New worldwide 10m beacon list issued

By: Steve Nichols

21 February 2024 at 13:20

RSGB’s Propagation Studies Committee (PSC) has released a new HF beacon list, with the 10m listings completely revamped.

The old list, which was started by Martin Harrison G3USF (SK), had been added to over the years, but was getting out of date. The only way to make it more accurate was to start again.

Use was made of the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), which wasn’t available when the list was originally created, plus listeners’ contributions from around the world.

I started by removing around 60 beacons that had not been heard for some time. Delving deeper it seems that a lot had been taken off the air, the owners had died, or their frequencies had changed.

Using the RBN gave a pretty good indication of what beacons are actually on air, plus help from a list compiled by Gary ZL2IFB filled in some of the gaps.

Beacons that are temporarily off-air have been left in, but marked in black.

While no list will ever be complete as changes take place around the world, I think the list is now far more useable. I’ll endeavour to make changes as and when they are needed.

The new beacon list can be found at:

https://rsgb.org/main/technical/propagation/propagation-beacons/

Ten metres (28MHz) beacon list updated

G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog

By: Steve Nichols

30 March 2023 at 15:31

I've just spent two days updating the RSGB's 28MHz beacon list. I used the reverse beacon network and logged/updated the beacon list accordingly. This takes a lot of time as many of the "spots" are misread and have to be checked individually.

Beacons heard over the last three years are highlighted in red. I'm now happy that it is pretty up-to-date. The RBN has a beacon listing, but it is way out of date - GB3RAL is still listed and that hasn't been on for years.

I think this is the best way as it reflects beacons that are actually transmitting and not just listed. The full beacon list can be found on the propagation section of the RSGB website here: http://rsgb.org/main/files/2023/03/G3USFs-Worldwide-List-of-HF-Beacons.pdf

The actual changes are:

Change of freq/details:

28270.5 PY4MAB Pocos de CaldasGG68 2W

28193.1 LU2DT Mar del Plata GF12 5W

28208 WD5GLO Minco OK EM15ah 3W

28281 AG8Y Middletown OH EM79TL 7.5W

28273.8 WI4L Dalton GA EM74MS

28243 AA1SU VT FN34KL 5W

28209.5 N2UHC St Paul KS EM27JM 4W

28203.3 WB9OTX EN55 5W

28280.4 KE4IFI Lexington SC EM9JV 7W

Additions:

28297.9 K4JDR Raleigh, NC FM05 10W

28255.8 WB4NCT Athens, AL EM64 5W

28241.3 WW2BSA Warren, NJ FN20OU 7W

28260.8 IQ8BB Salerno JN70JQ

28178 IQ0GV Sora JN61TR 5W

28236.3 F1ZTS Rochefort in97QI 10W

28266.1 VK4RST St George QLD QG41HW 10W

28285.9 AJ4YN Chesapeake, VA FM16UO ? ?

28215 GB3MCB Cornwall, UK IO70OJ ?

28252.6 WD8INF Lebanon OH EM79VK 10W

28258.8 AC5JM Bartlesville OKEM16FT ?

28209 N5TIT Westminster, COEM12PX 10W

28206.5 N4SO Grand Bay, AL EM50tk 6W

28296.2 VE3IIM Hanover, ON EN94LD 4W

28321.4 IZ1KXQ La Spezia JN44WC 0.1W

28230.8 NG7I Ritzville WA DN07TC 5W

28202 WB7EUX Joseph, OR DN15JI 10W

28233.5 K7RA Seattle, WA CN87UQ 11W

28260 KC4QLP Little Falls NYFN23OB 10W

28245.3 K0WKT Black Dia. WA EN36WT 5W

28226 K6KWS Redwood City CA CM87VL 10W

28240.1 W8EDU Cleveland, OH EN91EM 10W

28206.9 N4XRO Burbank CA DM04UE 5W

28276 XE1JAL Xalapa EK19MM 5W

28230.3 W2MQO Grand Island FLEL98dv 10W

73 de Steve G0KYA
Chairman, RSGB Propagation Studies Committee

2019 Commonwealth Contest and QRP

G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog

By: Steve Nichols

10 March 2019 at 20:16

My Yaesu FT-817 and Winkey

This weekend has seen the Commonwealth Contest 2019. I documented my 2018 attempt on the blog, and was keen to give another go this year.

Last year I used my Icom IC-756 Pro 3 wound back to 5W, but this year decided to use my Yaesu FT-817 for a real QRP approach. I bought a USB lead for it this year to give full computer control with N1MM and decided to use my Winkey for full auto CW .

