AmateurRadio.com

"6BHH" - Ray Thomas courtesy: SCARA

I've been fascinated with the ham radio gear and activity of the late 20's for a number of years, ever since getting a bundle of 'Antique Wireless Association' journals from Harry, VE7AIJ. Many of the issues described in detail, the construction of simple '1929-style' transmitters, and once I learned that there was an annual '1929 QSO Party', I was hooked.

Knowing of my interest in early radio, Paul, K7CW, recently sent me a link to a truly delightful piece of old 16mm 'home movie' style film. The footage appears on the Santa Clara County Amateur Radio Association's website where a description of the film places it in or around San Jose, California and likely filmed over a number of months from early 1925 to 1926.

These were the very early days of ham radio ... the 'wild-west' in terms of rules, frequency allocations and enforcement. Hams operated throughout the LF / MF spectrum and it would not be unusual to find them working ships at sea or trying to work the latest geographical expedition to the Arctic or to some other far away place. It was also the transition period from spark to carrier-based communications, with RF generated by tubes and not with rotary high-voltage generators.

The film shows the radio 'boys of '25' (and girls!), now all so long gone, when they were young and full of life. We see them meeting, playing in the California sun and proudly showing off their shacks and equipment ... occasionally mocking those 'new-fangled' transmitting tubes, soon to replace their much-loved spark generators.

I hope you enjoy this treasure from the past ... I'm sure the 'boys of '25' would be delighted if you do.

With a very quiet sun for the entire week, this past weekend's CLE proved to have much better conditions than normally experienced.


Conditions were 'good' but not 'great'. Really 'great' nights are few and far between but with the rapidly declining solar cycle, we should see more and more of these over the next few winters.

Most listeners around the world reported good conditions, with the nod going to Friday night as being the best. I thought that all three nights were good, but heard nothing new on night number three.

A surprise catch, with a good signal, was 'BRA -379' in Asheville, North Carolina. It's classified as an 'H-class' NDB and is an outer marker locator. I believe the H-class indicates a 400W transmitter and with the large vertical antenna, seems to get out very well.

courtesy: http://www.bing.com/maps

Even more surprising was 'SPH-375' located in Springhill, Louisiana. It is an LOM ndb, being co-located with the runway's ILS outer marker. The beacon appears to be using the classic "T' as seen here and is likely in the 25 watt range.

courtesy: http://www.bing.com/maps

As I mentioned earlier, I was rather dreading this CLE since my local blowtorch pest signal (AP-378) was smack in the middle of the CLE's frequency range. 'AP' is located 6/10ths of a mile from me, just down the shoreline and has a huge signal here.

Fortunately, Perseus has an extremely effective 'notch' filter, and this, along with putting 'AP' in my LF loop's null, allowed me to hear two other NDB's beneath it ... 'ZFA' (Faro, Yukon) and 'UX' (Hall Beach, Nunavut).

The following 44 stations were heard on the Perseus SDR while using either the LF loop or my inverted 'L', tuned to 370 kHz.

27 06:00 370.0 YBV Berens River, MB, CAN
27 06:00 370.0 PAI Whiteman, CA, USA
27 06:00 371.0 YK Yakima, WA, USA
27 11:00 371.0 UK Laughlin, CA, USA
27 06:00 371.0 PUR Marshall, MO, USA
27 06:00 371.0 ITU Great Falls, MT, USA
27 05:00 371.0 GW Kuujjuarapik, QC, CAN
27 06:00 372.0 ZPA Prince Albert, SK, CAN
27 08:00 372.0 YCO Kugluktuk, NU, CAN
27 05:00 373.0 MF Table Rock, OR, USA
27 06:00 374.0 LV Livermore, CA, USA
28 09:00 374.0 HY Hays, KS, USA
27 05:00 374.0 EX Kelowna, BC, CAN
27 08:00 374.0 EE Forada, MN, USA
28 09:30 375.0 SPH Springhill, LA, USA
27 05:00 375.0 FS Fort Simpson, NT, CAN
27 07:00 375.0 CP Casper, WY, USA
27 08:00 375.0 BM Balmoral, MB, CAN
27 08:00 375.0 BD Moose Jaw, SK, CAN
27 08:30 376.0 ZIN Matthew Town, BAH
27 07:00 376.0 YAG Fort Frances, ON, CAN
27 05:00 376.0 PVQ Deadhorse, ALS
27 07:00 376.0 LC Columbus, OH, USA
27 09:00 377.0 EHA Elkhart, KS, USA
27 08:00 377.0 BUB Burwell, NE, USA
27 08:00 378.0 ZFA Faro, YT, CAN
27 05:00 378.0 UX Hall Beach, NU, CAN
27 07:00 378.0 OT North Bend, OR, USA
27 05:00 378.0 AP Mayne Island, BC, CAN
27 08:00 379.0 ZEG Edmonton, AB, CAN
28 11:00 379.0 IWW Kenai, ALS
27 07:00 379.0 DL Duluth, MN, USA
27 08:00 379.0 BRA Asheville, NC, USA
27 10:00 380.0 OEL Oakley, KS, USA
27 08:00 380.0 GC Gillette, WY, USA
27 05:00 380.0 BBD Brady, TX, USA
27 08:00 381.5 SJX St James, MI, USA
27 10:00 382.0 YPW Powell River, BC, CAN
27 10:00 382.0 YE Fort Nelson, BC, CAN
27 06:00 382.0 SP Springfield, IL, USA
27 08:00 382.0 JNR Unalakleet, ALS
27 08:00 382.0 AW Marysville, WA, USA
27 10:00 383.0 PI Pocatello, ID, USA
27 07:00 383.0 CNP Chappell, NE, USA
27 10:00 384.0 3F Ile-a-la-crosse, SK, CAN

