Category Archives: weather

QRP operation from QTH and Restoring NOAA receiver to operational use

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I have been on the airwaves with 10W power from the IC705 at QTH for just over a month now, and I have to say when I’ve been able to get on the air, its been fantastic. I’ve had several SSTV QSO’s with really good signal reports, and I continue to scan and upload pictures from 20m and 80m SSTV CoA’s. I was also impressed that the MAT-705 ATU was able to make the 80m EFHW antenna ‘tune’ to top-band, and I was able to have FT8 QSO’s on 160m.

Who needs 100W when 10W will do

Whilst do my model train, i’ve also enjoyed just doing SWL on 80m, there are some really good converstaions to be had and being 80m I have no problem hearing both ends of the conversation. I was thoroughly impressed to pick up a DX station from East USA having QSO’s all over Europe, most of which I could easily copy on the IC-70% internal speaker with no need for external DSP and speaker.

NOAA Setup

As I dont have alot of time for interactive radio, I wanted to use the equipment I do have. As such my Quadrifilar Helix antenna which was shipped from the USA several years ago had been sat neglected in the garden for many years, as well as the coax (PL259 to BNC).

I first set about making sure the antenna was in working condition, I attached it to my Rigmaster which covers all the frequencys, including the NOAA frequency of 137.9Mhz. Sure enough SWR/Return loss on the antenna was fantastic. So I set about restoring the feed line to good use.

metal brush
before
after

Having used pure alcohol and a metal brush I restored the connectors, getting all the collected dirt from inside the connection joins and external, whislt comestic at this point, it would be important for later when adding tape to protect the connection.

Sure enough after cleaning the connectors I was amazed that the coax had very low (almost nil) reistance between both points, meaning the years of abuse in the garden hadn’t destroyed the cable.

binding to mast
half-mast view
vertical

Having checked the antenna and coax, it was left to the elements to get the antenna up. Thankfully there was a brief period of time in Janurary to get outside and so some antenna work, so I binded the antenna to the mast, first with a clamp, then with tightly bound guying rope. That way I can be sure the antenna will stay as close to vertical as the mast allows.

With the receive end complete, it was time to get back into the shack and sort the software defined radio and receive software out. It had been some time since I last used Raspberry NOAA, so downloaded the latest version onto a Raspberry Pi 3b running the 64 bit version of Debian Bookworm.

With Debian up and running it was time to run the Raspberry Noaa install script, and my, what a majestic piece of coding this is. It really is a superb piece of automation, all that is required is to setup the confg file correctly. I give mine below as-is as getting the gain values right was the trickiest part, the install script took care of everything else.

cd $HOME/raspberry-noaa-v2/
./install_and_upgrade.sh config/settings.yml

The config file I used for my location in IO90BS./ Bournemouth is as follow, the coordinates are actually for the center of Bournemouth.

---
# base station configurations
#   latitude: south values are negative
#   longitude: west values are negative
latitude: 50.721680
longitude: -1.878530
altitude: 0.0

#Website language settings
#   lang_setting: see the 'webpanel/App/Lang' folder for available
#                 languages (2-letter filename - e.g. ar, bg, de, en, es, nl, sr, ru, it, hu, gr, lt, kr, ro)
lang_setting: en

# ntp configurations
#   ntp_server - if you have a local server (e.g. stratum1), you can use this setting
#        to specify a hostname or ip address to communicate with the ntp server
ntp_server: '131.111.8.171'

# receiver settings
#   receiver_type - the receiver type which program uses ('rtlsdr', 'airspy_mini', 'airspy_r2', 'airspy_hf_plus_discovery', 'hackrf', 'sdrplay' or 'mirisdr')
#   noaa_decoder - which receiver method to use (either 'wxtoimg' or 'satdump')
#   meteor_decoder - which receiver method to use (either 'meteordemod' or 'satdump')
receiver_type: 'rtlsdr'

noaa_decoder: 'wxtoimg'
meteor_decoder: 'meteordemod'

# test settings when running test scripts
#   test_gain - gain to use for scanner test scripts
#   test_sdr_device_id - device ID of the SDR device to be used for scanner test scripts
#   test_enable_bias_tee - whether to enable bias tee when running scanner test scripts
#   test_freq_offset - receiver frequency offset (PPM)
test_gain: 32.8
test_sdr_device_id: 0
test_enable_bias_tee: true
test_freq_offset: 0

# whether to schedule specific orbiting objects for capture
#   <satellite_name>_schedule - whether to schedule captures for the satellite
#   <satellite_name>_sdr_device_id - device ID of the SDR device to be used for recording for the satellite
#   <satellite_name>_freq_offset - receiver frequency offset (PPM) for the satellite capture
#   <satellite_name>_enable_bias_tee - whether to enable bias tee for the recording of the satellite
#   <satellite_name>_gain - gain setting for specific satellite captures
#   <satellite_name>_sun_min_elevation - threshold for sun elevation for specific satellite captures
#   <satellite_name>_sat_min_elevation - threshold for sat elevation for specific satellite captures
#   <satellite_name>_memory_threshold - for METEOR satellite, minimum free memory (MB) required to store pass in RAM
#   select_best_overlapping_passes - whether to select the best overlapping pass when multiple passes are available, or let user manually delete the passes
#   select_meteor_pass_over_noaa - whether to select Meteor passes over NOAA when both are occuring at the same time
#   use_device_string - whether to use the device string scheduling passes when you have multiple SDR devices connected of the same type (most users should leave it to "false")

noaa_memory_threshold: 50
meteor_m2_memory_threshold: 10

select_best_overlapping_passes: true
select_meteor_pass_over_noaa: true
use_device_string: false

noaa_15_schedule: true
noaa_15_sdr_device_id: 0
noaa_15_freq_offset: 0
noaa_15_enable_bias_tee: true
noaa_15_gain: 32.8
noaa_15_sun_min_elevation: 6
noaa_15_sat_min_elevation: 30

noaa_18_schedule: true
noaa_18_sdr_device_id: 0
noaa_18_freq_offset: 0
noaa_18_enable_bias_tee: true
noaa_18_gain: 32.8
noaa_18_sun_min_elevation: 6
noaa_18_sat_min_elevation: 30

