SM0FOB Ham Radio

Receiving PJ4C Bonaire 2012

2012-01-18T14:23:00.000+01:00

This morning before sunrise I did listen on QSOs with P4C Bonaire 2012 DXpedition. It was on the 80 m band. PJ4C was weak but readable using my G5RV antenna. Today sunrise here is at 08:16 and sunset at 13:11 UTC.

Bonaire in the Caribbean was part of Netherlands Antilles until the country´s dissolution on October 10, 2010, when the island (including the islet Klein Bonaire) became a special municipality within the country of the Netherlands.
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Winter Antenna

2012-01-17T14:44:00.000+01:00

Archives and TS-430S

2012-01-04T19:12:00.001+01:00

Last year I bought an old transceiver, the Kenwood TS-430S, to be used in the shack at my No. 2 QTH in northern Sweden. For some time I have tried to find an advertisement for it from that time when the radio was new on the market. Then I was informed that 73 Magazine could be found at Internet Archive. 73 Magazine was published for more than 40 years, from 1960 to 2003. I tried to download the 1984 December issue and there the advertisement was. I also read in it the regular Never Say Die editorial by the the famous Wayne Green, W9NSD/1. The editorial was about the death of amateur radio. A popular concept to write about over the years. Luckily this has still not happen. Today there is an all time high population in the U.S., 700,000 hams!

This old TS-430S radio works great. Below is a video clip when recently listening on 80 m on a pile-up for Pat, K6AAX/VY2 on Prince Edward island in Canada. I managed to work him using the TS-430S and a G5RV antenna hanging only 2.5 m above the ground. I have never before heard such strong signals from the other side of the Atlantic on that band.

I have a little archive in my iPad 2. The free iBooks app is a great tool for archiving and reading books, documents etc. . Below is a screen dump from part of my pdf archive using iBooks.

What a Flight!

2011-12-14T12:04:00.000+01:00

On December 12 (UTC) Ron Meadows, K6RPT, launched near San Francisco, two balloons equipped with APRS/GPS trackers transmitting data on 144.390 MHz. With aprs.fi it was possible to track the balloons. In the screen shot above it can be seen, that balloon K6RPT-11 shortly after its start has reached an altitude of 120 m. The green line with red dots shows its flight path.

In early morning on December 14, in Spain, the balloon K6RPT-11 almost passed over the city Cadiz. The altitude was 33,460 m and speed was 246 km/h! The radio signals was received by CT1END in Portugal. Flight time from start: now ca. 2 days and 6 hours.

The screen shot above is from my iPad 2 when I saw this happen live.

6 hours after passing the southern tip of Spain, the balloon bursted over the Mediterranean Sea. Altitude now 4,437 m and speed 56 km/h. Its last radio signals was received by EB6AOK on Menorca.

What a flight! Total flight time ca. 2 1/2 days. The other balloon, K6RPT-12, almost reached the US east coast.

Reading : California Near Space Project, ARRL

A Short Ham Radio Trip

2011-11-29T20:17:00.001+01:00

Today I took a short ham radio trip to nature reserve Bälingeberget. This reserve is a hilltop far up in northern Sweden. QTH locator is KP05wo. My second operator was Pepita, a Keeshond. The sun was soon down and temperature was -9 C. Strange is the little snow on ground at this time of the year. Rig was a Yaesu FT-857D and a G-Whip antenna tuned to 3.75 MHz. It was little activity and I managed only two SSB QSOs. One with another portable station in middle Sweden. Distance to him was approx. 750 km.

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It´s Dark Outside

2011-09-30T22:51:00.001+02:00

The last two days here in Jordbro, JO99bd, have been like summer days. But one cannot ignore that autumn is here and has arrived with yellow and red leaves. And the evenings are very dark outside. I live in a light polluted urban area, but sometimes the sky is full of visible stars. So it was tonight. With my birding spotting tube I could see the stripes on Jupiter, as well as some of its moons. The photo above was shot with a Sony NEX-5 with its zoom lens in the 18 mm position. The antenna is an old Diamond 5 band trap vertical for 80-10 m. Click on the photo for a better view.

SAC - Scandinavian Activity Contest CW

2011-09-19T16:40:00.000+02:00

The 24h Scandinavian Activity Contest CW took place on September 17-18. The photo shows Lasse SA0BJL and Lasse SM0FDO at the club station SK0QO and in preparation for the contest. The club station is located in beautiful surroundings close to the Baltic Sea.

A total of ca. 700 QSO´s was logged. Here you can see some of which Skimmer stations having received SK0QO sigs during the contest. The Skimmer stations do automatically report to the Reverse Beacon Network.
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Hunting Schumann Resonances

2011-09-16T11:54:00.000+02:00

Quote Wikipedia: The Schumann resonances are a set of spectrum peaks in the extremely low frequency portion of the Earth's electromagnetic field spectrum. Schumann resonances are global electromagnetic resonances, excited by lightning discharges in the cavity formed by the Earth's surface and the ionosphere.This global electromagnetic resonance phenomenon is named after physicist Winfried Otto Schumann who predicted it mathematically in 1952. Schumann resonances occur because the space between the surface of the Earth and the conductive ionosphere acts as a closed waveguide. The limited dimensions of the Earth cause this waveguide to act as a resonant cavity for electromagnetic waves. The cavity is naturally excited by electric currents in lightning. Schumann resonances appear as distinct peaks at extremely low frequencies around 7.83 (fundamental), 14.3, 20.8, 27.3 and 33.8 Hz.
Observations of Schumann resonances have been used to track global lightning activity. Owing to the connection between lightning activity and the Earth's climate it has been suggested that they may also be used to monitor global temperature variations. It has been speculated that extraterrestrial lightning (on other planets) may also be detected. A new field of interest using Schumann resonances is related to short-term earthquake prediction.
Today Schumann resonances are recorded at many separate research stations around the world. The sensors used to measure Schumann resonances typically consist of two horizontal magnetic induction coils for measuring the north-south and east-west components of the magnetic field, and a vertical electric dipole antenna for measuring the vertical component of the electric field. The Schumann resonance electric field amplitude (~300 microvolts per meter) is much smaller than the static fair-weather electric field (~150 V/m) in the atmosphere. Similarly, the amplitude of the Schumann resonance magnetic field (~1 picotesla) is many orders of magnitude smaller than the Earth magnetic field (~30–50 microteslas).

It is not an easy task to receive Schumann resonances, especially if you live in a radio polluted area, disturbancies from grid power, community trains exciting strong magnetic field, sound waves from nearby power heating stations and even electrostatic popping noise from flowers and trees in the garden! This has not scared Sven, SM5LE in building a station for reception of Schumann resonances. He is very fond of difficult technical challenges. In front of Sven is his vertical antenna for receiving the Schumann resonances´ electric field part. The big box contains an amplifier, built with a single transistor. The amplifier feeds his indoor PC sound card. The amplifier is battery operated and the battery is charged by solar power.

Sven points the trace of a Schumann resonance at 7.83 Hz. His attic is almost occupied by a loop antenna, which is near completion for receiving the magnetic field part of Schumann resonances.

A lot of information about receiving Schumann resonances and other very low frequency signals can be found in Renato Romero´s, IK1QFK, home page Radio waves below 22 kHz.

Live data can be seen from IK1QFK station.

Sven is the right guy for this type of complex technical design. In the 80´s he was a world first to receive the WAC diploma, Worked All Continents by moonbounce on 432MHz. In the 90´s he repeated this by building a moonbounce station at the then nearby club station SK0CC. My QTH is very bad for DXing on VHF and higher frequency bands. The only way is to point an antenna straight up in the sky. So, five years ago I built, with great assistance from Sven, a 1.8 m dish for receiving moonbounce signals on the 23 cm band. As receiving was successful with this small antenna Sven built a 2.2 m dish at his home. In two years time he received the WAC diploma for the 23 cm band. I think that he is the only one to have accomplished this with such a small moonbounce station. Three years ago I had my first 23 cm moonbounce QSO´s with my 1.8 m dish and only 70 W at the antenna feed. Also this with great assistance from Sven.
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Last Mission

2011-08-18T13:42:00.003+02:00

In 1944 the huge German battleship Tirpitz in Norwegian waters was a serous threat to allies convoys to Russian harbours in Barents Sea. The English had tried to sink her several times, both with submarines and planes, but without success.

On October 29 36 Lancaster bombers took off from Scotland. Weather was bad and when arrived above Tromsfjord in Tromsö, Norway, fog suddenly made Tirpitz unvisible. Heavy 5.4 tonnes bombs called Tallboy were dropped where they thought the ship was. No bombs did hit Tirpitz. The Lancaster bomber Easy Elsie was struck by anti-aircraft fire. The right outer engine stopped and one fuel tank was punctured. One hit knocked out the left inner engine and another fuel tank was punctured. The bomb shutters did open, which caused very strong air resistance. Flying Officer D.W. Carey then decided to take Easy Elsie to neutral Sweden. They landed near Porjus village in Lapland in northern Sweden. The landing was violent. The plane stood up on its nose but fell back. Carey hurt his left knee, but the rest of the crew were okey. Tirpitz was sunk on November 12 by another heavy bomber attack.

Source: Information material provided by Porjus Arkivkommitté on walls in a hut near the landing site.

Some days ago I did visit the landing site. I brought my QRP radio with me. I had a few CW contacts on 7 MHz with other portable ham radio stations in Sweden. More photos and info can be seen here.

Several other planes, from both allies and axis powers, performed emergency landings etc. in northern Sweden at that time. Below is material showing this. It is photographed this year at the Swedish Air Force Museum F21 in Kallax/Luleå.

NAC 144 MHz August 2011

2011-08-03T17:12:00.004+02:00

Yesterday evening the monthly Nordic Activity Contest was running on 144 MHz. I then made my car ready for the contest and drove up a nearby hill called Gruvberget in Boden. With an antenna on the car roof and a Yeasu FT-857D transceiver I was QRV for some hours. I was astonished to hear a Russian station and I was aware of that the station could be close to Barents Sea. And so it was. I did work RA1ZC in Zapolarny on CW with my call SM0FOB/2P. I also worked a few stations in Finland and some Swedish stations located south of my portable QTH in northern Sweden.

The excellent iPhone/iPod Touch app Maidenhead was used to see QTH locations on map and calculated distances and bearings. See screen dump above.

This is a video recording I made when the Finnish station OH8Z in Uleåborg also had a QSO with RA1ZC.

This is the portable 144/432 MHz antenna I used on the car roof. I think it is of a two element logperiodic design for each band. I bought it at the Friedrichhafen Hamvention five years ago.

The TRIO HAMCLOCK HC-1

2011-07-22T16:56:00.001+02:00

When visiting a flea market in town Boden in northern Sweden yesterday I did not expect to find any ham radio gear. But, there it was. I recognized it instantly. It was a japanese clock from the 70´s and designed for use by radio amateurs and manfactured by TRIO (Kenwood) in 1971. With this clock it is possible to see local time for different country call areas incl. GMT (UTC). The summertime was not invented in 1971 so no summertime with this watch. Nor the quartz clock was invented at that time. It is a fully mechanical watch. The battery winds the mainspring every 8 minutes. Would the clock start after possible 40 years not in use? Yes it did! This clock will definitively remain in my shack.

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Google found me!

2011-07-03T11:38:00.001+02:00

One year ago, looking out from my kitchen window a strange car appeared. A car with a similar look as in the photo above. Wow! Is it a crazy radio amateur visiting me? No it was not. I soon realized that it was the Google Street View Car. It is still a mystery for me how on 'Google Earth' they could find my place as this is not an official road. It is just an entrance road to where I live. Some maybe would have found this scary and a sort of an intruding act in their privacy life. Well, I do not care ... I am too old to bother ...