The listening results for all North American listeners and those outside of Europe can be found here.
　

courtesy: JPL/NASA

After installing my new USB serial adapter and being able to key my 2m transceiver's PTT line once again, I noticed that a full moon would be coming up the following evening and thought it would be interesting to see if my old, but simple system, was still capable of working stations off the moon.

In early 2007, I decided to try 2m moonbounce using WSJT's JT65B digital mode. Over the years, moonbounce has gradually drifted away from CW to the much less demanding weak signal digital mode, allowing smaller stations to still explore the excitement of exchanging signals via reflection from the lunar surface. I am fortunate to have an excellent QTH for such an endeavour, being located beside the ocean with a saltwater horizon favoring moonrises, especially during the winter months of more northerly lunar declinations.

Moonrise from front yard

Theoretically, the ocean horizon produces about 6db of added gain to my system, making my 9el yagi produce gains approaching 19dbd ... about 2dbd more than a 24 element yagi and similar to a box of four 9el yagis mounted in an H-frame.

I soon realized that the actual numbers appeared very close to predicted values and using an inexpensive 2m FM/SSB 'brick amplifier' (with built-in GasFet preamp) delivering approximately 140 watts, I was able to work 54 different stations over the next twelve months. All of the stations worked were doing the heavy lifting, with the majority running typical 4-yagi H-frame arrays using yagis from 6 to 17 elements each. I did work one station that was using two small yagis during a period of excellent conditions. Somewhat surprisingly, a large majority of the stations I worked were strong enough to be heard audibly from the transceiver's speaker.

I'm always amazed at the truly small amount of RF energy that is actually left, after the round trip to the moon ... yet information can still be exchanged. On 144MHz, the round trip losses are a minimum of 250db. Factoring-in my antenna's gain and ignoring the coaxial losses in 70' of RG213, there is a scant 1.56 x10^-9 W arriving at the moon ... that's .00000000156 W! Considering how much RF is absorbed in the lunar dirt and what's left over for the -125db home trip, it's a miracle that some signals are loud enough to be heard by ear at all. EME is really one of ham radio's most fascinating activities.

Reacquainting myself with the newer version of the JT65B software, and testing out the system, I was ready to go on the next evening's moonrise. Unfortunately the moon was rising just a little too far south to give me a really clear shot and I would be pointing into the next door neighbour's trees. Being unable to track the elevation, my operating time is limited to about two hours per session, over a period of several successive days (or nights).

Almost coincidental with the night's moonrise, I heard the strong signals of RX1AS (Alex) in St. Petersburg, calling CQ. I called him and he came right back with my signal report. His station is shown below, along with his large homebuilt strip-line amplifier.

RX1AS

The next station I worked was DL8FBD (Gerald) near Frankfurt ... a new 'initial' for me, #55.

The following evening, the moon was buried even deeper into the trees but initials #56 and #57 were worked ... YL2GD (Gunars), in northern Latvia and RX3A (Nikolay), in Moscow city.

YL2GD and his EME station

RX3A's 2m EME array

Nikolay was worked with the moon at 11 degrees above the horizon. I'm not sure just what my upper limit for lunar elevation might be with this small antenna but the highest elevation I have worked anyone was at 18 degrees.

The third night found less activity on the band as well as a more southerly moonrise, burying my target even further into the neighbour's trees. Few signal were heard but one contact was easily completed with I3MEK (Mario), near Venice ... initial #58.