noaa_19_schedule: true
noaa_19_sdr_device_id: 0
noaa_19_freq_offset: 0
noaa_19_enable_bias_tee: true
noaa_19_gain: 32.8
noaa_19_sun_min_elevation: 6
noaa_19_sat_min_elevation: 30

meteor_m2_3_schedule: true
meteor_m2_3_sdr_device_id: 0
meteor_m2_3_freq_offset: 0
meteor_m2_3_enable_bias_tee: true
meteor_m2_3_gain: 32.8
meteor_m2_3_schedule_sun_min_elevation: -6
meteor_m2_3_sun_min_elevation: 10
meteor_m2_3_sat_min_elevation: 30
meteor_m2_3_80k_interleaving: false

meteor_m2_4_schedule: true
meteor_m2_4_sdr_device_id: 0
meteor_m2_4_freq_offset: 0
meteor_m2_4_enable_bias_tee: true
meteor_m2_4_gain: 32.8
meteor_m2_4_schedule_sun_min_elevation: -6
meteor_m2_4_sun_min_elevation: 10
meteor_m2_4_sat_min_elevation: 30
meteor_m2_4_80k_interleaving: false

# how many days to schedule passes - note this MUST be an even integer,
# and the current day counts as "1" - passes will be scheduled until midnight
# of the `days_to_schedule_passes` final day
#
# NOTE: If you want to set this value LOWER than a previously configured
#       value, you must run the schedule script manually and pass the '-x' switch
#       after re-running the ./install_and_upgrade.sh script to align the variables:
#           ./scripts/schedule.sh -x
days_to_schedule_passes: 7

# pruning capabilities - must be configured in cron (see documentation)
#   delete_oldest_n - how many oldest captures to delete on each run
#   delete_older_than_n - delete all images older than this many days
delete_oldest_n: 0
delete_older_than_n: 30

# whether audio files should be deleted after images are created
# if you choose to keep files, they will be automatically deleted after set number of days in delete_files_older_than_days (default is 3 days)
delete_noaa_audio: false
delete_meteor_audio: false
delete_files_older_than_days: 3

# processing settings
#   flip_meteor_image - whether the meteor image should be flipped
#   produce_spectrogram - whether to produce a spectrogram image of the audio recording
#   noaa_crop_telemetry - whether to crop the left/right telemetry in image captures
#   image_annotation_location - where to place the annotation in images - valid options are:
#        NorthWest, North, NorthEast, West, Center, East, SouthWest, South, SouthEast
#   extend_for_annotation - whether to create a black extension on the north/south location of
#        the image to place the annotation into (vs. overlaying on the captured data)
#        (note: this will ONLY work if the image_annotation_location is NOT one of [West|Center|East])
#   produce_noaa_pristine_image - whether to produce a pristine image (unmodified) for larger
#        composite-based use cases
#   produce_noaa_pristine_histogram - whether to produce a histogram of the NOAA pristine image
#   produce_polar_az_el_graph - whether to produce a polar graph that shows the pass
#        azimuth and elevation over the course of the pass, truncated to satellite min elevation
#   produce_polar_direction_graph - whether to produce a polar graph that shows the pass
#        direction over the course of the pass, including AOS and LOS
#   ground_station_location - free-form text for indicating ground station location in image
#        annotation (leave blank if you wish to exclude the ground station annotation)
#   antenna_information - free-form text for indicating antenna information in image
#        annotation (leave blank if you wish to exclude the antenna information annotation)
#   show_sun_elevation - whether to show sun elevation in annotation
#   show_pass_direction - show which direction the satellite is moving in the image annotation
#   noaa_daytime_enhancements - list of enhancements to create images using during daytime captures
#        (note: default value seen includes list of ALL supported image processors excluding 'avi' which must be explicitly added when opting to 'enable_animation' below )
#   noaa_nighttime_enhancements - list of enhancements to create images using during nighttime captures
#        (note: default value seen includes list of ALL supported image processors excluding 'avi' which must be explicitly added when opting to 'enable_animation' below )
#   noaa_crop_toptobottom - whether to crop the top and bottom noise out of the noaa capture
#   noaa_interpolate - whether to interpolate and oversample the images (larger images produced)
# settings for thermal map output for NOAA captures
#   noaa_thermal_temp_overlay - whether to overlay a thermal map for color codes to temperature
#   noaa_thermal_temp_overlay_location - where to place the thermal map in images - valid options are:
#        NorthWest, North, NorthEast, West, Center, East, SouthWest, South, SouthEast

# noaa map configurations
# http://usradioguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/wxtoimgcommand-line.pdf
#
# note - colors are in format 0xRRGGBB (only applicable when the
#        feature is enabled), where:
#   RR: Red hex value
#   GG: Green hex value
#   BB: Blue hex value
# Colors can alternatively be specified as one of the following:
#   black, white, gray, light-gray, dark-gray, red, pink dark-red,
#   light-red, # green, light-green, dark-green, black-green, blue,
#   light-blue, dark-blue, black-blue, yellow, light-yellow, dark-yellow,
#   magenta, light-magenta, dark-magenta, cyan, light-cyan, dark-cyan,
#   orange, dark-orange, purple, lavender, violet, navy, turquoise,
#   aquamarine, chartreuse, gold, beige, tan, brown, and maroon
#
#   noaa_map_crosshair_enable - whether to place a crosshairs on the base station location
#   noaa_map_crosshair_color - color of base station crosshair
#   noaa_map_grid_degrees - latitude/longitude lines drawn every grid degrees (default 10.0, 0.0 to disable)
#   noaa_map_grid_color - color of gridlines for latitude/longitude
#   noaa_map_country_border_enable - whether to enable country borders in images
#   noaa_map_country_border_color - color of country borders
#   noaa_map_state_border_enable - whether to enable state borders in images (Americas only)
#   noaa_map_state_border_color - color of state borders (Americas only)
extend_for_annotation: true
image_annotation_location: 'North'
produce_polar_az_el_graph: false
produce_polar_direction_graph: true
ground_station_location: 'IO90BS, Bournemouth'
antenna_information: 'Quadrifilar Helix Antenna'
show_sun_elevation: true
show_pass_direction: true
produce_spectrogram: false    #NOTE: the spectrogram option here is available for NOAA only, and the spectrogrma produced is from demodulated audio, not IQ baseband file