This year I had a slight change to my antennas. Out went the end fed half wave (with 80 loading coil) and in came a 66ft OCFD with the apex at about 8m. Also new was a quarter wave vertical for 20m, erected for the weekend on a 10m fishing pole - more of that later.

The contest ran from 10am, but at 9.30am I was struggling with the computer and interface. Stupid me forgot to turn off the keyer on the FT817 - duh!. Soon we were under way.

The contest got off to slow start with my 5W struggling to break through. Many stations just couldn’t hear me. The quarter wave vertical for 20m turned out to be a noise magnet - almost S8. I decided to abandon it quite quickly.

After an hour I had a few stations in the log - 5B4AGN (Cyprus) and 9H1CG am (Malta), but nothing better. 3B8XF Mauritius (G3TXF) was audible, but I couldn’t break through. Same with ZF2CA Cayman Islands (both 3B8 and ZF were worked last year).

The afternoon saw Canada romping in and I ended up doing an hour at about 10-11pm, clearing up the UK HQ stations.

Sunday started at about 5.30am and a few more Canadians on 40m were cleared up. I then had a big breakthrough - VK4CT on 40m. It wasn’t easy, as they needed three or four repeats on their serial number, but we got there eventually.

So there you go - 34 QSOs in total, which doesn’t sound much, but I didn’t take part for the full 24 hours and it is HARD work with only 5W. Peter M0RYB, a fellow Norfolk Amateur Radio Club member, cleaned up with 70 QSOs in the QRP section. Must find out his secret!

Note: The FT-817 isn't much of a contesting radio. I found it struggled with a nearby 400W station and also found the 500Hz filter a bit too wide. Might be back to the IC-756 Pro next year.

HF propagation charts updated

G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog

By: Steve Nichols

4 February 2019 at 17:20

I have just updated my HF short-path propagation prediction charts for the UK (accessed via a link on the right).

I had to update them with the latest smoothed sunspot numbers for the next 12 months.

This is a little depressing as after May 2019 the predicted SSN falls to "one" and stays like that for the rest of the year! Sunspot minimum is currently thought to be later this year, but could spill over into 2020.

These charts are meant as a rough guide. Other tools that are available are:

1. The VOACAP RadCom prediction tool - this replicates the locations found in the monthly RSGB publication, but lets you choose your own mode, power and antennas to give more accuracy.

2. The Predtest.uk tool - this tool, developed by Gwyn Williams G4FKH, uses the latest ITURHFPROP prediction engine to let you produce point-to-point or area propagation predictions, again with full control over the input parameters.

3. Propquest - this is a near real-time tool, developed by Jim G3YLA, that shows the critical frequency and extrapolated maximum usable frequencies available over different path lengths. The critical frequency (the frequency at which a radio wave launched vertically stills gets returned to Earth) is derived from ionosonde data, mainly from Chilton and Fairford.

It should be your first port of call to see what conditions are like. In the summer it also has predictions for Sporadic E, courtesy of Jim.

Steve G0KYA
RSGB PSC Chairman

Yaesu FT-991A firmware update warning

G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog

By: Steve Nichols

21 January 2019 at 14:58

I have owned a Yaesu FT-991A for about two years. I have to say that I really only use it on two metres. It isn't a bad radio, but it can be fiddly and you have to get used to going through lots of menus to do what you want it to do.

As such I tend to use my Icom IC-756 Pro 3 as my main HF rig (unless I'm using one of my QRP rigs like the Elecraft K1, YouKits HB1A, QCX, MTR etc). Use the QRP tag on the right if you are interested in reading about them.

Anyway, I recently tried to use Yaesu's Fusion mode as we have a new Fusion repeater (GB7NM) about 10 miles from me.

I wasn't impressed with the audio though. Half the time it was unintelligible and pretty awful to be honest. I did wonder if the signal strength is sufficient, but it is S9 +30db. Also, I live about half a mile from the police headquarters and do suffer some desensing on 2m if I use a cheap handheld like a Baofeng connected to my 2m antenna. Perhaps that's the problem.

However, I checked and found that the FT-991A's firmware (including C4FM) was out of date and thought that an update might improve things.

So, following the instructions, I first uploaded the main firmware - and this is where I came unstuck. Once I had completed it I rebooted the radio, but it wouldn't - all I had was the Yaesu screen.

