RF measurements confirm the radiation is at or only slightly above the horizontal, i.e. 0 degrees.
So, if we take the worst-case gain for the delta, at 4.4dBi, that still puts it at least 5-6 dBi ahead of the 3-ele Yagi at 10m in west Wales until at least 5 degrees elevation - and that's without any ground gain included for the delta!
In short, if you want the best location for DX, don't take my word on what to look for. Take that of the great Les Moxon, who, according to an acquaintance of his, would only choose a hillside location for a new home - explaining his vivid accounts of milliwatt SSB QSOs between himself and VK land!
Many moons ago, I wrote about a comparison I ran alongside an operator in south Wales - about 125 miles away from me. He's near the sea, runs a 4-element SteppIR, and runs about 400W.
So, it was a bit of a surprise - not accepted by some - that my simple delta loop was being heard at the same signal strength by the same operator, at the same time, on the US east coast, as the south Wales station.
To me, this is easily explained. It's the terrain, stupid!
Living on a ridge, with ground that slopes initially steeply, then gently to the coast, is of enormous benefit in terms of ground gain. According to the ARRL HF Terrain Assessment model, my 3-ele Yagi gets a ~7dBi boost from ground reflections, even with the antenna being set at no more than 6m high. What's more, that total peak gain of over 14dBi occurs at just 2.5 degrees above the horizon. By lowering the antenna to about 4 metres above ground (remembering we live on an elevated plot), the peak gain comes down to just 1 degree at 14dBi. That is very tough to achieve from most sites.
True, DX doesn't always come in at such incredibly low angles. But more often that not, access to very low angles is of benefit, not hindrance.
Now, I saw the same thing happen again this week. A west Wales operator this time, operating a 3-ele SteppIR (the make of the antenna is irrelevant, of course). I don't know the power in use, but that's OK, as I didn't have a chance to make contact with the US station, so it's a listening test only.
The result? The station was a 5/5 to me on a delta loop with base at 1.8m, and 5/5 to the other operator on a Yagi up at about 10m. No difference!
OK. You are probably not convinced just yet. That's understandable. So, let's look at how the ARRL HFTA software models the gain for both stations. This time, I'm comparing identical Yagis, except mine is only 6m up on the tower, whereas the west Wales Yagi is set at 10m.
Are you starting to warm to the argument now? My gain (blue) is +14.3dBi at 2.5 degrees, whereas the SteppIR in west Wales (red) is way, way down at minus 2.5dBi at the same elevation. Rather self-evidently, the other station stays well down on gain until we reach parity at 11 degrees, beyond which the west Wales Yagi then has a marginal advantage for a while.
So, whilst I again stress and accept that not all DX comes in low, a lot of it does. So, a lot of the explanation for the ability of my simple wire antennas to match the gain of big, expensive antennas atop big, expensive towers, is likely to be in the advantage of my terrain.
True, I haven't compared the delta loop against a Yagi, which was my original position. That's because HFTA can only handle horizontal antennas; my delta is vertically polarised. However, whilst ground gain is likely different, the delta is able to access very low angles, due to the sloping ground in front of it in most directions.
Antenna modelling with MMANA-GAL suggests that my vertical delta has anything between 4.4 and 7dBi gain, and real RF measurements confirm the radiation is at or only slightly above the horizontal, i.e. 0 degrees.
So, if we take the worst-case gain for the delta, at 4.4dBi, that still puts it at least 5-6 dBi ahead of the 3-ele Yagi at 10m in west Wales until at least 5 degrees elevation - and that's without any ground gain included for the delta!
In short, if you want the best location for DX, don't take my word on what to look for. Take that of the great Les Moxon, who, according to an acquaintance of his, would only choose a hillside location for a new home - explaining his vivid accounts of milliwatt SSB QSOs between himself and VK land!
Sunday, 13 December 2015
WSPR: Broken?
WSPR is a mode that has taken over the world of beacon-type transmissions, and taken the subjectivity out of antenna and propagation assessments.
Sadly, whilst WSPR must have a huge number of people hitting its servers 24/365, the WSPR net web site has slowly become quite degraded in its performance. It's now quite common not to be able to get updated maps and database query results back for long periods during any given operating period. This undermines the whole point of the mode.
It may be that WSPR net needs to start charging users in order to provide better server bandwidth. If something isn't done to prevent the rot getting worse, this could well see WSPR fade away over time, at least in its present form. As a concept and practice, it's too powerful and useful across the globe to vanish, so let's hope some improvements come about, one way or another.
Sadly, whilst WSPR must have a huge number of people hitting its servers 24/365, the WSPR net web site has slowly become quite degraded in its performance. It's now quite common not to be able to get updated maps and database query results back for long periods during any given operating period. This undermines the whole point of the mode.
It may be that WSPR net needs to start charging users in order to provide better server bandwidth. If something isn't done to prevent the rot getting worse, this could well see WSPR fade away over time, at least in its present form. As a concept and practice, it's too powerful and useful across the globe to vanish, so let's hope some improvements come about, one way or another.
Saturday, 28 November 2015
CW Contest - More Crap Operating
There are clearly those in the radio community - and this includes some societies - who think that a contest gives them the right to operate with only their interests in mind.
This weekend, some CW contest or other is underway. WSPR is once again being completely ignored, with the globally-important beacon mode, which takes up a very narrow spot frequency, being obliterated.
Ham radio's standards are really very poor. I find it difficult to reconcile someone in the US being fined $25,000 for failing to identify, when there are, this weekend, hundreds of stations breaking the terms of their licence by interfering with ongoing transmissions.
I like ham radio, but once again, find myself questioning whether contests have taken over the hobby - and have undermined gentlemanly operating.
This weekend, some CW contest or other is underway. WSPR is once again being completely ignored, with the globally-important beacon mode, which takes up a very narrow spot frequency, being obliterated.
Ham radio's standards are really very poor. I find it difficult to reconcile someone in the US being fined $25,000 for failing to identify, when there are, this weekend, hundreds of stations breaking the terms of their licence by interfering with ongoing transmissions.
I like ham radio, but once again, find myself questioning whether contests have taken over the hobby - and have undermined gentlemanly operating.
Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Mode Breakdown
No, not that sort of breakdown. It's a simple chart of which modes I've used since about 2010.
The fraction of PSK31 surprised me, because I've not used it regularly for a couple of years. It reflects a busy period during sunspot maximum, typically on 15 and 10m. JT65A is taking over as the default mode for me, mainly because it offers a way to communicate wihthout shouting down a microphone when others are asleep. It's also useful because you can do other things at the same time. JT9 is also slowly increasing, especially after e-QSL introduced its award for that mode.
It's a shame that ROS and OLIVIA have so few takers. These are really very robust weak signal modes that allow comfortable live typing QSOs, often with very interesting people. RTTY remains an annoying 'last resort' mode for me, although it can also be very useful under marginal conditions. I just wish more RTTY operators would avoid selecting a frequency that interferes with WSPR mode.
Sadly, CW remains a 'to do' mode, having never really made the effort to learn it. The attraction of simple, QRP operating whilst portable might well change that state of affairs soon!
The fraction of PSK31 surprised me, because I've not used it regularly for a couple of years. It reflects a busy period during sunspot maximum, typically on 15 and 10m. JT65A is taking over as the default mode for me, mainly because it offers a way to communicate wihthout shouting down a microphone when others are asleep. It's also useful because you can do other things at the same time. JT9 is also slowly increasing, especially after e-QSL introduced its award for that mode.
Sadly, CW remains a 'to do' mode, having never really made the effort to learn it. The attraction of simple, QRP operating whilst portable might well change that state of affairs soon!
Tuesday, 24 November 2015
VK9WA: Now it's Over.
VK9WA, the much-heralded DXpedition to Willis Island, has just come to an end.
The team on Willis were meant to be using - and were apparently sponsored by - the fairly new Crank-IR folded vertical antenna, something that many ops will find useful for portable work.
To be fair, the team put up a pretty good signal, at least as heard with my 3-ele monobander, on 12m. That said, you could clearly detect the advancing day, as their signal went from 51 to, briefly, 59, before plunging after a mere couple of minutes back to 51 or worse.
Inevitably, the team were very busy with people desperate to be the one to be heard on the other side of the world.
I regret to say VK9WA slipped into that pretty bad habit of using increasingly wide sections of an already narrow 12m band. Comments on the 17m cluster reflected this concern. Specifically, on the morning of 23 November, the team were working "5-30 up" - an astonishingly wide range for 12m, and one that, at it's upper limit, would be out of band on the USB mode then in use.
The team on Willis were meant to be using - and were apparently sponsored by - the fairly new Crank-IR folded vertical antenna, something that many ops will find useful for portable work.
To be fair, the team put up a pretty good signal, at least as heard with my 3-ele monobander, on 12m. That said, you could clearly detect the advancing day, as their signal went from 51 to, briefly, 59, before plunging after a mere couple of minutes back to 51 or worse.
Inevitably, the team were very busy with people desperate to be the one to be heard on the other side of the world.
I regret to say VK9WA slipped into that pretty bad habit of using increasingly wide sections of an already narrow 12m band. Comments on the 17m cluster reflected this concern. Specifically, on the morning of 23 November, the team were working "5-30 up" - an astonishingly wide range for 12m, and one that, at it's upper limit, would be out of band on the USB mode then in use.
Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Magnetic Loop Matching
Yes folks, it's that time of year when autumn turns to winter, and the jet stream brings day after day of hurricane-force winds to north Wales.
This is the time to fetch the magnetic loops, so that I can keep going on the lower HF bands whilst the winds flatten everything outside.
Whilst magnetic loops are available from a limited number of makers, their price is very high. One of the latest entrants is Inac of Spain, who seem to have a very nice line-up. But at 1000 Euro for the rather small 80m upwards loop of the 3-30MHz version, I'm happy to make my own and simply tune manually.
Last year, I had a nice G3JKF three-loop array to play with. It was successful and very easy to match, but it did take up a lot of room in the kitchen! So, this year, I'm back to a single loop of 1.2m per side, made of wide, 28mm copper tube. Any wider than this, and you start to cry at the hardware shop's checkout!
Wider tube increases efficiency somewhat at the lower bands, but it is not really necessary to use much above 15mm; according to Sutherland, gain calculations for loops are vastly out of kilter with reality (up to 30dB!), owing to questionable use and misinterpretations of the Chu-Wheeler criterion, first published in the late 1940s. Look these up online for further understanding.
Loops can be difficult to tune owing to their very high Q. So, this is how I tame my loop:
(1) Use a 4:1 balun near the feedpoint.
(2) Connect one side of the balun output to the centre of the bottom tube of the loop. Soldering is best.
(3) Connect a longish, stiff wire like hard-drawn copper to the other balun's pole. Run this about 1cm or less from the bottom tube, parallel with it. Run it up maybe 60-70% of one upright side and connect (tap) with a crocodile clip or hose clamp/Jubilee clip.
(4) Adjust the position of the tap such that you get the best matching/lowest SWR.
(5) Turn your capacitor until you hear the loudest signal. This should be close to perfect matching.
(6) If you can't get below 1.5:1 or so, adjust the position of the tap, make sure there are no metal objects around your loop which are detuning it, and adjust the shape/positioning of the gamma match wire. I have previously found, under advice from G3JKF, that running a second wire directly from the gamma match pole of the balun directly to the tap point, in addition to the parallel wire, gives a good, broad matching that makes achieving low SWR much easier. In other words, this looks like a triangular loop, connected at the upper apex to the normal tap point up one side of the loop. It's a kind of parallel gamma match.
(7) To work out what kind of capacitor you need for your particular diameter pipe and loop, use this site, which has proven tobe spot-on in its predictions for me (though I suspect the efficiency output is based on old formulas, and hence underestimates efficiency.) Vacuum capacitors, if you can find (and afford) them, are better than air-spaced ones, but both can be used to good effect.
