Concluding the 30m QRSS beacon tests, I programmed in an extensive 6-word message using the new dual memory page feature I introduced in my first round of modifications. For extra fun, a reward was offered for anyone decoding the message, of 300 capacitors in 10 different values (30 of each). I happen to have quite a large box of capacitors in the junk box ;-)

The message was G0UPL HOMEBREW RADIO RULES THE WAVES. I got that idea from Peter DF3LP's first reception report email, which was the first time my beacon had ever been heard and very exciting.

The message was designed using MS Excel. The font is actually the old Sinclair ZX Spectrum font. The "RULES" was in QRSS10 followed by a "trademark" and finally "THE WAVES" in DFCW with 10 second dot length. Several people reported that the DFCW was hard to copy, because the shift was too small. It appears that the software settings that were optimal for the Hell and QRSS10 were no good for the DFCW and I should've used a larger shift.

Reports

The following reports and screenshots were received.

Peter DL6NL, near Munich JN58SG, copied the whole message. To the right is the new "trademark". You can see the preceeding QRSS10 and following DFCW sections. The height of the "trademark" is about 10 Hz.

The Argo software settings didn't permit capturing the whole Hell section in one screen, so Peter sent many screenshots showing the different parts. The image below was pasted together from 3 of the screenshots.

"RULES" in QRSS10...

"THE WAVES" in DFCW... (it's an awful lot easier to decode when you already know the message!).


Heinz OE5EEP, in Austria JN67TW, copied the whole message. Below is the Hell section. Heinz sent several interesting screenshots and had some good comments about the Hell font and the mode in general.



Here's another nice one from Heinz:
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Peter DF3LP, in Kiel JO54AG, copied the whole message and made many interesting screenshots. This one (see right) shows the QRSS10, "trademark" and DFCW sections of the message. Interesting doubling effect caused by dopplar shifts is visible on the QRSS10. The chirp problem STILL persists as can be seen on the DFCW.

Some significant frequency drift was present in my oscillator at times, see below. The reason for this was that the transmitter was located in my conservatory, where the roof and most of the walls are glass. The weather was partly sunny and showery. At times the sun burnt down and raised the temperature, 10 minutes later it could be raining. Ah, the joys of the British climate.



Here I've selected two of the best versions of the Hell from Peter...






Uli DF5SF, near Stuttgart JN48ON, partially copied the message. He sent the screenshot (right) but didn't know how to interpret it. If you look carefully, it's the "G0U" of my callsign, but the software needs to use settings with longer time interval, this is too spread out in the horizontal direction.


Peter PA1SDB, in The Netherlands JO33KH, partially copied the message. After a whole week of listening unsuccessfully for any sign of the beacon, the band opened up for just a few minutes on 03-Apr-04, long enough for Peter to make two screenshots, which pasted together read "RADIO". Following that last Hell word, there's the beginning of the QRSS section before the propagation turned OFF again.

The propagation is interesting: Peter says "This is the only trace who was visuable. No slow fade in or fade out or something like that. It was suddenly there loud and clear visuable". One minute there, the next gone. I guess G0UPL homebrew radio rules the waves, but propagation has a hand too ;-)


Johan SM6LKM, 50 miles (80 km) East of Gothenburg JO67MR, partially copied the message "G0UPL HOMEBREW RADIO" in the Hell and "RULES" in QRSS, but said the DFCW looked like Arabic and couldn't decode it!

The disappointed...

Thanks to the following QRSS'ers who listened but were unable to copy the beacon over several days. The propagation did not allow it, the MUF simply wasn't high enough for these shorter distances and my tiny signal went right over their heads.

Staf ON6RR,
Johan ON5EX,
Pierre ON5SL (JO10TT),
Bill G4KKI,
Wolf DL2WRJ,
Vic G3GKI,
Martin G4FFC (IO92TG)

And a Final Twist!

On the last day for a bit of extra fun, I added a Smiley image to the end of the message. He was drawn on a 16 x 16 pixel grid, which was about equivalent to 10 Hz high and 2 minutes wide.

The first person to copy the smiley was Heinz OE5EEP, followed shortly after by Peter DL6NL. No other stations reported reception of the smiley, and propagation conditions on the final day were generally extremely poor. Left to right: Heinz' smiley, then two of Peter's screenshots.