World of VHF
Tim Kirby GW4VXE has been enjoying online links, including participating in the recent RSGB Convention.
Tim Kirby GW4VXE has been enjoying online links, including participating in the recent RSGB Convention.
The online RSGB Convention proved a great success as far as I could see. Although for many people there is a great attraction in meeting up, swapping stories and so on, not everyone is able to (or willing to) travel to a convention venue for the whole weekend. How wonderful it was, then, to be able to listen to some really excellent talks from wherever you were on the day. I can’t recommend Jim Bacon G3YLA’s talk about VHF Propagation and the Weather enough. I learned lots about Tropo and Sporadic E, in particular. Jim also mentioned a website that he is collaborating in, which has plenty of information aimed particularly at understanding Sporadic E as well as the change in day-to-day ‘local’ conditions on 80m. You can find the site, Propquest, at: www.propquest.co.uk
All the talks from the convention will be available online by the time you read this, so take a look on the RSGB’s YouTube channel and find them. I’m also looking forward to Palle Preben-Hansen OZ1RH’s talk on Ionoscatter on 50 and 144MHz, which I wasn’t able to watch live. Whatever your interest and experience, hopefully there is something to inspire and engage you.
Assuming that 2021 allows a more usual convention format, it would be great if there was also some online format like this year, so that people have the choice whether to attend in person or online. I am sure that many would be happy to pay to attend ‘virtually’ should loss of attendance revenue be a concern.
I was delighted to have the opportunity to present one of the RSGB’s Tonight at 8 webinars on My The World of VHF a few weeks ago where I introduced the VHF bands and tried to give a feeling for what you might be able to expect on each of the bands. It was a bit of a whistlestop tour, but if you haven’t seen it yet, do have a look at the YouTube clip below and I hope you’ll enjoy it. https://youtu.be/KfDKQ39z05k
The new series of Foundation Practical videos are well worth a look too if you’re getting started in the hobby, or even if you just fancy a refresher. Again, have a look at the RSGB’s YouTube channel (below) to find them. www.youtube.com/user/TheRSGB/videos It’s really great to see technology used in this way, making it possible for talks and information to reach many more than previously.
Another look at 4m FM
I recently had the opportunity to review a dual-band 70/144MHz handheld, which perhaps you’ll read about elsewhere. What I wanted to write about though, was my experience on 70MHz FM using a handheld.
My first 70MHz handheld experience, a few years back, was a bit of a disappointment and I think I had about one contact in a year with the unit and decided to sell it. There was nothing wrong with the handheld itself, though. The limiting factor was the antenna that was supplied with the handheld, which was probably fairly much akin to a dummy load on the band. So, when I got hold of the unit more recently, I was keen to try a few different options.
The supplied dual-band 70/144MHz antenna certainly worked across a distance of a few miles, particularly from an elevated spot. From one of the hills near Fishguard, I worked Richard GW1JFV in Haverfordwest, some 30km away, as well as hearing Peter GW4JQP, also using a handheld, a bit further off, at a distance of around 45km. I wanted to try and see if I could improve on that and had previously used one of the Spectrum Flexiwhips. This seemed to offer a bit more gain than the standard antenna and provided some weak signals where the stock antenna had produced nothing at all. Finally, I used a quarter-wave magmount, either on a metal roof at home or on the car. That worked very well indeed, better, as you might imagine, than either of the handheld whip antennas.
I was curious to see what would happen with the 70MHz handheld in a more urban environment and brought it to Cheltenham where I knew there was some activity on the band. I was pleased to find that the handheld, running about 5W, was audible across town, on an obstructed path. It did seem to work much better outside than in the house, despite being at ground level rather than on the second storey of the house.
So, if like me, you’re tempted by a handheld on 70MHz, have a play with antennas and see what works best depending on how plan to use it. If you are planning portable activity from the hills, then you might even like to try one of the Flowerpot designs, which seem to have worked well for some people. If you aren’t familiar with the Flowerpot antenna (I wasn’t), you can see a design for a 2m version here: https://tinyurl.com/y3mtt32g
This could be scaled up for 4m, which is shown on M0NFI’s website: https://tinyurl.com/y4dalquw
It will be exciting to see if the better availability of 4m handhelds increases FM activity on the band. Don’t necessarily expect to make too many contacts on the handheld’s supplied antenna and be
prepared to try something different.
I was pleased to find in both West Wales and Gloucestershire, that there were plenty of stations equipped with 70MHz FM, perhaps waiting for a little bit of activity.
The 6m Band
Jef Van Raepenbusch ON8NT (Aalter) caught a 6m opening on September 3rd, working GM8IEM (IO78), EA6SA (JM19), EA7M (IM76), EA4BAS (IN80), EA5AL (IN80), LX1JX (JO30), G4IMP (JO01), EA4YR (IM78) and LB3AG (JP53).
