WSPR 2.11 and 1296MHz

I am sure at some time I have had sensible results on 23cm WSPR. The problem of wrong tabulation of data I seem to remember was with WSPR2.

I have tried WSPR2.11 and that is the same as WSPRx.

151104 2244 1296.500000 Transmitting G3ZJO IO92 7
151105 1120 36 3 -1.01296.501503 G3ZJO IO92 33 0 1 0
151105 1128 36 3 -1.01296.501503 G3ZJO IO92 33 0 1 0
151105 1138 36 3 -1.11296.501503 G3ZJO IO92 33 0 1 0

Needless to say these Spots are not acceptable for the Database.

Interestingly there was a comment submitted by JH1GYE on Wed, 2014/01/22 – 13:00 on WSPR.net #Today, we tested 23cm 2-way WSPR. Our callsign was displayed on Activity list and Map. But T/R data was not displayed on the Spot Database. #

There were no responses on this subject.

There are an awful lot of Amateurs setting themselves up as programmers these days, my life on air and off is plagued with poorly written and buggy software.

Come on guys if you can’t do it, admit it and give up writing the stuff. Otherwise its not Rocket Science, it might be Amateur but that’s no excuse for amateurish.

WSPR on 23cm and WSPRx 8 v.xxxx

It was only a matter of time before G6AVK got set up for 1296MHz again and he won the challenge to get some signals 2 way outside the county on 23cm.

2015-11-04 13:08  G3ZJO  1296.501599  -18  0 	 IO92ng   2 	G6AVK 	 JO01ho

I was amazed to find that WSPRx does not cope with 1296MHz. I told JT years ago that in the WSPR display field the data is Nomadic. That is it wanders about the display and is not aligned with the Labels above. I even gave him the code to cure it which I was using when I compiled WSPR for Linux, the advice was not appreciated.

Well not only has the 1296.501xxx wandered across into the DT column making the display look horrific, it does the same in ALL WSPR.txt so the  Spots are not uploaded. I have to manually edit all reports by adding a [SPACE] between DT and Freq.

23cm WSPR

Lets make life even harder shall we.

I have done some local, arranged WSPR on 23cm it is most interesting for seeing Reflections from low flying Aircraft in the area which do not worry WSPR decodes much. I have recently been beaming South East, North, and North West to see if anyone wants to try and Spot my signal. It seems there should be quite a surge in 1296MHz activity judging by the number of this sg-lab range of Transverters 23cm Transverters

They are nicely designed and built.

I am using the dial frequency of 1296.500 if anyone want’s me to put my beam on them just drop me an e-mail. g3zjoATnptonDOTplusDOTnet

The South East heading of 125deg from here is sure to yield results soon.

Burtons have got a New Taylor – 70MHz Baggy Trouser Brigade

We can’t all be wearing the wrong trousers can we Grommit ? I couldn’t display all the stations on one WSPR.net map so I had to do a paste job, can you see the join Ern ?

Conditions, flat, no forecast of extended Tropo or SporadicE. Two of the keen Es boys are absent. Not much chance of a report on 4m with just 5W and a loft dipole then aye lad ?

Well only 42 Spots today and best DX 221Km I think that’s well past Wensleydale.

More4

I mentioned that PA (Netherlands) stations were off the end of my dipole so I could only envy those who regularly cross the channel. After a break midsummer I was back on 70Mhz for the Tropo season. There have been some nice results on low power WSPR and yes a couple of hops across to PA0O for me.

There is still some Es to be found on 4m as well as Tropo including an interesting Spot of G3THQ
2015-10-20 08:04 G3THQ 70.092536 -14 1 IO91un +37 5.012 DB0ZDFSDR JN49cx 623 387

At first this looked rather dubious, G3THQ remains after a couple of days the only station to be seen on WSPR on any band by DB0ZDF SDR which I assume is an SDR at the DB0 station. DB0ZDFSDR has been appearing recently in the 4m Activity List on wsprnet.org I hope he keeps trying.