Arrrgghh! Now what. Reading around the internet I found that you have to upload all four of the Yaesu firmware updates - the main, the TFT screen, the DSP and C4FM.

If you don't the radio won't work.

To be fair it does say in the instructions:

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
MAIN Ver. 02-01 also requires TFT Ver. 02-00; also DSP Ver. 01-11 and C4FM DSP Ver. 04-15.
If your FT-991A does not have them already, please update all firmware, they must be used together.

Once I had uploaded all four and reset it all was fine again - apart from I had lost all my settings.

Another quick hint. If you have memories loaded use VK2BYI's FTRestore software before you start the firmware update and make a copy of the memories. Once you have made the firmware updates you can then reload the memories and save yourself a lot of time.

Anyway, after two hours of messing around I had the radio back the way I wanted it.

So is Fusion better now? I still don't think the audio quality is that good, although it my be a bit better. But at least the radio isn't bricked!

G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog
Autumnal HF conditions show sunspots aren't everything
1 November 2018 at 11:06

Autumnal HF conditions show sunspots aren't everything

G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog

By: Steve Nichols

1 November 2018 at 11:06

Click to enlarge

Don't you just love it when something works! I took down my multi-band end fed half wave (EFHW) antenna last weekend and replaced it with a home-made 40m off-centre fed dipole (OCFD).

The EFHW worked, but I was never happy with the performance. This may be due to the inverted L configuration or the compromise 49:1 ferrite-based Un-Un. Either way, I felt I was missing out on some DX and was keen to try something else for the Autumn/Winter.

The 40m Windom is about 66ft long and has a home-made 4:1 Guanella balun made with two ferrite cores. It is fed at the 41%/59% point so it covers 40, 20, 15 and 10m with an SWR below 3:1 and the other HF bands with an ATU.

The apex is at about 8m with the ends down to about two metres, so not ideal.

Nevertheless, in back-to-back WSPR tests it proved to be better than my W5GI dipole that goes over the roof by about 7dB on average. This was good as the EFHW was mostly down on the W5GI.

Anyway, I thought I would leave it running on 20m WSPR for 24 hours to see what it could pick up. This was with zero sunspots, but a Kp index of 1. I was delighted to see that I had been picked up as far afield as Japan, Australia, Alaska, Antarctica and Brazil. The furthest west I got in the US was Utah.

So, I'm a happier bunny. I might return to the multiband EFHW one day, perhaps looking at different ferrite mix configurations for the Un-Un, but for now I'll stick with monoband EFHWs with tuned iron toroid/capacitor matching units that work well.

The OCFD can stay up for a while - you know that the best antenna you can have is either the one you just took down, or the one you are going to put up, not the one you are using!

Fixing the 20m QCX radio

G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog

By: Steve Nichols

19 June 2018 at 10:45

I've had my 20m QCX kit working now since just after Christmas. While the build was quite straightforward I did have a few problems.

Click to enlarge the photograph by the way.

The first was that I managed to blow the 7805 regulator while leaving the radio running on WSPR one morning. Having replaced that I found that the rig was quieter and there was no TX output any more. Thinking I had also blown the PA transistors I replaced all three of the BS170s, but that didn't help either.

Anyway, after a lot of help on the QCX reflector I decided that the fault had also taken out the 74ACT00N chip. This had been soldered onto the board directly so had to be cut out with a Dremel and a new IC socket installed.

And after finding a short somewhere near the PA transistors all was well - success! Output using a 12.6V Lithium battery pack was about 1.8W

I have been using it on and off ever since as it has a really nice receiver - even took it to North Norfolk as I detailed in another post.

But one thing always bugged me - why only 1.8W? When I built it originally I was getting more like 3W, so perhaps it was the replacement BS170 transistors, which came off Ebay on a slow boat from China.

So having a few hours free today I ignored my own "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mantra and pulled it apart. I replaced all three BS170s with new ones bought from the GQRP club and while I was at it I replaced C22 with a 0.1uF capacitor to try and soften the sidetone a little.

I managed to break one of the wires to one of the control buttons on the front in the process, but it is now all back together.

And the power output is now just under 3W with 12.6V - success! I have no doubt I could get more if I messed around with the band pass filter, but I don't think it is worth it. I tend not to run it on 13.8V as the regulator gets VERY hot indeed.

Anyway, it is a great little radio and will be going on some more journeys no doubt.