This is how it looks on Google Maps with Street View. My car is the one with a roof box. Google has censored the car number plates.

This is another view from my entrance road in Street View.

When using APRS ham radio this view can be found on aprs.fi.

Three days ago I visited the club house of the amateur radio club SK0QO. With APRS I could track my driving. With Street View it is possible to see where to turn off the main road to the club house. I have marked with red the SK0QO plate visible in Street View.
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Nordic Air Show 2011

2011-06-27T18:57:00.011+02:00

On June 19 there was a big flying event in northern Sweden, the Nordic Air Show 2011. The event, arranged by the Swedish Armed Forces had over 37,000 visitors. I took many photos and links to them are here:

Local battle - The Public - Baltic Bees - Spitfire - J 28 Vampire
Hawker Hunter - Draken - Lansen - UAV - Helicopter Hkp 15
Hercules - Gripen - F 18 Hornet - Museum - Radios - Danny lands

This was my first air show in 30 years. I tried to film with my DSLR´s, Canon 550D and Sony NEX-5. This was not easy without a live eye viewfinder, handheld, with a tele lens and in direct sun light. I would say that it is almost impossible to film flying fast objects handheld with this type of cameras.

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Out of the radio shack

2011-06-17T11:21:00.003+02:00

Yesterday I and Second Op. Pepita went to the Swedish nature reserve Storforsen. This reserve´s rapids in northern Sweden are the biggest in the Nordic countries. Here you can watch a short shaky video from our visit. I brought with me a Yaesu FT-857D transceiver in order to hunt for the SMFF Award. Up here in the north the HF bands are almost dead, but I managed to contact two CW stations on the 40 m band, SM5CNQ and OH3BHL.

Hunting for the SMFF Award has been increasingly popular in Sweden since its start in April this year. SMFF stands for Swedish Flora Fauna. It is about having radio contacts with hams in nature reserves/national parks. In Sweden there are about 3,500 of them. Some of them are easy to reach by car and some needs long walk to reach. This means low power and simple antennas and often CW.

Internationally this started earlier in Russia by WFF: An independent association for radio amateurs who like to combine the technical interest in physical activities and outdoor experiences.

Recommended frequencies to use are:

SSB: 3,744, 7,144, 14,244, 18,144, 21,244, 24,944 and 28,444 kHz

CW: 3,544, 7,024, 10,124, 14,044, 18,084, 21,044, 24,894 and 28,044 kHz

SMFF Award is organized by SK6AW, Hisingens Radio Club. They run a very nice and informative blog with an on-line radio log for the award participants. It is in Swedish, but do try Google Translate to understand what is going on.

NAC - Nordic Activity Contest on 144 MHz

2011-06-13T11:13:00.020+02:00

Photo June 7, 2011 - Camera Sony NEX-5, 18-55 mm zoom

I was active about one hour in the Nordic Activity Contest on 144 MHz on June 7, 2011. My QTH, KP05vs, was on a hilltop overlooking the nice view of the city Boden in northern Sweden. There are not so many radio amateurs active on the 144 MHz band up here. So if you can work a few of them you are lucky.

Video June 7, 2011 - Camera Sony NEX-5, 18-55 mm zoom - Edited with iMovie

The Ra 200 military transceiver

2011-03-28T17:13:00.002+02:00

In northern Sweden the Defence Museum, Boden has quite a big collection of old and not so old military radios. The soldier above is properly dressed for a possible nuclear attack during the Cold War. His winter suit is appropriate for the northern region. One radio manufactured during this dangerous time was the Swedish Ra 200. From 1958 2,000 Ra 200´s were delivered to the Swedish army by the company Standard Radio and Telefon AB.

This is the complete setup of the Ra 200, incl. the pedal operated generator, antennas etc.. Some years ago I had this complete radio setup. I used it on the 80 m cw band. It had a very characteristic sound on cw so many hams could instantely tell that it was a Ra 200 radio.

Here is a complete description of the Ra 200 made by SM7DLF. It is in Swedish. Try Google Translate for a translation.
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Bugs

2011-03-23T17:42:00.002+01:00

I enjoyed very much reading "Infested with Bugs" by Mike Ferro, N6GND in the February 2011 issue of CQ Amateur Radio. It is about how to adjust and operate three different kind of bug cw keyers. I have two bugs in my possession. I have never used them. Because they looked too complicated I believe.

This bug, the BUG 140, manfactured by a Swedish company in the 1940´s is a copy of the American MAC Key bug.

This bug is also a Swedish one, built by SM4WAW, Karlo Eleven.

Yesterday I was invited to have lunch with Göran, SM5XW and his XYL and also some of their friends. Göran is a former chairman of the Swedish Amateur Radio Society, SSA. Göran lives a walking distance from my QTH and he told me that Ingemar, SM0AIG would be there. Ingemar is the editor of the SSA web site. He is also the President of the Swedish High Speed Club, SMHC. I happened to know that Ingemar can operate a bug. So I brought with me my two bugs hoping that Ingemar maybe could show me how to adjust and use them. After a having a long and tasteful lunch we, Göran, Ingemar and I, wired up my bugs to Göran´s brand new Kenwood TS-590 transceiver. Below is a video showing what followed.

MNI TNX INGEMAR DE KJELL!!!
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Hunting noise at home

2011-03-13T15:36:00.000+01:00

I suppose that you nowadays as a radio amateur, and with many nearby neighbours, have the same radio disturbing environment as I do have. It is not easy for me to use the 160 and 80 m bands. The noise level here is very high. Weak stations are not heard. This situation has come to stay and we have to live with it. Normally, the worst disturbing sources are flat panel TV and PC displays. Many such displays are in the 24h on position. Even if they are shut off into a resting position they do disturb. Once I did have Philips TV 32" tube set, that in its off position was a stronger disturbing source than in its on position. One neighbour has a 60" plasma TV display. A very powerful jammer I can assure you. I can easily detect when he is using it. The sum of all neighbouring noise sources, incl. my own and excl. the jammer, results in a S8 reading on a receiver´s signal meter. I can reduce this reading by one S-unit, ca 5 dB, by switching off my own jammers. First you have to find them. With a simple AM receiver on the MW band it is easy to locate them.

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Radio pirates

2011-03-12T14:57:00.000+01:00

50 years ago commercial radio broadcasting was not allowed in Sweden. The Swede Jack Kotschack found the solution to bypass that situation. On March 8, 1961 he started broadcasting from a ship on international waters in the Baltic Sea, east of Stockholm. This radio station, called Radio Nord, on the medium wave band (498 m) became very popular. It had a 24h programme content with mostly pop music attracting young listeners. A content that the Swedish state owned broadcaster did not have room for in its two radio channels. Gramophone records, tapes etc. were handed over to the ship from airplanes. At the same time Britt Wadner broadcasted on the FM band from a ship in the waters between Sweden and Denmark. Her station was called Radio Syd at that time. Nord is north and syd is south in the Swedish language. Swedish government became very annoyed by this situation. From its view, this was a threat to the state owned broadcaster and its income from license fees. They also wanted to protect the citizens from radio commercials. They even discussed stopping Radio Nord by boarding the ship! After 16 months Kotschack had to stop Radio Nord. A new law in company with other countries was in place stating that it is illegal to broadcast from international waters. Sweden was the first country in Europe to use this law. Britt Wadner, the real radio pirate, did not stop until 1966. She was put into jail several times for not stopping her radio station! The Swedish state owned broadcaster got a third programme channel with pop music content as resultat of this. Today it has hard to understand that a government can control what citizens should like or not like to listen to.

To celebrate the brave man Jack Kotschack and his station Radio Nord a medium wave transmitter on 1,512 kHz (198 m) is in operation since 8 March for some days. The transmitter power is 1 kW. This 50th anniversary is called Radio Nord Revival.

The distance from the transmitter to my QTH is 42 km. The medium wave band is very noisy here, but I managed to somewhat copy Radio Nord Revival here this morning. The woman in the photo is not Britt Wadner. She is a crew member of the Radio Nord ship called Bon Jour. Jack Kotschack is the one thanking her at the time when Radio Nord had to shut off.

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First broadcast in Sweden

2011-03-10T14:37:00.004+01:00

The Radio Bunker in Boden, Sweden, 21 August 2009

This creepy building is in fact a historical radio monument in Sweden. From this site the first public radio programmes were broadcasted. The building is called the Radio Bunker and it was built during the WWI in 1916. It is surrounded by huge mountain fortresses far up in northern Sweden close to the town Boden. Still in the 1970´s this town was forbidden to visit by foreigners and the fortresses were kept secret. Today only one fortress is in use, now as a museum. This ugly looking radio monument is still covered with barbwire and sadly to say, money is lacking to restore it.

The first Radio Bunker crew in 1916 - Photo in the publication "Först i etern", 1995

This is Boden Radio´s radio operations crew in 1916 when the bombing safe Radio Bunker was ready to send and receive telegrams by sparking Morse code. Two Telefunken spark generator transmitters were used, 16 and 4 kW. The antennas were two 80 m long cage antennas supported by three 108 m masts. No mains power was available at that time. Instead a very big 800 Ah battery was used. The receivers were two crystal sets. On December 30, 1916 a first radio contact with Stockholm was tried. The wavelength was 2,500 m and the distance 800 km. Stockholm had a good reception, but Boden Radio could not receive signals from Stockholm.

Inside the Radio Bunker with the Erich F Huth telephony 1 kW transmitter

Photo in the publication "Först i etern", 1995

In beginning of 1920 rumors reached Boden that something called broadcasting had started in USA. In June 1920 in England the first radio programme was broadcasted by the Marconi company. In Sweden it all started one year later, in June 1921 in Boden. Boden Radio had this month installed its first telephony 1 kW transmitter made by the German company Erich F Huth. In the nearby city Luleå it was a an ongoing expo celebrating 300 years since city birth. A funnel gramophone was handed over to the Radio Bunker. The funnel was replaced by one made of paper and placed close to the transmitter´s microphone. See photo above. From July 3 expo visitors could then listen to gramophone records being played in the bunker and transmitted on 2,450 m wavelength. On July 12 Gustaf V, the Swedish king, was there too and listened. This was the debut of Swedish broadcasting!

The loudspeaker was not yet invented - Photo SVT Bild in "Kampen om monopolet", Prisma 1998

The interest in listening to radio programmes grew very quick. So quick that the government, as usual, in 1925 established a state owned company for programme production and letting the post & telegraphy administration handling both the studios and transmitters.

First radio speech by King Gustaf V in 1926

Photo SVT Bild in "Kampen om monopolet", Prisma 1998

In 1926 King Gustaf V made his first radio appearance, this time in Stockholm. What a nice looking performer, dressed in a light opera style uniform and a helmet with feathers on top! For beauty reasons the microphone was hidden in the flags in front of him. Because of the microphone distance he surely must have been shouting when performing his speech!

Update 28 March, 2011

I got an e-mail from Kjell, SM2AZH. He told me that the Huth telephony transmitter was of 1 kW brand and not 250 W. In 1958 the Boden Radio bunker became unmanned. Kjell also told me that he in 1963 worked at Boden Radio/SAI as a summer holiday-employee as a radio telegrapher. He is now very much involved in the process of restoring the bunker. On July 12 it is 90 years since the very first Swedish first broadcast transmission took place from the bunker. It will be a special celebration at the Defence Museum, Boden on that day.

On March 26 I visited the Defence Museum, Boden and listened to Bengt Lundberg and his interesting speech about the first official broadcast transmission in Sweden from the Radio bunker in Boden. Bengt is a former colleague of mine and he, like Kjell, is very much involved in the restoration process.
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Space Antennas

2011-02-27T15:20:00.001+01:00

Two weeks ago I did visit the exhibition NASA - A Human Adventure at the Technical Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. An exhibition with not only scale models from space exploration history, but also full scale models that cannot be distinguished from the original ones. As a radio amateur I had special interest in some of the antennas being shown :-)

This is the Russian Lunokhod (Moon walker) with is solar panel lid flung open. One antenna half is an ordinary helix UHF antenna, but what is the purpose of the other half? Anyone knows?

