April Radio Antics

It has been an extremely busy month since my last post, sadly not all of it radio related.

During the Easter holiday I was away in the caravan at a dog agility show in North Yorkshire, camping in the grounds of Duncombe Park just outside Helmsley. When not competing I was able to find some time to operate.

Boris combining both hobbies!

Using just an M0CVO Magitenna I had some reasonable low power SSB operation on a number of bands and activated a square for the Worked All Britain Award (WAB) (SE58) and gave some points away during the Polish SP DX Contest.

The WAB scheme was something I signed up for last year when I went to Skye but haven't participated till now. The WAB net on 7.160MHz is a little daunting to listen too but once I jumped in it was relatively painless to activate the square and I plan to do some more when I go back to the Isle of Skye and Islay later this year, but I must improve my portable HF antenna.

Over the weekend of the 11/12th April there was another SSTV activation from the ISS in celebration of Yuri Gargarin's life. I had some good results decoding images and decided that I'd use it as a way to promote South Kesteven ARS locally and contacted the local newspaper.

The Newark Advertiser did indeed feature the story both in print and on their website and they were very good in mentioning the radio society. It was also printed in the sister free paper.

Copyright Newark Advertiser

It was nice to get some very complimentary reaction to my publicity drive in social media and other websites including an article on the Amsat-UK page http://amsat-uk.org/2015/04/15/iss-sstv-in-the-press/

Last weekend I and other members of the South Kesteven Amateur Radio Society operated the special event station GB5ROC at the Buckminster Cold War Royal Observer Corps (ROC) Nuclear Bunker Open Day.

Situated on the Lincolnshire/Leicestershire border ROC Post Number 62 is leased to the UP AN’ AT EM! History project and has been restored as a museum and is managed by ​​​Jed Jaggard. The free open day was a rare chance to visit and experience an important part of British post-war history.

These bunkers are underground structures found all over the United Kingdom, constructed as a result of the Corps’ civil defence nuclear reporting role and were operated by volunteers during the Cold War between 1955 and 1991. There was a network of over 1500 such monitoring posts around the UK designed to detect nuclear detonations and monitor blast and subsequent fallout and radiation levels should an attack take place.

Thankfully they were never used and the last of the posts were closed in 1991 when the majority of the ROC was stood down following the break-up of the Communist Bloc. Many have been demolished, fill in or adapted to other uses but the majority still exist, although in a derelict condition.

During the open day visitors had the chance to climb down into the bunker so for reasons of practicality SKARS operated GB5ROC from a tent close to the bunker hatch.

Along with Stewart Mason (M0SDM) and Sean Burton (2E0ENN) we operated on 40m from 10:00 till 16:30 BST and made a total of 151 contacts mostly UK operators with a number of European stations.

Equipment was supplied by Stewart who did the majority of the operating and consisted of a Yaesu FT-897D at 100W feeding an off centre fed dipole at around 30ft on top of a Racal push up mast. Stewart also provided a new club banner.

The open day was very well attended and a number of local and not so local amateurs (one visitor from Australia VK4UA ) came along thanks to the publicity the event had received on Facebook, Twitter, GB2RS and the Southgate ARC newsfeed. It was great to meet up and chat.

Encouragingly members of the general public were keen to learn what amateur radio was all about and they were able to take away a number of leaflets with information about the hobby and contact details for SKARS.

It was an excellent day all round with the operators have a fun time and gaining useful experience of operating a pile-up. The weather was kind with blue skies and sunshine. Hopefully it will become a regular activation at future bunker activations.

The video below Stewart operating Richard M6GPT who had tried most of the day to make contact and was successful just before the station was closed down.



SKARS member Mark (M0OBL) had monitored GB5ROC and made a video of his Elecraft K2 receiving us load and clear.



Next month is going to be very busy as I have GB2EGG and the Eggsplorer-1 HAB flight to organise and that too has made the press. http://www.sleafordtarget.co.uk/Egg-sent-space-World-Egg-Throwing-Championships/story-26372439-detail/story.html

Oh and lastly remember this is the original "Radio Antics" blog, often imitated but never bettered.. 73

Update, the visit of VK4UA to GB5ROC wasn't due to any publicity or advertising - it was simply because Stewart had his van parked on the verge with his callsign clearly visible and he was visiting the area - the simplest ideas are the best it seems!

