The Four Metres Website

Distance records

Bo OZ2M — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:40:00 +0000

70 MHz Distance Records

Sweden on 4 m during Nordic VHF Meeting

Bo OZ2M — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:49:00 +0000

Jemtlands Radio Amatörer has gotten the first Swedish permit to operate on 70 MHz (4 m) from the 2013 VHF meeting 31 May to 2 June 2013. Details are still being worked on for when and how we will be QRV but the following data is set.
Callsign: SK3JR
Frequency: 70.1375 MHz
WW-locator: JP73ID
Time: During the meeting (more information will follow)
Operating modes: Primarily meteor scatter (unless good sporadic E).

International 70 MHz allocations

Bo OZ2M — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:05:00 +0000

International 70 MHz allocations

Unidentified Signal Sources on 70 MHz

Bo OZ2M — Thu, 09 May 2013 10:39:00 +0000

Unidentified Signal Sources on 70 MHz by you!

Beacon list

Bo OZ2M — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:58:00 +0000

Beacon List

WG2XPN beacon on 4 m

Brian WA1ZMS — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:55:00 +0000

Good news, as of 23:30z on May 8, 2013 this year's North American 4 m Eskip propagation beacon on 70.005 MHz is now QRV. The FCC Experimental License for one-way transmissions only was granted the day before. So I did my best to get the system back on the air and is now operational. The technical specs are the same as they have been in years past. TX freq is 70.005 MHz and is GPS locked. Emission mode right now is CW. (There are plans to add JT65 later in June thanks to the 4 m OZ-land ops!)

To review: the new callsign is WG2XPN. ERP is 3 kW from a 3 ele yagi at 15 m AGL. QTH is FM07FM. Yagi is aimed at 60° true to the EU. This callsign is valid for a full 2 years and can be renewed which I plan to do when it is time to do so.

Please understand that if there are ANY reports of QRM to the US domestic TV service, the beacon must QRT. The site is also located inside the US National Radio Quiet Zone where much radio astronomy work takes place. They too have QRT authority over my operations. There have not been any QRM issues in years past and I wish to keep it that way. There is really no chance that a 4 m amateur band will exist in the US for as far as anyone can see into the future. So for the pure study of TA Eskip, this beacon exists. My personal goal is for 2 m TA, and this helps gauge the likelihood of a possible 2 m TA path. Much remains to be learned.

I again want to extend my thank you to the Society of Broadcast Engineers and the FCC's OET office for yet again letting such one-way beacon operations take place in the US.

North Americans with 4 m receivers

OZ2M — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:05:00 +0000

Emil W3EP writes: Several of you have asked about North American stations interested in 4 m to 6 m cross-band QSOs. I have polled an array of East Coast 6 m operators for several years and have compiled this list of stations with 4 m receivers in place ready to make cross-band QSOs (arranged north to south):

VE2DFO in FN25VJ
W1IPL in FN54FC
K1SIX* in FN43AD
W1JR in FN42EV
W1JJ* in FN41GP
W1XX in FN41EJ
W3EP* in FN31VP
WB4SLM in EM82DP
KE4WBO in EL96VW
* Have made 4 m - 6 m cross-band QSOs

It would be nice if there was more activity on this side, but so far active interest has yet to spread. Perhaps some of you can circulate this list North Americans a bit wider in Europe, No doubt the ON4KST Region 2 chat page will keep everyone informed. I will certainly be making SSB calls near 50.185 when conditions are favorable and will listen around 70.185 initially, CW preferred.

Best wishes for the coming Es season!

New 4 m, and 6 m, transceiver

OZ2M — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:19:00 +0000

Noble Radio NR-6N4 is a new 4 m and 6 m dual band radio. It covers 50.0 MHz to 52.0 MHz and 69.9 MHz to 70.5 MHz. Modulation is CW and SSB. Power is up to 20 W PEP. Price range is around 800 USD. The news release does not say anything about availability date.

