Thanks postie

I'd almost forgot that I had an order in for one of these. But my royal weekend was topped off nicely a royal (mail) delivery of 1 Raspberry Pi.

I had a few plans for one of these when I first heard about it but first off I'll spend a bit of time getting to know the linux distro and I'll assume there is a way of running something like WSPR without too much trouble as it has a native Debian (.deb) version. First off though will be trying to get a video signal out to my rather old monitor that doesn't have a HDMI input.

In the mean time I think I'll have a google about to see what anyone else has done. Always a good start to learn from others.

Big Gun

It's not often I hit some DX but WSPR helps me out quite a lot. Here's a screenshot from my latest 1w big gun escapade

[caption id="attachment_1179" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="1w into Hustler 6-BTV"][/caption]

Whilst some might say that lifes too short for QRP. Newly licenced hams take note. 1w into a lossy vertical in a bad location doesn't mean you're stuck with QSO's as far as the end of the street.

All this was achieved with a modest transceiver (IC-7000) and a modest antenna (Hustler 6-BTV with a few radials). The lesson here is that DX isn't just for those with limitless pockets of cash, elevated QTH's and antenna systems that can rival your nearest broadcaster. You just might not be talking to the other station!

Digi-modes bonanza weekend

Ok maybe I've made this sound more exciting than it actually was.

I got a loan PC from the club (MX0WRC of the recent MS0WRC DXpedition to Tiree fame) for the purpose of loading up some software for a presentation/ demonstration that I am planning on doing on some of the digi modes (mainly PSK31) for some of the club members who don't have much experience in it. The laptop needed a little love and attention and after 2 hours of defuzzing the thing I managed to get it connected to my home wifi and downloaded HRD and JT65 as well as WSPR software. Just out of interest I connected up the FT817 to the 'puter and left JT65 running in receive mode overnight. Low and behold >350 callsigns logged in 36 countries. All from a loft wire antenna.

These modes continue to astound me, partly because I am always a bit uncertain as to exactly how they manage it. I almost expect someone to pop their head round the corner saying ' didn't you know.....?'.

Time to re-establish a working relationship with the laptop my wife has borrowed off me and get the FT817 to good use

Cobwebb hits VK

I've given the FT817 a task. See how good my cobwebb is compared to my dipole in the loft. Most of the activity seems to be around 20m so I plonked the rig on the right frequency and went for 24 hours of normal family life.

So after the 24 hours there were the usual EU calls and some west coast us stations and nestled in amongst them was a VK. The first one heard from the rf hole that is my QTH. The best homebrew so far.

Thinking of a new rig

I've spent the last 3 years collecting data from the NCDXF beacons to see if I can hear them using Faros. The results have been displayed on this site as a way of keeping a valid copy of the data away from the home pc's which seem to give up the ghost or lose data. Lately I've been really frustrated that I haven't really had a spot for a long time.

The rig is fine and the PC is getting the sound in, theres just no spots. So I'm thinking of a slight change of rig so that I can get a bit more out the set up. There are a few hams locally that use APRS and I'm wanting to get a bit more involved, so I'm thinking of putting the trusty and very reliable IC-703 onto Ebay so I can get hold of a FT-817 and a TNC to run APRS both out and about and in the car as well as switching over to WSPR instead of Faros.

I do go up to Scotland quite a lot and have found it would be nice to have something in the car on the way up there and whilst I'm there both on HF and VHF. So that only really leaves one sensible option. The FT-817, a cross country wireless APRS TNC and a mobile whip for the car and my Cobwebb for HF

1w to VK and others

Whilst mucking a out making the cobwebb I left to rig running WSPR. Not expecting much I was pleasantly surprised to see a few exotic spots on the wspr map.

Not only were these spots ones that I heard they also heard me. Including a few in VK land. Now I don't know what their set up's are but its nice too see that with a single watt of power I can get so far. Ok so its machine to machine and very little human interaction is needed but these distances are one of the things that keep me hooked on ham radio.

The people who work out how to do these things need medals!

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WSPR Not quite working on Windows 7

I recently purchased a usb sound card. Thinking I was doing the right thing I spent some time googling about and finally settled on the M-Audio Transit. Some favourable reports and some that were neither one way or the other. The reason behind the purchase was a recommendation after suffering with my Softrock HF lite receiver not doing what it should.

So the story continues. I've been away for the last week or so and whilst I had a lovely time its back to ham radio business. This week I have been playing with WSPR to try and decide if I want to switch from beacon monitoring to straight WSPR'ing. Let me tell you that its not all been plain sailing. The IC-703 that lives in the 'monitoring room' (garage) is used primarily as the travel rig / monitoring station, seems to be playing strange games. Some of the menus are not coming up and the signalink SL+ is also suffering with gremlins and will not TX through VOX. Anyway I'm digressing. The main rig has been todays focus and I just simply cannot get reliable decoding from WSPR with the USB soundcard and Windows 7. Plenty of lines to see and it says its decoding but quite frankly its doing the square root of nothing.

Some head scratching in order I think

WSPR 10m 500mW

Today is the wspr 10m band 500mW 'event'. I've switched over the IC703 to the band and will see what I can spot and see of anyone can actually spot me. I'm not particularly hopeful but we'll see if the Es gods are favourable today.

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wspr-ing

Whilst the sun seems to be a bit quiet again and the beacons seem to be a long way off I've put WSPR on again. Any of the spots will be on the usual WSPRnet.org map. I'm planning on a little trip out on my bike later and will take my 2m hand held with me. I'll see if I can actually get a QSO with its mini antenna

WSPR

Seeing as the amount of spots on the beacons page was at about minimal. I thought I'd switch over to WSPR to see what kind of activity there was. I set the rig up last night and went off for a few lengths in the local pool. By the time I cam back I had a nice surprise K1JT spotted on 30m.

I've left it running and here's the latest from a few minutes ago

Whisper

WSPR = Whisper

Joe Taylor and people like him never cease to amaze me. Without trying to state the obvious he really is a clever bloke. I've used WSJT a few times, mostly for receiving but on a couple of occasions I've done a small amount of transmitting. I'd seen WSPR on his website and if the truth be told I had too much on my plate to think about using it. Now I've got some semblance of normality back and the sporadic E season starts to wane. I was thinking of my long 'un'established sdr beacon receiver then the idea struck me. 

WSPR + Softrock HF Lite + Atom motherboard = WSPR receiver

Why change from Faros. We'll its no change for the long term but I've still not been able to find a way to use the HF lite with Faros for all the IARU HF beacons. Something that it really frustrating. If only I had the ability to write software!

So the possible change in direction needs a bit of thought. Is it worth while? I’m running it for a few days to see what it gives me. Sounds like the project could be something big if enough get involved.