Mindful of being out for much of the day it was an early start for day 2 of my contest effort. They say that the early bird catches the worm and it was oh so true on this occasion when I snagged KL7RA in Alaska for another all time new one at 06:33 UTC followed by KH6MB in Hawaii a few minutes later.
I managed about 4 hours in total, on and off through the day, finally shutting down around 21:30 UTC mindful of work the next morning. In total over the two days I logged 122 contacts in 52 countries with 3 all time new ones and 1 new US state (Idaho), not bad for a seriously compromised antenna and no more than 75 watts output.
the 52 countries worked - CQWW WPX (CW) 2009
Dean Amateur Radio contest, CW, morse code, WPX
Clear blue skies & soaring temperatures outside but I managed several hours on 20m with brief excursions to 15 and 40m. I managed to work 2 all time new ones in the form of A62A (UAE) and VE3DZ/VP9 (Bermuda) and the overall QSO/country count for my modest first day effort was 91 contacts in 43 different countries.
Day two is now well underway but as it’s another beautiful day we’re off visiting family for a BBQ so not sure at this stage if I’ll add to my day 1 numbers. Even so, I’m very pleased with the haul so far especially after a little antenna surgery immediately prior to the contest…of which more in a later post.
Dean Amateur Radio, Blog BBQ, contest, morse code, WPX
A few days ago I finally got around to getting my SignaLink USB interface hooked up to my Yaesu FT-897 for the primary purpose of using that setup for PSK31 operating (and other similar ’soundcard’ based digimodes). I will continue to use my Kenwood TS-480 for RTTY where a Rigblaster Plug & Play interface is wired up for FSK operating.
FT-897 with SignaLink USB
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I have previously used the SignaLink SL-1+ for PSK31 and other digimodes with great success. Both devices really are very easy to setup and I was particularly impressed with just how straightforward it was to get going with the USB version.
I connected the interface box to the radio with the supplied USB cable, connected to the radio via a mini 6 pin data connector, turned on the radio and tuned to 14.070, fired up Digipan (which I have been using for approaching 4 years now) and was rewarded with a waterfall display full of nice clear signal traces.
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The built in sound card certainly seems to be less prone to noise than the original which relied on the PC internal soundcard. This is certainly something I’ll investigate further by comparing noise levels between the SignaLink and the Rigblaster (which uses the PC soundcard).
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Having got receive working to my satisfaction I set about trying to reply to some of the CQ callers in the waterfall display - this was where I found one of the two minor niggles I encountered.
The PTT wasn’t being triggered by the audio output from the PC. It turns out this was just a matter of insufficient audio output from the built in USB soundcard - a quick tweak in the Windows audio settings for that device to set to max audio out seemed to resolve the issue. Fine tune for RF drive is then by the TX level on the SignaLink.
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waterfall with PSK31 signals
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Having resolved this little niggle the device switches to transmit reliably whenever the software enters ‘Send’ mode. Initial reports from stations contacted confirm that all is working well.
One other minor niggle (the second of two) was an issue I’d seen reported elsewhere, that of the sample rate for the soundcard resulting in slightly offset RX/TX frequencies. This manifests itself in the waterfall display with the received signal being slightly offset from the last received frequency after transmitting. The default sample rate was 11,025Hz but by changing this to 10,000Hz the problem goes away. I have seen others have said they set the sample rate to 8,000Hz but 10,000 worked fine for me.
I’m really pleased with this combination for PSK31 work and I’ll look forward to using this mode a lot more over the coming months. Having used PSK31 for most of my operating a few years ago and having worked lots of ‘new ones’ in that period, I have more recently concentrated on RTTY and CW so it’ll be good to see if I can get any more new ones now I’m QRV PSK31 again.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures FT-897, PSK31, RTTY, SignaLink, TS-480, Yaesu
Just a few words on todays operation from Barr Beacon (IO92BN) when I setup on 20m with the Par End Fedz 20m dipole suspended vertically on a 10m fibreglass pole.
Band conditions weren’t great and there was fast deep fading. Not as bad as 17m at the weekend but still pretty dramatic. Best DX was VE1ZA/m (Tony) followed by OH0/DL9GTI (Ralf). It seems Ralf wasn’t the only German out and about as I also worked Peter in Croatia as 9A/DL4KM/p and Charlie in Italy as I/DL3KHK. In keeping with this ‘operating abroad’ theme I also worked Dave in Menorca as EA6/M0DLL.
