UK Exam pass rates

I was hunting around the internet for news about the RSGB this lunchtime.

A piece doing the rounds at the moment is the minutes of the RSGB's Exams Committee.  You can find a copy here.

I'm not sure what to make of the statistics presented on pass rates: 79% at the Foundation level, dropping to just over 50% for both Intermediate and Full exams.

Now, only half of entrants managing to get a pass is pretty low.  That 20% of entrants fail at Foundation level, the paper for which is extremely easy, is very surprising.

High failure rate. 

Whilst I'd hate to sound like an old man, the reality up until the late 1990s/early 2000s was that if you wanted to be an operator, you had to study the full licence syllabus in one go, and take one exam on the whole lot of it.  I don't know how many people failed that, actually quite tough exercise in learning.

All I can say is that then, as now, I had no real understanding of electronics, and found the whole syllabus very boring and irrelevant to what I wanted to do.  Yet, I finished and passed the exam paper, taking just 30 minutes out of 90 available to do so.  The questions were certainly not easy; they were mostly a load of very involved electronics theory, and not so much on operating.

Maybe there is a need to improve the exams, the training, or both?  I suspect the whole licencing thing would be far better if it were based on an initial, easy exam like the Foundation level, then granting a full licence to everybody.  After all, hardly anyone I know actually obeys the power limits imposed by the various exam levels.  There is no real way of knowing how much power someone is using, nor any enforcement agency that would do anything about it, even if there were!

Having been given the privilege of a full licence, this would then be followed by a series of what we could call 'continuing operator development' courses, some of which would be compulsory within, say, a five year period (i.e. the licence revalidation period).  If an operator hadn't completed the minimum ongoing training, then the licence would be revoked.

Maybe that way, it would be less a focus on passing an exam, but then never, ever undergoing any form of training or refresher course, and more on ensuring operators stay up to date on technical and operating matters.  It might also avoid most of the extremely poor operating that is readily seen on the bands every day, making one wonder whether the exams are of any use whatsoever.

2m Station Progress

Three months ago, a nice, clean 2m Microset 200W amplifier was advertised on a Facebook ham radio page.  With lots of money to spend on the house and kids, I struck an agreement with the seller to pay for this non-essential amp over three months.

The new arrival, together with its tidily homebrewed cooling fans.

Yesterday, the amp duly arrived!  In as-new condition, this was a good £200 cheaper than a new model.

This is the first time I've ever used an amplifier, so there is a little learning to get to grips with - not least whether a 25A continuous PSU would be adequate to power it (it is).   In general, it will have no use other than when there is unusual DX available via tropo and/or Es.

One issue that is common to all these amps is a momentary spike in SWR when using RF to trigger the amp.

I was fortunate that Jim, GM4FVM, helped me with his experience, advising that a wired PTT to the amp is better, and avoids this problem.

In practice, with careful adjustment of the output, ALC and audio levels, it's possible to reduce the spike to about 1.5:1, and it only lasts for a fraction of a second.  Jim says that it's crucial not to have the amp's receive preamp turned on if using RF triggering, as the SWR spike will eventually destroy it.

I've now wired the PTT on the amp, and Jim's advice is sound: the SWR spike is completely eliminated.  If you have one of these amps, just connect the lower pin, labelled, confusingly, '-', to the rig's PTT line (if that socket on the rig is already occupied and you don't want to disrupt your existing system, then you can, for example, strip some of the connecting wire back, and attach your amp PTT wire there - solder or any form of clip is fine.  The other, '+' pin you connect to the rig's ground.  That's all there is to it.  

The 8-ele beaming east at sunrise.

Nevertheless, I did get the amp up and running, and managed three QSOs with very strong signal reports of around -04dB, on an evening when there was no particular 2m propagation.  This, with the antenna in its lowered, wind-safe position of just 2m above ground!  As the map below shows, the signal from my east-pointing 8-ele beam was getting to most parts of the UK.

The wider message here for newcomers is that, with a little application of wisdom and care, used equipment can provide you with years of enjoyment.  I have only once bought a new transceiver.  Almost every other piece of equipment I have is used, and never caused me any problems.

VP8PJ

It was nice to see a new 7MHz WSPR station - VP8PJ - active from South Orkney last evening - the result of a vastly expensive DXpedition to the British-held islands.  So far, there are but a handful of 'real' QSO spots on the cluster.

