Monday 30 March 2015

VK5CE/P St. Peter Island

Craig, VK5CE is out on his own at the moment on St. Peter Island (OC-220.)

Oh, to be there!

He's doing a fine job of managing the inevitable pile-up, more especially since it's about ten years since this island was last activated.

I was lucky enough to cut through the massive wall of calls at 18:11z this afternoon, using just 100W pep and a single element delta loop. 

Craig has done very well to use simple verticals, which of course send out superb signals when sitting essentially at sea level, with the water just metres away in any direction.  It's always a bit dumb when folk put up Yagis at beach locations, where they simply can't compete with a quarter wave or a 2-ele vertical beam. 

With a 59+ signal into Wales at early greyline, Craig is showing us all how to do it the right way at the seaside!


Friday 27 March 2015

In the Office at 7am. The RSGB Response.

Earlier in the week, I sent a letter to the RSGB to express my views (but not as a formal complaint) that £60,000 was a very generous remuneration package for one person working in a hobby society.  Of course, all we know about the actual payment is that it is in excess of £60,000.

Members of the society may be interested to read the response issued a couple of days later.  Whilst I had already accepted that there is no doubt a lot of work to do, I am not remotely persuaded by the bleating that this "person" is at his desk at 7am, and doesn't leave until 5pm.  At at least 2.3 times the average national UK wage, and probably significantly higher than that, you'd kind of expect someone to be working at least those hours.

No car as part of the upper crust's salary.  That's alright then!

I think I have to be concerned that the Board Chairman compares the existing position holder's benefits with those enjoyed by the previous incumbent.  If one is to assume that the person receiving this salary is the General Manager, then of course, the past incumbent (and not the present one) was involved in activities that led to legal action to recover monies owed to the Society.  That he had a car on top of the lovely salary was perhaps just an extension of that taking the membership and the society for fools.  It certainly isn't the wisest comparison to make!


Here is the response.  I had considered not publishing the name of the correspondent, but his position is given within the text, it hasn't been marked private, and the society is accountable to its members.  So there is no real moral or legal reason why it should not be public:


"Your e-mail has been passed to me as RSGB Board Chairman.

I note your concern about the payment but would point out that in 2010 the highest salary paid to a Society employee was greater than £59,000 plus a fully funded car. The person currently receiving a salary of greater than £60,000 does not have a car provided by the Society.

Bearing in mind that there have been Board changes over the last five years, I believe that the current salary is commensurate with those offered to people with similar responsibilities in similar roles elsewhere and the various Board members over the five years have noted this in reviewing the salaries.

What I would also point out is that the person who receives the salary is in the office at 7am and leaves at 5pm during the week, participates in calls/meetings in the evening on a number of days per week to coincide with the wider RSGB volunteer community, many of whom still work, and also works on Saturdays and/or Sundays for many weekends per year. The person concerned has also proposed and implemented cost saving measures as the Board is fully aware that we need to be as cost efficient as possible in the current climate.

Finally I would remind you that neither I, as Chairman, nor any other Board Member (who are all directors of the company) receives any salary.

Thanks you again for raising this matter.

Regards

Graham

Graham Murchie  G4FSG"

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Worked All States

A small cardboard tube arrived in this morning's post.  I wondered for a while what it might be.

Ah!  The ARRL label gave the game away as this - finally - being my WAS (basic) award certificate!

'Finally', not because it took me a very long time to obtain - in fact, it took me a very short time of about three years, but because I applied for it on the last day of December, 2014!  Format changes to the certificate printing were apparently the cause of the long delay.

Worth hanging on the wall. 

So, three months later, I have my certificate.  Not bad for the $17 or something is cost (postage was $9.70!), arriving in good shape and no dog ears in a stout cardboard tube.  QRZ.com might take a hint from the ARRL, in that the former organisation's awards ship in envelopes only somewhat stiffened by thin card, and a bit more prone to damage (though mine wasn't.)

