Thessaloniki NDB

Most radio hobbyists ignore that a Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) operates near former Alatini works in Thessaloniki. Its Morse code id is THS and it transmits continuously on 345 kHz.

Last week I visited the site of the beacon and shot a few photos.

Panoramic view from the North	No tresspassing sign
The eastern mast	Transmitter shed
Detail of insulators and pulleys	View from the East

This nice NDB has been in operation for decades. Although it is located on the approach to RWY 16 of Makedonia Airport (LGTS), nowdays is not used much by aviators. 

It is easily accessible from public spaces and roads, just south of Thessaloniki Music Hall, at 40.593600 N - 22.948100 E, so if you are in the area you may visit the site. 

CNSP30 balloon over Greece

Plot of CNSP30 balloon from HABhub

Today we had a daytime pass of CNSP30 balloon over Greece. Most previous passes took place during nightime so we missed the change to plot it. In the morning it appeared that the balloon would follow a southest course and pass over Attica, unfortunately it turned East and was better received in Larissa and Thessaloniki. The balloon transmits APRS packets using callsign K6RPT-11, which are gated to the APRS.IS network and then plotted at the HABhub tracker site. 

During the pass I run an APRS receive only setup and I enabled my connection to the APRS internet servers network with a filter to pass only K6RPT packets. Some of the packets uploaded were from my station, either received directly or over an APRS digipeater.

NASA releases research papers to the public

NASA published the following announcement, effectivley giving free public access to NASA research papers: 

NASA PubSpace NASA is using PMC to permanently preserve and provide easy public access to the peer-reviewed papers resulting from NASA-funded research. Beginning with research funded in 2016, all NASA-funded authors and co-authors (both civil servant and non-civil servant) will be required to deposit copies of their peer-reviewed scientific publications and associated data into NASA’s publication repository called NASA PubSpace. This exlcudes patents, publications that contain material governed by personal privacy, export control, proprietary restrictions, or national security law or regulations. NASA PubSpace is part of PubMed Central (PMC) which is managed by the NIH. You can now search NASA related articles archived in PMC at NASA PubSpace. PubSpace will be fully functional Fall of 2016.

Already over 800 recent research articles, published within 2016, have been uploaded in PDF format to the site, which uses the infrastructure of the US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

IOTA programme introduces paperless QSLs !

At last! The RSGB Islands on the Air (IOTA) programme shall implement paperless QSL credits, in cooperation with Clublog ! Last month Roger G3KMA published the following press release on the IOTA site:

One of the first actions of Islands on the Air (IOTA) Ltd., the new managers of the programme, has been to expand the application routes on IOTA’s existing software system to include Club Log QSO Matches. This is intended as the first step to the introduction of a much broader system of Paperless QSLing that is scheduled to be launched in the late Spring of 2017. Only a relatively small number of IOTA operations have been added at this time, mainly ones from islands which satisfy the criterion of one DXCC entity equals just one IOTA. This action was intended to provide a test run on how Club Log QSO matching would work in due course on the new IT system. Even so, modest as this approach is, more than 10,000 QSO matches were obtained in the first week, and the first IOTA 100 Island applications have been received using this option exclusively. As with all new IT enhancements there were a number of bugs and queries raised which have now been resolved. Finally, to make use of this additional feature, sign in to the IOTA website and go to https://www.rsgbiota.org/mycredits/ and click on Club Log QSO Matches. Bear in mind, this is not the full-blown system envisaged for introduction next year. We will expand the list of accepted operations over the coming weeks and months but, much as we would like to do more, it will be mainly in the area of recent operations from the rarer IOTA groups and, of course, ones that have uploaded logs to Club Log and indicated that they do not wish to delay or block IOTA QSO matching. G3KMA, 10 Jul 2016

Today I applied for an account on the RSGB IOTA site and wait for the passord from my local checkpoint.


In the meatime I spent a few hours in a holiday style IOTA contest operation as SV1XV/P from Lesvos Island, EU-049. Propagation was not great, and I notices short skip conditions, like working 5B4AIF on 28 MHz in mid-summer, indicative of a Sporadic E openning. Many thanks to Alex SV8QG for the support and logistics for this operation.

Σεμινάριο VHF από τον SV1DH

Χθές είχα την ευκαιρία να παρακολουθήσω το δεύτερο σεμινάριο για τα VHF στα γραφεία της Ε.Ε.Ρ. Ομιλητης ήταν ο Κώστας SV1DH και θέμα η διάδοση στις χαμηλότερες μπάντες VHF (50 και 70 MHz). 

Αναφέρθηκαν πολλά και ενδιαφέροντα που έχει συγκεντρώσει ο ομιλητής κατά την διάρκεια της μακροχρόνιας ερευνητικής του δραστηριότητα στο αντικείμενο και ιδίως στην διισημερινή διάδοση (Trans-Equatorial Propagation - TEP).