FT-450D First impressions

My first rig the Yaesu FT-857D has proved a more than capable radio and as a shack in a box covering HF-VHF-UHF it is excellent and has allowed me to try my hand at most things since becoming licensed but I wanted a dedicated HF set up that was a bit less fiddly to use.   

So last month I succumbed to temptation and ordered a Yaesu FT-450D. While it is still an entry level rig I had heard good things about it and liked the look and feel of it. Martin Lynch & Sons had them at a low price and combined with Yaesu's 'Late Winter Warmer 2015' cash-back promotion made it an opportunity I didn't want to miss.

It arrived last week but I only got to properly have a play this weekend even then not for as long as I really would have wanted. I know people might detest HF contests but I was quite glad of the CQ WPX to try out the radio with plenty of contacts on 10/15/20 and 40m while keeping the output below 50W.

I have still to work out all the settings and the DSP functions but first impressions are of an excellent receiver with good tone and clear audio from the internal speaker. Being a very popular contest the bands were crowded at the weekend but I had no trouble picking out weaker stations even with very strong adjacent stations. Using the supplied microphone and the default processing settings I had no issue getting out either, working nearly all of the stations I called.

I have previously used a manual ATU and found the internal ATU is a nice feature when switching bands and it did a excellent job of fine tuning the M0CVO OCFD. It couldn't tune it on 40m directly as the VSWR was greater than 3:1 so had to revert back to the external ATU.

Only very minor gripe I had was the CAT connection, In my research I noted it was a standard RS232C 9-pin connector and assumed I would just plug in a standard PC serial lead, but I hadn't spotted the radio had a male connector not female!

I wanted to try out the CAT but hadn't got a gender changer or connectors in the shack to make up a lead. I did have a number of commercial RS232 extension leads moulded male connector one end, female the other, so chopped up two and spliced the appropriate halves together. It works fine with a USB-Serial adapter in Ham Radio Deluxe but refused to work with the Omnirig control used by PZTLog until I disabled the hardware handshaking. 

Still early days and I do need to read the manual but more than happy with it.

I am now the Chairman of a radio club!

Firstly my apologies, last weeks post about the Eggciting Eggsplorer-1 HAB project and the talk and demonstration on SSDV wasn't posted on Amateurradio.com due to an error.

This week South Kesteven ARS (SKARS) held an EGM where I was voted on as the new Chairman. Nigel Booth M0CVO has stepped down following four years in the position citing increasing business commitments. Nigel intends to remain an active member, I and the other members wish to thank Nigel for his efforts over the years and wish him well with his business ventures.

SKARS has a small membership at present which we hope to increase but the committee finds itself in the  Catch-22 position of not having a lot of funds in order to put on activities and promote ourselves to increase the membership.

I have created a social media presence in the form of a Facebook page and twitter account in addition to updating the societies web page.I am hoping that permission willing the GB2EGG and Eggsplorer-1 project will significantly promote the society and the hobby.

I know running a club/society isn't a trivial undertaking, especially if working full time having chaired a large dog agility training club many years ago. It can take a lot of effort and time and it can sometimes be a thankless task.

Indeed my first twenty-four hours has Chairman saw my first sacrifice, a lovely Yaesu FT-450D was delivered yesterday and I have yet to take it out of the box!

 
Something to be remedied this evening.

Eggciting HAB projects

I have a new high altitude balloon project, this one is very Eggciting.

In June my club South Kesteven Amateur Radio Society (SKARS) will be operating a special event station at the Swaton Vintage Day held at Thorpe Latimer in Lincolnshire. 

The 2015 Swaton Vintage Day will also host the 10th World Egg Throwing Championship  and in recognition the special event station will have the call sign GB2EGG. This popular annual show raises money for local, national and international good causes.

Egg Throwing is recognised by the English Sports Council and the sport is taken very seriously by some competitors. Hundreds of competitors from Europe and around the world are expected to compete this year. Last year’s event attracted teams from Germany, Slovenia, Hong Kong and Brazil.

While planning the special event station I jokingly suggested throwing an egg in to space on board a balloon, I shouldn't have yoked as it is now a serious project. The idea coming from Dave Akerman's Spudnik flight for Heston Blumenthal’s Channel4 television program.

Image with the permission of Dave Akerman

Subject to Civil Aviation Authority clearance and weather conditions I will hopefully launch a high altitude balloon carrying one lucky egg into the edge of space and then dropping it back to earth under a parachute. In addition to the plucky Eggstronaut the balloon I have called Eggsplorer-1 will carry a radio transmitter to broadcast its position, altitude and live images of the journey back to earth.

