6 meter antenna

It's almost a week ago since I put my last post on this blog. This means that there was't to much time for the radio hobby.

Last week there was a chance of Aurora Borealis by an eruption on the sun. Unfortunately, the Aurora was to weak for me in JO21RV to hear signals on 6 meters via this propagation.








The antenna for 6 meters has not stood on the balcony for a few weeks. This antenna is a 5/8 wave for 2 meters. With a piece of extended it's now a fourth wave for 6 meters. The extension has now made a final.
This year I made a lot of qso's via Es with this antenna.




Thanks to Eric, PE1FES, for the mechanical work.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

My homebrew corner.

This week I walked around in my house with my camera and came up with the idea of yet another new picture of my homebrew corner. This is the result. On the desk are the components of the Limerick Sudden receiver project I'm doing.

As the manual shows I started assembling the IC holders for the LM386 and NE612.



I haven't found more time in the past week for this project.

Wednesday afternoon I had a qso with SM3YQX/4. Lars Erik, 30 km west of the town Mora. He worked with 100W in a dipole, I with 2.5 W in the ATX-1080.

Good weekend all.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Limerick Sudden receiver

Yesterday I opened the envelope of this kit to verify that all components are in the packaging.





In the manual there is a list of components and I soon found out that all these components are present.This weekend I read the manual and make a plan how I going to start the building.
My idea is to make the wiring to the antenna connector with RG174 coax and not with the twisted wire which is written in the manual. For the antenna connector, I like to use a BNC chassis instead of a RCA chassis.

I'll keep you posted about this project.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

First qso with ATX-1080 antenna and 2,5 watts

Last week I bought a second hand ATX-1080 antenna for my FT817nd. Yesterday I received it by the mail and today I had the time to try this antenna.









With a cup of coffee I sat quietly at my diningroom table and listened to 20 meters, swr reasonable. I heard the special call SI9AM, this time with ON5RZ as a guest operator. A lot of stations called him and it seemed that he not heard my QRP signal. Nevertheless, my patience was rewarded. Raf said my call with an error and I answered to it. He corrected my call and we could made a nice QSO. Details of my setup passed and I told my name.

Who knows what for fun this antenna gives me even more.













73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Contest on 6 meter

Saturday afternoon, I was listening on 6M because there were conditions. I heard that there was a contest and on the internet I found out what kind of contest this was. I came to the following information. In this contest you change a report, serial number and locator.
Among the other activities, see previous posting, I have made a total of 20 QSO's.In this picture are the lines through the various contacts visible. Clearly the most possibilities were to eastern Europe. The farthest distance was with UU9A in KN64SM, over 2000km.
I made the qso's with cw/ssb and the most with 20 watts, 2 with 10 watts. From the 20 qso's there were also a few new squares: JM68, JN94, KN44, KN64, JO91 and KO14.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Genesis Q5 (30M) transmitter repaired and modified

Today I repaired my Genesis Q5 transmitter.
First I had to remove transistor T2 and then I could remove the IC. Then I placed the new IC and I measured that the oscillator was working, yes!
Now I could replace transistor T2 and the transmitter was working again, the frequency 10.11574, it's too low. (When you've read my previous article about the Q5, you could see that with the value of 33pF (C7) the frequency was nearly 10.117 Mhz. The 33pF which I installed today was another.
I received the advice to change capacitor C7. First I replaced this by one with a value of 22pf. I measured that the frequency was 10.12012, much too high. The next step was placing a capacitor with a value of 27pF.
The transmit frequency is 10.11595. This deviation from 10.116 Mhz is acceptable for me.



I finally placed the 27pF capacitor.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Paper cards (QSL)

Yesterday evening I visited the monthly meeting in this area where the QSL manager of R30 is always present.
The last time I made a lot of qso's on 6 meters and gave this cards to the manager. What I got back was not much, only 2 cards.
A card of IK5ACO. Last year I worked this station on 6 meters.




