Tried some PropNET this afternoon on 10 metres, but didn't register any beacons. Only live psk31 qso's noted. This evening switched to jt65-hf. Just look how busy this mode is on 20 at 18:00 +.

Had a little play with Navtex this evening. Rogaland Norway and Netherlands Coastguard came in quite strong at one point. Niton is huge being on my doorstep of course, with Cullercoats a reasonable signal from Scotland.

Here's a screen showing the locations (Blue icons) relevant to the messages I received using 'YAND' and 'Frisnit' decoders.

20 metreis alive with wspr tonight. Only just tuned in and already been received by WZ4Z (States) and VE3DMU (Canada)

Been experimenting with witha couple of modes over the last few days. Namely Propnet and APRS Messenger. No real joy with either of them though. The only action I could register using Propnet was straight psk qso's on 10 metres. No actual propnet beacons seen.

As to APRS Messenger, all I could pick up was packets forwarded by the internet. I didn't decode any signals on any of the frequencies I could find on the internet, so evetually gave up and went back to Opera.

The top screen shot is of Opera on 20 just now, which shows WSPR has the edge on popularity.

First from the States today. 12:12 14065 G0HDI de K4RKM Op2 4011 mi -27 dB in w. NC USA

Been trying to decide for ages whether the MFJ 1025 noise reducer is worth going for. Some 'You Tube' tests seem impressive, while others are not so. It obviously need to be set up right, and with the right antennas to make a significant difference.

The dsp facility on HRD seems to help a lot with the PCR-1000 re Broadcast listening, so I decided to dig out my old MFJ-784B dsp filter to put in line with the DX-394 before the mixer. I use this radio mainly for ssb monitoring, and find the MFJ very helpfull in reducing the qrn. This machine also takes a bit of setting up, but once done it's fine. I think I'll give the 1025 a miss anyway.

SV8QG (Greece), a regular, is my furthest capture today so far on Opera. 1568 miles @ 11:05

Latest desk configuration. Using the mixer (Tapco MIX120) in combination with receivers, phones, Speakers and recorder (Tascam DR-40). Now I can listen/record something else while the 'Opera' is running on the computer and FT-897. In the evening when Opera dies on 20 metres I can use the serial switch box to direct Ham Radio Deluxe to drive the PCR-1000.

Soon as I get some serious money, I'll change it all again by adding a lap top/sdr receiver combo. Torn between the RF Space SDR-IQ and the Flex 1500, but either one is but a dream at the moment Hi!

State of play at 15:31 ie stations having received my Opera beacon today.

Opera has picked up today, WA3USG (Pennsylvania) receiving me up at the moment.

New addition to the well over crowded bench. Been hearing on the 'Shortwave-Radio' Yahoo group about this guy on 14.3125 from Canada who spends hour at a time winding just about everyone up who cares to stick around on the frequency. To those not sure of the rigs under the printer, but are curious as to their id's. A Uniden UBC9000XLT is on top an Icom-718, which is only capable of receiving due to my blowing the finals way back in history Hi!

Up until now I have not been able to monitor the shortwaves whilst the computer sound card is tied up with Opera and the 897, as opposed to the PCR-1000. The Satellit is covering SSTV of course. Only way round it was to set up the DX-394, which I have done. As recording with computer is out too, I decided to add an extension shelf that allows me to use the digital recorder. This records the 394's audio to either disc, pen drive or SD card. The Heil phones being connected to the recorder.

Been listening for a couple of hours now and no sign of anyone on 14.3125 however. 15:23 Strong tuning up signal now, maybe some life appearing then Hi!.

Brrrrr, another cold one this morning. Oh dear!, looks like the Opera server is off line again. If it's still so by lunch time I might have a go at ROS mode for a change.

Very quiet day Opera wise, with only one two way contact recorded. SSTV was an average day I guess.

The latest version of Opera seems to insist on displaying pop-ups from station unrelated to those being actually received, nor shown on the cluster list at the time. Had a nice chat with F1ABL, Michel, who although seemingly instigating a pop up/chat box on several occasions this morning (immediately following my transmission), was not doing so however. Further, he was out of the shack at the time apparently. Interesting!.

Just made an interesting two way contact, and new country for me. South Aftrica ZS6AF. Thanks Johan. 73 Brian

Apparently the reason why there were no two way logs recorded yesterday is because the server in Spain was off line. Ok today though, with 926 miles being the limit at 17:55

Give it another hour I guess, then I'll try a bit of Navtex.

Nice spot at 12:20 ZL9BAF -24 Aukland Campbell Islands

Well I decided to brave the cold and replace the Arno Cobra with a white stick from the reserves bench (the shed) Had it for at least 20 years I suppose.

Anyway, after checking the swr was still valid with the MFJ analyzer, I set up the IC 2820 on the bench. I'm now open for business, either digital or analogue fm.

SSTV's abit slow today. Still sunny, but warnings of snow this afternoon. Think we'll miss the worst of it here though.

That's a nice new one for me (4X1DA Israel). Probably the weekend bringing more guys out to play Hi!.

Thought I'd have a look at Navtex this evening. Here's three faces of Radiocom 6 receiving Niton. I just love eye candy Hi!

Been wondering what to concentrate on when 20 metres fades in the evenings.

Can't seem to get decent Navtex reception, and Wefax is pretty iffy most times too. I see some guys are into very low frequency Opera, ie 136 and 500 khz. I know I have too much qrn on 5oo, but I might have a go at monitoring 136 this evening. Don't hold out much hope with the modest long wire I have.

I noticed today, that digital repeater GB7MM at Westbourne (between Poole and Bournemouth) has been ok'd, but is not yet operational. Thinks!..I wonder if I should get my D-Star rig and white stick set up ready for some possible action. Bought the IC-E2820 spacifically for digital operation, but never had a nibble in over five years in the periods I've had it running.

