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Ultimeter 2100The weather station here at PA1JIM is running for a few months now and I’m perfectly happy with it. Only thing missing is a rain gauge and a humidity sensor. I didn’t want to have a separate rain gauge and a humidity/temperature sensor installed in two places. When I looked at the Peet Bros website I found the WSF-47000. A perfect solution for me; a combo of a rain gauge and humidity/temperature sensor. WiMo didn’t had the sensor in stock so they had to order it by Peet Bros in the USA. It took a while, but last week the postal service brought the kit! Just in time before a mild storm would hit the Netherlands, so I rushed up the roof to install it.
Overnight the storm hit and the first data from the rain gauge and humidity sensor where being collected. After I figured out the different settings, everything works splendid.
I’m completely satisfied with the current setup. The only thing that need a change now is I want to catch the packets from the weather station before they go in to my radio and store them in a database myself. But that’s a nice challenge for another rainy day.

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psk31waterfall.jpg~originalWhile on our holiday in Belgium propagation forced me to use digimode (PSK). It’s funny when you are in a relaxing mood like on holiday and you spend some time setting up PSK again, it’s actually a great way making QSO’s. I really enjoy watching the waterfall for signals and looking how other ham’s programmed their macro’s. Many inspire me to fine tune my macro’s a little more. Of course I plug this blog in my long-reply-macro 😉 Great way to propagate the formula.

I read my fellow ham’s are also busy in digimode: PE4BAS in WSJT-X (which is on my to-do-list too) and VE3WDM.

It sure is fun doing some PSK or other digimode when propagation is low. Morse code is a mode which is also very suitable for low propagation. A little harder to learn though. We are heading for another low in the 11 year sun-spot-cycle. I guess that means we have to wait at least for 5 or 6 years for new really good propagation on the bands. Looks like we have to use CW and digimodes for a while.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-shift_keying
http://www.ea3hoe.net/manuals-tips-tricks/starting-with-psk31/

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A71AE QatarFirst week of September I left for a little one week holiday with the family to Belgium near Froidchapelle. We rented a little cottage and I was able to get QRV as ON/PA1JIM. I packed an extendable antenna mast, a 1:10 MTFT balun from WiMo, my Kenwood TS-590 and forgot the antenna wire. When we arrived in Belgium I inspected the garden behind the cottage, it wasn’t big but big enough to put up a vertical. Just before this holiday I bought 30 meters of Aircell 7 coax, so I could put the vertical as much as 30 meters away from the cottage if needed. After a visit to the local supermarket I got 30m of clothing line which could serve as antenna wire.
First try was just a few meters from the cottage. It worked, but there was a loud QRM on 40m. Probably from the cottage. So after two days I decided to put the vertical a little further away, behind the fence of the park. It worked just okay, the loud rattle on 40m was down to S0. Unfortunately there was really bad propagation which let me to PSK31 for some QSO’s. Best one I worked was PR7BCP, Brasil. Other interesting stations I worked were SQ9UM/1, Sovjet Militairy Order of Malta and Roger Moore (!) M0AUI. At the end of the week I logged 50 QSO’s. Not a lot but I only put in a few hours of time and really enjoyed everyone of them.
I really enjoyed working PSK again. Sometimes this mode is a little lost between all the CW and RTTY I’m working normally.