Now that I have been operating WSPR mode for a while, there is something that I would like to see opinions on from other WSPR ops. I have observed +10db signals and above "covering up" the weaker signals during the 2 min. rcv sequence. I normally run 5 Watts output or less,and I have a friend nearby (9 miles) who is also a WSPR op., because of this I have reduced my TX fraction to 15%, which lets me trx approximately every 14 mins. and since most WSPR stations are transmitting @ 20%,( approx. every 6 to 10 mins. ), this lets my friend/neighbor receive most stations before I "clobber" him with +10 and above signal. Seems to me that a courteous procedure would be, if running 5 Watts or above, reduce TRX % below 20%. OK, it is just MY opinion, but it works for my neighbor and I, seems to me , it would improve reception for more WSPR ops everywhere. NUFF said...

I've recently been working on getting WSPR working on my Raspberry Pi with a cheap USB audio adapter and though that a others may be interested in the problems/solutions I've worked through.

In particular I've tried compiling WSPR using the -mfloat-abi=hard compiler flag which forces hardware floating point when compiling for ARM CPUs. The compile time drastically increased (mainly due to severe RAM/Swap usage while the linker was running) but it seems to have dropped decode times from about 60 seconds to ~15-20 seconds. To be honest though I don't know if this is a real speed up or simply a product of the particular data that was captured/decoded.

If anybody has a Rasperry Pi (or presumably another ARM board such as a Panda/Beagleboard) and would like to test/compare my binary it can be found here: http://www.vk2mev.net/wspr_hardfp_rpi.tar.bz2

The other problem I had was the USB sound adaptor (lsusb output: ID 0d8c:000c C-Media Electronics, Inc. Audio Adapter) recording choppy audio. This was solved by forcing the USB host to v1.1 mode (12Mbit) by adding "dwc_otg.speed=1" to /boot/cmdline.txt.

More details can be found on my blog: http://www.vk2mev.net/

If you have linux operating system installed on your computer like ubuntu and Wine running in the background,WSPR will work very well ,So good you will ferget your using linux ,And not windows os. NY7U

I have greatly re-worked the set of things which happen to do the daily processing after 0000Z (database backups, dump of csv extracts, gathering of data for stats/graph page). I was also being a bit too aggressive about how many web server processes to run, with the result that the server was swapping during all the stats processing. I think that should all be fixed now.

On another front, I have started to keep another database table of an "activity log", which should aid in future automatic fixup of wrong band reports. I have some more development to do, but stay tuned!

Ok I'll try to explain.

If I have a self contained homebrew WSPR transmitter for others to check
propagation with - how do others even know it exists, especially if it's on a band
that often shows zero users (60m/10m/6m/4m/2m/70cms are good occasional examples.)

Using the proper WSPR software enables WSPRNET to report the activity in the band listings.
Others see callsigns listed and are therefore *tempted to give it a go.*

But if you have a bare bones TX that is not internet connected but actually running then
no one knows it exists and the band gets forgotton about.

Does that make sense?

Comments/ideas welcome.

73 de Andy

Tune in on WSPR tonight, 136 kHz USB dial frequency. Signals should easily cover from QLD to TAS, and possibly from SA to ZL.

73, Dimitris VK1SV

First of all, we hit another major milestone recently, as we surpassed 100M spots in the database over the past 4.5 years!

However, many of you may have noticed that the site is extremely sluggish or unavailable during the hour or two after 0000Z, when it's doing it's daily stats computations and csv file dumps. It seems that every order of magnitude or so, I need to re-architect aspects of the database, and we're clearly at that point again.

Some of you noticed that I turned off the daily csv dumps the last couple of days. I'll probably turn them back on tonight to catch up, but meanwhile, I'm working on ideas for better way to handle that processing with the very large database we currently have. Please stay tuned, and I appreciate your patience!

Ordered a 30m Ultimate QRSS Kit from Steve G0XAR and Hans G0UPL.
http://www.hanssummers.com/qrsskitmm.html

Looking forward to playing with WSPR, QRSS.

72,
KQ2RP

Amazing. Only using 1 watts to a 4m piece of wire in the bedroom (indoors)!