The key, but preliminary technical specification, are listed below but are also subject to change:

Receiver

Downconverting design
Dual Converesion: 1st IF: 10.7 MHz 2nd IF: 25 kHz
Sideband elimination using phasing techniques with digitally generated Quadrature carriers and Image
Reject mixers preceeded by 15 kHz crystal roofing filters
Ultimate receiver bandwidth set by adjustable SCAF filters (two 8th order filters used. One for High Cut and one for Low cut)
Sensitivity: MDS = -130 dBm
Dynamic Range Figures: blocking: 110 dB, IMD (3rd Order): 95 dB
Selectivity: 500 Hz to 4 kHz adjustable with the SCAF filters. Ultimate attenuation of filters are 55 dB or better

Transmitter

Power: 20 W PEP
SCAF Filters can be used to tailor SSB Transmit audio

General

Synthesizer: DDS/PLL synthesizer with 10 Hz minimum step size. Tuning rate is variable depending on the Tuning Knob speed (Variable Speed Tuning - VST)
The low level 10.7 MHz IF signal is also brought out to a rear connector so that it may be used for panadapter or SDR applications
Memories: 10 Memories per band
Supply voltage: 11.5 V to 14 V DC, approximately 3.6 A at full output power.
Dimensions: 203 mm (W) x 305 mm (D), including knob and heatsink, 95 mm (H), including feet
Weight: Approximately 1.8 kg

Macedonia get access to 70 MHz

Bo OZ2M — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:16:00 +0000

Todor, Z31RM, is proud to announce that the Radioamateur Society of Macedonia, RSM, is granted licence of seven callsigns on temporary basis for usage of 70 MHz for limited time. The premission began 1 January 2013 and will end 31 December 2013.

The frequency allocations are 70,075 MHz for CW operation and 70,275 MHz for SSB operation. Maximum power is 10 W. Beacon to be announced, if any.

List of assigned operators calls': Z35W, Z30A, Z34M, Z33A, Z33Z, Z31MA and Z31RM.

70 MHz Marathon Contest 2013

Bo OZ2M — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:10:00 +0000

Gabriele, IZ5HQB, writes that the ARI Section of Florence again in 2013 invites to the Marathon Contest on 50/70 MHz 2013. The contest takes place from 00.00 UTC of 1 May 2013 until 23.59 UTC of 31 Aug 2013. You can read more about the contest here.

Italy on 70 MHz status

Bo OZ2M — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:06:00 +0000

I have been informed that that someone had given me imprecise information on the 70 MHz licensing conditions.

It is not true that the Italian Ministry of Economic Development has "cancelled" its first 4 m permit (Jan 29) lasting until the end of 2013. The new authorization (Feb 8) is aimed at "integrating" (the text so exactly reads) the previous one, stating that - due to certain bureaucratic reasons - an extra formal request has to be submitted for continuing to operate after 180 days, that is in period 5 August - 31 December 2013.

Moreover, in the second authorization they extended the list of neighbouring countries (that initially was France, Switzerland and Austria), including Slovenia and Croatia too. Probably that was just a mistake, due to the fact that they plainly copied the text of an old authorization, when Slovenia and Croatia amateurs were not allowed to operate on 4 meters.

Update on Italian 4 m special license

OZ2M — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:38:00 +0000

The Italian Ministry of Economic Development has cancelled the first 4 m permit lasting until the end of 2013 and issued a new one that is valid from 7 February 2013 and until 5 August 2013. Besides the change of dates also the geographical restrictions have been changed so that no operation must take place within 30 km from the boarder to France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia.

IARU Region 1 matters for Vienna meeting in April

OZ2M — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:36:00 +0000

The proposals for the IARU Region 1 VHF Managers' meeting in Vienna 19-21 April have been released. Some of the proposals concern the 4 m band.

Page 3: RSGB – The band plan and the allocation for beacons and MS calling frequency 70,250 MHz.
Page 9: RSGB – Band plan modernization and updates
Page 36: UBA – Assign preferred frequencies for repeaters and gateways in the 4 m band
Page 40: UBA – A complete review of the footnotes concerning the bandplans

Editor’s notes: Indeed 90/100 kHz may seem a lot in comparison to the total narrow band segment. However, beacons are a vital part of detecting conditions and is in some case the only signal originating out of a country where no traffic allocation has been granted. Furthermore, has very little, if any, traffic taken place below 70,1 MHz before the latest expansion of the beacon band.
An alternative “long range band plan” may work better and should be what is aimed for.
MS operation often takes place from 70,270 MHz to 70,295 MHz as this segment covers most of the currently active countries.