Looking at the coverage map, I am on the extremes. However, if we have a lift I could be in with a chance. Then again, once the repeater became known to be active it might entice others to take the plunge, therefore increasing the chances of direct contacts.

Made the States again today.

Just about to close Opera for the day when up pop's a report from Winnipeg. That's it now though. 19:49 QRT

Another cold start to the day. Mind you, it's a lot warmer tham Russia . Bugger that for a game of soldiers Hi!.

Thought I might make it to Sidney this morning so I could get a map screen shot, I forgot to get one last visit *sigh*. Unfortunately the path is closed this morning so that's that idea out the window.

The mouse (Kensington trackball) froze a few minutes ago. That's the third time it's happened last couple of days. Bit of a pain as I have to kill the computer, then restart of course. This means the current QSO list is wiped from Opera. I did have the mouse connected to the keyboard usb port, so I've now moved it to a pc usb port direct. Hope that fixes the problem.

Pleased to say both online logs are now receiving my data since Jose issued version 1.2.4. I've placed the code for both logs on my 'Opera' page.

That's a nice start to the day, just been received in Sidney Australia.

Looks like the latest mod by Jose has complicted things a little though. He wants mean power instead of pep, so now my info is sent as 15 watts + Inverted V (antenna) , which is wrong as I'm still using the Pro Whip. Oh well, no doubt he, and others, will notice and he'll probably sort it.

Have to go QRT for a couple of hour now. Work on the new page later. Bit more brain damage Hi!

Not a good day today. Seems whatever I try wants to be a pain *sigh*.

I'll forget about the auto upload facility on Opera until tomorrow. Can't be bothered to go into that now. As to the new web page (via Digital Brian animation on the digital page), I tried with some success to get a couple of scrolling text boxes going, with the view of pasting my Opera spots, and those reflected to me via the internet.

The first option works a treat, but the second insists on behaving illogically. Whenever I paste a sessions spots, either direct from Opera, or from my notepad where the previous session has been saved, the start time will be well into the session ie I'm not pasting the complete session, even though all has been copied. How weird is that?.

SSTV reception has been poor all day too.

That's it, I've had enough for today.

Quiet day today, sstv wise. Opera a bit down on yesterday too. I'm sticking to 20 metres now, so no need to keep retuning the antenna.

Been trying to figure how to incorporate current days Opera logs on the web site, but can't seem to get a scrolling box going with my main web editor (WebSite X5 Evolution) that I can paste to. I did manage it on the secondary editor (Namo WebEditor), but for some reason I could not paste the complete days log. I'll look for more options tomorrow, I'm too tired now.

WB4RQD New record.

Nice one! I just made my first 'Opera' contact across the pond.

Oh not again!. Flamin' contest. Each to their own I suppose, but I wish the stations calling cq wouldn't keep droning on splattering over the sstv frequency *sigh*. I have to kill the sound to stop them getting on my nerves.

Well I new it wouldn't take long for Jose to add some more frequencies to Opera, and here we are. This morning I find 14.065 and 7.038 added to the list. My Pro Whip does seem happier on 20 metres so that's my daytime frequency now.

I did fire up this morning before shopping, but didn't expect anyone else to be around on 20 yet. Wrong!, loads of peeps had beaten me to it.

Here's a screen shot as of 10:28 this morning. Catching on fast!

Try the beacon at 20 minutes to allow bigger gap for sstv incoming. Naturally the pics are spoilt whilst I am tx'ing.

New record US5QM, 1580 Miles

Doesn't take long for a new mode to catch on, does it!

Looking promising, HB9DVP has got the sstv ball rolling. Maybe I don't have to climb the ladder again after all Hi!

Looking good!. Eight diferent station receiving me now, including Three Italian's.

PS, I'm now waiting to see if sstv (20 metre receive only) is catered for by the replacement antenna, ie the 30 metre whip I rigged up yesterday. I can hear psk on .070 quite strong at the moment. If not good for sstv reception I'll try it as a straight whip, ie using the inner only. If that fails I'll put up a 20 metre mobile job

Morning all. Fired up 30 metres Opera half an hour ago, but the antenna I used successfully yesterday has now decided the zap my freeview picture *sigh*. Back to the drawing board. I guess it's not that important as I can always turn the tv off anyway, but I would feel better if I could get it right.

Ok, let's try the Pro Whip again. 5 watts out with the whip tuned to 10.135 later, here's the result. Would you beleive it?, no tvi. I have, since last using it, changed the ATU for my MFJ job. I have a sneaking suspician there's something wrong with the Trio. The MFJ does not have a preselected band option like the Trio, so might have something to do with it.

Anyway, we seem to be back in business. Touch wood Hi!.

As 30 metres had died re Opera, I thought what the hell let's have another go at 80 using the Pro Whip before bed. Would you Adam and Eve it, it worked. Tuned up nicely and doesn't cause the tv sig to drop out. So why did it not work the first time I tried it *sigh*. Totally illogical, radio sometimes.

Anyway it would appear we're in business, and here's the screen shot top prove it. At least I can go to bed happy Hi!.

Been messing about with various modes and antennas today. Noticed yesterday that the 3o metre band was the most active overall, re weak signal modes, so today I resolved to get something working antenna wise so I could grab some action.

I had managed to tune the Pro Whip on 3o, but wiped out my freeview signal in the process. I also tried a long wire, but that had the same effect. The 80 metre 1/4 wave magmount on the metal roof had no effect on the tv however, so 'Thinks!' I have various mobile whips in the shed, but infortunately not one for 30. Could I rig something up with them?. After returning from town and grabbing an 'Ocean Pie' for lunch, I reasoned that joining the base (helical) sections of a ten and twenty whip together, with the standard whip on top, I might get close enough to 10 megs to try inserting another coil section that would take care of the other missing whip section. Sounded logical, even if electically it's not the done thing.