noaa_crop_telemetry: false
produce_noaa_pristine_image: false
produce_noaa_pristine_histogram: false
noaa_daytime_enhancements: 'MSA MSA-precip MCIR MCIR-precip HVC-precip HVCT-precip HVC HVCT ZA therm sea CC HE HF MD BD MB JF JJ LC TA WV NO histeq enhanced-IR'
noaa_nighttime_enhancements: 'MCIR MCIR-precip HVCT ZA therm NO TA sea histeq enhanced-IR'
noaa_crop_toptobottom: true
noaa_interpolate: false
noaa_jpg_image_quality: 90
noaa_thermal_temp_overlay: true
noaa_thermal_temp_overlay_location: 'NorthEast'
noaa_map_crosshair_enable: true
noaa_map_crosshair_color: "0xcc3030"
noaa_map_grid_degrees: 10.0
noaa_map_grid_color: "0xff0000"
noaa_map_country_border_enable: true
noaa_map_country_border_color: "0xffff00"
noaa_map_state_border_enable: true
noaa_map_state_border_color: "0xffff00"
wxtoimg_map_offset: 10.5                    #Change this value only if you see map offsets from the ground on WXtoImg NOAA images

meteor_daytime_enhancements: '221 321 124 MSA MCIR MCIR-precip HVC HVCT ZA therm sea CC HE HF MD BD MB JF JJ LC TA WV NO enhanced-IR'
meteor_nighttime_enhancements: '654 456 MCIR MCIR-precip HVC HVCT ZA therm sea CC HE HF MD BD MB JF JJ LC TA WV NO enhanced-IR'
flip_meteor_image: true
meteor_jpg_image_quality: 90
meteor_draw_map_overlay: true
meteor_draw_cities: true
meteor_map_crosshair_enable: true
meteor_map_crosshair_color: "#CC3030"
meteor_map_country_border_color: "#FFFF00"
meteor_create_rain_probability_overlay: true
meteor_create_equidistant_projection: true
meteor_create_mercator_projection: false
meteor_create_spreaded_images_without_overlay: true

# web server configuration settings
#   web_server_name - server name to use for the TLS certs and web endpoint - this MUST be
#                     resolvable to the IP of this host (if you don't have DNS, simply use
#                     the IP of the Raspberry Pi host)
#   enable_non_tls - whether to enable a clear-text web listener (default port 80)
#   web_port - port to run the web server clear-text (non-encrypted) endpoint on
#   enable_tls - whether to enable the TLS-encrypted web listener (default port 443)
#   web_tls_port - port to run the TLS listener on
#   lock_admin_page - whether to require username/password when attempting to access the admin page
#                     of the webpanel - WARNING: DO NOT SET THIS TO TRUE UNLESS YOU ONLY HAVE A TLS
#                     ENABLED SITE - SETTING TO TRUE AND RUNNING A CLEARTEXT SITE IS ALMOST CERTAINLY
#                     ASKING FOR YOUR CREDENTIALS TO BE STOLEN MID-REQUEST
#   admin_username - username used to access the 'admin' endpoint of the webpanel (WARNING: see 'lock_admin_page' above)
#   admin_password - password used to access the 'admin' endpoint of the webpanel (WARNING: see 'lock_admin_page' above)
#                    NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU SET THIS TO SOMETHING REASONABLY COMPLICATED!
#   web_passes_date_format - format to display the dates in the pass list view - note that this MUST conform to
#                            https://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.format.php or else bad things will happen
#   web_datetime_format - format to display date and time in the web interface for captures - note that this MUST conform to
#                         https://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.format.php or else bad things will happen
web_server_name: noaa-pi
enable_non_tls: true
web_port: 80
enable_tls: false
web_tls_port: 443
lock_admin_page: true
admin_username: 'admin'
admin_password: 'changeme'
#web_passes_date_format: 'm/d/Y'
web_passes_date_format: 'd/m/Y'
#web_datetime_format: 'm/d/Y H:i:s'
web_datetime_format: 'd/m/Y H:i:s'

# log level for output from scripts
log_level: DEBUG

# whether to enable the satvis visualization for satellite tracking
# in the passes view - note that this iframe-driven visualization is
# by default disabled on "extra-small" devices such as phones due to
# the processing and space requirements
enable_satvis: true


# whether to enable the "Coronal mass ejection activity" display
# in the passes view - note that the GIFs can be ~70 MiB and not cached
# thus they slow down the page & can lead to quite big data usage
enable_coronal: false

# whether to enable the image video in the passes view - note that this
# is by default disabled on "extra-small" devices such as phones due
# to the processing and space requirements
enable_animation: false

# operating system configurations
#   disable_wifi_power_mgmt - if running wireless internet and you want to
#       disable "sleep" mode of your wifi device (assuming it's wlan0), set
#       this to true (note: updating this requires a reboot)
#   disable_at_mail - if you do not want "at" to send mail after job execution
disable_wifi_power_mgmt: false
disable_at_mail: false

# push processing settings for sending images elsewhere
#   * NOTE: Make sure you set up your ~/.msmtprc file before enabling email push!
#   enable_email_push - whether to send all images to an external email
#   email_push_address - if enabled, address to send all images to
#   enable_email_schedule_push - whether to email an image of the nightly-created
#       pass-list schedule to the email destination
#   enable_discord_push - whether to push images to a Discord channel
#   discord_webhook_url - webhook url for the Discord channel
#   enable_twitter_push - whether to push images to a Twitter feed
#     * see docs/twitter_push.md for instructions
#   enable_matrix_push - whether to push images to a Matrix room
#     * see docs/matrix_push.md for instructions