Καλύφθηκαν αρκετά σχετικά θέματα με ενεργό συμμετοχή μερικών μελών του ακροατηρίου. Κοινή παραδοχή ήταν η απογοητευτική ηλιακή δραστηριότητα στον τρέχοντα ηλιακό κύκλο, η οποία δεν επέτρεψε την ενεργοποίηση διαφόρων ανοιγμάτων.

ARRL Frequency Measuring Test, April 2016

The results of the recent ARRL Frequency Measurement Test (April 7, 2016) were published early this morning. Once again I managed to measure the frequency of K5CM with a pretty good accuracy of -0.44 Hz. 

I used a very basic setup, which consists only of my Icom IC-706 MkII tranceiver with a dipole antenna (currently near the ground, pending installation of a 4 m mast), a PC with a standard soundcard and the GB3RAL software, normally used to receive the 5290 kHz beacons.

The Icom radio has an option to display frequency with a precision of 1 Hz, instead of the 10 Hz display of other radios.

My metodology is to calibrate the whole system against stations CHU (7850 kHz) and  RWM (4996 kHz), and a GPS-referenced source on 10000 kHz. I produce a first degree calibration equation, which I use to correct the display of the radio with the actual FMT signal.

This time I concentrated on the 40 m CW transmission of K5CM. The 20 m path was closed and 80 m is too noisy at my location. On 40 m, near 7055 kHz, I measured a carrier frequency of 7055773.15 Hz instead of the correct value of 7055773.59 Hz (error -0.44 Hz), which I believe is a good achievement with such a basic setup.

Σεμινάριο VHF από τον SV1BJY

Παρουσίαση του bandplan των 2 m

Πως μπορώ να κάνω επαφές στα 2000 km ?

Το εκλεκτό ακροατήριο της διάλεξης

Ο ομιλητής εξηγεί τις διαδικασίες του meteor scatter.

Σήμερα είχα την χαρά να παρακολουθήσω ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον σεμινάριο στα γραφεία της Ε.Ε.Ρ. Ομιλητης ήταν ο Γιάννης, SV1BJY και θέμα η διάδοση στα VHF και ιδίως στους 144 MHz. Αναφέρθηκαν πολλά και ενδιαφέροντα που έχει συγκεντρώσει ο ομιλητής κυρίως από την συμμετοχή του στα διάφορα VHF contest, στα οποία συμμετέχει ανελιπώς.

Καλύφθηκαν όλα σχεδόν τα θέματα εκτός από το Aurora Propagation, το οποίο βέβαια είναι άγνωστο στην χώρα μας. Από τα πλέον ενδιαφέροντα ήταν η λεπτομερής περιγραφή της σκέδασης σε μετεωρίτες. Επίσης λίγα θέματα σχετικά με τα 23 cm και αρκετές αναφορές για τις επικοινωνίες στους 10 GHz και την σχετική τεχνολογία.



UPDATE: The four photographs were uploaded locally (2018-02-03)
 

SV1SIX beacon active again

After a few months of inactivity, 50 MHz beacon SV1SIX is back on the air. 

It transmits on 50040 kHz in F1A (frequency shift Morse code), sending the following message: SV1SIX LOCATOR KM17UX ATHENS 30W ERP.

Alternative site for Athens Digisonde

Today I discovered that the digisond of the National Observatory of Athens host an alternative website with different skin but with the same basic information. The address is http://noa-dps.astro.noa.gr/ and I don't know if it is a permanent service or some provisional or experimental feature.

Their main site at http://www.iono.noa.gr/ is again fully operational.

 

ADS-B broacast from a crane !

ADS-B plot from https://planefinder.net/

A strange marker shows up on ADS-B plots in the Docklands, near London City Airport. A relevant NOTAM has been issued, indicating that it is a fixed ADS-B beacon on a crane at a construction site:

Q) EGTT/QCBXX/IV/BO /AE /009/999/5130N00001E

A) EGLC

B) 16/01/28 23:59

C) 16/03/12 23:59

E) LOW POWER AUTOMATED DEPENDANT SURVEILLANCE-BROADCAST (ADS-B) TRANSMITTER OPR ON CRANE AT 513030N 0000057E (ROYAL VICTORIA DOCK). EQUIPMENT WILL NOT INTERACT WITH TCAS BUT MAY BE DETECTABLE ON TRAFFIC INFORMATION DEVICES AND DEPICT WITH CALLSIGN CRANE. PILOTS ARE REQUESTED TO IGNORE THIS TRANSMISSION DURING THIS TRIAL.

I believe it is the first time that a Mode-S/ADS-B marker is used in this way. Stay tuned for more info.

UPDATE 2016-05-17: See additional information by Pat Carty in Radio User magazine, 11 (5), May 2016, page 49, ISSN 1748-8117.
 

Meteo FAX on 7100 kHz

Surface analysis for N. Atlantic chart - 2016-01-18

Yesterday afternoon a meteo station started sending meteo charts by FAX on 7100 kHz (this is the USB dial frequency, "white" is on 7101.9 kHz). No station identification is sent but it is believed that it is a military station in the United Kingdom.