Anyway, I joined said sections together and fitted the base to a tri magmount on the metal roof. To my surprise, after connection the MFJ analyzer, the swr was 2.1. Amazing!, and I hadn't even compensated for the missing whip section yet. Well!, if it's happy as it is so be it. Sometimes antennas just defy logic Hi!.

I replace the 80 whip with this new one and went back in to the shack. On connecting the analyser now however the swr was well out. In fact the antenna now resonated on 7 megs instead on 10. All through basically changing to a longer lengthg of coax feeder. That's silly, it shouldn't be anywhere near 40 metres. Oh well, I thought, in for a penny. I connected the feeder to the atu, tuned the radio to a quiet spot on 30 metres and fired 5 watts into it anyway. A bit of twiddling of the inductance, tx'er and antenna controls and I easily had the swr down to 1.1 and an apparent power out of five watts. The ft-897 was set at 5 watts (the minimum) in the menu.

As I have since been received in Moscow and Germany, I suppose there can't be a lot wrong with my signal. Also I'm not freezing my Freeview signal at all, so I think I'll leave it at that for the time being.

As I'm now on qrv on 30 hf I can't play with jt65 as there is no allocated frequency for it. However, there is one for ROS, so I might have a go at that tomorrow.

How's that for a bit of colour Hi!. Red=qso in progress. Mauve=station calling cq and yellow=my qso with F5RRS. You'll notice I had to send his report twice befor receiving RRR from him. Obviously my sig to him dropped at the critical time.

Got to thinking last night, wonder if I could get something going on 80 metres when 40 goes quiet.

Got a ten metre mag mount on a metal roof used for 10 fm. Don't use it lately, so how about swapping it for an 80 metre antenna?. Could try some jt65-hf and Opera this evening then.

This afternoon I put the 80 metre ant and a spare tri-magmount on the letal roof and used the analyzer to tune it. After I was satisfied with the swr I replaced the 10 metre ant with the 80. All I had to do then was move the feeder from the 10 metre rig to the 897, via an atu. Then I waited 'til dark.

First I tried Opera, which eventually saw me log France and Netherlands, both ways.

Noticing a jt65 trace on the upper end of the waterfall, I switched to that mode and answered F4EFL who gave me -12. The jt65 frequency is 3.576 and the Opera 3.575, which is very handy as I don't even have to retune the antenna. Looks like 80 is where I will park every evening now. Sorted!.

Looks like we're in business.

Radio User is out today, so I'll be picking that up later. Raining at the moment, but at least the wind has dropped. Try out my new wiper blades Hi!. Had to replace a couple the other day.

Noticed yesterday, that although the Whip tunes 30 metres to allow use of Opera mode, my freeview signal get's knocked out. TV antenna is only about 15 feet away from whip. However, the Arno Cobra is even closer, with all it's feeder radiation too and there's no tvi from that.

Might have to concentrate of wspr/jt65-hf on the Arno until a frequency on 40 is allocated to Opera. Shouldn't be long I reckon.

HA2RI sstv is comong in strong at the moment. That's on the whip of course. The Garex active job and a long wire cannot compete unfortunately.

Up at 07:00, shack alive and tx'ing some jt65-hf on 40. However, at 07:40 not a nibble so have now switched to wspr, see how that does for a bit.

All gone quiet over there Hi!.

Had a decent day playing with Opera, but all quiet now. Hope a 40 metre frequency is allocated soon then I can use the whip for sstv again.

Gone back to jt65-hf on 40 at the moment using the Arno Cobra again, but no response to my cq'ing. Shame I don't have an antenna for 80 as I expect I could get more response from Opera down there at this time onward. Never mind, can't win 'em all.

Took down the horizontal dipole for 11 as it wasn't getting any use anyway, so to give me another string to the bow I made use of the feeder by putting up an hb9cv for 2 metres I had in the shed (horizontal). Don't have a rotator so fixed it facing East. Never know, if conditions are up and guys start squirting Opera my way from Europe I might be in with a chance. Could also use jt65 or wspr of course.

Here is a link to the O-P-E-R-A software download page

http://rosmodem.wordpress.com/

And here is a link to a handy operating guide by Andy K3UK, as there is no official guide by EA5HVK realeased as yet.

http://www.obriensweb.com/operaguide.html

And a shot of pskreporter showing spots of my station by others (minutes ago) and stations reported by me (small balloons) included in the last 2 hour slot. I think I've got that the right way round by studying my log on Pskreporter.

Morning all!

Just discovered a new mode by EA5HVK, a bit on the lines of wspr last night. Managed to tune the whip to 10.135 usb and fired the program up this morning. Sends beacons at pretedermined intervals, as does wspr, but the spots by other stations are sent back to the sender via the internet. Here is a screen shot of my first attempt On the right side is the reporters screen, where you can see my station having been received by the Netherlands amongst others (In Red). Also on the right is a report from me of the station I had received on the left screen. This one is blue.

All change again Hi!. SSTV pics are nowhere near as clear using alternative antennas to the whip, so I've reverted to the original set up. The whip is back to sstv and the weak signal modes are back to the Arno Cobra. The latter does work as long as I keep the power restricted to 5 watts, which I guess is quite adequate for wspr and jt65-hf. The states has heard me on wspr and a JT65-HF qso has been made into Germany so far, so should be ok.

And now for some lunch while I leave wspr running for a while

Just been playing about with the whip antenna. Although the analyzer says the swr is respectable on all bands except the warc bands, in actual use I can't get any apart from 20 and 40 metres to tune up. Also, upping to ten watts on 20 seems to make the power needle on the Kenwood AT-200 atu fluctuate occasionally, though I did get W4MPS answer me at 12:26. Bet the Italian guys are putting out a bit more than that Hi!

