Equipment & Test

It should be more correct, the system was not running anymore, so it was changed.

The disaster with the Trekstor tablet since November has now come to an end. Even after the second inspection of the device - shortly after it came back from the 1st - at Trekstor no error could be found. My subsequent in-house inspection revealed that the battery is no longer providing enough power to power the SDR and WiFi adapters. Unfortunately, the battery is excluded from the warranty, permanently installed and obviously not available as a spare part. Even an external current hub is no longer useful.

The device is still functional and useful for other purposes, but unsuitable for the remote station. The dream of a functioning station based on low power consumption has to be redesigned. The solar-powered 12 V DX system needs a new heart.

About the progress of my efforts to build a small but nice station in the garden, I will continue to report when I have found and tested appropriate devices.

Maybe I'll get new ideas and suggestions at Ham Radio.

Until then, the break screen remains here.

I wish all of you reading this a great time - and maybe you'll see each other in Friedrichshafen!

73, Willi

A TP-Link TL-WN8200ND 300Mbps Wireless USB Adapter provides a perfect connection to the access point 370 meters away. The adapter, hidden behind an aluminum cover, receives the signal at about -70 dBm. Both antennas provide a gain of 5 dBI. The access point is in free visibility. An initial 18 dBm Yagi antenna is not necessary at the moment. The further development determines the nature of the garden area. If visibility is obstructed by trees or branches, reinforcement may be useful.

The farthest station I've logged on medium wave, over a distance of 12932 km: Radio Belen from Puerto Montt. The 5 kW transmitter from the province of Los Lagos could be received on 25.03.2018 between 01:41 and 02:05 h UT on the frequency 1400 kHz with the ALA 1530 S + Imperium. A short time later took CBG Gander CAN again the frequency.

This section displays the status of my logged USA & Canada states. It will be updated.







List of abbreviations for states

Pin board at Google Maps

Status 23 March 2018

Heard states/green (USA): 25
Confirmed states/red: 0
Latest heard or confirmed: 1440 WGVL South Carolina

Heard states/green (Canada): 5
Confirmed states/red: 1
Latest heard or confirmed:

Map source: Free Software Foundation. The source has been changed.

That was quite a piece of work until the refurbished station was allowed to present itself as in this picture. The new heart of the station, a 7-port USB 2.0 hub with 12V / 5V seperate output, reliably controls the current flow to the ELAD FDM-S2. A new linearly regulated 5-V power supply ensures in the background that this works smoothly. The Trekstor Tablet still hangs on a conventional 5-V power supply without any RF interference detected so far. I used the opportunity to lay cables and devices even better than before. A downer remains: SDR-Console V.3 can not be persuaded to timed automatic recordings. It never stops with the station work. But first I'm happy that everything is up and running again - time for DX!

Thanks to Günter Lorenz, MWLIST Database-Administration

All Logs of the day ....

A real challenge was the receipt of DZRV 846 kc from Quezon City. On the frequency was also IRRS from Milano, another religious transmitter, with English-language program. It was difficult to separate both programs, since Radio Veritas also broadcast an English program section around 1919z. The ID came already around 1836z as Radio Veritas. Later still gospel and other announcements were heard, from which once again the location Quezon City and the stationname were audible. The skip was over for me around 1942z, Ireland and Iran came as further disturbing factors. So overall about an hour of excitement with a nice ID and a new Radioland on the mediumwave. Antenna was K9AY in NE-Direction.

All logs of the day ....