I3MEK's 4-yagi 2m EME array

Mario's signal, shown here on the waterfall display, comes from his four 19 element yagi array and 1 kW amplifier. His signal peaked at only -21db, indicative of the poorer conditions and heavier tree line obstruction.

I3MEK's 2m JT65b signal

I've contemplated building a small 500 watt amplifier which would give me another 6db ... really a huge increase when it comes to EME, but I'd still be stuck with the same receiving capability. Having more power might put me in the position of being heard better but not being able to hear other stations any better. At my present power level, there appears to be an entire new crop of stations within my present reach, that weren't around in 2007 ... but constructing the amplifier would be a fun project!

With so many larger (four or more yagis) stations around the world, a huge antenna is not needed to have success on 2m JT65B moonbounce ... nor is an over-the-ocean moonrise. I've also been able to work stations on moonset where I am pointing over hilly terrain and trees, nowhere near the ocean.

The WSJT (JT65B mode) software is freely available and very easy to implement, but spend some time reading the manual and playing with the software first, perhaps getting used to QSO procedures on 20m.

If you are running a small FM/SSB amplifier on 2m, such as the typical 'brick' I have been using, make sure to add a blower to keep the heatsink cool, as JT65 has a 100% duty cycle and these small amplifiers can get hot pretty fast. I use a small squirrel-cage blower from an old microwave oven to direct a blast of air onto the cooling fins.

Wondering where to point your antenna? One handy site that will provide the moon's position in the sky, for any time and any location, is the U.S. Naval Observatory's 'Sun or Moon Altitude/Azimuth Table'. As well, you can keep abreast of real-time activity or set up skeds, via NØUR's Ping Jockey JT65 EME page.

If you do decide to give this a shot, I'd be interested to hear how you do ... maybe your system is big enough already to let us work each other via the moon.

Back in 2007, when I first experimented with single-yagi 2m moonbounce, I constructed an interface that would allow my aging laptop to communicate with my equally aging Icom 821 transceiver.





Back then, the shack's old Toshiba laptop (running Win98SE) had a serial (RS-232) communications port and my homebrew interface would let the WSJT software key the PTT line, as well as handle the required 'in' and 'out' audio.

My Homebrew Radio-Computer Interface

Courtesy:  KK7UQ

Fast forward to 2016, when the monthly sight of a full moon rising over the ocean, once again refuelled my interest in trying some possible EME with my 9 el yagi ... but, like the dodo bird, serial ports have long vanished from most new computers and a new way of keying the 2m radio would need to be found. I would also need some method of keying the PTT line of my HF transceiver, should I wish to build a 630m transmitting converter for modes such as JT9 or WSPR.

The 2m Icom has no audio VOX , so to key the radio via the WSJT audio tones, I would need to build a simple VOX system that would key the PTT-line. All things being equal, I didn't really like this idea since it would likely result in 'hot-switching' of the changeover relays and eventually lead to problems.

I investigated the alternative method of hard keying the PTT via the USB port, using a USB-to-serial port adapter, but these were not entirely without problems either. It seems that certain chipsets were worse than others but the FTDI style were less prone to compatibility problems.

I also considered purchasing a Signalink USB interface which would take care of the PTT keying as well as the audio. After researching the Signalink, I found some disturbing reviews that indicated the onboard sound card could create some significant signal-to-noise degradation when used for weak-signal work ... such as EME. The generated noise would likely never be noticed when used on the noisy HF bands, which probably accounts for most Signalink applications, but on weak-signal moonbounce, every db is precious and an elevated noise floor from the sound card would definitely not be helpful.

Further research indicated a really nice line of interfaces being built by Johnny, G3LIV. He offers several models to suit various needs and none seem to include a sound card, which would eliminate the possibility of unwanted noise being introduced ... but before making a decision, I made one final attempt at finding a cheaper solution.

An E-Bay search for an FTDI USB serial port adapter brought up several offerings worldwide, with the majority being in the far east. I found one promising looking low-volume dealer in China, that not only offered the device for $11.99 with free-shipping, but also had a 100% feedback rating and no complaints, ever! What the heck. It was the right chipset, assuming it wasn't counterfeit, the price was right and the dealer looked to be doing his best to offer a good product ... I placed the order and three weeks later the adapter arrived.


The adapter was well packaged and included a small CD containing the necessary USB drivers for several different operating systems, including my newer laptop's Windows 7.


