Olympic Special Event Stations

I activated my own special event call, Mo0BGR with a short session on CW (Morse) last night. Conditions were not great, but the first station I worked was UX5MZ - thanks Igor.

Meanwhile over in Eltham, SE London not far from the Olympic venues, the Cray Valley special event 2o12L is going great guns, having worked over 5,000 contacts and 100 countries since Wednesday. For more details go to www.2o12l.com where you can find a list their working frequencies. 

If you are in London, before 9th September, then try to go along and visit 2o12L, how to get there is also on the web site and it is a really impressive station.

FM Switch Off - OFCOM Response

In August ast year I published a post on the governments plans to switch off FM radio in UK(http://m0bgr.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/dab-radio-switching-off-fm-and-am.html ). At that time OFCOM was holding a 'consultation' and they have now responded to its findings. Their report is at http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/dab-coverage-planning/statement/statement.pdf .

As predicted, OFCOM have swept aside all objections to the plan and asserted their previously held position that DAB is very wonderful so we don't need FM (subtext, the government have told us to sell the spectrum, just like they are now selling part of 143MHz - 156MHz band).

I have nothing against DAB radio, but I do not see it as a replacement for FM. It is technically inferior in many ways, particularly its coverage charateristics. DAB is based on obsolete technology and UK will have to adopt DAB+ or DRM at some point. DAB and FM do not use the same spectrum so, unlike the TV digital switch over, there is no need to close FM to allow expansion of DAB. Reading the consultation responses, the radio industry seems distinctly like warm about  switching to DAB.

If you use FM radio in UK, please let OFCOM know what you think.

Roberts DAB Radios

We have recently bought two new DAB radios.

The first was a Roberts Ecologic 1. We bought this for the house we own in Wells-next-the Sea in Norfolk.

This is an area where we are told that DAB radio signals are not available (http://www.ukdigitalradio.com/images/coverage-map.gif) but with the Ecologic 1 we are able to get good signals from two multiplexers and one more when the radio is upstairs. By comparison, my older Sony XDR-S55 radio does not get anything there on DAB.

The Ecologic 1 is a small DAB/FM radio with ½ Watt audio output. This is fine for normal listening, but is not really powerful enough for use in the kitchen when there is lots of background noise. Otherwise, it is a very good radio with excellent mono (stereo with headphones) sound quality. It is well designed and very easy to use. The only thing I don’t like is that it has push-button volume control, but this is a matter of personal preference.

The Roberts Unologic DAB / FM radio is a bit larger but with 1 Watt audio output it is better for use in normal areas. This radio also has excellent sensitivity, but I have not yet done a side-by-side comparison. The Unologic has an analogue volume control, which I like. The controls are large and easy to use so it would be suitable for old or infirm people.

DAB radios eat batteries, but at long last, a DAB radio designer has realised that we don’t want to run our radios from mains power or change the batteries every 10 hours or so. The Roberts Ecologic 1 and Unologic both have built-in battery chargers so can be run on AA alkali batteries (if you are very rich) or rechargeable batteries. The only criticism I have of the design is that it is not possible to charge the batteries while listening.

All round, these are both excellent radios and well worth the recommended price of £60. It is particularly suitable if you want to use it in a poor signal area.

MQ0BGR QRT. MO0BGR Coming up!

My special event call sign, MQ0BGR to celebrate the Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee, has now closed down (QRT).The licence expired at midnight at the end of 10^th June so it will not be back on the air again.

Thanks to all who worked me, but the level of interest was a little disappointing. I worked only 65 stations in 18 countries. Some of this was down to me because I was running low power and was away from London for part of the time. Propagation was quite average during the event. Interest was good at the start, but towards the end I had several sessions calling CQ with no response. My belief is that the duration was too long so MQ was no longer ‘special’. I think that for future events, two weekends and the week in between would be enough time for 'special' call signs.

All QSOs have now been uploaded to eQSL, but if I missed any or misread your call sign do let me know. So far, 21 (30%) stations have sent me eQSLs – thanks! I will send paper cards via the bureau only for those I receive or that are requested.

Turning to the future, I have a licence for the Olympics special call sign, MO0BGR (Mike Oscar Zero….) from 21 July to 7th September. This coincides with the operation of my club’s (Cray Valley Radio Society) special station 2O12L (2 Oscar 12 Lima), which I hope to operate. So given the lack of interest in MQ0BGR, I am inclined to use my ‘radio time’ at 2O12L and not to do much with MO0BGR, but we shall see.

Thanks again for those who worked MQ0BGR and have sent QSLs.

73

Dave

MQ0BGR QSL Cards

The prefered QSL route for MQ0BGR is via eQSL, so please use that if possible. I have tried to activate the log book on qrz.com, but as their software does not currently support callsign variants I can't use this route. I am sorry, I do not use LoTW.

If you really want a paper QSL card then do let me know as these will only be sent on request. Don't forget, you can either print cards yourself from eQSL or order paper cards from them which will be sent to you by post.

QSL cards for any data mode QSOs will be sent via eQSL immediately and automatically at the end of the QSO. I am a bit behind with the 'cards' for other modes, but will catch up soon.

MQ0BGR ends on 10th June, so I hope to work you before then.

73

Dave 

I was on the air again last night as MQ0BGR on 30m CW. Nice run of European stations, not a pile up but kept me busy for a while. Then propagation took a turn for the worse, with signals weakening, noise increasing and QSB (fading) making life difficult. Apologies to those stations I could not work, particularly I1ULJ who vanished into the QSB. I did copy enough to put you in the log, but I hate not being able to complete a contact.

After closing on CW I left my station running on 30m WSPR (http://wsprnet.org/ ) - propagation overnight was very poor indeed, with very few stations heard.  I checked to solar web sites this morning and I see there was a major disturbance on the sun yesterday from sunspot 1476, which may have upset propagation last night.

MQ0BGR is Now Active

My Special Event call sign, MQ0BGR is now active. I was on the air last night  straight after the new call sign came into effect. My first QSO was with OG2O (thanks Eikka) on CW. The most interesting QSO was with EA5HWP on 20m CW this morning. Luis was running only 700 mW QRP and we managed to exchange a lot more than just RST which makes QSOs like this very satisfying, so thanks Luis.

Interest in the special call sign was not as high as I expected and I had to call 'CQ' quite a lot to get a response.  I was only spotted once, by RM8W (thanks Andrey).

The solar conditions today remained grim, with an SFI only 107, so I worked mostly 30m, with occasional trips to 40m and 20m on CW or PSK. If conditions improve, then I will try the higher bands and might even be tempted to use SSB.

All QSOs to the end of today (5 May) are now on eQSL.

And, if you were wondering, here is a picture of my shack!

73

Dave MQ0BGR