On board cameras will record the journey to be recovered on a successful return to Earth. Radio enthusiasts all around the country will be able to assist receiving the data and pictures and track the progress of the flight via the UK High Altitude Society tracking website.

More details and progress will be posted on here and on the Eggsplorer-1 website  and you can follow developments on twitter @eggsplorer1 South Kesteven ARS welcomes anybody with an interest in radio communications, so if want to be involved in this and other events like this please visit us at the show or visit the South Kestevan ARS website and on twitter @M0SKR

I have already begun development of the payload, unlike the moth-balled NERD-1 payload this one will use one of the Raspberry Pi boards since I want to transmit SSDV images live and it supports its own specially designed camera modules. NERD-1 will still fly as a backup tracker.

Dave Akerman (M0RPI) and Anthony Stirk (M0UPU) have developed the Pi-In-The-Sky ready made boards and the design and software are open-sourced, using this as a starting point together with Phil Heron's (MI0VIM) SSDV software I quickly had a prototype dubbed NERDPI running.

I did have an issue since the GPS module I currently have only outputs serial data so had to use one of those small TTL USB-Serial adapters and spun some of my own code to get the data out and was soon successfully decoding my own transmissions from the shack and uploading them to the Habhub system.

Today has seen the spectacular partial solar eclipse here in the UK, during the eclipse several HAB flights were launched to try to capture images above any cloud cover (details here)  Fellow SKARS members and members from the Grantham ARC were keen to decode the SSDV images themselves as the BBC Stargazing Live balloons were flying from nearby Leicester.

So on Wednesday I did a talk and demonstration to show how to track and decode the images, it was well received and I uploaded pictures of the audience to the system.

Unfortunately technical issues prevented live images from the Stargazing HABs being transmitted but I was able to decode some images from the University of Southampton OLAF payload They were only lo-res but still pleased to get decodes here it was a good distance from me.

Here in Newark the sky was beautifully clear so the eclipse was visible and spectacular, where OLAF was flying was covered in cloud, so the mission was a success.

   

A dark cold evening in a layby

True to my last post I drove out to some higher ground to operate portable for the 70cms UKAC on Tuesday evening.

Several hours sitting in the car on the side of a deserted road in the dark and cold was worth it. Despite some initial trepidation I really enjoyed the experience until I got spooked at the end.

Like the last time I operated from this location I put the small yagi approximately 3-4 metres up on the top of my 'painters' telescopic pole stuck in to a parasol stand. I sat in the car and reached out the open window to rotate the pole as required. I wrapped up well and had a blanket over my legs and a woolly hat on and kept surprising warm despite it being just 1°C, turning the courtesy light on only when I needed to write in the log.

It was nice to be noise free and I made 29 contacts, nothing earth shattering but with a modest set up and operating in the AL section (10W max) I was more than happy and got my first contact in the Isle of Man.

From the reports posted on line it seems conditions were flat and activity was low. Frustratingly several times I found a distant station only for it to be drowned out by splatter. I know some of this is down to my radio and the antenna but the source is nearby and so strong that even turning the beam makes little difference. Ironically being higher up meant the signal was even stronger than I experience at home.

The annoyance is compounded by the operator's habit of regularly changing calling frequency seemingly with little regard of who is currently operating there. This SDR screen capture shows an example of the same contesters signal during a recent 2m UKAC. Captured using a vertical collinear several strong clean(er) signals are clearly visible even with the mismatched polarisation. Sadly it is not a one-off and I have observed similar splatter from this source during both 70cms and 6m contests.

It was very dark and eerie on the quiet road and I'm afraid I got spooked with 20 minutes of the contest left, a 4x4 drove past slowly and appeared to shine a spotlight at my car. I was midway through a QSO writing in the logbook so I only caught it out of the corner of my eye so wasn't sure if they did. But a while later I saw what looked like torch beams moving in the nearby field that seemed to be getting closer. In retrospect it was nothing untoward when I checked the map later there are farm buildings in that direction but I've seen one too many horror films so decided not to hang about so threw everything in the car and headed home with out looking back..

you can't get rid of the Babadook
.... you'll see him if you look 

Operating /P for the 432MHz UKAC tonight

The 432MHz UKAC contest is usually a pretty dismal experience for me, low elevation, local noise and a mediocre antenna makes for a difficult evening. Last weekends VHF/UHF contest and some tests with fellow club member Stewart​ (M0SDM) on Sunday evening convinced me to try operating portable this week.