With this card the square JN52 is now confirmed.

The other is a qsl of OH5B.







This is a confirmation of the first qso I made with the new digital mode ROS. I wrote about this for the first time on February 22 this year. After a few contacts, this mode is no longer used by me.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

a great day with Es on 6 meters.

Today was a day with almost the entire day Es on 6 meters. I made my first qso at 7:20 UTC with Poland. The last QSO for this day was at 10:24 UTC with 2M0DDS in Scotland. In the meantime I have made a total of 8 QSO's and did some other things in the house. I made the qso's with ssb/cw. My conclusion is that I make the most qso's with cw.
This afternoon I had my weekly sport.

At present there is still Es on 6 meters but there are also other things in life than just this hobby.



73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Small signals on 6M & Q5 transmitter

All day there were Es clouds over Europe but not so good for the Netherlands.
In the evening I often listened and heard weak signals. Around 7:15 p.m. UTC the signals were louder and I could work via cw with YO7LCB in KN15OA and YU7AU in KN04HU. The qso with YO7LCB gave me a new square.

With good Es propegatie the last days it seemed a good idea to try WSPR on this band.
Through the WSPR site I saw a few station was QRV but despite this I wanted to try. Result: I have no station heard at times that I transmit no one heard my my signal.
I was active with WSPR from Thursday evening till Friday afternoon.

Kees PA3DEB, wrote me this afternoon in response to my earlier post about the Genesis Q5 transmitter.

The oscillator is not on 10.116 MHz, which wele desirable. Kees advised me to change the value of C7 in order to be more close to this frequency.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Active on 6M with QRP.

Today there are again conditions on 6 meters. My goal for today is to make qso's with QRP (5 watts maximum).


I made 3 qso's with a power of 5 watts.
2 stations from Latvia and one from Estonia. 2 of the 3 qso's made with cw the other with ssb. It was more difficult then yesterday and on the moments that I listen there where not so many signals like yesterday.
I listen also in the beacon part of the band and heard a few signals. I put the different frequenties into the memories.

I previously wrote about this project. During the construction there were two parts in the package down. I've emailed the supplier from the USA but has so far not responded.
Fortunately, there is a Dutch amateur that I could offer a helping hand. Today I received by mail the two missing parts. Thanks Frans.
I can go on with this project.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

A new day with Es on 6 meter!

On Monday I have my part-time day and a little bit more leisure time. In the afternoon I have only one hour sports to do.
When I turn on my set this morning I heard already signals on 6 meters. Between 10:30 to 11:30 local time there was considerable activity and I worked the following stations: YO5PLD in KN34CK. YL2CZ in KO06XW, new square. And YU2MMA in KN04HG, also a new square.I heard the signals of E4X but his cw speed was very quickly. In combination with split working it was hard to follow his transmission.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Es opening on 6M, again!

Es season has really started. Today, after 16:00 UTC, I worked 4 stations (cw) from Finland, Estonia and Lithuania.
Distances between 1500 and 1800 km.








Via the mailman I received a QSL from MM0CAE today. I'm a member of the GQRP club and this club has a own QSL service between members.
This was from a 2 way QRP QSO in 2006.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Big Es opening on 6M

Today there was a big Es opening for hours, not only on 6M but also on 10 and 4 meters. I was only active on 6 meter, I have no equipment for 4M.

From 4:15 p.m. UTC I worked with:
SP8DWI - KO10ND
SP8LXE - KO10WT
IK6FXP - JN62PI
SP7HKK - JO91QIAll QSO's where made with SSB, the last one with just 5 watts, the others with 20 watts.
The Es was still going on but I had to take care for my diner and other priorities.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Again Es on 6 meter

When I came home of my work I switched on my Yaesu FT950 and heard several signals on 6M. This signals were stronger then earlier this week.

Worked with: UR5URW in KO50FF (ssb) and UX1BZ in KN29VA (cw). KN29 is a new square for me.