The 2m Band
Jef ON8NT runs 25W from an IC-9700 and a 5-element LPDA and had an exceptional month. Most of Jef’s contacts were on FT8, but he did work DL5NEN (JN59) on CW on September 6th. Highlights from Jef’s log include OK1VVT (JO60), OZ1CCM (JO55), GM4FVM (IO85), EI3KD (IO51), EC1A (IN73), F6CIS (IN94), GI6ATZ (IO74), G7RAU (IN79), SM7WW (JO65), SP1FJZ (JO64), SP1MVG (JO74), GD3YEO (IO74) and GM3SEK (IO74), all on FT8.
Jon Stow G4MCU (Hockley) enjoyed the tropo in September between the 17th and 21st, with the highlights being OZ1BEF (JO46), DK4EE (JO41), DL2RZ (JO54), GM4YXI (IO87), GM0OQV (IO85), DG8LG (JO44), DL0CX (JO43), DL5BBF (JO42), SM4GGC (JO69), OZ1BNN (JO55), OZ6OL (JO65), SM7GVF (JO77), OZ8ZY (JO54), GM4JOJ (IO97) and SM6VTZ (JO58). Jon runs 100W from an IC-9700 and prefers SSB to digital modes.
Roger Daniel G4RUW (Newbury) also enjoyed the September tropo. On September 17th he worked SK6QA (JO58) and then on September 20th SM4GGC (JO69). Both QSOs were on FT8. Next day on the 21st Roger worked SM7GVE (JO77) on SSB then went back to FT8 and worked LB7ZH (JO59). Roger says that he also worked OZ, PA, DL, ON, GM and F during the opening.
Phil Oakley G0BVD (Great Torrington) was pleased to work OZ1JMN (JO46) during the tropo opening on September 18th.
Tim Hague M0AFJ (Helston) has a difficult take off towards Germany and Denmark but did well in the tropo opening, working DB8WK (JO33), OZ1BEF (JO46), DJ8MS (JO54), OZ1CCM (JO55), DL2AKT (JO50), DF9QT (JO30), OK1DOY (JO60), DK2EA (JO50) and DF6PW (JO40). Tim’s decided to replace his IC-9700, which he didn’t enjoy, with a tri-band transverter system from Q5 Signal, which he is looking forward to trying.
Here at GW4VXE (Goodwick) there seemed to be plenty of tropo around through the month, highlights being EC1A (IN73), F6HRO (IN88), F5APQ (JO00), F6BTP (JN09), DG1KDD (JO31), EA2XR (IN83), EA1MX (IN73), OZ1CCM (JO55), DB8WK (JO33), DJ9YE (JO43), PA3BIY (JO22), OK1VVT (JO60), DL3TW (JO44), SM7DTT (JO65), DF5VAE (JO64), OZ2LIN (JO46), DJ8MS (JO54), OV3T (JO46), OZ2ND (JO46), OZ1CCY (JO45), OZ4VV (JO46), OZ5TG (JO45), F6APE (IN97), GM0HBK (IO77), GI0OTC (IO65), EI9KF (IO64) and EI8HH (IO53). Many of these contacts were ones I had not expected to be able to make from the west coast of Wales over a mountainous path. Fascinating!
The 70cm Band
The highlights of Jon G4MCU’s log during the September opening were SM6VTZ (JO58), OZ9FW (JO65), DJ8MS (JO54), DL4EEC (JO33), MM0CEZ (IO75), OZ1BNN (JO55) and SP1MVG (JO74) who was a new country for Jon on the band at a distance of 987km. Jon runs 50W of SSB from an FT-991.
Jef ON8NT worked G1YBB/P (IO82) during the UK Activity Contest on September 8th. Highlights on FT8 were GB8BOB (IO82), G0RQL (IO70), G4RRA (IO80), GD3YEO (IO74), GW3TKH (IO81) and OZ1LWT (JO46).
Tony Collett G4NBS (Cambridge) said that when he went on the band on September 20th, during the opening he was pleasantly surprised at the amount of activity – it was almost like being back in the 1980s, except this time on FT8, with many of the same stations being active! Tony worked a couple of stations on CW and SSB (OZ1BNN was using a 144MHz antenna at the time!). On the 21st, Tony was about to switch off, but got caught up with other things and then noticed SM0MDG and OH1ND, who was Tony’s best DX of the opening.
Simon Evans G6AHX (Twyning) took part in the RSGB UHF contest at the start of October. On 70cm, he had ten contacts with the best DX being OR6T (JO20) at 501km.
Tim M0AFJ worked DK2EA (JO50) on September 17th.