The Lunar Rover´s umbrella antenna has a black strange object at its back. What is it?

Update 6 April, 2011

It is possible to download from NASA the Lunar Rover Operations Handbook. On page 119 there is a drawing explaining that the black object is an optical sight.

This is Sputnik 1, the first satellite, weight 83 kg and diameter 58 cm. From Wikpedia I found following information about its antennas.

The satellite carried two antennas designed by the Antenna Laboratory of OKB-1 led by M.V.Krayushkin. Each antenna was made up of two whip-like parts: 2.4 and 2.9 metres (7.9 and 9.5 ft) in length, and had an almost spherical pattern, so that the satellite beeps were transmitted with equal power in all directions; making reception of the transmitted signal independent of the satellite's rotation. The whip-like pairs of antennas resembled four long "whiskers" pointing to one side, at equal 35 degrees angles with the longittudinal axis of the satellite.

Sound recognition

2011-02-21T19:14:00.001+01:00

Two marvelous IOS apps!

With Google Translate you can speak phrases in many languages and listen to the translation! For the Swedish language you can only listen the result in Swedish, i.e. English > Swedish. Of course you can also translate text. In the example above, using my iPod 4G, I say How are you and the listening result from the loudspeaker is Hur mår du in Swedish. No cost for the app!

With this amazing SoundHound app, songs and music heard on the radio or other devices can be identified in seconds. You can also sing or hum by yourself. I am a very bad singer, but I tried to sing Love me tender and to my astonishment the song was identified! Lyrics can als be collected. In the example above I did record on my iPod Touch 4G a song heard on the FM receiver. The song was quickly identified as The Indestructible by the Swedish singer Robyn. I tried to identify some very odd contemporary classic music and the app failed. This because I do think this music is too odd to be stored. No cost for this app!

Very Old Studio Microphones

2011-01-27T20:01:00.001+01:00

I have collected a few very old studio microphones being used in Sweden.

Telefunken carbon microphone (1925)
This microphone is of a Reiscz type and was the standard studio microphone until 1932. It is very heavy as the microphone housing is made of limestone. The weight is ca 3 kg! Nickname in Swedish is Sockerbiten as it looks like a lump of sugar.

Standard Electric electro-dynamic microphone (1932)
Made in England and has low noise, high dynamic range and a wide frequency range. It was used both as studio and outside microphones for a long time. Swedish nickname is Pralinen as it has a chocolate candy look.

Western Electric non-directional microphone (1936)
Made in U.S.A. and was used for interviews and as reporters microphone until end of the 50's. Swedish nickname is Kulan as it looks like a ball.

Below is a short video showing these microphones. I used an iPod Touch 4G as a camera to produce this video. With the recording app 8mm Vintage Camera it was possible to get the old BW movie scratchy look and with a projector sound in the background.

Receiving DAB and DAB+

2011-01-14T18:40:00.022+01:00

On September 27 in 1995, the public service broadcaster Swedish Radio was first in the world to start DAB - Digital Audio Broadcasting - as a trial and this one hour before BBC started. This timing mistake was because of that local time in Sweden is one hour ahead of England :-)

The Swedish trial became incredible long. The network covered for outdoor reception almost 70 % of the population. After numereous debates and investigations Swedish Radio, after more than 15 (!) years, still has the one and only DAB license. And the coverage is now also heavily limited for several reasons. Swedish politicians are very very interested in media and they are mostly to blame for this incredible DAB delay compared to other European countries. When satellite tv started they even discussed about prohibiting satellite reception dishes!

In the meantime DAB has evolved into DAB+ giving more programme channel capacity, better audio quality, more suitable for indoor reception etc.. Last year Teracom, the goverrnment owned broadcast networks operator, started a DAB+ trial in the Stockholm area and some other places. A Teracom DAB+ trial report can be downloaded here.

I used to have cars with DAB radios. My car now has an integrated car radio with no DAB. Recently it became possible to buy DAB/DAB+ adaptors here costing less than 125 USD. These adaptors can be connected to a possible low level audio signal input of a car radio, integrated or not. I bought one adaptor made by Argon. The manual can be downloaded here. I live about 30 km from the DAB/DAB+ transmitter site in Stockholm. With the adaptor and a telescoping antenna (not supplied with the adaptor) and connected to my kitchen radio audio input I did compare DAB and DAB+. Receiving DAB was not possible in the kitchen. DAB+ reception was good when adjusting the antenna and moving the adaptor a little for best reception. The DAB+ transmitter has 6 dB more power and the error correction scheme etc. gives another 2 dB gain, which of course is an advantage here for DAB+ trial. I did also compare DAB and DAB+ when driving. The telescoping antenna inside the car did not work so well. With a magnetic mount roof antenna both DAB and DAB+ worked excellent. See video below. Later on I will try to find and use a better car antenna solution for DAB. Some examples are here. I tried an active antenna for DVB-T and DAB for indoor use. The result was better than with the adaptor supplied wire antenna, but still not so good. This ca 1 m long wire antenna has a strange connector not suited for the adaptor antenna F-connector. I think that a home-made Slim Jim antenna made of 300 Ohm Twinlead and hidden behind a window curtain could be a better one. The DAB radio transmissions are normally vertically polarized. DAB is here received on 225.648 MHz (block 12 B) and DAB+ on 229.072 MHz (block 12 D).

This year the Swedish goverment has said it for the first time will issue DAB+ licenses to commercial radio broadcasters. I cross my fingers! Yes we do have commercial radio broadcasters in Sweden, but only since 1993!

Received DAB and DAB+ programmes in Jordbro,
QTH locator JO99bd:

Spacewatch

2011-01-04T11:55:00.000+01:00

Yesterday evening here in Sävast in northern Sweden (QTH Loc. KP05vs) the Aurora oval from NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center seemed to touch my location. Outside it was starry and cold, minus 20 C, and yes the Aurora was there!

This was my first shot with my miracle camera, the Sony NEX-5. Handheld in auto mode the camera choosed 3.2 s exposure time. Couldn´t have been easier to shoot my very first Aurora photo.

Here the camera is on a tripod.

The Orion´s belt was easy to find this starry evening.

Some stars and Nebulas in the Orion constellation. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star, which maybe will became a supernova in thousand years time. If at the center of our Solar system its surface possible would reach the orbit of Jupiter! Rigel is a blue supergiant. More info is here.

The discs in the photo are ice crystals in the air close to the camera, seen by reflecting street lights.

And on the following morning, on January 4, a by the Moon 80 percent covered Sun disc should have been seen if not the clouds were there :-( I did notice that it became darker.

Receiving JT65-HF sigs

2010-12-30T15:19:00.000+01:00

Bought the November issue of CQ Magazine. This magazine is always one month late in Swedish magazine stores and the cost is almost tripled from 6 USD in the U.S.A. to 15 USD here. In this issue is a comprehensive article about JT65A modes: Communicating Under the Noise JT65A on HF - Part II by W6DTW and NW7US. With nothing special to do this afternoon up i northern Sweden, snowing and cold outside, I decided to do a receiving test and downloaded the JT65-HF software. After program set-up I did register on http://jt65.w6cqz.org/newuser.php and started the map on http://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html. As a receiver I did use my Yaesu FT-817 on 14.076 MHz. No physical connection between my MacBook and the FT-817, only high loudspeaker volume. You need to have an Internet connection. My antenna was the dog´s wire. After ca 15 minutes of decoding a DX was received, YV6BFE in Venezuela. The distance between us is 8,933 km.

Unmanned mini space shuttle

2010-12-04T09:17:00.000+01:00

More space. Have you heard of XB-37B? Well I have not until yesterday when news was published about a successful XB-37B landing after 220 days in space. This unmanned (!) US Air Force secret space plane looks like a mini version of NASA´s space shuttle. It is built by Boeing (photo credit below). At www.space.com there are several photos and they have produced graphics explaining the XB-37. The XB-37 is 9 m long and its wing span is 4 meters and the weight is 5,000 kg. Read about possible use of this space plane at Universe Today.

Ham Radio on board ISS

2010-11-28T11:13:00.001+01:00

A NASA video inside the International Space Station. Commander Doug Wheelock is great in showing parts of the station and operating ham radio. If possible use the 720p video mode and use a big screen. The video quality is amazing.

Expedition 25 commander Doug Wheelock gave a tour of the Russian segment of the orbiting complex, including the Soyuz spacecraft docked there. Wheelock showed off the station's HAM radio, using the call sign "NA1SS," to talk with people on the ground as the station flies overhead at 17,500 miles per hour. Wheelock, and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchickin all will return home to Earth this Thursday, Nov. 25, 2010.

U.S. Army Colonel Doug Wheelock flew aboard the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft to serve as an Expedition 24 flight engineer and commander of Expedition 25 on the International Space Station. In 2007, Wheelock visited the station as an STS-120 mission specialist and conducted three spacewalks.

Update December 2: This is the video showing Expedition 25 landing in Kazakhstan on November 26:

Meat and Blu-ray

2010-11-16T07:49:00.000+01:00

This full page advertisment could be seen in the Swedish daily news paper Svenska Dagbladet on Saturday November 13. The Swedish food chain ICA Maxi wants you to buy a tenderloin steak for 25 USD/kg and a Blu-ray player for 100 USD. Maybe this is a hint of possible food integration with electronics in the future :-)

Dog Antenna

2010-11-04T16:05:00.001+01:00

Arrived in "Northland" (Norrland) in Sweden a couple of days ago. A 13 hours night train trip from Stockholm to Boden. Brought with me my Yaesu FT-817 QRP transceiver, but forgot the antenna tuner and some other necessary radio stuff. From the house balcony here in Boden a steel wire is running. A wire with a dog lead. Hmm ... this could maybe be of use as an antenna. Tried to load it and the FT-817 SWR meter showed very high SWR, almost infinity I would guess. Called my friend Einar, SM5CBC. He has good ears and is a CW man. With his new Yaesu FT-897 transceiver set to 5 W output he called me on the QRP frequency 3.560 MHz. It was solid copy here and after some mixing with the station earth he could copy me and on 7.030 MHz as well. After that I have had some SSB and CW QSO´s on the 80 and 20 m bands. I am not sure of that I can recommend a dog antenna :-)

Practising the Sony NEX-5 camera

2010-10-22T12:38:00.001+02:00

Maybe it is of interest to see my result by practising a Sony NEX-5 camera. Last week I was on a birding trip to southeastern Sweden. A perfect opportunity the use my new camera. Still no user camera manual or iMovie instruction being read. Here are links to my attempt and not so perfect edited video "memory clips":

Tawny Owl
Birders on Öland (from still photos)
Driving for a Pacific Golden Plover
Birding in Seby
Ottenby Bird Station
Bookshop Naturbokhandeln
Birding in Ottenby
Birding in Beijershamn

Russian space store

2010-10-22T10:40:00.002+02:00

This is a must see. Unique photos from the Moscow Aviation Institute can be watched here. Among many photos is one of a lunar lander meant for a manned landing! Also nice photos of different antennas can be seen. This made me remember a space exhibition called Man in Cosmos in 1966 at the Technical Museum in Stockholm. It was mostly filled with space things from Russia. The exhibition was opened by Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space.

Also the U.S. astronout John Glenn was there. The first american to orbit the Earth. One thing I do remember very well was a rather big round space capsule for housing cosmonouts. The interior gave me Jules Verne vibes. Round windows and a brass holding bar was the only fitting. It was used in space as can be seen in the video below. It would be nice to know if anyone reading this may know any details about the capsule. In January next year the the Technical Museum will host a very big space exhibition again called NASA - A Human Adventure, a world premiere.