All in all it was an enjoyable few hours on 20m when even the weather was pretty good…until the battery was run down and I’d packed everything away, after which it poured it down. I think I timed that perfectly!
You can see my location on Barr Beacon for this operation on the Portable Amateur Radio gallery page.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures antenna, battery, G0RIF, portable, propagation, vertical, weather
Today I attended my first Lichfield Bower. The Bower is well known in Lichfield and nearby areas. It is a festival held each spring on a bank holiday. It is about 800 years old. A statute of Henry II of England (1134-1159) ordered that all men capable of bearing arms should be inspected by the magistrates. To enable him to do this Henry set up a Commission of Arraye which had every year to submit to the king, a return of all the men-at-arms available throughout the kingdom.
Bower morris dancers
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Since there was no standing army, this was a way to find out how many men could fight in a war. The men would then march through the streets and retire at a ‘Bower House’ for roast beef and spirits. This ensured a good turn-out. These musters were known as the Courtes of Arraye, and in Lichfield the Courte of Arraye was always held on Whit Monday.
The Lichfield Bower parade was (and still is) accompanied by morris dancers with drum and tabor and by people from the churches carrying figures of saints garlanded with flowers (known as ‘posies’).
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After the Reformation, the figures of saints were replaced by the tableaux representing different trades, but the term ‘posie’ was still used to describe them.
By the time of James II the country has a standing army, famous regiments such as the Coldstream and Grenadier Guards and the Royal Scots were already in existence. It was decided that the Commission of Arraye was no longer needed and it was abolished in 1960. At this time the Courts of Arraye ceased to exist throughout the country, except in Lichfield where the inhabitants decided that as they enjoyed Bower Day so much they would continue to observe it, which they continue to do to this day.
Most of the ancient features of the Bower still survive – the Court of Arraye is held in the Guildhall, when the Mayor inspects the ‘men-at-arms’, the procession through the streets includes the morris dancers and military bands, and the place of the posies has been taken by the tableaux mounted on lorries and trailers. But, as in the past, the principal feature of the Bower is a jolly good day out for all.
Dean Blog, Pictures bower, Lichfield
Clear blue skies and a lovely sunny day in prospect so it’s time to light another fire and have a BBQ. My folks will be joining us so there’ll doubtless be a lot of catching up of family matters and a lot of general chit chat.
Throw in a few cold beers and it all sounds very agreeable! I’m looking forward to a good day in the sun.
Dean Totally random BBQ, weather
YS1G are now QRT and despite listening in (on CW) for lengthy periods last night on several bands I didn’t hear a peep out of them. Early this morning they were working 40m SSB into Europe (by numbers) and again, I was not able to hear them.
For now I can only hope for better propagation as cycle 24 picks up over the next few years because on this occasion, given my limited setup this end, it seems I was probably being somewhat over optimistic.
Dean Amateur Radio propagation, YS1G
The forecast certainly promises clear blue skies for both Saturday and Sunday. I have fingers crossed they’re right. I’m not one to make plans based on the forecasts but having made plans it’s nice to see a favourable outlook. It’s off out to the Barr Beacon for some portable amateur radio activity on Saturday and a BBQ with my folks planned for Sunday, at home in Lichfield.
Sad to say the forecast isn’t too good at the moment for bank holiday Monday when it’ll be the start of the Lichfield Bower (of which more in a later post) so fingers crossed for better than forecast weather on that day!
Dean Life..., Totally random bower, Lichfield, weather
Surprise, surprise. Tonight on 17m (18.141 MHz) YS1G work a clutch of mostly NA stations simplex SSB. Those EU stations who did work them (no doubt with far better antennas than I have here) were reporting them ‘weak but workable’.
A welcome break form long hours of CW or just looking to chat a bit before they settle in for another long day at the key/paddle? Whatever their thinking they were inaudible here which is in line with every other day this week when they only really start to peak into Europe on 17m after 11pm my time.
Dean Amateur Radio, Life... dxpedition, SSB, YS1G
Michael (G7VJR) and Bob (MD0CCE) are doing their bit keeping YS1G on the air day & night but still conditions aren’t quite good enough to allow me to hear them consistently.
Tonight on 20m they were fading badly and only very occasionally coming up to max strength 5 or 6. Add to that the fact my wire sloper antenna is proving to be difficult to tune on 20m meaning I can only run up to 35w output before RF in the shack wreaks havoc and it’s been a frustrating night.
I’m tired and off to bed. I may try again tomorrow or Friday night but it’s not looking very promising.
Dean Amateur Radio antenna, YS1G