A new addition

Pictured is a Kenwood TS450s, not a new rig by any means but the latest addition to my shack. I am hoping to run this rig on the data modes, but tonight I have been running it on 40metres and 80 metres SSB just to test it. The rig seems to be working OK although it has had a slight modification made to it, on the picture of the rear panel you can see an RS232 socket, that shouldn't be there- its a mod by a previous owner. I have tried connecting this this to my PC but Ham Radio deluxe doesn't want to work with this rig. It may be possible to computer control the rig using one of the original ports on the rear, in any case luckily I am not too worried about computer controlling the rig.
First impressions of the TS450 is that it is a little quirky to operate but seems to have a nice receiver.
Next step is to get a lead sorted out between my data interface and the rig.

Spreading the word

Having discussed WSPR with a few local amateur friends we now have 5 local amateurs in this area using the software and finding it very interesting. I had a listen on 10 metres yesterday and had a reprt from France. I tried 15 metres for a short while but heard nothing. Apart from that I have been concentrating on 80 metres where my 1 watt has been heard in the USA. In addition I have also heard fellow bloggers PE4BAS and G4ILO! I note from time of time unusual or impossible callsigns appear in WSPR and am wondering whether this is corrupt data, badly decoded or someone unlicensed messing around?
I note that there is a new version of WSPR, I may download that in the next few days and give it a try.

30 metres again

It is fairly clear now that the 30 metre band is likely to be pretty dead over the winter once we are in darkness.Running WSPR last night on 30 metres I noted that I didn't hear anything past 1930 UTC though the 40 metre band was still very active.
My TS830 is becoming a little temperamental, with a tendency to drift at times, making it very difficult to use for Data modes. This is however an intermittent fault and having consulted the excellent TS830 survival guide I think I know what the problem may be. Even so I am still considering looking for another HF rig for the data modes and semi retiring the 830!

Whilst driving today I was listening to a local 2 metre repeater. Two stations were in QSO and it was clear that someone was trying to jam the repeater and interfere with the conversation. The stations in QSO were aware of this, in fact one station commented that the jammer was wasting his time as both stations could hear each other 5 and 9 on the repeater input!Which rather begs the question why were they using a repeater at all?? It seems locally at least the standard of repeater operation is going downhill-another reason to avoid them I think.

Quiet Evening.

Conditions seemed poor this evening. 30 metres is dead, which seems to be the case often now that winter is coming. I dropped down to 40 metres and managed to work UA1TAN and S51PL (pictured) on PSK31. But even 40 doesn't seem as lively as usual.

Interference

No Luck with picking up Radio St Helena last night. I was not too suprised as its a difficult catch at the best of times but the main problem here was QRM. I Had S8 of interference on the frequency of 11092. Doing a little research from the UKQRM website  it seems the interference I am getting is from someone nearby using the BT Homeplug system to distribute their internet. It seems this QRM is strong across 11 Mhz here, including the more traditional broadcast frequencies between 11.5 and 12 mhz.I Guess I am lucky that this interference is not affecting the amateur bands at the moment, but it is extremely annoying and seems to crop up all over the place, at varying strengths between around 4Mhz and up to 30 Mhz.

Today I took my Sony ICF7600 portable receiver out and walked a little way around the estate here, but I could not trace the interference source. As I understand it it could be coming from anything up to 500 yards away. I Am very glad I haven't got one of these things next door to me as I don't think I would be able to use HF at all.

I will have another go at trying to pinpoint where the QRM is coming from soon and then consider reporting it to Offcom, in the meantime I am just thankful its not wiping out the amateur bands.

Listening Around

Last night I was away from home, visiting the YL's family, so no radio operating! In common with most of the UK the weather here has been awful with high winds and torrential rain, so when I arrived back home I was pleased to see that my antennas had all survived.A quick PSK contact with an RA1 on 30 metres confirmed all was OK.
Tonight I am hoping to have time to do a little bit of shortwave broadcast listening, listening for a very special station.

Radio St Helena transmits once a year only from the tiny island of St Helena. Tonight at 2200 they will be beaming towards Europe on 11092 USB. Since I am not normally in the shack this late I think I will set up my digital  sound recorder and leave the rig on frequency.
Given the location of St Helena (See the picture above) and the current conditions I am not too hopeful of getting anything but I will give it a try. I have picked the station up in years past and have a tape recording of it somewhere.
Radio St Helena I believe uses an Amateur HF transceiver and around 1000W, that may seem a lot but its flea power for a broadcast station!!

Normal Service has been resumed.

Good news for me. My TS830 is back up and running. I was concerned that it may have a fault of some sort but since replacing the fuse all seems ok. Whilst I had everything on the deask pulled out of its place I took the opportunity to calibrate the low power scale on my MFJ antenna tuner. I can now read powers down to 1 watt or less. Careful adjustment of the soundcard volume and the TS830 Mic gain has allowed me to get my power on WSPR down to 1 watt.
This evening so far, with just my single watt on 30 metres  I have been reported in WSPR by U.S German and one Austrailian station- Amazing!!

I had similar reports last night on 30metres, yet when I moved up to the PSK section of the same band I was only able to hear and work one OK2 station, apart from that the band was dead.
I don't think I will be able to get the TS830 down to much less than 1 watt reliably. I am considering at some point getting a slightly more modern rig for data modes and using the TS830S as a backup to my Yaesu FT1000MP main rig, The 830S is capable of superb transmit audio and is slightly wasted on PSK!

I am rapidly becoming convinced that 30 metres is quite a seasonal band. Certainly as winter approaches it seems to "drop out" around 2100 UTC , something that was not happening in the summer. If I am operating any later I find I have to drop to 40 or 80 to make contacts.