Many thanks to Lars Sundin for providing the photos above

The digital camera Sony NEX-5

2010-10-11T17:01:00.003+02:00

The micro 4/3 system was created in 2008 by some Japanese camera manufacturers. Unlike SLR cameras, micro 4/3 cameras use no mirror and the lenses are interchangeable. The camera body can then be made small. I recently (yesterday) bought such a very small camera. It is a Sony NEX-5 and in the photo you can see its size compared to an iPod Touch. It is so small that the attached lens (18-55 mm zoom) is bigger than the camera body.

I use my cameras quite often, mostly outdoors. I am a point-and- shoot photographer. I almost never use the possibilities to adjust the camera settings. I trust the camera green shoot button. Manipulating a picture with a software like Photoshop is absolutely too complex for me and I have no time for it.

With adaptors it is possible to use lenses of other brands. Even old analogue camera lenses can be used, but with some restrictions of course. As I am a birder it would be nice to attach this little Sony camera to my spotting tube. I think that would be possible. One adaptor producer is the German company Novoflex.

What interests me a lot lately is shooting videos. The Sony camera specs are outstanding for such a small camera. The CMOS sensor can register 14.2 million pixels and its size, 23.4x15.6 mm, is even a little larger than my Canon 550D sensor. When it comes to video shooting in hd the AVCHD format is 1920x1080i. Recently I have shifted over from the PC world to Apple. I am using a MacBook 13.5". The MAC software for photos and videos suites me very well.

Today I tested how the iMovie software can handle editing a mix of video clips from Canon 550D (mov files) and Sony NEX-5 (AVCHD format files). Without installing the disc accompanied the NEX-5, the import of AVCHD files went automatic when using iMovie. It was very easy to edit the clips. No troublesome format conversion etc. was needed. The Canon 550D was handheld with its 300 mm tele lens. The tele has an image stabilizer, but even then it is almost impossible to get shake-free video clips. I used the iMovie software stabilizer on all 550D clips. It helped, but maybe i would have preferred the clips being shaky. The Sony NEX 18-55 mm lens has an in-built stabilizer. This test movie was very quick to edit and without having to read any manual :-)

Morse with Bebot

2010-10-03T16:27:00.000+02:00

With the iPhone/iPod Touch app Bebot - Robot Synth you can play and compose synth music. I tried to do a different cw sound with it.

Here is a Bebot demonstration by a professional.

Antique vacuum tube

2010-09-08T16:53:00.002+02:00

At the SK0QO Field Day on Sep 4 I met Hiro, 7K1PYG (to the right) and Hisashi Ohtsuka. I have met Hiro earlier some years ago. Also that on a field day, close to the Technical Museum in Stockholm, when Hiro was QRP´ing on 20 m I think. Hiro is well known as biking with his QRP station in Japan. Besides ham radio he practises research about production of silicon carbide semiconductors. Hisashi Ohtsuka is a researcher in the UEC Communication Museum in Tokyo. His special interest is in vacuum tubes and the museum has a huge collection of tubes. He was here in Sweden to collect on loan from the Technical Museum a very unique old tube. A von Lieben tube used before the radio tubes were invented. This rare tube is saught after by collectors. In an auction 2003 one tube was sold for 14,500 USD, a sales record for a tube. The tube is very fragile and Hisashi told me that they have prepared a special exhibition stand that will prevent the tube to be destroyed from earth quake shakings. Below he showed me an article about the tube collection in the japanese CQ Ham Radio magazine.

This is the Lieben tube before packing it for transportation to Japan.

SK0QO Field Day

2010-09-08T12:23:00.000+02:00

On September 4-5 the amateur radio club SödRa SK0QO held its annual Field Day. This time on a new location with the club´s first own house. This is a nice place on Gålö (used to be an island) near and south of Stockholm. Only 100 meters to the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea makes it a very good location for hf radio operation. It was nice weather and a friendly atmosphere as usual. Below is a photo of Anders SM0DXG showing his 50 W (!) FM HT for 145 MHz. And further below is a short video from the event.

Flight tracks

2010-09-08T11:48:00.000+02:00

About 60 % of passenger aircraft are carrying ADS-B transponders which can be received on the ground. The app Flight Radar 24 use ADS-B receivers to visualize flight tracks on a map. See a crowded Europe below this morning.

By zooming in on the map you can follow individual flights live. By touching on the aircraft 38,000 feet above the island Gotland in the Baltic Sea I got some short info and then touching the arrow I got detailed info, even with a photo of the aircraft type.

Weather conditions

2010-09-08T11:07:00.000+02:00

For iPhones etc. exist many apps telling you weather condtions all over the world. I am mostly using an app called AeroWeather. This app tells you accurate weather conditions at airports. Where I live weather complaints are usually about how cold it is outside. When this happens I can ask: Do you know how cold it is at the South Pole at this very moment? Showing the answer with this app makes people stop talking about the local weather. E.g. the temperature this morning at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is -66 deg C (-151 deg F)!

The temperature is so low at the station that the web camera cannot be used. Instead they are linking to a stunning aurora australis video. Below is a station photo from July 2005 by Chris Danals.

100 years since first flight in Sweden

2010-08-23T07:11:00.004+02:00

To celebrate the first flight in Sweden 100 years ago the old aircraft a Blériot XI/Thulin type A, license built in Sweden in 1918, made its premier flight in Stockholm this weekend. I do remember this aircraft as a little kid visiting the Technical Museum in Stockholm and seeing it hanging in the museum roof. This museum aircraft has probably never being used other than to provide spare parts. The brave pilot this time was Mikael Carlson and he says as this aircraft has no instruments you have to fly it by feeling it! Below are two videos provided by the Technical Museum, one is showing the rollout to the "grass airfield" close to the museum and the other showing Mikael Carlson making a pre-flight test with the renovated Blériot before the airshow the following day. The drawing above is from the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet on August 20.
Update Sep 8: Tomas P told me that this aircraft has no throttle control. Instead the engine is switched on and off!

Build your own flying Blériot! The Swedish company MJD Models has a limited supply of building kits.

Gotland

2010-08-08T14:55:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we took a fast going car ferry from Nynäshamn to Gotland. Travel time only 3 1/2 hours. Gotland is the largest island in the Baltic Sea. The island is very popular during summer holidays.

We have rented this nice cottage built in an old style called post-and-plank in English. This type of house on Gotland is called bulehus in Swedish.

I got permission today to try my FT-817 in the car. No luck, no answers on 80, 40 or 6 meters. I should have brought with me a more powerful radio and wire antennas.

Instead we picked dewberries for a possible pancake later on :-)

Northern events

2010-07-25T14:59:00.005+02:00

During summertime many towns in Sweden house special markets during one weekend. On July 17 we visited such a summer market in Överkalix in northern Sweden, close to the Arctic Circle. Some 10,000 visitors during three days are passing this very long street filled with sellers trying to pursuade you to buy cheap clothes, local handicraft and food etc..

This guy is making a fortune by selling bread while his partner behind him is baking it. The sign behind him says that this bread is a genuine sami glow cake - more thicker, salty, sweet and more stiff ... hell ... hi ... little more of everything and very tasty.

Most males up here in the north do game hunting, especially Elk in the autumn, and also fishing. On display on the market street the local hunters club had several Eurasian Lynx fur trophies. This cat is very rare in Sweden. The population is estimated to be only 1,500 individuals and this in a country as large as France. I have difficulties in understanding why people do practise hunting rare animals as a hobby..

The local amateur radio club SK2HG from Kalix was there and showed this more nature friendly type of hobby. Inverted V´s for 80 and 20 m bands was up on flag poles. Gunnar, SM2IUF operates the radio trying to attract market visitors. Sigvard, SM2EJE is sitting to the left. Outside the photo is Håkan, SA2APO.

SK2HG is organizing the great and annual Seskarö Field Day. This year on August 13-15. In an article from 2008 in the NSD news paper, describing the activities at the Seskarö Field Day that year, Yngve, SM2YIP is interviewed. Yngve has a "true" definition of a radio amateur:

- A genuine radio amateur can talk endlessy about nothing

And in the same news article Rune, SM5COP has a "true" definition of what amateur radio is:

- Amateur radio is something else than Internet. It is difficult to explain. It is about all what is around us, and not inside any cables.

In the late evening same day we drove to the Flakasand Blues & Rock Festival. What a magic place out in no-where this was! Great artists performing in sunlight in the middle of the night. Located on a beach along the big wild Kalix river. A river that receives its water from the highest mountains in Sweden 400 km away. See video below and some photos here. We drove by car 500 km and every kilometer was worth it.

Greetings from space

2010-07-15T15:26:00.002+02:00

While driving in the evening here up in northern Sweden on July 13th I suddenly heard packet signals on 145.825 MHz. I quickly changed my APRS frequency 144.800 MHz on the Kenwood TM-D700 to 145.825 MHz. On the control head screen the text "73´s from space" popped up. It was a status message from Enzo, IW0FKO in Italy. I sent him an email and asked him if he had transmiited via a satellite or the International Space Station (ISS)? He replied:

Good day Kjell !!!! Wow ! 2706 km from my QTH you are my first heard to this distance!

He told me that he has a Facebook blog dedicated to ISS. I also did receive from Enzo instructions how to set up my TM-D700 for ISS. I tried yesterday from my car without success. The ISS signals were too weak because of the very low elevation. I will try more from better QTH´s. My APRS satellite call is SM0FOB-10.

ISS live real time position can be seen at http://www.n2yo.com

NAC 144 - July 2010

2010-07-08T22:14:00.001+02:00

The Nordic Activity Contest 144 MHz took place on July 6. Being up in northern Sweden as SM0FOB/2 I took my little car and drove up to a little mountain nearby my stay in Sävast, Boden. It was nice to sit inside with millions of mosquitos outside and practise some contesting on VHF.

50 MHz Balcony

2010-07-02T21:40:00.002+02:00

I am up in northern Sweden as SM0FOB/2 and not so far from the Arctic Circle. The Sun is down only for 1 1/2 hours and the conditions on the HF bands are noneexistant. But on 50 MHz there are openings almost every day. I have a very primitive set-up for 50 MHz on a balcony. An old 144 MHz 5/8 lambda whip antenna with magnetic mount is hanging losely upside down on a gutter. The antenna acts as an 1/4 lambda on 50 MHz and the gutter as the ground plane. The rig is a Yaesu FT-857D transceiver. I have liimited the output power to 40 watts because it may be some hazardous risk sitting so close to the antenna :-) The power supply is a car battery. With this set-up I worked JW7QIA on Svalbard on June 27.

Modifierad Mini-Paddle

2010-06-14T15:37:00.000+02:00

Sorry - This text is in Swedish as parts descibed below are probably only available in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.

Palm Radio:s manipulator med dubbelpaddlar, avsedd för t ex transceivrar med inbyggd elbugg, är liten och nätt och mycket behaglig att använda. Paddlarna kan skjutas in så att de är skyddade vid transport. Förutom fast montage kan manipulatorn alternativt sättas fast med de två små starka inbyggda magneterna utifall passande underlag finns tillhands.

Mindre bra är att den veka anslutningskabeln inte är klamrad och har hos mig lossnat i lödningarna flera gånger. En av magneterna har också lossnat och försvunnit.

Problemet med anlutningskabeln löstes genom att borra ett hål i sidan och montera dit en 3.5 mm stereo chassikontakt och ansluta den till manipulatorns lösa kabelanslutningskontakt. Paddlarna kan då inte längre skjutas in, något som jag dock inte upplever som någon nackdel. 3.5 mm proppens anslutningar (vad som ger korta respektive långa tecken) kan variera för äldre transceivrar och hembyggen så därför använder jag mig av 2 st anslutningskablar, 0.5 m långa, med RCA-dubbelhane i ena änden och 3.5 mm stereopropp i den andra. RCA-ändarna kopplas ihop med RCA-dubbelhonor. Genom att skifta ihopkopplingen med hylsorna kan vad som med respektive paddel ska bli korta respektiva långa tecken bestämmas. Det kan också vara praktiskt om man är vänsterhänt.

