[Lowfer] WG2XIQ daytime WSPR2 test

[John Langridge]

Thanks for looking JD!  I concluded the test a little over an hour ago as storms are moving in.

My test was a success but I will be making some mods to the setup so this test will be repeated under better wx conditions.


73!

John XIQ


________________________________
 From: JD <listread at lwca.org>
To: "Discussion of the Lowfer(US, European, & UK) and MedFer bands" <lowfer at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2014 5:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] WG2XIQ daytime WSPR2 test
 

Saw this message after a late lunch and went back to the farm to check. 
Although 2200 m was out of the question today, lightning noise is usually 
less of a concern at 630 m, and it seemed within the realm of possibility 
that +23 dBm just might be enough.

However, the S-meter showed the noise to be just as bad at 630 m this time. 
Moreover, it was of a different kind...the higher frequency crackling of 
discharges within a cloud that precede actually lightning bolts...and there 
were a LOT of them.  That suggested to me that some electrical activity 
might be closer than the radar indicated when I left the house.

After about 40 minutes of watching with WSPR 2.0 and Argo, I could just 
about convince myself I sometimes saw the perpetual broad QRM line under all 
the noise, but no signals appeared and there were no decodes.  The QRM line 
was a smidgen clearer after I narrowed the IF bandwidth to 250 Hz and drove 
the clipper hard, but just barely.

Giving up on LF and MF for now, I tuned up to look for HiFERs and was having 
little luck there either (not much noise, simply no signals to speak of) 
when suddenly a rumbling from outside overrode the generator noise.  I made 
a mad dash to short the antenna and grab the buffer amp, then returned to 
remove gear from the building and close it up.

After an entire springtime of near-drought, now that harvest season is 
nearly upon us, they say we'll be getting this sort of weather every day for 
the foreseeable future.  DXing will be a catch-as-catch-can proposition here 
for a while, probably favoring the morning hours most days.

John D 
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