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I told Tim, G4VXE, about the trouble I was having getting a USB TV dongle to work as a VHF/UHF SDR and he emailed me a couple of files. One of those was an installation script which I suspect is the same one mentioned in the article “Cheap and Easy SDR” in the January 2013 QST which a couple of people mentioned. I had read this article at least twice and then forgotten all about it, which is a shame as it would probably have saved me several hours of abortive messing about.

I ran the script once and it seemed to work but I still could not get anything out of my ezcap dongle. I then used MagiCure to turn back the clock a few days to before I started messing about, and then ran the script again. This time it worked. I ran SDR# and it appeared to be working. I set the frequency to somewhere in the FM broadcast band and within a couple of minutes I was listening to Classic FM on 99.9MHz in stereo.

SDR# receiving BBC Radio 3 in the FM broadcast band

This was all very good, but I have any number of radios able to receive FM radio. I wanted to try receiving ADS-B aircraft beacons. But although both ADSB# and RTL1090 (ADS-B decoders) seemed to work (i.e. didn’t display any error messages) they were not decoding any data. I used SDR# to monitor 1090MHz, the ADS-B frequency, and I could not see or hear any signals, though I have no idea what they are supposed to sound like.

I decided to reinstall the second dongle which had worked as a TV receiver. Then, on a whim, I thought I would try running SDR# to see if it would connect with the other dongle. To my great surprise, it did. What’s more, it seemed much livelier (more sensitive) than the ezcap dongle. I tried both RTL1090 and ADSB#. Both worked and immediately started decoding packets! I started up ADSBScope and within a few seconds aircraft began to appear on the screen!

ADSBScope plotting aircraft overhead at G4ILO

After a while I got cocky and decided to see if there were any other free aircraft-plotting applications I could try, so I downloaded VirtualRadar. After a bit of trial and error I found the right settings to connect with ADSB# and I was soon seeing the aircraft passing overhead plotted on a Google map.

VirtualRadar plotting aircraft overgead at G4ILO

Strangely enough, both RTL1090 and ADSB# think they are talking to the ezcap dongle! Not surprising I suppose as I have not installed any other drivers. It would be nice to be able to use the equipment as a TV receiver as well but I suspect that would break everything! I should probably quit while I am still ahead.

Both ADSBScope and VirtualRadar are nice applications, and I couldn’t say one is better than the other. VirtualRadar runs as a web server and you have to point a web browser at it to see the display. It shows more information such as the starting and destination locations of many aircraft, which is interesting. But curiously VirtualRadar does not display aircraft callsigns (like G-ADSB) while ADSBScope does.

This is looking to be an academic question as this morning ADSBScope has decided to stop working. It won’t talk to either RTL1090 or ADSB# but complains repeatedly about a “comm error.” Ah well, at least VirtualRadar and SDR# are still working.

I was able to get on the air for a bit this afternoon – I guess it would be more appropriate to say this evening, as it was getting dark.  The Christmas lights in the neighborhood, or whatever, were playing havoc with my receiver tonight.  It seems like there’s S9 noise no matter which band I go to and no matter which antenna I switch to.

However, on 17 Meters, blasting in above the noise was JN4MMO calling CQ.  Japan!  I have worked Japan before, but never QRP.  Japan to New Jersey is always a long hop and with 5 Watts, I really had my fingers crossed.

It took some patience to be heard and then a few repeats – but Andy finally heard me!  I gave him a 599 report and got a 539 in return.  It was dusk here and just a tiny bit past dawn in Japan (according to DX Atlas) so I am willing to bet that there was some grayline influence there.

No matter!  I will take a QSO with a Japanese op any day of the week.  Now as far as I’m concerned, that’s DX!  And it just goes to show (at least in my case anyway) that you don’t always have to be good, you just need to be lucky!

I am hoping for a bit more activity on 80 Meters tonight as we get further into the darkness.  I would like to get some practice in tonight with the Bug, in anticipation of Straight Key Night tomorrow evening.

