AmateurRadio.com

courtesy: https://sdr.hu/

In a previous blog I described the amazing KiwiSDR network of online receivers. A quick check of the network as I write today's blog shows that there are presently 207 active online receivers distributed throughout the world!

Over the past year, there has been a growing interest in using many of the online receivers during the monthly CLE NDB listening events, all focused on the medium frequency (MF) part off the spectrum just below the AM broadcast band. Some use the SDRs to search for unlogged beacons while others use them because their home locations have become too noisy to hear anything using their own radios, a growing problem for listeners everywhere.

One ardent NDB DXer, Dan Petersen, W7OIL, (located in Vancouver, WA) has become a regular Kiwi network user as well as a regular contributor to the very valuable RNA / REU / RWW list of worldwide beacon activity. Over the past year, Dan has been keeping careful notes on not only what he has been hearing but also on how well many of the online radios perform on the MF NDB band.

As it turns out, many receivers perform very well on the HF bands but are dreadfully inadequate when it comes to the medium wave frequencies. Many are plagued with high noise levels, switching power supply signals, intermod or inadequate antenna systems, making them unusable for weak signal DX work below the broadcast band.

Other receivers however, are superb performers, as evidenced by their quiet low noise locations and well engineered antennas, providing the ideal opportunity to conduct some serious medium wave weak signal detection.

Dan has now produced the start of an ongoing guide, mainly focusing on the various Kiwi Network receivers that he has tested, rating them with regard to sensitivity and local noise, when used in the 200 - 500 kHz range only.

His SDR EVALUATION LIST (in .pdf form) can be downloaded from here, and will be updated periodically, as other online receivers are evaluated.

If you are plagued with local noise on the MF band yet would like to do some weak signal DXing, especially during the monthly NDB CLE activities, the online SDRs may be of interest to you. With Dan's helpful groundwork already giving you a leg up, hopefully you can give them a try sometime soon!

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Speaking of monthly CLEs ... the recently completed weekend event (CLE232), was a rough one, with worldwide lightning noise as well as an active geomagnetic field hampering reception for all participants. In North America, all three nights were terribly noisy and propagation was poor.

As is so often the case, Friday night was the 'best' of the three nights but only 18 stations were heard here. My log is shown below.

It was nice to hear POA in Pahoa, Hawaii, still going strong as it is located close to the present volcanic eruptions.

All signals were heard on a Perseus SDR feeding an inverted-L antenna, resonated to 300kHz.

26 09:00 325.0 YJQ Bella Bella (Campbell Island), BC, CAN
26 09:00 326.0 YQK Kenora, ON, CAN
26 10:00 326.0 DC Princeton Municipal Apt, BC, CAN
26 06:00 328.0 YTL Big Trout Lake, ON, CAN
26 09:00 328.0 LAC 'Lacomas' Fort Lewis, WA, USA
26 09:00 328.0 5J Coronation, AB, CAN
26 06:00 329.0 YHN Hornepayne, ON, CAN
26 09:00 329.0 YEK Arviat, NU, CAN
26 09:00 329.0 X2 Athabasca, AB, CAN
26 10:00 329.0 PMV Plattsmouth, NE, USA
26 09:00 329.0 PJ Robinson (Whitehorse), YT, CAN
26 09:00 330.0 0O UNID, XUU
26 09:00 332.0 XT Terrace, BC, CAN
26 09:00 332.0 WC White Rock (Abbotsford), BC, CAN
26 10:00 332.0 VVV Ortonville Municipal Apt, MN, USA
27 09:00 332.0 VT Buffalo Narrows, SK, CAN
26 12:00 332.0 POA Pahoa - Hawaii Island, HWA
26 06:00 334.0 YER Fort Severn, ON, CAN
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Since field day is just as much a public outreach as it is an emergency preparedness exercise, many clubs across the US and Canada also have additional stations set aside to demonstrate different aspects of amateur radio. Often this includes D-STAR.

I would like to extend an invitation to all clubs that are showing off D-STAR to the general public to join us on the Quadnet Array as the hub of activity for those participating in field day to be able to talk with one another using D-STAR. No, you won’t be able to count the contacts for points, but you can use the array to keep in touch, talk about how things were going in your area as well as show off D-STAR to the members of the general public that come by your field day site and express an interest in all of the radios, antennas and unusual sounds that are coming from the tents setup in the park.

The Quadnet Array is a group of persistently linked reflectors and smart groups spread out around the world. This allows users to be able to access the closest reflector or smart group to their physical location to keep the internet latency at a minimum. It doesn’t matter which one you choose, connecting to one will allow them to hear activity across the entire Array.

