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Bob (ZL1RS) has just set up a pair of phased beverages on his farm near Aukland and has been monitoring QRSS signals on 13.55 Mhz. from the U.S. for the past day or so. He has already resolved 4 or 5 U.S. hifer signals and we are quite surprised at the level and quality of the transmissions. Both Bob and I (Jim Sorenson – W3BH, Saxonburg, PA) have been monitoring amateur High Altitude Balloons on 30 and 20 meters over the past year using WSPR and WSJT and have been receiving decoded reports from as distant as 11,000 miles with the balloon beacon transmitter only running in the neighborhood of 30 – 50 Milliwatts.
If you have equipment to produce a QRSS signal on the 13.55 Mhz hifer band, put it on the air and see if Bob can hear you. He will email you back the results and he can also receive in WSPR if you want to give that a try as a beacon.
If you are looking for a good reasonably priced beacon transmitter kit, go to Hans Summers’ QRPlabs – https://shop.qrp-labs.com/ for his $29 Ultimate 3 QRSS/WSPR kit. I’ve built three of them so far and they work great and support a number of other popular digital modes as well. I have no financial interest in QRPlabs, BTW. It’s just good kit, as they say.
If you want to see what others are doing with WSPR, go to WSPRnet.org where you will find hams and SWLs from around the world sending in WSPR reports for posting on maps and tables. It’s a great propagation study tool.
To see what Bob is doing at the ZL end for receiving and whom he has heard on 13.55 over the the past 24 hours go here:
http://www.qsl.net/zl1rs/bev.html
We can always use more balloon monitors when they fly. Go to Habhub (http://habhub.org/) for more info about that.
Regards to all,
Jim
Jim Sorenson
Saxonburg, PA
Total posts : 45366Hello to you, Jim, and to Bob, also!
I know nothing of this, but I have
admired it from afar.
I am somewhat limited because I am
legally blind. However – I can do most
things anyone else can do – just slowly.
Yeah – I can drive a car too, at about
one mile per hour. Don’t worry, I would
never try it.
But seriously folks
I am interested in the HF Propagation
Balloons. Maybe I can start there.
I am in a high QRN area with no chance of
an outside antenna in the foreseeable future.
I have gotten around this problem before, though.
PA, U.S. to ZL land sounds about as long as you
can get. I know in the 1960s somebody did this
path with only 20 mW. It must have been cw, but
I don’t know what band.
Perhaps it was earlier, such as 10 meters in 1958 or 1959.
I was only 4 years old then.
For this 13.550 Part 15 digital mode transmission to work,
I would think that the MUF would have to be near 13 MHz –
actually – just a little bit higher than the actual frequency
in use.
As we know, people are also doing this kind of work in other
Part 15 spectrum. (The longwave allocations and near the
top and bottom of the AM BCB.)
I am in a high QRN area, but I am still interested.
I cannot say enough to the recognition you deserve
for the work you are doing.
This is a huge thing!
Congratulations and very best wishes!
(I’d better press send and let it go at that.
I apologize for any grammar errors or
mispelled words.)
From West Hartford, Connecticut USA
Brooce, Ham radio, Part 15 radio, SWL, MWL,
LWL, and whatever else I can think of –
when I can get around to doing it. When will that
be?
Total posts : 45366I just loaded Digipan for PSK31
onto my computer.
It’s not the same thing that you
guys are doing, but I have everything
here to receive it. I just have to hook the
stuff up. Sounds like fun to me!
BEST WISHES
Brooce
Total posts : 45366Hi Brooce,
PSK31 is a great way to start using the digital modes on HF. On 20 meters the frequency to use is 14.070.150 MHz. Even with a short antenna you should start to see QSOs on your screen with Digipan. It’s great for a noisy QTH also. I have poor hearing and the digital modes help me get around that disability. I’m sure even with your ‘legally blind’ classification you can see a computer screen well enough to have a lot of fun with PSK31 and other digital modes. The great think about them is that you don’t need very much power or an expensive antenna to work DX with them – or hear DX.
For your interest I just looked at my JT9 screen and noticed that I had just received the following from the PS-57 high altitude balloon with is currently over Tahiti.
0412 -19 -0.4 1115 @ VK3YT1893RXJB0413 -18 -0.3 1116 @ 28JU2 2R5AHAF0432 -22 -0.5 1115 @ VK3YT1873IWK40433 -22 -0.4 1115 @ 28NJ2 7 561B3Those strings were sent between 0412 adn 0432 UTC powered by about a 3 volt battery on board. The balloon is probably above 30K feet. You can see the callsign VK3YT and telemetry characters. I’m using a wire antenna at about 45 feet and my receiver is an Alinco DXSR8, nothing special at all. But there are probably only a handful of receivers in the world of these transmissions. From the telemetry I can determine the balloons present location, speed, direction, battery charge and temperature.In fact I just looked now at the balloons server on Habhub and only three stations are hearing the balloon right now – see below. ZL1RS is my friend Bob in Aukland and the other two are U.S. monitors. Start by listening to PSK31 on 20 meters. You’re in for a lot of fun.Best wishes and good luck.JimW3BH____________________"K4COD,ZL1RS,W3BH",04:12:00 "ZL1RS,W3BH,AK4AT",04:32:00
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