XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated, rec.radio.amateur.space

EI7GL....A diary of amateur radio activity

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Update on UK amateur radio stations getting permission to experiment on the
40 MHz band

Posted: 19 Feb 2022 02:20 AM PST https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2022/02/update-on-uk-amateur-radio-stations.html



As of February 2022, a number of amateur stations in the UK are trying to
get permission from OFCOM, the UK licensing authority to carry out
experiments on the 40 MHz band.
NOV... Roger, G3XBM reports that he applied for a Amateur Radio Special Research Permit and getting a Notice Of Variation (NOV) as shown in A
above. His application for this was recently turned down.
At present, some UK radio amateurs are using these NOV's to experiment with compressed digital video techniques at 146 MHz and 71 MHz.
I know there is at least one more person waiting for a reply on their application for a 40 MHz NOV although it doesn't look good at this stage. Innovation & Trial License... The second route is to apply for a Innovation
and Trial License as shown as B above. This costs at least £50 and G3XBM is currently applying for one of these.
This would seem to be similar to how the FCC in the United States recently allocated special experimental permits to seven individuals.

OFCOM... A few years ago, the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain) held discussions with OFCOM about new frequencies and allocations. OFCOM were of
the view that they would not allocate anything for 'more of the same'.
In other words, they're not going to allocate new frequencies for DX-ing, contesting or just talking to someone else down the road. Their view was
that radio amateurs in the UK have more than enough frequencies for this
and they're probably right.
Any new permit or allocation will have to show there is a genuine need for
it. Radio amateurs experimenting with modern compressed digital video techniques and getting the signal to fit inside a limited band is a good example of this.
Looking forward... It's not looking great at the moment but it would be
very useful if some UK stations were allowed to use the weak signal mode
WSPR on low power on the 40 MHz band on an experimental basis. They would
be unlikely to cause any interference to other users if they were just
given say the ISM band of 40.670 to 40.700 MHz to experiment with.
This could be used to carry out propagation experiments as we approach the
peak of the next sunspot cycle. As the solar flux increases, it's not
always obvious where the maximum usable frequency is for the F2 layer of
the ionosphere.
We know it's in the low VHF region but where? It's well above 28 MHz but
below 50 MHz. Being able to do propagation research is where the real value
of having an allocation at 40 MHz lies.
It seems likely that if an application is going to be successful then it
will have to go into some detail as to how the experiments will be carried
out and how any potential interference to other users can be mitigated.

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40 MHz page passes 20,000 pageviews - Feb 2022

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 05:31 AM PST https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2022/02/40-mhz-page-passes-20000-pageviews-feb.html



Back in April of 2018, Irish radio amateurs got access to large parts of
the low VHF spectrum including an allocation at 40 MHz. At the time, there
was little or no information about this part of the spectrum and what did exist, was scattered across the web.
In June of 2018, I set up a dedicated page on the blog so that it would be easier for others to find out about the band. I regularly post about 40 MHz related openings and news on the blog and I keep all of the links to each
post up on the 40 MHz page.
It is now the largest resource for information about the 40 MHz / 8m
amateur radio band on the web and in February of 2022, it passed 20,000 pageviews! At the moment, it's gets about 500 pageviews per month.
The problem with information on Twitter, Facebook, email forums and
magazines is that the information gets forgotten very quickly. It's hard to
go back and see what happened before.
The real value of a dedicated 40 MHz page is having all the information
listed in one spot. If someone wants to find out about what is happening on
the 40 MHz band then there is a resource there where they get up to speed relatively quickly.
The 40 MHz page can be viewed HERE

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California & Australia heard on 28 MHz - 16th Feb 2022

Posted: 17 Feb 2022 07:00 AM PST https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2022/02/california-australia-heard-on-28-mhz.html



Wednesday 16th February 2022: There was a pretty extensive opening on the
28 MHz band with both Australia and California heard. The map above shows
the 29 stations that I heard with WSPR.
If this had been with FT8 then I'd have probably heard 100+ but it's still
nice to see increasing WSPR activity on the 10m band. Last year, it was pointless listening on WSPR as the conditions were poor and not many
stations were on 28 MHz.
These are the top 10 stations in terms of distance and as always, nice to
see four stations from Australia on 28 MHz. Local (y-m-d) TX txGrid
RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2022-02-16 09:02 VK3KCX/1 QF22qd EI7GL IO51tu 28.126013 50 -25 0 17449
2022-02-16 09:22 VK2IJM QF56ni EI7GL IO51tu 28.126084 10 -16 0 17407
2022-02-16 09:08 VK2EFM QF56oq EI7GL IO51tu 28.126073 5 -27 0 17380
2022-02-16 09:16 VK2DVM QF56di EI7GL IO51tu 28.126083 50 -7 2 17364
2022-02-16 09:30 HS0AJ OK03ft EI7GL IO51tu 28.126081 1 -26 0 10045
2022-02-16 13:54 PY3FF GF49ju EI7GL IO51tu 28.126123 0.2 -29 0 10028
2022-02-16 12:58 ZS1LCD JF95fx EI7GL IO51tu 28.126052 1 -17 1 9900
2022-02-16 11:58 HS0ZEV OK08dh EI7GL IO51tu 28.126141 0.1 -20 0 9629
2022-02-16 17:24 NQ6B DM12mr EI7GL IO51tu 28.126098 5 -23 -2 8334
2022-02-16 17:24 AE7YQ DM41kx EI7GL IO51tu 28.126133 5 -14 0 8060
The solar flux was at 103 which is down from the recent peak of 130.

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Amateur TV signals from the German Antarctic Research Station DP0GVN

Posted: 16 Feb 2022 06:33 AM PST https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2022/02/amateur-tv-signals-from-german.html



After hearing the German Antarctic research station, DP0GVN on 28 MHz WSPR yesterday, it reminded me of a recent story I saw about how that station is also operational on ATV (Amateur Television) on the QO-100 Geostationary satellite.
The QO-100 geostationary satellite is located over central Africa and it is allowing radio amateurs the opportunity to experiment on the microwave
bands. The uplink to the satellite is just above 2.4 GHz while the downlink
is just below 10.5 GHz.

The footprint of the satellite with 5 degree and 10 degree elevations is
shown above. For the DP0GVN station in Antarctica, the elevation of the satellite is about 7 degrees above the horizon.

AMSAT-DL recently paid for a new antenna and radome to be installed at the station as shown above. This happened at the start of January 2022.

This is the new radome in place to protect the antenna from the harsh
Antarctic weather.
This video clip from Vale, IZ5ILX in Italy dated the 31st of January 2022
shows the ATV signal from DP0GVN via the QO-100 satellite.Excellent DVB-S2 tests from NEUMAYER STATION
ANTARTICA VIA P4-A - QO-100 GEOSAT
QRG: 10497.750 GHz 1,5 MSr -2/3 Fec#DP0GVN @amsatdl #QO100 #ANTARCTICA 📡📺📹🛰️ pic.twitter.com/DF1Hr6Hwv8— IZ5ILX Vale (@iz5ilx) January 21, 2022
While I'm not that interested in Amateur TV or satellite operations, I did
find this story interesting because it shows how a geostationary satellite
like QO-100 is opening up a lot of possibilities for experimentation on the microwaves bands and with Amateur TV.
For someone outside the footprint like in North America, these experiments
are impossible unless they live near others active on those bands or modes. There has been a lot of talk of late about how to get more people
interested in Amateur Radio. I'd suggest that experiments like this are
going to appeal a lot more to a younger generation than say making SSB
contacts on the HF bands which is rather dated at this stage.

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