Heard also other stations but it was crowded and there was a lot of fading on the signals.

Enjoy your Whitsun weekend.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

WSPR 17M

When I was on the local meeting last Wednesday someone told me that 17M is in a good shape the last days. Special at the end of the day till late in the evening.
Yesterday I tuned my magnetic-loop for 17M to find out what was possible on this band. On that moment (21:00 UTC) I heard one weak ssb signal but didn't copy the callsign.
When I woke up this morning I saw on my laptop the results.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

First Es on 6M for 2010

Today I made the first qso's on 6M via Es for this season. I saw on the internet that there were weak signals for the last few days but I didn't hear nothing until today.

The picture shows the 2 qso's I made. Around 15:00 utc I heard IK7FPU with cw and I answer him with 20 watts. This station is in JN71SU, a new squaere for me.
Around 15:30 I heard IK8OFO calling in SSB. After a few calls I worked him from JN70HR, also a new square.
2 qso's and both a new square. I'm waithing for the next Es opening on 6M, I hope signals will be stronger then today.



A beacon list for 6M.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

WSPR & DXCC (qrp)

On Wednesday I had the whole day WSPR on 10M running. During this time I heard no signals from other WSPR stations. My signal was heard by 2 stations for a period.
PAøO heard my signal over a distance of 172km. What kind of propegation was this?

Every second Wednesday of the month we have a meeting with local radio amateurs in this area. During this evening the QSL manager of R30 is also present.
This time there where some QSL for me to. The card of UA9CSA jumped out for me.
This is a qso I made with my homemade Rockmite with a power of approximately 300mW. The confirmation of this QSO made the confirmed DXCC countries with QRP on 52.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

With 1 watts via WSPR to VK!

Yesterday my WSPR station listen and transmit on 40M. A lot of stations received my signals from 1 watts down to 50mW. VK6BN received my 1 watts more then one period.In the begin of the evening (May 7) I made my first qso on 10M for this season. S58P gave me a 55 with my 5 watts in SSB.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

With 1 watts to VK via WSPR!

Yesterday in the evening I setup my station for WSPR on 30M. Around 19:00 UTC 2 VK stations heard my 1 watts signal, VK2/VK6DI and VK2DAP. Distances around 16500 km.Later in the evening I made 2 CW qso's on 30M. Worked with OM30CAQ and a longer qso with SP7HOV, Zbig in Skierniewice. Both qso's with only 1 watts.

On my laptop I don't have the possibility to make graphics for my Blog. When I'm back home I update the Blog with pictures.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

QRV again!

After a holiday of a few days in the province of Friesland I'm in Zuidlaren (JO33IC).

Yesterday in the afternoon I start up the station for WSPR. The best DX was K1JT, he heard my 500mW signal.Today my WSPR station is running on 10M and OY1OF heard my 1 Watts signal for one period. PE4BAS and PC1CP heard my signal serveral times. from 5 watts to 50mW.

On 40M I made 1 CW qso with DF3MI in QTH Oberammergau. A 2way QRP QSO.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

WSPR on 30M, heard in Australia

Today I was around 16:00 UTC at home and switch on the WSPR program. This means that with an interval of about 12 minutes there is a broadcast of almost 2 minutes.
Almost every broadcast of my signal is heard in Australia. It seems that the propegation is going up.I'm using my FT950 with 5 watts and the magnetic-loop inside my house.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

EZ Tele XL mast

Last year I bought in Germany a AZ Tele XL mast with a length of 12 meters. This mast landed in my shed until today.











Along with Eric, PE1FES, I gone a few km outside of Tiel and went on a quiet road, where we have the mast setup in the grass.
Despite the weather, with occasional clouds and some rain also it blew hard. This was immediately noticed when we had the mast extended. The top curve somewhat by the wind.
Our conclusion was that one set of 3 guy wires, such as the mast is supplied isn’t enough.
The idea is now to make a point about halfway to where another 3 guy wires coming.