I have a small Moonraker 7-element ZL-Special on the main antenna mast, purchased originally for monitoring satellites and was pressed into service for SSB when I got licensed. It has never wowed me performance wise and I have been intending to replace it for quite a while but since I only use it one day a month it hasn't been a priority. So the mast came down last night and I removed it so I can take it out with me to operate portable from some higher ground tonight.

Using the 2m delta beam in June 2014

Last year I had a go at operating portable from the car and posted a write-up. It is my intention to repeat this exercise but with the 70cm antenna on top of my 'painters pole' mast. I have serviced the antenna and fitted a new short run of quality coax and spent a far amount of time with the AW07A analyser adjusting the antenna's tuning capacitor and have got the VSWR right down to 1.1:1 on 432.200MHz so things should be optimal.

I am looking forward to this evening, hoping it pays some dividends.

As I mentioned the 24 hour March 144/432MHz VHF Championship contest took place last weekend. I took part to give away some points just grabbing a few short sessions with the radio. I concentrated on the 2m band due to my issues on 70cm.

In my AW07A analyser review I mentioned some issues with my 2m LFA YAGI, thankfully these have been resolved. The use of some wire wool to remove some corrosion and a hacksaw to take 10mm from the long elements of the loop allowed the end elements to 'trombone' in sufficiently to get the antenna resonant and the VSWR is down to 1.2:1 on 144.300Mhz.

I only made 18 contacts, but was happy with the distances achieved with 30W, getting a lot further south than I normally do, given I am 18m ASL. There was also some local wideband noise (I captured a screenshot on the SDR) and the conditions gave some interesting fading.

M0NRD QSO map March 144 VHF

Noise across the band

   

More SSTV from the ISS

Like many others around the globe I spent yesterday attempting to receive and decode the SSTV transmissions being broadcast from the International Space Station by the Russian Cosmonauts.

The SSTV activity had been due to last three days starting on Saturday but commencement was delayed by the NASA space walk.

Receiving the signal and decoding is relatively straightforward due to relatively high power used (around 25W) however getting a perfect image is a challenge and dependant on a number of factors.

• The timing of the overhead pass. Due to the time taken to transmit the image and the three minute delay between each image it is possible to only be in reception range for the end of one image and the start of the next. 
• The ISS is moving quickly and so the transmission suffers noticeable Doppler shift. FM is more immune to the effect but for optimal performance adjustment of the tuned frequency is required especially on high elevation passes (more information).
• The ISS moves position, both in direction and elevation as it moves across the sky and will show up the peaks and troughs in a static antennas radiation pattern. This leads to bands of noise when the signal level falls. The use of a rotatable (and if possible tiltable) antenna (or even an handheld one) is the dirigour mode of operating satellites (and the ISS) for serious enthusiasts. 
• Noise and local interference will also obviously affect the image.

Mission Control

I opted a two pronged approach, the Yaesu FT857D connected to my rotatable four element YAGI which is mounted horizontally for SSB and the old TRIO/KENWOOD TR9000 was connected to the X50 dual-band collinear mounted vertically.

I had two copies of the MMSSTV program running on separate laptops The TR9000 was left running largely unattended tuned to 145.800MHz, while the FT857D was tweaked to the optimum frequency while the YAGI antenna was rotated to the correct azimuth during the pass.

All adjustments were done manually and I use the Orbitron program for prediction and under the Rotor/Radio tab the frequency and azimuth are shown and updated during the pass (as can be seen in the screen show below)

I missed the first low elevation at 11:07UTC, but was able to monitor and decode images on all the remaining passes during the day, with some excellent results, the images show the full images decodes on both radio set ups as a comparison.

FT857D - Yagi

TR9000 - Collinear

FT857D - Yagi

TR9000 - Collinear

FT857D - Yagi

TR9000 - Collinear

FT857D - Yagi

TR9000 - Collinear

FT857D - Yagi

TR9000 - Collinear

I was especially pleased when one of my best images was featured on the Amsat-UK and the Southgate Amateur Radio News websites.

What was slightly worrying and it also happened during the last SSTV activities were some operators transmitting on the downlink frequency even during a pass, what sounded like someone keying up was responsible for the single noise line on another perfect image. I even received an unexpected SSTV image, complete with a call sign while the system was waiting for the next pass. I won't publish it here as everyone makes mistakes.

