HF propagation: Sydney to Germany on 30m band DDK9 @ 10.1008 MHz

German weather station DDK9 which transmits RTTY  around the clock on 10100.8 KHz presents itself as an excellent 'beacon'. It provides a constant signal usable for propagation monitoring on 30m amateur radio band.

Here are the couple of snapshots of German signal received in Sydney. The fist shot is taken overnight, showing a great 45 minute opening at local sunrise. The signal travels via 'short path' over Asia.

The second shot is of the signal received in the afternoon, via 'long path' travelling over South America. This opening is usually longer and signal strength is better than in the morning. In September, the path peaks 90 minutes before Sydney sunset.

Software: Spectrum Labs set to sample receiving audio every 10 seconds. Receiver: GenesisRadio G11, vertical antenna. 

QRP and SDR: the best of ham radio

This has been observed so many times over the years: there are three distinctive 'opening' to Europe on 40m band around equinox.

The first one is via the long path which happens late afternoon, around 1 hour before Sydney sunset. The path is unpredictable- some days are better than others - but on a good day my QRP signal can be heard via long path in France, Germany and especially in Spain. The reason is simple: this is the early morning time in Europe, when noise level is low and Central/East European stations are already in daylight so QRM level is not an issue. While the signal path is 20,000+ km, almost entire path is over salt water and loss is minimal. Two-way DX QRP contact are possible thank to two positive effects: lack of interference and low loss. The window of opportunity lasts for 30 minutes or so. Unfortunately I arrive home from work late at night so this opening is often sadly missed.

The second and third openings are via short path. First of two occurs around 1am in the morning Sydney time when grey line is just hitting Easter Europe. At that time, Western Eu stations are still in daylight so Russian, Ukrainian and other Easter Eu's have clear advantage. Their QRM level is rather high (evening time) but mine is low (no plasma TVs!). The beauty of this opening is for the fact that my QRP signal is much stronger at gray-line that at any other time. This opening can last for two hours as the 'sun travels to the west' but rarely produces contacts with stations beyond Central Eu. There is just one problem with this great opening: sitting in front the radio at 2am local time causes serious marital QRM.

After 2am the 40m band gets very noisy. This is combined with another negative factor: finding a clear frequency is almost impossible since EU stations are everywhere- causing each other interference. A problem which they believe can only be 'solved' by running even more power. Slim chances for a QRP DX from down-under to break through.

The final 40m opening to Europe occurs in the early morning and peaks approximately 45 minutes after my sunrise. This opening is daily event and 'happens' all year around, summer or winter, but with various 'intensity'. Some days are better than others, and then some days are just amazing. However most of the time, the opening can be described as spotlight: the band conditions often favor a certain area. You work truck load of Italians on Monday and then bunch of Scandinavians on Tuesday, and HA/YO/S5 are strongest on Friday. You never know your luck- so planning a sked is impossible. And then again, no matter what the conditions are, I can expect to work at least one German station. DL's are everywhere and somehow, DL operators are keen listeners willing to answer even the weakest QRP CQ call.

Due to the nature of openings the best strategy for a QRP VK station is to find a clear frequency and call CQ in hope that someone will answer the call, spot you, which often results in a steady stream of callers.

Today, once again, the magic happened: I started calling CQ on JT9 mode right on my sunrise. I can see the EU signals getting stronger and then once again, bang-smack on 20:00 UTC DJ1TU answered my call for a an easy two-way contact. Yes the signals were just marginal, but the timing was perfect.

And when it comes to QRP DXing, timing is everything. You can have the best QRP SDR radio in the world, but if you don't know when and where to look for DX, then you will be wasting your time. Patience and persistence pays off. Quite frankly, any fool can run a pileup with 5KW and stack of yagi antennas and ham bands are full of them. Such activity requires no skills or expertise. But squeezing out that last dB out of your minimalistic setup and doing more with less is an art form. Nothing beats that magical experience when you work a station located on the other side of the world, when signals are barely audible, running just a few watts of power. And all of that with a radio you've built yourself, from scratch, soldering each component by hand.

