VHF/UHF WSPR Waterfall images

[VK2KRR]

Check this lot out from this evening with the antenna beaming Melbourne.
Not sure how I got anything from VK3DXE's last TX
Also the period before, I think DXE may have been TXing for this one also as well as VK2YW. You can also see a straight line of noise across the screen, thats what happens when I decode each new ship for the first time after clearing the past 24 hr activity in Shipplotter.

2m WSPR beam on Melb

[VK2KRR]

Posting up for Alan VK3DXE

WSPR sun evening

[VK2KRR]

Almost looks like freq spread of some sort on VK1KW's signal with aircraft doppler reflection.

VK1KW

Amazing that Robs signal decoded through all this.

[VK2KRR]

Big meteor burst captured from Jeff VK5GF on 6m, as you can see there was a few minor pings, then about 20 sec before the end of the period it went solid

VK5GF Meteor 6m 07.12.13

[VK1JA]

I heard the same burst Leigh, and I just managed to get a screen shot before it went off the WSPR screen.

P.S> received on a vertical @ 6.5m height. Would've been a big signal if I was on the yagi !

[VK2KRR]

Captured these dramatic looking 2m WSPR signals from Alan VK3DXE. Tropo signal plus doppler shifting AE across it.

VK2DXE tropo x AE signals on 2m

[VK2KRR]

An unusually wide scattered signal from Jeff VK5GF to my location, about 764 km. This may be backscattering from a highly charged part of the E layer this evening where there were good paths from VK5GF to VK1JA and also to ZL2DX.
I could not decode Jeffs signal here as they were to wide and distorted (Jeffs signal indicated by arrow on screen).

VK5GF scattered 6m signal evening 18.12.13

[VK1JA]

A crazy AE slider pointing west today, the one at 07:16 probably was from Rob VK1KW, but unsure who the one at 07:12 was!

[VK2KRR]

Jayson, was possibly VK3JTM?
07:12 VK3JTM 144.490466 -17 0 QF12lr 100 VK5GF PF94hk

[VK5ZRL]

Some scattering occurred on 6m WSPR signals today. The interesting one was a local
signal by VK5SIX which suffered some scattering then returned to normal fairly quickly
as the screen capture below shows.

73 de Rob VK5ZRL

[VK4DU]

Fascinating.

A general question - what rx bandwidth do you set on the radio?

As narrow as possible, or normal SSB bandwidth?

Thanks.

[VK2KRR]

Rob,
Regarding VK5SIX scattering, I noticed when John was beaming one way there was massive scattering and then the other direction it was gone. Some very high MUF happening there somewhere.

Glenn, I've done a little bit of testing regarding bandwidth. Its not really required to narrow it up, unless there is a close by strong signal or interference. I've tried to do it on 160m with lightning static etc, but the resulting SNR is worse with the narrower bandwidth (400 Hz) than something like 1500 or 2000 Hz BW. On 10m I found 400 Hz was quite OK and lived with it there most of the time. Everywhere else is 1500 Hz.

[VK5ZRL]

G'day Leigh,
I think John was beaming VK6 when the scattering was evident.

G'Day Glenn,
In my own case, bearing in mind that I am in the "burbs and suffer with
all sorts of noises, I set the filter on the IC-7000 at 1200 Hz for WSPR operation
and use that on all bands.

If you are away from suburban noise sources normal SSB bandwidth should be ok.

Cheers.

[VK3ZAZ]

Fascinating.

A general question - what rx bandwidth do you set on the radio?

As narrow as possible, or normal SSB bandwidth?

Thanks.

Given you are capturing a 100HZ FSK probably as narrow as possible.
I have tried using various Roofing bandwidths down to 600HZ
It doesn't seem to make much difference
I am regularly seeing -29 and -28 db out here in the countryside in a low noise environment
I am also able to use an MH2 mast head preamp which is probably unlikley in city areas.
What amazed me last night was the ability to receive VK6OX on a pair stacked HO loops from the RMV beacon service propped up in a stack of tyres 10 feet off ground
From what I see/hear signals are unworkable on CW/SSB are viewed all day on my receivers out here from all directions
I also notice a consistant dx limit of signals 400-500-600K on 6 and 2M not unheard of all the time.
Its a pity you cant sort the wspr spots by other methods

I will try to past into a spread sheet to see what works..

[VK2KRR]

High MUF E around areas of western VK3 and close by locations this evening.

Here is a screen shot showing big scattered 6m signal from John VK5PO while he was beaming at VK7FI. WSPR sigs usually about 7 Hz, this one is coming up at about 35 Hz currently. John is only 770 km from here.
Probably a hint of VK3ZAZ before this. You can VK3ZAZ was up to -16 in the deocodes prior from only 527 km on 2 x loop antennas.

VK5SIX 6m WSPR High MUF E scattering

[VK1JA]

Not sure what causes this, but I occasionally get it - double decodes with one fading out while the second signal fades in.

It's pretty rare though.

[VK3MJC]

Interesting one from my perspective tonight. I'm close enough to VK3DXE that when he's transmitting, my Rx noise goes from it's normal 2-3dB to 25+ dB. Whenever that's happening, I get a "shadow" of Alan's signal a bit further up the waterfall (which I understand is probably due to my soundcard?).

At 0928 it looks like my WSPR has decoded the shadow AND the main signal.

[VK2KRR]

Had an interesting looking signal from Rob VK1KW this evening I thought I would post up -

VK1KW 2m AE

[VK2OMD]

Not sure what causes this, but I occasionally get it - double decodes with one fading out while the second signal fades in.

It's pretty rare though.

The freq difference is 36Hz, same callsign... so it looks like the same tx being recieved by two paths with some relative Doppler shift. 36Hz is not a large Doppler shift at that freq.

The quite small change in the Doppler on each signal might be explained by two aircraft travelling the parallel lanes and about the same position along the path to give similar but opposite shifts.

If you watch the Flightradar, you might find scenarios where that might happen, and observe what you see on WSPR (if someone in the right place is transmitting that interval).

Leigh shows a similar observation in a post just prior to this.

Owen

[VK3DXE]

The freq difference is 36Hz, same callsign... so it looks like the same tx being recieved by two paths with some relative Doppler shift. 36Hz is not a large Doppler shift at that freq.

The quite small change in the Doppler on each signal might be explained by two aircraft travelling the parallel lanes and about the same position along the path to give similar but opposite shifts.

If you watch the Flightradar, you might find scenarios where that might happen, and observe what you see on WSPR (if someone in the right place is transmitting that interval).

Leigh shows a similar observation in a post just prior to this.

Owen

More often than not, the parallel traces on strong(ish) signals is due to overload in the computer's soundcard. Easily repeatable.