So there's the theory. Does it actually work?
Well, have a look at this 11/11/15 results on 60m WSPR. I'm one of only four stations being heard by VK7BO from anywhere; the map shows all stations active on the band. And no, this wasn't a 'ten minute' wonder where the spots simply reflect transient conditions - this situation persisted for some time. Not bad for a kitchen-based loop!
Happy building!
This is the time to fetch the magnetic loops, so that I can keep going on the lower HF bands whilst the winds flatten everything outside.
Whilst magnetic loops are available from a limited number of makers, their price is very high. One of the latest entrants is Inac of Spain, who seem to have a very nice line-up. But at 1000 Euro for the rather small 80m upwards loop of the 3-30MHz version, I'm happy to make my own and simply tune manually.
Last year, I had a nice G3JKF three-loop array to play with. It was successful and very easy to match, but it did take up a lot of room in the kitchen! So, this year, I'm back to a single loop of 1.2m per side, made of wide, 28mm copper tube. Any wider than this, and you start to cry at the hardware shop's checkout!
Wider tube increases efficiency somewhat at the lower bands, but it is not really necessary to use much above 15mm; according to Sutherland, gain calculations for loops are vastly out of kilter with reality (up to 30dB!), owing to questionable use and misinterpretations of the Chu-Wheeler criterion, first published in the late 1940s. Look these up online for further understanding.
Loops can be difficult to tune owing to their very high Q. So, this is how I tame my loop:
(1) Use a 4:1 balun near the feedpoint.
(2) Connect one side of the balun output to the centre of the bottom tube of the loop. Soldering is best.
(3) Connect a longish, stiff wire like hard-drawn copper to the other balun's pole. Run this about 1cm or less from the bottom tube, parallel with it. Run it up maybe 60-70% of one upright side and connect (tap) with a crocodile clip or hose clamp/Jubilee clip.
(4) Adjust the position of the tap such that you get the best matching/lowest SWR.
(5) Turn your capacitor until you hear the loudest signal. This should be close to perfect matching.
(6) If you can't get below 1.5:1 or so, adjust the position of the tap, make sure there are no metal objects around your loop which are detuning it, and adjust the shape/positioning of the gamma match wire. I have previously found, under advice from G3JKF, that running a second wire directly from the gamma match pole of the balun directly to the tap point, in addition to the parallel wire, gives a good, broad matching that makes achieving low SWR much easier. In other words, this looks like a triangular loop, connected at the upper apex to the normal tap point up one side of the loop. It's a kind of parallel gamma match.
(7) To work out what kind of capacitor you need for your particular diameter pipe and loop, use this site, which has proven tobe spot-on in its predictions for me (though I suspect the efficiency output is based on old formulas, and hence underestimates efficiency.) Vacuum capacitors, if you can find (and afford) them, are better than air-spaced ones, but both can be used to good effect.
So there's the theory. Does it actually work?
Well, have a look at this 11/11/15 results on 60m WSPR. I'm one of only four stations being heard by VK7BO from anywhere; the map shows all stations active on the band. And no, this wasn't a 'ten minute' wonder where the spots simply reflect transient conditions - this situation persisted for some time. Not bad for a kitchen-based loop!
Happy building!
Monday, 9 November 2015
Galvanised Steel Wire
If you hunt for antennas on the likes of that famous internet auction site that must not be named, you will find an awful lot of ready-made units featuring galvanised steel wire these days.
Galvanised wire is very strong, that is for sure. It also conducts your applied current pretty well. Not as well as a pure copper wire, though.
Does this make any difference to the performance of your antenna? Overall, whilst calculations and theory, discussed with some degree of civility here, show that there will be somewhat less gain for an antenna made of steel, the operating experience will typically be that steel performs almost as well as copper.
The exact composition of steel wire, and how it is galvanised or coated dictates how precisely it compares to copper. Some are almost as good as copper, others will have significant gain losses.
The way to approach steel wire is this: why do you want to use it? Copper is the standard, proven material that ought to be used wherever possible. This means that only in violently windy and/or cold situations, or where access to an antenna after initial erection is extremely difficult should you consider using anything other than copper wire.
Keep in mind, too, that galvansed steel wire does corrode. That's because the ends, which are cut at some stage, expose the core to oxygen and moisture. This propagates along the rest of the wire at a modest but surprising rate, where the plastic coating serves only to maintain a moist atmosphere, hastening corrosion.
Stainless wire is also sometimes discussed, but it is also something to avoid in general, even though Optibeam are claimed to use it in their multi-band nested Moxon beam, which is a pretty expensive antenna.
FlexWeave is very strong, but rather heavy for some antenna designs. Kevlar-reinforced wire is also extremely strong in tension, and three times lighter than FlexWeave, but will fail from metal fatigue in bending eventually (about 2- 3 years in frequent winds.)
My advice is to use standard Kevlar-cored wire for all applications, and accept the need to replace it every few years.
Galvanised wire is very strong, that is for sure. It also conducts your applied current pretty well. Not as well as a pure copper wire, though.
 |
| Strong, but not ideal... |
Does this make any difference to the performance of your antenna? Overall, whilst calculations and theory, discussed with some degree of civility here, show that there will be somewhat less gain for an antenna made of steel, the operating experience will typically be that steel performs almost as well as copper.
The exact composition of steel wire, and how it is galvanised or coated dictates how precisely it compares to copper. Some are almost as good as copper, others will have significant gain losses.
The way to approach steel wire is this: why do you want to use it? Copper is the standard, proven material that ought to be used wherever possible. This means that only in violently windy and/or cold situations, or where access to an antenna after initial erection is extremely difficult should you consider using anything other than copper wire.
Keep in mind, too, that galvansed steel wire does corrode. That's because the ends, which are cut at some stage, expose the core to oxygen and moisture. This propagates along the rest of the wire at a modest but surprising rate, where the plastic coating serves only to maintain a moist atmosphere, hastening corrosion.
Stainless wire is also sometimes discussed, but it is also something to avoid in general, even though Optibeam are claimed to use it in their multi-band nested Moxon beam, which is a pretty expensive antenna.
FlexWeave is very strong, but rather heavy for some antenna designs. Kevlar-reinforced wire is also extremely strong in tension, and three times lighter than FlexWeave, but will fail from metal fatigue in bending eventually (about 2- 3 years in frequent winds.)
My advice is to use standard Kevlar-cored wire for all applications, and accept the need to replace it every few years.
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
2m Tropo
This autumn has been a very unusual one in Wales, as much of the UK. For one thing, it's been very warm; the first days of November have seen temperatures reach 17 degrees Celsius even here in the north of Wales. Then there's the total absence of wind. A normally severe QTH near the coast has been becalmed for weeks on end, with only a day or two of moderate winds interrupting proceedings.
Last night, idly twiddling about on 2m, I started hearing some Northern Irish stations coming in. Then some of the marginal repeaters were easily accessed. Within a few minutes, I was having easy simplex QSOs with both the south and north of Ireland.
Strangely, one caller from the Isle of Man was pretty weak. He did say something about his antenna being blocked by buildings, but all the same, he was much weaker than other stations, which made me go out to see if there was anything unusual about the atmosphere.
Well, there certainly was! Whilst it was too dark to see land, stray light from street lamps was being refracted in a really odd way. It would have been nice to see what effect this would have had on the landscape, but sadly, it had all dispersed by this morning. The eerie lights came just as thick fog, which had affected UK travel all day, was being moved away by a slowly strengthening easterly wind (right to left in the image.)
There seems to be a kind of wave pattern set up in a low layer over the sea. This is not unusual, often being the result of shear disturbance of an inversion, such as when calm conditions are beginning to be blown away. Even without such disturbances, you can often see the surreal 'Fata Morgana' super refraction quite often, which also enhances propagation.
The lights are pretty odd, seemingly being lensed. It may be that the weak 2m signal was just in the wrong place, relative to the waves that were probably lensing radio signals as much as they were doing so for light.
Whatever the exact details, it was a good night on 2m!
Last night, idly twiddling about on 2m, I started hearing some Northern Irish stations coming in. Then some of the marginal repeaters were easily accessed. Within a few minutes, I was having easy simplex QSOs with both the south and north of Ireland.
 |
| Peculiar, wave-like features refracting light from the IoM. Douglas is on the right. The lights along the silhouetted hill are local, and not involved in the refraction feature. |
Strangely, one caller from the Isle of Man was pretty weak. He did say something about his antenna being blocked by buildings, but all the same, he was much weaker than other stations, which made me go out to see if there was anything unusual about the atmosphere.
 |
| Detail of the refraction. |
Well, there certainly was! Whilst it was too dark to see land, stray light from street lamps was being refracted in a really odd way. It would have been nice to see what effect this would have had on the landscape, but sadly, it had all dispersed by this morning. The eerie lights came just as thick fog, which had affected UK travel all day, was being moved away by a slowly strengthening easterly wind (right to left in the image.)
 |
| Large waves in an inversion layer being disturbed by shear from a developing but slight wind just above, as seen January 16, 2012, looking SW from north Anglesey (again, an easterly wind.) Contrast enhanced image. |
 |
| Waves in sea fog/low cloud, looking towards IoM, July 22, 2013. This kind of disturbance was probably responsible for the strange refraction of streetlights in the earlier images. |
There seems to be a kind of wave pattern set up in a low layer over the sea. This is not unusual, often being the result of shear disturbance of an inversion, such as when calm conditions are beginning to be blown away. Even without such disturbances, you can often see the surreal 'Fata Morgana' super refraction quite often, which also enhances propagation.
 |
| Fata Morgana affecting the landscape of the Isle of Man on August 10, 2012. |
The lights are pretty odd, seemingly being lensed. It may be that the weak 2m signal was just in the wrong place, relative to the waves that were probably lensing radio signals as much as they were doing so for light.
Whatever the exact details, it was a good night on 2m!
Monday, 2 November 2015
It's 'K' for Cornwall - but only for a year.
After what can only be called a terribly sorry tale, Cornwall - which was last year awarded formal National Minority Status - has been allowed to use the 'K' secondary locator. But only for a year.
The RSGB and OFCOM have, to most minds, handled the whole 'K' for Kernow bid badly. The RSGB, whilst giving signals that it supported the bid, and who handled its making to OFCOM, can be seen from documents released under FoIA to have immediately lobbied against it. Most comments left online suggest that it may have been a vocal miority of contest-avid operators that swung matters against Cornwall at the RSGB.
OFCOM have now acceded to a request that the 'K' secondary locator be allowed for the whole of 2016. This is a step in the right direction, but does highlight the needlessly political and adversarial nature of this whole, actually very minor issue.
OFCOM continues to claim that it has no policy to award permanent secondary locators. This is rather odd, because it perfectly well allows the use of several other regional locators, which themeselves appear to have arisen and been accepted into law simply on the basis of convention dating back to the 1930s, and not due to any policy or lack thereof.
The RSGB has also attempted to apply spin to the whole locator business, leaving it with a lot of yellow stuff on its face. For example, it advanced the view that regional locators were only allocated to those areas with their own governments or similar arrangements. This is readily disproven, because power only began to be transferrred to regional assemblies, and then governments, towards the very end of the 20th century, when regional locators had already been in use for decades. I'm not sure when the 'C' alternative to 'W' came into effect within Wales, but it hasn't been that long, and so again, it seems that OFCOM isn't quite telling the right story when it claims it can't mess about with regional locators.
This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, when I decided the RSGB and OFCOM had firstly bungled its handling of the whole thing, then applied entirely spurious and, frankly, wrong arguments to try and recover face.