# Whether you want to contribute to creation of community created Meteor and NOAA composites gathered from RN2 stations from all around the world
# We do not collect any personal data
# Thank you very much if you choose to contribute :)

contribute_to_community_composites: false
contribute_to_community_composites_url: 'https://voxgalactica.com/upload'

enable_email_push: false
email_push_address: change@me.com
enable_email_schedule_push: false
enable_discord_push: false
discord_noaa_webhook_url: 'https://discord.com/api/webhooks/1135901731918717068/ZELG3Sv1fRxQ8KgoYtMMOBYM07az0yIkzeLdad-8WxxhV-F8LhPQdZFFon044awMvLsD'
discord_meteor_webhook_url: 'https://discord.com/api/webhooks/1135901731918717068/ZELG3Sv1fRxQ8KgoYtMMOBYM07az0yIkzeLdad-8WxxhV-F8LhPQdZFFon044awMvLsD'
enable_pushover_push: false
pushover_link_url: 'https://<url-to-webpanel>/captures/listImages'
pushover_apitoken: ''
pushover_user: ''
pushover_prio: 0
enable_twitter_push: false
enable_bluesky_push: false
enable_mastodon_push: false
enable_facebook_push: false
enable_instagram_push: false
enable_slack_push: false
slack_push_url: ''
slack_push_to: ''
slack_link: 'https://XXXX/captures/listImages'
enable_matrix_push: false

The important changes are based on your SDR. I’m using a nooelec SMARTee which produces the bias-t voltage for the amplifier and flamingo signal blocker. Please note I am *not* using a DC Blocker with this configuration as it is not required, you will need to check if your SDR needs a capacitor or Nooelec DC Block if it is not the same SDR as my the I am using

lsusb 
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bda:2838 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL2838 DVB-T

I attached my original Sawbrid NOAA amplifier and the Flamingo FM band blocker, but my first attempts at receiving the images was disappointing.

initial results

I removed other components and directly connected the SDR to the Pi and the anntenna to the SDR. This proudced better results, but nothing as good as the antenna should be capable of. Even tho this is a RPI3b and doesnt suffer from the same Wifi/Bluetooth Issues that the RPI4 does with NOAA reception, I still moved the SDR away from the Pi, as it was geting hot. The resulted in improved signals so I again inserted the Sawbird NOAA antenna.

This resulted in static being received once again, so figured that I had blown up the pre-amp by supplying it too much voltage, therefore I bought a replacement bare bones amp board from amazon, which at £37 pounds seemed reasonable. I was really impressed that I ordered the amp early in the morning (around 8am) and it was here the same evening by 6pm. Upon arrival I immediatly inserted it in the signal path.

barebones board
power via bias-t

I was not to be disappointed, i was soon picking up NOAA pictures like before, as one of my IRC friends used ‘crisp’ defined the pictures that where now coming through.

I set about re-housing the amp back in the broken amps container, but imagine i must of connected something wrong as the signal was again reduced to static.

remove old board
tighten screws
rehoused

It was a quick enough job to remove the casing and restor the amp to its ‘naked’ form, then continued to receive NOAA images and METEOR that where fantastic. I modified my config so the static was clipped from the images, resulting in even more presentable images.

fantastic images
crisp

I set about making a better home for the SDR and signal chain, what is important is to keep all parts of the input signal away from any interference, espeically noticable is DC supply voltage if the amplifier or noise blanker get near a power supply or power feed wire, the ‘classic’ 50Hz mains hum is very apparent in the pictures.

Pi..
SDR via extension
Anp
FM Filter

So the feed chain is made totally clear, this is how I have setup my NOAA station.

  • Rapsberry PI3b (USB2.0) Ports – Dedicated RPI PSU (full votlage/ampage)
  • USB Extension cable to SDR Receiver
  • BNC Patch cable to Amplifier
  • BCN Patch cable to Flamingo FM
  • BNC to SO239 connector for antenna with PL259
PI
SDR/Amp/Filter
Antenna

To get the working setup off my desk and reclaim my research area, i have ‘hung’ all the components over my window handles, and this works really well ! The RF signal is well isolated from any interference and the components are well away from any potential sources of damage. I did consider ‘bundling’ them into a box, but thought the sake of a ‘tidy’ solution, it could introduce more issues, this way i have a nice air-cooled working solution and the light on the amp looks really cool as well !

NOAA dashboard landing page

I had modified the date format in the config so it was UK friendly which made the date the usual format (dd/mm/yy, hh:mm:ss). With that the pictures kept rolling in. It needs a degree of patience to get the settings right, your more than welcome to copy my gain settings if you have the same setup, even if not, just turn off the bias-t and see what your milage is like !

I was overjoyed at the excellent METEOR pictures, typically there are at least two passes a day of METEOR-M2 sats, and the images are very high defintion.

The above image is without clicking to get further detail out the picture as shown below..

The level of detail from these satellites really blows me away !

I went about my normal day of study activities and going out and it was always a pleasure to come back to a set of new images avaialble from my very own satellite image receiver ! Whilst the image does have a band of static across it, i was astounded that I still pick up the signal whilst the satellite went across Northern Africa ! Not sure if propergation had change, but I was really impressed with the setup and that the time spent on setting it up and now just letting it run was worth all the effort !

I will still get on the air in the evening and am setting up other SDR’s for the SSTV repeater and Wellbrook antenna to have a TCP controlled SDR I can listen to from my desktop .

Thanks again for reading my blog and I hope this inspires/helps others to enjoy other aspects of this amazing hobby that is radio.

POTA in the Sun

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With another gorgeous sunny day it was an opportunity to get out the shack and on the air, but before heading out, I had a nice walk/exercise to Hengistbury Head, whilst I had no radio with me today, I did notice these small microwave dishes at the end of my walk on the cafe. I wonder what they are ?

small dish side of cafe
larger dish on top
front side

Maybe they are some kind of digital voice repeater, they look very ‘directed’ so not the kind of antenna I’d expect something like the ‘land train’ to use, maybe its to the other cafe near mudeford sandback ? Still Sweety and I had a great walk !

cheap little sheds
Sweety enjoying the beach

Once back home I quickly assembled my radio and headed off to the New Forest, I did a quick check of the 17m band before heading out and everything look good on the bands, despite the reports of poor conditions.

