WSPR is open on 10 meters
WSPR 445pm UTC 10jan2014
I am as excited as a child in a toy shop! My favourite band is 10 meters and on my recently set-up WSPR station I am hitting anywhere from 5 to 9 stations across the grayline. That is the coolest thing!
My station is as follows:
- Radio: A Chinese Xiego X1M Platinum (puts out 5 watts nominally on CW) (Oh, and it runs off a 1 Amp wall-adapter). Currently unmodified although I am waiting for parts to do the AGC mod.
- Modem: G4ZLP DigiMaster Pro3 (awesome piece of kit!). I had to make an interface cable which was easy. I’ve set the transmit volume to out out a clean signal on the X1M at about 1 watt, not the boisterous 5 watts it normally pouts out, to make sure I don’t have interference.
- Tuner: MFJ-941E (a really cool tuner that doesn’t use any power and has become one of my trusted tools.
- Antenna: One of two: Usually I just leave the radio on the multiband travelling wave (commercially a Broadgun) which, because of my QTH setup, works reasonably well and I don’t have to unplug at the slightest warning sign of weather. My favourite antenna is my horizontal loop, just 83 meters of wire strung between the trees. It is quiet and gets out very well.
At the moment I’m just collecting call signs but soon I will want to investigate the legitimacy of sending a SWL (or even a QSL) card for, let’s say a two-way contact within 30 minutes. Hmmm … might be politically incorrect? We will see.
Meanwhile enjoy WSPRing.