I hope the year-long use of the 'K' RSL is very successful. Indeed, it would seem impossible that it won't be. Let's also hope it's a wedge into a permanent allocation.
On a final note, one wonders whether there is in fact any legal prohibition that can be backed up with prosecution on simply going ahead and using the 'K', or any other RSL?
The RSGB and OFCOM have, to most minds, handled the whole 'K' for Kernow bid badly. The RSGB, whilst giving signals that it supported the bid, and who handled its making to OFCOM, can be seen from documents released under FoIA to have immediately lobbied against it. Most comments left online suggest that it may have been a vocal miority of contest-avid operators that swung matters against Cornwall at the RSGB.
OFCOM have now acceded to a request that the 'K' secondary locator be allowed for the whole of 2016. This is a step in the right direction, but does highlight the needlessly political and adversarial nature of this whole, actually very minor issue.
OFCOM continues to claim that it has no policy to award permanent secondary locators. This is rather odd, because it perfectly well allows the use of several other regional locators, which themeselves appear to have arisen and been accepted into law simply on the basis of convention dating back to the 1930s, and not due to any policy or lack thereof.
The RSGB has also attempted to apply spin to the whole locator business, leaving it with a lot of yellow stuff on its face. For example, it advanced the view that regional locators were only allocated to those areas with their own governments or similar arrangements. This is readily disproven, because power only began to be transferrred to regional assemblies, and then governments, towards the very end of the 20th century, when regional locators had already been in use for decades. I'm not sure when the 'C' alternative to 'W' came into effect within Wales, but it hasn't been that long, and so again, it seems that OFCOM isn't quite telling the right story when it claims it can't mess about with regional locators.
This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, when I decided the RSGB and OFCOM had firstly bungled its handling of the whole thing, then applied entirely spurious and, frankly, wrong arguments to try and recover face.
I hope the year-long use of the 'K' RSL is very successful. Indeed, it would seem impossible that it won't be. Let's also hope it's a wedge into a permanent allocation.
On a final note, one wonders whether there is in fact any legal prohibition that can be backed up with prosecution on simply going ahead and using the 'K', or any other RSL?
Monday, 26 October 2015
Japan Pile-Up - JT65 Style!
This morning, seeing 20m propagation becoming short, I switched over to 17m. Now, I'm not massively well-equipped for this band, having but a vertical delta loop, albeit over superb, highly mineralised ground.
An empty 17m JT screen didn't look promising, but I called CQ anyway. I had an instant reply - from JA! What's more, it was a very good signal, which often leaves me wondering why a band is empty at all. My first contact (15m SSB) with VP8 came under identical circumstances.
As soon as I'd finished with one Japanese station, I received another. Then another. And another. A long run, lasting nearly an hour, of signals from the Land of the Rising Sun, when it was in fact around sunrise here in Wales.
Not a bad way to start the week - at all!
 |
| It's always a delight to hear from JA-Land. |
An empty 17m JT screen didn't look promising, but I called CQ anyway. I had an instant reply - from JA! What's more, it was a very good signal, which often leaves me wondering why a band is empty at all. My first contact (15m SSB) with VP8 came under identical circumstances.
As soon as I'd finished with one Japanese station, I received another. Then another. And another. A long run, lasting nearly an hour, of signals from the Land of the Rising Sun, when it was in fact around sunrise here in Wales.
Not a bad way to start the week - at all!
Sunday, 18 October 2015
Licensee Crash About to Happen?
After a long period of thinking about it, OFCOM has announced it will start revoking licences that haven't been revalidated after 5 years. They propose to begin with those that ought to have been revalidated in 2012.
This could spell trouble for the representative body, the RSGB. Not because they will lose members, but because it will become more difficult to persuade authorities and the public that the hobby is worthwhile, if the estimated 47%, or "tens of thousands" of licensees - fail to revalidate - a process that amounts to little more than confirming address details, which can be done online. Arguing on the basis that there are suddenly only 35,000 UK operators, say, rather than 70,000 could make lobbying a lot more challenging.
Revalidation is bureaucracy. Necessary bureaucracy, perhaps. But it does tend to mean people who haven't bothered thus far will probably not make the effort, however simple it actually is. Revalidation of private pilots, for example, is well-known for its very low rate (about 50% - very similar to the 47% for hams) of revalidation after five years, partly down to a realisation that the hobby is too expensive, and partly because there is too much bureaucracy. Whilst expense may not influence hams so much, paperwork might.
We'll just have to wait for a few years to see how the dust settles on this one. In the meantime, I hope the RSGB and all operators in the UK take every opportunity to raise awareness about this important clamp-down.
This could spell trouble for the representative body, the RSGB. Not because they will lose members, but because it will become more difficult to persuade authorities and the public that the hobby is worthwhile, if the estimated 47%, or "tens of thousands" of licensees - fail to revalidate - a process that amounts to little more than confirming address details, which can be done online. Arguing on the basis that there are suddenly only 35,000 UK operators, say, rather than 70,000 could make lobbying a lot more challenging.
Revalidation is bureaucracy. Necessary bureaucracy, perhaps. But it does tend to mean people who haven't bothered thus far will probably not make the effort, however simple it actually is. Revalidation of private pilots, for example, is well-known for its very low rate (about 50% - very similar to the 47% for hams) of revalidation after five years, partly down to a realisation that the hobby is too expensive, and partly because there is too much bureaucracy. Whilst expense may not influence hams so much, paperwork might.
We'll just have to wait for a few years to see how the dust settles on this one. In the meantime, I hope the RSGB and all operators in the UK take every opportunity to raise awareness about this important clamp-down.
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
RSGB - Surveying the Landscape (Again)
I seem never to be able to escape the RSGB, even though I am no longer a member.
The reason I was dragged back in this morning was finding an invitation to all UK operators - members of the RSGB or not - to input into the latest survey, which is open until the end of 2015.
One thing that struck me as very odd was the question relating to use of the free access tickets to Bletchley Park that RSGB membership affords.
The reason this is odd is that the answer to the questions surrounding the worth of this aspect of membership is already known, and should already have prompted action. Out of about 19,300 RSGB members, a mere 450, or just over 2%, made use of the free access in the last published accounting year. Perhaps there will be a small spike in visits for the 2014/15 year, but I suspect that will be solely down to the screening of "The Imitation Game" film, and very little else.
The attachment of the RSGB to the National Radio Centre project at Bletchley can only be explained by two possible factors: (1) contractual obligations and (2) a misplaced sense of patriotism that the society could ill afford at any point. All this led to the then RSGB big-wigs buying a massively expensive tower that was never likely to gain planning permission at such an iconic and historic site, and left the society with a useless hunk of metal, paid for at members' expense, when it did indeed fail to be permitted.
The remaining question for the RSGB is: how much longer is it going to keep going at this Bletchley Park nonsense? If only 2% of its own members visit the NRC, then I suspect the fraction of the general population doing so is infinitely smaller. You might say that is obviously going to be the case, in which case, I thank you for your confirmation of my thinking. As such, the justification for the NRC - the promotion of amateur radio and attracting new members from amongst the general population - was always a red herring.
I think that, given the past enthusiasm to buy the big tower for Bletchley, and the manner in which the NRC is justified now, it's reasonable to think that, at least in the early days, the NRC was seen as a place where a contest-class club station could be set up by a select few at others' expense. It never turned out that way, leaving us with the remnants of a wacky idea that should never have made it out of the pub door.
Add to that the stonking devaluation of assets to pretty much nothing at all at the NRC with each accounting year that goes by, and you can only ever realistically conclude that the NRC should be terminated as the obviously bad idea that it was and remains. I've made this point before, and I make it again.
What really saddens me is that, despite the appointment of a Press Officer recently, it's still essentially impossible to find a story in the mainstream media where Joe Public can find out a bit - and maybe become more interested in - our great hobby. Why is money not being directed effectively there, at a time when media outlets fall over themselves, looking for print-ready press releases?
As to the rest of the survey, well, you might find yourself ranting on about things you've been ranting on about for years. Whether or not 2015 is the year anyone sits up and takes notice of the grassroots membership is, well, another big question for the RSGB...
The reason I was dragged back in this morning was finding an invitation to all UK operators - members of the RSGB or not - to input into the latest survey, which is open until the end of 2015.
One thing that struck me as very odd was the question relating to use of the free access tickets to Bletchley Park that RSGB membership affords.
The reason this is odd is that the answer to the questions surrounding the worth of this aspect of membership is already known, and should already have prompted action. Out of about 19,300 RSGB members, a mere 450, or just over 2%, made use of the free access in the last published accounting year. Perhaps there will be a small spike in visits for the 2014/15 year, but I suspect that will be solely down to the screening of "The Imitation Game" film, and very little else.
The attachment of the RSGB to the National Radio Centre project at Bletchley can only be explained by two possible factors: (1) contractual obligations and (2) a misplaced sense of patriotism that the society could ill afford at any point. All this led to the then RSGB big-wigs buying a massively expensive tower that was never likely to gain planning permission at such an iconic and historic site, and left the society with a useless hunk of metal, paid for at members' expense, when it did indeed fail to be permitted.
The remaining question for the RSGB is: how much longer is it going to keep going at this Bletchley Park nonsense? If only 2% of its own members visit the NRC, then I suspect the fraction of the general population doing so is infinitely smaller. You might say that is obviously going to be the case, in which case, I thank you for your confirmation of my thinking. As such, the justification for the NRC - the promotion of amateur radio and attracting new members from amongst the general population - was always a red herring.
I think that, given the past enthusiasm to buy the big tower for Bletchley, and the manner in which the NRC is justified now, it's reasonable to think that, at least in the early days, the NRC was seen as a place where a contest-class club station could be set up by a select few at others' expense. It never turned out that way, leaving us with the remnants of a wacky idea that should never have made it out of the pub door.
Add to that the stonking devaluation of assets to pretty much nothing at all at the NRC with each accounting year that goes by, and you can only ever realistically conclude that the NRC should be terminated as the obviously bad idea that it was and remains. I've made this point before, and I make it again.
What really saddens me is that, despite the appointment of a Press Officer recently, it's still essentially impossible to find a story in the mainstream media where Joe Public can find out a bit - and maybe become more interested in - our great hobby. Why is money not being directed effectively there, at a time when media outlets fall over themselves, looking for print-ready press releases?
As to the rest of the survey, well, you might find yourself ranting on about things you've been ranting on about for years. Whether or not 2015 is the year anyone sits up and takes notice of the grassroots membership is, well, another big question for the RSGB...
Friday, 9 October 2015
2m Quad - Resuscitated!
A long while ago, I constructed a 5-element quad for 2m out of timber and wire. It proved to be a great performer, allowing easy access of repeaters out to about 200 miles on just 2W. It managed much the same on simplex, if there was good propagation.
Sadly, the weather eventually took its toll, having been thrown up into the air off its storage stand during a violent February storm where winds reached 109mph! Eventually, after some repairs kept it going, the XYL drove into it and that was that!
With some good conditions with the coming of extended periods of high pressure over northern Europe and the UK recently, I was prompted to reuse the wire and rebuild the antenna.
And, after a year or so languishing as a pile of rotten wood, here it is! The rebuilt, exact-same performer and low SWR curve as it always was.
You can find the plans in the "International Antenna Collection, Vol. 2." Just build it to the stated dimensions and it works perfectly (actually, it has much better matching than indicated.) A 1/4 wave 75Ohm matching section is necessary.
Sadly, the weather eventually took its toll, having been thrown up into the air off its storage stand during a violent February storm where winds reached 109mph! Eventually, after some repairs kept it going, the XYL drove into it and that was that!
With some good conditions with the coming of extended periods of high pressure over northern Europe and the UK recently, I was prompted to reuse the wire and rebuild the antenna.