Once setup, I was able to get onto FT8 on 17m in the park and my reports on PSK Reporter was really good ! I’m quite amazed how well this little whip and radials works.

17m FT8 & 10W of power

I had to do some band and mode changing to get the 10 contacts to activate the park, but sure enough today it was in less than an hour, which was great, maybe coming in the afternoon when more Europeans are awake/about for radio helped as well.

After about 90 minutes on digital modes I noticed my IC-705 has got really hot, as in hot to touch and the temp meter on the front was getting high as well ! I gave the radio about 15 minutes of break and the temp got back down to below the red zone. I think the combination of hot weather (was about 28c air temp at this point, the breeze kept me somewhat cool) and the radio being in the bag restricted its ventilation.

It got hot in the afternoon !

I found that taking the radio out the bag and letting the breeze pass over it considerabley reduced the temperature. As I already had enough contacts I’d though I give 2M FM a try on the RH770 Whip antenna.

To my amazement, i was able to make a contact with 2E1KJB on the Isle of White in Cowes ! Given I was in the New Forest so this was well over the horizion on a whip antenna, i was really pleased to make the QSO and add a FM contact to my list – I notice the temperature of the radio had once again increased, so I thought it was a good way to finish off and pack up.

IC 705 back home and cooled down, working great

I felt it prudent to check the IC-705 once back home as it had time to cool down on the short journey back and borrowing the 6btv antenna from the WSPR station was able to confirm that all was good with the transmit, so no damage done to the finals due to the hot weather.

new forest traffic
not a full log, but enough

I was really happy to get out with the radio 2 days in a row and make enough contacts to add to my new forest activations – having now reached 10 activations in the New Forest, i’m half way there on completing the award, and with still plenty of time for radio between now and getting back into alot more studying, I’m confident I will get the 20 activations in no time at all !

Bongo and magloop

With the issue of heat and the radio being in the Icom back-pack I may revert to the magloop again and try to work out a way I can use it portable, as I tend to either bungee it to a table or use my ‘bike stand’ mast which under the rear wheel of the bongo as shown above.

Still I’m sure I’ll find a way, i do enjoy getting out of the house and out of the Bongo when the weather is this nice ! Until the next time and thanks for all those who responded to my CQ’s ! 2E0FWE 🙂

IC705 Fixed, but a P***ED off POTA

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Having ordered the replacement USB C board from the US of A it arrived in no time at all via FED-EX and folllowing the video it was pretty straight forward.

replace USB board on IC705

Getting the screws out from the IC-705 was pretty straight forward. I took care with the screen handling and used enough pressure but no more to get the long body screws out.

Body screws removed
careful with that 705 Eugene!

The next step was to remove the original IC-705 USB board. These screws where *very* tight and gave a distinct *lock-tite* screw thread lock when pressure was applied. So much so one of the screws was very stubbon to remove. Using a mixture of a torx screw head and flat-bladed with a couple of hard knocks budged the obstant screw!

easy to get out
not the top one tho

With the board free it was time to flip off the micro connector, i used my finger nail which worked pretty well.

flip up the black lock
take care when removing
how it looks out the ic705

Withthe original D-Type IC705 USB board free, it was time to fit the replacement. Making sure to get the aligment of the board in relation to the sockets correct, it was easy enough, but again taking care with the lock, to fit.

USB C !
a simple flip

I setup WSJTX and ‘borrowed’ the WSPR 6btv antenna for some testing. All was good ! With plenty of reports and 2 contacts, i was happy the board worked perfectly and could head out to go PoTA !

Working great on 40m
USB C is *so* much nicer

A P***ED OFF POTA

On a glorious sunny day down here in Dorset, I headed to the new forest. I setup my Alexloop and Macbook for FT8, but was getting loads of noise. As ever these thigns always happen out in the field ! Not to be detered I went back to the iphone app just to see if i could get some POTA hits. I did learn a nice feature of chaning the DX code so it can be CQ POTA from the iphone app. After 20 minutes of calling I had not a single response ! I checked with PSK Reporter and for sure I was getting out and the RBN on POTA page, i was there, but no contacts !

By this stage I was getting hot, bothered and felt like I was wasting my time. I decided to pack up and I’m going to re-think my POTA strategy. I need a better way of getting more contacts and on the air. I think I’m going to drop anything to do with computers/phones, only for use with the self spot on the POTA app. I think there is even a way with APRS to POTA Self Spot.. Anyhow, i packed up and headed home, then had a fantastic afternoon out with XYL 🙂 POTA can be tried another time !

Melcombe Horsey was so much more relaxing than POTA…….

Not quite a POTA activation and a poorly IC705!

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I headed out mid-morning to what is a nearby POTA activation site, Avon Heath, thinking I’ve found a nice place to park and activate from. I was some what bemused that when i got into the car park it was stated ‘permit holders only’. No wonder this place hasnt been activted more often ! I headed off to the New Forest, which was another 15 minute drive away, but with plenty of FREE parking!

Avon Heath Park – No free parking for you !

Haven driven to the New Forest, I took the first designated car park on the route in, it was a new one for me to do POTA from and wasnt disappointed. A nicely sized car park and plenty of nature / trees around, it was a great place to do radio from !

Trees in abudence
Lovely Pathways
Mind that ditch…

I think it has been the first titme I’ve been out in the Bongo for POTA in a while (at least since I had it fixed up) having previously been to Boudlerwood and using the table and chair their previously, it was nice to setup and operate from the Bongo as there was some light drizzle later on as well. The Alex loop on bike stand configuration worked really well and held in place by the rear wheel of the bongo.

Bongo – great /M ops
Alex loop + bikestand

Today I was going to stick to FT8/4 on my iphone, as I had used this app when I had an ipad and it worked well. On the phone obviously the screen was a little smaller, but still ok to have FT8 and FT4 QSO’s. The POTA Spotting really helped with POTA activators (hunters) looking me up. I was also pleased to make a park to park !