I find myself again wondering about QSLing.  It's now almost a requirement to QSL via three main systems: LoTW, e-QSL and, more recently, QRZ.com.  It takes a depressingly large amount of time to process all the requests, though one does it in the knowledge that it is a two-way thing; it's never nice when someone fails to formally acknowledge the QSO.

I'm still short on Hawaii for e-QSL, despite having had both the ARRL and QRZ.com WAS awards by now. The most difficult state to get was not Hawaii, in fact, but North Dakota, where few hams seem to exist amongst what is, admittedly, quite a low population - about half that of HI.

And to bring this post back to the general spirit of this blog - of enjoying ham radio on a budget - absolutely every single one of those WAS QSOs was with nothing more than a maximum of 80W SSB (more often 10W on PSK-31), and single-element wire delta loops.

Will I be chasing WAS on each and every individual band?  No chance!  That really is taking the hobby too far...

Monday 23 March 2015

Web SDR and the Partial Solar Eclipse

Last Friday (20/3/2015), the UK experienced a deep partial eclipse, reaching about 92% over north Wales.

Steve Nichols, G0KYA, who is the RSGB's main propagation man, tried to raise interest by getting as many people as possible to monitor AM radio stations by ear, and with recordings where possible.

I was unable to monitor my ham station or an AM broadcast radio because I was hurtling ahead of an advancing weather front to keep seeing the eclipse with a telescope that I can assemble and disassemble faster than a special forces soldier deals with a gun!

The Moon covers ~92% of the Sun, as seen from southern Anglesey, Wales, 20/3/15. Image (C) this blog.

So, a few days in advance, I'd looked into the possibility of monitoring an AM station in Iceland (RÚV) via a web-based SDR.  These are really very good facilities, which very usefully permit audio recordings to be made and downloaded.  I wasn't sure if my internet connection, or the overall connection to the web-SDR would stay up reliably during the 2.5 hours of interest, or that the recording would allow such a long file.

So, at about 08:01UT, I set the recording running at the University of Twente's SDR in the Netherlands.  The only other suitable web-SDR station in the UK suffered from horrendous and continuous broadband QRM, making it essentially unusable.

After returning home and stopping the recording at 10:29UT, by which time it was actually raining outside, I found that the web-SDR monitoring had worked perfectly, generating a 120MB file.  You can find the recording here.  If you want to refer to my time indications, you will have to donwload the file and play it on software that shows this (like Windows' native player.)

I think I'm right to say that, at 1h23m into the recording (about 09:24UT), RÚV's signals start getting stronger.  By 1h35m in (about 09:36UT), the signal is very strong and clear, just like at night time.  By 1h54m in (about 09:55UT), the station is well on its way to daytime noise and weak signals again. This seems to tie-in nicely with the progression of the eclipse.

So, I think that is a successful demonstration of the effects of an eclipse on long wave radio propagation.  It's also a successful demonstration of how, if the web-SDR location is in the right place relative to the eclipse, it can be a very useful way to allow mass-participation in radio propagation experiments during eclipses.

If you have any way to objectively analyse the recording and yield a plot of signal strength output with time, that would be very interesting to receive.  Until then, I have to rely on my ears!


Wednesday 18 March 2015

£60,000 a Year?

The latest RadCom carries the latest financial reports from RSGB HQ.

The society has certainly turned itself around from taking the membership as some form of donkey-like money-givers, as used to be the case until recently, and into something much better managed. 

For that, there is no doubt that the current management must be congratulated, and encouraged to continue.

There isn't very much of note to make comment upon - except the annual and ever-greater problem of attracting younger and new members.  Income is still going down, albeit more slowly than in earlier years.

Whilst it's not the first time it's been the case, someone at the RSGB - one person only - is reported in the accounts to be earning "more than £60,000" a year.

Who?

I don't know.  I don't even care who it is, only that, for a hobby society with falling income and a not very good balance sheet overall, this is a staggering amount of money for anyone to be earning at the RSGB.  Each member is paying slightly over £3 a year, or about 6% of their annual subscription - for this item alone.

