Posts Tagged ‘w5olf’
W5OLF website
W5OLF’s tiny WSPR-AXE-CW |
Jay, W5OLF, the creator of the “no PC needed” WSPR-AXE-CW beacons for WSPR on 30m, 20m or 10m has just started a new website. He expects to start selling the new versions of his little beacons, either as kits or built and tested units, in late January. These stay on all the time (the PA can be turned iff) , but frequency is randomised over 100Hz within the WSPR window. Once set, the timing is fine for ages and ages – certainly days or even weeks.
Jay’s email (replace the (at) with @ ) is: w5olf(at)comcast.net .
His new website is www.w5olf.com .
I am privileged to be a beta tester of his 10m version (500mW). As you will have read in earlier posts, this unit certainly works very well, mine having been copied all over the planet in just a few weeks. Just press a button to sync time on an even minute and watch all the reports come flooding in. I was blown away with mine. Tiny, but brilliant. If you like WSPR I can thoroughly recommend this little unit. It comes pre-programmed with callsign, locator and power level.
UPDATE 1448z: This little unit has been spotted in Antarctica (13676km) 8 times today already. My antenna is nothing special, just a low 3 band end-fed wire.
Using the W5OLF 500mW 10m WSPR beacon today
W5OLF WSPR beacon – complete – no PC needed |
This WSPR-AXE really is a very impressive little rig, in my case for 10m WSPR. Because of my current disabled state – I find all electronics building just about impossible – Jay very kindly sold me a built unit to evaluate. Results in just a few hours of operating have been truly impressive. No PC is needed as long as the push button is pressed at the start of an even minute. Jay says it stays stable for weeks thereafter. I ran mine for 3.5 hours and got masses of decodes. After lunch it has been getting LOTS of spots from the USA. I am sure it will reach Australia soon.
The unit needs about 15 minutes to frequency stabilise and after that it always on, but it randomises the slots within the WSPR transmit window. This means it is unlikely to be “clobbered” by more powerful stations or cause others co-channel issues.
Best DX report (so far) today is FR1GZ (9724km).
10m WSPR – unique spots with the W5OLF beacon today, arranged by distance |
If you want to buy one Jay W5OLF may be contacted on [email protected]t .
W5OLF WSPR kit
Jay has been working on new versions of his little WSPR beacons. All being well I should receive a 10m 500mW out version in the next few weeks.
Jay is writing the manual(s) and has asked me for my feedback, which I shall, of course, provide. The new version is a single board (again) but transmits continuously, randomising the TX frequency on each TX burst to minimise interference to/from others. It needs several minutes to thermally stabilise but uses the uP to generate everything needed such as the WSPR tones, so no PC is needed. The transmission is started manually on the start of an even minute with a push button. The PA can be separately enabled.
This should be fun. I’ll give more information when it arrives and I get a chance to try it on the air.
W5OLF WSPR kit?
My soldering skills are rather “challenged” since my brain bleed 13 months ago. I have an un-built Ultimate 3 kit waiting for my better health. Several kind people have offered me help to build and test it: you know who you are and thank you! The kindness of fellow QRPers knows no bounds. It is so lovely to find how many really kind people there are around. There are far more good people in the world than bad ones.
Some years ago W5OLF sold a very simple, single board, few parts, WSPR TX which I think I could manage to build. I could not find it advertised. Anyone know if it is it still available?