I had problems getting the log off via email (didnt arrive) and upload to icloud (out of space, not paying apple for more), so I used the excellent POTA manual logging page. It was then it became apparent that I had a duplicate QSO in the log, and I had only managed 9 contacts, not the 10 I needed for an activation ! How frustrating, it goes to show that my method of writing down QSO’s on good old fashioned paper would of caught this out.

I headed back home and to see if I could get my iMac thinkpad to hook up to the IC705, I was finding soundflower’s audio to be jittery via wfview so I headed to using the old fashioned USB port, when it became clear something was not well with the IC705’s USB port. I tried connecting the USB port and different cables to different computers and only with a ‘wiggle’ or a firm pressure applied would the USB port activated. Given the USB port had seen some action and was the horrendous old type, I looked for replacements, I was so glad that it was already available to market.

ihelpu.tech IC705 USB-C board

The ihelp.tech IC705 USB board looks an easy drop in replacement that gives me USB-C and unlikely as it may, protection from errant amplifiers. I’ve ordered one, but it has to come from the USA and I’m not keen on depending soley on the iPhone with SDR-Mobile for making QSO’s.

I spent Sunday morning re-configuring my official IC705 bag with the 705 and ATU in, I headed out to the garden and tested the whip antenna, I was able to make a couple of contacts ! So the whip antenna would work if I needed it to.

IC-705 and Whip antenna performance with FT8 on 17m was not bad, but I do have a spare EFHW for 40m. Whilst its quite ‘bulky’ it still a good antenna, I use the 80m varient as my main HF antenna at the QTH which operates really well in very RF noisey conditions.

So for my next POTA I want to try the EFHW and the IC705 in its back pack, I will probably operate from the Bongo for the first time in this configuration, but am looking forward to using this lovely location to try out EFHW and IC705 !

A new location and a nice tree to use !

Until the next time, which shouldnt be to long to wait, thanks again for all the POTA hunters and other ham radio portable enthusasits that get me out the shack and getting on the air.

73 2E0FWE

GB-0853 Craigmillar Castle Country ParkGB-0853

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Why in Edinburgh
QCTiP

I traveled to Edinburgh for Quantum Computing Theory in Practice (QCTiP) and with a chance to use my locator of 2M brought my IC705 and Alexloop along. I had originally planned to go out with my radio on Friday evening or Saturday morning, but not being able to stand another Ryanair flight, opted to go on Tuesday evening and get the train back Saturday.

train back to Bournemouth from Edinburgh

I used the handy google maps app to find my way to Craigmillar Castle park, it was a short ride and easy to do from my hotel near Edinburgh university in the old town.

Route to the park via #2 bus

It was a bit of trek from the bus stop to the park, but after being in all day, quite pleasant to get some exercise.

entrance sign
stunning views

The views from the park where really nice and the paths not too bad, with all the bad weather of late there was only a few patches of mud puddles, otherwise was easy to follow the trail/google maps to the adventure park which I had seen having a nice table to setup on.

all 3 bungees
but on the air

Getting the Alexloop setup required all three bungees, the wind was not strong but enough that the usual bungee around the table wasn’t enough. I used a vertical bungee to secure the mast and sure enough was soon on the air. I encountered some high SWR and found this was due to the power lead and the feed line being in close proximity, so I worked thru all that and re-routed it, then sure enough was on the air with first 5W and then 10.

The QSO’s came in sporadically, one minute there would be a FT8 pile up, then minutes of nothing, I figured that other stations must be on the same frequency so bounced around the available bandwidth on the FT8 20M range, sure enough was soon edging towards the 10 contacts I needed.

sundown
chilly computer, colder operator

At this point i realized I had come quite unprepared for the Scottish weather and whilst I was treated to a beautiful sunset the wind was beginning to really make me cold, thankfully FT8 requires minimal user input. I put my backpack on to keep the wind off me buried my hands deep within my hoodie. A chocopie gave me enough of a sugar rush to keep me going…

at last – 11 contacts!
wind having a good time with notebook

With some failed QSO’s (KF9UG) and some completed (VE1JW) I also had a run of 2 almost as I was shutting down (9A4ZM) – i had enough to activate the park. I was able to pack away and head back to the bus stop !

Urban and Countryside
lovely bus stop

I was really impressed on just how one moment I could be in this seemingly wide countryside of Scotland, and next back in the city of Edinburgh. The walk back to the bus stop was made with much haste and was so glad to be back in a wind-protected shelter. The bus arrived on time and I was so glad to be back in the warm ! The short ride back to the hotel was followed by a very nice bowl of shin-ramyen !

Shin ramyan to the rescue !!

I took my ADIF log and uploaded to the POTA website – I had already setup my 2ME0FWE call sign on the PoTA site before leaving for Edinburgh, so it was easy to upload to the regional locator under my main ‘2E0FWE’ owner call sign.

VE1JW – thanks fo the amazing long distance contact !

I was really please to see a splattering of PoTA Hunters, getting VE1JW in the log from Canada on 10W was excellent. Whilst it was hard work to get the radio, battery and computer to Edinburgh, it was well worth it. Going back on the train removed all the hassle of unload the battery, radio, computer at the airport.

This was by far one of those PoTA’s where I learned alot more other than just the radio. Being prepared for the climate being the key one ! Hopefully one day I’ll be able to get back to Scotland and use 2M0FWE again, the scenery of this beautiful country makes it all the more worth it.

A cold 2M0FWE

POTA – FT8, FT4, SSTV, SSB – UPDATE – 18/3/24 –

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After a very busy week, I had Sunday and getting out with my radio to look forward to. Thankfully the weather was being kind to me, whilst not warm, it wasnt raining as we had plenty of that over night !