På Biltema kan det hittas mycket användbart för amatörradio. Jag hittade där en avdragarplatta. I den kan manipulatorn lätt sättas fast och lossnas. Den är tillräckligt tung och flyttar inte så lätt på sig. Genom att lägga en liten bit antislirmatta under plattan så rör den sig inte alls. Mycket praktiskt att ha i bilen då manipulatorn tillsammans med avdragarplattan och den lilla antislirmattan kan placeras på instrumentbrädan och där användas. Något som inte funkar med de inbyggda magneterna. Och så ser det ganska space-aktigt ut :-)

50 MHz indicator for radio conditions

2010-06-12T10:08:00.001+02:00

The TV transmitter in St. Petersburg in Russia, channel R1 49.750 MHz video carrier can be used as a radio conditions indicator for meteor scatter, aurora and sporadic E. In this recording on June 12, 04:48 UTC you can hear the video carrier reflected by meteor ionized trails, one longer burst peaking S7 on the receiver display and one shorter peaking S6. There are also several other not so loud reflections. My receiving site was near Stockholm in Sweden, J099bd and the antenna was a quarter wave vertical antenna almost indoors. The distance to St. Petersburg is 700 km. Of course this indicator can also be used as an indicator for the 144 and 432 MHz bands. The analogue terrestrial TV transmissions in St. Petersburg will be changed to digital, started in 2010 so this indicator cannot then be used. Listening on a digital terrestrial TV transmission sounds like noise and is therefore of no use as an indicator. A digital TV transmitter´s output power is also much lower than an analogue one.

Mobile on the 6 m band

2010-06-09T16:08:00.000+02:00

When preparing at home for my portable operation on Muskö island the 6 meter band opened. Therefore I brought with me an old mobile whip antenna for the 2 meter band. This type of antenna, a magnetic mount 5/8 lambda vetical also acts as an 1/4 lambda on the 6 meter band. This is my log excerpt:

As you may see in the log I had an excellent mobile QSO with LA9AKA in Tromsö in the very far north of Norway when leaving my portable QTH on Muskö island. This was my very first mobile QSO on the 6 meter band since Swedish PTT some years ago allowed ham radio in this band. This happened because of shut-down of analogue TV. I am happy to maybe have contributed a little to make this happen because of my former involvement in the development of terrestrial digital TV :-) The YouTube video clip below is a recording I made just after when finished my QSO with LA9AKA. It is LA9AKA having a QSO with YL2CP i Latvia on 50 MHz. The clips ends when I am driving into the road tunnel leaving Muskö island.

NAC 432 MHz

2010-06-09T15:33:00.000+02:00

Yesterday evening, June 8, it was time for the monthly NAC Tuesday contest, this time on 432 MHz. As on the NAC 144 MHz I choosed a location in the QTH locator square JO98. This time on the Muskö island. The island is connected to the mainland by a long road tunnel below (!) sea level in the Baltic sea.

I was active for only 2 hours. Not so many mosquitos this time and I heard the Corncrake bird (kornknarr) for the first time in my life. The conditions were not so good and the QTH, almost at sea level, is not so suitable for working UHF.

Musköbasen, one of the largest underground naval bases in the world was built on Muskö island during the cold war in the 60´s. Nowadays the the ship maintenace work is privatized and the Swedish Navy still have some activities there. The former navy center on Muskö is moved to Karlskrona in southestern Sweden. Photo credit Kockums AB.

NAC 144 MHz

2010-06-02T20:19:00.000+02:00

Yesterday evening, June 1st, it was time for the monthly NAC Tuesday contest on 144 MHz. Now I could test my HB 6 element yagi again. To make contesters happy I choosed a location in the QTH locator square JO98. There are no active VHF hams living in this square and it is not so easy to find suitable portable locations for VHF. Therefore this square is wanted by many hams in Europe. It has ranking place 26 of 2,203 squares.

I was only active for 1 1/2 hours, Too many mosquitos ... and I had to climb over a barber wire fence when I had to point the antenna .... This is the result with my QRP station:

Below are two maps generated from the Find QTH Locator site showing that the JO98 square mostly "consist" of sea water.

Cheap yagis without needing to drill booms

2010-05-29T20:48:00.000+02:00

It is rather difficult to drill holes exactly in round booms for yagi elements. I have built some more WA5VJB yagis using plastic tube booms and simple ways to attach the elements to the boom. The elements are then very easy to adjust for exact positioning. The photo below shows a 144 MHz 4 element WA5VJB yagi with a plastic tube boom.

Here are many photos showing how this is done. The text is in Swedish, but I think you still can understand the construction.

My earlier blog posts about other WA5VJB yagis I have built:
Cheap 144 and 432 MHz yagis for portable use
Field testing the cheap 144 yagi
Field testing the cheap 432 yagi

The Mizuho MX-7S QRP SSB/CW transceiver

2010-05-29T17:21:00.003+02:00

When visiting ham radio flea markets it happens that I found items that "might be useful somtime". This time in Nykvarn I definitevely found such an item. Little money for a Mizuho MX-7S QRP SSB/CW transceiver was irrestisibly. The transceiver in mint condition was sold by Rolf, SM0LJF. It covers 7.000 7.050 MHz and the output power is 2 W.

Rolf has replaced the battery holder with an electronic CW keyer.

Flea market in Nykvarn

2010-05-29T17:02:00.001+02:00

The Swedish radio club SK0MK - Mälardalens Radioamatörer - held its annual leaf market in Nykvarn 50 km SW of Stockholm. It is a small and nice market where you have time to meet old friends and meet radio amateurs you have not met before. This is Hasse, SM0BYD who is a regular visitor. He is a CW champion and I have seen him in action!

She told me that it is the XYL´s duty to carry her husband´s beloved HB9CV antenna!

This is Nils, SM5EIT. I have not met him before. I just took this photo of Nils resting beside the table with ICOM´s new transceiver IC-7600 on it.

The surroundings are lovely. This couple did not attend the leaf market of course. They were posing for a wedding photo.

Some more photos can be seen here.

Satellite eagle update again

2010-05-27T07:51:00.001+02:00

The screen dump below shows the latest Great Spotted Eagle´s track. At the Swedish birders Club300 Forum Brevduvan the birder Tobbe Berger has made an analysis of the flight track on May 23 to 25. Sorry this text is in Swedish and I do hope that Google Translate possible can make an understandable translation for you.

Den 23:e maj flög Tönn från Hammarö i Värmland till Båden på östra sidan av mellersta Öland på nio timmar. Flygrutten var 36 mil lång vilket motsvarar en medelhastighet på 40 km/h. Nämnas kan dock att då Tönn passerade Degerfors var hastigheten 73 km/h och höjden 675 meter. Därefter sänkte sig Tönn något förbi Linköping och Kisa (mellan 277 resp. 367 m) för att sedan ladda upp rejält inför språnget över till Öland. I höjd med Mönsterås var höjden hela 973 meter och hastigheten 80 km/h! Tönn har sedan sträckt in över Borgholm eller strax söder därom. Från Båden har vår örn sakta dragit sig söderut för att sedan övernatta vid Ekelunda (inte Triberga). Redan klockan nio på morgonen den 24:e hade en förflyttning gjorts och nu befann sig Tönn vid en talldunge väster om Triberga, återigen rastande. Efter en snabbvisit i Blekinge så återkom Tönn till ön på morgonen den 25:e då han drog sig österut över Stora alvaret klockan 09, för att sedan vika av norrut. Därefter observeras fågeln av skådare vid bland annat Gårdby sandhed 09:30 och Melösa 10:30 innan nästa satellitnotering görs vid Persnäs långt norrut på ön kl 11. Då flygriktningen är sydost då avläsningen görs så cirklar uppenbarligen Tönn, som nu nått en höjd av 531 meter (att jämföras med 243 över Stora alvaret). Den sista avläsningen görs sedan 2,5 mil WNW om Ölands norra udde, närmare bestämt i skärgården utanför Misterhult, Oskarshamns kommun. Höjden är nu 68 meter och hastigheten 48 km/h. Jag har dålig erfarenhet av hur stora rovfåglar flyger över hav (Nabben - Falsterbo, Gibraltar osv), men om Tönn tog höjd någonstans på nordligaste Öland och sedan höll en rak kurs mot Misterhult, så bör han ha sträckt ut och lämnat Öland i höjd med Byxelkrok (om man följer flygriktningen i Misterhult bakåt). Nu kommer vi, tyvärr, få vänta till fredag innan sändaren skickar nästa "rapport". Fortsatte Tönn norrut längs Smålandskusten?

Otroligt vilken inblick man kan få i fåglarnas värld tack vare dessa projekt med sändare, jag tycker det är hur faschinerande som helst!

Tobbe Berger

Link to the Migration Map http://birdmap.5dvision.ee/index.php?lang=EN&curr_year=2010&curr_season=Spring&selFreq=multi

Satellite eagle update

2010-05-26T07:53:00.000+02:00

The satellite tx equipped Great Spotted Eagle has been observed by several birders in Sweden. Its latest position yesterday was in Karlskrona on the southeast coast of Sweden. See the observations spots below. No photos yet.

The Eagle has landed

2010-05-23T11:00:00.004+02:00

The Eagle has landed! Not on the Moon this time, but in Sweden. Yesterday it could be seen on a live map that a Greater Spotted Eagle had landed in central Sweden. The eagle is wearing a GPS receiver and a very small satellite transmitter transmitting position data. This is made possible by the Eagle Club of Estonia and the EU financed project Life. The primary objective of the project is to guarantee the survival of the endangered species of the Black Stork, the Lesser Spotted Eagle and the Greater Spotted Eagle in Estonia

Today the eagle has flown further west in Sweden.

This is a closer view of today´s landing location. You can be sure of that many Swedish birders now are driving to this location to have a possible close look.

The eagle is "christened" Tönn by the Eagle Club of Estonia (photo credit below). The link address to where you can follow Tönn´s and other birds flight on the map is:

http://birdmap.5dvision.ee/index.php?lang=EN&curr_year=2010&curr_season=Spring&selFreq=multi

On the Eagle Club´s web site you can watch a stunning 50 minutes eagle video. If you cannot find it, it is here.

Now in the bird spring migration period here in Sweden my focus is to be out in the nature surroundings and watching birds and flowers. You can see many of my photos etc. in my blog Mina krysslistor. It is in Swedish, but I think you can use Google translate to understand a little of what´s in there.

Military radios

2010-05-22T21:31:00.002+02:00

On May 15-16 a fair for game hunters was held near Örebro in Sweden. On display were the Swedish Civil Guard and its partner FRO, The Swedish Voluntary Radio Organisation. There I met Björn SM4UOM and Maria SM4FXR showing some radios in use by the FRO. The closest two green radios are the Ra 145 VHF FM transceivers, 30.00-75.95 MHz and 920 channels. The Swedish army bought them from USA in the 60´s (PRC-25). The green radio behind the two Ra 145´s is the Ra 180 developed and built by Ericsson in the 80´s. It can be used for FM and data traffic. It was a rather sophisticated radio at that time using e.g.frequency hopping techniques. Frequency range is 30.0 to 87.975 MHz and 2,320 channels. The radio to the right is a somewhat modified ICOM IC-707 HF transceiver.