4m 70MHz Sporadic E Unique Reporters July 2015

Someone recently said “ after trying 4m WSPR I thought why bother”.

Well I know why I do, these unique reporters are all possible and most regularly repeatable with my genuine 5Watts to a Loft Dipole under fairly flat conditions.
There are often PA stations being received by others, they are a bit end on for my dipole, time will tell.

2015-07-25 10:38 G3ZJO 70.092577 -25 1 IO92ng +37 5.012 EI8IQ IO62sf 380 236
2015-07-23 20:06 G3ZJO 70.030134 -20 -1 IO92ng +37 5.012 G8LDJ JO01jh 157 98
2015-07-21 21:34 G3ZJO 70.092560 -23 0 IO92ng +37 5.012 G6HSM JO01mg 172 107
2015-07-15 15:52 G3ZJO 70.092515 -24 1 IO92ng +37 5.012 G3THQ IO91un 88 55
2015-07-15 14:08 G3ZJO 70.092504 -21 1 IO92ng +37 5.012 G0MJI IO83ni 180 112
2015-07-14 21:10 G3ZJO 70.092514 -19 1 IO92ng +40 10.000 G6AVK JO01ho 127 79
2015-07-09 11:14 G3ZJO 70.092516 -21 0 IO92ng +37 5.012 4X1RF KM72ls 3592 2232
2015-07-06 16:02 G3ZJO 70.092460 -16 0 IO92ng +37 5.012 M0NKA IO92ak 76 47

I had my doubts about the 4X1RF report I get Spots regularly from him on 6m.However PA0O had 2 reports from him earlier on the same day and queried them on wsprnet.org 4X1RF replied thus:-

10:13 4X1RF Jaap, decodes were 100% on 4m, funny you ask, Hi! Used the HPSDR with preamp and 70MHz filter.

So I am happy it was genuine.
Wrong Trousers Rule OK

Hi if all goes well this will be the new home for my hugely popular eagerly awaited Blog Posts.

Blog.co.uk has been a good host for many years despite letting in Spammers a bit too often to post advertising.

Things move on, I hope this move goes well.

70MHz 4m Sporadic E and lesser events

For several years I have looked at 4m in the Es season. An ideal tool for examining propagation is none other than WSPR. What other mode would give me instant proper reports today during some antenna improvements I was making. I am using a simple 1/2 wave dipole home made and mounted in my loft. Go on ask the question, I bet it has gone through all our minds, “what is a 1/2 wave at 4m”? 2m you fool.

Today conditions were pretty flat and some of the regular TX stations were not around it seems, luckily M0NKA had left his WSPR capture running so when I raised the dipole as high as I could and re orientated it slightly I saw a 3 to 5dB increase is signal.

Additionally I had Spots from other usual spasmodically possible stations and one new Spot G6HSM at 172Km all with a genuine 5Watts except for G0MJI who needed 10W to get a Spot today but then he is 8Km further 😀

It is a pity there are not more stations willing to give 4m WSPR a try, it may be the lack of stations but it has always appeared to me that 4m is not influenced as much by Aircraft Scatter as 6m or 2m.
I have never used DX Clusters etc. ‘cheat lists’ to get my contacts and idea of conditions, shame there are not more active beacons on 4m. WSPR does the job of indicating the propagation from my QTH, for me. I hate the modern lack of SSB activity on the VHF bands until there is an opening then all the bellowers, some with affected procedure come up en mass and its dog eat dog and no one wants to work a fellow G station. When the band closes, off they go until someone blows the whistle again.

How many stations I wonder have been intimidated into not daring to use WSPR on 6m and up due to not wishing to be seen in “the wrong trousers”. Its such a pity that those who don’t understand are the most vocal, making statements about how much Doppler there will be on a 6Hz wide signal which must cause trouble. Fact is Aircraft Scatter does not generally have an adverse effect on WSPR. Aircraft Scatter can be made use of in a technical controlled manner using WSPR or Opera and there will always be fortuitous coincidental Scatter which produces results for minimally equipped stations.