As the New Year approaches, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish all of you a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.  May your days be filled with laughter and enjoyment, love and happiness. And may you always have numerous sunspots and really good propagation when you turn on your radios!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Series Five Episode Twenty-Seven of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast has been released. The latest news, listener mailbag and Martin sets radio goals for 2013

• Norman Woodland - Barcode inventor dies
• Transatlantic high altitude balloon bursts
• The Gathering - Irish amateur radio special event
• ILLW attracts more entries
• Limited time offer - VI4ASJ
• Ofcom thanks Radio Amateurs for Olympic support
• Potential interference sources identified
• MoD to auction off radio spectrum
• Dutch Military still insist on 915 MHz
• VK hams gain 472-479KHz band but lose 420-430MHz
• Pasta-shaped radio waves allows infinite channels
• APRS iGate built using a Raspberry Pi

Martin's Android App tip

EveryCircuit - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.everycircuit#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDIxMiwiY29tLmV2ZXJ5Y2lyY3VpdCJd

Series Five Episode Twenty-Seven of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• Norman Woodland - Barcode inventor dies
• Transatlantic high altitude balloon bursts
• The Gathering - Irish amateur radio special event
• ILLW attracts more entries
• Limited time offer - VI4ASJ
• Ofcom thanks Radio Amateurs for Olympic support
• Potential interference sources identified
• MoD to auction off radio spectrum
• Dutch Military still insist on 915 MHz
• VK hams gain 472-479KHz band but lose 420-430MHz
• Pasta-shaped radio waves allows infinite channels
• APRS iGate built using a Raspberry Pi

Listener mailbag and Martin sets radio goals for 2013

I mentioned a few days ago that I had measured a couple of watts output from the IC706 on 479khz although I’d not yet detected it on a receiver.

This morning I did some better experiments and set the IC706 up on a dummy load and placed the ICF-2001 receiver close by to the dummy load. I was easily able to detect the keying on the receiver, so that was excellent news.

The next challenge will be to find some sort of antenna matching arrangement. I have ordered a ferrite rod from eBay (despite trawling through my junk boxes in the loft, I couldn’t find one). My first attempt at an ATU will, I think be similar to Roger G3XBM’s – although more of a bodge I expect!

However, I was speaking to Adrian G4GDR yesterday on 2m. Adrian has been one of the 500khz permit holders and mentioned that he had made a variometer out of a carpet roll and some rods. He very kindly invited me to inspect it, which I will certainly do.

I’m not sure how viable the IC706 will be for 472khz, but perhaps it will be possible to scrape a local contact or two.

Today was a good day to be indoors. We had some snow today, but not nearly as much as was originally forecast. The weathermen were calling for 3 to 6 inches of the white stuff, but we ended getting around maybe an inch. Just slightly more than a dusting.

I did get on the radio for a bit after handling some house chores. But my radio efforts ended up not being fruitful at all. I called CQ for quite a while on 15, 17, 20 and 30 Meters. The Reverse Beacon Network told me that my signal was getting out just fine, but there were no answers to my calls.  Perhaps every body was busy with the RAC contest.

So I entertained myself by investigating logging programs. The new version of Ham Radio Deluxe is out, but the program went from free to $80. I suppose that given the sophistication of the software that it’s worth it, but I can’t imagine spending that right now. I did sell my K2 and PFR3A recently, but those funds are earmarked for something else. So I will maintain the last free version on my computer. I also noticed that Version 6 is recommended to be run on a Windows 7 machine with dual core processors. Hardly what my netbook is set up for.

Now that computers are becoming such a fixture in our shacks, it almost seems like we are replacing them at faster rates than our radios. There are many Hams out there using boatanchors, but I would venture to guess that most everyone’s computers are not as old. Can’t get away with antiques when it comes to computing power in the shack!

Tomorrow should be less busy as far as chores go. Maybe I’ll bet to spend more time twiddling the dial.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!