Spots nearly 7000km away on such a poor set up.

73 de Andy G0FTD

The latest ARRL Propagation Broadcast mentions our 2 meter WSPR study. Check it out on http://www.arrl.org/news/the-k7ra-solar-update-236

Thanks to all who got on 20m or were
already on, and heard me activate BL02hf!
Vacation is over and I am on my way back to CM88.
This was fun, interfered very little with beach time,
and I highly recommend it to others.

John, K6PZB

Slow Morse (QRSS) beacons now operational on three bands each with approx 50mW (17dBm).
FSK shift is about 5Hz.
These beacons get access to the ZS6BKW antenna when the Icom IC-7000 is off.
Power is from one of the batteries David King, G6KWA, was giving away at CDARC club (thanks Dave).

Frequencies:
3.500075 MHz
7.000075 MHz
10.140075MHz

Signal reports welcome.

Planning to convert these to WSPR and add 160m band real soon now!

There have been some stations on the east coast trying to make digital contacts on 2 meter but activity has been sporadic. I am frequently making SSB contacts up and down the east coast, but have not done much in the way of digital modes besides the occasional FSK441 for HSMS. I noticed one station in Canada on WSPR, and of course the propagation study out in California.

I have setup my backup station on WSPR, 144.490, and will try to keep the station up as long as possible. Currently the antenna will be my horizontal loop up about 30 feet, inside the attic. I will be running 37dbm (5W) transmit power, and can switch over to my yagi while I am home. With the coastal ducting here on the east there is a high probability that others here on the eastern seaboard will be able to decode signals.

I encourage other station to setup and listen, and get WSPR going on 2 meter. I will be talking to some of the other SSB operators to see if they can also setup WSPR when they are not running SSB. Many rely on the APRS maps to see if propagation will support 2m DX, this would be an alternative method. I believe also, this would be a good indicator when 2 meter E skip is in progress.

Thanks and good luck,
73
Dave
N6DLH
FM17tb

New antenna on my location, it's an active loop from LZ1AQ.
Very impressive antenna with nice S/N on HF low band.
Antenne is made by two crosses loop .
I compared with my hf6v vertical on 10m and i have 1 smeter point less with the active loop on a ZS station !!!

73 ced F4EGZ

Hello friends! Did tests today in 10 and 15 meters and the spread is still not good. At the moment I make this post, my beacon is active in 20 meters. 73

Glad to see some activity on ten. Using a mobile whip here about a meter and a half long.

73 vk1sv

Welcome to W6SZ, W6IEE and N3IZN in Southern California!
Our group station info is posted in the table at http://www.qsl.net/kp4md/144_mhz_wspr.htm#stations
The spots between N6KOG and N3IZN (624 km) now hold the DX record among our group!
Thanks for activating Southern California in the California study group!

Carol

I often wish that more stations would indicate
what kind of frequency stability they are using
as I see my portable station being reported over
a wide range now on 20m--from 2 to 197 in a 200kHz
window!

I have compiled a list of some stations with either
OCXO's or better and it is a short list:
W3CSW, K3GEN, K9AN and K5XL. I am pretty sure there
are others and I wish there was a way to note this.

Frequency stability becomes a real issue on 2m where
I live when home in CM88, but it is also a nice thing
to know where you are transmitting when away from home
and frequency standards.

The next question I have is what radios use a single,
master oscillator? Given this outboard locking becomes
pretty straight forward and Glenn, N6GN and I are currently
working on a board for this.

Thanks for your time, John, K6PZB in BL02hf

Only downloaded and installed the WSPR program this last sunday and in no time was up and running being spotted and hearing stations a plenty, subsequently spent two days tearing my hair out as although i could receive and the TX was working i failed to show up anywhere, in the early hours this morning i finally realised the DTR/RTS setting on my microham keyer had changed......

Amazing what i can hear and who can hear me, its a shame there are not so many people active on this mode from what i can see !

Either way for the time being just using a Kenwood TS2000 with the power turned down and an old cushcraft R5 i rebuilt to see how it all works with WSPR.

Regards to all F5VLY