Nice weather radio setup

2010-05-22T09:55:00.003+02:00

Summer is approaching here and it is time to test som ham radio equipment for comfortable outdoor use. When it is nice weather of course :-) Last autumn I bought a military surplus antenna mast from the 70´s. It consist of four 2 m glass fiberglass tubes which makes the mast height 8 m. The weight of the complete package is only 10 kg. I tried to raise the complete 8 m mast by myself. I couldn´t. It was to dangerous. Even with three sections I found it difficult. You must be two to raise the complete mast. Two sections is more comfortable and then you do not need any guy wires just an earth anchor screw. The antenna manual (in Swedish) can be downloade here.

And this is the trial result in my little garden. The 6 element homebrew yagi on top of the two sections antenna 4 m mast.

And here in the garden in this sunny and warm morning on May 21 I had a ring QSO on 144.286 MHz with Seth SM0AGP, "Rolle" SM0EZZ, "Kurre" SM5RT and Thord SM4BDQ.

Below is a video recording when receiving the 144.412 MHz beacon SK4MPI near Borlänge in Sweden. The distance from my home QTH in JO99bd to the beacon in JP70nj is 218 km and the bearing is 311 deg. The beacon e.i.r.p. is 1,500 W, QTF is 45/315 deg and its antenna system 4x6 el yagis.

Field testing the cheap 432 yagi

2010-05-12T18:38:00.001+02:00

Yesterday it was the regular NAC contest again, now on the 70 cm band. So I went to the same place as last week, but now with my homebrew 11 element 432 MHz yagi. I was there for an hour mostly listening and checking the antenna performance. I worked a few stations on CW and SSB. My power at the the antenna feed was approx. 10 W and the rig being used was a Yaesu FT-857D. The antenna behaved well and the elements are now permanent fastened on the wooden boom.

Field testing the cheap 144 yagi

2010-05-09T19:46:00.001+02:00

Now the cheap 144 MHz yagi was ready for transportation and easy set-up. Every month´s first Tuesday the Nordic Activity Contest 144 MHz is running. I went to the same open field nearby my QTH as before. The received signals were strong and the 6 element seems to work as an antenna. It was cold weather, almost at freezing point level, so I just performed a few SSB QSO´s. Farthest distance was approx. 450 km. I heard Baltic stations, but did not manage to work any. After one freezing hour I dismantled the station. A short video can be seen here.

Cheap 144 and 432 MHz yagis for portable use

2010-05-02T21:50:00.001+02:00

It is summer soon and for me it would be nice to have yagis for 144 and 432 MHz to be used when QRV portable. My home QTH is very bad for VHF and up. The only solution for me is to find a better place in the neighbourhood. Drive there and put up an antenna on a small telescopic mast. WA5VJB has designed cheap and very easy to build such yagis. I first built a 6 element yagi with a rectangular wooden boom. But the boom was sensistive to rain etc. so instead I built another one with a 50 mm plastic tube boom. Today I went to an open field nearby to test the antenna by listening to a 144 MHz beacon 300 km away. It was not easy to hear the beacon because of strong aurora. The receiver was a Yaesu FT-817 and 10 m RG8 coax to the antenna. You can hear the aurora sigs in the video below.

Material:
Boom, 50 mm Plastic tube, 1x2 m, 70 SEK Biltema
Elements, 6 mm Aluminium tubes, 5x1 m, ca 350 SEK, Bauhaus
Driven element, 3/16" Copper tube, 5 m, 159 SEK, Biltema

Performance:
Without trimming the driven element: WSVR estimated 1:1.4 @ 144.3 MHz, measured with a Bird wattmeter
Gain not measured, maybe it is ca 9 dBD

I have also built an 11 element 432 MHz yagi according to WA5VJB design, but I have not tested the antenna in the field yet. The elements are made from welding rods and the driven element is made of a copper tube. The boom is a rectangular hard wooden boom.

Material:
Boom, 13x40 mm hard wood, 2.4 m, ca 160 SEK, Bauhaus
Elements, Welding rod (probably iron), 3.2x350 mm, 1 kg, ca 80 SEK, Bauhaus
Driven element, Copper tube, 4 mm, Found in my shack

Performance:
Without trimming the driven element: WSVR estimated 1:1.7 @ 432.2 MHz, measured with a Bird wattmeter
The resonance is too low without trimming, maybe 420 MHz
Gain not measured, maybe it is ca 10 dBD

Walpurgis Night

2010-05-01T17:06:00.000+02:00

Two days ago the last little pile of snow vanished outside my house and the temperature raised as high as 18 deg C. So the spring is here now after one of the toughest winters since many years. On April 30 bonfires were lit all over Sweden to celebrate springtime. This is a very old tradition, also in some other countries in Europe, called the Walpurgis Night. The photo below shows the May bonfire yesterday evening in Tyresö near Stockholm.

Receiving Arecibo

2010-04-18T18:39:00.003+02:00

Yesterday evening I tried to receive the moobounce sigs from KP4AO in Arecibo. I couldnn´t hear anything. The reason for this was a too small antenna and no low noise preamp. But it was possible to listen to a live SDR receiver, kindly provided by PI9CAM (?), connected to the Dwingeloo 25 m dish in the Netherlands.

The screen dump above is from the SDR user page. Here is a short video where you can hear KP4AO talking via the Moon: ... QSL 57 QSL 57 ... QRZ 50 60 KP4AO ... K1AE K1AE K1AE KP4AO you are 5 and 9 over ...

Update KP4AO on EME

2010-04-05T08:26:00.003+02:00

Joe, K1JT wrote on Moon-net April 5, 2010:

In less that two weeks the Arecibo Observatory Amateur Radio Club will again put the 1000-foot radio telescope on the air for 432 MHz EME.
The scheduled times of operation are:

April 16: 1645 - 1930 UTC
April 17: 1740 - 2020 UTC
April 18: 1840 - 2125 UTC

Callsign: KP4AO

Tx Frequency: 432.045 MHz
Rx Frequency: 432.050 to 432.060+
Tx power: 400 W
Antenna gain: 60 dBi
System noise temp: 120 K (cold sky)
System noise temp: 330 K (when pointed at moon)

KP4AO can be heard with a small hand-held yagi pointed at the moon, and a good receiver. A 15 dBi antenna and 100 W will be enough to work us on CW.

Operators at KP4AO will do their best to work as many stations as possible. Each session will start with a brief announcement and CQ in SSB. SSB QSOs may continue for 30 minutes to an hour, if the QSO rate remains high. The mode will be shifted to CW as soon as it is judged that higher QSO rates would result.

We will listen for calls at frequencies 5-15 kHz higher than our own, and even higher if QRM warrants. Callers who s-p-r-e-a-d o-u-t are more likely to be copied.

If you've already worked us in any mode, please do not call again -- give others a chance.

If we call "CQ QRP", we will listen for stations running 100 W or less to a single yagi. Please do not answer such a CQ if you are running more power or have a larger antenna.

On April 18, if we reach a condition where most calling stations have been worked, and we judge that operating in the digital mode JT65B would produce a higher QSO rate, we will switch to JT65B.

Note that any of these planned operating strategies may be changed as circumstances dictate.

We are extremely fortunate to have been granted access to the world's largest radio telescope for this amateur radio good-will event. We look forward to working as many stations as possible in the alloted time!

-- 73 from Joe, K1JT, on behalf of all the gang at KP4AO

Still snowing

2010-03-28T13:55:00.001+02:00

The spring is far away in northern Sweden. It is snowing a lot in Sävast since yesterday evening. Here is a short video.
Updated March 31, 2010: More photos here (text in Swedish)

KP4AO Next

2010-03-27T18:18:00.008+01:00

Arecibo Radio Telescope - KP4AO
FK68oi - 18 deg 20.66 min N, 66 deg 45.17 min W

Next operation from KP4AO will be on April 16 to 18, 2010. Table below shows, by GM4JJJ software MoonSked, calculated conditions between KP4AO and SM0FOB in Stockholm, Sweden. Do observe that KP4AO minimum elevation is 70 degrees.

Table below shows calculated conditions between KP4AO and SM7EQX in Ronneby, Sweden.

Kick-sled

2010-03-25T15:53:00.001+01:00

Have you ever tried a kick-sled (sparkstötting in Swedish). I do not think so. It used to be a very common tool for transportation etc. in winter time. Today in Sävast (KP05vs) in northern Sweden the weather, -18 deg C, and the from snow scooters hard packed snow ground was perfect for using a kick-sled. See my short video here.

Station parameters for possible QSO with KP4AO

2010-03-23T09:07:00.008+01:00

Joe, K1JT published on Moon-net station parameters for a possible QSO with KP4AO on the next in April.

Lines 1 through 4 of the following table give reasonable parameters for antenna gain, transmitter power, system noise temperature, and self-echo S/N in 100 Hz bandwidth for three different stations:
- KP4AO on the Arecibo radio telescope
- typical "brick and yagi" satellite-class station
- QRP station with 10 Watts and a 4 element hand-held yagi
Lines 5 and 6 give reasonable estimates for S/N in 100 Hz BW for each of the other stations at KP4AO, and for KP4AO at each of the other stations.
Finally, lines 7 and 8 give the same S/N estimates referred at a 2500 Hz bandwidth, the scale used in JT65.

	Parameter	KP4AO	SatStn	QRPStn
1	Ant gain (dBi)	60	16	10
2	Tx Power (W)	400	100	10
3	Tsys (K)	330	300	300
4	Echo S/N, 100 Hz BW (dB)	+68	-30	-52
5	S/N at KP4AO, 100 Hz BW (dB)		+13	-3
6	S/N at KP4AO, 100 Hz BW (dB)		+19	+13
7	S/N at KP4AO, 2500 Hz BW (dB)		-1	-17
8	S/N at KP4AO, 2500 Hz BW (dB)		+5	-1

My estimate for Tsys at Arecibo includes 120 K from the receiver and 210 K from the moon. To be very conservative, the other ground stations are assumed to have something like 2 dB NF and 1 dB of feedline loss.

It's clear that satellite-class stations should be able to work KP4AO on CW. Even 10-Watt stations with hand-held yagis should be able to hear KP4AO, but their CW signals will be marginal at Arecibo. They should be able to easily make the QSO easily if JT65B is used. (It's not 100% certain that JT65 will be available at KP4AO in April... but if there is sufficient demand, it may be.)

Good luck in April... and let's all return our thanks again to the great operators at KP4AO, for putting Arecibo on 70 cm EME !

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

Arecibo Observatory QRV on Monday 22, 2010

2010-03-20T08:55:00.001+01:00

Joe,K1JT wrote on Moon-net on March 20:

Angel, WP3R, has asked me to forward the information that on Monday, March 22, the Arecibo Observatory Amateur Radio Club will again be looking for EME contacts on 432.045 MHz. The callsign is KP4AO, the locator is FK68oi, and the Monday window is between about 2100 and 2330 UTC. They will again be using both CW and SSB.

Good luck to all!

Update March 23: Paul, WA6PY who heard KP4AO in Stockholm, Sweden in 1988 now reported on Moon-net March 22, 21:17 UTC:

Very strong signals from KP4AO. I can also heard very strong with hand-held 4-el yagi with LNA connected to TS2000.
GL 73 Paul WA6PY

Arecibo Observatory QRV again

2010-03-20T08:49:00.002+01:00

Arecibo Radio Telescope - Photo credit by courtesy of the NAIC - Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF

The 305 m Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico is QRV again on moonbounce on 432 MHz. The last time was in 1988.

Paul, WA6PY then living in Stockholm, Sweden wrote on Moon-net on February 20, 2010:

Many years ago, if I remember right 1988 when I was still in Stockholm, KP4I from Arecibo came on 432 during the ARRL EME contest without any prior announcement. I almost missed them because I was sure that this was one of the local stations. I was tuning around this signal few times without paying attention who it was. Signals were huge S9+40dB on S-meter and I heard noise floor elevated around their signal. Maybe it was just phase noise of my RX system. My brother Mike SP5CJT was visiting me at that time. Fortunately when I swept the frequency he caught callsign KP4I. If I remember right KP4I did not use very high power at that time.I will look forward for Arecibo activity.