Plenty of overnight rain at the QTH

I headed out to Boulderwood with the magloop and 705 and was on the air very quickly. Setup is quick and easy with the magloop and I actually learned a good wait to tune the antenna and get the SWR down quicker.

place hand UNDER feedline when tuning = better and quicker matching

I did run into issues starting out with WSJTX and FT8, the time on my computer was just ever so slightly out, but enough for a time sensitive decode of FT8 not to work correctly. I tried updating the time using the windows time server, to no avail ! I had to manually set the NTP server to rolex.ripe.net, sync the time and I was back in action !

control panel time
set NTP sever to ripe’s

I had 10 QSO’s in digital modes done in under 40 minutes, shifting between FT8 and FT4 on 20m, with POTA hunters chasing me thanks to the POTA app and RBN.

pskreport – 10W, FT8, 20M
PSK Report – 10W, FT4, 20m

Having completed enough contacts to activate the park, I was straight into Telephony and SSB. I went onto 17m, not that was any contests on, but I found it a good band for QRP operation, and sure enough I made two contacts, with EA1EC being a POTA Hunter, proving how using PoTA makes getting contacts that bit easier – when running QRP it all helps !

I jumped onto 20M, which was quite calm for a Sunday, and was able to tune around the band, making a contact with IK0VSY, with a good signal report. 20 meters really was the place to be today, so jumped onto SSTV and the pictures started rolling in from other SSTV users.

I waited my time and started to transmit and I made my first SSTV PoTA contact for 2024 ! I was really chuffed and excited, so big thanks to IK2QIN for the excellent QSO.

SSTV QSO received and uploaded to MAX SSTV by other SSTV receivers (Thanks MAX SSTV website!)

I then span the dial on 20m once more, and made 3 more SSB contacts, it was really great to make the contacts, with IU3EDQ being Portable !, but thanks again to EA2DT and EA4TL for hunting me and making the contact with excellent signal reports, with a 59 from me and a 5-5 for my reception report.

The IC-705 really done me a great service today, and being able to use the the voice repeat mode in conjunction with the ‘massive’ battery power of the ‘ultra max’ battery ensured I wasnt going to run out of power for the radio.

repeat mode and <1.3 SWR
on 20m and good results
repeat mode saved my voice

Sadly some massive QRM came in on frequency, but I was able to shift up and continue making contacts, that is the advantage of 20m over 17m, that it has more space in the band, so shifting isnt a problem. I quickly posted my frequency change on the POTA app and was able to continue making contacts !

QRM on frequency, maybe a new mode I’m not aware of !
the sun did try to come out

As the time approached for me to head to the supermarket to get my essential shopping, i packed up in no time, leaving the bunch and the park as I found it. Bolderwood is such a lovely place to come, its relaxing and gets me ready for the busy week ahead. I had a fantastic time getting out on the radio today.

Big thanks to all the people that made a contact with me today, it really is much appreciated and I really enjoy the amazing hobby that is amateur radio !

thanks for all the contacts !!!

*update 18/3/24*

Would like to say BIG thanks to Alessandro who contacted me with his QSL card, little did I know at the time that IU3EDK/P was up a mountain ! I received a lovely QSL card via email and a link to the activation – how amazing that it was a park-to-mountain activation all on 10W of power !!

Thank you Alessandro ! Please check out the activation from Alessandro here

QSL Card from IE3EDK up a mountain in Italy !

G-0112 4th Feb 2024 + Webtechnology site updates !

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had spring come early ? The sun was out today!

Some lovely sun kept the chills off today with flowers blooming and when it reach mid afternoon looked like turning into a great afternoon evening, I thought it would be great to make an impromptu visit to Bolderwood to try a PoTA activation.

compare to Janurary temptures, I was basking in the winter sunshin at a 12 celsisus !

I had everything packed away, i did one quick check for the power beiing packed, which it was, but had no idea on the battery level of the laptop, I knew I had used it recently so it shouldnt be too low. I headed off and it was great to to Bolderwood which whilst still pleasently busy, didnt feel over crowded. I’m sure this will change even by the end of the month !

Setup in no time
blue skys
a great place to do radio and relax

I was on the air in no time, with the Alexloop attached to the bench with a bungie and hooked into the IC705, it was easy to tune into 30m to start with for FT8. I chose 30m as I had alot of contacts at home and its not a band I used /P for POTA before, I made 4 contacts within 10 minutes, so wasnt disappointed. I then moved to FT4 on 20M – it was *busy* even finding a gap in FT4 was getting tricky, but I was glad to find a gap and get out. The laptop was down to 40% power by now, so I stuck it in energy efficent mode, which kept the battery going without issue and no adverse effect on the radio/USB connection.

using the laptop energy efficeint mode to extend the life the laptop

I was pleased with a series of rapid FT4 QSOs on 20m, i later learned these where all PoTA Hunters – whilst I’m amazed by them all in the distance, ranging from Austria and Spain in Europe, it was the DX contact with KC1MMC that blew me away – 3217 miles on 10W of power on a mag loop, I was really happy to say the least.

Sun went down and 20M opened up more

As the sun went down the volume of QSO’s on 20M just kept rolling in, from 17:17 to 17:25 I was having a QSO on FT8 every 2 minutes ! I had to call it a day as it was getting dark and wanted to get my equipment put away safely, but I think I enjoy coming out at dusk – maybe a small lamp or pen-light will be worth bringing next time.

14 contacts, 5 POTA hunters made happy !

This was a really enjoyable PoTA outing with minimal planning, I was really impressed how well the antenna done and the PSK Reporter picture shows, it can really reach the entire planet !

Digital modes doing really on 10W of power

I have seen videos of great QRP Contacts and am wondering how well I would do, I really think I should give it a try the next time I am out as the setup really impresses me and think it should be good to make some telephony contacts.

Making contact with KC1MMC on 20m FT8

Webtechnologies website update – WSPR Bands added !

I’ve been making monthly updates to my webtechnologies site, which last month I got back up and running so the code would scrape the data from the ‘updated’ WSPR old-db. I’ve now added sections that allow filtering by band. This is all transmitted via the 6BTV which is doing an excellent job of getting out on all 6 bands it is setup for.

Webtechnologies site – now with spots per band functionality.

I’m aiming to keep building more features for the website each month, just small incremental changes, but I’m sure will keep adding making for a feature-rich site. There is so much that can be done with WSPR data, I really enjoy using this mode and its great ot use my programming skills for amateur radio also. Check it out at the webtechnologies site.

Jan 2024 – Antenna update at the QTH

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With some rather nice weather and available time, I was able to get to work on putting up the SOTABeams Travel Mast as a repacement of the DX Commander classic mast which has done me so well for serveral years, and one of the guying rings finally sucumbbing to the storms we had at the start of the month.

