VK Logger Ham Radio Forum Archive

Oohh fairly drifty. At least we can look for the drifty signal, he may do OK in decoding us ?

Appears ? Drift fault by TX/RX heating - cooling cycles to the Reference Xtal .

Does anyone know the radio make/model in use? Knowing that, assistance might be forthcoming.

73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH

Rob, on his WSPR profile page, it lists an IC7400, but if thats what he is using on 2m im not sure.

OK I just got an email from Mal VK6MT. States he was using an IC7400 rig and thought it would be pretty good, and says any suggestions will be taken into consideration to resolve the issue.

I dont think he is on the logger so maybe will suggest he comes up here for assistance.

IC7400 chassis is very similar to the IC746. The problem there is the fan blows on the reference oscillator. A solution that can help is pop the lid of it, and fill with fluffed out cotton wool. That is, the reference oscillator can, not the whole radio.

I did this to my old IC746 which helped, before I went the full hog and GPS locked it.

73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH

Hi Guys, I’m now on the forum.

I seemed to have created some additional activity for you guy. Thanks for the info. I will take it on board and explore the cotton wool mod. I will switch to horizontal polarisation after Christmas when things slowdown a bit for me.

Thanks again.

Mal VK6MT

PS would also be interested in GPS locking of the Icom (and yes it's an IC-7400).

I think this is Rob VK6LD/P, From His Albany site
Time: 11.14 UTC 12/12/13

I have watched WSPR operation for some years but I've never seen a signal behave in this way...in the SPECTRAN screenshot that is.

By deduction,the transmission was from VK3XPT - no station decoded this 1928Z frame....(that's just before 0600 local time).

I cannot explain the peculiar effect on this reasonably strong signal....anyone with suggestions ?

Bill,
I have a feeling it was from someone else, possibly VK3LAJ, as I also saw some weird signals coming from someone down that way, it may have been Anthony. May require a PC reboot.

Thought I had better save some of the 2m WSPR maps from the weekend for people to reflect back on in the future when there is NO DX for days and days on end. Gotta make the most of these good conditions.

This is VK6MT signal Today, I think Mal is using his IC-7000

I have had to tune 500hz lower to get him into the bandpass

Thanks Derek, Mal may have to try adjusting the dial freq somewhat, hope he reads this.
In any case will keep an eye out for such a signal outside the band pass.
Conditions expected to possibly bridge the Bight path again tonight and morning. Hope so!

Has anyone tried/managed to run a raspberry pi on 144mhz wspr in this group?

http://www.george-smart.co.uk/wiki/RaspberryPi_WSPR

wondering how accurate and stable the box is, thanks.

Hope Pete doesn't mind me posting this pic up. But this is Peter's new omnidirectional horizontal set up he is using on 2m WSPR at the moment. Obviously not packing as much punch as the yagi would in one direction, but giving some good all round coverage from Peters QTH and will be easy to pick up when the conditions are good.

PAR Omniangles. Maybe Peter can advise how he went about landing those into VK?

I'd asked Dale at PAR before about them, and he wouldn't post to VK.

73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH

Hi Rob,
it would seem it has all changed, no fuss, place order via email and paid via their PayPal account, turned up here in my P.O box after the normal USA-Aust delays.

VK2GOM wrote:PAR Omniangles. Maybe Peter can advise how he went about landing those into VK?
I'd asked Dale at PAR before about them, and he wouldn't post to VK.
73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH

The antennas were extremely well packed and each came with its own information sheet, assembly of the 50MHz ones were a breeze and that friction fit method they use seems to give a good lock on the element position.

144 and 432 MHz version come pre-assembled and adjusted for the SSB end of each band.

I bought a swag of them for projects, sent some to Alice Springs for the vk8ras beacons (50 & 144 MHz), two of each up the tower (as per photo) with phasing harnesses and 1 of each (6, 2 & 70cm) for the mobile setup.

if there is anything else you need to know, just ask

Regards,
Peter.

P.S great job on the home EME station, have no idea why some choose to post negatives about these endeavours.

Thanks Peter, good to hear. I have had my eye on those 2m Omni's for a while now!

73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH

Hi Andrew,
had not seen a full version of WSPR on the PI before (I do not get out much LOL), the most common thing I have seen is using the PI to run a standalone WSPR generator that pulse and I/O line at the desired HF freq. then filters to clean up the harmonics.

VK3BQ wrote:Has anyone tried/managed to run a raspberry pi on 144mhz wspr in this group?
http://www.george-smart.co.uk/wiki/RaspberryPi_WSPR
wondering how accurate and stable the box is, thanks.

This one appears to be taking audio from an external source like we do using a PC and decoding it in the normal way. Maybe I have missed some thing in his web page when I looked through it?

Certainly having a PI to run a full copy of WSPR for decode and encode would be great for a remote site (like from work) but I think his solution still need an RF deck of some sort. I noticed he was working on getting a Funcube Dongle to work so maybe he can attach to the audio stream from it but given the frequency accuracy needed for WSPR he may end up chasing his tail?

Peter.

Very good to see all the paths showing up in SE VK4 land recently. Can we find any stations further north willing to give it a go
Or even to the south would be good.