DF9CY Christoph Petermann - The Radio Site

50 MHz
By the end of April some weak SporadicE signals were heard. But no contact made.

Still very busy with other things than radio. I will take down the tower in the next days for some work to be done on it like cleaning, painting and fixing the coaxes. The 2m antenna shall go up again.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

My satellite receiver "slept" for a while. Together with my son Michael we got the system running again. For this moment the receive system consists of a R2FX scanning receiver specially for this purpose connected to a crossed dipole antenna below the roof. The receiver AF output is fed into a PC with WxToImg (licensed version) running. The latest images are uploaded to this site, when we have the receiver running.
The antenna preamplifier seems to be defective. Thus the receive power is not as good, as it used to be. This has to be repaired.

DF9CY's weather images

Posted by Christoph Petermann

Just some activity on 40m in CW and the digital modes JT65/FT8. The influenca caught me and my spare time is filled with other things in the moment which keep me away from amateur radio.
But the Sporadic-E season is coming closer and I will have an eye on it early this year.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

CQWW DX CW Contest on 25/26 November 2017
Last weekend turned out to be a very quiet one and a view on the calender told me: Hey, there is the CQWW CW coming up. I decided to give out some points and did some preparations. My "surplus" FL2100 is a little bit broken, and so I had to go with about 75 watts only into my full size dipole on 40m which is up 9,5m in the middle with one side hanging down now. This is because my new neighbour did not like the antenna to be fixed at a pole in his garden anymore. It had been there for the last 15 years or so. So I took a pole of the garden fence - it is ours.
So Win-Test was prepared and I went in the room to make some contacts from time to time. It was more difficult than it has been in the WAG contest some weeks ago, where I made 350 QSOs almost in a row. I ended up with exactly 200 valid contacts (1 dupe) in 46 DXCC countries and 10 zones.
Why was it so much more difficult than the WAG? In the Worked All Germany everone is fixed to work a German station, but in CQWW you have to concur with everyone everywhere with mainly high power, that I did not have. Sometimes I thought, my radio did not work, because noone returned to CQs for quite a while, but out of a sudden I got 12 stations in five minutes. Sometimes I could not get stations beeing really loud, even when nobody returned their CQs. On the other hand I got weak US stations that were barely audible. But this is CQWW. And I am happy with the result.
On 4 Dec I sent the log out to the contest crew.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

You probably do not see it, but the whole site is rearranged and broken links are working correctly now. Especially the Subdomains I am running here in subdirectories had a lot of problems. They are all solved now.

My music bands site FolkZeit.
My private music site Christoph's Music

The FolkZeit page is a CMS (Content Management System) named Kirby. It uses PHP but is running in a file system instead a MySQL database.

The other site is a more simple HTML/CSS template, but I am thinking on changing it to Kirby (or GRAV, the concurrent product) in the future.

This page is realized with a blogging system called Serendipity, whereas the subpages are made with HTML/CSS again.

Have fun.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

50 MHz
24 October 2017 Worked some Aurora contacts to Norway and Sweden; hrd OH and GM.

7 MHz
23/24 October 2017
WAG (Worked All Germany) contest. I took some time and made 343 valid QSOs (checked) on 40m only and pure CW. I used the TS590s with about 80w of output. 41 DXCCs were contacted; so not bad at all for this very low installed dipole antenna.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

50 MHz
8 Sep 2017 Big aurora opening. I was home late, but worked about 30 stations up to 1450 km.

I have been very busy with my new job, so I was not QRV often.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

Working all the DX throughout the past months was somewhat annoying when I wanted to make digital (JT65 or FT8) contact right after having switched on the transceiver, the Kenwood TS590s. This happens, when the main reference oscillator is cold and has to warm up for some time. I experienced a frequency drift of over 120 Hz on 50 MHz in the first 30 minutes or so. This is a lot.
The best solution would be to feed an external GPS referenced signal into the transceiver, but where to get this stabilized 15,6 MHz from?
So I came THE other solution of putting in a more stable oscillator in form of a Temperature Controlled Oscillator (TCXO).
There a an option (03) available, where you must buy an expensive temperature controlled oscillator for far over 100€ for the original Kenwood equipment. Nowadays there are quite cheap equivalent types available through eBay. They all seem to originate from China. Prices of those parts vary from 12€ to about 50€. I chose to order one for 19€ where I thought, I could do nothing wrong with it. Worst case: perhaps it would not work. After 12 days (30 days were proposed) it arrived and installation was easy.

