[Lowfer] WSPR 15 tonight-72.7 dial as last night-2200 start...

[Bob Raide]

JD;
Conditions got good around 0045 when I first saw my sigs on Hartmut's grabber.  Before that I never had a decode from anyone.  I checked a couple times to see if I was on freq or what was going on.  Usually get one or two decoding right off the bat like K3SIW or KB4OER but nothing until 0045-all DX stations only all night-never saw that before on any band!
You are a real dedicated "lowfer".  It is cold and nasty out there!  Here it's been 8 to 18 F all day and night.  Wind chill must have temps at times below zero.  
I saw Stefan on Jay's grabber later on with solid signal it would have been good night to catch him-Bob
 
> From: listread at lwca.org
> To: lowfer at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 01:11:13 -0600
> Subject: Re: [Lowfer] WSPR 15 tonight-72.7 dial as last night-2200 start...
> 
> OK, here's tonight's decodes in SE Kansas.  Late start, unfortunately.  I 
> was actually in the field on time, but that was the problem--I was IN the 
> field, not the building.  Long story, but basically, I took the SUV to the 
> base of the tower to unload and hook up the buffer amp.  Should've carried 
> the stuff by hand, as it turns out, but I was trying to save a few minutes. 
> The regular car had no problem getting out and back there earlier this 
> weekend through the relatively minor mud left over from the winter storm, so 
> I figured the SUV could make it too.
> 
> It couldn't.
> 
> I carted the radio, battery, and computer to the building and lashed them 
> together real quickly to monitor HiFERs until I had time to set the computer 
> clock for WSPR.  I first worked on getting the SUV unstuck without tearing 
> up my ground system in the process.  A little after 2300, just after sunset, 
> I finally succeeded, set the clock, and got to WSPRing.  The first decodes 
> were with the radio in normal CW mode and the appropriate values entered 
> into WSPR X.
> 
> 2330  -12  -0.2    0.074322    0   WG4XRS        FN12     30
> 2345  -12   0.1    0.074322    0   WG4XRS        FN12     30
> 0000  -13  -0.2    0.074322    0   WG4XRS        FN12     30
> 0015  -16  -0.2    0.074322    0   WG4XRS        FN12     30
> 0030  -13  -0.2    0.074322    0   WG4XRS        FN12     30
> 0045  -14  -0.2    0.074322    0   WG4XRS        FN12     30
> 0100  -13  -0.2    0.074322    0   WG4XRS        FN12     30
> 
> By 0100 the relative levels of signal to QRN had stabilized, so I used the 
> 0115 slot to switch over to the SSB arrangement that I had settled on the 
> last time.  The 0130 slot shows the degraded SNR indication.  In practice, 
> Argo showed less increase in noise when comparing the level of the signal 
> and the FFT bins next to it, but still slightly lower detection level 
> because the receiver's dynamic range was being affected by a strong signal 
> on ~73.5 that wasn't there with the CW filter.  This is the result:
> 
> 0130  -22  -0.2    0.074322    0   WG4XRS        FN12     30
> 
> After that one, I switched to looking for DK7FC for a few hours.  (Slight 
> success; more on that later.)  Then I came back to XSR/4 with my CW filter. 
> The 0445 slot is with my "normal" audio limiting, and the 0500 slot is with 
> more aggressive limiting, confirming the same improvement I saw the other 
> night.
> 
> 0445  -15  -0.6    0.074322    0   WG4XRS        FN12     30
> 0500  -12  -0.2    0.074322    0   WG4XRS        FN12     30
> 
> After that, I switched to monitoring the 1750 Meter watering hole.  I'll 
> report on that later.
> 
> 73
> John
> 
> 
> 
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