South Orkney.  Remote, and expensive to get to. Image: VP8ORK

Although it's interesting to see such activations, I am not at all sure this kind of thing, which only very rich westerners (most are white US operators) can afford to do, is a particularly good example to set to the amateur radio community.   The team itself estimates the total cost to be around $350,000, of which the team members will, apparently, pay about half out of their own pockets!  

In any event, if you are interested in trying to log VP8PJ as a two-way QSO, the WSPR plot below shows you the best time to try from the UK and adjoining areas.

In essence, we have a long period of about 5 hours, from around 23:00 to 04:00UT, where the propagation is good.  Peak signal, which is quite sharp, is around 00:30UT at the moment - the time when VP8LP transits from late twilight to true darkness. WSPR at VP8PJ seems to be TX-only.

Good luck, if you are trying it!

VP8PJ 2W, 7MHz WSPR signal received at MW1CFN 2020 February 22-23.

Update:

Later in the day, I was very pleased to find that I was pretty unusual in hearing VP8PJ WSPR at 14MHz with my vertical delta loop:

Wow!  I'm doing something right.

Finally, the winds subside.

After three weeks of winds that never really fell below 110km/h, some kind of quieter conditions have returned to North Wales.

Last night, the tower went back up, bringing several bands back into operation.

I ran WSPR at 1W, 7MHz, from my half sloper wire overnight.  Although not entirely surprising, it's always nice to plot WSPR spots and see how the advancing time of day affects the signals.

In this case, it's a plot of VK7JJ hearing my 1W, peaking at between ~08:00 and 08:30UT at the moment.  Contrary to what books will tell you, that the signal will increase during greyline (i.e. between sunset and the end of twilight), this result shows the signal becomes detectable by VK7JJ about two hours before sunset, peaks about an hour before sunset, and then vanishes about ten minutes after sunset.  At the moment, a month before the Vernal Equinox, the terminator is almost exactly opposite at my station.

VK7JJ hearing my 1W, 7MHz WSPR signal.

Situation as my signal becomes detectable at VK7JJ (ca. 2 hours before sunset there)

Situation as my signal peaks at VK7JJ (ca. 1 hour before sunset there)

Situation as my signal vanishes at VK7JJ, ca. ten minutes after sunset there.  Images: DXAtlas, with permission.

Japan for Breakfast.

The appallingly poor weather continues to force the use of a simple 1/4 wave elevated vertical here at the moment.  This lunchtime, winds are expected to peak at around 120km/h.  At least that's better than the 140km/h we had for a very long time last weekend.

Despite all this, I had a great time working Japan for about 30 minutes from 09:00UT this morning:

Japanese stations hearing me this morning.

Japan in the log, many times!

The Year in Numbers?

This month, the RSGB's monthly magazine, RadCom (cover price £4.95, not available in any shop), publishes an interesting 'infographic' on page 39:

Gee-whizz facts and figures, as the RSGB has it.

Of course, we all have an interest in societies like the RSGB being successful, and I wish it was.  But whilst we are bamboozled by large numbers and some snazzy graphics, the RSGB is failing miserably in some areas which are fundamental to the hobby.  Notable amongst these are planning restrictions and RFI - both areas which severely constrain our ability to enjoy the hobby at all.

So, here is my personal, alternative take on the RSGB's past year.  You can decide for yourself whether it's more important to be able to put up an antenna and actually hear anything other than RF hash, or have 1.5 million website hits:

And, as though to underscore the uselessness of the society, the RSGB publishes (p.13) a report on how many investigations and enforcement actions OFCOM, the UK regulator, has taken recently.

But, rather than being passed this information as a matter of the routine and supposedly 'very good relations' between it and OFCOM, the RSGB had to rely on a Freedom of Information Act request instead!

The Elastic Field

Not much to do these windy days, other than run some WSPR on 14MHz.

Once again, the usefulness of low power WSPR to detect a minor disturbance to the geomagnetic field became evident.

This time, world-class station, OE9GHV, heard my 200mW in the post-midnight period, as the field went from a minor disturbance and restored to quiet conditions.  The same occurred with DK6UG.

In previous days, where the field was essentially quiet, no such post-midnight propagation is seen:

Image: Tromso Geophysical Laboratory.

OE9GHV receiving MW1CFN, 200mW 14MHz WSPR.  M=midnight.  Extended horizontal lines indicate no propagation.

DK6UG reception, showing the same phenomenon.

+11dB

Continued windy weather, still gusting around 100km/h, means all my antennas, except a 1/4 wave vertical for 14MHz, remain on the ground.