With a stable beacon signal I could see, that the drift has been reduced to about 5 Hz after 60 minutes. That is a factor of 24 times better than with the old crystal. And the resulting frequency is only 2 Hz away from where it should be on 50 MHz. This makes this man happy now

Posted by Christoph Petermann

50 MHz
23 August 2017 Tried some IonoScatter to OH
22 August 2017 OH3 via Sporadic E
18 August 2017 Some Sporadic E to Spain
6 August 2017 Some inner EU FT8 signals are seen.
5 August 2017 The radio equipment, especially the computer, is repaired after the lightning strike and I am in business again.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

50 MHz
30 July 2017 Big lightning bolt hit the ground close by at 01:15z. Some stuff is damaged. Must QRT for some days.
29 July 2017 Big opening to NA. I worked some stations and heard signals from FN10,49, FM04,16,17,19,26,27,29, EM64,73, EN90
27 July 2017 Heard 4X and NA from FM07, EN71,87, EM40, EL29,49. And some inner EU contacts made.
26 July 2017 EA8 heard strong - very quiet else
23 July 2017 Some Italy and IS0 heard - no DX
22 July 2017 HI3T was received for a longer period
21 July 2017 Some CW QSOs to OH and YL
20 July 2017 Not much on Heard KP4 and 9K
19 July 2017 Worked in FT8 mode K4PI (EM73) & K1HTV (FM18). Heard JA from PM74, North America from FM18,27 FN03, EN90, EM47,64,73,74,88,76
18 July 2017 Received some US stations in now new FT8 mode. Worked EX8M (MN62) and UK8OM (MN51) for new grids.
16 July 2017 A big Aurora where I worked 25 stations
07 July 2017 now some day with almost nothing even from inside Europe
06 July 2017 BA4SI (PM01), Some JA and VE1SKY in the evening were received.
05 July 2017 6*JA in my receiver in the morning. Three of them replied to my CQ, but were gone a minute later. Rest of day was rather quiet.
04 July 2017 LA9BM/P (JP21) via Meterscatter was new grid. In the evening while out of the house stations from NA (CM98, DM03, 04, 13, 14, 25 and 34) were received in JT65.
03 July 2017 Missed the opening to Japan

Posted by Christoph Petermann

50 MHz
29 June 2017 Starting with low activity
28 June 2017 No real DX here. Lot of EU in JT65 and CW heard
27 June 2017 Low Es activity - only 9K in JT65.
26 June 2017 Small openings only, heard 9K and 4X in CW.
25 June 2017 Testing new SDR RX. Received 9K, A4 and VU2NKS (MK64)
24 June 2017 I worked a bunch of stations from I,EA and CT. and received JT65 : some NA from FM02, 14, DM15.
23 June 2017 Received JH6INP and JA7QVI in the morning and VE1PZ in the evening. For new grid I worked LA/DK2BJ (JP44).
22 June 2017 Heard TY2AC with strong signal in SSB & JT. Early evening NW0W and K0TPP came through and later I worked two TFs. Via MS in the evening I got LA/DK5WO/p (JP43)
21 June 2017 Seen EA8 and one JA (PM53). Early in the evening some Ws (EN64, EM25, EM10, DM92) were received.
20 June 2017 Only DX heard in the morning was A71EM and several 4X stations. Very late at night - I was asleep - PV8DX and some North American stations (EM47, 48, EN84) dropped in. My antenna was already pointing to Japan.
15 June 2017 One single JA seen and many stations all over Europe heard JT65 and CW/SSB.
14 June 2017 Switched on at 0430z and saw BA4SI CQing. But I was too late for the VK4 here. Conditions inside EU were mediocre. Then suddenly JT5DX(OO20) showed up and was worked in CW as well as some EM and US stations. Later in the evening I caught FG8OJ(FK96).
13 June 2017 Heard/Read A9, 9K, EX, UN3M and worked CW A92GE.
12 June 2017 No real DX heard but worked LA/DK5WO/p (JP51) via MeteorScatter
11 June 2017 JT65: Some weak JA stations were received early in the morning. Later there was high activity all day and I made a number of SSB/CW contacts. 4X was very strong for a while and late afternoon TF, KP2, KP4 and N3XX were read.
10 June 2017 A92 was read at 0500 already. 9K, 4X came in shortly after and around 0630 some JA were seen, but not really strong. JA7QVI had a good signal in the spectrum display in CW, but audio-wise hardly to read. TF3ML was the first station to the NorthWest and a bit later VE1PZ and WU1ITU were seen around 1330UT.
9 June 2017 JT65: 7 Japan calls were received in the morning, all were quite weak. Later WP4B showed up and WU1ITU(FN65) was worked with a big signal. 5A was heard in CW, but the pileup was to big.
8 June 2017 An even bigger day: 5 hours of Japan with 97 stations in JT65 listed received. To many to put it here. BUT Received more: DS4EOI(PM37) and DS3CHK(PM36) AND KG6DX(QK23jk). Worked in JT65: JG2AJK(PM85), JJ2LPV(PM85), JA9SSB(PM86), JA0VI(PM96), JF3DRI(PM74), JA0RUG(PM97) and JG1TSG(QM05). Had to leave for QRL. Early evening the show went on: Received JT65: WA6OSX(CM98), KR7O, N6ML, KB7ME, N6JV and W7OUU. Worked was JT65: KD6SW(CN80).