The society does, I'm afraid, continue to pat itself on the back rather too much when it reflects on what it has done and achieved in promoting interest amongst those who have never thought about radio before.

If you followed the young hams convention thing that featured in RadCom during 2014, then it's clearly a good effort in the right spirit.  But look at the numbers.  Tiny!  And who are they?  Often, kids of those already on the radio.

There is no doubt in my mind that the RSGB just isn't approaching the issue of outreach in anything like the way it could.  You just can't depend on what happens internally and amongst the membership to try and get the word out.  It clearly isn't working, and no amount of argument can change that.  A typical gathering of hams on a field or special event day is often extremely unwelcoming and insular.  We have to accept that this is how we often present ourselves, and do something about it.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  There has to be investment in exciting publicity material coupled to physical school visits to get the message across.  When I first mention radio to kids, they always look bored and uninspired.  But, I've yet to see anyone who wasn't excited (even though they try to hide it often), by actually speaking to someone far away.

Because of the past financial irregularities, and the understandable reluctance to chance investments on the stock market, the RSGB does seem to have entered a rabbit-in-car-headlights mentality.  Somehow, it has to realise that investment in publicity is very sorely needed.  Avoiding it will yield the wrong result.

That is the message for the RSGB: Get out amongst the people.  It is the only way the society - and the hobby - will survive.


Tuesday 17 March 2015

6m Aurora. Wow!

So there I was, minding my own business on 12m, beaming Latin America.

A dead band.

The aurora, seen from north Wales in February 2014.  Image (C) this blog.


Then a GI station called me.  Even for a backscatter signal, he had a remarkable flutter on the audio that strongly suggested auroral conditions.

I had a look at the NOAA SWPC website and...WOAH!  A G4 storm was underway.  It's a long time since I saw one of those.

Curious, I turned the 12m beam northwards, but to no avail.

I rushed outside, swung the 6m 2-ele quad at the north pole, and there was Steve, GM1DSK, coming in like a drunk Dalek (that's a comment on the peculiar auroral audio, not Steven himself!)



I gave Steve, who I'd last spoken to on 12m backscatter a call, and he came back with a strong 'Roger' straight away.  Wow!  My first auroral QSO.

Here's Steve talking to someone in England:

http://freemp3hosting.com/RjM

From then on, conditions improved a fair bit, with some well-equipped stations making my efforts a little easier to hear.  Just a 2 ele quad on 80W PEP and now I have several auroral QSOs, including one back to F6.

That's a memorable day in amateur radio, for sure!


Monday 16 March 2015

Protective Multiple Earth

In many places across the UK, the electricity supply companies use an earthing system for the mains supply known as 'PME' - protective multiple earthing.

This is a slightly odd system in that the earth connection is bonded to the neutral at the non-consumer side of the incoming electricity supply.  To protect the integrity of the neutral line, the system is connected to earth rods beneath several supply poles along the route.

Not what it seems at the fuse box - the PME system connects earth to neutral at the incoming cable.

In extremely rare - amounting to almost unheard of situations - the neutral line can be broken somewhere along the route.  Very unlikely, but possible.

The RSGB has a somewhat technical document on PME here.

Now, if you have a separate RF earth - and typically, you will - then if a neutral continuity break occurs, you could find that RF earth reaching mains voltage, and a fairly high risk of fire and electrical shock.

The use of an RCD unit on the circuit to which the ham equipment is connected is certainly an improvement over a conventional wire fuse, which could take maybe 20 seconds to blow, and which are still quite common across the UK, especially in older properties.  An RCD will trip in just a fraction of a second.

But to manage this potential neutral fault, the RF earth should be connected to the neutral as close as possible to the incoming line.  The recommended wire cross sectional diameter is often given as 30mm2, which makes this an expensive and stiff wiring job.  A consumer can only wire it in to the fuse box, but the earth from there to the incoming supply line is often very thin - mine is only about 4mm2, and seems to have kept the electricity company happy because they changed my meter and incoming wire just a couple of years ago.