I plugged the adapter into an empty USB2 port and sent the device manager to search the CD for the needed files, which it quickly found and installed. The software created a virtual serial port, assigning the adapter to COM port 3. I then set the WSJT switching tasks to COM3 and connected my homebrew interface to the adapter via its DB9 serial connector. To see if the new adapter would really work, I instructed WSJT's JT65B software to turn on the transmitter before sending a test tone, which hopefully would key the PTT line ... and it did! It seemed that my $11.99 investment was doing the job perfectly. Thankfully, none of the online horror stories that I had encountered regarding USB serial port adapters, had been encountered.

If you need something of this sort, I can recommend this particular product as well as the E-Bay seller. If you are starting from scratch, the entire interface could be easily built, using new parts, including the USB adapter, for just a few dollars and I may, in fact, re-package everything into one compact box, USB adapter and all.

But hold on ... I think I see a big bright moon rising at the moment ... (cont'd)

I admit it. I have an extraordinarily kind next door neighbour!




Ever since erecting a new, much bigger LF antenna several years ago, she has allowed me to run its large, three-wire 100' tophat, directly over the top of her house to a tree on the far edge of her property. As well, she removed her only light dimmer, knowing that it was creating a LOT of nasty RF 'hash' throughout the LF / MF spectrum, seriously degrading my LF reception. To hear the RF noise-signature of a typical light dimmer, listen here, on the ARRL's helpful page of 'household' RFI recordings ... that's just how it sounded here as well!

She recently did a major renovation, which included a new multi-light dining-room fixture and expressed to me a desire to be able to dim it ... oh-oh, I was definitely not looking forward to this.

I did a little web-research and soon learned that some of the most RF-quiet dimmers were being produced by Lutron. One model in particular, claimed to pay special attention to RF noise-filtering and that was the "Centurion", whose smallest model is a 600 watt-capable unit, with a large finned heatsink front plate ... model #C-600P-WH.

I decided to order one from the only dealer I could find in Vancouver that seemed to carry this line of dimmers. The cost was just a little over $40 Canadian (sells for about $25 in the U.S.A.) ... cheap enough if it would do the job!


When the unit came in, I picked it up on my next ferry trip to the city and upon my return, installed it the following afternoon. Before doing the installation, I fired-up the receiving system, tuned to 300kHz, and with the baby monitor set up beside the speaker, took the portable monitor with me.

After installing the new dimmer, I turned on the baby monitor, held my breath ... and turned on the light fixture. Wow ... not a trace of hash could be heard! Adjusting the dimmer from high to low produced no difference in the noise level. I later did a more thorough bandscan and could find no evidence of RFI, on any frequency. The only RFI that I could detect was when placing my Sony ICF-2010 close to the actual dimmer. I was unable to detect any noise further than 6" away from the lights or the dimmer!

So it seems that this model can be highly recommended, for your own home or if you have a next door neighbour 'light-dimmer problem'.

I suspect there are probably a lot of Canadian amateurs still thinking that our new 630m is not very practical for anything other than local two-way contacts.



During the winter 'DX season', this is definitely not the case, as 630m shares many, if not all, of the propagation characteristics found in the lower end of our AM broadcast band. As well, a quick tune through the even lower NDB band on a normal night will reveal dozens of 25-watters, often from over a thousand miles away and with very robust signals.

With no 630m amateur activity yet coming from VE6, VE5 or VE4, it is difficult to get a sense of just how interesting the band could become on these normal nights, or how great it would be on a really good night of propagation. My recent CW contact with the nearest out of province station, VE3OT (Mitch), on a normal night, demonstrates that there is a lot of potential for some really effective two-way work over long distances.

So ... what do signals sound like between here and Ontario? Here is Mitch's CW beacon as heard here on the evening of February 11th, at around 2300 hours local time, using my 10' x 20' loop. I have heard Mitch at even higher levels than this, but his beacon is usually audible here on most undisturbed nights, sometimes as early as 2000 hours local time. His beacon signal runs 200 watts to a 340' circumference loop, from his London, Ontario, suburban backyard.


Even if you are not able to hear Mitch's signal audibly, it should be fairly easy to copy in one of the QRSS CW modes, such as QRSS3 or QRSS10 ... both of which could yield a reasonably quick two-way contact.

Judging from the reliability of the VE3 signal, any activity from the prairie provinces should be even easier to hear. Should any of you in the prairies take up the 630m challenge, I can assure you that you'll be very, very popular out west ... every night!

This blog also provides an opportunity for my initial use of the 'tunestotube' web site. It provides a nice online interface for posting audio files to Youtube, along with an image, or a slideshow. It seemed to work seamlessly and will save me having to link to audio files stored on my own web site, which really eat up what little space I have left.