WSPRnet.org

The following may give ideas to the WSPR'ers interested by 80m.

I built a RX loop - quick dirty job with plumber / electrical PVC - let say 2 hours work.
- The main loop is a single turn, made from 5mm diameter coax (only the shield is used). It is "diamond shape" 1m by side. It is tuned by a 358pF silver mica capacitor + a 5-60pF ceramic trimmer.
- The coupling loop is also "diamond shape" ; 25 cm by side inside the main loop.
- The SWR at resonnance, measured with the MFJ249B is 1.1

The WSPR 80m distance record which was held by W1CDO and ZL1ANY with 14529 kms on March5 fell 3 times today...

See attached recorded on F5RRS 17m signal... (F5RRS is 35kms away, but behind the mountains)
Anybody has an idea on what could cause such a doppler? plane, meteor trail, or something else (ESS, UFO ? ;-)
Anybody is able to calculate the speed of the object ?
Pat

Great activity thanks to all participants;
However this was a bad day for me, at least on RX side, due to non-stop heavy rainfalls. For those who may be interested to compair actual reports to predictions, attached is a noise map, done on 20m with rain. I have 2 clear noise sources which correspond to the power lines towers at 270 and 130 degrees. Of course the noise level is a bit lower on 17m (about 3dB according to the CCIR model).
With rain, my quieter direction is 30 degrees, and the SNR degradation is some

See the attached showing W1CDO signal as received here in EU.
The path from NM to SE France, passes near the "aurora oval" and the effects of the frequency spreading (aurora effect) are clearly visible, although it is not strong enough to affect decoding, as it was the case on K7EK 40m signal.
This explains why it is so hard for EU -stations to get WSPR spots from US west-coast stations.
By the way this screen shot was taken today with quiet geomagnetic conditions (k=1 A=1). I guess that W1CDO signal will become unreadable, with perturbed conditions.

I've been asked twice in the last 24 hours, if 7038.6 was the official WSPR frequency
here is my answer:
Although it is far from being ideal (mainly due to Pactor BSS's) we choose this frequency after several tests with 7L4IOU, mainly because, the JA's are not allowed to transmit digi above 7043. It became "de facto" the center of activity, thanks to the participation of several stations from the region 3 (ie VK/ZL)

However,

I am adding the plot of this morning 40m test, involving VK7KRW (RX), DG0OPK and myself... (TX).
We were both using 5W; DG0OPK uses a G5RV at 4m AGL and I am using a ground mounted 17.5m vertical (tuned with an AT130 auto-tuner).

For those who are interested to compair antenna performances (TX/RX) over a long period using WSPR, and who own an ICOM transceiver, my friend F5LEN wrote a little software, which allows to switch TRX antenna 1/2 according to a predefined timing... (of course you need a TRX with 2 ants ports; ie IC756, 7800, etc)

Just discovered the JT65 Reverse Beacon mode (thanks Gary K7EK). After 2 days of activity here is a quick summary:

Attached is a screen picture, showing K7EK signal received in my QTH on 40m.
It is not obvious on the WSPR screen, but on spectrum lab it was difficult to recognize a WSPR signal, as it was completly frequency spread out.
Of course no Decode...
Strongly suspect the effects of polar-flutter...