7 June 2017 A big day: In JT65 hrd: DS4AOW(PM34), DS4EOI(PM37) at 04:30UT, BA4SI(PM01), JR6GV(PL36 Okinawa!). JAs from PM51,63, 64, 74, 75, 84, 86, 96, QM05. 9K, YI1SAL, JY, WP2Z, K7BV, K6EID, W3CP, N6EE(CM97), W5THT(EM50). Finally worked JT65: K4PI(EM73), PV8DX(FJ92), K0TPP(EM48) and in CW: WZ8D(EM89), K9PPY(EN51) and K4SX(EM40).
6 June 2017 JT65 hrd: several JAs from QM08, PM97,53) and UN6T (MN52)
5 June 2017 VK8MS(PH57), More than 15 JA, JL8GFB in CW, EA8, WP4JCF, KP4EIT (SSB), NP2J (CW), J69DS and worked: WP2B(FK77) and KV4FZ(FK77)
4 June 2017 DX RX in JT65: VE2XK, W9VHF(EN71), WA1AEZ
2 June 2017 Read (Receive only) DX in JT65: A45, 4X, JY, 9K2 and UN7TW
1 June 2017 Opening to Japan. No stations worked but received JA stations from PM64, 74, 85, 86, 95 and 97. Only little Sporadic E inside EU.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

50 MHz
31 May 2017 Heard / Read (JT65) DX outside Europe so far today EA8, TA1, EK8, 9K2, UN7TW, YI1SAL, S01WS
30 May 2017 Big opening to Japan and China, but nothing here. Worked E44WE (Palestine)as new country and some 4X, IS0, A45XR (LL93do). Heard A71AE, YI1SAL
24 May 2017 Worked E7 and heard 4X and JY9FC
23 May 2017 Worked UB7K and heard a few stations. Not much time today.
22 May 2017 Heard 9K2 very early at 4:45UT and later TA1, SV, G, F GI. Worked SV, LZ and YT1.
21 May 2017 Worked a HA and heard 9K2 . Copied as well 4X, EI, EA, UR, 5B4 etc.
20 May 2017 Big opening in EU worked a lot I, F, HB9 and than suddenly saw WP4JCF (FK68) who was easily worked. WP3C (FK68) was worked as well. It seems this may be the first ever Transatlantic QSO 2017

19 May 2017 not many stations on but I read JE6AZU (PM51) in JT65 mode
18 May 2017 hrd and worked E7, EA5, EA7, EA6 I and SV9
17 May 2017 Antenna working with moving the yagi 1,5m up.
16 May 2017 Hrd and worked stations from IT9, I8, SV3 and SV9
15 May 2017 Some Es cloud overhead and band was open to EA, F, G and EI
14 May 2017 Came home from a trip and I worked EA2 and F
6 May 2017 SV7, SV8, SV9 and a UX0 heard
5 May 2017 Stations from US5, F and EA were received.
4 May 2017 First Sporadic E signals from France heard this year. It has started very late.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

Today I decided to work on the antenna. My 2m transceiver (ICOM 820H) has a malfunction and it will take some time to repair it. The 9 element for 2m is thus not needed. I took it down and moved the 50 MHz antenna up by 1,50 m and added some guy wire on top of it. The result is, that the band seems cleanet and has much less noise - except direction west, where high noise stays and the source yet has to be located. The level of this almost white noise is about 15 dB.

This is the 6 element antenna for 50 MHz after moving up.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

50 MHz
all: Experimenting with several digital modes like JT65 and MSK144 with very good results.

7 MHz
all: Working all continents with digital mode WSJT / JT65, 50 Watts and dipole antenna. Several new countries reached.

144 MHz
all: nothing, because transceiver has a fault, which I do not find, because it is intermittend.

Posted by Christoph Petermann

Being very busy throughout the last months there was almost no time for anything else. Now as things slow down a bit, I hope to be active here a bit more ...

Posted by Christoph Petermann