Who has already experience with this mast? What should I do to make it stronger?

Meeting, KP4AO and WSPR

Yesterday I was at the annual meeting of the SRS/BQC. The program included 2 lectures:


Henk Vrolijk, PA0HPV, told about his visit to Bletchley Park.
Christian Roselaar, PA3FUN, talked about his experiences with various QRP kits. It is fun because I've built myself a Rockmite for 40M.
With all due respect to the real "Old men", I had the idea that I (age 41) was one of the youngest ham's during this meeting.
Photo's made by PA1AT

In the evening via the website Camras I listened to the signals of KP4AO. Too bad that I had no 70cm Yagi.

I connected the equipment for WSPR, after a break of almost 2 weeks. First on 30M and 40M now. Propegation is poor.

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

Bezoek vuurtoren Noordwijk aan Zee

De Nederlandse Vuurtoren Vereniging heeft eens per jaar haar ALV, steeds op een andere locatie in Nederland. Vandaag was dit in Noordwijk aan Zee waarbij de vuurtoren in deze plaats beklommen kon worden.
Een unieke kans omdat deze normaal niet voor publiek geopend is.



Toen ik vanmorgen opstond was de wereld aardig in mist gehuld en ging me al zorgen maken of er vandaag mooie foto's gemaakt konden worden. Hoe dichter ik bij de kust kwam hoe helderder het werd. Eenmaal in Noordwijk aan Zee werd ik verrast door een blauwe lucht met stralende zon. Ondanks dit was de temperatuur kil, er stond een frisse wind.

Na een klim van 108 treden (verdeeld over 6 verdiepingen) kwam ik bij het optiek op ongeveer 30 meter hoogte en kon dit plaatje schieten.Boven het optiek zit een glazen koepel/kap. Deze wilde ik ook fotograferen en moest hiervoor op de trap gaan staan en vervolgens zo recht mogelijk naar boven fotograferen.

Op mijn site zijn nog meerdere foto's van deze vuurtoren te zien.

WSPR from JO33ic (the village of Zuidlaren)

During the Easter weekend (Saturday April 3 to Monday April 5) I did some WSPR experiments from JO33IC (Zuidlaren) and made a 2 way QRP QSO on 40M.

My station is a Yaesu FT817 with a 10dB attenuator. The antenna I used is a ZEPP for 30M.



On this band I had all the WSPR experiments. This antenna is on the attic and a part outside.
The CW QSO, I made was with Will, GM0HKS. The nice thing about this QSO was that Will worked with a homemade transceiver of Howes. I builded this transceiver about 10 years ago but my transceiver is for 20m. At that time I had several qso's with it. Will has a sidetone in use, he goes for me to find the schematic.

The experiments with WSPR had only played on 30M. I felt that the propagation was not good and was afraid that they didn’t heard my 50mW signal. First I switched to 100mW and it went. Later in the day my 50mW signal was heard. Distances were between 600 and 1200 km.
Saturdayevenening was the longest distance when I saw on the WSPR site that 4X1RF in KM72LS heard my signal for 2 periods. A distance of 3186 km, and this with only 50mW!


73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

WSPR (QRPP) heard on several bands

With the attenuator of 10dB my signal is still heard, even though the distances are less.





This weekend I was active on 40/30/20 meters with the output of 500mW. At this moment I am tuned to 40M, see listPicture of activity on 40M.

73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

WSPR with 500mW

A good friend of my builded a 10dB attenuator. This means that the 5 watts signal from my Yaesu FT950 decrease to approximately 500mW. Today I started on 20M and a few stations heard my qrpp signal.Drawing made by PA1B

The ideas for creating an attenuator did I found on the webpage of Bert, PA1B.