The experiments are continuing today but I am in work so will just leave an automated set up running on the collinear.

Judging by the messages on social media these SSTV activities seem to have captured the imagination of a lot of operators and several members of my local club South Kesteven Amateur Radio Society (SKARS) had their first go with some excellent results and are hooked! The images can seen on the SKARS Facebook page

Long may the activities continue, hopefully started to transmit some live images from space.

Repairing a Kenwood TR9500, Part4

The troublesome TR9500 has developed another fault, well it has likely had this fault since I've owned it but I have only just spotted it.

After making repairs to the microphone amplifier and the receiver pre-amplifier the rig seemed to be working fine, I'd even used it several times during the UKAC contests with some success.

The 70cm band is under used locally and activity seems largely restricted to repeaters. Due to it's vintage the TR9500 doesn't have CTCSS tones and so cannot be used to access repeaters without some modification and I've been looking at adding a CTCSS board.

In the meantime I really wanted to use the TR9500 a bit more and was hoping to make it part of a satellite station, the TR9500 acting as the UHF uplink transmitter (LSB) and the VHF 2m TR9000 as the downlink receiver (USB) for the AO73 (FUNCube-1) and other satellites.

The satellite portion of the band plan is at 435-438MHz and it was when setting this up I discovered the TR9500 neither received or transmitted in the upper part of the 70cm band (435-440MHz) below this everything was hunky-dory.

It hasn't taken long to locate the issue, the HET unit employs two crystals L33 (36.6222MHz), L34 (37.1777MHz) which are switched in to the oscillator Q1 depending on the selected frequency. L33 being referred to as low band, L34 as high band the switching occurring around 435MHz.

The switching HL signal (via R10) and transistors Q3/Q4 are working correctly it is just crystal L34 is not resonating. The surrounding diodes, capacitors, inductors and resistors all look fine, no obvious shorts or broken joints.

I have to do some more diagnostics to rule out any of the passive components but if it is the case that the crystal has failed then it may prove difficult to source an economical replacement.

Feature Tech AW07A Antenna Analyser - First impressions

Christmas seems such a long time ago and one of my presents was a Feature Tech AW07A HF-VHF-UHF Antenna Analyser which I have finally been able to try it out.

It is about the size of a thick paperback book and is a powder coated steel case similar in style to that used by MFJ equipment, indeed the MFJ-266 analyser appears to be a re-badged version albeit for a lot more money than this unit can be purchased.

It can be powered by batteries fitted internally or by an external supply and is supplied with a power cable for connection to an external supply, mine was white/black rather than the normal red/black cable. It has a N-Type socket for the antenna and comes with two adapters for PL259 and BNC connectors.

It has a power button near the external power socket, two buttons on the top select HF and VHF/UHF operation and two other buttons marked UP and DOWN to select operating mode and/or the frequency band being used. Unfortunately one thing it doesn't come with is a manual but a copy can be downloaded from QSL.net or a slightly different version from the manufacturers website. But I actually downloaded the manual for the MFJ-226 has it is much more detailed.

The front panel decal and manual state it can be run from 10.8-12V, in fact the manual states it should ideally be less than 12.5V and no more than 13V. While doing some research I found the reason for this limitation hidden away on this aliexpress webpage "Avoid higher than 13V power supply circuit for the UV segment may be damaged due to excessive power dissipation." So this would seem to rule out using a standard 13.8V power supply.

It can be fitted internally with eight AA batteries and this is the way most people would use as it offers portability. Removing four screws allows access to the battery compartment and the internals electronics seem well built.

It takes eight AA batteries, in two boxes. The battery boxes have lids secured with a small screws and are fixed to the case using simple sticky pads, while secure at the moment I can imagine in time the adhesive could dry-out and become unstuck leaving the battery boxes loose inside the unit.

The display is a simple two line LCD with an optional bright back light which can be turned on during the power up sequence. The display shows the battery or supply voltage and pressing Down puts the unit into a frequency counter mode. Pressing Up puts into the antenna analyser mode.

In the analyser mode it is a simple case of selecting the HF, VHF or UHF mode. VHF works from 85-185MHz, UHF is 300-390MHz, the HF is split into six overlapping bands A: 1.5-2.7 MHz B: 2.5-4.8 MHz C: 4.6-9.6 MHz D: 8.5-18.7 MHz E: 17.3-39 MHz F: 33.7-71 MHz selected using the Up/Down buttons.