To connect to the Quadnet Array you will need to either login to one of the below Smart Groups or link to one of the below reflectors:

Quadnet Smart groups:

DSTAR1 in New York

DSTAR2 in San Francisco

DSTAR3 in Ohio.

Reflectors:

XRF757A in Atlanta

XLX049D in Northern Ireland

XLX307D in Wyoming

XLX626D in New Zealand

If anyone has any questions about how to connect to the Quadnet Array they are welcome to contact me directly or send an email to [email protected] and we will be happy to assist.

73 – Jeff VE6DV

Jeff Bishop, VE6DV, is a special contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Alberta, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Was feeling pretty chuffed after repairing the MFJ-1788 'Super Loop' and couldn't wait to try it out! So for a couple of evenings of experimenting I put the loop in the garden on a 5ft pole held up by a heavy drive-on stand with 20m (65ft) of RG58 running into the shack.

Temporary test setup

I chose the easy option of using FT8 to do some testing, selecting the 30m FT8 frequency initially. I tuned the loop and was met with a cacophony of signals, far louder than my usual OCFD would receive. Working with around 30 Watts had a few contacts in a brief 30 minute session, including a nice one in Greece with SV1IW.

PSKReporter showing where I was spotted

What was striking was the lack of noise and just how tight the tuning was, indeed I had to tweak the tuning a couple of times during tests, a slight adjustment either way and the signals just disappeared. I checked out 40m and 20m as well with similar good results.

I had a few more sessions and a few days later I tried it out to receive the Shortwave Radiogram broadcast from Bulgaria on 9400kHz, this time as it was a broadcast band had to use my ear to do the tuning, adjusting till I heard a rise in 'noise' and signal.

Trying out the loop antenna, @SWRadiogram
images this afternoon from Bulgaria 9400kHz pic.twitter.com/53HRwIHUQz

— Andrew Garratt (@nerdsville) May 19, 2018

I have now got the loop up on a rotator and mounted slightly higher up with a shorter length of RG213 (not on the video) it is still quite low and unfortunately is slightly shielded to the south by the neighbours metal roofed building,



I am very happy with the loop. Transmission wise it unsurprisingly doesn't seem a huge improvement over the OCFD on its resonant bands, it scores over the OCFD is on its 'non-resonant' bands such as 30m and 17m. But the massive improvement is in receiving, signals are stronger and noise is much lower, picking up some more distance signals even given the poor conditions.

still evaluating the RX of the mag-loop and according to pskreporter heard 92 countries, 1182 stations on FT8 30m/40m in the last 17 hours.. pic.twitter.com/ZuWZOFFiP2

— Andrew Garratt (@nerdsville) May 22, 2018

The antenna cannot be said to be a pretty thing to have in the garden! The tuning is very particular, in the video I show the 'auto tuning' isn't ideal. It requires the radio to be putting out a signal into a mismatched load for what could be nearly a minute. Not good for the radio and is a source of QRM during this time, the usual technique of tuning slightly off a QSO frequency is more problematic due to the sharpness of the resonance. You can still tune off frequency and then tweak with the slow tune buttons to bring it in. I've noticed that on some of the higher bands it occasionally doesn't auto-tune because the 'dip' seems very short/sharp and the controller doesn't react in time and overshoots especially using low power settings.



I also have had issues trying to operate the radio remotely, I have tuned it up on an FT8 frequency in the morning and then later in the day logged in to try to make a few QSOs during a coffee-break to see the loop has drifted out of resonance. This can only be down to the loop getting warm in the summer sun.

I am still evaluating the antenna but am looking at making a better controller, over on AmateurRadio.com where this blog is syndicated, I have had a number of kind comments including one from Elwood Downey, WB0OEW who pointed me to his published design of a controller, using a similar method to what I was toying with. Thanks Elwood.

73 for now, more updates soon.

The antenna farm

Andrew Garratt, MØNRD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from East Midlands, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Yes, TX Factor episode 21 is finally available and features a review of the IC-7610 transceiver from Icom. Bob shows Mike a thing or two about operating thorough linear satellites. And, have you ever worried about programming your DMR handie to cope with code plugs, gateways and chatrooms? Again, Bob thinks he has the answer.

In our free-to-enter draw we have another two prize give-away: a Prism padded dust cover for your rig and a copy of Andrew Barron’s book Hamsats and Amsats.

It’s all at www.txfactor.co.uk

Happy viewing!