And, after a year or so languishing as a pile of rotten wood, here it is! The rebuilt, exact-same performer and low SWR curve as it always was.
 |
| Good for another few years. Total timber cost: about £6. |
You can find the plans in the "International Antenna Collection, Vol. 2." Just build it to the stated dimensions and it works perfectly (actually, it has much better matching than indicated.) A 1/4 wave 75Ohm matching section is necessary.
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
WSPR-Beating!
Ah, there's nothing like independent evidence for station performance.
In the midst of a minor geomagnetic storm and poor conditions across the bands, I'm almost alone across the EU in hearing and being heard in the US on 20m.
Not bad for a simple delta loop!
In the midst of a minor geomagnetic storm and poor conditions across the bands, I'm almost alone across the EU in hearing and being heard in the US on 20m.
Not bad for a simple delta loop!
Saturday, 3 October 2015
Radcom Plus One
Despite having ceased to be a member of the RSGB some months ago, I'm still being sent RadCom Plus 1, the digital supplemetal to the normal, printed RadCom society magazine. That said, I'm still owed about £13 by the society, despite Graham Coomber himself promising he'd get it out to me.
To be fair, this is quite a good publication, perhaps outdoing RadCom itself.
What I don't understand is the highly odd use of proprietary web-based browsing software that means you have to download a whopping 57MB file. It seems the RSGB think everyone in the UK has unlimited, fast broadband, and that there are no simpler ways to present their magazine. Many of us, though, have slow or data-limited connections.
At a guess, I'd say a PDF or similar file format would reduce the file size by several times. But, hey! Who am I to make suggestions to the RSGB?
To be fair, this is quite a good publication, perhaps outdoing RadCom itself.
What I don't understand is the highly odd use of proprietary web-based browsing software that means you have to download a whopping 57MB file. It seems the RSGB think everyone in the UK has unlimited, fast broadband, and that there are no simpler ways to present their magazine. Many of us, though, have slow or data-limited connections.
At a guess, I'd say a PDF or similar file format would reduce the file size by several times. But, hey! Who am I to make suggestions to the RSGB?
New Amateur Radio Discussion Group Proposal.
This from Paul Schleck, the proponent of a new dicussion group. It's rather niche and an extraordinarily formal process, but that's how it works.
Those interested will advance their thoughts, I'm sure; many already have:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/uk.net.news.config/qUpWHHIDvWw[1-25]
Those interested will advance their thoughts, I'm sure; many already have:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/uk.net.news.config/qUpWHHIDvWw[1-25]
Wednesday, 30 September 2015
SDR Radio - Headaches
I like the idea of SDR radio. I even like what it delivers - provided it does actually work.
I have a very simple RTL SDR box that is widely available on the internet for a reasonable price.
Using SDR#, this dongle was a bit of a headache to install, but it did eventually come home and it was pretty sensitive, to be fair.
After a few weeks, the software simply won't work any more. Nobody really seems to have a coherent solution, and none I've tried have worked.
I then came across SDR-Radio, which looks very swish. After downloading a fairly big 89MB, given that I have a monthly 15GB allowance (living in the countryside is not for those addicted to the internet!), it reported a driver file missing.
To try and resolve this, off I went to the Microsoft website to download the necessary Visual Studio and C++ updates. After a few minutes, it was clear the updates would be very big - probably several hundred MB.
At this point, I had it reinforced in me that the reason why I like 'rice box' radios is that you just switch them on, and they work. If they break, it's usually pretty simple to repair. You can update the firmware over the internet, if you like, but it's often not critical.
Some, of course, like playing with computers all day. I don't, and I certainly don't like the sheer complexity of trying to resolve what might be wrong, only to find the same damned error message at the end of it all!
So, whilst I appreciate the benefits of SDR, the disbenefit is being wedded to an external computer and all the software updates. Despite all the patronising looks from IT people, the fact is that computers remain tools that far too often fail to do what they should in a sensible and stable way.
A rice box for me, every time!
UPDATE: I like it when someone else has produced flawless software that proves me wrong on the possibilities of SDR. I eventually came across Cubic SDR, which has none of the above problems. What's more, it provides much better signals than SDR# was giving. For example, an RAF base about 7 miles away was barely audible on SDR#, whilst the audio and signal strength are full strength through Cubic SDR.
I have a very simple RTL SDR box that is widely available on the internet for a reasonable price.
Using SDR#, this dongle was a bit of a headache to install, but it did eventually come home and it was pretty sensitive, to be fair.
After a few weeks, the software simply won't work any more. Nobody really seems to have a coherent solution, and none I've tried have worked.
I then came across SDR-Radio, which looks very swish. After downloading a fairly big 89MB, given that I have a monthly 15GB allowance (living in the countryside is not for those addicted to the internet!), it reported a driver file missing.
To try and resolve this, off I went to the Microsoft website to download the necessary Visual Studio and C++ updates. After a few minutes, it was clear the updates would be very big - probably several hundred MB.
At this point, I had it reinforced in me that the reason why I like 'rice box' radios is that you just switch them on, and they work. If they break, it's usually pretty simple to repair. You can update the firmware over the internet, if you like, but it's often not critical.
Some, of course, like playing with computers all day. I don't, and I certainly don't like the sheer complexity of trying to resolve what might be wrong, only to find the same damned error message at the end of it all!
So, whilst I appreciate the benefits of SDR, the disbenefit is being wedded to an external computer and all the software updates. Despite all the patronising looks from IT people, the fact is that computers remain tools that far too often fail to do what they should in a sensible and stable way.
A rice box for me, every time!
UPDATE: I like it when someone else has produced flawless software that proves me wrong on the possibilities of SDR. I eventually came across Cubic SDR, which has none of the above problems. What's more, it provides much better signals than SDR# was giving. For example, an RAF base about 7 miles away was barely audible on SDR#, whilst the audio and signal strength are full strength through Cubic SDR.
Monday, 28 September 2015
12m Opens!
After what seems like a very long summer absence, 12m came back to life in no uncertain terms last evening - although few have realised it yet.
Just after 17:00UT, a strong signal came across on JT65A at 24.917. Turned out to be WA6JBZ, hitting my 3 ele LFA Yagi at -01dB. Given that he was using 25W into a G5RV, the band was certainly very open!
A few minutes later, I caught a ZF1 and a VE6, both good signals.
So, it's certainly looking like good autumn conditions on 12m at last. Now all we need is some more operators to come on board!
Once again, the futility of signal reports was demonstrated in the report I received from WA6, which was 9dB weaker than that handed out to a G5RV operator. Some might rush to say something's wrong with my antenna. In fact, it's a phenomenon repeated daily, often when I'm the only station folk can hear, especially in the well-populated US. It's a product of little gain and, often, poor antenna environments on the receiving, and not the transmitting side.
Just after 17:00UT, a strong signal came across on JT65A at 24.917. Turned out to be WA6JBZ, hitting my 3 ele LFA Yagi at -01dB. Given that he was using 25W into a G5RV, the band was certainly very open!
A few minutes later, I caught a ZF1 and a VE6, both good signals.
 |
| 12m, now open. |
So, it's certainly looking like good autumn conditions on 12m at last. Now all we need is some more operators to come on board!
Once again, the futility of signal reports was demonstrated in the report I received from WA6, which was 9dB weaker than that handed out to a G5RV operator. Some might rush to say something's wrong with my antenna. In fact, it's a phenomenon repeated daily, often when I'm the only station folk can hear, especially in the well-populated US. It's a product of little gain and, often, poor antenna environments on the receiving, and not the transmitting side.
Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Mugabe Land Heralds Start of 12m Season!
Yes folks, if, like me, you enjoy 12m and the great DX often found there, the band has started to open these past days.
This afternoon, Z21MG (Zimbabwe) was operating a huge pile-up in superb 59 conditions. I was glad to bust the noise and get my call in. The lack of calls from Zimbabwe is probably all down to those damned white people, if you're of a Mugabeian bent.
So, dust off your 12m stuff and start calling!
 |
| President Professor Doctor Robert Mugabe PhD DFC and nine bars. Still allowing ham radio, apparently. |
This afternoon, Z21MG (Zimbabwe) was operating a huge pile-up in superb 59 conditions. I was glad to bust the noise and get my call in. The lack of calls from Zimbabwe is probably all down to those damned white people, if you're of a Mugabeian bent.
So, dust off your 12m stuff and start calling!
Friday, 18 September 2015
'QST' - How Refreshing!
Regular readers - should there be any - will know that, in days gone by, I have been a bit of a moaner about the RSGB. Some of this moaning was justified - there has been plenty going wrong at the RSGB in the fairly recent past, after all.
But some of it was driven by frustration that it didn't really give anything much, save for the magazine, in return.
Eventually, and with no pleasure at all, gave up on the RSGB, largely because it seemed to have given up trying to improve the image and lot of the UK amateur.
For example, I suggested to the society some time ago that it ought to more energetically push press releases about the more interesting aspects of ham radio onto the media. The media, after all, love zero-effort press releases for padding-out their programmes and pages. I got a response that said a PR officer was being appointed, and that all looked rosy in that regard. A year later, you'd be hard pressed to find any online record of a successful press release from the RSGB. This morning, I still couldn't find any. It seems the RSGB is happy being quiet in the background, seemingly too stuffy to engage with the real world that prefers to play with tablets than HF transceivers.
So, I joined the ARRL. Having now received a few months worth of 'QST' and member benefits, I can say the ARRL gives you a really clear and strong sense of being a member of something bigger. The magazine is much more substantial, even if there are more adverts(!) and has far more interesting articles, written in a style that isn't dry, complex and dull, as so often is the case in 'RadCom'.
Simple things make all the difference. Engagement is one. I get very regular e-mailed updates on who is running what DXpedition, should I want to spend an hour shouting to get attention. I get a callsign@ARRL.net email address, which is very handy. I can read QST digitally if I want (though I never do), and the printed version arrives bang on time, without delay, every month. The articles teach me something practical every month, and in a way that suggests the ARRL want to include, not exclude you.
There is so much more of a community spirit in US ham radio. Often something of a bemusement for the UK, the 'emergency comms' aspect is very much to the fore, with few accepting the UK authorities' very wrong-minded views that you now only need a mobile phone in a widespread emergency.
Then you have the ARRL working hard over a long time to make the Parity Act a legislative reality. This essentially aims to recognise ham radio as a service of use to the nation, and that cannot be degraded by the ever-increasing numbers of Home Owners Associations that aim to ban even the slightest hint of an antenna.
Contrast this against the RSGB's position of having all but given up on trying to change the planning system to improve matters for hams in the UK, who only ever seem to get more, and not fewer, restrictions and intolerance placed upon them.
So, whilst the ARRL won't (yet) be changing much legislatively in the UK, it does at least offer an alternative sense of being part of the ham community, and one that is very much well done, I have to say.
But some of it was driven by frustration that it didn't really give anything much, save for the magazine, in return.
Eventually, and with no pleasure at all, gave up on the RSGB, largely because it seemed to have given up trying to improve the image and lot of the UK amateur.
For example, I suggested to the society some time ago that it ought to more energetically push press releases about the more interesting aspects of ham radio onto the media. The media, after all, love zero-effort press releases for padding-out their programmes and pages. I got a response that said a PR officer was being appointed, and that all looked rosy in that regard. A year later, you'd be hard pressed to find any online record of a successful press release from the RSGB. This morning, I still couldn't find any. It seems the RSGB is happy being quiet in the background, seemingly too stuffy to engage with the real world that prefers to play with tablets than HF transceivers.
 |
| So much more enjoyable than 'RadCom'. |
So, I joined the ARRL. Having now received a few months worth of 'QST' and member benefits, I can say the ARRL gives you a really clear and strong sense of being a member of something bigger. The magazine is much more substantial, even if there are more adverts(!) and has far more interesting articles, written in a style that isn't dry, complex and dull, as so often is the case in 'RadCom'.