I think I'll play safe and leave the power at 5 watts on both bands whether using jt65-hf or wspr. Don't want to risk a dirty signal going out.

Here's a couple of screen shots since using the whip for wspr on 40 metres, 5 watts .

As a matter of interest I just put the analyzer on the Pro Whip and discovered something very interesting. It actually tunes on all the bands from 3.8 to 144 mhz. Amazing, and I didn't think of analysing it in the couple of years I've had it *sigh*. Before I got back into tx'ing the whip was basically used for receiving sstv on 20 metres and broadcast band listening.

Now I find I don't have to use the Arno Cobra after all, with all it's radiating feeder problems Hi!. All data can be handled on whatever band I fancy using the whip. Brilliant!.

Only problem is sstv is going to have to rely on the garex active antenna, which is not up to the whip's performance. Seeing a picture just arrived on it though, I reckon I can live with that.

After a few days of data I've discovered what I can and can't do re data. It would appear that the E-Ham reviews on the EH Arno Cobra are correct, insofar as rf radiating from the feeder is conscerned. If I try upping the power out from 5 watts, I end up with a distorted signal. However, as 5 watts is about the going rate for wspr I don't suppose that's too much of a problem.

I have made made a few contacts on 40 using jt65-hf with the 5 watts and Arno ant, but as 20 metres is much more lively with this mode I migrate there during the daylight hours and turn the power up to a respectable 10 watts. The Pro Whip has no problem with that, and 10 is about right for that mode I think.

Been trying out a bit of JT65-HF this afternoon. So far worked a couple of G's on 40 and a German station using the Pro Whip on 20 metres (All on 5 watts).

15:05 Back to WSPR while I get some tea and bics.

'Morning all. Not a bad start this morning, 4 traces and 9 stations receiving me so far. Not bothering with town today, nice lazy day in the shack.

Although I can't run any other radio gear on this computer whilst wspr'ing, I can run SBS1 and Virtual Radar server. So that looks like the set up for the forseable future. Data on 40 metres and virtual plane spotting. Well I say virtual, I can always pop outside after getting the heads up and point some 36x70's at the passing trade. Usually at about 18.000 ft by the time Gatwick depatures reach overhead my loctation. Bins actually go up to 60x but I can't hold them steady enough at that power Hi!

Phew!, did I mention brain damage.

Spent about five hours this afternoon getting wspr up and running. As you can see from the pic above, I finally made it. I've filtered the stations to show only the ones receiving me, which covers the last 4 hours since going live.

I started out trying to get the Signalink interface working, but gave up after a couple of hours. All I could transmit was a horrible noise, try as I might to get levels right. I'm pretty sure the built in sound card has gone toes up, and now I think of it this might be the breason I gave up data a while back.

I then dug out my RigBlaster Pro from the 'junk box'. This needed a bank of jump leads, 5 audio cables, a serial cable and mic input cable sorted out. To cut a long story short I managed to get the radio, computer and interface on speaking terms and proceeded to decorate 40 metres with 5 watts of wspr. As the map confirms I am in business, so chuffed to be back o the air after so long in listening mode.

Unlike the Signalink (USB) the RigBlaster uses the serial port on the desk top computer and the program uses the sound card, so the PCR-1000 is off limits whilst I play data.

SSTV is fed to a notebook from the Satellit 750

Top is a a screen shot of all stations active on 40 metres over the last 3 hours

All change again Hi!.

Been monitoring a bit of JT65-HF and WSPR after the episode with the cameras. After visiting another ham's site and seeing that he had his wspr set up using an ft-897 and signalink interface, it suddenly dawned on me that when I bought my own signalink I also got the data lead suitable for my own ft-897. Therefore I had no excuse but to give it another whirl. I wouldn't have to configure all the jump leads in the Rigblaster after all, so no brain damage there then.

This evening I set up the rig and interface and using the Pro Whip to receive, I have sigs on the wspr waterfall. I don't want to use the whip to transmit eg on 20 metres as it would screw up my sstv reception, which is now switched to the Satellit 750 incidentally. Never the same set up five minutes here Hi!.

I have an Arno Cobra antenna designed especially for 40 metres, so that's the band I will conentrate on re wspr. So that's tomorrows activity sorted. Put the antenna up and try squirting some wpsr into it. Being a weak signal mode It's concidered bad form to exceed 5 watts, so I'll be sticking to that.

22:05 Calling it a day radio wise I think. Bit of Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven Western) while I sup some tea, then it's the land of nod. Night all!.

Well after a morning's work this what I ended up with.

I started out fitting a wireless camera looking at the front door, which was about 20 feet away from the receiver. Had to cut the power lead to extend it of course. Waste of time!. Couldn't even get a picture. Moving the camera closer, ie half that distance, I did get a picture but only after positioning by trial and error.

Next I tried in the car port, Only when the camera was about six or seven feet in a straight line from the receiver, did I get a picture. However, it was not good insofar as there were noise bars floating across the screen.

Decided to call it a day with wireless jobs and dug out my original wired camera again. It produced a lousy picture when last aired, but I took it apart and cleaned the lens and inside the glass. It had been outside in all weathers for years after all. I now hooked this up to my little five inch tv, as shown in the pic above. The over exposed look is due to the camera I took the pic with. In reality the image is ok, and should be ideal at night with it's infra red capability.

On a different note, I hear one of the Alpha Uniform club members has had his collar felt, resulting in his radio being confiscated. That's Mick permanently out of the 'Freenband' scene apparently.

It's a risk one takes, being basically a pirate I guess. Maybe, If Mick is really bitten by the radio bug, He'll not give up and will decide to go legit as it were by sitting the necessary exams. Worth it for peace of mind at least, if your reading this mate.