Now again the first QSO´s took place yesterday on March 19. Joe, K1JT wrote on Moon-net:

The Arecibo Observatory Amateur Radio Club, using callsign KP4AO, has been working an EME pile-up on 432.045 since about 1850 UTC today, using the 1000-ft radio telescope and a barefoot TS-2000. They were 599+ at K2UYH (where I was operating to help them getting started). Their signal had a very little Doppler spreading or QSB. They are excellent CW ops and worked many stations; I stopped keeping a log after the first half hour or so.

Flavio, PY2ZX wrote on Moon-net March 20:

I just wake up about the tests when they were running on and I did nothad even the antenna installed! I have to think fast to made atemporarily system to suport K1FO/PY2NI 15 elements Yagi with elevation.It was just the time to solve it, plug the cable to IC-706MKIIG andtuning to hear the EME CW! The signals were strong and stable. I putsome files on the following page. I made a mistake with my audiorecorder and the original sounds aren´t good, but I edited two ofthen to better identify the KP4AO CW. Congratulations

SM7EQX On the Road - Updated March 19, 2010

2010-03-16T10:14:00.020+01:00

My brother Leif, SM7EQX and his Ingrid are on the road to see the famous Camelia tree at Pillniz Castle near Dresden, Germany. His car is equipped with APRS so I, and you, can follow their trip live on a map with the assistance of aprs.fi. Above is a screen dump (click on it for a better view) from today on March 16, 08:34:33 UTC. There you can see that they are approaching the bridge between Sweden and Denmark. You can see the SM7EQX live map here.

Legend has it that in 1779 the Swedish botanist Karl Peter Thunberg (1743 – 1828) brought four camellias back from his journey to Japan to the Royal Botanical Gardens of Kew, London. One specimen stayed in Kew, whilst the other three plants were to be given to the gardens of manor houses in Hannover, Schönbrunn near Vienna and Pillnitz near Dresden. Of these, the only surviving specimen was the Pillnitz plant, which must have arrived at the Dresden court between 1780 and 1790. In 1801 Terscheck, the court's gardener, planted the camellia in its current location. From the start, the camellia was protected in winter by a wooden house. There are a great many stories in the records about the complicated assembling and dismantling of this house; in January 1905 it even burnt. The water used to extinguish the fire, which at temperatures of minus 20° had frozen to an iceberg, protected the planted, which still blossomed the following spring.

In 1992 the Pillnitz camellia was given its new, moveable protective house, in which the temperature, ventilation, humidity and shade are controlled by a climate computer. The house is 13.2m high, weighs 54 tons and has 1864 m3 of air space. The house is rolled to the side of the camellia during the warmer seasons. The 230 year old camellia is now 8.9m high and has a diameter of almost 11m. During flowering season from mid February to April it bears ten thousand crimson red flowers. A limited number of cuttings from the Pillnitz camellia are sold every year during flowering season: at this time a visit is especially worthwhile.

From http://www.schloesser-dresden.de/index.php?entry_id=10&lang=en:

Just a few kilometres left and they have reached their final destination, the Schloss Pillniz. They started 06:14:27 UTC from Ronneby in southeastern Sweden and latest APRS position info is from 19:03:14 UTC. The total travel time is then, incl. a car ferry from Gedser in Denmark to Rostock in Germany, 12h 49min 53s.

Google Maps satellite views of Schloss Pillniz. Incredible resolution!

The Camelia blossoms with 35,000 flowers! Photo by Leif SM7EQX 13:34 UTC, March 17 2010.

On March 18 and on their way to the WWII rocket base in Peenemünde they said they found and stayed last night in a very nice hotel in Grossräschen. Click on IMPRESSIONEN here.

As you can see Leif an Ingrid are now driving around in Peenemünde looking for traces from Werner von Braun.

Received this V2 rocket photo shot by Leif SM7EQX with his Nokia mobile phone XM 5800 on Friday 19 10:58 UTC. The location is the Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum.

The Peenemünde Military Test Site was one of the most modern technological facilities in the world in the years between 1936 and 1945. The first launch of a missile into space took place here in October 1942. In

the nearby air force testing area, rocket engineers tested numerous flight objects equipped with revolutionary technology. From the start this research was directed toward one goal only: achieving military superiority

through advanced technology

Slave laborers, concentration camp inmates and prisoners of war provided the work that enabled the construction of the test sites and the later serial production of the rockets, which the Nazi propaganda referred

to as "Vergeltungswaffe 2" (or "Vengeance Weapon 2"), in so short a period of time. Both the inhumane labor conditions and the attacks on Belgian, British and French cities using the supposed "wonder weapon" claimed thousands of lives.

Now Leif and Ingrid are on the Rügen island (part of Swedish Pommern 1648-1815) hoping to see many birds migrating to Sweden.

Click here to use this interactive map showing records of migrating cranes. Last year it was as much as 18,500 cranes resting at Lake Hornberga in Sweden in the beginning of April.

Make drawings of photos

2010-03-15T15:20:00.002+01:00

ToonPAINT is a funny app for iPhone/iPod Touch. With it you can easy and and quick make drawings of photos. Above is the TRIO JR-599 receiver from the 70´s and below is an old telegraphy key and the little dog Agnes. A few more exemples are here.

Winter stronghold

2010-03-05T14:35:00.005+01:00

Since November it has never stopped snowing. It looks nice I think, but we all here are now longing for springtime.

My 30 years old 12AVQ vertical antenna is still above snow level :-)

Yesterday many ships and ferries (Sweden - Åland - Finland - Estonia) were capture by very thick ice. The photo is from the Swedish Coast Guard and the location is not so far away from OJ0, Market Reef.

This screen shot from aprs.fi this morning shows very well the problem caused by icy waters between SM, Sweden and 0H0, Åland.

ROS1 reception

2010-02-27T08:47:00.002+01:00

This morning 06:55 UTC I did receive on 14.104 MHz my first ROS 1 Baud signals. It was 7J1ADS, Michael in Yokohama, Japan! I sent him an e-mail with the screen shot above and he replied:

Thank you so much for your very kind raport.

I really appreciate this !!!

This was my very first transmission in ROS1.

In about 1 h we will get the moon here.

Today is the best day for EME.

I will challenge ROS1 on EME.

I was using a FTDX-9000D 40watts and a 9-ele 7-band beam

on a 36 meter high tower beaming to western Europe.

Hope to working you some day.

Vy 73 from Yokohama, Japan PM95tm

Michael Jaeger

7J1ADS

My receive setup was a Yaesu FT-857D transceiver and a 12AVQ vertical in 1 meter of snow.

For ROS skeds go to http://ham2ham.com/room307_ros.php or to http://www.obriensweb.com/skedpskr4.html

ROS - A new digital mode

2010-02-26T16:15:00.004+01:00

ROS, developed by José Albert Nieto Ros, is a new digital mode under test. Using spread spectrum and 1 or 16 Baud signalling rates it is designed to cope with disturbancies, low level signals, meteor scatter and moon bounce says José. He claims that receiving signals down to -35 dB (!) with 1 Bd signalling rate and -30 dB (!) with 16 Bd are possible. Today I tested 16 Bd reception on 14.1011 MHz. My set-up is shown above with the PC microphone close to a Yaesu FT-857D.

This PC screen dump shows that I did receive PA0JMK in The Netherlands calling YU1RP in Yugoslavia. Unfortunately the vertical screen resolution of my mini-PC is not large enough to show the waterfall part of the ROS GUI. ROS home page from where you can download the software, instructions etc. is here and a video is here. The ROS mode has caused som stir as it occupies a large bandwidth of 2.2 kHz in the HF bands. The mode has become forbidden to use in the U.S. because of the spread spectrum part of it. Read more about it in G4ILO´s blog. In K3UK´s Sked Page (digital section) you can follow what is going on with testing the ROS mode.

This screen dump shows ROS traffic this evening on 7.050 MHz.

RTTY with iPhone/iPod Touch

2010-02-26T15:31:00.003+01:00

Luca IW2NDH has done it again! First he developed an app for PSK31 and now after one month of hard coding and debugging work also an app for RTTY. The app is called IRTTY and I just tested receiving on 14.080 MHz with my iPod Touch´s external microphone placed near a Yaesu FT-857D transceiver. See screen dump above. Read here about IRTTY, which also can be used for transmitting RTTY.
Here is a short video showing my receive test.

Auroras in northern Norway

2010-02-23T21:30:00.000+01:00

The sky is active with incredible auroras observed in northern Norway. See Oystein Lunde Ingvaldsen´s most beautiful photos in January and February here.

Airshow memory

2010-02-15T11:06:00.113+01:00

On Saturday June 6, 1953, 57 years ago, there was a very big airshow over central Stockholm in Sweden. The city was celebrating its 700 years birthday. Leif, my twin brother, and I was on a hill top, Observatorielunden in the city center, staring with big eyes up in the sky. A huge Royal Swedish Airforce fleet of more than 600 (!) airplanes was flying in all kind of formations. Being nine years old at that time this sight was burned into our memories. (Photos by Yngve Norrvi)

I do specially remember this little airplane tumbling above our heads. It was Lilldraken SAAB 210 making its public debut. A scaled-down jet fighter testbed for the double-delta concept in the development of the SAAB 35 Draken. The wingspan was 4.9 m and length 9.1 m. Top speed was 650 km/h. How to build a 1/72 scale resin model of Lilldraken see video here. (Photos copyright SAAB AB)

After this show we became very interested in airplanes, building models etc.. My brother became so much interested that when grown up he did enroll the Royal Swedish Airforce and became a jet fighter pilot. Then with the up-scaled version of Lilldraken, the Draken SAAB 35. The first Draken prototype, not fitted with an afterburner, made its maiden flight on 25 October 1955. The second prototype, equipped with an afterburner, unintentionally broke the sound barrier on its first flight while climbing! The wingspan was 9.4 m, length 15.4 m, top speed 2,121 km /h and service ceiling 20,000 m. An interesting marketing movie from the 60´s can be seen here. One movie sequence shows a human centrifuge in operation at the hospital Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. My brother and I had the opportunity at that time to test the centrifuge. I think we reached almost 4 G. (Photos copyright SAAB AB)

Berta Hansson - A retrospective exhibition with her work of art

2010-02-09T08:10:00.004+01:00

A few days ago I did visit a retrospective exhibition of the Swedish painter Berta Hansson´s work of art. Berta Hansson (1910-1994) was educated as an elementary school teacher. She worked as a teacher in the small Lapland village Fredrika 1935-45. By a coincidence her art of work was discovered in Frederika and she made her artist debut in Stockholm in 1943 and moved to Stockholm in the late 40´s. As an artist she was very productive and her work of art had a broad range of techniques from paintings to sculpturing. I found her portraits of children most fascinating.

Three years before she died, almost blind, the paintings was filled with birds. This is her last painting and to that she wrote an awesome poem, which I tried to translate from Swedish:

The Last Bird
This evening still a bird landed on my paint-ready canvas.
A big and white one.
The very last one.
How do I know it is my last one?
Well, that is for sure you see.
It is what I feel in heart and marrow.
I struggled a long time with the color, subdued black with white.
When Maria Magdalena church bell rang dull twelve
I left the easel for good.
This ended my life as a painter.
Without self-pity, I think.
But of course with awe.
Now only remains waiting.

Some photos from the exhibition are here.

EchoLink for iPhone/iPod Touch

2010-02-08T18:50:00.002+01:00

A free App for EchoLink is available for iPhone and Ipod Touch (gen. 2 or 3). It worked great with my iPod Touch. Much easier and handy than with a PC. Info is here. Below is a screenshot showing my connection to the VHF repeater SK0CT-R.