I can thoroughly recommend it as a kit project - see QRPLabs site. My case came from Banggood in China and only cost a few pounds. It did take about 10 hours to machine (posh word for drilling out with a Black and Decker and attacking it with a file).

The label was produced in Photoshop and printed off by Photobox.co.uk. I ruined the first one by spraying it with varnish, which made the dye run. Luckily I have a few more spares and may eventually cover one in sticky-back plastic. But for now it looks great.

The red buttons were bought just before Maplin went bust so are a lasting tribute to what was one of my favourite shops and the result of much ribbing by the family every time I went there - RIP Maplin.

G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog
"Bumps on the Air" 2018 - QRP in North Norfolk, UK
24 May 2018 at 18:35

"Bumps on the Air" 2018 - QRP in North Norfolk, UK

G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog

By: Steve Nichols

24 May 2018 at 18:35

Today was 2018 ”Bumps on the Air” day for me. Because we don’t have any summits in Norfolk I have to make do with tiny hills, or bumps!

Two years ago Jim G3YLA and I climbed up Beeston Bump (63m) and did some amateur radio operating. This year I wanted to beat that so drove to Norfolk’s mightiest peak – Beacon Hill near West Runton at 103m. Ta dah!

Actually, this wasn’t a very exciting spot as there are just two rotting benches, a flag pole and trees all around.

Nevertheless, I set up my end fed half wave vertical on a 10m fishing pole and connected up my Yaesu FT817. There wasn’t too much about but I worked John F5VKU (also G8MM) near Cannes with 5W SSB. He said he was struggling to hear me.

My 20m QCX radio - click to enlarge any image.

After playing with SSB for a bit and failing to break some pile ups I connected up my 20m QCX radio and tried some CW. I was really surprised as Karl IV3RJH came back to me, 559/549 both ways. I was running about 2W, he was running 3W.

I do have to fix the sidetone on the QCX as calling CQ sounds more like “thump-de-thump-thump-thump-thump-de-thump”. I have the new capacitors, but am waiting for some new BS170 transistors so I can hopefully up the power level to more like 4W too.

But the QCX is an amazing radio for the money and hey, I built it myself, complete with the case and custom label, so any QSO makes me smile.

Another 20m SSB session with the FT817 and I bagged Jack OH3GZ and Juha OH6QAZ.

At this point I packed away and after lunch headed for Beeston Bump on the coast near Sheringham. I’ve written about this before as it has a fantastic view over the North Sea.

Anyway, I put up the EFHW vertical for 20m and set to with 5W CW from my Elecraft K1. This raised Gert OH/DL7UG and Dima RW4C. I then bagged Fabi IK5IiS near Florence.

Also heard were stations in Cypus and Canada, but the Cyprus station on SSB couldn’t hear me and the Canadian seemed to be sending his life story in CW to another station and I got fed up waiting to call him!

I also had a play with my 3W MTR3, but didn’t work anyone as I could see rain clouds coming and decided to pack up.

So not a bad day’s radio. The Elecraft K1 and Yaesu FT-817 worked flawlessly. I think I was getting some RF into the keyer on the QCX as I had trouble sending “/P” – the “/” turned into a right mess sometimes, although I had no trouble sending it on the K1 with the same Palm Paddle.

The moral is that life is NOT too short for QRP!

Update: I checked the reverse beacon network last might and saw that I had been picked up across Europe while calling CQ, but often with no response. Some of these SNR figures are quite large too. In other words I was loud enough.

That's a shame as it would have been nice to have worked some more stations.

Is this because of a lack of activity? Or is it because, as I often wonder, that a lot of people have moved to FT8?

Christmas present ideas!

G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog

By: Steve Nichols

21 November 2017 at 08:36

As Christmas is coming, I thought I would remind people that there are some great radio-related goodies for sale at CafePress.co.uk and .com.

You can choose from a number of items, including:

Three different types of ship's radio room clock, with silent period sectors marked
"Remember QRT SP" Merchant Navy Radio Officer merchandise
"Keep Calm and Work Some DX" merchandise
"Keep Calm and Work Some CW" items
Nikola Tesla merchandise, featuring him sitting in his Colorado Springs laboratory in 1899, surrounded by electrical arcs.

You can have the last three slogans added to T-shirts, sweatshirts, mouse mats, calendar, mugs and much more.

Just go to the Radio Room!

Or there are a number of my radio-related books that make good presents , including "Radio Propagation Explained", "Antenna Modelling", "Stealth Antennas" and "Getting Started in Amateur Radio". Use the image links on the right for more information.

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