Pages 23-25: NRRL – Coordinated National VHF+ Activity Contests
Pages 25-26: VERON - SSB/CW contest in the 70 MHz band

Editor’s note: 24 hours seems like a lot giving the potential number of stations to work. Perhaps an idea to exclude MS operation from the daytime part of the contest and perhaps possible to work a station more than ones provided a minimum time gap. As activity and number of participants increase these special conditions may be reduced and finally deleted.

Italy back on 4 m in 2013

OZ2M — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:03:00 +0000

Emilio, IK0OKY, told that the special 4 m permit for Italy is back from 1 February 2013 and until 31 December 2013. The permit conditions are the same as before except the power which has been increased to 50 W ERP.

OZ7IGY on Next Generation Beacons platform

Bo OZ2M — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 21:31:00 +0000

Today the 4 m OZ7IGY beacon has been migrated to the Next Generations Beacons platform http://www.rudius.net/oz2m/ngnb

The beacon is now frequency and time locked to GPS. The sequenced is timed to start at 00 second sending JT65C2 followed by a short pause then CW ID sending callsign and locator, then pause and carrier until next cycle. The nominal frequency remains the same, i.e. 70,021 MHz.

To decode JT65C2 tune your receiver 1270 Hz below the nominal frequency. On most radios this is a USB dial of 70,019730 MHz. The plan is to replace all the old beacons with the new platform as time permits.
Listeners reports and feed back are highly appreciated.

OZ7IGY status page: http://www.rudius.net/oz7igy

Hungary back on 4 m

Bo OZ2M — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 23:18:00 +0000

Tamas, HA5PT, wrote that as of 30 December 2012 the Hungarian radio amateurs may use 70 MHz again and this time with a permanent allocation. The permission follow the new Frequency Allocation Table, page 38353, issued by the Hungarian regulator. The licensing conditions are 70,0 MHz to 70,5 MHz and 10 W.

IC-7100 available in spring 2013

Bo OZ2M — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:28:00 +0000

According to ICOM UK the interest for the new ICOM IC-7100 there has been much excitement from the radio amateur community. ICOM UK expects that the IC-7100 will be available in UK in sprin 2013.
The news release does not seem to address important features like:

Strong signal handling capabilities, e.g. OIRT signals
Variable power control and overshoot management to avoid destroying external power amplifiers
MGM performance
AGC off, fast, medium and slow
Transmission from 69,9 MHz and to 70,5 MHz
Split operation
Heat disipation and long time transmissions
Using CW memory and PTT keying without using VOX

Czech Republic continues on 4 m in 2013

Bo OZ2M — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:47:00 +0000

Matej, OK1TEH, informs that the Czech Telecommunication Office has extended the special 4 m licenses so Czech radio amateurs can continue operation until 31 December 2013. Frequency allocation remains the same as in 2012, i.e. 70,100 MHz to 70.300 MHz, maximum power is 10W ERP.

The NRRL 70 MHz bandplan for Norway

Bo OZ2M — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:38:00 +0000

The NRRL 70 MHz bandplan for Norway

Norway expands 4 m and gets "200"

Tom LA4LN — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:59:00 +0000

As of 31 October 2012, the Norwegian P & T Authority has made changes to the Norwegian amateur license regulations. The major changes are:

Permission has been given to use 472 - 479 kHz (max. 100 W transmitter power output; max. 1 W EIRP). Hence the former permission to use 493 - 510 kHz has been stopped.
Permission has been given to use 70.1875 - 70.2625 kHz, EXCEPT in the three Norwegian southwest counties of Hordaland, Rogaland and West-Agder, where there still is commercial traffic within this frequency segment.

NRRL had argued that the bulk of Norwegian radio amateurs should not be barred from using the IARU Region 1 calling frequency on 70.200 MHz and vicinities, because of a few commercial stations in the southwest corner of the country. This reasoning has thus been accepted by the Norwegian P & T authority. Hence the permission on 4 m with max. 100 W transmitter power, and max. 16 kHz bandwidth, include the following frequency segments:
70.0625 - 70.0875 MHz
70.1375 - 70.3125 MHz*
70.3625 - 70.3875 MHz
70.4125 - 70.4625 MHz
* 70.1875 - 70.2625 MHz not permitted in the counties Hordaland, Rogaland, and West-Agder (southwest Norway).