A Day of Activity

It was grey and overcast here in the south of the UK yesterday so a good day to play radio.

It was Railways on the Air weekend so there were a number of special event stations to work. I managed to get 13 stations in the logbook.

I spent some time during the evening working JT65 on 20M.

The above is a snapshot of my screen showing an hour's activity during the evening. For this mode, I use my Kenwood TS2000 running into an M0CVO HW-40HP antenna. This system works really well on all bands from 40m through to 10m with the internal ATU on the TS2000.

JT65 is my preferred data mode at the moment. It supports long distance working with low power I get called by the type of DX that I could never work using SSB.

MV5LMY QSL Cards

I used the "V" prefix earlier this year which was issued to mark the centenary of the RSGB. My call sign was MV5LMY. The RSGB also designed a couple of special QSL designs, I ordered one of these and have now received my pack of cards ready to complete details and send:

This is the "Art Deco" design. I selected this design as it is very similar to my first QSL card when I was G8LMY back in 1977. This original card also had a red map of the country to the right of the card.

Now just need to write them all and send via the bureau.

A Weekend of Bad Weather

The weekend weather here in the south of the UK has been terrible. Grey sky, rain and winds. The following satellite picture from Sunday gives a good view of the weather we were under:

This is the NOAA 19 pass from Sunday at 12:55. Ireland was generally cloud free and the north of the UK had some breaks in the cloud, however a large sweep of cloud over the south of the country.

Another good satellite pass from the north of Africa to Iceland. Not bad for a loft mounted pair of crossed diploes.

Update on Magnetometer Construction

Progress has been slow with Magnetometer construction, however I now have the main PCB completed and installed in the box that will be installed in the garden.

The photo below shows the PCB installed:

 

The wiring from the circuit board is for:

• Input Power
• Power to the sensor and output from the sensor
• Reset
• Sensitivity settings
• Output

The space on the left is for the Arduino that will be used for remote control of the Reset and the Sensitivity settings.

The next stage of the project will be to set up and test.

The box will be installed on a post in the garden with a cable running to the sensor which will be installed at the bottom of a hole in the ground to hopefully limit temperature drift of the sensor.

A second cable will run from the box to the computer shed where the data logger is installed along with the 12V power supply. An Ethernet cable will run to the Arduino.

Subject to weather, the system should be installed in a couple of weeks.

New Project - Magnetometer

One of my current construction projects is a Magnetometer based on a kit from Speake & Co using their FGM-3 Magnetic Field Sensor.

The sensor detects changes in the Earth's magnetic field. This is changed into a DC analogue output which will vary dependent on changes to the Earth's magnetic field.

The sensor is very sensitive to local variations in the magnetic field and also to temperature.

I have tested the system before but always found temperature stability to be the main problem. With the new kit, I am aiming to reduce temperature change by separating the FGM-3 sensor from the main electronics by burying the sensor in box a few feet below surface level where hopefully temperature will be more stable.

I am also using an Arduino so I can have remote control of the sensitivity settings and the reset switch to make it much easier to manage the impact of any major magnetic or temperature changes.

The following picture shows the kit of parts as received, ready for assembly:

The kit is reasonably easy to construct and consists of the FGM-3 sensor and a small circuit board that hosts the electronics to take the output of the sensor and converting to the variable DC voltage.

No Surface Mount Devices so still within my soldering capabilities!

So far I have installed the sensor in the box that will be buried. This is shown in the picture below:

The box is a small waterproof box, in which I have installed a length of plastic cable trunking. This is perfect for holding the sensor which is secured with a couple of cable ties. The trunking will be glued to the sides of the box and the cable entry hole sealed ready for burying.

The cable is Ethernet Cat 5 which should work fine for this application. This will run back to the main box which houses the electronics.

Next stage is to construct the circuit board and test. I will update as the project progresses.

New QSL Cards Received From The Bureau

An envelope arrived from the RSGB QSL bureau a couple of days ago with a new batch of cards for contacts over the last few years.

I really do like receiving paper QSL cards, just does not feel the same with the almost instant Internet alternatives. Even when a card is received several years after the original contact it brings back memories of the time I made that contact and what I was operating.

The following are scans of the latest batch of cards. If yours is amongst them, many thanks for sending the card. You should receive mine as I automatically send a QSL for all new contacts and new bands.

The Last Day Of Summer?

The following picture was received from NOAA 19 on Thursday 5th September. A really good pass from North Africa to Iceland using my cross dipoles in the loft of the house.

The weather at ground level was really good with clear blue sky and in London where I was for the day, the temperature reached 29 degrees centigrade.

The following day, there was a 10 degree temperature drop, cloud and some rain which has continued today, Saturday 7th September.

I suspect that this was the last day of summer and we are now moving into Autumn with Low Pressure from the Atlantic bringing wind and rain.