Another quiet day for me. Got a replacement wireless camera for the car port in town today, so tomorrow I'm fixing that up to go with it's mate that overlooks the front door so I can either choose which to show on the tv when it's not used for it's primary role, or have them automatically switch between the two. I say wireless, which is true as regards the actual camera picture. The camera still need 12 volts fed to it, which tend to negate the 'wireless' descriptionHi!. The camera viewing the path to the front door, which is hard wired, is now switched to a 5 inch portable tv. Will include a pic when I've got it all set up.

The power lead supplied for the camera is only a couple of metres, so will have to splice a section in there. Bang goes the guarentee, so hope the thing lasts longer than most of the electronic gadgets I buy.

Haven't really been in a radio mood today, so concentrated on my latest aircraft mag (Airliner World) and monitoring Virtual Radar. Quite unusual to get anything on screen coming in to Southampton, so here's a screen shot taken at 18:51 of a Air Hamburg Citation on finals. Tracked it down to 75 feet.

Not a good day today. Nothing on 11 psk or packet wise, and very few decent pics on 20. Ran SBS1 in parallel, so watched that a lot this afternoon. Had Virtual Radar running off my 'Base Station' as I prefer the Google Earth screen.

Shame the military aircraft don't give their coordinates, which is understandable I suppose. Virtual Radar does recognise the military, and there is a filter facility for it, but naturally the aircraft do not show on the map.

Oh well, Sunday's a new day. Let's hope for better conditions.

Best laid plans, as they say. Not a sniff of packet or psk31 all afternoon on eleven.

Updated the shack pick, which included the tnc and the TTI rig. Whether I'll get to use the tnc remains to be seen. Mind you it's the weekend tomorrow, so maybe better luck with propo and operators on air.

Why do some guys have to go overboard with echo on CB *sigh*. Used very lightly and it can enhance the clarity of the signal, but having it set so it repeats everything a few words late is just rediculous.

22:04 I think I'll call it a day in the shack Take a cup of tea to bed and have a listen around the broadcast bands on the Roberts. Night all.

14:15 Wow, Taiwan in one direction and Texas in the other. Can't be bad.

Monitoring 27.5 and 27.540 since noon on the Satellit and Anytone 5555, but not a peep so far. Just my luck conditions are down today.

Full up, I just had a King Prawn Ruby. Nice clear sstv coming in on 14.230 at the moment.

By the left! It's cold this morning.

Listening to a station on the Roberts at 21:50 last night for 10 minutes, but couldn't get an id before it closed down. Frequency 11.865 sig 5/8 qsb. Subject Ausy accented announcer talking about sharks in Australian waters. Looked up Ausy freqs on Prime Time Shortwave, but this one not listed. The NASWA site doesn't mention Australia for that frequency either. One that got away Hi!

Woke at 03:00, so had another listen to WWCR on 4.480 while I supped some tea. Cup empty I switched the radio, and myself, off again until 07:00.

Found the links to my favourite episode of Gimme Gimme Gimme by the way. It's in 3 parts as follows

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzqnmQWQjmc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV3wmj3gVVo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mgEMDY_zo0&feature=related

Switched to 80 metres in the eveningbut only 4 stations received up to 21:00 using JT65-HF.

Tomorrow I'm going to give psk31 (usb) and packet (300 bd lsb) a bash on 27 mhz. 27.500 and 27.540 respectively. Receive only of course Hi!. Dug out the old PK-232MBX tnc and tied it to the Satellit 750, I'll make sure there is some packet action before using the serial port on the only pc available as I've got the PCR-1000 tied to it. I'll use Multipsk with that radio to try decoding any packet first. Any positive action and I'll switch to the tnc. For psk31 I'll use DM780.

21:20 and sstv on 20 metres has died of course, so I'm getting close to shutting the shack down for the night.

Trying a bit of JT65-HF this afternoon. Seems very popular mode, and here's a couple of screen shots after about half an hour's monitoring.

Well the radio station I couldn't id turned out to be WWCR from the States. Got the gen from a shortwave forum I belong to.

No radio listening today so far, had to sort out another problem around the house. Managed to drill through the remaining half of the old tree leaning over my fence. Not mine, so elbowed it in the shrubbery further up the lane (something I wouldn't normally dream of doing). Yesterday I noticed that my old lean too shed had given way at one point and was pushing my other neighbours fence out of line. Bugger!, I haven't use that shed in over 10 years as It's full of junk left by the previous owner. Some of the wall had rotted letting the neighbourhood cats in to play apparently as they had moved stuff about so a pile of thick tiles had collapsed and wedged themselves agains next doors fence.

This morning I spent a couple of hours sorting it out, which meant I had to firstly force my way in past a seized up lock and stuff that had fallen behind the door. What with that today and the tree trunk yesterday, my back has stiffened up something cronic *sigh*. Be ok by tomorrow though. Lifes a bitch, right?.

Anyway, radio wise all I've done is upload sstv all day. This afternoon, I just collapsed into my shack chair and watched an old war film 'The enemy below' Robert Mitchum's a destroyer driver hunting a German submarine. Seen it before of course as All the tv films on freeview have been flogged to death. Watched Rigby, rising damp, for the millionth time last night. Still make me laugh though.

Don't usually go much on American sit coms, but I must admit to liking 'The Big Bang Theory'. Sheldon creases me up. Only uk sit com to have me litterally falling about, was Gimme Gimme Gimme with Cathy Burke and James Dreyfuss. Think I'll see if I can find the episode where 'Zippy' Cathy's long lost son turns up on You Tube. Brilliant episode.

Oh well, that's enough waffle for now. Rosey Lea time.

Interesting gadget. Re the fake tv advertised on the radio station I mentioned earlier, here's the link to it

http://www.faketv.co.uk/

Awake at 06:00. Turned on the Roberts and found an American station on 4840 who seemed to be paranoid about what they call 'The Globalists' Bankers? trying to instigate a war with Iran.

