Ten metres (28MHz) beacon list updated

I've just spent two days updating the RSGB's 28MHz beacon list. I used the reverse beacon network and logged/updated the beacon list accordingly. This takes a lot of time as many of the "spots" are misread and have to be checked individually.

Beacons heard over the last three years are highlighted in red. I'm now happy that it is pretty up-to-date. The RBN has a beacon listing, but it is way out of date - GB3RAL is still listed and that hasn't been on for years.

I think this is the best way as it reflects beacons that are actually transmitting and not just listed. The full beacon list can be found on the propagation section of the RSGB website here: https://rsgb.org/main/files/2024/10/RSGBs-Worldwide-List-of-HF-Beacons.pdf

Change of freq/details:

28270.5 PY4MAB  Pocos de CaldasGG68      2W    

28193.1 LU2DT   Mar del Plata  GF12      5W 

28208   WD5GLO  Minco OK       EM15ah    3W 

28281   AG8Y    Middletown OH  EM79TL  7.5W   

28273.8 WI4L    Dalton GA      EM74MS                    

28243   AA1SU   VT             FN34KL    5W   

28209.5 N2UHC   St Paul KS     EM27JM    4W

28203.3 WB9OTX                 EN55      5W             

28280.4 KE4IFI  Lexington SC   EM9JV     7W 

Additions:

28297.9 K4JDR   Raleigh, NC    FM05     10W 

28255.8 WB4NCT  Athens, AL     EM64      5W  

28241.3 WW2BSA  Warren, NJ     FN20OU    7W   

28260.8 IQ8BB   Salerno        JN70JQ      

28178   IQ0GV   Sora           JN61TR    5W    

28236.3 F1ZTS   Rochefort      in97QI   10W     

28266.1 VK4RST  St George QLD  QG41HW   10W

28285.9 AJ4YN   Chesapeake, VA FM16UO    ? ?   

28215   GB3MCB  Cornwall, UK   IO70OJ    ? 

28252.6 WD8INF  Lebanon OH     EM79VK   10W

28258.8 AC5JM   Bartlesville OKEM16FT    ?

28209   N5TIT   Westminster, COEM12PX   10W 

28206.5 N4SO    Grand Bay, AL  EM50tk    6W   

28296.2 VE3IIM  Hanover, ON    EN94LD    4W 

28321.4 IZ1KXQ  La Spezia      JN44WC  0.1W

28230.8 NG7I    Ritzville WA   DN07TC    5W  

28202   WB7EUX  Joseph, OR     DN15JI   10W 

28233.5 K7RA    Seattle, WA    CN87UQ   11W  

28260   KC4QLP  Little Falls NYFN23OB   10W  

28245.3 K0WKT   Black Dia. WA  EN36WT    5W 

28226   K6KWS   Redwood City CA CM87VL  10W 

28240.1 W8EDU   Cleveland, OH  EN91EM   10W

28206.9 N4XRO   Burbank CA     DM04UE    5W 

28276   XE1JAL  Xalapa         EK19MM    5W

28230.3 W2MQO   Grand Island FLEL98dv   10W

73 de Steve G0KYA
Chairman, RSGB Propagation Studies Committee

Autumn 2022 HF popagation charts updated

 

I have just updated my propagation charts for October, November and December 2022 with new sunspot numbers. 

I will update the Spring 2023 charts when we get a little closer as they are likely to change as we head towards the maximum of solar cycle 25. 

Anyway, it is nice to see some good predictions of DX on 10 metres and if the past two weeks are anything to go by they are pretty spot on with very loud signals from the USA. 

ARRL's W1AW's CW practice files were romping in the other day on 28.0675MHz Nice to see 10 metres doing what it does best! 

Click here for the charts or use the link on the right-hand side.

Signs of 10m opening up again for Autumn

In September, 10m propagation from the UK generally favours
north-south paths.

Nice to see 10m starting to open up again this Autumn. With the solar flux index (SFI) at around 160, I was testing a new antenna yesterday and heard 3B9FR (Robert) on Rodriquez Island in the Indian Ocean.