73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

WSPR 20M

The last 24 hours my system is listening on 20M to WSPR signals. When I'm home the system is also transmitting.
At the end of the afternoon and begin of the evening signals from the States en Japan are coming in. In the morning there only a few signals from Europe.

73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

Bezoek vlooienmarkt Rosmalen

Vandaag met een clubje afgereisd naar Rosmalen. Doorstroom bij de kassa ging vrij snel, ondanks dat de route niet helemaal logisch was.

Enige uurtjes langs de kramen gelopen, eerst kon ik mijn boodschappenlijstje niet vinden, uiteindelijk toch onder in mijn jaszak.
Bijna alles kunnen kopen: Helaas zijn de weerstanden die als "2 watts weerstanden" aan mij werden verkocht niet geschikt voor dit vermogen, toch een beetje bekocht. Verder wat BC557/BC547 transistoren, een kastje voor de verzwakker, wat draad en 2 boeken.
Het linker boek kocht ik nieuw en het rechter boek voor slechts
€ 2,-- , ziet er ongelezen uit.


73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

WSPR 30M, first time Japan

This afternoon I have build up my station for WSPR to receive and transmit. It's on 30M and after some minutes the data rolled over my the screen.
Pretty soon I noticed that my signal was heard in Australia. One station from Japan reported also my signal. This is the first time that my WSPR signal is heard in Japan.
In the evening I receive not to much cause interference in the reception by TV. Unfortunately my antenna can not be build up outside my apartment.


73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

WSPR on 30M, heard by VK's

In the last few days my WSPR signal on 30M was received in VK and ZL.
Today I came earlier at home and set the WSPR software to transmit. After the first period of almost 2 minutes the first results rolled over my screen. As you can see in the overview my signal is heard by 2 stations in Australia for more periods.
Today I set the filter in my FT950 at 850 Hz, this was on 1500Hz before.



73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

ZL station heard my WSPR signal on 30M

Yesterday a station from Australia heard my signal, today the distance record is broken.

If I'm not at home my laptop/transceiver is only listen to WSPR signals. Via the internet I saw that I've heard the signal of ZL2FT this afternoon for a few times with nice signals.
When I came home I put the software in the transmit mode to see what happened.
ZL2FT heard my signal 1 period. A new distance record, 18464 km.


73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

VK heard my WSPR signal on 30M

After the absence of some days I build up my transceiver and antenna for WSPR receive. After a few minutes, my signal is heard by several stations.
Great was my surprise when I saw that VK2GR in QF56LG reported my signal, a distance of 16602 km. This my longest distance with WSPR until now.

Not bad for 5 watts in a magnetic loop in my apartment.

73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

Genesis Q5 kit building.

On Youtube I found this short movie about building the Q5 kit.


My kit for 30M is almost ready for use. I'm busy to build it in a case.

73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

De rest van de dag, WSPR en PSK31

Vandaag met WSPR op 30M geluisterd en uitzendingen gemaakt. Groot was mijn verbazing toen ik eind van de middag via www.wsprnet.org zag dat KL1X in Alaska mijn signaal op zijn scherm zag. Een afstand van ruim 7000km.
Ik hoorde sterke PSK31 signalen en heb vervolgens Digipan gestart. 2 qso's kunnen maken, IK1GVQ in Italië en UA4WJ in Europees Rusland.

73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ

WSPR 30M, gehoord in de USA

Eerder deze week rapporteerde ik al dat mijn WSPR op 40M door verschillende stations in de USA is gezien. Vandaag werd ik ook gezien op 30M door W3HH.
W3HH had ik al meerdere malen gezien op 30M maar hij had mij nog nooit gezien, überhaupt enig station in de USA.

De antenne ben ik wat aan het verplaatsen geweest om te kijken of dit enig invloed heeft.
Een voorzichtige conclusie is dat de plaats/stand van de antenne niet zo'n grote invloed heeft. Mijn idee is meer dat het komt door de verbeterde propegatie van afgelopen week.


73, Tjeerd - PA3GNZ