Apparently with a view to controlling the American?/World? people. Gave up trying to get a station id. Commercial breaks were thrown in, including one pushing 'Fake TV' (Faketv.com) I'll look that one up in a minute. It's a device to give potential burglars the idea that someone is in residence, when it is in fact left empty.

06:38 listening to Ostende Radio giving out navigation warnings on 2761 usb.
07:15 switched off and got up.

Well I finally got over the exessively loud speaker on the TTI. I had a look at the onboard speaker and decided playing about with that was unviable, so I then tried foam inside an extension speaker. That didn't work, so then had an idea of using some headphones that had volume controls built in. Out to the shed and after a rummage found some old phones that fitted the bill. Plugged 'em in and Voila!, brilliant. I have them hanging underneath the bench with the volume at a reasonable extention speaker background level. Another problem solved.

One day I'll get a perfect noise free chart Hi!

Found a use for my tv in the shack when it's not in normal use. Noticed it has vga and video imputs , amongst others, so dug out some cable and got my infra red camera operational again.

Here's a pic showing the view down the front path to the non existant front gate Hi!

You can see the wooden support on the right holding back the creeper, erm, woooden fence.

Shows how little space I have here for antennas *sigh*. The Pro Whip is in the centre on the front garden (Don't have a back one). On poles stuck to side of building are antenas for the tv, the Sirio 11 metre dipole , and the v/uhf discone. This pole also carrys the SBS1 antenna. Out of shot is the 10 metre mag mount on the metal roof. Another pole supports the weather center.

The vid is an experiment in uploading to you tube, and the camera is an Alesis Video Track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR6PlVsV4wE&noredirect=1

Just dug out my Radiocom 5.2 dongle and tried a bit of Navtex. Murphies law say the signal will fade half way through the chart *sigh*. Here's the result anyway

Incidentally, a lot has changed in the shack and on my web page since I last posted to 'Blogger' back in the summer, including using upper case I's instead of lower Hi. Started editing the old posts, but got fed up with that. Thought of deleting the old posts anyway, but decided to leave them for old times sake. The page heading pic is the shack as of December 2011. A TTI TCB R2000 rig has been added since.

Of course giving up radio, as indicated back then, didn't happen. After 55 years of radio interest, is it really likely?.

I discontinued my club page, seeing as only three people had shown interest in about six months on line. Happy to stick to my main site now.

Back to Blogger

I didn't fancy the layout on Word Press blog after all, so I've returned to Blogger.

Seem to have a habbit of late that sees me waking up at about 2 am, which means I usually give up going back to sleep until I've had a nice cup of tea at least. Taking advantage of this state I've taken to having a trawl around the bands.

This morning was no exception, so logged an unidentified Bible station on 4840, Voice Of Russia on 7259, Radio Croatia on 7375, Radio Bulgaria on 7400, another unidentified Bible station on 9265, The African service of Vatican Radio on 9660 and Voice Of America on 9884 (All Khz of course).

Back to the land of nod about 03:30, up at 08:00.

Yesterday had been playing about with the appearance settings of Ham Radio Deluxe after reverting to version 4 after trying, and not liking version 5. Like getting new radio Hi!. Here are screen shots of the results, which I find very relaxing and attractive.

G'Day. Well looks like the rain has stopped, well temporarily at least Hi!. Just pumped up my very slow leaking tyre again *sigh*. Pain in the gregory!. Got loads of tread yet so just putting up with it for now.

Is it the end of hf as we know it, I ask myself. I, apparently like an inreasing number of other hams swl'ers it seems according to the internet, am finding it more and more uncomfortable to play hf radio. I suppose interference in one form or another has slowly crept up on us radio types over the recent years without actually registering that much, and we haven't really taken too much notice.

However, with the advent of more and more cheapo electronic gadgets around the house being used, such as data transfer through the mains for instance, noise is getting to be a major problem. Plasma tv's are another pain, as are cb'ers who quite openly flout the regulations and use excessive power. Ten metres is unusable to me when such a person is airborne near me, and I've heard his harmonics way up to the marine band.

Logically things can only get worse as I say as more and more cheapo gadgets arrive from the far East and appear in the 'promotion' display of the local electronics outlet in town. I remember once apon a time just being upset that I had to give up dx tv because of the upsurge of baby monitors being used on 49 mhz. Now, it seems, things are really going pear shaped. I really am thinking seriously now, that maybe it is time to knock this hobby on the head.

I've had a good innings, being as I my interest started in 1957. Bit like giving up smoking though. Hard to break the habbit. But at the end of the day, as Dell would say, 'You know it makes sense'.

That's enough soap box for now, have to go out. 73, back later.

10:21 local. Well spotted that man!. Whilst listening to Spanish chatter on 27.555 just now, it suddenly occured to me also that I was basically a dipstick. There is no need to use the 'MFJ' box as the 897 D version, which I have, has a perfectly good DSP filtering on board of course. Doh!

G'Day. Been wrestling with XAT box again as I fancied joining another community and embed their box on my site. Unfortunately I appear to have aquired two login callsigns whilst messing about with my own box, try as i might i can't get rid of one. In fact I now have a third, dammit!. I'll have to knock XAT on the head and stick to Chatango before I pull out any more of what's left of my hair Hi!.

And now for something completely different!, and the Pythons would say. Got an ft-897 doing nothing, so thinks!, what can I do with it?. Also have a top band mobile antenna in the shed. Maybe whip that up on the metal roof on a try mag mount and try some cw in the evenings. Did have a go a while back but found the band a bit noisey. However, something to play with over the weekend and maybe the mfj dsp filter can clean things up a bit.

Then again I could just fall asleep on my lounger in what I laughingly call my summer house *chuckle*. Decisions decisions!. Life's a bitch sometimes, right?.

