Nightly 75kHz WSPR Activity From Arizona – WH2XND
2.5mH 136kHz loading coil at WH2XND |
For the past few weeks, Ron, NI7J in Phoenix, has been activating his experimental station, WH2XND, in the LF band ... on 75.550kHz (WSPR), where he is licenced to operate.
Last night I decided to put my nightly 630m WSPR beacon on hold and have a listen for Ron's signal using my 10' x 20' loop.
Ron's main experimental operating has been on 630m and 2200m WSPR mode but his recent activity on 75kHz has sparked a lot of interest among dedicated summertime listeners. WH2XND is licenced for 10W ERP on 75kHz, not a number that's easy to muster considering the poor antenna efficiency produced by typical amateur installations ... however, judging from Ron's coils, his installation looks far from 'typical'!
Ron's signal is being well heard, even up in Alaska, in spite of the noisy summer conditions and it will be interesting to see how well it propagates once we move into the fall and quieter winter nights.
The big loop seemed to do well with Ron's signal last night, resulting in 55 decodes starting at around 2300 local time and continuing to sunrise.
Timestamp Call SNR Grid
2016-07-12 12:28 WH2XND -28 DM33xt
2016-07-12 12:20 WH2XND -27 DM33xt
2016-07-12 12:16 WH2XND -25 DM33xt
2016-07-12 12:12 WH2XND -28 DM33xt
2016-07-12 12:08 WH2XND -27 DM33xt
2016-07-12 12:04 WH2XND -28 DM33xt
2016-07-12 12:00 WH2XND -29 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:40 WH2XND -25 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:36 WH2XND -20 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:32 WH2XND -18 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:28 WH2XND -18 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:24 WH2XND -19 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:20 WH2XND -19 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:16 WH2XND -20 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:12 WH2XND -20 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:08 WH2XND -19 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:04 WH2XND -19 DM33xt
2016-07-12 11:00 WH2XND -20 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:56 WH2XND -20 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:52 WH2XND -21 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:48 WH2XND -22 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:44 WH2XND -23 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:40 WH2XND -24 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:36 WH2XND -25 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:32 WH2XND -26 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:28 WH2XND -24 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:24 WH2XND -24 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:20 WH2XND -25 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:16 WH2XND -24 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:12 WH2XND -23 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:08 WH2XND -26 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:04 WH2XND -25 DM33xt
2016-07-12 10:00 WH2XND -26 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:56 WH2XND -26 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:52 WH2XND -27 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:40 WH2XND -26 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:36 WH2XND -25 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:32 WH2XND -24 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:28 WH2XND -26 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:24 WH2XND -26 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:20 WH2XND -28 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:16 WH2XND -27 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:08 WH2XND -27 DM33xt
2016-07-12 09:00 WH2XND -27 DM33xt
2016-07-12 08:56 WH2XND -28 DM33xt
2016-07-12 08:52 WH2XND -29 DM33xt
2016-07-12 08:44 WH2XND -29 DM33xt
2016-07-12 08:40 WH2XND -27 DM33xt
2016-07-12 08:36 WH2XND -28 DM33xt
2016-07-12 06:44 WH2XND -32 DM33xt
2016-07-12 06:32 WH2XND -31 DM33xt
2016-07-12 06:28 WH2XND -31 DM33xt
2016-07-12 06:24 WH2XND -30 DM33xt
2016-07-12 06:20 WH2XND -30 DM33xt
2016-07-12 06:12 WH2XND -29 DM33xt
His signal peaked here (shown in blue above) about an hour before sunrise, with almost a dozen decodes in the -18 to -20 region ... not far from audible CW levels which will probably be seen in winter. It was interesting to note as well, that in several transmitting sequences, Ron's signal was stronger in Alaska than it was here and in Washington state ... just the opposite of what one might expect.
In the past, I have had good results on 75kHz with Dex (W4DEX), when listening for his QRSS CW signal, using my normal inverted -L with a 2.5mH RFC inserted in series with the antenna's normal loading coil.
'XRS/5' on 75kHz from W4DEX in NC |