Turning the vernier  tuning knob adjusts the generated frequency the antenna is being tested against. I connected the analyser to my 2m YAGI antenna and turned the knob to find the lowest SWR

The manual describes what is being displayed (on UHF just the SWR is shown)

“139.763 MHz” is the frequency
“V “is the band (A,B,C,D,E,F in HF, V in VHF and U in UHF)

The bottom row shows the complex impedance Z = R + jX, so on this screen 

“41” represents R = 41 ohms the resistive component
“18:” represents the reactance component value, jX = 18 ohms
“45” is the overall complex impedance magnitude Z = 45 ohms
“1.5” is the SWR value

As you can see for a 2m antenna something isn't quite right! The antennas were down due to last weeks strong winds so I was taking the opportunity to do some maintenance and tweaking of the 2m antenna since I'd seen an increase in the SWR during recent UKAC contests. I had suspected feeder issues, possible water ingress but I tried a dummy load at the antenna end but that read as expected (Z=50ohms) and metering the continuity of the feeder showed no issues, it just seemed to be resonant at too low a frequency.

The analyser confirmed what I'd observed with a normal SWR/Power meter a higher than desired SWR in the middle of the SSB section of the 2m band.

Unfortunately I was unable to get it any lower than 2.5 and most adjustments seemed to increase the SWR.  For peace of mind I double checked the analyser by swapping the feeder on to the 2m/70cm collinear and that was spot on

again I double checked the SWR readings back in the shack using the normal meter

While I try to sort out the antenna issue I can say the analyser seems to do its job well. The tuning knob is a little twitchy and has a bit of play which makes setting the frequency accurately a little harder than it should be but hopefully that might improve with use.

The unit also has other functions none of which I have used yet but it is bonus to have some useful test functions available in the shack.

The AW07A can be used as an inductance/capacitance meter by powering it up with the U or D button held down. The inductance or capacitance of a component fitted across the antenna socket is then displayed and this can be done for any test frequency by selecting the band and turning the tuning knob.

As I mentioned earlier the unit can also function as a frequency counter that can measure signals between 1 and 500 MHz and can be used to give an indication of relative RF field strength. A signal source or an external antenna that yields a usable signal level may be connected to the analyser’s antenna jack. The usable signal range is quoted as -20dBm (30mV)  to +10dBm (1V). Note that the display reading is a RMS value.

Obviously in the antenna analyser mode the output which is approximately 2V in magnitude can be used as a signal source, with 20dB of second harmonic suppression. 

The MFJ manual goes into some detail of how this all works and how to use the analyser for a number of common tasks such as checking baluns, making 1/4wave stubs or measuring velocity factor of coax.

While the AW07A has some obvious shortcomings and may not be a precision device I am impressed with it and what it can seemingly do. It is shame about the lack of a manual but I am not sure getting one is justification for the premium price of the near identical MFJ unit.

OFCOM undue interference consultation

Happy New Year!

2015 has started with some important developments. Ofcom have launched a consultation on draft regulations for new wireless telegraphy legislation. The proposals are intended to strengthen regulatory power and keep pace with technological advances with respect to interference of radio communications from electronic devices.

Current Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) regulations should prevent electrical and electronic apparatus emitting electromagnetic energy that would cause interference to radio communications but as most licensed operators have experienced this is not the case. In particular the growth of "power line" networking equipment (PLT) in recent years has caused much distress to amateur radio particularly in populated areas. I myself have suffered interference from what I believe are PLT devices.

It is certainly true that most newer devices are much better and are notched to prevent emissions in certain bands but there are still many older devices in use and imported non-compliant devices are still readily available. It is not just PLT devices that cause issues but solar panels with RF noisy inverters, unfiltered switch mode power supplies, plasma televisions and other equipment that pollute the spectrum.

Unfortunately at present Ofcom has limited enforcement powers so are proposing the law is amended to make it a criminal offence to continue using equipment identified as a source of undue interference.

Several agencies such as GCHQ, CAA and emergency services have voiced concerns in the past over the threat of RF pollution (Telegraph newspaper article) so not surprisingly this weeks announcement has been given the 'spooks' spin with some sensationalist headlines "You could be prosecuted over your broadband thanks to GCHQ" as the Telegraph reported.

