ARRL Field Day message via websdr.org

Been playing with websdr.org today. This gives you access to remote SDR receivers all over the world.

I started by testing my antennas by listening for my signals at OE4XLC in Austria on 14MHz – this proved that my dipole works best on that path from the UK by about 10-13dB.

Its weird to hear your own signals coming back over the internet. I then remembered that K6KPH just north of San Francisco was going to be transmitting an ARRL Field Day message at 14:30UTC.

So I tuned in to the KC7IGT remote base in Renton,WA USA and listened on 40m. Low and behold there was the K6KPH CW signal and I recorded it.

I then played it back this is what it said. There are a few mistakes where fading or internet dropout meant I lost the signal, but you get the idea. Isn't this a great way to blend CW and new technology?

Give websdr.org a go yourself.

QST QST QST de K6KPH K6KPH K6KPH

SPCLCWVFOLLOWS SPCLECWVFOLLOWS

QST

DE W1AW5RSPCLC VFROM ARRL HQ NEWINGTON CT

JUNE 14 2011

TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS

FIELD DAY MAGIC COMES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

DURING THE SEASON OF E SKIP AND SPORADIC E OPERATORS CAN QUICKLY DISCOVER WHY 6 METRES IS CALLED THE MAGIC BAND

PROPAGATION ENHANCEMENTS HELP MAY E ARRL FICD PRIME TIME TO LEARN AND EXPERIMENT ON THE VHF/UHF BANDS.

EXPERIENCE THE WORLD ABOUT 50MHZ FOR YOURSELF.

ALL FIELD DAY GROUPS OPERATING IN CLASS AND THOSE AT 2F MANY UTILIZE A FREE VHF/UHF STATION WGHOUN INCREASING THEIR OPERATING CATEGORY.

QST DE K6KPH.

WORD FROM NASA OFFICIALS IS THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THAT AT LEAST ONE, AND POSSIBLY BOTH, OF THE STATIONS ONBOARD THE ISS MAY BE PARTICIPATING IN FD THIS YEAR.

IT MAY TAKE EXTRA PLANNING AND BIT OF LUCK BY YOUR GROUP. BUT THERE IS NO GREATER BOOST OF ENTHUSIASM THAN TO COMPLETE A CONTACT WITH THE ISS.

LOOK TO THE HEAVENS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

QST DE K6KPH 120C

THE QUALITY OF FIELD DAY IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE AMOUNT OF FUN EXPERIENCED BY THE PARTICIPANTS.

LIFE IS MORE THAN JUST 140 CHARACTERS OR SHARING ONLINE. WHETHER YOU ARE AGE 8 0R 92.

USE THIS WEEKEND TO BE PART OF THE AMATEUR RADIO MAGIC THAT ARRL FIELD DAY OFFERS.

GOOD LUCK AND 73

AR GL DE K6KPH

UK Propagation charts for June 2011

We’ve seen some massive swings in the solar flux index over the last few weeks, from around 80 up to 112. The authors of VOACAP (the basis for HamCap, which is used to produce the charts) always recommend that you use the smoothed or rolling average sunspot number for its predictions, which is what I always do. That’s why the charts are based on what can look like a low sunspot number when compared with reality. The smoothed number is supposed to give the best overall result, although experience tells us that the actual conditions can vary dramatically from one day to another. Conditions on 21MHz and higher will be dominated by Sporadic E (Es) events rather than F2 layer for the next couple of months, so expect to see short-skip openings on these bands (as well as 14MHz) even though the charts suggest that no propagation may be possible. As always, keep an eye on solarcycle24.com to view the latest solar flux index (SFI) and K index, which may be a better short-term indicator of conditions as a raised K index will suggest CME and coronal hole activity that could adversely affect HF. Being logarithmic, a rise from a K index of one to four doesn’t sound like much, but certainly is. As the K index is updated every three hours it is a good indicator. The non-logarithmic A index is an average of the last 24 hours so often doesn’t reflect events that have occurred in the last few hours. Don't forget the free ebook on LF and HF propagation - see right. Go to the UK HF propagation charts for June