Yesterday, with my iPod Touch, I had my first EchoLink contact with Jonas SM5PHU/mobile in Kista via the SK0CT-R VHF repeater in Kista/Stockholm.

Winter walk in Stockholm

2010-02-08T16:44:00.000+01:00

See some photos from the beautiful Stockholm in evening and daylight time here.

Birding in the city center of Stockholm

2010-01-24T19:54:00.010+01:00

The arctic bird, the Glaucous Gull had been observed several days in the icy winter waters of Stockholm city center. My friend Lennart had been there without seeing it. Now this Sunday morning we met trying to observe this rare guest from the arctic seas. And we did observe it! The gull above is not the Glaucous Gull. It is a Black-headed Gull photographed this morning. Go here to see some photos of the Glaucous Gull in the icy waters in the center of Stockholm in Sweden today. See the video from our observing locations here

QSLing

2010-01-23T13:20:00.010+01:00

As I do not have so many radio contacts I can spend a little more time on making my QSL cards. When editing photos I use the FastStone Image Viewer. To print the cards I use the Canon Selphy CP760 photo printer. How this is done you can see here.

On the back of the card I normally put two self-adhesive labels, one with QSO info and one with address info. For this purpose I do use a handy label printer, the Brother P-touch QL-500.

Above is a screen shot example of the Brother printer software when editing a QSO label

And this is a screen shot example of the Brother printer software when editing an address label. The printer does not print colors.

iCluster

2010-01-23T09:55:00.002+01:00

iCluster app by DL8MRE is a very good DX cluster viewer. I think the best I ever have used. Read about it at App Shopper. The screen shot is from my iPod Touch and shows some beacon reports from yesterday.

3D Sun

2010-01-23T09:28:00.007+01:00

A major solar flare erupts on the sun. Before long, your phone chirps in your pocket to let you know! Pulling out your phone, you see a 3D view of the sun — a digital reconstruction of satellite images freshly downloaded from NASA's "STEREO" satellites, orbiting millions of miles away. Read more at App Shopper

A QRP SDR Radio from Flex Radio Systems

2010-01-17T10:31:00.003+01:00

Flex Radio Systems has announced that they have a new SDR QRP transceiver for delivery in 1st quarter of 2010. The FLEX-1500 covers the 160 to 6 m bands with output power up to 5 W. It can be powered from an USB port and the became a QRPP station with just 1 milliwatt output! Price is 579 USD. I got this info from the Jeff, KE9V´s blog.

Frost

2010-01-17T10:13:00.002+01:00

A few days ago here in KP05vs all trees were covered with frost. Beautiful!

Even a sculpture in the city center of Boden was covered with frost.

A strange photo! When walking with the dog in the late evening same day, temperature approx. -15 C, I could feel small crystals, but couldn´t see them in the clear air. I took a photo with my flashlight on. The result was amazing. I was walking in an unseen cloud of crystals! It looks like the Orion nebula.

Café CQ

2010-01-17T09:48:00.002+01:00

A new shopping mall is opened in the city center of Boden in northern Sweden. A café with the name CQ is established there. Maybe the owner is a radio amateur?

Birding check lists

2010-01-17T09:27:00.008+01:00

When nothing much else to do I did assemble a page from where my birding check lists can be downloaded http:/krysslistor.blogspot.com/ The page is in Swedish and the downloaded files are pdf files, where search for English or Latin bird names are possible.

The Morph concept by Nokia

2010-01-11T12:09:00.002+01:00

The Morph nano concept by Nokia.

Sky Flambé

2010-01-10T16:25:00.003+01:00

Sky flames in the evening in Sävast, KP05vs

CQ on the mountain Petberget

2010-01-09T16:27:00.004+01:00

I found an old ICOM HT, the IC-Q7E 350 milliwatt station.

No ham radio and cold weather

2010-01-07T18:17:00.002+01:00

I am up in the northern part of Sweden, near the town Boden. Today it is very cold, -31 deg C (-23.8 F). I think you can see that on the photo of me above. I have no ham radio equipment with me this time, only the iPod Touch none-ham-radio. With it I regulary "transmit" my position http://aprs.fi/?call=SM0FOB-11. I have caught a little cold and spending most of my time indoors surfing on the web. Read what Jeff, KE9V writes in his blog about ECWC a new club for Morse enthusiasts. I am sure of that the club exists :-)

Maidenhead app for iPod Touch and iPhone

2010-01-07T00:50:00.001+01:00

Susan Mackay, VK3ANZ has developed her Maidenhead app for iPod Touch and iPhone which calculates the distance and bearing of another location from your present position. "Great Circle" distances and bearings are used. All bearings are "true" (not magnetic).

Both locations can be entered as a Maidenhead grid reference, latitude/longitude coordinates or via an interactive map. Where supported by the device, the local position can be set by the GPS.

Maidenhead coordinates can be entered as 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 character values with corresponding accuracy in the conversion to latitude/longitude coordinates. Conversely, the Maidenhead value can be calculated to the same levels of accuracy (the initial default is 6 characters).

Here I have entered my target location addresss. The location can also be entered directly on the map.

This is the target location result.

My target location result in text.

The distance and bearing result in text.

The distance and bearing result being showed on a map.

Greetings

2009-12-17T11:30:00.004+01:00

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

APRS app (Updated December 15, 2009)

2009-11-17T20:58:00.006+01:00

I have found three APRS apps for iPhone/iPodTouch using APRS in some form. One is just re-directing to an APRS web site available for every one. Other services in that app need subscriptions, which are free on other web sites! Before you buy an app it is wise to read reviews or find info on the web if possible. An other APRS app is more focused on messaging than maps. The app PocketPacket is the best developed one for the moment as I see it. The screen dumps are from the PocketPacket. The left one is part of the set-up screen. I have here set my position manually. After connection to an APRS server the packet flow can be observed as shown in the right screen dump.

This is the zoomable map showing APRS stations nearby my QTH connected to my chosen APRS-IS server in the set-up page. You can click on the stations on the map for further information. One very nice feature with the PocketPacket app is that it has an in-built TNC! The left screen shows an APRS packet string that I have received from a nearby digipeater. The input was made by placing the iPod Touch external mic close to the loudspeaker of an Yaesu FT-857 transceiver tuned to 144.800 MHz. For the moment you cannot connect with your own APRS station. This will be developed later on the developer told me. At the end of my blog page you can see my latest APRS positions.

Update Dec 15, 2009: The PocketPacket is now updated with a new version with more nice features, incl.the possibility to announce your own position. The app works great with my iPod Touch gen. 3. I wish i had an iPhone and use the in-built GPS receiver :-) I strongly can recommend this amazing app.

PSK31 app

2009-11-17T16:06:00.004+01:00

PSK31 is popular form of narrow-band modulation and low transmit power text communication aid on the radio amateur HF bands. Now you can do this with an iPod Touch and the app I-Psk31!

See a short video here showing how I did receive a CQ from F5PEZ in France. This was on the 10 MHz band today. I just put an external microphone to the iPod Touch close to the loudspeaker of a Yaesu FT-857D transceiver´s loudspeaker. It was a little tricky to tune in the PSK31 signals and I did not try to send my own PSK31 signals.

Ham apps with tones

2009-11-14T22:01:00.008+01:00

There exist several apps with test tone generator functions. This FreqGen app is simple to use. Read here. I did find this app useful i.e. to start up a FM repeater with a 1750 Hz tone call. The modern FM rigs has this function in-built, but sometimes it is hard, without the manual, to remember how to do it and of course when using a radio without this function. In this video you can see and hear when I used this app to start the FM repeater SK0RDZ, some 60 km away from my home QTH, on 145.650 MHz with a 1750 Hz tone call. The microphone of an Yaesu FT-857D was held near the iPod Touch gen 3 loudspeaker.

Another app that I have found useful is the DTMF Pad for generating DTMF tone pairs. Normally you use a microphone with DTMF buttons i.e. to access FM repeaters all over the world via the EchoLink system. But if do not have such a microphone this app is very handy. In this video you can watch how I used this app to randomly access a repeater connected to the EchoLink system. I just held the transceiver´s microphone close to the loudspeaker of my iPod Touch gen 3. The repeater I used for this demonstration was SM0HGS/R (node 7485) on 145.725 MHz in Stockholm, Sweden and KD0IZY in New London, Iowa, USA was randomly accessed.

Spy radios

2009-11-14T15:35:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I went, with my two small grandchildren, to the nearby library in Handen Center, Haninge. They have a nice reading corner for the small ones. They also have the Nordic amateur radio magazines. Of course, after parking the children, I went to the magazine department. And there was the September issue of NRRL´s magazine with its cover photo above, by Sindre Torp LA6OP, of a real spy radio station.This station, in custody of the Norwegian CIA, was used a long time by a Norwegian spy from 1948 to 1967. The radio was camouflaged to look like a US made station but it was built in the Soviet Union.

Is it possible to build an exact copy of a Paraset today asks Johnny, SM7UCZ himself on his web site. I have seen and touched his first replica of the WW II the secret agent Paraset radio. This time he is building an exact one! I can strongly recommend visiting his site.

Photo above by Johnny, SM7UCZ.

When building an exact replica you need a spotwelding machine. What do you do if you don´t have one? You do as Johnny, SM7UCZ does. Build your own! Have look here on his spotwelding project. The text is in Swedish, but that does not matter. I think you will understand how he did it by just looking at the photos.

Photo above by Johnny, SM7UCZ

K1JT interview in CQ

2009-11-13T09:48:00.004+01:00

Joe, K1JT is my ham radio idol! What he has done for the radio amateur community is outstanding. He is continuously developing new ways for radio communication between radio amateurs by means of digital technology. And this is freely accessible for all. His JT65 software made it possible for me to have my first moonbounce QSO on 1296 MHz last year. Maybe one, like Joe, has to be a Nobel Laureate to develop this magic. In the CQ magazine October issue there is an excellent interview with Joe. A more, in technics, deeper digging interview is provided by CQ here.

Three years ago my friend and moonbounce teacher Sven, SM5LE and I participated in the International EME Conferance i Wuerzburg in Germany. K1JT was there demonstrating how effiecient his WSJT software is. Maybe you can recognize him among the "lunatics" in the photo above. Now on December 10 another radio amateur will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in Stockholm, Sweden. It is George E. Smith, AA2EJ. Read about him on the ARRL site here.

Morse hamapps

2009-11-11T13:34:00.017+01:00

There exist many iPhone/iPod apps with different sorts of morse applications. The cw training program Ham Morse by AA9PW is outstanding. Cost is only 5 USD. Read more here.

The Morse Code Decoder from HotPaw can decode audio cw. This is good for training and also for decoding high speed cw. To use it you must have an iPhone or an iPod Touch with a mic input. Price for this one is also only 5 USD. Read more here.
A test I did with these two cw apps was to run the Ham Morse on one iPod Touch connected to a loudspeaker and a second iPod Touch connected to a mic and running the Morse Code Decoder. This worked flawless. See this video.

And then today I tested the Morse Code Decoder with an iPod Touch listening, via an external mic, on a Yaesu FT-857D on the 7 MHz band. See this video.

Some days ago I did load the Morse Code Decoder and could not resist that at once to try it. I tuned the 80 m band and some high speed cw stations were easily decoded. Suddenly the word paraset came up on the iPod screen. It was SM6AAL on the the Swedish west coast in QSO with an SP2 station. And SM6AAL was using his 5 W WWII Paraset home-built replica spy station. I had a wire on my balcony and without a tuner and with a very high WSWR, only God knew how high, I called him with my FT-857D/20 W. After several calls he came back with a report and we did complete a QSO. For him down in the noise and by me with my usual S8-9 disturbancies at my QTH here near Stockholm. I got an e-mail from Bertil, SM6AAL with a photo of his spy station. Woow what a station!