I feel it is important that UK licensed amateurs respond to these proposals and the consultation is only open till next month it is very easy to respond on line at the Ofcom website. 

It is quite a timely announcement from Ofcom since I have been forced to use the QRM eliminator that I purchased back in August due to increasing interference. I have not been able to use it in line with the FT857D as it requires the PTT/TX-GND signal from the CAT/Linear socket from the transceiver to activate a bypass when transmitting. The issue being I wished to use the CAT functionality at the same time and this involved making up a harness with the appropriate 8-pin mini-DIN plug/socket. I purchased some plugs and sockets but kept putting it off due to the fiddly nature of the small connectors and I didn't wish to cause any damage to the FT857D by shorting the pins.

By chance I spotted this cable on eBay which is the same as my current CAT cable but with the addition of the PTT/TX-GND signal on a short pigtail with a phono (RCA) socket making it a breeze to complete the installation.

I am hoping to improve the noise performance by putting up a new HF antenna in the future, to this end I have had a nice Christmas present. A Feature Tech AW07A HF-VHF-UHF Antenna Analyzer

Once I have used it in anger I will post a proper report, but it seems a great piece of kit with some encouraging reviews, currently available of £168 on eBay it is a massive £200 less than the identical MFJ-266

Sending Christmas Greetings to the ISS

There was much media coverage in the UK of the "Santa pass" (Telegraph, Daily Mail) The International Space Station passed over the UK in the late afternoon and early evening on Christmas Eve and around 17:20GMT promised an especially bright display in the dark skies. So imaginatively we were asked to observe and imagine that the bright moving point of light was actually Santa off delivering his presents.

As luck would have much of the UK had a crystal clear sky and I even managed to get my 80 plus year old Mother-in-law out in the garden to watch the spectacle. She was impressed and it was great to overhear lots of excited children coming out in the nearby homes to watch Santa as he flew overhead.

Back in October 2013 after becoming a newly licensed radio amateur I managed to send APRS packets to the International Space Station which were digipeated and received back on earth by other operators. Back then I used a lowly Baofeng UV5R handheld and I decided to repeat the exercise this time using the FT857D (this time running around 20W) to talk to Santa!

The computer I used back then has been decommissioned so on the laptop I installed the UISS program from ON6MU which makes easy work of APRS to the ISS and instead of the cumbersome AGWPE I used the excellent soundcard modem from UZ7HO.

I attempted to send a message on the pass at 15:43 but failed completely, discovering I'd got my soundcard incorrectly set up. I corrected this and left the autobeacon mode running in UISS during the Santa pass and checking back much later could clearly see I'd sent and had a message repeated back from the ISS.

Checking the ariss website (www.ariss.net) I could see the repeated message had been received by another station and my position was showing up on the map (M0NRD)

I have successfully done it again today on Christmas Day! As the raw packets below confirm.

M0NRD>CQ,RS0ISS*,qAR,DM2RM:73' Happy Christmas from Andrew IO93OB
M0NRD>CQ,RS0ISS*,qAR,MB7USS:=5304.08N/00048.47W-73' Happy Christmas from Andrew
M0NRD>CQ,RS0ISS*,qAR,HG8GL-6:73' Happy Christmas from Andrew IO93OB

It was a nice achievement and another nice Christmas present was achieved early this morning while running WSPR on 40m, managing to get received in New Zealand

Anyway enjoy the rest of the festive season and I wish you all the best in 2015

Another year gone...

Today I celebrated my birthday and reflecting on the past year I realised just how much I have achieved during my first year as a bona fide radio amateur.

While I gained the foundation licence back in September 2013 it was only at the start of the year that I took possession of my first proper radio and began my first real forays into the hobby. That is not to say the end of 2013 weren’t without its highlights, remember ICube-1?

While the foundation level licence gave me access to most bands, be it at only 10W, I was not content to stay as M6GTG. I passed the intermediate in May (2E0NRD) and finally got the full licence in October (M0NRD) and have slowly been honing my operating skills.

I competed for the first time in the RSGB UKAC and other VHF/UHF contests. They have proved to be an enjoyable and educational activity. The structure exchange helped me overcome my initial microphone shyness and the goal of improving my score each week to become more competitive forced me to improve my set up.