Simple things make all the difference. Engagement is one. I get very regular e-mailed updates on who is running what DXpedition, should I want to spend an hour shouting to get attention. I get a callsign@ARRL.net email address, which is very handy. I can read QST digitally if I want (though I never do), and the printed version arrives bang on time, without delay, every month. The articles teach me something practical every month, and in a way that suggests the ARRL want to include, not exclude you.
There is so much more of a community spirit in US ham radio. Often something of a bemusement for the UK, the 'emergency comms' aspect is very much to the fore, with few accepting the UK authorities' very wrong-minded views that you now only need a mobile phone in a widespread emergency.
 |
| An uphill struggle, but could only be dreamed of for the UK ham community. |
Then you have the ARRL working hard over a long time to make the Parity Act a legislative reality. This essentially aims to recognise ham radio as a service of use to the nation, and that cannot be degraded by the ever-increasing numbers of Home Owners Associations that aim to ban even the slightest hint of an antenna.
Contrast this against the RSGB's position of having all but given up on trying to change the planning system to improve matters for hams in the UK, who only ever seem to get more, and not fewer, restrictions and intolerance placed upon them.
So, whilst the ARRL won't (yet) be changing much legislatively in the UK, it does at least offer an alternative sense of being part of the ham community, and one that is very much well done, I have to say.
Thursday, 10 September 2015
EH Antenna
Well, just when you thought there were no more antenna experiments to conduct, I've come back to the EH antenna!
If you look up the EH online, you will find most rubbish the whole antenna concept, saying it simply doesn't work. A few have gone to great lengths to measure, analyse and assess the antenna, concluding, similarly, that it's a dud.
Compare that with some operators who claim the complete opposite: that, whilst small and perhaps less capable than a full-sized conventional antenna, it does work, and significant numbers of QSOs, even DXCC awards, have been conducted with them.
Even a leading member of the UK ham community has built and tested an EH, finding he was "pleasantly surprised" with it, despite being placed in a non-ideal, roof space.
So, not ever being one to automatically believe others, I set off to the shops this morning to buy some cheap deodorant cans (with an awful, soap-like odour!) to cut up for the EH. These proved to be steel, which is not ideal, but are fine for a quick test.
The backbone of the EH is a PVC tube, but avoiding black ones, which are said to contain conductive carbon particles. I happened to have some white, 42mm tube lying around, which happened to be about the right diameter for an EH to cover the 15m band.
Now, there is some wire to place inside the EH's tube. Getting access to the inside of a long 40mm inside diameter tube is, well, impossible. I figured that by cutting a long slot down most of the length of the tube, leaving a few short gaps to maintain strength and shape, I could then get my fingers and a pair of long-nose pliers in there to fix things together. This proved to work well.
In fact, there is no need to use PVC to support the antenna components - they can just as well be screwed to a timber batten, which will make access and the whole construction a hell of a lot easier. You only need the tube to wind the tuning coils. Alternatively, you can still use the tubing, but arrange all but one of the wire connections externally, rather than internally; there is no reason other than cosmetic appearance to struggle with shoving it all inside a small tube!
So, it's simply a case of following one of the many, and not often the same kind of design found online, and hooking up. I was short of time when building this thing, so was amazed to find that even when thrown together, the native SWR was only 1:1.8. My ATU of course easily handled it down to 1:1, where I set it to work on 15m WSPR.
Sadly, there's been an awful lot of solar activity the past weeks, so 15m is all but dead. What does seem clear is that the EH is hearing pretty well - it seems quite lively, akin to a 1/4 wave vertical. Until the band clears up, I can't say much more than that. When it's clear, I'll run the EH next to my vertical 15m delta loop, see how it shapes up. A test has, as you might expect, already been done with WSPR, this one at 40m, which certainly doesn't indicate the EH is a dud.
As to feedline radiation, there doesn't seem to be a significant amount; it is there, but then I can find that on any transmission line, if I shove an RF detector at full sensitivity right next to it. My RF meter indicates there is moderately strong omnidirectional radiation, with a pretty low peak of 10 degrees or less; I followed the 'DX' version in making this EH, so the radiation angle seems to support this description as correct.
Certainly an interesting antenna, and very easy and cheap to build. What's more, even the strongest winds will have no effect on it - a very big plus at this QTH!
UPDATE:
Whilst 15m remains almost dead, I have been able to conduct some more RF meter measurements on the antenna. As many have noted, and some calculated theoretically in the scientific literature, this antenna seems only to 'work' by virtue of feedline radiation. There appears to be almost no field strength from the cylindrical radiators, whilst there is strong radiation, even with the presence of a well-made balun, from the coax. This feedline radiation only became clearly apparent when I raised the antenna to 2m above ground, allowing a decent length of vertical line to reveal this effect. The previous 'low angle' conclusion was merely my meter picking up less radiation from a much shorter vertical section of coax.
So, it does appear to be a complete dud, after all - so much so that I'm not spending any more time or even poicket money resources on a lower band version.
If you look up the EH online, you will find most rubbish the whole antenna concept, saying it simply doesn't work. A few have gone to great lengths to measure, analyse and assess the antenna, concluding, similarly, that it's a dud.
Compare that with some operators who claim the complete opposite: that, whilst small and perhaps less capable than a full-sized conventional antenna, it does work, and significant numbers of QSOs, even DXCC awards, have been conducted with them.
Even a leading member of the UK ham community has built and tested an EH, finding he was "pleasantly surprised" with it, despite being placed in a non-ideal, roof space.
So, not ever being one to automatically believe others, I set off to the shops this morning to buy some cheap deodorant cans (with an awful, soap-like odour!) to cut up for the EH. These proved to be steel, which is not ideal, but are fine for a quick test.
 |
| Made in a hurry, but comes in at 1:1.8 SWR before any adjusting. |
The backbone of the EH is a PVC tube, but avoiding black ones, which are said to contain conductive carbon particles. I happened to have some white, 42mm tube lying around, which happened to be about the right diameter for an EH to cover the 15m band.
Now, there is some wire to place inside the EH's tube. Getting access to the inside of a long 40mm inside diameter tube is, well, impossible. I figured that by cutting a long slot down most of the length of the tube, leaving a few short gaps to maintain strength and shape, I could then get my fingers and a pair of long-nose pliers in there to fix things together. This proved to work well.
In fact, there is no need to use PVC to support the antenna components - they can just as well be screwed to a timber batten, which will make access and the whole construction a hell of a lot easier. You only need the tube to wind the tuning coils. Alternatively, you can still use the tubing, but arrange all but one of the wire connections externally, rather than internally; there is no reason other than cosmetic appearance to struggle with shoving it all inside a small tube!
So, it's simply a case of following one of the many, and not often the same kind of design found online, and hooking up. I was short of time when building this thing, so was amazed to find that even when thrown together, the native SWR was only 1:1.8. My ATU of course easily handled it down to 1:1, where I set it to work on 15m WSPR.
Sadly, there's been an awful lot of solar activity the past weeks, so 15m is all but dead. What does seem clear is that the EH is hearing pretty well - it seems quite lively, akin to a 1/4 wave vertical. Until the band clears up, I can't say much more than that. When it's clear, I'll run the EH next to my vertical 15m delta loop, see how it shapes up. A test has, as you might expect, already been done with WSPR, this one at 40m, which certainly doesn't indicate the EH is a dud.
As to feedline radiation, there doesn't seem to be a significant amount; it is there, but then I can find that on any transmission line, if I shove an RF detector at full sensitivity right next to it. My RF meter indicates there is moderately strong omnidirectional radiation, with a pretty low peak of 10 degrees or less; I followed the 'DX' version in making this EH, so the radiation angle seems to support this description as correct.
Certainly an interesting antenna, and very easy and cheap to build. What's more, even the strongest winds will have no effect on it - a very big plus at this QTH!
UPDATE:
Whilst 15m remains almost dead, I have been able to conduct some more RF meter measurements on the antenna. As many have noted, and some calculated theoretically in the scientific literature, this antenna seems only to 'work' by virtue of feedline radiation. There appears to be almost no field strength from the cylindrical radiators, whilst there is strong radiation, even with the presence of a well-made balun, from the coax. This feedline radiation only became clearly apparent when I raised the antenna to 2m above ground, allowing a decent length of vertical line to reveal this effect. The previous 'low angle' conclusion was merely my meter picking up less radiation from a much shorter vertical section of coax.
So, it does appear to be a complete dud, after all - so much so that I'm not spending any more time or even poicket money resources on a lower band version.
Wednesday, 19 August 2015
The Surprises of a 'Dead Band'
Over the past month or so, I've been transitioning away from a rubbish terrestrial microwave broadband link to one supplied by a different route - a mobile phone network, as it turned out. Living in the countryside does have distinct frustrations. At least I managed to avoid paying £400 for a satellite broadband system...
Whilst I'd normally operate JT65A during the evening, when the kids are in bed, it was a little difficult to synchronise the PC clock without a net connection, even though I could do it using a radio-controlled wall clock.
So, I turned to PSK for the first time in a while.
Often, PSK seems to deliver less DX and more local QSOs for the same propagation conditions, although some surprises can happen. One of these came about on 15m the other day, during the afternoon on a band that was empty apart from the faint, intermittently-readable PSK-31 trace on my screen.
It turned out that weak trace was from AH6V - Hawaii! Whilst I've bagged several HI QSOs, it's always nice to hear from that archipelago, so I tried a call, not really expecting my vpol delta loop and about 30Watts (unusually high power for me), would cut it.
Luckily, after a slight increase to about 40Watts, I managed to get all the details across and have them confirmed back. Given that PSK isn't very robust in the face of poor conditions, I was very pleased!
PSK-63 later returned a lovely signal from XU7TZG, which I was equally happy to bag for the day's DX list.
The beauty of PSK is its large uptake amongst hams, and the speed with which a QSO proceeds. Unlike JT65, where you might spend hours grabbing something unusual, PSK lets you scan around the bands, give a quick call if you want to, and find something interesting quite quickly. It also doesn't need any clock synchronisation at all, which is a big plus!
So, there you go. Always give a 'dead band' a go, and respect the benefits of the PSK modes!
Whilst I'd normally operate JT65A during the evening, when the kids are in bed, it was a little difficult to synchronise the PC clock without a net connection, even though I could do it using a radio-controlled wall clock.
So, I turned to PSK for the first time in a while.
Often, PSK seems to deliver less DX and more local QSOs for the same propagation conditions, although some surprises can happen. One of these came about on 15m the other day, during the afternoon on a band that was empty apart from the faint, intermittently-readable PSK-31 trace on my screen.
It turned out that weak trace was from AH6V - Hawaii! Whilst I've bagged several HI QSOs, it's always nice to hear from that archipelago, so I tried a call, not really expecting my vpol delta loop and about 30Watts (unusually high power for me), would cut it.
Luckily, after a slight increase to about 40Watts, I managed to get all the details across and have them confirmed back. Given that PSK isn't very robust in the face of poor conditions, I was very pleased!
PSK-63 later returned a lovely signal from XU7TZG, which I was equally happy to bag for the day's DX list.
The beauty of PSK is its large uptake amongst hams, and the speed with which a QSO proceeds. Unlike JT65, where you might spend hours grabbing something unusual, PSK lets you scan around the bands, give a quick call if you want to, and find something interesting quite quickly. It also doesn't need any clock synchronisation at all, which is a big plus!
So, there you go. Always give a 'dead band' a go, and respect the benefits of the PSK modes!
Tuesday, 21 July 2015
Amateur Radio Parity Act
Regular readers will know of my general disgruntlement with the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB). Top of my moan list was that the RSGB , through its own admission on several occasions, has never particularly campaigned for improvements to permitted developments within planning legislation.