Nick Bennett 2EØFGQ co-hosts TX Factor with Bob McCreadie GØFGX and Mike Marsh G1IAR. Contact the team at [email protected]

Welcome to Episode 230 of Linux in the Ham Shack. We're freshly back from Hamvention 2018 and ready to roll. In this episode, we do a deep dive into the FlexRadio SDR platform. We have two interviews recorded live from Hamvention all about the Flex architecture, its Linux and Open Source roots and much more. We would like to thank Steve, AI4QR, and Steve, N5AC, for spending some time with us to let us all know about the future of software-defined radio servers.

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2018 May 28 0238 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 21 – 27 May 2018

Solar activity reached low levels during the period due to an isolated C-class event, a C2 flare from Region 2712 (N13, L=172, class/area Csp/80 on 24 May). No Earth-directed CMEs were observed.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit reached moderate levels on 21-27 May.

Geomagnetic field activity was quiet to unsettled on 23 May due to influence from a positive polarity, coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS). Quiet conditions were observed throughout the remainder of the period.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 28 May – 23 June 2018

Solar activity is expected to be very low throughout the period, with a slight chance for isolated C-class events on 28 May – 04 Jun and 10-23 Jun, due to flare potential from Regions 2711 (N06, L=288, class/area Cai/60 on 24 May) and 2712.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach very high levels on 05-07 Jun with high levels expected on 02-04 Jun and 08-13 Jun. Moderate flux levels are expected for the remainder of the period.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to reach G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm levels on 02 Jun with active levels on 01, and 03-04 Jun due to the influence of a recurrent, negative polarity CH HSS. Unsettled levels are expected on 28-29 May and 05-06, 13, 19 Jun. Quiet conditions are expected during the remainder of the outlook period.

Don’t forget to visit our live space weather and radio propagation web site, at: http://SunSpotWatch.com/

Live Aurora mapping is at http://aurora.sunspotwatch.com/

If you are on Twitter, please follow these two users: 1. https://Twitter.com/NW7US 2. https://Twitter.com/hfradiospacewx

Check out the stunning view of our Sun in action, as seen during the last five years with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXN-MdoGM9g

= = = = =

BOOK SALE: Space Weather and Sun Science – get these from Amazon, and help us stay online!

NOTICE: When you buy this (or any item after starting with this link), you are helping us keep our SunSpotWatch.com and other resources “on the air” (up and running!). In other words, you are helping the entire community. So, check out this book:

Here is the link to Amazon: http://g.nw7us.us/fbssw-aSWSC

We’re on Facebook: http://NW7US.us/swhfr

Be sure to subscribe to our space weather and propagation email group, on Groups.io

https://groups.io/g/propagation-and-space-weather

Spread the word!

= = = =

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

I am working on launching a YouTube channel overhaul, that includes series of videos about space weather, radio signal propagation, and more.

Additionally, I am working on improving the educational efforts via the email, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, and other activities.

You can help!

Please consider becoming a Patron of these space weather and radio communications services, beginning with the YouTube channel:

https://www.patreon.com/NW7US

The YouTube channel:
https://YouTube.com/NW7US

Spread the word, too!

= = = =

BOOK SALE: Space Weather and Sun Science – get these books from Amazon, and help this service stay online!

NOTICE: When you buy this (or any item after starting with this link), you are helping keep SunSpotWatch.com and other resources “on the air” (up and running!). In other words, you are helping the entire community. So, check out these books:

Here is the link to Amazon: http://g.nw7us.us/fbssw-aSWSC

= = = =

If you are on Twitter, please follow these two users:

1) https://Twitter.com/NW7US
2) https://Twitter.com/hfradiospacewx

= = = =

Check out the stunning view of our Sun in action, as seen during the a five-year span with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXN-MdoGM9g

= = = =

Visit, subscribe: NW7US Radio Communications and Propagation YouTube Channel

When HF Signals marketed the uBITX early December 2017, customers leapt in and ripped them off the shelf. Who could imagine the small Test facility in India that VU2ESE had setup trying to cope with the unexpected demand, or the women having to wind and test the toroids, churning them out at speed without breaking a finger nail. Even one type of toroid used had to be subsituted, for another, as the world ran out and they couldn't be sourced easily, but still the uBITX somehow was kept on track. A total to date of over 6000 uBITX PCBs sold, with very few bugs reported, apart from one batch with the faulty WX branded TDA2822 audio amp that hit the fan and must of caused an awful headache at the time.

Now that manufacturing has now caught up with demand, and there is no time lag on ordering, the uBITX becomes ex stock along with some new modifications and a new revised r4 PCB.

Could the uBITX get any better well certainly it looks like it does!


Here are the changes from Ashhar Farhan as reported today on Groups.io:



Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from England. Contact him at [email protected].