Tag: magnetic loop

Categories
HF Portable

Portable QSO with Japan!

Last Sunday I took my Portable setup to the river, as I often do. Propagation was a bit short with Europe totally closed when suddenly – to my disbelief – JH4UYB popped up at S8.
I had heard Japan twice before with the Loop, but never as strong as that.

After beaming about 330 degrees (the same direction I normally use to work W7) I immediately started calling. Incredibly, part of my callsign was picked up right away! The rest of the QSO, however, took more than 3 minutes to complete thanks to the perseverance and the professionalism of Masaki, the Japanese operator.

Categories
HF Portable

QSO from the Pier

Once again in Italy, once again at the beach. The weather was a bit cold but propagation warmed me up good.
Heard a lot of US stations but couldn’t make the pile-up. On the other hand, I had the pleasure of a QSO with OH73ELK.

Categories
Hacks

K1FM WSPR Transmitter (aka: el cheapo Antenna Testing)

I recently built a couple of identical WSPR transmitters to be used in direct comparisons between magnetic loops and other antennas, or even between various kinds of magnetic loops. They are now available on Github.

The transmitters are based upon the Si5351 clock generator and their RF section was inspired by the excellent Zachtec’s products. An onboard GPS receiver is used to automatically provide timing and location. In the absence of a GPS fix a button can be used to start transmitting. The same button can also be used to cycle between 5 predefined WSPR frequencies. There are no onboard filters therefore external filters must be used in order to maintain compliance with FCC rules.
SMA connectors provide connectivity for both the HF and the GPS antennas.

The firmware is based upon existing libraries and was created around version 1.0 of the board. Version 1.1 introduces an important extra feature: auto-calibration.

I also built another magnetic loop, identical to the one I already have. Together, they will serve as a testbed for my comparison tests.

Categories
HF Portable

Beach umbrella QRP: R9MM de IZ6BYY

I still have my Italian callsign active.
During my short holiday in Central Italy, I took the opportunity to use it again. Here I am at the beach doing some QRP contacts (in the video, R9MM):

Categories
HF Portable

QRP from the East river

I really like going QRP from a not so popular location on East River, right between Manhattan and Queens. I normally don’t plan for it. I just go whenever I feel like it and, obviously, I have time to do that.

Yesterday was one of such occasions. It was a particularly interesting day because the WPX CW Contest was going to start at 8PM local time and I had come home relatively early from work.

I wasn’t planning to try to contact CW stations at the very beginning of the contest (too late for me to stay at the river, bands too crowded). Instead, the idea was trying to catch those operators warming up their amplifiers (and their fingers!) in the hours immediately preceding the start of the competition.

Sure enough, those stations were exactly there, as I expected them to be. In one hour I made 9 contacts, all Europeans (plus Russia). Another fun day at the river! Here is the video: