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November 3, 2016
Actual Radio Frequencies (Hz):
| 80m | 40m | 20m | |
| K5CM | 3,599,405.34 | 7,064,522.24 | |
| W8RKO | 3,599,637.70 | 7,064,326.30 | |
| W6OQI | 14,121,266.44 |
K5CM/W8RKO/W6OQI All (<=1 Hz):
AA6LK, AB4RS, K3KO, K4JAF, K5CM, K5RKS, K6APW/7, K6HGF, K6UM, K7HIL, KA5QEP, KI5EE, KK4KAZ, KM6QX, N2GL, N3FG, N6SKM, VE2IQ, VE3OAT, W2TX, W6BM, W6OQI, W7CQ, W8TM, W9GR, W9INE, WA9VNJ, WB0LXZ, WW6D, WX4TW
K5CM 80 (<=1 Hz):
AA6LK, AB4RS, AF9A, AJ4YA, AK4PK, K0WM, K3KO, K3OK, K4IVF, K4JAF, K5CM, K5RKS, K6APW/7, K6HGF, K6IQL, K6UM, K7HIL, KA5QEP, KD2BD, KD5MMM, KE5O, KG0HY, KI5EE, KK4KAZ, KM6QX, KN1H, MW1CFN, N2GL, N2GX, N3CRT, N3FG, N5DM, N6SKM, N8OB, N8OQ, NU0C, VE2IQ, VE3OAT, W0HBK, W2AGC, W2FD, W2TX, W3DAD, W3DD, W3JW, W4VU, W4WJ, W5EEG, W6BDX, W6BM, W6MSU, W6OQI, W7CQ, W7KPZ, W8TM, W9GR, W9INE, W9ZB, WA1ABI, WA2DVU, WA4FJC, WA7ZVY, WA9VNJ, WB0LXZ, WB2CMF, WB6DCE, WB6HYD, WD4IYE, WM3X, WW6D, WX4TW
K5CM 80 (>1 to <=5 Hz):
K3OOL, KI6WJP, VE3GSO, VE3YX, W1DOC, WA0TOP, WO7V
K5CM 80 (>5 to <=10 Hz):
AE8I
K5CM 80 (>10 Hz):
AC9LV, K3TCT, N5LUL, VE3BAE, WA0YCY
W8RKO 80 (<=1 Hz):
AA6LK, AB4RS, AK4PK, K0WM, K3KO, K3OK, K3OOL, K4IVF, K4JAF, K5CM, K5RKS, K6APW/7, K6HGF, K6UM, K7HIL, KA5QEP, KD2BD, KD5MMM, KE5O, KG0HY, KI5EE, KK4KAZ, KM6QX, KN1H, MW1CFN, N2GL, N2GX, N3CRT, N3FG, N5DM, N6SKM, N8OB, N8OQ, NU0C, VE2IQ, VE3GSO, VE3OAT, W0HBK, W1DOC, W2AGC, W2FD, W2TX, W3DAD, W3DD, W3JW, W4VU, W4WJ, W5EEG, W6BDX, W6BM, W6MSU, W6OQI, W7CQ, W7KPZ, W8TM, W9GR, W9INE, W9ZB, WA1ABI, WA4FJC, WA9VNJ, WB0LXZ, WB2CMF, WB6DCE, WB6HYD, WD4IYE, WO7V, WW6D, WX4TW
W8RKO 80 (>1 to <=5 Hz):
K6IQL, KI6WJP, VE3YX, WA0TOP, WA7ZVY
W8RKO 80 (>5 to <=10 Hz):
AC9LV, AE8I
W8RKO 80 (>10 Hz):
K3TCT, N5LUL, VE3BAE
K5CM 40 (<=1 Hz):
AA6LK, AB4RS, AK4PK, K0WM, K3KO, K3OOL, K4IVF, K4JAF, K5CM, K5RKS, K6APW/7, K6HGF, K6UM, K7HIL, K9KK, KA5QEP, KD2BD, KI5EE, KK4KAZ, KM6QX, KN1H, N2GL, N2GX, N3CRT, N3FG, N5DM, N6SKM, N8OB, N8OQ, NU0C, VE2IQ, VE3OAT, W2FD, W2TX, W3JW, W4EDX, W4VU, W6BM, W6MSU, W6OQI, W7CQ, W7KPZ, W8TM, W9GR, W9INE, WA1ABI, WA2DVU, WA4FJC, WA7ZVY, WA9VNJ, WB0LXZ, WB2CMF, WB6DCE, WM3X, WO7V, WW6D, WX4TW
K5CM 40 (>1 to <=5 Hz):
AJ4YA, K3OK, KG0HY, KI6WJP, VE3GSO, W1DOC, W2AGC, W3DAD, W3DD, W5EEG, W9ZB, WB6HYD, WD4IYE
K5CM 40 (>5 to <=10 Hz):
KE5O, VE3YX, W6BDX
K5CM 40 (>10 Hz):
AC0I, AC9LV, K3TCT, KL2KL, NB8F, VE3BAE, W3EH, WA0YCY
W8RKO 40 (<=1 Hz):
AA6LK, AB4RS, K0WM, K3KO, K4JAF, K5CM, K5RKS, K6APW/7, K6HGF, K6UM, K7HIL, K9KK, KA5QEP, KD5MMM, KE5O, KI5EE, KK4KAZ, KM6QX, N2GL, N3FG, N5DM, N6SKM, N8OQ, VE2IQ, VE3GSO, VE3OAT, W2TX, W3JW, W4WJ, W6BM, W6MSU, W6OQI, W7CQ, W7KPZ, W8TM, W9GR, W9INE, WA1ABI, WA7ZVY, WA9VNJ, WB0LXZ, WB6DCE, WB6HYD, WD4IYE, WO7V, WW6D, WX4TW
W8RKO 40 (>1 to <=5 Hz):
AK4PK, KG0HY, KI6WJP, MW1CFN, N3CRT, NU0C, VE3YX, W1DOC, W2FD, W3DAD, W3DD, W5EEG, WB2CMF
W8RKO 40 (>5 to <=10 Hz):
AE8I, N8OB, W6BDX, W9ZB
W8RKO 40 (>10 Hz):
AC9LV, K3TCT, K4IVF, N5LUL, W4VU
W6OQI 20 (<=1 Hz):
AA6LK, AB4RS, AF9A, K3KO, K3OOL, K4IVF, K4JAF, K5CM, K5RKS, K6APW/7, K6HGF, K6UM, K7HIL, K9KK, K9QJS, KA5QEP, KE5O, KF1P, KG0HY, KI5EE, KI6WJP, KK4KAZ, KM6QX, N2GL, N3FG, N6SKM, N8OB, NU0C, VE2IQ, VE3OAT, W0HBK, W2FD, W2TX, W3DAD, W3DD, W4EDX, W4VU, W4WJ, W6BM, W6OQI, W7CQ, W7JWM, W8TM, W9GR, W9INE, W9ZB, WA2DVU, WA7ZVY, WA9VNJ, WB0LXZ, WB6HYD, WM3X, WO7V, WW6D, WX4TW
W6OQI 20 (>1 to <=5 Hz):
AJ4YA, KD5MMM, N5DM, N5LUL, VE3GSO, W1DOC, W5EEG, WA0TOP
W6OQI 20 (>5 to <=10 Hz):
K3OK
W6OQI 20 (>10 Hz):
AC0I, AC9LV, AE8I, K3TCT, KB4DU, N3CRT, N8OQ, W7KPZ, WA0YCY, WA4FJC, WD4IYE
Result Details (n=94):
| Call | QTH | Area | Method/Soapbox | |||||||||||||||||
| AA6LK | CA | W6 |
| Method: HP Z3805A 10MHz GPSDO, Marconi 2019 HF synth, HP 3325A LF synth, HP 54601A o'scope, FT-847 in AM/narrow mode, 5BTV antenna, Vista laptop running SpecLab, DigiPan for spotting, EZGPIB controlling Prologix USB-GPIB to control and interrogate the radio and instruments, GPSCon for monitoring Z3805A; the 2019 was set to inject a reference beat signal to produce a ~400Hz beat tone, and the 3325A was tuned for minimum phase slip between it and the beat tone. Each run was also recorded to a .wav file through SpecLab, and at a later time replayed to export data to spreadsheet to refine submission numbers. Soapbox: Thanks Connie, Marvin, and Michael for running the test. I did note that 20M N.W. signal averaged ~0.4 Hz higher than the N.E. signal, and submission freq was between them but nearer the N.W. signal; N.E. signal was barely above the noise, but N.W signal was around S3; 40M/80M signals were strong with some flutter, though not too bad. 73, L | ||||||||||||||||
| AB4RS | VA | W4 |
| Method: Received with HP3586B locked to a Trimble Thunderbolt 10 MHz reference. Sampled the 15625 Hz IF and processed with SpectrumLab. Soapbox: Strong signals on all bands except W8RKO on 40m, which was inaudible, but visible in SpectrumLab. Only the East 20m signal was detected. Was rushed tonight due to other commitments, set up equipment and recorded the 20m run unattended. Don't have particularly high expectations for my results tonight. | ||||||||||||||||
| AC0I | KS | W0 |
| Method: Kenwood TS590S with optional SO-3 TCXO. I also used my KX3 as another verification that I was somewhat in the ballpark. Zero beat WWV 15mhz for error calc in VFO. Used Kenwood control software to be able to read hertz. Adjusted for difference in observed vfo error when zero beating WWV on 10mhz and 15mhz. Soapbox: This is my first attempt. I always wanted to try my hand at this test and finally took the plunge. | ||||||||||||||||
| AC9LV | IL | W9 |
| Method: Motorola R 1200 Service Monitor High Stab./ FLEX 1500
Spectrum spike layover on received signal Soapbox: Lots of QRM at QTH. 40 was total noise, no detectable signal. Outdated method to be sure, but did the best I could with limited equipment. FMT is total fun and FREE. Many thanks to K5CM, W8RKO, W6OQI | ||||||||||||||||
| AE8I | OH | W8 |
| |||||||||||||||||
| AF9A | IN | W9 |
| Soapbox: W6OQI S7 on East ant, in the noise beaming west. Nothing heard on 40m. K5CM S9 on 80m. W8RKO was in the noise, QSB and static crashes. | ||||||||||||||||
| AJ4YA | NC | W4 |
| Method: K3s in CW mode using "spot" for a tone, then zero-beat. Afterward, using CW-rev to match tones. The tone was 440 Hz. Additional equipment was Mk 1 ear drum with std. attached bones. Soapbox: This is the first time I've used this for the FMT. I hear low frequency better that high, and my wife check me on the frequency I selected. | ||||||||||||||||
| AK4PK | VA | W4 |
| Method: I used a Flex-1500 radio with a Leo Bodnar GPSDO 10 MHz reference clock. I then used Spectrum Lab to tune the Flex-1500 in USB mode to provide a 1000 hertz tone. Then I simply add 1000 hertz to the dial frequency to get the CW frequency. Didn't see any energy on 20m. | ||||||||||||||||
| K0WM | CO | W0 |
| Method: FT-1000MP Mark V, Collins 180S1 tuner, 40-meter dipole. Measure audio tone on CW, calibrate receiver on WWV and CHU. Soapbox: Signals good on CHU, poor on WWV, good on K5WM and W8RKO. No signal on 20 meters. | ||||||||||||||||
| K3KO | FL | W4 |
| Method: Two semi-independent methods:
Method 1 K3, SpectrumLab, Ref. Oscillator - compute audio DeltaHz(t) & add to Ref. Osc freq.
Method 2 HP-3586C,HP-3336C, oscilloscopes displaying 3586 IF/3336 Lissajous and 2 channel YT sinusoids. Attempt to obtain stationary phase difference by varying 3336 frequency. Compute Delta Hz between 3586 IF frequency and 3336 dial setting. Add to 3586 dial setting.
Same antenna/band through splitter. Everything locked (except K3) to same Rb standard. Data dumped to files and post-processed with DPLOT and by hand. Add semi-historical Doppler correction guess if observations indicated significant Doppler. Plenty of opportunity to corrupt the measured results. Soapbox: W6OQI first run at noise. Unreadable by ear with beam turned but SpectrumLab seemed to pick up some questionable signal 200 mHz higher. W8RKO about S2 on 40M with lots of frequency shifts. Rest of signals strong. This FMT will probably prove that throwing more equipment at the FMT doesn't improve results. Got essentially the same (wrong?) results (within 50 mHz) with both methods. | ||||||||||||||||
| K3OK | PA | W3 |
| Method: Yaesu FT-950 + SpectrumLab Soapbox: First FMT using computer software. Poor band conditions. | ||||||||||||||||
| K3OOL | PA | W3 |
| Method: Ant: 108' G5RV N/S @ 30ft, Rcvr K3 on AM, Leader LDC-823S freq counter, 10MHz GPS DO counter reference, homebrew DDS/Arduino dds oscillator for carrier injection into K3. Set dds to ~ 1KHz above fmt signal, measure frequency of dds oscillator for 10 sec gate time, then measure audio output from K3 for 10 gate, subtract. Soapbox: First attempt at FMT. Tested setup by measuring xtal test oscillator, no problems. Measuring signal over the air gave problems with noise, helped by narrowing K3 audio filter. Lots of fun but no idea how well I did. | ||||||||||||||||
| K3TCT | MD | W3 |
| Method: Used Hustler BTN antenna with Kenwood TS590SG receiver and used Spectrum
Lab to measure frequency. This was my first attempt at FMT and did not
Have opportunity to properly calibrate system for test. Soapbox: Thanks to all who made this test possible | ||||||||||||||||
| K4IVF | VA | W4 |
| Method: HP 3336B phase locked to GPS. Soapbox: Barely found W8RKO on 40 meters (I think). | ||||||||||||||||
| K4JAF | FL | W4 |
| Method: Elecraft K3S with Digipan software used to zero beat WWV and FMT carrier on CW. Soapbox: NW direction transmitter on 20 meters almost non readable here. | ||||||||||||||||
| K5CM | OK | W5 |
| Method: TX Antennas:160m vertical (almost). 80 meter dipole slopping down from a 80' tower. 40 meter dipole between two 80' towers, 4 element SteppIR. For RX I use an FT-1000D in AM mode with a PTS-250 for low side injection. Audio is feed to SpectrumLab. Other RX antennas include three 500' Beverage Soapbox: Conditions seemed good for this Fall FMT. Marvin's signal was strong with little QSB. Although the NW transmission was much weaker I saw little difference in observed frequency. Mike's 40 meters signal was already skipping over this Oklahoma QTH, but still plenty of signal to measure. Mike's 80 meter signal was strong and stable. 73's, Connie, K5CM | ||||||||||||||||
| K5RKS | OK | W5 |
| Method: I inject a signal from a standard signal source into a "T" connector along with the signal from the antenna. The output from the "T" connector is feed to the receiver. This results in receiver getting the signal off the air and the injected signal. I set the frequency of the injected signal to be about 1Khz different than the signal off the air and adjust the signal strength of the injected signal with an attenuator box to be about the same as the off the air signal. The receiver is in USB mode. I measure the difference in the two audio tones from the receiver using homebrew software that uses a classic FMT algorithm. Each measurement takes about 8 seconds. I typically have about 15 separate measurements for a particular station/frequency. I toss out any 8 second measurements that are outliers and average the rest. In this FMT I did not have any outliers on any of the six separate two minute frequency measurement runs. Equipment is HP3336B signal generator using external GPS 10Mhz reference. Receiver is ICOM 7600. 20m antenna is Log periodic, 40m antenna is Inverted "V" with apex up about 40 feet; 80 meter antenna is sloper hanging off the side of my 40 foot tower. Key parameters of FFT process are: sample size = 65536 samples; sample rate 8000 samp / sec; each measurement takes 8.192 seconds; bin size = 0.122 Hz. Effective bin size is probably smaller than 0.122 Hz because I take about 15 separate 8 second measurements and average them. Soapbox: All signals were usable. For W6OQI the signal beaming east was S9+20 and the signal beaming NW was S3 to S5 with a noise level of about S1. My measurements for the frequencies of W6OQI's two transmissions were different by 0.008Hz. For K5CM: 40m signal was about S7 with QSB and with noise level of about S5; 80m signal was S9 +20DB. For W8RKO on 40m signal was S9; 80m signal was S9 + 20DB. Fortunately the thunderstorm with lightening did not arrive here in southeast Oklahoma City until after the FMT was over. Thanks for K5CM, W8RKO, and W6OQI for running this test. | ||||||||||||||||
| K6APW/7 | OR | W7 |
| Method: Ten-Tec receiver characterized to WWV and CHU. Zero beat by ear offset with audio generator through hybrid audio combiner. Calculate error of display. Soapbox: Twenty meter signal about S4, eighty and forty meter signals S8 but considerable noise on those bands. Fun as usual, thanks to all who made this exercise possible. | ||||||||||||||||
| K6HGF | CA | W6 |
| Method: 3586/3336/Spectrum Lab/Scope | ||||||||||||||||
| K6IQL | KS | W0 |
| Method: I am still fooling with a two channel system and sorting data using
angle of arrival and frequency delta between the two channels. Receivers are QS1R externally clocked as are all devices from Rb reference. Receiver system is phase matched from antennas to beat tone outputs. Antennas are phase matched home brew small magnetic loops at 30 ft. Freq. data captured by SL and phase data by HP3575 phase meter and A/D converter. Audio beat method used as it is
receiver independent and can be phase tracked. Soapbox: Thanks again to Connie for leading the charge on this great activity. My thanks also of W8RKO AND W6OQI. Did not attempt 20 M this time, but did listen on 40 and 80. 40 M signals quite weak which were not helped by my annual FMT coincident thunderstorms here. However 80 M signals were very strong and I got good solid measurement on both stations. Entire lab battery backed up this year. Did last November FMT on generator power. At least the lights stayed on this time. -73 john | ||||||||||||||||
| K6UM | OR | W7 |
| Method: Elecraft K3 with EXTREF option
HP 0960-0477 OCXO (Ovenaire)
WSPR/FMT 2.12 Soapbox: First 20m measured 31 mHz higher. Signal was 45 dB weaker than second test signal and heavy QSB | ||||||||||||||||
| K7HIL | AZ | W7 |
| Method: Pre-calibrated CW pitch with HP3325B driving radio with radio dial=Hp3325B. At FMT recorded CW pitch freq and in Excel found FMT freq by "Freq=Dial+pre-cal pitch-recorded pitch". Using CW allowed me to use narrow RF filter bandpass of 50 Hz. Soapbox: Around 1 Hz Doppler all frequencies. At least 200 mHz on key down. Looked at closest WWV following each FMT to try and get trend information. After all this science made educated guess :) | ||||||||||||||||
| K9KK | OK | W5 |
| Method: GPS Reference Soapbox: All signals strong, even with W6OQI aimed NW. W8RKO 40M especially strong. Lightning ended my participation at the beginning of the 80M tests with a power outage. | ||||||||||||||||
| K9QJS | WA | W7 |
| Method: Let my K3 warm up. Used K3 SPOT function to determine TX error on WWV on 15 Mhz, then on 10 MHz, which was positive error. Pro-rated that error to 20 M and subtracted from my actual measurement to get the result. Soapbox: Revised calculations. Definitely worthwhile activity to better understand my radio! First FMT on 20M was light; second was much stronger and my measurement likely more accurate. | ||||||||||||||||
| KA5QEP | OK | W5 |
| Method: Harris RF-590 clocked with old Austron OCXO. Analysis with HP dynamic signal analyzer. Data were recorded as .wav files and analyzed with a program I wrote in Mathematica language the next day. Soapbox: I thought that being able to look at the frequency as a function of time would help identify the correct frequency. Instead it raised a lot of questions. There were multiple arrivals at different frequencies that shifted in frequency depending on time. If I got close, it was just a lucky guess. | ||||||||||||||||
| KB4DU | AL | W4 |
| Method: IC7200/Fldigi | ||||||||||||||||
| KD2BD | NJ | W2 |
| Method: All homebrew equipment including a quadrature phasing direct conversion receiver, WWVB referenced frequency standard, frequency counter, and a 43 foot long end-fed wire antenna. Method involved phase locking the receiver's LO to the frequency of the unknown carrier minus a 1 kHz offset, measuring the frequency of the receiver's LO over several 10 second integration periods, and taking a "selective average" of the readings after factoring in the 1 kHz offset. Details of my methodology are available at: http://www.qsl.net/kd2bd/fmt-methodology.html. Soapbox: 20 meters was dead, and W6OQI was barely detectable. An antenna connection error on my part caused K5CM to be weak but readable, and W8RKO to be too weak to measure on 40. K5CM was very strong on 80, and W8RKO followed with an even stronger signal. Frequencies measured were fairly stable despite the Kp index being 4. There was some thunderstorm QRN present. TNX and GL to all! 73.000 de John, KD2BD | ||||||||||||||||
| KD5MMM | TX | W5 |
| Method: yaesu 847, spec lab, chu for reference Soapbox: did not hear K5CM on 40 or W6OQI NW beam, good sigs on the rest. had fun, hope to be close. 73 all | ||||||||||||||||
| KE5O | TX | W5 |
| Method: 20 foot vertical into Hewlett Packard 3586B/ counter mode. Soapbox: Great test! All good sigs except K5CM on 40. | ||||||||||||||||
| KF1P | SC | W4 |
| Method: Yaesu FT-857 TXO FLDigi 20 Meter Vertical compared result to WWV on 15MHz after test. Soapbox: First entry. Will get a 40 and 80 meter antennas up for next test. This is FUN ! ! | ||||||||||||||||
| KG0HY | NE | W0 |
| Method: Receiver is WinRadio G313. Powered-up 2200UTC. Check calibration with WWV, CHU, and my 1MHz standard. HF yagi was used for 20M. 100 feet long dipole was used for 40 and 80M. Soapbox: Good signal on 20M. Went down to -121 to -130db, on the second transmission. 40M was bad with both stations, but 80M signals were good. Casey, KG0HY | ||||||||||||||||
| KI5EE | LA | W5 |
| Method: I used Spec. Lab with my Kenwood TS-850. Soapbox: I have a more modern radio (Kenwood TS-2000)however after doing calibration checks, I found the TS-850 to be more accurate frequency. The increased accuracy of the radio frequency reduces the error in the calculation. I graphed the frequency error of my radio within 2 minutes before and again after the FMT. Doing this graph just before and again after the Test allowed me to increase my accuracy of my readings. I received strong signals from all stations on each band making it easier to determine the frequency I will report. | ||||||||||||||||
| KI6WJP | CA | W6 |
| Method: FT450, G5RV Antenna. wspr/K1JT FMT Tools. No calibrated equipment. Soapbox: New radio and antenna. This is the first time I've managed to measure all bands. I copied all transmissions easily. The NW 20m signal was a few dB stronger than the signal beamed East. Just a bit of fading on the w8rko 80m test. | ||||||||||||||||
| KK4KAZ | FL | W4 |
| Method: Home Brew GPSDO of 10 MHz for Icom R75 Calibration, and Excel spreadsheet for corrected FMT measurements. | ||||||||||||||||
| KL2KL | MA | W1 |
| |||||||||||||||||
| KM6QX | CA | W6 |
| Method: Pixel loop antenna into Flex-1500 locked to GPSDO. Received in CW mode, fixed AGC, and analyzed ~600 Hz tones with Spectrum Lab. Selected most probable spectrum peak then corrected for Flex’s DDS VFO offset. | ||||||||||||||||
| KN1H | NH | W1 |
| Method: Used IC-7200 measuring audio output frequency with Spectrum Lab. Averaged 100 samples from each transmission and applied corrections, fingers crossed. Soapbox: K5CM 579 on 40M and 599 on 80. W8RKO s9+20db. Sadly, no copy at all on W6OQI, band dead as if antenna was disconnected (it wasn't). Got distracted and missed W8RKO on 40. The FMT is a lot of fun, really looking forward to the next one. | ||||||||||||||||
| MW1CFN | DX | DX |
| Method: Yaesu FT450 plus Spectrum Lab 1/2 sloper against tower plus 12m Yagi | ||||||||||||||||
| N2GL | OR | W7 |
| Method: GPS disciplined HP3586A selective level meter with HP3335A audio oscillator providing beat with IF output for Lissajou display on Tek 2245 x/y scope display to find signal in 20 hz if filter. Soapbox: Thanks for the FMT! | ||||||||||||||||
| N2GX | NJ | W2 |
| Method: Lucent RFTG GPS-locked 10MHz source, feeding HP8656B sig gen set to nearest 10Hz. Icom IC-R75 receiver, HP laptop with Spectrum Lab analyzer SW. Unknown found by straddling technique with the HP8656B. Soapbox: 20m band completely closed by 0000UTC. Move earlier next year? | ||||||||||||||||
| N3CRT | NJ | W2 |
| Method: Flex3000/FLdigi Soapbox: W6OQI was S7 Right on a birdie. K5CM 40M was 59+ 80M was S7 W8RKO 40m was less than S3 80M was very loud S9+15! Thank you for putting this on again! I enjoy it very much. | ||||||||||||||||
| N3FG | PA | W3 |
| Method: Spectran, WWV, K3, dipole Soapbox: 20M: gud cpy. K5CM 40M: S7. W8RKO 40M: S2, QRN, QSB, my results are just a wild guess. K5CM 80M: S5, QSB, QRN. W8RKO 80M: S4, QSB, QRN. Mny tnx for another great event. | ||||||||||||||||
| N5DM | TX | W5 |
| Method: Yaesu ft-dx3000 and DigiPan 2.0. Soapbox: Most signals Q5 except K5CM/40M. QRN and QSB not a significant factor this FMT. Thanks to W6OQI/K5CM/W8RKO. | ||||||||||||||||
| N5LUL | TX | W5 |
| Method: Yaesu FT920 on 80 and 40 meter dipoles minus error correction figured from past events. FT857D using 20M beam... poor 10hz resolution on dial... wag | ||||||||||||||||
| N6SKM | CA | W6 |
| Method: FT-857D using GPSDO, MacMini running fldigi, analysis.csv file fed thru excel for frequency averaging. MFJ loop antenna for 20M, eprobe for 40 and 80. Soapbox: Thanks for running the FMT again! All signals were strong here in Northern California, ranging from S6 on K5CM/80 to S8 for both 40 meter signals. This time I learned about using fldigi's analysis.csv file and had time to compare the probe antenna and loop on 20M. (The loop was very much quieter, increasing the S/N ratio enormously!) | ||||||||||||||||
| N8OB | OH | W8 |
| Method: Flex 6300 and FLdigi Soapbox: Weak signals on 40M and 20m | ||||||||||||||||
| N8OQ | VA | W4 |
| Method: Elecraft K3 + Bodnar GPSDO + Spectrum Lab ;
Known Bodnar GPSDO carrier injected into passband and unknown carrier measured differentially from that. Soapbox: 20m: W6OQI had steady frequency drift higher of about 0.5-Hz over the full interval. West measurement centroid noise was 2x higher than east and end digits of frequency were .566. 40m: K5CM booming in, W8RKO had several steps in frequency that appeared to correlate with lightning crashes due to mid-west T-storm propagation enhancement perhaps! 80m: K5CM had a few frequency steps again perhaps related to T-storm propagation enhancements. All signals had SNRs over 10dB and easily measured. | ||||||||||||||||
| NB8F | MI | W8 |
| Method: Flex 6300, heard, 59 on a 5BTV vertical. | ||||||||||||||||
| NU0C | NE | W0 |
| Method: Agilent E4420B referenced to a 1969 vintage Tracor 304SC TV broadcast rubidium standard. Drake R-7A RX, Butternut HF-6V vertical and 80 Meter dipole. Delta-F measurements using Baudline for Linux. Soapbox: Drake meets the Penguin. It doesn't get any better than that! Thankd for a fun run! | ||||||||||||||||
| VE2IQ | ON | VE |
| Method: dipole / e-probe > TS-850 in CW mode > audio software. Record everything then measure next morning when not half-asleep. Soapbox: Good condx except 40M W8RKO weak (419). By contrast 80M W8RKO very strong here (599+). Reporting 20M East run, estimate 20M Japan about 200 milliHz lower in freq. No Doppler guessing attempted. Tnx to all transmitting stations and ARRL. | ||||||||||||||||
| VE3BAE | ON | VE |
| Method: Spectracom 8161 Ovenized Osc calibrated to CHU (3.330 Mhz
Rockwell Collins HF 2050 Receiver, Sony AN-1 Active Antenna
Spectrum Lab V2.91 Soapbox: First attempt... Interesting indeed | ||||||||||||||||
| VE3GSO | ON | VE |
| Method: Yaesu FT-950 and Spectrum Lab. See April 2015 QST for my process. Soapbox: Second run on 20m not heard after that big beam got turned. Second run on 40m barely perceptable, just a dB above the noise floor. Both signals on 80m came in well, Connie was 599, while W8RKO was 579. Great fun having so many signals to go after. Noticed an error in my first data entry, so came back to correct. Dave | ||||||||||||||||
| VE3OAT | ON | VE |
| Method: Receiver in AM mode, using SpectrumLab to measure the audio beat note between "unknown" signal and signal from HP 3325B signal generator (ref'ed to 10 MHz from HP Z3801A GPSDO). GPS antenna now above the roof and works much better there. Soapbox: Signals generally good although unexpectedly weak from W8RKO on 40 m (skip?). Lots of Doppler visible on the spectrum analyzer and perceived in the data. But where is the real signal? Oh my! Thanks very much to everyone involved in presenting this test, especially to W8RKO for his debut as a target signal. | ||||||||||||||||
| VE3YX | ON | VE |
| Method: Drifty TS-870 and Fldigi. Soapbox: Got home too late for 20 M and just in time for 40 M. K5CM signal was good on both bands while W8RKO was good on 80 but barely there on 40. I will have to get a better ref. oscillator than the standard one for the 870! 2nd submission after reversing the polarity of the errors! Did I do it right this time?...... Thanks Connie and Michael. | ||||||||||||||||
| W0HBK | IA | W0 |
| Method: Yeasu FT-920 with TCXO, calibrated to WWV. Direct frequency measurement. Soapbox: W6OQI was 579 beaming NE, no cpy beaming NW. Signals too weak & QRM on 40M to get accurate readings. 80M signals 599+20. Tnx for conducting the test. | ||||||||||||||||
| W1DOC | GA | W4 |
| Method: Flexradio 6700 with GPSDO but with attic inverted V's Soapbox: Not at all sure about the 20m frequency. No discernable audio on call up or key down but very faint, (very very, faint) trace on the panadapter. | ||||||||||||||||
| W2AGC | NJ | W2 |
| Method: ICOM IC-718, 40m OCF dipole. Offset tuned, audible beat w/ 1kHz tone played from Dell laptop PC. Soapbox: Some fading on all read signals. RST: CM@40=499, CM@80=479, RKO@80=599. RKO not heard at 40m. OQI not measured, was out of shack. | ||||||||||||||||
| W2FD | PA | W3 |
| Method: Kenwood TS 450S with 1 Hz. Dial Resolution--using near 600 Hz. output of CW and Rev. CW audio to correct dial frequency reading with Lissajous pattern, audio generator and frequency counter for audio frequency. WWV 15 MHz. used for dial calibration. Soapbox: Thanks to K5CM, W6OQI and W8RKO for another good test. Signals were good except for 40 meter test from W8RKO where the signal was very weak and the background very noisy. | ||||||||||||||||
| W2TX | FL | W4 |
| Method: RF-590 and sound card locked to 10 MHz from GPSDO. 20M inverted V at 50 ft.; 64 ft. vertical matched on 40M and 80M. Spectrum Lab SW. Soapbox: 20M signal was below atmospheric noise, it peaked even with the noise for 10 sec., so my 20M submission is pretty much a guess. On 40M, K5CM was the stronger of the two signals here in FL at 17 uV; W8RKO was in the noise. On 80M, W8RKO was stronger with a fade-free 400 uV signal; K5CM was 100 uV with deep fades. | ||||||||||||||||
| W3DAD | MD | W3 |
| Method: OCXO + K3/TCXO + Spectrum Lab. Using LSB measure dial and beat frequency and then calculate xmit frequency. Calibrate using WWV and CHU before and after run. Vertical antenna over ground radials. Soapbox: W6OQI pointing to Japan was Nil Heard here in MD. Good signals otherwise except for W8RKO 40 meter signal which was way down in the noise. Second posting as used incorrect call (W3DD) on first post. Thanks and always a learning experience. 73 Kevin W3DAD | ||||||||||||||||
| W3DD | MD | W3 |
| Method: OCXO+K3/TXCO+Spectrum Lab. Measure using LSB dial and beat frequencies and then calculate xmit frequency. Calibrate using WWV and CHU both before and after run. Vertical antenna over ground radials Soapbox: W6OQI was nil heard here in MD when pointing to Japan. Good signals otherwise, except for W8RKO on 40 Meters which was way down in the noise. Enjoyed the exercise and always learn something from it. | ||||||||||||||||
| W3EH | NY | W2 |
| Method: Yaesu 5000
zero beat Soapbox: would have liked to do more than one reading, but signal was heard only on 40 from K5CM | ||||||||||||||||
| W3JW | VA | W4 |
| Method: Flex 6700 (GPSDO) into SpectrumLab Soapbox: There was no reception of either 20 M transmisison at my QTH (Zip/Nada). Measured receiver sensitivity was better than -130 dBm and the antenna was the usual Inverted-L. The K5CM 40 M signal was S9. The W8RKO 40M signal was S5. The K5CM 80M signal was S9+5 dB. The W8RKO 80M signal was S9+10dB. | ||||||||||||||||
| W4EDX | NC | W4 |
| Method: IC-7700, HP computer, Spec. Lab software Soapbox: 20 and 40 Mtr transmission both 599+ here in NC no problem with QSB or QRM this year. Thanks for the fine job. 73 Bernie | ||||||||||||||||
| W4VU | NC | W4 |
| Method: HP3586 with external Trimble 65256 10 MHz Oscillator calibrated to WWV. Followed "HP3586 OPS N6PY" instructions using 400 Hz filter. Soapbox: Fun - first one with HP3586! Box locked on W8RKO's 80 meter signal solid! | ||||||||||||||||
| W4WJ | TX | W5 |
| Method: (GPS) Lucent/Symmetricom Z3810AS
(Receiver) GPS Locked RACAL 6790/GM
Tunable in steps of 1000Hz, 30Hz or 1 Hz.
(Synthesizer) GPS Locked HP 3336B
(Zero Beat Indicator) Tektronix 2213A
(Configuration) The post-filtered 455 KHz IF from the RACAL is fed to CH A
of the Tek. A precise 455,000.000Hz carrier from the HP3336B is fed to the EXT input channel of the Tek. The scope is set to display 2 cycles of the 455KHz IF waveform instead of a traditional Lissajous pattern.
(Procedure) Frequency readings to 1Hz resolution are quickly made by tuning the RACAL to near zero beat with the aid of the Tek scope. If a signal is “dead on”, such as WWV, the waveform will not “slip” in either direction but will just vary in amplitude with variation in signal strength. If the waveform is moving >>>, the RACAL is tuned BELOW exact zero beat. If the waveform is moving <<<, the RACAL is tuned ABOVE exact zero beat. If “stepping” the receiver one
Hz causes the direction of motion of the waveform to reverse, the exact frequency is BETWEEN the current and former readout, i.e. between two concurrent one Hertz points.
For those “in-between-hertz” measurements, the RACAL is tuned ABOVE the unknown frequency and the HP3336B is then tuned upward, in one milliHertz steps, from 455,000.000Hz until the right to left movement of the waveform on the Tek display stops. The millihertz DELTA is then SUBTRACTED from the RACAL readout to give the “exact” frequency.
Using a regular scope waveform allows very quick “zeroing” of signals, even those that are nearly in the noise. I find it much easier to use than the Lissajous
pattern. It is also very interesting to note the carrier frequency variances that occur during doppler shifting. Soapbox: W6OQI vy stable here with S8 signal. K5CM on 40m signal in the noise with large doppler excursions. W8RKO S9 on 40 and 80m. Light QRN on 40 and 80m. TNX to Connie, Chuck and Mike for their FB signals! | ||||||||||||||||
| W5EEG | TX | W5 |
| Method: TenTec Jupiter and SpectrumLab. | ||||||||||||||||
| W6BDX | CA | W6 |
| Method: IC-7300 into HP Desktop Windows 7 with Spectrum Lab & Excel. Soapbox: Couldn't get home from work in time for the 20m (PST). | ||||||||||||||||
| W6BM | CA | W6 |
| Method: SP-600 JX-17, 3 external synthesizers substituting for HFO, LFO, BFO. Thunderbolt freq std. Match 455 IF freq on 2-trace scope with 455 synthesizer. Soapbox: Thanks again. 20 m sig poor, all others strong with strong Doppler on RK. | ||||||||||||||||
| W6MSU | CA | W6 |
| Method: Flex 1500 w/GPSDO, FLDIGI Soapbox: Thanks you! 73 | ||||||||||||||||
| W6OQI | CA | W6 |
| Method: HP Z3801B GPS reference receiver. HP 3586B selective level meter. Also a oscilloscope with Lissajous pattern to try to pick a stable moment with minimum doppler shift. The frequency is then read from the HP 3586B. The Z3801B is the frequency standard for the HP 3586B.
For transmitting the 20 meter FMT the HP Z3801 is the frequency reference for a HP 3336B signal generator which drives an antique Johnson Viking I transmitter as an intermediate power amplifier for an Icom 4KL amplifer. The 4KL amplifier is driven to about 500 watts which is fed to a Hygain TH6DXX beam on a 55 foot tower. Before the FMT the HP Z3801 is compared to a second HP Z3801 to be certain the two GPS receivers are in agreement. Soapbox: All signals from K5CM and W8RKO were nice and strong into Southern California. Doppler shifting was present but not as bad as I have seen before. | ||||||||||||||||
| W7CQ | OR | W7 |
| Method: 10 MHz SHERA GPS Frequency Standard, Tripled to 30MHz to lock ICOM 756 to 1hz Dial accuracy - Spectrum Lab Soapbox: Thanks to Connie, Charles and Michael for a good night. Great signals tonight with no QRM. Good long call ups. That was really appreciated here in Oregon. Only 80 meters had lots of Doppler shifting. The early time on 20 meters sure helps on the west coast. Thanks everyone. | ||||||||||||||||
| W7JWM | AZ | W7 |
| Soapbox: Nothing heard on 40 or 80 meters! | ||||||||||||||||
| W7KPZ | OR | W7 |
| Method: ICOM IC-718 with CR-338 high-stability crystal, indoor wire antenna. Measured frequencies with FLDIGI. Calculated rcvr linear error function with WWV and applied correction to measured values. No statistics on the frequencies, I just estimated the mean value. Soapbox: Don't think I heard either W6OQI transmission. Just guessing at one weak possibility. Other transmissions all readable. Here's hoping I didn't make any stupid errors this time. In any case, fun as usual. | ||||||||||||||||
| W8TM | OH | W8 |
| Method: Elecraft K3, zero-beating received CW audio tone with rig's "SPOT" audio tone. Soapbox: 40M signals and 80M W8RKO were weak and measurements are doubtful. | ||||||||||||||||
| W9GR | CA | W6 |
| Method: FlexRadio 6500 locked to Trimble GPS. WAV audio recorded to right channel of Denon DN-500R professional audio recorder. Left channel has 2 kHz tone from HP3325A also locked to GPS, to calibrate out sampling rate (44.1 kHz) error. Resampled to 8 kHz with SOX (a wonderful open source command line audio tool), then analysis is done with my own GNU Octave code to determine weighted average frequency. Soapbox: I appreciate the effort put into this by the transmitting stations. It's great fun. This time I forgot to start recording K5CM on 40 meters on time. Missed the first 50 seconds of key-down. W6OQI much stronger on NW beam heading so I used that. | ||||||||||||||||
| W9INE | CO | W0 |
| Method: FLEX-6700 Soapbox: Signal Strength (dBm): 20M(East) -105; 20M(West) -100; 40M K5CM -95; 40M W8RKO -105; 80M K5CM -115; 80M W8RKO -115. QSB ranged from 10 to 30 dB depending on band/station. No QRN or QRM. | ||||||||||||||||
| W9ZB | IN | W9 |
| Method: Icom 706 in CW mode, 600Hz note summed with a DDS generated 600Hz into a DSO138 digital scope. Timed difference beat against stop watch. Soapbox: 20M East signal about S-4 with QSB, 20M West sig unusable here. K5CM 40M signal weak, W8RKO 40M also weak. K5CM 80M signal S-9, W8RKO S-5 With heavy QRN from approaching storm. Good challenge picking signals out of the noise. Thanks, guys! | ||||||||||||||||
| WA0TOP | MO | W0 |
| Method: I have a 10 MHz TCXO which I have synchronized with the WWV 10 MHz carrier. I used that as the timing input to a Rigol DSA815 spectrum analyzer. I set the spectrum analyzer to 1 kHz bandwidth and set a marker to track the peak. I recorded the screen with a movie camera during the test. Later, I played back the movie and estimated the average of the peak readings. The antenna is a 785 ft horizontal loop with an Avantek UT84-0117M pre-amplifier. Soapbox: I need to learn how to use the VISA commands to extract the data programmatically. I heard nothing on 40m. | ||||||||||||||||
| WA0YCY | KS | W0 |
| Soapbox: Severe thunder storms here in southern Kansas City area. High static, thunder, and lightning. | ||||||||||||||||
| WA1ABI | RI | W1 |
| Method: WJ-8718 receiver locked to Rb standard, beat note measured with DL4YHF's Spectrum Lab software. Soapbox: Nil on 20m - no signals at all on the band. W8RKO 40m not audible by ear, but Spectrum Lab caught a trace. K5CM sigs good on 40m and 80m. W8RKO 80m was very strong. Thanks to K5CM, W6OQI, W8RKO, and ARRL. | ||||||||||||||||
| WA2DVU | NJ | W2 |
| Method: HP3336, HP3586, locked to GPS and Tek 465. | ||||||||||||||||
| WA4FJC | VA | W4 |
| Method: HP 3586 SLM with Spec Lab for a tuning indicator. Thunderbolt GPS for ref freq. Soapbox: Thanks to all who helped with this event. Did not hear W8RKO on 40 meters. All other sigs were very strong. | ||||||||||||||||
| WA7ZVY | OR | W7 |
| Method: FUNcube Dongle Pro+ running SDR#, hy-gain 18AVT/WB vertical antenna (with an insufficient number of ground radials!), zero beat WWV at 15MHz, 10MHz and 5MHz for calibration, SDR# bandwidth set to 10Hz, visually monitored IF display window. Soapbox: Had good solid steady signals on 20 meters and 40 meters. Signals on 80 meters were very weak with lots of distortion... probably partially due to my antenna's lack of sufficient ground radials. But, still managed to copy. | ||||||||||||||||
| WA9VNJ | WI | W9 |
| Method: Yaesu FT-857D with oscillator replaced by an XRef-FT board fed from a Trimble Thunderbolt GPS. Audio into Spectrum Lab doing both long (real time) and short (from WAV file) FFTs, each averaged. Additional analysis of the WAV files using a custom Octave script from a friend. Then a voting method to determine which answers to use. A separate TBolt feeding an Agilent 33120A to determine dial calibration of the FT-857D and the sample rate, interpolating the answers. Noisy garage dipole for 20m and 40m. Pixel Loop (AM-2) for 80m. Soapbox: The east 20m signal was audible, but the NW was very weak. On 40m K5CM was barely there and W8RKO was inaudible. Still, Spectrum Lab found them and gave me iffy answers. Not too confident in these. Good signals on 80m from both stations, with some fading. Had a great time. Thanks. | ||||||||||||||||
| WB0LXZ | KS | W0 |
| Method: 80m dipole, 40m dipole, 20m dipole, HP3586B, Spectrum Lab, Trimble Thunderbolt. Soapbox: All signals were strong, no QRM. Thanks to all who made it possible. I measured both 20m transmissions. East transmission seemed higher by about 0.42 Hz. | ||||||||||||||||
| WB2CMF | NY | W2 |
| Method: Kenwood TS-2000, Cushcraft R8 Vertical, Compaq CQ-56 Laptop, Rigblaster PC Interface, Fldigi software in frequency analysis mode. Soapbox: Conditions were very poor on 20 meters and could not copy anything. 40 and 80 much better. W8RKO AND W6OQI both had bad qsb so accuracy not very good. | ||||||||||||||||
| WB6DCE | CA | W6 |
| Method: Icom R-75 with Spectrum Lab | ||||||||||||||||
| WB6HYD | CA | W6 |
| Method: K3 with old synthesizer. Spectrum Lab to get a quick estimate and the HP 3320B audio synthesizer to match the phase of the audio out of the K3 and the Eldorado 1550 counter to count the audio synthesizer. Soapbox: The newer better K3 synthesizer may be quieter but it never stops wandering by about 0.2 Hz. The signal from southern Cal was skipping over me and was hardly usable. | ||||||||||||||||
| WD4IYE | KY | W4 |
| Method: IC-718/36 ft EF at 30 ft/Linux Mint 17.2/WSPR/Fldigi
This is my 2nd FMT. In November of 2014 I just used an SDR to see how close I could get. This time I used Fldigi and WSPR on split computer screens.It didn't work as well as I planned. I couldn't use my CAT interface because I was using both Fldigi and WSPR. So sometimes I forgot to make the dial freq on Fldigi the same as my IC-718. The WSPR is nice but harder to use.It gathers data for 2-3 mins and if something is off you cant recover.(I did have a 2nd cmd screen to restart if needed)Next FMT I will use Fldigi with CAT interface. The waterfall allows you to fine tune during the FMT transmission and recover from mistakes.Also its easy to pick out the signal rather than having WSPR look for it. I might need more practice with WSPR, because if you have ever used any of Joe Taylor's (K1JT) programs they are awesome. Soapbox: Not sure why I enjoy this so much but Thank you to everyone for making this possible. | ||||||||||||||||
| WM3X | NC | W4 |
| Method: Kenwood TS-990 transceiver set to fine tune. Used the CW-tune function to repeatedly lock onto received signal, recording frequency each time. Final frequencies are arithmetic averages of 14 - 18 readings on each band. Soapbox: My first FMT. I'm sure my method is crude by OT standards, but we made it a club function to get more of our members sitting face to face with their radios. | ||||||||||||||||
| WO7V | OR | W7 |
| Method: Flex5000A, Rubidium standard, Fldigi using the frequency analysis mode. Soapbox: Good clear signals on all bands. | ||||||||||||||||
| WW6D | CA | W6 |
| Method: QS1R SDR with Bodnar GPSDO used as ref. osc. K1JT "FMT" software to control SDR, do averaging and calculations. Soapbox: W6OQI signal much better after turning beam toward Japan. Signals on 80m and 40m were 579 here. | ||||||||||||||||
| WX4TW | NC | W4 |
| Method: Carefully calibrated KX3, Spectrum Lab software |