Grey line still works.

With a lot of unseasonably strong wind yesterday, I set the rig to RX-only for 14MHz WSPR overnight.

Nice to see a very clear effect of the passing greyline period between 9Z4FV and Wales:

Situation at peak signal(22:30UT) from 9Z4FV, 14MHz. Image: DXAtlas, with permission.

Reception SNR of 9Z4FV's 20W 14MHz signal.

Could be a good Es day...

Wow!  PMSE keeps getting stronger and stronger.  10m WSPR signals are correspondingly strong, too:

5W, 28MHz WSPR signal from OZ7IT 19-20 May 2021.

Summer 6m!

Very good conditions on 6m across the Atlantic yesterday.  Spots to/from my 2-ele quad:

And, once again, the conditions in the mesosphere provide one reason why.  Look at those beautiful waves - the reason that you often hear bursts of 6m signal come through for just a fraction of a second:

Ice!

Judging by the extremely strong reflections seen at 70 degrees north, it seems charged ice/meteoric debris surfaces are now forming in the mesosphere.  It is very close to noctilucent cloud season now - just a few days to go.

Strong reds and oranges indicate ice formation.

Nice 6m SSB with S57A today, using just 6W PEP and a 1/4 wave vertical by the lake!

At IO73ug (Cefni lake, central Anglesey).

 

A friendly Alder Fly comes to visit me!

Stick to shore.

Time to test the Ampro stick-based antenna (price: not the £200 being asked for the commercial version!) at the beach last evening, passing a couple of hours whilst on taxi service for my daughter!

It's simple, and can take good winds.

 

Key to the success of this antenna is the requirement for 1/4 wave radials for the band of interest, and the raising of those radials off the ground - even if that is only a few centimetres.  With the radials on the ground, the matching is way off.  As soon as they leave the ground, matching becomes perfect.

It only takes a small stick to raise the radials enough for a perfect match.

This outing wasn't long enough to get a good WSPR dataset.  All I can say is that, with the tide a long way out, and no seawater-saturated ground beneath the antenna, the stick antenna was nevertheless achieving exactly the same SNR at the DX station, VE6JY, as my full wave delta back home - also a simple but much more complex to deploy antenna (think: elevated feedpoint and ~8m total height) than the Ampro - just ~2.5m tall.

Nice and warm, lying on the coastal grass.

 Overall, though, the stick wasn't anywhere near as good as the delta, as this map shows:

Over on a few bursts of FT4 - at about 3W - the stick is certainly not a dummy load:

And, of course, with any portable antenna, you get the distinct advantage of fresh air and wonderful views.  Even a little nibble on the very salty but refreshing sea kale, now in full bloom:

On the horizon is the lighthouse on the remote 'Skerries' - a name revealing of the area's Norse heritage.

Sea kale.  Delicious!

Below: 6m operation, the following afternoon, cut short due to oncoming heavy rain!  Initial assessment is that the Rapsberry Pi causes RFI at 50MHz, so will need some additional ferrites on cables.  I was getting to the Azores at -10dB on FT8, whereas my 2-ele quad was only managing -17dB at the time.  The radials are significantly less than 1/4 wave, being only about 1m each.

Hurrah! 6m Transatlantic!

Last evening, I received 6m signals until just before 00:30UT, the action restarting a few hours later.  Quite amazing!

Hello, Canada!

With my antenna - 'just' a 2 ele quad - pointing south to catch most of the signals today (it was mostly north and NE yesterday), I received a signal from VO1HP, at 3410km.  The appearance of strong and prolonged PMSE will not be entirely unrelated to this:

Usual response to the VO1 signal: run outside; get the ladder up; try to turn the antenna; forgot to undo the safety rope!  Undo that; align the beam; run back inside.

VO1HP was still there!  I sent a reply and got him first try, albeit a bit weak from me, although I came up to -6dB a few minutes later:

From this year onwards, I think I may well start concentrating on the 6m band, as well as 2m.  Some big changes may happen at the station fairly soon.  More about that in a future post...

Going simple.

In this month's Practical Wireless, there's a nice review by G3UGF of what is actually a very simple new product: the Ampro portable kit.

It's nothing more than a collection of different band sticks, which fit onto a vehicle-type mount, clamped to a solid earth rod.  The idea being that it's all simply a stick-it-in-the-ground, cheap antenna that might also be effective.  

Carrying sticks is easy, but the stainless element at the top is very springy, and becomes very irritating when walking any distance.  But that's a minor point, really.

It's certainly a great way to sell more Ampro sticks, which are actually very well-made; I have several for the car already.  

But the price!  How much for eight sticks, a clamp and a copper rod?  £238, reduced in some outlets to 'just' £199.99!  I suspect most of us will buy only the sticks we really want (80m is a bit wishful thinking for good performance at this size, for example), make our own ground rod, like I did (it's not ideal, copper tube is too soft at this kind of length, unless you have soft ground or sand), and buy or make the mount separately. 

Very simple, but you do need radials. 

I never thought of making exactly this type of antenna, but I did come close some years ago, with a manpack.

So, I went to get my manpack from a remote shack in the fields that I have; it's been unused for a couple of years now.  There was a drama underway, as some cows had escaped into the main road!  After all that was sorted out, I made a simple copper tube mount with a short 90 degree leg to attach the type of clamp I already had.

Unlike my manpack, proper matching (at 14MHz) was not possible without the addition of two 1/4 wave radials.  With the radials, I got down below 1.09:1. 

Great stealth antenna, with very good performance.  WSPR tests at 14MHz.

Excellent match for much of the 14MHz band (scale is too wide - my fault!)

How did it do on 200mW WSPR?  Surprisingly well, despite horrendous HF conditions in a G3 storm.  I can't remember what antenna the other guy has, but he is a good UK station (reduced duration relative to the other comparisons - he didn't keep going as long!):

Here's another - again no idea what antenna, and the other guy is using 500mW, against my 200mW (40h of testing):

And, finally, another 200mW:200mW comparison (40h duration), at which point I think we can safely conclude that the Ampro stick-and-ground rod system leaves nothing to be desired:

Distances are only one element of performance.  Also important to consider relative signal strengths.  Here's one comparison across all distances.  Antenna is described as follows: "TX antenna is 1/2 wave end fed wire against a short counterpoise with a tuned matching transformer on T82-2 core."

Essentially identical performance against G7CKX across all receiver distances.

And at DX distances, beyond 5010km:

Only 1.9dB down, on average, against the end-fed.

 

This antenna is a bit of a compromise, obviously.  It works well for its size, simplicty and pocket-money cost of building or buying.  It's surprisingly stable in a good wind, too.  Even if you have to carry, say, three whips along with you, it's always going to be a lot less hassle than tuning a magnetic loop.  Once your whips and radials are set-up properly, you just stick and go!