The 23cm Band
Jon G4MCU runs 10W of SSB from an IC9700 and lists OZ1FF (JO45) and DB8WK (JO33) from the September opening. Robert Van Der Zaal PA9RZ
(Sassenheim) says he had to miss the
opening during the September 23cm activity contest as he’d had to chair a meeting of his local radio group. He very kindly sent a picture of his ‘vintage’ Icom corner, covering 6m up to 70cm, and says that when there is a lift, he prefers to use these radios.
Simon G6AHX had eight contacts during the RSGB UHF contest with the best DX being G3R (IO93) but Simon was also very pleased to work PW columnist Bernard G4BXD on the band. Simon says that he can regularly receive several beacons on 23cm: GB3MCB, GB3USK, GB3IOW, GB3FM, GB3DUN and GB3MHW.
Satellites
Tom Morgan ZS1AFS says that he made a contact with a ZS2 station through the ISS crossband repeater using his special call of ZT1T/P. He’s also managed to access the repeater using a handheld and extended rubber duck.
Jef ON8NT enjoyed the SSTV transmissions from the International Space Station (ISS) on September 30th and October 1st. Transmissions were made on 145.800MHz using the PD120 mode.
Kevin Hewitt ZB2GI (Gibraltar) made a couple of contacts: EA7P (IM76) and IS0OZK (JM49) via the ISS Crossband repeater using his FT-817. Kevin took part in the ISS SSTV event on September 30th and October 1st, receiving seven full images with three duplicates over four passes. Kevin used an FT-817, a Win 7 Notebook PC running MMSTV and a manually-tracked 2m/70cm log periodic.
Simon G6AHX has made some nice QSOs through the RS-44 satellite, including PD4HDB, F6CTW, OH5LK and ON3ONX, but his main aim was to make a transatlantic contact, which Simon was delighted to achieve on September 23rd when he worked WO3T in Virginia. On October 7th, Simon listened to the ISS Telebridge activity on 437.525MHz FM when a schools contact was being made.
Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK (Phoenix) reports, “AO-92’s battery issues have kept it offline, while AMSAT decides what to do next. In the past month, we gained the use of the new Kenwood TM-D710G operating from the ISS Columbus laboratory module. This new radio, with the customized firmware for the ISS provided by JVC/ Kenwood, has been busy − first as a crossband voice repeater, and now as a packet/ APRS digipeater.
“In addition to being used for school contacts, the new TM-D710G had been operating as a cross-band voice repeater. With an uplink at 145.990MHz with 67.0Hz tone, and the downlink around 437.800MHz (± for Doppler), it drew many stations that have not tried other satellites. In the cross-band voice repeater mode, the ISS radio transmits at 5 watts − more power than any other FM satellite we have, but not high enough to overheat the radio. The 5W downlink was easy to hear. On passes that were not so busy, mostly late at night, I could work the repeater with HTs transmitting at 2 to 5 watts. For other passes, I used my Icom IC-2730 2m/70cm FM mobile radio, switching among its three power levels (5/15/50W) to see how much power I needed to get through the repeater. Sometimes, even 50W was not enough, but most of the time I only had to go up to 15W to make contacts during busy daytime passes.
“In the past couple of days, after a school contact that used 437.525MHz as the ISS downlink over Europe, the new TM-D710G was put into packet/APRS digipeater mode. On the new radio, the digipeater transmits at 10 watts, as it is not transmitting as much as in the voice repeater mode. It hears well, and the 10W downlink helps in copying more packets transmitted from the ISS. In the short time I have been using the digipeater, I have had a few contacts with stations across the continental USA and northern Mexico, using my Kenwood THD74 and Elk log periodic antenna. ARISS has not announced how long the radio will stay in digipeater mode.
“Another new TM-D710G is due to be sent to the ISS by the Russians, to replace their older TM-D710 used for school contacts and SSTV. Once that radio is installed and put into operation, it might be possible to see both the voice repeater and packet/APRS digipeater in simultaneous operation. The voice repeater was in operation during the recent SSTV operations, along with SSTV and a school contact using 437.525MHz. With new TMD710Gs operating from both the European and Russian parts of the ISS, this will provide more flexibility for amateur radio operations.”
Phil G0BVD has been listening to the ISS crossband repeater, having set up his IC-9700 with Harold M3OPW. Phil hasn’t made any contacts so far, but has heard French and Italian stations
Here at GW4VXE I had some success with the ISS crossband repeater when it was low over the sea to the southwest, out of range of a lot of Europe. Of course, while that limits competition, it also restricts the stations you’re able to work! Stations worked include EA1BNF (IN52), 2E0XXI (IO93), EI6FM (IO51), MI0KOA (IO74), EA1PA IN71) and EI3FW (IO54). I’m now looking forward to trying out the APRS digipeater.
Well that’s it for this month. Please keep your news – and your pictures of vintage radios still in use – coming. See you next time.