I bagged him first call on CW and thought it might be an opportunity to see what else was on. Two minutes later I had the ARRL centenary station W1AW/5 in the log from Texas on 10m.

I also heard low-power 10m beacons from Florida, Alabama and New Hampshire. Luckily, I heard all this before the X class solar flare hit us at 17:45UTC. The associated coronal mass ejection (CME) will no doubt cause us problems in the next 24-48 hours.

It is a little early in the season for the Northern USA on 10 metres to be reliable (see my prediction charts), but it bodes well.

In view of the date today, it did remind me of that fateful “9/11” back in 2001. On that day the SFI was 250 and I was working in my shack in the UK listening to the KQ2H repeater in New York on 29.620MHz, I heard the whole scenario played out.

From the first conversations suggesting that a Cessna had crashed into the WTC, to the full horror some time later. Eventually all communications ceased – I only found out later than the repeater was actually on top of the WTC itself, which explains why it went off the air.

Nowadays KQ2H is still on 29.620MHz, but is located in the Catskill mountains of up state New York. When conditions are right it is very loud indeed and a great indicator of good 10m propagation into the USA. I expect we will be hearing more of KQ2H in the UK over the next month or so.

This is a good time to prepare for worldwide 10m openings in the coming months. Don't miss them!

28MHz (10m) beacons still romping in

Predicted 10m propagation at 1600UTC March

Had an interesting hour or so listening for 28 MHz beacons this afternoon.

Despite the VOACAP prediction suggesting that there would not be much propagation into the USA from the UK on 10m, there were plenty to be copied.

I think 10m propagation to the States will start to disappear as we move towards summer.

I even heard two from California.

I like beacons. They are usually low powered, use single element antennas and the beacon owners appreciate a quick e-mail to show that their efforts are worthwhile.

You can find G3USF's list of 28 MHz beacons at http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/28.htm

Anyway, here is what I heard, all with a dipole:

CALL	COMMENT	FREQ
N2PD/B	New York, 5W	28.285
WA4ROX/B	Florida	28.286
W3APL/B	Maryland, 8W	28.296
K5TLL/B	Mississippi, 25W	28.298
WI6J/B	California	28.287
K5AB	Texas, 20W	28.280
WF4HAM	Florida, 10W	28.273
EA7JN/B		28.258
W6WTG	California	28.287
WA2DVU	New Jersey	28.257
SV2AHT/B	KN10NO, Hortiatis	28.235
IQ8CZ/B	Catanzo, Italy	28.230
SV2MCG/B	Greece, KN10FC	28.222

10FM Repeaters in Europe

With the summer Sporadic-E (Es) season here I have been reviewing a new 10m monoband rig for the RSGB's RadCom. It is an SS6900 from the French company CRT (although it is made in the Far East).

It is fully programmable, runs CW, AM, FM and SSB and works quite well, especially on 10FM.

I noticed that the list of 10m FM European repeaters at the HB9HD web site seemed to be out of date.

After a lot of searching I found another site that seems to be better and lists all the 10FM repeaters in this region.

If you can find a better, more to date one, let me know:
http://www.g4nsj.co.uk/ten.shtml

Propagation charts for April 2010

I have just updated the propagation charts for April 2010 from the UK. The solar flux is actually quite low now and we are not seeing the rapid rise that you would expect at the beginning of the cycle. However, DX is out there, especially on North South paths. Expect to see Sporadic E starting up at the end of the month. Last year it was like a switch being thrown on 1 May. We have Marine Radio Day on 10th April and International Marconi Day on 24 April. I have also done prop charts for the latter. See http://www.infotechcomms.co.uk/propcharts/

President Lincoln 10m

The President Lincoln has been around for years, but still makes a good little monoband rig for 10m.

I was first introduced to the range when I went to Florida on holiday and bought a Uniden HR2600 for about £50. This is a 10m-only rig with repeater shift and about 10w FM/25W SSB output and I loved it.

However, it didn’t get too much use in the sunspot minimum years and I decided to sell it – what an idiot!

Anyway, I have never been able to find another one to buy, so settled on the President Lincoln. There are loads of these on eBay for around £120 - £180.

