From my perspective, the final round of this year’s OM Activity Contest won’t change the QRP SSB standings much. The overall result is based on the 9 best scores, and I’ve participated in every round. If a better result is achieved than in any previous round, the total score improves by the difference compared to the worst round.
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Windows 10 Issues
This week, I upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. Surprisingly, almost everything works, but the external sound card—which processes the signal from SDR Softrock, which is connected to the Yaesu FT-1000MP’s intermediate frequency—won’t sample at more than 48 kHz. The next day, I tried a different sound card. The result was the same. I’m powering the NEWGEN RTL SDR v3. It doesn’t have a very wide dynamic range, but the processed bandwidth is more than sufficient. This SDR behaves a little differently than the SDR Softrock.
The Mystery of the Ionogram
This time, no radio signal reflections are visible on the ionogram. In reality, the band contains a mix of DX and local stations. It’s possible that they’re having some kind of technical issue in Pruhonice http://digisonda.ufa.cas.cz.
What is an ionogram?
An ionogram is a graphical representation of the characteristics of the ionosphere, specifically its ability to reflect radio waves. This graph is created using a device called an ionosonde, which transmits radio signals into the ionosphere and measures the time it takes for the signals to bounce back.
On an ionogram, signal frequencies are plotted on the vertical axis, and the altitude or time of signal return is plotted on the horizontal axis. An ionogram allows us to identify the various layers of the ionosphere (such as the E, F1, and F2 layers) and to monitor changes in its structure over time, depending on solar activity and other factors.
Ionograms are important for amateur radio operators and telecommunications because they provide information about the propagation of radio waves through the ionosphere, which is essential for long-distance radio communications.
Let’s head to the OM Activity Contest!
Since the band is crowded, I’m not trying to initiate a call. In such a situation, scanning is faster. This is also evident in the exchanged QSO codes, where my signal-to-noise ratio relative to QRO stations is minimal. But they’ll make it up to me later!
Only a limited number of stations fit within the frequency range. It has been extended past 3775 kHz, but it seems that many stations haven’t picked up on this change yet. In fact, I tried calling on this frequency, and it wasn’t very successful. Similarly, stations above 3770 kHz didn’t seem to be effective either.
That’s why the pace slowed down significantly after thirty contacts. I don’t have all the multipliers. However, I have logged N (OK2BFN and OM3CDN), B (OK2YB), and H (OK1VHH). I also heard OM1EE, but this time we weren’t able to make a contact with Jaro.
So after an hour, I have 48 contacts logged with 22 multipliers, which is 1,056 points. I have some doubts about two of the contacts, but I can’t verify them. There are no recordings. I’m not sure if I forgot to start the QSOrecorder or if there was some kind of error after upgrading to Windows 10. I still need to figure that out.
Thank you for all the wonderful moments during this year’s OM Activity Contest! It was challenging for both you and me. If you like a challenge, give QRP a try too!