As a result, the RSGB's planning service is reduced to simply telling members what the law on antennas is - which you can anyway find for free online at the Planning Portal - and writing the odd support letter to councils (which, coming from a hobby society, can be expected to have very little impact.)
Contrast this, then, with the current, high-profile campaign by the ARRL and US-based hams in general to support the Amateur Radio Parity Act. This Act will see amateur radio stations no longer subject to neighbour hostility and prejudice that has led to a nationwide proliferation of House Owner Associations simply saying "no antennas here." In every real sense, it has been a rapidly-growing system that was bringing the hobby to its knees, often being so strictly implemented that even an essentially invisible wire around a balcony could bring action against the owner.
Now, amateur operators look set to be granted the same right to develop their land in respect of antennas as any other emergency user. Whilst there is no guarantee of success, the notion, campaign and support is really a positive story for amateur radio, and one that leaves the RSGB, yet again, lagging well behind, content simply to concern itself with the interests of hardcore DX clubs, committee urchins, and the bah-humbug elderly who have long lost sight of how modern Britain works against its own people.
Well done, the ARRL! Well done, the US of A!
As a result, the RSGB's planning service is reduced to simply telling members what the law on antennas is - which you can anyway find for free online at the Planning Portal - and writing the odd support letter to councils (which, coming from a hobby society, can be expected to have very little impact.)
Contrast this, then, with the current, high-profile campaign by the ARRL and US-based hams in general to support the Amateur Radio Parity Act. This Act will see amateur radio stations no longer subject to neighbour hostility and prejudice that has led to a nationwide proliferation of House Owner Associations simply saying "no antennas here." In every real sense, it has been a rapidly-growing system that was bringing the hobby to its knees, often being so strictly implemented that even an essentially invisible wire around a balcony could bring action against the owner.
Now, amateur operators look set to be granted the same right to develop their land in respect of antennas as any other emergency user. Whilst there is no guarantee of success, the notion, campaign and support is really a positive story for amateur radio, and one that leaves the RSGB, yet again, lagging well behind, content simply to concern itself with the interests of hardcore DX clubs, committee urchins, and the bah-humbug elderly who have long lost sight of how modern Britain works against its own people.
Well done, the ARRL! Well done, the US of A!
“What
if their parents have bought houses in neighborhoods with deed
restrictions prohibiting antennas?” she speculated. “Those kids’
interest in ham radio gained from school, Scouts, or family friends will
have no way to blossom into the life-changing experience of being radio
amateurs.” - See more at:
http://www.kingscountyradioclub.com/the-amateur-radio-parity-act-of-2015-politicians-do-listen-arrl-president-says/#sthash.OlRKC5To.dpuf
“What
if their parents have bought houses in neighborhoods with deed
restrictions prohibiting antennas?” she speculated. “Those kids’
interest in ham radio gained from school, Scouts, or family friends will
have no way to blossom into the life-changing experience of being radio
amateurs.” - See more at:
http://www.kingscountyradioclub.com/the-amateur-radio-parity-act-of-2015-politicians-do-listen-arrl-president-says/#sthash.OlRKC5To.dpuf
Thursday, 9 July 2015
SDR Receiver
A mate of mine bought a new Elad SDR receiver the other day. Lucky him! I'm not much into simply listening, but that's not to say I don't have any interest in it.
I've been thinking about one of those FunCube or Watson dongles for a couple of years. But the price of about £100 - £150 was putting me off.
A quick search online revealed SDR receivers on Amazon and Ebay going for about £37. That's more like it, and all-too-typical of take-the-ham-for-a-ride pricing when buying from specialist outlets.
Freeware is readily available for these dongle type receivers, and from all accounts, there should be very little I won't be able to hear for £37 that my mate paid £500 for his Elad. In fact, according to one seemingly objective test, the Elad was trailing behind the cheap dongles on occasion!
Having played with the box of tricks for a day or so, I have to say the installation was absolutely infuriating! This is because it needs a driver that, as I later found out, comes within the Zadig library with SDR Sharp, the software most commonly used with these units.
A number of YouTube videos of this apparently exact-same box tell you to use sampling modes other than quadrature. In fact, quadrature sampling was exactly what my box needs, and having selected this within SDR Sharp and then adjusted the bandwidth to 120000 on wideband FM (or just 10000 on AM), I suddenly found everything was working perfectly.
Apparently, a different driver is needed to access the HF bands, making this box much more cumbersome to use than initially meets the eye. All the same, at VHF, I was amazed to find that, using just a simple dipole cut to the airband frequencies, I was picking up not only the aircraft but the regional controllers on the ground as well - in some cases a couple of hundred miles away, at least. I never remember achieving that with any of my old scanners.
 |
| Nice design. How does the entry-level version of Elad SDR compare, at £500, against a £37 dingle-type SDR? |
I've been thinking about one of those FunCube or Watson dongles for a couple of years. But the price of about £100 - £150 was putting me off.
A quick search online revealed SDR receivers on Amazon and Ebay going for about £37. That's more like it, and all-too-typical of take-the-ham-for-a-ride pricing when buying from specialist outlets.
 |
| Generic, China-made SDR dongle/box type. Just £37! |
Freeware is readily available for these dongle type receivers, and from all accounts, there should be very little I won't be able to hear for £37 that my mate paid £500 for his Elad. In fact, according to one seemingly objective test, the Elad was trailing behind the cheap dongles on occasion!
Having played with the box of tricks for a day or so, I have to say the installation was absolutely infuriating! This is because it needs a driver that, as I later found out, comes within the Zadig library with SDR Sharp, the software most commonly used with these units.
A number of YouTube videos of this apparently exact-same box tell you to use sampling modes other than quadrature. In fact, quadrature sampling was exactly what my box needs, and having selected this within SDR Sharp and then adjusted the bandwidth to 120000 on wideband FM (or just 10000 on AM), I suddenly found everything was working perfectly.
Apparently, a different driver is needed to access the HF bands, making this box much more cumbersome to use than initially meets the eye. All the same, at VHF, I was amazed to find that, using just a simple dipole cut to the airband frequencies, I was picking up not only the aircraft but the regional controllers on the ground as well - in some cases a couple of hundred miles away, at least. I never remember achieving that with any of my old scanners.
Wednesday, 8 July 2015
Aloha DX!
Having long passed the phase of the hobby where competition either with others or myself is of any importance, interest in DX is now a much more enjoyable phenomenon of curiosity alone.
So it was nice to see, this morning, some fairly strong signals coming across to Wales from Hawaii on 15m. At least two stations were active on the islands, although the one that called me didn't hear the my confirmation. Having gained the WAS award already, I was still disappointed not to have the QSO made good!
I'll be on 15m a little bit earlier tomorrow, as this is an early hint of autumn-like propagation; plenty of long path JA was also coming in.
So it was nice to see, this morning, some fairly strong signals coming across to Wales from Hawaii on 15m. At least two stations were active on the islands, although the one that called me didn't hear the my confirmation. Having gained the WAS award already, I was still disappointed not to have the QSO made good!
I'll be on 15m a little bit earlier tomorrow, as this is an early hint of autumn-like propagation; plenty of long path JA was also coming in.
Saturday, 4 July 2015
Programming Baofeng UV-5RC
I've recently been trying to manually progam the superb Baofeng UV-5RC in channel mode, which is not intuitive! This came about because I have a new handheld satellite antenna that only has one feed, so channel programming is a necessity to cope with Doppler shifts and, sometimes, the need to use a different CTCSS tone to activate the satellite, as opposed to simply sending the correct access tone with each transmission.
Coping with all these factors manually with two antennas and two transceivers is easy, especially if you have rotary knob tuning rather than 'up/down' buttons. But it's absolutely impossible with just one transceiver doing all the work in the direct entry, frequency mode. So my new set-up forced a new way of doing things - programming.
There are some videos like this one out there, but I still found myself really scratching my head until I wrote everything down and went through it in a step-by-step manner.
Whilst a programming cable is very cheap, and can easily be made up from phono and USB cables, the following doesn't need any cable or the usual free software folks use - CHIRP - at all.
Here's how I programmed it for satellite operations:
Enter frequency mode (vfo/ORANGE BUTTON)
(Voice confirms mode)
Enter RX frequency e.g. 436.850
Press MENU
Enter 27 for channel storing
press MENU
Enter channel number
press MENU
voice confirms RECEIVING FRQ/CH
PRESS EXIT
--------------------------------------------
Enter TX frequency, e.g. 145.850
NEED ANY CTCSS TONE? - if so, PRESS MENU > 13 > select required CTCSS tone
Press MENU
Enter 27 for channel storing (will already be on the earlier setting for RX)
press MENU
(voice confirms RECEIVING FRQ/CH)
Press EXIT.
DONE!
If you find the rig always returns a "transmitting frq/ch" voice no matter what you do, there's something already in that memory and you need to delete its contents before you can fully reprogram it. Enter MENU > 28 > MENU > delete the appropriate channel number, cofnirm by hitting MENU again. You should now be able to enter the RX, followed by the TX frq as per the instructions above.
 |
| The UV5-series handhelds sell for just £22, but provide great fun, with very good performance. |
Coping with all these factors manually with two antennas and two transceivers is easy, especially if you have rotary knob tuning rather than 'up/down' buttons. But it's absolutely impossible with just one transceiver doing all the work in the direct entry, frequency mode. So my new set-up forced a new way of doing things - programming.
There are some videos like this one out there, but I still found myself really scratching my head until I wrote everything down and went through it in a step-by-step manner.
Whilst a programming cable is very cheap, and can easily be made up from phono and USB cables, the following doesn't need any cable or the usual free software folks use - CHIRP - at all.
Here's how I programmed it for satellite operations:
Enter frequency mode (vfo/ORANGE BUTTON)
(Voice confirms mode)
Enter RX frequency e.g. 436.850
Press MENU
Enter 27 for channel storing
press MENU
Enter channel number
press MENU
voice confirms RECEIVING FRQ/CH
PRESS EXIT
--------------------------------------------
Enter TX frequency, e.g. 145.850
NEED ANY CTCSS TONE? - if so, PRESS MENU > 13 > select required CTCSS tone
Press MENU
Enter 27 for channel storing (will already be on the earlier setting for RX)
press MENU
(voice confirms RECEIVING FRQ/CH)
Press EXIT.
DONE!
If you find the rig always returns a "transmitting frq/ch" voice no matter what you do, there's something already in that memory and you need to delete its contents before you can fully reprogram it. Enter MENU > 28 > MENU > delete the appropriate channel number, cofnirm by hitting MENU again. You should now be able to enter the RX, followed by the TX frq as per the instructions above.
Friday, 3 July 2015
Sandpiper Antennas 2m/70cm Yagi
Well, some years ago, I built my own stick-and-wire quads for 2m and 70cm, and to my absolute amazement, found it easy to work the SO-50 FM satellite with just a couple of Watts from a handheld.
Unfortunately, so far as I know, only SO-50 is available as an FM low earth orbit satellite at the moment, although any time now, AMSAT's FOX 1 is due to hurtle into space.
Weather - and my XYL's poor parking - took its toll on my 2m quad, and a 109mph wind that threw it up in the air in February 2014 meant its life was over.
Since then, I've been inactive on satellites. So, not being minded to build another antenna for the time being, I opted to buy a Sandpiper dual-band Yagi. The current price is £88 including postage, which is not cheap, but not expensive, either.
The parcel duly arrived in a couple of days. I did give advance notice to the seller that I'd be reviewing the antenna.
How does it fare?
Firstly, the impression of the packaging is a 6 out of 10. The half cardboard tube, half crushed cardboard box wasn't very neat, and compared to the kind of proprietary tube in which the likes of Geoff Brown, aka G-Whip send their equally-priced mobile antennas out, it was pretty amateurish, to be honest.