Use of electrical tape and jubilee clip to secure mast sections vertically

I put electrical tape and a jubiliee clip on each section to secure and make vertical slipping less of a possiblity. The same method worked very well for the DX Commander in keeping the sections up and those had to take a considerable strain when used in the way to use the split-dipole that the DX Commander is.

Wire up about 2/3s of the full mast height

I attached the wire to the mast via a piece of guying rope about 2/3’s up the mast. I may make this higher the next time I move the antenna, but as is, it clears the house nicely and is a good distance from the ground, I think more height will allow a full half-wave on 20m so something I want to do very much, given I enjoy SSTV on the 20M band alot.

guying and little strain

There is very little strain on the mast and a good level of taughtness to keep the wire from drooping and touching the house, the one set of guying wires are holding the mast very well, combined with some decent ground stakes.

I went into test the mast, 20M SSTV was simply flooded with QSOs – unable to get a QSO in as the band was so buys, but I guess thats a good thing showing that the reception was doing well. I jumped on FT4 on 10M as the band was well open.

FT4 on 10M doing very well on the EFHW antenna

I was very please to test the antenna and have a FT4 contact with JS9DS in St Lucia over 4000 miles away !

I’m very pleased with the mast and will improve upon it as the weather and mast moves to allow us to use the front garden more. Looking forward to catching you on the airwaves !

mast update at the QTH

G-0112 – Bolderwood New Forest, Alex Loop to the rescue

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With another bright but cold day, it was a good time to get out and get on the air. This time I was packing my trust Alexloop Ham pack antenna along with the IC705, determined to make an activation on my 3rd attempt from Bolderwood.

WX – I caught the ‘warmer’ part of the day at round 9 to 7 celsius

I was no sooner out the car and onto one of the many available benches and quickly setup. The alex loop was out the bag and with a bungee hook strapped pretty tightly to the bench. I tuned for 20m and got a great SWR of between 1.3 and 1.4 but no more than 1.5 and 10W of power. The FT8 contacts came rolling in, and with a busy 20m FT8 was then onto FT4, for even quicker overs.

Alexloop Setup
Manual Logging

It was great to get a mobile phone signal as I tethered my laptop to the phone wifi and could upload my contacts directly to QRZ via the excellent grid tracker application, I still kept a manual log so it would be easy to confirm the order and QSO’s I had today. The Reverse Beacon Network and POTA app was doing me a great service, as quite a few of my contact were POTA hunters. Getting 10 contacts in under an hour was great given just how cold it was, it was nice to see 5 of the contacts are POTA hunters.

I gave SSTV a go, but the signal where coming in thick and fast, I started to see a response to my transmission, but another station came in over the top. I try to use Robot72 and BW12 to keep my over time on 14.2300 short, but most people dont QSY on SSTV, and even then we tend to get other people talking over the SSTV CoA on 20m as well..

Still, having uploaded my ADIF file from WSJTX to POTA I was soon awarded my 2024 activation. Just in the nick of time ! A good start to POTA in 2024 !

POTA 2024 Award – a good start to the year

I am really excited about getting out and do more POTA – its a great start to the year !

73, Alan 2E0FWE

POTA from G-0112, cold but worth the effor

Final POTA of 2023 – G-0112 New Forest

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So having got everything ready and with the weather, whilst chilly, was ok to go and venture out with the radio. I scheduled on the POTA activation website, and headed off to the New Forest to Bolderwood.

The drive in the Hyundai i10 was fine after its recent service, and was good to stretch its legs on the lively A roads in the area. For a small car its got a decent enough poke to make the journey without issue, as I was just carrying my IC705 and a few drinks.. I did notice I had left my ‘large’ battery behind – so I would be running real QRP from the 705’s internal battery and limited to 5W – still, i was nearer bolderwood than I was home, so pressed on.

radials on the floor
radial connection to toybox
SWR 2:1 without ATU

I de-tangled the the 30 meters of radials, this took me a little while, but nethertheless wasn’t too problematic, the ends of the radials have a nice round terminator which makes de-tangling more a case of pulling the cables thru, rather than unpicking a ‘rats nest’ of wire (plenty of experience with the DX Commander and radials there!!!) I used the rig expert on 17m got the SWR across the band down to 2.1:1, which for a compromise antenna was ok.

FT8 RX 100%
TX = ooops
pulsating TX

I hooked up the laptop via Wfview, Virtual Comport and WSJTX. Signals came in no problem at all, and decodes appearing in WSJTX without issue. I then tried to TX, the SWR measurement was the same as the Rig Expert, but oddly the TX ‘pulsated’ as if it was getting disconnected. I went thru and checked the settings once more, no difference between home and here, only delta was the antenna. I tried the USB cable I had packed away to remove wifi/wfview/audio port as an issue, but the noise level went thru the roof! So I went back to trying to get wfview to work, at least at home on 2M I did get out (suprisngly!).

it was not to be my day to make an activation….

As I continued to try to connect, I checked PSK report on my phone – not a single RX. I could only put this down to the combination of the antenna and using wfview, as with a magloop and 5W on an ipad, I would at least get out, and as other POTA activations showed, worked without issue.

With 0 contacts and a slight piece of rain, i forgo the activation and headed home determinted to find out what I could do to solve my WSJTX TX issue.

TX issues with the 705 and using the Toybox antenna

Once home I searched around youtube and found several useful videos and this one demonstrated exactly the issues I faced when using my USB cable.

USB = QRM

With that I searched around the house, the longest USB cable I had was 2M long, and wouldn’t take many wraps of the toroids I have, so have ordered a 5M USB cable and some cable ties from Amazon, hopefully they will be here tomorrow, then I can try USB with a nice toroid to see if that removes the QRM.

a variety of ham specific toroids

I also thought that I should of tried with the ATU between the radio and antenna, as I think that would of also acted as a ‘common mode’ choke, but will try the USB route first as that looks the most promising solution at the moment.

Until next time (which is hopefully early in the new year) 73’s !