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Author Topic: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?  (Read 48393 times)

Sparx

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #330 on: June 03, 2021, 2121 UTC »
Summer in MN is glorious but brief.  Nights are short and the sun never gets all that far below the horizon.  Compared to long winter nights, this isn't favorable for receiving 4MHz beacons like Windy and DW.   Propagation predictions show this and my own experience is consistent with them.   The last two nights have had very quiet conditions in terms of geomagnetic conditions, lightning, and local noise.  But the beacons are weak here in the 0900-1100Z predawn hours, rising above the low noise floor only briefly.    I get clear IDs from Windy, but not full frames of telemetry.  DW is mostly just a ghost of an image on the waterfall.   Oh well, it is a great time of year to enjoy the outdoors instead!

Offline Teotwaki

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #331 on: June 04, 2021, 0051 UTC »
Summer in MN is glorious but brief.  Nights are short and the sun never gets all that far below the horizon.  Compared to long winter nights, this isn't favorable for receiving 4MHz beacons like Windy and DW.   Propagation predictions show this and my own experience is consistent with them.   The last two nights have had very quiet conditions in terms of geomagnetic conditions, lightning, and local noise.  But the beacons are weak here in the 0900-1100Z predawn hours, rising above the low noise floor only briefly.    I get clear IDs from Windy, but not full frames of telemetry.  DW is mostly just a ghost of an image on the waterfall.   Oh well, it is a great time of year to enjoy the outdoors instead!

DW and Windy seem to have fairly "big" signals 24/7 but there is no way I will ever hear CryBaby in the eastern Rockies since it only runs 10mW and only during daylight hours.  This is where SDRs are so useful whether I live in California or Minnesota.   ;)
Jim
NRD-525, Elecraft KX3 and Elecraft PX3 Spectrum Display
76' end fed long wire & 66' off-center fed dipole for 10/20/40 meters
Orange County, SoCal, The better half

Offline Teotwaki

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #332 on: June 17, 2021, 1301 UTC »
Windy has a very slow breeze spinning the anemometer   TMP 84   B 11.9
Good signal here at home.
Jim
NRD-525, Elecraft KX3 and Elecraft PX3 Spectrum Display
76' end fed long wire & 66' off-center fed dipole for 10/20/40 meters
Orange County, SoCal, The better half

Offline stendec

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #333 on: June 17, 2021, 1917 UTC »
Wow! Windy reports 129F  at 1910 Z (1210 CA time). 

And DW may not have survived this heatwave -- not being heard either direct or on the KFS SDR.

/STENDEC
/ STENDEC

Offline Teotwaki

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #334 on: June 18, 2021, 0355 UTC »
Wow! Windy reports 129F  at 1910 Z (1210 CA time). 

And DW may not have survived this heatwave -- not being heard either direct or on the KFS SDR.

/STENDEC

Beacon L has also gone silent   :( :-\ :'(
Jim
NRD-525, Elecraft KX3 and Elecraft PX3 Spectrum Display
76' end fed long wire & 66' off-center fed dipole for 10/20/40 meters
Orange County, SoCal, The better half

Offline stendec

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #335 on: June 18, 2021, 1933 UTC »
And Beacon L had a great signal, while it lasted. I wonder if the heat got to it also?

Windy reported just 135 degrees at 1915Z, 12:15 pm CA time. Yikes!
/ STENDEC

Offline syfr

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #336 on: June 28, 2021, 1412 UTC »
Windy is stuck on transmit (6/28 14:10 UTC)
Kiwsdr x 2. TenTec Paragon/NRD535

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #337 on: June 28, 2021, 1421 UTC »
Windy is stuck on transmit (6/28 14:10 UTC)

It never seems to last too long as some puff of wind will eventually  tickle the anemometer’s cups. It has always made me wonder if Windy has a sticky mechanical switch or a opto-isolator to send the wind dits. Either way, following it with a one-shot timer in hardware or software would eliminate the hung transmit incidents that waste battery power.
Jim
NRD-525, Elecraft KX3 and Elecraft PX3 Spectrum Display
76' end fed long wire & 66' off-center fed dipole for 10/20/40 meters
Orange County, SoCal, The better half

Offline syfr

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #338 on: June 28, 2021, 1452 UTC »
Yep,, some sort of watchdog to save the batteries would be a good addition. It's back in service now :-)

102F...toasty!
« Last Edit: June 28, 2021, 1541 UTC by syfr »
Kiwsdr x 2. TenTec Paragon/NRD535

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #339 on: July 06, 2021, 0250 UTC »
Pretty strong here at home but with some fades. Slight breeze, TMP 99, B 12.3
Jim
NRD-525, Elecraft KX3 and Elecraft PX3 Spectrum Display
76' end fed long wire & 66' off-center fed dipole for 10/20/40 meters
Orange County, SoCal, The better half

Offline syfr

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #340 on: July 16, 2021, 2233 UTC »
Windy pretty good to the Calif central coast.  116 in the desert today.  Really nice to hear it again "natively" .

Nice easy copy starting about 2200 using a Belka DX and about 20' of wire up about 10'
Kiwsdr x 2. TenTec Paragon/NRD535

Offline syfr

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #341 on: July 17, 2021, 1348 UTC »
Batt 11.5
Temp 86
Nice steady signal this morning
Kiwsdr x 2. TenTec Paragon/NRD535

Offline syfr

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #342 on: July 18, 2021, 0150 UTC »
Been a sunny day in the desert. 

Batt 11.9
Temp 95

Enjoying the central coast DXing. No sign of the others, but my random wire is only about 6' off the earth here in temporary quarters.
Windy delivers!
Kiwsdr x 2. TenTec Paragon/NRD535

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #343 on: July 19, 2021, 1605 UTC »
It's 9AM local and Windy reports a temp of 106. It's gonna be *toasty* in the desert today! (Batt is 11.7)
Kiwsdr x 2. TenTec Paragon/NRD535

Offline syfr

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Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?
« Reply #344 on: July 20, 2021, 0232 UTC »
0230 in the Central Coast and I can hear Windy. Nothing special, but when I moved out from underneath the aluminum patio cover (doh!) I can copy it Q5 with  just six inches of the Belka's telescoping antenna--- which is the stock antenna fully compressed.

Pretty amazing propagation and RX.

101 F in the desert tonight, with intermittent breezes.
Kiwsdr x 2. TenTec Paragon/NRD535