The instruction sheet is a single sheet, with little by way of a step-by-step. It's no problem at all for someone who's played with Yagis before, but it might be slightly daunting for a newcomer. I thought the instructions could be a lot clearer with minimal effort.
The materials used are to Sandpiper's credit. Just about everything is stainless steel, although grubscrews looked to be mild steel to me. Not a big deal if you put a small amount of grease on them, or if you keep the modestly sized antenna indoors or in the car. The 2m elements are very springy, which makes the antenna quiver a fair bit when held in the hand. But that's just nit-picking; it's a perfectly sturdy, reasonably lightweight antenna that can clearly take anything the weather can throw at it in a permanent installation.
I had hoped the antenna would be much lighter than I found it to be in practice. Despite being marketed as "ideal [for] satellites", it has the usual problem of front-heaviness, so it quickly becomes tiring to hold. A homebrew addition of a timber extension to the boom so that my forearm stops the thing from pulling down too much has sorted most of that out. As it is, you can just about manage a 10 minute pass without your arm giving up entirely. In reality, there's little to suggest the practicality of hand holding this antenna for satellite work has been a consideration in its design. With suitable changes, this could make the antenna much more attractive.
What (pleasantly) surprised me was the single feed. The antenna comes with an SO-239 socket, which is not ideal at VHF/UHF, although the very short cable lengths used for handheld satellite work make this an academic issue. The matching is achieved via a twin gamma match. With both sets of elements in the same plane and interacting somewhat, adjusting for lowest SWR was not a trivial exercise; it took about 30 minutes for me to tweak everything, including some pretty significant bending of the gamma rods; the suggested setting length for 145MHz just wasn't possible out the box, as it was about 5cm too short! Some sliding in and out of the elements might have helped here, which is mentioned rather unclearly in the instructions, and I'll try that out at some later point.
Eventually, I managed to get both bands down to about 1:1.4, maybe 1:1.3. That's acceptable for a twin band antenna and handheld at low power. I'm pretty sure that, whilst it would make the antenna more difficult to pack in a car, it would nevertheless have better matching with elements at right angles. The single gamma match probably mitigates against that design, though.
Here is the plot from my SARK-110 analyser for the 2m part of the antenna, performed several months after I first tuned it, and taking a more relaxed approach: it's best to match the 2m for lowest SWR, and not worry too much about less-than-perfect matching on the 70cm part, because that's only used for listening when satellite working.
For sure, tests on a 70cm repeater at 63km on the Isle of Man (line of sight sea path), showed the antenna to work very well, with a good front-to-back I'd estimate at about 20dB or more. I didn't try the 2m beam. Tests on SO-50 haven't yet yielded any results, as it was very late during a weekday, and the satellite passing extremely high to the north, with consequently no activity.
One thing I did find out through buying this antenna was the ability of the Baofeng UV-5RC to transmit on one band, and listen on another. That's very handy, because otherwise, my single-feed Yagi would have been useless with one handheld tcvr! This useful video helped greatly over reading some Chinglish manual that anyway doesn't seem to tell you how to do it! It is much nicer, though, to listen to your own transmissions coming back, in which case the easiest and cheapest solution is two antennas (or two feeds) to two separate handhelds. Without this feedback, and especially early on in the pass, you don't know if you're hitting the satellite, or whether it needs the lower CTCSS code to open the timer. Those are bigger issues than you might expect. On the flip side, managing two handhelds or two separate antennas is very difficult, unless you have one antenna supported on a pole (which was my earlier arrangement.)
UPDATE:
I've now had a chance to test the antenna on a couple of SO-50 passes. The signal on receive is very good indeed, and lacks nothing. There's also no problem getting up into the satellite, as I managed several QSOs on a low-to-the-horizon pass just now. The service, including packaging from Sandpiper gets a 6/10, dragged down by not-very-enthusiastic responses from the seller, and poor packaging quality. The value for money gets a 7/10, and the quality of the antenna a 7/10, dragged down by the difficult matching and misleading claim that, once assembled, it can be disassembled solely by use of the wing nuts. The instructions are 6/10. Ease of matching isn't really something to score as such, but it isn't very easy, and bore little semblance to the suggested settings. A few minutes creating and posting an assembly and matching video online would probably help Sandpiper's customers and save them some time.
The antenna fits in the car quite easily, which makes it very useful for me, as I often find myself waiting for kids for hours on end, when a ham radio is very good company.
Would I buy it again? I don't think the price is too bad, and having used it in anger on SO-50, can say I'm not at all disappointed by it - except for its pretty poor performance when the satellite is low in the sky; it's a very, very long way short of my old 5-ele up, 7 ele down quads in that respect. I'm not wildly excited by its matching and physical imbalance. In fact, because of the need to adjust for Doppler shift and sometimes to transmit a timer-opening CTCSS tone that's different to the normal access tone, I was forced to get to grips with programming channels on my Baofeng UV-5RC. Adjusting all the factors in Frequency Mode is impossible with a single handheld. The single button press required to change channel and thus allow for the Doppler shift is, in fact, a much better arrangement than the earlier, direct-entry system I was using.
Whilst I was very annoyed at having to do so initially, now I have done it, it's actually much easier to skip up or down a few kHz with everything pre-programmed. Just press an up or down button, and the correct shift is there on both uplink and downlink. An additional channel stores the correct tone for opening the sat when it's gone into sleep mode!
So, it's fine if you want to save some time and get going quickly. It's also good for single handie use and ease of transport. It's not so good for grabbing trans-Atlantic LEO QSOs, I'm afraid. All the same, I'm hoping that, seeing a shiny antenna pointing skywards, folk outside the school or in the shopping car park will stop by, ask what the heck I'm doing, and leave amazed that a 'walkie talkie' is sending signals into space!
Unfortunately, so far as I know, only SO-50 is available as an FM low earth orbit satellite at the moment, although any time now, AMSAT's FOX 1 is due to hurtle into space.
Weather - and my XYL's poor parking - took its toll on my 2m quad, and a 109mph wind that threw it up in the air in February 2014 meant its life was over.
Since then, I've been inactive on satellites. So, not being minded to build another antenna for the time being, I opted to buy a Sandpiper dual-band Yagi. The current price is £88 including postage, which is not cheap, but not expensive, either.
 |
| The Sandpiper 2m/70cm Yagi. |
The parcel duly arrived in a couple of days. I did give advance notice to the seller that I'd be reviewing the antenna.
How does it fare?
Firstly, the impression of the packaging is a 6 out of 10. The half cardboard tube, half crushed cardboard box wasn't very neat, and compared to the kind of proprietary tube in which the likes of Geoff Brown, aka G-Whip send their equally-priced mobile antennas out, it was pretty amateurish, to be honest.
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| I've seen better instructions. More notes on matching would be useful... |
The instruction sheet is a single sheet, with little by way of a step-by-step. It's no problem at all for someone who's played with Yagis before, but it might be slightly daunting for a newcomer. I thought the instructions could be a lot clearer with minimal effort.
The materials used are to Sandpiper's credit. Just about everything is stainless steel, although grubscrews looked to be mild steel to me. Not a big deal if you put a small amount of grease on them, or if you keep the modestly sized antenna indoors or in the car. The 2m elements are very springy, which makes the antenna quiver a fair bit when held in the hand. But that's just nit-picking; it's a perfectly sturdy, reasonably lightweight antenna that can clearly take anything the weather can throw at it in a permanent installation.
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| Stainless elements pass through demountable, wing-nut secured bolts. Great for transporting. |
I had hoped the antenna would be much lighter than I found it to be in practice. Despite being marketed as "ideal [for] satellites", it has the usual problem of front-heaviness, so it quickly becomes tiring to hold. A homebrew addition of a timber extension to the boom so that my forearm stops the thing from pulling down too much has sorted most of that out. As it is, you can just about manage a 10 minute pass without your arm giving up entirely. In reality, there's little to suggest the practicality of hand holding this antenna for satellite work has been a consideration in its design. With suitable changes, this could make the antenna much more attractive.
What (pleasantly) surprised me was the single feed. The antenna comes with an SO-239 socket, which is not ideal at VHF/UHF, although the very short cable lengths used for handheld satellite work make this an academic issue. The matching is achieved via a twin gamma match. With both sets of elements in the same plane and interacting somewhat, adjusting for lowest SWR was not a trivial exercise; it took about 30 minutes for me to tweak everything, including some pretty significant bending of the gamma rods; the suggested setting length for 145MHz just wasn't possible out the box, as it was about 5cm too short! Some sliding in and out of the elements might have helped here, which is mentioned rather unclearly in the instructions, and I'll try that out at some later point.
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| The single-feed, twin gamma match for 2m and 70cm, prior to fitting the shorting bars. It works, but was very twitchy to match, especially on 2m. |
Eventually, I managed to get both bands down to about 1:1.4, maybe 1:1.3. That's acceptable for a twin band antenna and handheld at low power. I'm pretty sure that, whilst it would make the antenna more difficult to pack in a car, it would nevertheless have better matching with elements at right angles. The single gamma match probably mitigates against that design, though.
Here is the plot from my SARK-110 analyser for the 2m part of the antenna, performed several months after I first tuned it, and taking a more relaxed approach: it's best to match the 2m for lowest SWR, and not worry too much about less-than-perfect matching on the 70cm part, because that's only used for listening when satellite working.
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| Very good matching on 2m for the Sandpiper, but getting both bands matched is tricky. |
For sure, tests on a 70cm repeater at 63km on the Isle of Man (line of sight sea path), showed the antenna to work very well, with a good front-to-back I'd estimate at about 20dB or more. I didn't try the 2m beam. Tests on SO-50 haven't yet yielded any results, as it was very late during a weekday, and the satellite passing extremely high to the north, with consequently no activity.
One thing I did find out through buying this antenna was the ability of the Baofeng UV-5RC to transmit on one band, and listen on another. That's very handy, because otherwise, my single-feed Yagi would have been useless with one handheld tcvr! This useful video helped greatly over reading some Chinglish manual that anyway doesn't seem to tell you how to do it! It is much nicer, though, to listen to your own transmissions coming back, in which case the easiest and cheapest solution is two antennas (or two feeds) to two separate handhelds. Without this feedback, and especially early on in the pass, you don't know if you're hitting the satellite, or whether it needs the lower CTCSS code to open the timer. Those are bigger issues than you might expect. On the flip side, managing two handhelds or two separate antennas is very difficult, unless you have one antenna supported on a pole (which was my earlier arrangement.)
UPDATE:
I've now had a chance to test the antenna on a couple of SO-50 passes. The signal on receive is very good indeed, and lacks nothing. There's also no problem getting up into the satellite, as I managed several QSOs on a low-to-the-horizon pass just now. The service, including packaging from Sandpiper gets a 6/10, dragged down by not-very-enthusiastic responses from the seller, and poor packaging quality. The value for money gets a 7/10, and the quality of the antenna a 7/10, dragged down by the difficult matching and misleading claim that, once assembled, it can be disassembled solely by use of the wing nuts. The instructions are 6/10. Ease of matching isn't really something to score as such, but it isn't very easy, and bore little semblance to the suggested settings. A few minutes creating and posting an assembly and matching video online would probably help Sandpiper's customers and save them some time.
The antenna fits in the car quite easily, which makes it very useful for me, as I often find myself waiting for kids for hours on end, when a ham radio is very good company.
