Anyone using WSPR?

[mattltm]

http://wsprnet.org

I've been running it for a few days now and its got some interesting results.

Interested to see if anyone else is using it and what band do you use it on most?

[American_Infidel]

Briefly read about it in this months QST. Been meaning to research it more. It is basically a propogation tool, correct?

[mattltm]

Yes it is.

Download the application, hock up to your radio and leave it running for an hour whilst you work the local repeater or use the pc (on unattended operation allowed!)

Then pop online and check out your "spots".

I am set up with a centre fed, horizontal dipole running via an SGC ATU into a Yaesu FT-857 with 5W RF output.

Check out your spots here:

http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/map

PM me for my call sign if you want to see my spots.

[Shok]

Yeah I have WSPR. I let it run over night on 40m once and got all kinds of contacts all over the world. It's neat but its just over one baud so it's not exactly useful for emergency communication or anything serious like that. I guess if you just want to know who's alive during a Zombie emergency WSPR would be useful.

PSK31 would be better. Winlink2000 has some new software that was released I was going to try out. It's supposed to be better easier to use than then conglomeration they were using.

Shok

[American_Infidel]

I don't think it is meant to be a means of communicating.....to be used more for seeing when the bands"open"

[mattltm]

I don't think it is meant to be a means of communicating.....to be used more for seeing when the bands"open"

That's right. Its main use is as a tool for checking propagation conditions. It's only useful if other people are running it.

It runs on a single fixed frequency, listens for other stations then transmits its own call and position.

I can see advantages of stations using it during an extended emergency though. As an example, you don't need to check the website to see the contacts. It is displayed on the screen so you could see when you have the best chance of contacting a remote station.

Maybe I could write a small batch file that would open the program and set the frequency (program and radio as the program can do this via CAT) according to a list at a set time. Like:

10:00 - 1.8366
10:10 - 3.5941
10:20 - 7.0386
10:30 - 10.1367
10:40 - 14.0956
10:50 - 28.1246

That way, every station running the same list gets a view of band conditions and signal strengths of other stations. WSPR can also pass a small amount of information that is supposed to be used to send a locator. It could be programmed to send the best frequency that the remote station is being received on. It only requires a few watts of output (recommended is 5W) so in a long term situation where radio is the only form of contact between remote camps, a small, low powered pc running WSPR and a small, low powered HF transceiver could provide a easy way to ensure the best freq is used for comms.

I believe that something like this is already in use with the armed forces?