Construction of a headset interface and the addition of a foot switch were simple projects as was the building of a simple but effective Moxon antenna for 6m (blog post). This together with a permanent antenna pole, rotator system and upgraded coax all have helped me improve and learn. I even tried my hand at some portable operating with varying degrees of success. I have received some invaluable help and advice from people, especially Robert G1ZJP (M1MHZ) The results for the year have been coming in and I am very happy with my final positions in the various bands for a first timer and hope to be more competitive next year. .

HF operating proved initially off putting, plagued by QRN/QRM and my initial microphone shyness I veered toward the more noise immune data modes. I built a data mode interface and have had a fair degree of success with PSK/JT65 and RTTY as dabbling with a few other modes and over the last few weeks I have experimented with FreeDV and find it fascinating.

As I have become more confident I now operate voice more often and now regularly give points away on contest weekends because I like the short formalised exchange. Indulging in small talk in normal contacts is something I am not good or comfortable with but as I’ve got to know local operators I have started to join in the local nets and art of conversation is becoming easier.

The High Altitude Ballooning (HAB) has taken a back seat at present. I still have active plans to get a flight up with my own payload and have given a number of successful talks to local clubs over the year which I have enjoyed. Missing the UKHAS conference was a bitter disappointment but I still track flights and I hope to reinvigorate this interest in the spring as I get back up to speed with recent developments. 

Due to time constraints I have also mothballed plans for numerous construction projects based around the Arduino. Last months rearrangement of the shack should allow me to finally get around to finishing them.

Operating the JOTA station GB2FFC for a local scout group was very rewarding. The write up from this blog was included in the latest RSGB Radcom magazine and we hope to do it again next year. Being asked to contribute content to the AmateurRadio.com website came as a surprise and thanks to all those who have commented on my ramblings.

Another rite of passage was managing to repair my first rig, an elderly TR9500, yes it was only a modest achievement but a massively satisfying one and it has given me some confidence in purchasing second hand equipment in the future.

As well as building up the shack and continuing to improve my setup and operating I have some specific aims for next year...

Make a proper satellite contact
Satellite reception and tracking is something else that has been neglected recently, though I am still decoding FUNCube-1 telemetry daily.

Make a meteor scatter contact
I attended a fascinating presentation at the Spalding and District ARS by Robert G1ZJP about Meteor Scatter operating just before the Perseid meteor shower. I have made a couple of attempts since including during the recent Geminid shower and while I can receive signals no problem I have yet to make a successful contact. It is definitely on the to-do list but I may need to increase the power output, maybe even investing in some amplifiers and better antennas who knows it could lead to attempting some EME!

Make a proper SOTA/IOTA activation
Next year I will be holidaying in Scotland on the Isles of Skye and Islay so want to make a better attempt at operating in these more remote operating than I did this year. I also want to take a radio up a mountain!

Become more involved locally
I joined the South Kesteven ARS last year and regularly communicate with members of the nearby Grantham ARC. There have been suggestions of operating special event stations as well as repeating the JOTA event. I enjoy the meetings and conversations and is nice to bounce ideas off each other and hope to be more involved in organising activities.

Anyway, still a few hours of my birthday left so off to enjoy a wee dram or two and a slice of my birthday cake made by loving XYL

Repairing a Kenwood TR9500, Part3

Back in September I attempted to repair a Kenwood/Trio TR9500 UHF All-modes transceiver for a fellow club member. It had a faulty microphone pre-amp which I replaced and all seemed well but it had further issues with the receiver. Cutting his losses and wanting shot the owner sold it to me for the princely sum of £10.

I have had her back on the bench and initially couldn't find anything wrong. However in real use it become apparent that she was in fact profoundly deaf! Picking up test transmissions from the nearby FT857D or Baofeng outputting into a dummy load was one thing but it wasn't receiving anything else!

From the service manual and schematic I deduced that it could be the initial RF receive amplifier. It is a dual-gate mosfet (3SK76) It proved tricky but I managed to source a replacement on eBay and it was a simple job to replace once I'd extricated the PCB.

I can report it is now working and the video below shows it monitoring the GB3EE repeater in Chesterfield. From the coverage map I shouldn't be able to hear it but I can and reception has been marginal at best using other receivers but it repaired TR9500 doesn't have any problems.


I wonder if the rig has been subjected to a high RF field in the past this could easily have damaged the receiver amplifier and an induced RF into the microphone lead could have damaged the microphone pre-amp. It just seemed strange it having both faults.

Tuesday night is the last 432MHz UKAC contest and hope to use her in anger.