22:27 Oh well back to the drawing board. Thought I had a nice chat box embeded on the site, but it wouldn't synchronise somehow with the online version ie the host site. Looks like it's back to the original 'Chatango', if I can find it now I've deleted it. If not I'll start all over.

Well I did get the lead and software for the 5555 after all. What a game it was, or still is because i'm not finished yet programming it. Not used to TAR files and this is how the usb to serial driver was wrapped up on the disc. I got there in the end, more by luck than judgement and finally got the radio to talk to the computer. When I got the software to work I found I had the missing com port (3) available, whereas before com ports 1 and 2 wouldn't communicate *sigh*.

Have just entered portions of the band relevant to me, ie cw, ssb, fm simplex and the repeaters with shifts. I've tried cw at 5 khz steps and the rest at 10, leaving fine tuning to the 'clarifier' knob, which goes down to 10 hz anyway. Couldn't get all the ssb portion in the 60 channels available on one bank this way, so might spread the load over two banks. I'll leave it for now, i'm cream crackered. Play with it tomorrow.

Well I'm not sure now whether it's now worth bothering with the programming software and lead that I had planned to get tomorrow *sigh*. I've just tried tuning around on the 10 fm, ssb and cw segments, but all I get is the 27 mhz guy down the road splattering all over me. Any signals that I might normally pick up would be completely zapped whilst he was on air I'm afraid. Means 10 metres for me looks to be a waste of time, at least at this location. Maybe I'll get the kit whilst it's going in case I move house some time. I'll see if I feel bored enough in the morning to make the trip.

Site is growing by the minute it seems. Found a nice moving ISS tracking map for it today. Waiting for Andrew to bring out his next update to his Virtual Radar Server, which may enable me to embed it on my site. Then I can show my SBS-1 live.

Been messing about with a Google group I thought of starting, it's was to be related to the air/sbs1 scene around the south uk coast. Got it all set up, then decided it was probably not destined to be a success anyway due to my finding a similar group started in 2008. In the three years that followed the only postings to the group were from the owner himself. And all of those were of his sbs logs.

I scrapped that idea and sought to find more content for my site instead. The Airport News page I found was a very worthy addition, so having just discovered the art of iframing I decided to inlude this site as is instead of just linking to it. Hope that doesn't infinge any copyrite. I have stated what I have done, so no-one is left in any doubt as to the site not being my own.

I see my local emporium is now has the lead and software for my 10 metre rig, so I'll pop in and collect same tomorrow. Something new to play with. The rig is not really set up as I would want, step wise. Also there is no provision for repeater shift as standard, so that can be redressed also.

Bit too cloudy today for spotting, so have to play radio or site building when I return from town I guess.

4 months and 984 visits later and not one single peeps has signed the guest book?. Interesting!.
Thinks!.........Now how many have I actually signed?. Oh dear!, better keep quiet about that one *chuckle*

23:20 Nice one! Tried the bino's on a Virgin 747 (G-VXG) out of Gatwick for Orlando. Passed overhead at 19.800ft. Bit too shakey at 60x but quite acceptable at 35x. Probably stick to that power, which is 15 over my other bino's (20x80) anyway. The new ones don't need a fork lift to hold 'em up either *smile*.

Caught a cold with the flight sim (X-Plane9) i found in a second hand shop today. Discs (six dvd's) are in perfect knick, but couldn't figure at first why disc one wouldn't install when i returned home. Then it hit me....eventually. It's a Mac version damn it!. Reckon the guy in the shop must have had previous interest shown as i noticed the game in the window some days ago and toyed with getting it. In otherwords i figure he probably knew it was not suitable for windows from previous enquiries but neglected to mention the fact to me *sigh*.

I didn't know there were any flight sims dedicated to the Mac, but there you go. Live and learn eh?. Oh well, as it's a pain to get hold of anyway as i refuse to buy anything over the internet, i'll store it until such times as i treat myself to a nice shiny new Mac computer. That could be a very long time though *sigh*.

19:00 and still overcast. Looks like that's it spotting wise, for today anyway.

Made a start on experimental upload of sbs1 logs on the air page. Decided on text format as opposed to pdf which i had previously used. Saves converting before saving the text files before uploading, so not so much involved. Figured not everyone has a pdf reader installed anyway, so probably better this way.

G'Day!. Well i did it. Tried out the binos in the shop and found i could see relatively comfortably at 60x, so decided to go for it. Used my usual local landmark at home for focussing the left anfd right eyepieces individually, seeing as my eyes are not evenly matched *sigh*. Murphies law says it's overcast, so can't have to wait for my first sighting.

Had a reply from Andrew, the writer of the Virtual Radar Server prog, who has put me right about the delay re showing my sbs detected aircraft on his map. My fault entirely. I didn't realise that the initial SBS1 software had a 5 minute delay at the transmit feed port 30003. This has now been adjusted to 'no delay' in other words live, but entailed upgrading the software to achieve this.

I have now upgraded and all is now well. I am now using Andrew's software in place of the default sbs screen, which i find much more attractive and includes all the information that i could posibly want in front of me.

Had been concidering auto uploading the sbs1 at 30 second intervals again. However, as there are perfectly good on line virtual radar sites available now and uploading my own screen shots would take over this main computer, i decided to give it a miss. Could of course upload my logs to a relevant site, such as 'South East Overflights' or maybe just my own. I'll give it some more thought.

Meanwhile i'm in two minds whether to go for a pair of 12-60x70 bino's i've seen. I have some 20x80's, but they weigh a ton. Also 20-60x60 spotting scope, but this is a pain to use on high power. Maybe the bino equivalent, with it's larger object lens and wider field of view would be acceptable, depite the inevitable shaky image at 60x. I really fancy something a bit more powerfull than the 20x80's as my overhead trade has already reached 18.000 ft out of Gatwick. I'll have a little play in the shop before making up my mind i think.

Example screen shot of my sbs1, which as you see is zoomed to my area.

