Hi Everybody; The "Scanning RF Seismograph" is a real time propagation tool developed by the MDSR Team and Alex VE7DXW. The monitor station is located in Lynn Valley (GS: CN89li), North Vancouver at 130m (500ft.) ASL. The transceiver used to monitor the HF spectrum is a Yaesu FT-950 connected to an omni-directional multiband antenna (Hy-Gain Hy-Tower 18HT Jr., 36ft.). The transceiver is connected to the computer via an MDSR BiLiF converter. The software running on this computer is MDSR V3.1 and Java SA 1.4. How does it work? It monitors JT-65 frequencies on 6 HF bands for 8 sec. each, repeating the scan every 52 sec. The recorders record the background noise of the band and display the result in six color-differentiated long-duration time graphs. The total displayed time is 6 hours. Signals are present when the graph resembles a tiny filled square. The up/down movement of the graphs is caused by changes in noise level, and by the reflection of noise off the D-Layer in the ionosphere. real-time updated image: http://www.nsarc.ca/hf/rf_seismo/main.html The MDSR group has now released the "Scanning RF-Seismograph" and it can be downloaded from the MDSR website. A help and setup manual is included in the download. http://users.skynet.be/myspace/mdsr/ This new tool allow users to scan up to 6 frequencies or bands to look for activity even during the time the operator is not on her/his station. For more info on this please join the MDSR Yahoo user group. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/mdsradio/info The MDSR group has also released the LIF-2016 converter unit that is made using SMD components and already assembled. It is so small that it fits into the option filter port of most radios. It can be ordered for $50.- on line, it will install into the transceivers listed on the MDSR webpage. (click on the "Buy the Kit" on the left toolbar) Payments through PayPal. For US purchases: The MDSR units will ship from inside the USA to US destinations. Thank you to Phil (N2EU) for taking on this important task to reduce shipping time into the US. For purchases in to Eastern Canada:Shipments into Ontario and east will be handled by Eric (VE3EI). This will improve shipping times into eastern Canada. Eric also runs a service shop that sell the units directly. http://iescomm.ca/ All the best and 73; The MDSR Team Alex - VE7DXW
www.bandconditions.com We welcome the competition! Just another chance to compare and contrast propagation information generated by different methods. In the end, I believe, monitoring JT35 (or other modes) are of limited value. There is only one way to gain information on propagation and that's with an active Ionosounde system made specifically for propagation research. 5 years ago I setup such a system. It's still in use today. I believe it's still the only Ionosounde operated by a private citizen and the only one in the world operation 24/7/365. K5BIZ Oh - Did I mentioned it was still Free? I don't make a dime of it...
Hi Biz; Very cool website. Unfortunately Ionosounde are expensive and you need space to set them up. With the MDSR RF-Seismograph the user can just piggyback on the existing radio and antenna system. Also the RF-Seismograph gives you a real-time picture of the last 6h on 6bands that are in the interest of the user, not just cryptic numbers. You should check it out....it will work on any 455kHz radio. Even tube ones... We have a lot of information in our MDSRadio Yahoo user group. You are welcome to join. It is free! All the best; Alex - VE7DXW
Hi Biz; Right now I am receiving traffic on 20m even though your system indicates 20m is bad. I think it is expensive and not very accurate! Alex - VE7DXW
Ionosounde expensive? Only when the bills come at the end of the month... then you keep repeating "it's only a hobby..." HIHI Right now I am receiving traffic on 20m even though your system indicates 20m is bad. Well that's the thing about JT65. It demonstrates what I call a "micro-band opening". That is the band opens for a few seconds or minutes and then closes up again. I have seen 20 and 15 do it at 3 AM and 80 /40 in the late afternoons but no one seems to know why it occurs. Does an increasing number of micro-band opening indicate a major opening? Is that the mechanism to trigger an opening? I just don't know. If we had more sites like yours spread across the planet we might find the answer and discover many other things about our ionosphere. Your system is something a ham can do now to start studying propagation and perhaps contribute to the body of knowledge.
Hi Biz; That is the whole idea. RF-Seismograph checks every 52s (8s per channel) and it is real time. It can pick up the micro-openings that the systems based on solar observation can not see. JT-65 is great for that because it is always on and if the conditions are right it will receive and indicate. Would you be interested in helping us spread this around the planet? As the solar flux goes down the solar based propagation systems are going to tell us that there is no propagation. The RF-Seismograph can see propagation on a much better local scale and it measures actual D-Layer conditions. You should join our group. There is lot of stuff there that we have not released yet. (I have images of very interesting propagation there) https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/mdsradio/info I think you would like that. We need all the talent we can get to educate Hams on this new model! Alex
So... if the band shows as a nearly horizontal line, that's bad. But if it's got vertical line action, that's good. Am I understanding that correctly? Also, on one of my display screens, it's a bit difficult to figure out which line was 10-meter. I did figure it out after process of elimination though. Maybe shift the peach to a bit more pink... I don't know. Thanks for your work Alex, I'll add this to my list of sites to check. Thanks also K5BIZ - I check your page plenty when I'm not sure if I want to play or not, just to see what conditions I can expect.
It is pretty simple... if the received signals are weaker the horizontal lines are not that pronounced. The vertical lines indicate the noise level at my site and depending on the geomagnetic conditions the can move up and down quite fast. Yesterday the G2 storm caused the noise level of all the bands to be up and down. The bands have calmed down and as general rule the noise level goes down as the frequency goes up. If the band line up in that way that means the conditions are very quiet and there are no openings. When you run the software on your computer you can turn bands on and off in the display for better visibility. There is a lot more flexibility than just viewing the created image on the web. Right now there are openings on 40, 30, 20 All the best and happy DX; Alex - VE7DXW
Hi Everybody; I believe these openings are caused by meteor scatter, thunder storms and nightglow I have measured all and collected data on all three phenomena. Alex - VE7DXW