To escape some of the wind noise howling around the house, I went off to the beach again for an hour or so this morning.

Certainly, the gain enhancements, even with the simple Ampro stick antenna, were in clear evidence.  ZL2005SWL was receiving my 1W at up to 11dB stronger, when allowance was made for the output difference, than the only other G station being heard at that time - G0CCL (a vertical monopole with a metal clad factory for a ground plane).

Nice to be one of only two European stations being heard in ZL this morning.

And, remember: zero RFI, and performance probably matching or exceeding an inland 3-element Yagi. 

Why not enjoy some of the landing footage from Birmingham airport - and be grateful you were not on board!

Ciara Passes

The worst of Storm Ciara, the largest and most powerful low pressure system since 2013, that saw winds peaking at Hurricane Force 12 for brief periods, has now passed away.

Storm Ciara's worst approaches on Sunday morning (09/02/2020)

Luckily, once again, there doesn't seem to have been any damage to property, antennas or otherwise, up here.  To save our sanity, we spent much of the weekend away from the house.

Penmon lighthouse, battered by Ciara yesterday.

Throughout the whole thing, my 1/4 wave vertical for 14MHz flew without any problem.  Everything else took cover on or near the ground.  Despite Ciara's passing, winds remain quite strong, and are due to storm again next weekend, though not anywhere as bad as this past weekend. 

I'll return to full operation in about two weeks' time as, apart from the poor weather, there are many family things to get on with at the moment.

Blog Hiatus: Storm Ciara.

Well, it's been a reasonably quiet winter storm season - until this coming weekend!

Storm Ciara is an enormous, developing low pressure system, energised by intensely cold polar air descending south, currently over Canada and the US, driving the jet stream to very high wind speeds.  There is a rare National Severe Weather Warning in place for the entire UK.

Jet stream conditions for this weekend are driving severe storm Ciara.

By Sunday lunchtime, wind gusts up to 112km/h are forecast.  Gusts around 100km/h will be with us all the way from Saturday afternoon until the end of Tuesday - a depressingly long time to suffer such tempestuous conditions.

Inevitably, all antennas have been lowered to reduce the chance of damage.

So, there will be no blogging activity for the next few days!  See you on the other side, unless the roof blows off!

A little WSPR down on 60m.

It's some time since I did any real work on 60m.  The initial WSPR frequency of 5.2872MHZ has become permanently affected by something that looks like a military OTH radar.  60m is, of course, a band shared with the military, so there is no real complaint worth making.

As a result of this, 5.3647MHz has become the WSPR frequency of choice at 60m.

So, I set off on a 3-day long campaign to see what interesting facts about propagation I might discover.

First, I'll start with TF1VHF receiving my 1W from a half sloper.  Clearly, 60m is a band where the greyline is of crucial importance - as anyone who works FT8 there will soon realise!  Very sharp peaks occur daily at roughly 08UT and 18UT at this time of year, during the period between sunset and the end of astronomical twilight.  During the day, the signal occasionally breaks through, but at low levels, in keeping with D-layer attenuation.

VK7JJ's excellent website is very useful for a more general, much lower resolution curve-drawing of the same signal reports, binned across all three days into single, 1 hour segments of one 24 hour period:

TF1VHF hearing MW1CFN 1W 5MHz WSPR

Then we have EA8BFK, where darkness is a good thing, and the signal absent during the middle of the day:

EA8BFK hearing MW1CFN 1W 5MHz WSPR

OE9GHV shows much the same pattern as EA8BFK, but the signal gets through all day.  At around 05UT and 21UT, there are signs of a brief, dramatic collapse in signal most days:

Next, N2HQI, who starts hearing me when darkness is well in place in Wales, but keeps hearing me, as my signal keeps accessing darkness to the west, until the time of sunrise here:

N2HQI hearing MW1CFN 1W 5MHz WSPR

DP0GVN, meanwhile, is restricted to the dark hours:

DP0GVN hearing MW1CFN 1W 5MHz WSPR

12m Opens to VK!

A nice start to the morning today, as short skip on 20m indicated good conditions higher up the bands.

Beaming 060 degrees, VK short path.

And indeed, after a short period of no activity at 12m, VK stations started popping up on the FT8 screen!  VK short path, at low angles, is not an ideal direction for me, as it's a path towards slightly higher ground.  But 70W into the 3 ele overcame that!

VK short path is not a good beaming direction from here.

Had I been down at the beach with a stick antenna on the car, I would probably have managed at least as good a copy, if not better.