Would I buy it again? I don't think the price is too bad, and having used it in anger on SO-50, can say I'm not at all disappointed by it - except for its pretty poor performance when the satellite is low in the sky; it's a very, very long way short of my old 5-ele up, 7 ele down quads in that respect. I'm not wildly excited by its matching and physical imbalance. In fact, because of the need to adjust for Doppler shift and sometimes to transmit a timer-opening CTCSS tone that's different to the normal access tone, I was forced to get to grips with programming channels on my Baofeng UV-5RC. Adjusting all the factors in Frequency Mode is impossible with a single handheld. The single button press required to change channel and thus allow for the Doppler shift is, in fact, a much better arrangement than the earlier, direct-entry system I was using.
Whilst I was very annoyed at having to do so initially, now I have done it, it's actually much easier to skip up or down a few kHz with everything pre-programmed. Just press an up or down button, and the correct shift is there on both uplink and downlink. An additional channel stores the correct tone for opening the sat when it's gone into sleep mode!
So, it's fine if you want to save some time and get going quickly. It's also good for single handie use and ease of transport. It's not so good for grabbing trans-Atlantic LEO QSOs, I'm afraid. All the same, I'm hoping that, seeing a shiny antenna pointing skywards, folk outside the school or in the shopping car park will stop by, ask what the heck I'm doing, and leave amazed that a 'walkie talkie' is sending signals into space!
Monday, 29 June 2015
Goodbye RSGB, Hello ARRL.
Well, the Cornwall debacle between the RSGB and OFCOM was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Having never found the RSGB representing my particular views, concerns and interests, the latest 'rule-by-committee' rubbish was just too much, and I cancelled my membership over the weekend.
Already, this is proving to be an interesting exercise. As soon as I ditched the RSGB, I joined the ARRL. In return for about £20 per annum less than it costs me to join the RSGB, not only am I a member but also have 'QST' magazine delivered to my door each month! Compared to the dull, dry writing by elderly and establishment figures in the RSGB's 'RadCom' magazine, QST is clear, practical and enthusiastic.
Add to that the instant ability to log in to the website and start enjoying member benefits, and a nice ARRL-based e-mail address and, already, it is feeling much more welcoming and practical than the RSGB's 'old man' club approach.
Sure, the ARRL will not be representing radio here in the UK. But, then, neither very much is the RSGB. By its own admission, it has given up lobbying for improvements to amateur radio rights in the UK, and is really only manifest in the magazine and some loose affiliation scheme with clubs around the country.
In the end, this is a journey. I hope that a proper alternative that puts committees and society 'big wigs' to one side and members' interests to the fore will eventually emerge to oust the RSGB. In this day of new media, it's surprising this hasn't already happened. It might be I join some other society, like the European one. Time will tell.
And, yes, I do take offence that a simple, member-based hobby society has a Managing Director earning in excess - possibly well in excess - of £60,000 a year.
Having never found the RSGB representing my particular views, concerns and interests, the latest 'rule-by-committee' rubbish was just too much, and I cancelled my membership over the weekend.
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| So long, RSGB... |
Already, this is proving to be an interesting exercise. As soon as I ditched the RSGB, I joined the ARRL. In return for about £20 per annum less than it costs me to join the RSGB, not only am I a member but also have 'QST' magazine delivered to my door each month! Compared to the dull, dry writing by elderly and establishment figures in the RSGB's 'RadCom' magazine, QST is clear, practical and enthusiastic.
Add to that the instant ability to log in to the website and start enjoying member benefits, and a nice ARRL-based e-mail address and, already, it is feeling much more welcoming and practical than the RSGB's 'old man' club approach.
Sure, the ARRL will not be representing radio here in the UK. But, then, neither very much is the RSGB. By its own admission, it has given up lobbying for improvements to amateur radio rights in the UK, and is really only manifest in the magazine and some loose affiliation scheme with clubs around the country.
In the end, this is a journey. I hope that a proper alternative that puts committees and society 'big wigs' to one side and members' interests to the fore will eventually emerge to oust the RSGB. In this day of new media, it's surprising this hasn't already happened. It might be I join some other society, like the European one. Time will tell.
And, yes, I do take offence that a simple, member-based hobby society has a Managing Director earning in excess - possibly well in excess - of £60,000 a year.
Saturday, 27 June 2015
An OFCOM 'Fudge' and an RSGB Win
After a year of making a mess of things, OFCOM, the UK communications regulator, has reached its final decision on the use of a permanent regional locator for Cornwall.
The basic outcome is that, having changed its position a couple of times since last summer, OFCOM is only allowing a temporary RSL to be used - which has a maximum duration of one year.
The decision letter can be found here.
This will undoubtedly be seen by those running the RSGB as a success story. Having supported OFCOM objections from the outset, and made several of its own, the RSGB has prevailed in preventing a new, permanent RSL for Cornwall. This is despite the official National Minority Status granted to Cornwall by none other than the UK government.
Personally, I think this highlights three things:
(1) The RSGB used the argument that its members had not been consulted throughout this debacle. Despite that, it supported initial OFCOM objections and put forward its own objections. You will note OFCOM say, very clearly, that the RGSB "challenged" their decision to award a permanent RSL. So, there is now no ambiguity that the RSGB did, contrary to its own statements to this blog, object to the concept. Lack of consultation was never a bar to the RSGB in objecting. It is reasonable to ask whether, therefore, the RSGB is properly accountable and democratic. The society has even told me that they pick and choose what they consult on. That may be constitutionally valid, but it isn't properly democratic.
(2) There has been a clear assertion by the RSGB that "Cornwall is an integral part of England". This fails to have regard for the National Minority Status. It also has no regard for the particular Celtic history of the area, and for most people interested in the story, would be seen as insulting, bordering on intolerance.
(3) OFCOM ought to lose all sense of credibility. It first objected and refused the RSL (within five days). Then it supported the RSL, writing to all Cornish MPs in that vein, and issuing an offer letter to Poldhu in September 2014. Then it changed its mind, retracting the offer, folding under 'pressure', such as it was, from what appears to have been a very few bigwigs within the RSGB. Its final outcome is nothing other than an all-too-typical political fudge, where it can claim to have both supported Cornwall and the RSGB. Ironically, some of the best, edible fudge is found in Cornwall, which I encourage you to buy.
The RSGB has, merely by stating a never-specified number of people complained to it, managed to both get OFCOM to make a u-turn upon a u-turn, and a complete fool of itself.
Is it really that difficult and time-consuming for OFCOM to formulate a rule - currently absent - that specifies how RSLs are awarded? Here's my stab at it, in real time: "Permanent RSLs are available only to those regions within the UK designated as having National Minority Status, or where the historical narrative is so unambiguous as to have effectively granted the same." The rubbish about everybody jumping on the bandwagon was always a red herring, and both OFCOM and the RSGB know it.
Unlike that left by real Cornish fudge, this episode leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It yet again raises questions about the way in which the RSGB is run, and for what purpose.
Given that the RSGB only really provides what I find to be a rather poor magazine in return for the membership fee, and that it acts in the way this nonsense has shown, I really will be pulling the plug and terminating my membership this week.
The only positive thing in this debacle is that OFCOM identify the first use of RSLs as dating back to the 1950s. As I pointed out in an earlier post, this demolishes the ridiculous view put forward by the RSGB that RSLs were limited to those parts of the UK which had their own governments and laws (which date back less than 20 years.)
Oh, and one more thing about OFCOM is that, in claiming it has no mandate to award RSLs, it doesn't explain why radio licensing custom and practice, unlike other areas of law, is not used as a means of establishing how things go on in the future. Indeed, if OFCOM doesn't have this competence, how could it recently award a 'C' RSL for Wales as a politically-correct sop to bilingualism in that nation (of which I am, incidentally, a welsh-speaking part), when it has, up until then, been firmly an Anglo-centric 'W'?
I haven't asked the RSGB the tricky question as to whether it now welcomes or decries the refusal to award a permanent RSL for Cornwall. Whatever it says, I'm really not interested; the best you can do in cases like this is refuse to recognise those who claim to represent the radio community.
And for an example of the kind of childish invective out there amongst hams themselves, here is an extract from the Chiltern DX Club forum, which really does it little service at all:
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| A Cornish fudge, made by OFCOM and the RSGB. Can be difficult to digest. |
The basic outcome is that, having changed its position a couple of times since last summer, OFCOM is only allowing a temporary RSL to be used - which has a maximum duration of one year.
The decision letter can be found here.
This will undoubtedly be seen by those running the RSGB as a success story. Having supported OFCOM objections from the outset, and made several of its own, the RSGB has prevailed in preventing a new, permanent RSL for Cornwall. This is despite the official National Minority Status granted to Cornwall by none other than the UK government.
Personally, I think this highlights three things:
(1) The RSGB used the argument that its members had not been consulted throughout this debacle. Despite that, it supported initial OFCOM objections and put forward its own objections. You will note OFCOM say, very clearly, that the RGSB "challenged" their decision to award a permanent RSL. So, there is now no ambiguity that the RSGB did, contrary to its own statements to this blog, object to the concept. Lack of consultation was never a bar to the RSGB in objecting. It is reasonable to ask whether, therefore, the RSGB is properly accountable and democratic. The society has even told me that they pick and choose what they consult on. That may be constitutionally valid, but it isn't properly democratic.
(2) There has been a clear assertion by the RSGB that "Cornwall is an integral part of England". This fails to have regard for the National Minority Status. It also has no regard for the particular Celtic history of the area, and for most people interested in the story, would be seen as insulting, bordering on intolerance.
(3) OFCOM ought to lose all sense of credibility. It first objected and refused the RSL (within five days). Then it supported the RSL, writing to all Cornish MPs in that vein, and issuing an offer letter to Poldhu in September 2014. Then it changed its mind, retracting the offer, folding under 'pressure', such as it was, from what appears to have been a very few bigwigs within the RSGB. Its final outcome is nothing other than an all-too-typical political fudge, where it can claim to have both supported Cornwall and the RSGB. Ironically, some of the best, edible fudge is found in Cornwall, which I encourage you to buy.
The RSGB has, merely by stating a never-specified number of people complained to it, managed to both get OFCOM to make a u-turn upon a u-turn, and a complete fool of itself.
Is it really that difficult and time-consuming for OFCOM to formulate a rule - currently absent - that specifies how RSLs are awarded? Here's my stab at it, in real time: "Permanent RSLs are available only to those regions within the UK designated as having National Minority Status, or where the historical narrative is so unambiguous as to have effectively granted the same." The rubbish about everybody jumping on the bandwagon was always a red herring, and both OFCOM and the RSGB know it.
Unlike that left by real Cornish fudge, this episode leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It yet again raises questions about the way in which the RSGB is run, and for what purpose.
Given that the RSGB only really provides what I find to be a rather poor magazine in return for the membership fee, and that it acts in the way this nonsense has shown, I really will be pulling the plug and terminating my membership this week.
The only positive thing in this debacle is that OFCOM identify the first use of RSLs as dating back to the 1950s. As I pointed out in an earlier post, this demolishes the ridiculous view put forward by the RSGB that RSLs were limited to those parts of the UK which had their own governments and laws (which date back less than 20 years.)
Oh, and one more thing about OFCOM is that, in claiming it has no mandate to award RSLs, it doesn't explain why radio licensing custom and practice, unlike other areas of law, is not used as a means of establishing how things go on in the future. Indeed, if OFCOM doesn't have this competence, how could it recently award a 'C' RSL for Wales as a politically-correct sop to bilingualism in that nation (of which I am, incidentally, a welsh-speaking part), when it has, up until then, been firmly an Anglo-centric 'W'?
I haven't asked the RSGB the tricky question as to whether it now welcomes or decries the refusal to award a permanent RSL for Cornwall. Whatever it says, I'm really not interested; the best you can do in cases like this is refuse to recognise those who claim to represent the radio community.
And for an example of the kind of childish invective out there amongst hams themselves, here is an extract from the Chiltern DX Club forum, which really does it little service at all:
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