Example of report of previous loggings of G-FDZS

Screen shot of Virtual Radar Server. Thompson reg G-FDZS into Bournemouth from Cyprus, just before i lost it from radar. (Height on top right of display)

Found a very nice progam couple of days ago. Runs in parallel with sbs1 and displays the detected aircraft on a google map. Mousing over will give the usual details of the aircraft with the added bonus of the route, if known. The prog also allows lookups of flights of any particular registration in the sbs1's data base.

Unfortunately there is a delay of about 4 minutes before the map to displays the aircraft detected by sbs1, so a bit difficult to use the program for a heads up re leaping outside clutching the old bino's. However, this is taken care of by switching to live sbs1 so no big deal i guess. A nice touch is that after selecting a craft, the map will automatically scroll to keep it centered.

Another, is a continuous updated readout of locations the aircraft is passing over, allbeit 4 minutes ago as it were. A voice announcement can be chosen to give details of selected aircraft too. Super litle prog, which no doubt Andrew, the writer, will make even more versatile in future updates. (Link is on my site's air page. And here Virtual Radar Server )

Just shows the power of weak signal modes. Japan no problem here. No high end recieving kit either, just the Satellit 750 and an 8 metre Pro-whip antenna.

Once again i couldn't resist having a go at Linux.

Found that i could load Ubuntu 9.1 alongside windows xp and and select which system i wanted to use on start up, so although i knew 9.1 was well out of date i decided to load it and update when installed.

All went well and i had the choice of both systems on start up. I then went for the next Ubuntu upgrade. I though it would skip the next two obsolete issues and go for the 11.01, which is the latest. Not so, so i had to hang about for about 4 hours on each upgrade whilst it was first downloaded, then installed. 150 kilobytes a second is the fastest download speed i can make, invariably it would dip lower as more people came on line in my area.

All went well until the latest distro was finally installed. I did get the program running more with luck than judgement i think as the monitor, on boot up, would display the floating 'Imput not supported' box. Bugger!. Now i couldn't see the choices for booting the system, of which there was about 6 if i remember right from when it was working ok. 5 relating to Linux and xp being the last choice to scroll down to.

I tried a long shot and hit the down arow 6 times, then enter. Success!, up comes xp every time. Oh well i'll have to stick to that method unles i scrub Ubuntu altogether. Trouble is i don't know how to delete it now it's along side xp on the same disc. Only thing i can think of is wipe the whole disc and re-install windows. As i can actually fire up xp i'm loath to lose everything i have running at the moment.

From my brief play with Ubunto 11 i can say it looks very nice compared with the previous versions. Has a sort of 'Apple' look about now. I tried feeding the radio to the sound card using fldigi, but couldn't hear anything. I'm using a usb external sound card, which has to be set in a certain way with it's own software on xp. As the software is not Linux compatible i was stitched. That's Linux put back on the subs bench for the forseable future.

G'Day!. Quite chuffed this morning, well at the moment anyway, as i have just recieved my first VK on HF65-HF, as you can see from the screen shot.

Amazing really, that just when i get the mood to chuck it all in something seems to happen to make it worth while sticking with radio after all.

First thing this morning i fired up the shack, pointed the Satellit 750 at the computer and tuned to 14.070. last night the 'Super Browser' was covered in psk traces with next to no interference. This morning all i got was multiple tram lines of interference covering the waterfall *sigh*. Someone has switched something on, chucking rubbish into either the airways, down the mains or through the telephone lines?. Again i ask myself why do i bother with radio?. And let's face it, it's only going to get worse, all these new fangled gadgets spewing rubbish into my kit.

All very well meant, trying to get Ofcom to ban such offending gadgets that transfer data across the mains etc. But even if they were eventially galvanised into action, which is unlikely, are they going to knock on thousands of doors of offending owners who have already aquired such kit to confiscate them?. Of course not, that's silly. How many CB types have i heard openly discussing their equipment, which includes at least 40 watt amps used as standard?. Obviously they do not feel in the least threatened by any action, so what are the chances of all the thousands of over the mains gadget owners getting there collar felt?. No chance!. We Radio Hams are, to coin a phraze from 'Dad's Army', "All doomed Mr Mainwaring". If i had the room i would seriously consider switching to my other hobby of model railways, but i don't so i struggle on making the best of the radio.

Oh well, that's my little moan out of the way. Time to fire up the Atoz. Just passed the MOT by the way with only 4 bulbs and a wire resolderd to the break light. Amazingly this came to 112 quid. Stone me!, what would be the damage if something worse needed doing?. Still, it's good for another year. 11 years old now and still has the original exaust and spark plugs.

73 for now

That's the date problem fixed. Found a prog called TClockEx. Fits on bottom tool bar, far right. Now you can see when the JT65-HF screen shot was uploaded.

Haven't blogged for a while as been back and forth visiting mum in a Kent hospital etc, and not particularly in the mood for writing. Unfortunately this was a terminal illness and she has since passed away. The funeral arrangements have now been finalised so am now at a loose end until then.

Might as well get up to date here, so have just elbowed the FAX page, which was not very productive, and replaced it with a JT65-HF page. Seems when all else fails i can still recieve this mode, so eyes down for some weak signal reception. Still have to figure out how to include the current date on screen though.

The Anytone AT-5555 10 metre rig works well on fm even on the mag mount quarter wave. Satisfied with that until i can get the programming lead for it. I'll give cw and ssb a go after some tweaks to the tuning steps.

Have a Wauxun handy (4 Metre rig) and have taped a wire half wave dipole to the side of a telescopic fishing pole for it. Local qso's are ok with the five watts, but my audio is reported on the quiet side. Also there seems to be a brief tone transmitted at the end of my overs. All tones are turned off to no avail. A factory reset did not cure the problem either *sigh*. have to see if any other Wauxun users are experiencing same problem.