Table of Contents
07 : Blog
0 Post(s) for April 2025
Wed 10/1/24 : WSPR & FLdigi
Ran WSPR for around 24 hours and got lots of Spots - in the USA and Australia…
Tue 09/01/24 : 60m WPSR
Brrr… it's chilly in the shack. My first trip in during winter.
I've started WSPR-ing on 60m (WARC Channel) to see how the band is performing, and to generate some heat in the shack.
And at 2050 I've moved to 10m at 5W. I heard some USA stations on 10mFM earlier in the evening. The band might be open occasionally….?
Fri 17 Nov 2023
After a couple of months away from the shack - domestic issues kept me away, and now it's winter and cold - I decided to have a look on 60m Olivia this evening, since I can do this from the comfort of the house without shutting myself away in the cold shed - the outside temp. is 0C and there's frost on the ground.
I made a VNC connection to the shack PC and ran Fldigi - it's been quite a long time since I've played radio like this.
After one CQ call at 1747z I was answered by Alan M0AGJ in Doncaster, which was a big surprise.
We had a nice, short QSO - and I found that his initial reply to me had been at only 1 watt, although he quickly increased to 100W fearing 1W was too weak. I have a feeling 1W would have been ok.
At full power his S/N was always positive, up to 18dB at times.
Mon 10 July 2023
- A catch up from yesterday to begin.
- Two periods of activity today, early evening on 30m and 40m, and later on 60m and 30m.
- Rig : 7200
- Using full 100W today - condx. seem a bit variable, especially at this northern latitude.
- Some Auroral sounding CW.
- Not much activity on 30m, despite many RBN spots of my CQ calls.
- Period 1
- 30m QSO : F5POJ : RSt
- 40m QSO : DL6LV/P : Hry, nr Keil. BVp. Short ~RC. Should look for him again for a longer chat.
- Period 2
- 60m QSO : G0IIK : Nigel, nr Heathrow, RCh. BVp me: “Vibroplex Presentation 1957”, him : “McElroy Bug 1940 same age as me, 82” Another nice chat w/ Nigel
- 30m QSO : DL4ST : RSt
- 30m QSO : IK2MMM/QRP : RSt “QSL only electronic” = LOTW confirmation
- 30m QSP : M0RQD : Steve, Isle of Wight : SKh. RC. slow and pleasant “beginner” QSO - hope for many more and for Steve to find CW improves rapidly with use.
Finding many RBN reports from my CQ calls - as far as Australia and Hong Kong, but very often no replies. Will endeavour to reply to any/all CQ calls I hear.
— John Pumford-Green 11/07/23 08:00
Sun 6 Aug 2023
A quick visit to the shack in the morning and I heard SM5COP - Rune - calling CQ. I always like to say hello so I called for a brief QSO, I couldn't stay long as I had to go out - swimming with friends, a regular Sunday morning activity. We had a nice, short QSO. It's always a pleasure to work Rune.
I had a few hours in the shack later in the afternoon.
I had a think about the higher bands - I don't often stray beyond 30m, occasionally going to 20m.
I had a quick tune around and wondered if I need to use the Pre-Amp on my IC-7200 or not. On the normal lower bands it's certainly not needed, and would be counterproductive.
The accepted wisdom is that “if the noise level increases when you connect the antenna then you have enough RX sensitivity, and you don't need the Pre-Amp”
I thought I'd see which bands (if any) would warrant the Pre-Amp:
| Band | p-p mV noise / Test Load | p-p mV noise / Antenna | Pre-Amp needed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 160 | 260 | 800 | No |
| 80 | 280 | >300 | No |
| 60 | 240 | >600 | No |
| 40 | 250 | >800 | No |
| 30 | 280 | >1000 | No |
| 20 | 280 | >1000 | No |
| 17 | 260 | >600 | No |
| 15 | 260 | >600 | No |
| 12 | 260 | ~300 | Marginal Yes |
| 10 | 260 | 260 | Yes |
It appears that only 12m and 10m would warrant use of the pre-amp using my existing Inverted-L antenna.
on 12m and 10m I re-did the experiment with the Pre-Amp ON
| Band | p-p mV noise / Test Load | p-p mV noise / Antenna | Pre-Amp needed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 330 | >1000 | Yes |
| 10 | 360 | >600 | Yes |