The Lincoln covers 26-30MHz in eight bands. It is very similar to the HR2600 but doesn’t have repeater shift.

Unlike the Albrecht AE 485S I reviewed earlier it does have continuous 100, 10 and 1kHz tuning. You don’t get the memory feature of the Albrecht, but you do get a built-in SWR meter and a scan button. It also has an RIT, mic gain button and RF gain.

Switching to the ham band (28-29.7MHz) I was able to hear everything that my Yaesu FT-2000 could hear, including beacons in Italy, Slovenia and Norway. I worked a couple of stations on SSB and got 57 reports.

I had a bit of a problem with mine. After storing it in the loft for two years the tuning control was a bit odd – in some positions it was fine, in others it would either not change channel or actually go backwards.

You can get new tuning control switches, but they are hard to get hold off. One US expert suggested carefully drilling a small hole in the side of the switch (between the green segments) and squirting in switch cleaner.

I managed to get switch cleaner in the LCD display while doing this and had to strip it out and put in a new strip of white backing paper, courtesy of some glossy ink-jet paper. It now looks like new again!

It took a couple of applications of cleaner while rotating the switch to different quadrants, but it now works perfectly.

In all, the Lincoln is a great monoband rig for 10m, but is ideally suited to SSB and FM simplex. You used to be able to order a new “Superchip” from the USA that would give you repeater shift, but at £50 plus it costs half as much as an average rig. The Lincoln is a bit bulky, especially compared with the Albrecht 485S and you can’t easily work through 10FM repeaters either, but it works well on SSB.

I spent an interesting Saturday afternoon in early May with a 10m whip and my Yaesu 817 in the car as static mobile, but didn’t actually manage to work anyone with 5W and SSB/CW, which surprised me. Perhaps 5W and a compromise (loaded) antenna is not a good idea. Heard lots though so it was all good fun. I'll try the Lincoln/Albrecht next time.

Albrecht AE 485S for 10m

Note: You can now buy the Albrecht (or the Magnum 257 as it is also called) at Amazon.

As the summer sporadic E season has started I thought I would drag out a couple of my 10m monoband rigs and see what I could work.

I thought readers might be interested in a quick review of the rigs, starting with the Albrecht 485S. This is also sold as the Magnum 257 which has a blue display background and not orange. Typical prices are around £199, although they come up on eBay secondhand for about £100.

The power output on mine is about 12W.

This rig is quite small and out of the box covers 28 – 29.7MHz. Press two buttons though and it opens up to include 25.160 to 29.699MHz in “bands”.

It is here that the rig shows its true background. It is really a CB, with AM, FM and LSB/USB modes.

As such it has some quirks that can be quite irritating to hams. Leaving it in ham mode and turning the tuning knob lets you move up and down the band in 10kHz steps. So far so good, but only if you want to work on 28.500, 28.510MHz etc.

If you want to work outside of these steps you have to press the “step button” which lets you switch to 1kHz steps. But now you have a problem. If you are on, say, 28.510MHz and hit the step button you can now tune from 28.510 – 28.519, but then it goes back to 28.510.

If you want to go 28.495 you have to switch back to 10KHz steps, move to 28.490 and start again.

This is really awkward and means that you can’t realistically use the radio mobile on SSB. However, its one saving grace is that it is brilliant for 10FM where 10kHz spacing is the norm.

The rig also has repeater shift, which is programmable. It took a few seconds to dial up 100kHz which is the standard and it will then happily tune 29.500 – 29.700MHz where the repeaters are –although I haven’t heard any European ones yet this season.

The rig also has an RIT, a noise blanker, a scan function and memories. On air it performed quite well, once you get used to the tuning.

I bought mine off eBay and some of the writing has worn off on the buttons, so watch that. I might try and get some new buttons.

The ability to scan the CB bands is also useful for finding out if 10m is about to open!

So, overall if you are looking for a lightweight, small mobile rig for 10FM it is brilliant. It is also OK for static mobile SSB work, but trying to move up and down the band while driving is recipe for disaster! Next the President Lincoln.

Update: I was able to buy some new buttons from Sharmans Wholesale for about £15 delivered.