Those who do not understand, need to understand that they must stop thinking in terms of AirScout for WSPR Aircraft Scatter. I have nothing against AirScout for the purpose it is intended, which is not WSPR, the very mention shows that the penny has not dropped for them, yet they set themselves up as expert commentators. One has to smile.

Six Meters Oscar Speech

Last things first.

A capture from the North East. As I was swinging my beam I heard what sounded like a Meteor Ping, they are distinctive things, then another and another and a shower ? on the trace they look fairly evenly spaced but they definitely were not, coming in two’s at times.

Well here is the Capture. Right Clicking and selecting View Image will show a SpecLab image also.

The signal at 15:52 is G0OQK, I am not sure who I turned away from at 15:50 the signal continued merely as pings, then OQK provided the signal for reflections.

Now for the Oscars speech. Tears in eyes, “I would like to thank G8EPQ for just being there for me”. I have struggled with having a reliable local signal for observations and EPQ couldn’t be better placed, the flightpath routing from, or past Heathrow and to Birmingham International, East Midlands or the USA is often dead in line with us.
It would be better if he was running 100% TX cycle but hey beggars can’t be choosers.
Every observation session brings something interesting from Aircraft Scatter and proof of phenomena.

Its almost as if the Air Traffic Controllers know we are here. I am not listening so we have to fantasise. B49 London to Seattle got it a bit wrong. ‘BA49 overhead Bletchley turn Left 10 degrees’ …….. ‘BA49 West of Newport Pagnell turn Left a further 10 degrees’ ……. ‘BA49 that’s better you are bang on track now’.

The flight was doing 407kt when it passed between us, G3ZJO to G8EPQ distance 24Km. In the 110 seconds WSPR Frame it traveled 24.51Km. The Aircraft didn’t get on track until after half way through, the WSPR report averages the signal level across the whole period, the enhancement is only 2dB on my Vertical Antenna but its there and its so nice to see a practical demonstration.

The path G8EPQ to G3ZJO from the WSPR.net Map

Right Click and select View Image for full view

The BA49 Flight Path

Right Click and select View Image for full view

The Signal

Right Click and select View Image for full view

The WSPR report at 15:12 with before and after reports.

Right Click and select View Image for full view

6m WSPR Wing Tip Vortex Reflections

Below is a capture of G8EPQ’s signal on 6m complete with what would be claimed as a Wing Tip Vortex Reflection.

Picture is large please RIGHT CLICK and select VIEW IMAGE to see all. Don’t forget to to click Go Back on your browser after, we don’t want to lose you.

Look at the signal strength reported by WSPR Software. The magic +12dB OVERLOAD the signal level seen on most WTV claims.

If WTV’s were a reality then the next Capture of the same signal would show at least a trace.

Picture is large please RIGHT CLICK and select VIEW IMAGE to see all. Don’t forget to to click Go Back on your browser after, we don’t want to lose you.

It will be of interest to some knowing my love of the IC706 that the Capture showing no false image if from my IC706. The signal level is lower being from a vertical antenna.

The Capture with the inter-modulation product is from my FT897. The signal level is much greater being from my 4 element beam.

I have however today made a Capture of my IC706 putting out a typical double sided spike on transmit so the love hate relationship is still going strong.

Oh and who hasn’t heard their IC706 screeching and scrawbling (technical term) after the tones from the WSPR Software stop and before the PTT drops. Oh sorry, most Hams, because they don’t ever listen to their own signal.
In the top capture at 10:30 can be seen a full 2 minutes of scrawbling, I saw this for several transmission and wondered if it was due to me turning my beam so causing overload of the FT897 when the IC706 transmitted.
No the IC706 was no longer outputting a signal, why, well I had set the TX tone in WSPRX to 1573Hz to move up the band. For some reason after a time the setting had reset itself not to 1500Hz but to 2 Hz. A similar situation to no audio but PTT pressed.
I don’t think there was much RF radiated but if you heard scrawbling, blame Icom and JT it weren’t me Mr.