Whilst I never really like to invite the 'authorities' to interfere beyond my front door, this is a situation where some advice would be useful.  I've just had an e-mail from Scottish Power Network, starting the process of making an appointment to examine the situation.  I'm a bit surprised they haven't got any standard advice from the outset.  I'm also a bit concerned they might try to push their weight around, especially as hams are often regarded with unfair suspicion.

Once I've run the gauntlet, I'll update you with what they say...


Saturday 14 March 2015

ROS Mode Weekend

ROS is one of my favourite modes, capable of allowing long QSOs with weak signals and QRM, even from the same mode.  Alongside OLIVIA, it's the best way of having a ragchew with antipodal stations under even the toughest conditions.

Quirky, but powerful.  ROS mode in action.

Even though it's well-known, it's not very well used.  This is very odd, given that just about everybody wants a robust mode that yields good DX.

So, if you've never heard of, or never used ROS, the European ROS Club Diploma Weekend might be a good place to start - it's on next weekend, start of March 21 - end of March 22.

Don't worry if you don't like events - it's not a contest (except with yourself, if you actually want the award) just a mode-promoting event where there will be plenty of stations to choose from, as and when you like.

You can find all the details and simple protocols here.

ROS software and user manuals are available here.

Thursday 12 March 2015

E-qsl and SSTV

Anticipating and responding to the latest 'qsl wars' between the various providers, E-qsl has recently introduced an SSTV award, amongst many others.

This is to be welcomed, not least because SSTV has tended to suffer from being used by only a small number of the same old people, day in, day out, many of whom seem to like sending images of scantily-clad ladies, for some reason.

Now, I think there's a limit to how niche an award can be, but the SSTV award is an obviously-lacking one on E-qsl until now.  It does seem to be encouraging a small increase in the number of users.  This is a positive outcome, although it does make a mode operating at a 'waterhole' frequency even more chaotic and competitive than it was previously!

But as the message of this blog is always that ham radio need not be expensive and need not require enormous antennas and high power, here's a message from VK-land this morning, reporting my signal to him.  I was using 'just' a single-element vertically-polarised delta loop, and 30 Watts output, in rather difficult QRM conditions from those desperate to make a VK SSTV QSO, no matter what. I was particularly dissapointed when a S57 station cut up my clearly-indicated on-going QSO, though it didn't stop a confirmation coming back:




If there weren't about three stations calling over the top of me, as is very common with SSTV, then maybe the '555' would be a bit better.  The glitches on the received image above were the result of SSTV at a slightly higher frequency causing QRM.  Admittedly, VK3BM has a very fine antenna system, but it's perfectly possible to do it with 'only' wires at each end.   All the same, the picture was getting to the other side of the planet without too much difficulty.

Hope to see you on SSTV and/or digital soon!

Friday 6 March 2015

Licence Revalidation - Dark Ages Mentality

If you look at your licence document (what, you mean you haven't done that recently?), you'll find a requirement to revalidate it every five years.

The need to revalidate is reasonable: OFCOM ensures it doesn't end up with a databases of people who have died or moved address, although there is anyway a need to communicate such changes independently of the revalidation process.

A good fraction - about 20% - of the 83000-odd licences held in the UK haven't been revalidated.  That technically means that OFCOM can revoke them, but has never yet done so.  Indeed, it seems unlikely to do anything about unvalidated licences for a long time.

Revalidating is a bit of a paper headache that can be made much easier so that operators don't forget to do it in time, and that OFCOM get what they want - an up-to-date register of licensees.

If OFCOM got itself together and set up an automated reminder to mobile phones, emails and so on, then it would appear to be by far the best way to get those revalidation statistics much improved.  No doubt there are those in OFCOM would would like to do just that, but probably held back by corporate bureaucracy.