73 happy solder smoke, happy CQing and see you on the air,

Nick VK2DX

PS there is one more reason I love SDR: there is no better way to maximize your investment in PC hardware than to turn your already obsolete, written-off machine into a two-way radio station! Your PC is loaded with millions of semiconductors you've paid for, so you may as well put them into a good use. SDR breaks barriers: there are still countries with large population which restricts / or make it difficult / expensive to import amateur radio transceivers. So what a better way to 'crush the oppression' but to build your own SDR hardware. Revolutionary, indeed!

DJ1TU JT9 qso, 40m band. GenesisRadio G40 @4W

A nice run of USA/JA on JT9 mode, local evening time. Unlike with Europeans, American and Japanese stations are 'easy' to work with low power.

With G40 on 40m to Europe: finally!

G40 on 40m to Europe: finally! Worked two DL yesterday morning and RN2A today, JT65, 4W. My window of opportunity to Europe is just 10-15 minutes around 20:00 UTC and finding a clear frequency is almost impossible. But Little G40 is surely capable of making two-way into EU :-)

The narrow-band JT9 presents even more opportunities for QRP DXing. I can easily decode signals at SNR of -26 which is as good as WSPR. No QRM either! I am missing on so much fun :-( The JT9 frequency is 7.078 MHz plus around 0.5-1K audio.

73 Nick VK2DX

It doesn't take much to have fun on-air [40m] QRP with Genesis G40

My 40m antenna is a straight forward vertical with 4 radials, 5m elevated above the ground. It is actually a duoband 40/30m antenna with a home made coaxial trap so the total length is 9m only. Half of it is aluminum tubing, there rest is a fishing rod supporting a wire. The antenna is heavily surrounded by threes and shrubs in the back of suburban garden but works reasonably well to USA/JA (and not so well to Europe).

Here is the photo - to illustrate how simple it is. Despite the total structure being 14m tall, it is very lightweight and can be taken down by one man for repair and maintenance.

So this is my DX antenna -and with G40 @ 5W almost every second CQ on JT65 is answered. When the band is in good shape there are callers from East coast of US, mid and West and of course Japanese in truckloads. Keep in mind that Japan is 7,700 Km from Sydney so Japan is long way away. Yet 5W on JT65 is all it takes. QRP works!

Here is my last night's log (most QSOs were done while browsing internet and checking emails) and each station actually answered my CQ call.

So there you go- with bit of skills and patience you can have plenty of fun even on 40m. Of course, 30m and 20m are even easier. With the same antenna and 5W power I can easily work EUs on both short and long path.

And yes here is the little gem that made my night:
a cryptic message from JE2DLR :

"BLDNG G59 TU". Norio wanted to let me know that he is building Genesis G59 as we speak :-) How cool is that!

73 and have fun- soldersmoke and QRP goes hand in hand, and if I can do it from a small suburban backyard ridden with plasma junk and almost stealth $50 antenna then you can do it too.

Looking forward meeting you on the air.

73 Nick VK2DX

QRP works!

Again, before you go any further: QRP works! While 10W output may not seem like a lot of power, many GenesisRadio owners have made hundreds and even thousands of contacts with their QRP transceivers running just 5 Watts or less. YU1WC worked 199 DXCC countries with only 5W and vertical antenna - and all of them on 40m band! In just 3 months I've worked 78 DXCC countries on 20m band. Yes, 3 element Yagi certainly helped a lot, but with bit of skills and patience you too can easily work your DXCC. Digital modes like JT65 are designed for low power users. When the band is open, you can work DX stations with just a few hundred of milliwatts. The good old Morse code will allow you to work rare ones and long distance contacts on daily basis. QRP DXing is possible on phone too: one of my most memorable contacts is with OX2A in Greenland on 40m band during a very brief opening! As they say - timing is everything! Never underestimate the power of QRP!

Here is the snapshot of a busy 20m band with many CW, WSPR, PSK, JT65 and other digital mode signals, as seen at my location, in Australia.

Here is another snap of JT65 contact with T30RG from Kiribati who answered my CQ call (and made my day!).

This is a typical log entry on a good day: all contacts were DX , long path to Europe on 20m CW. At times I even had a moderate pile-up!

Build your own QRP radio, learn about SDR and then have as much fun on-air as you can = the ultimate enjoyment of amateur radio.