5MHz Beacons
	5MHz Station Log
	5MHz Database
	5MHz Analysis

Introduction

When UK Amateurs were first given access to the five channels there were a number of activities envisaged, such as the "Fivemegs Experiment", operational trials by RAYNET Teams and tests and experiments by individual amateurs.  All were and are an equally valid ways of experimenting on the band.  

The 5MHz Working Group (5WG) was formed a little after the launch of the "Fivemegs Experiment" and sought to develop the concept.  This re-named "5MHz Experiment" is the outcome, where the objectives are simply stated as: 

In setting up such an experiment, with a limited and broad set of objectives, it was thought necessary to ensure that amateurs capture enough data in their logs and that those logs were submitted in a standardised form to the 5WG.  Unlike a scientific experiment whereby a hypothesis is being proved (or otherwise!), and where a specific experiment is designed, this experiment is a different form, whereby lots of data is collected and then it is analysed to seek trends, relationships, etc.

Participation

The document  5MHz Operating Practice provides general information and guidance for conduct on the channels, the appropriate procedures, logging instructions and limitations necessary for good data integrity to be maintained, are given for this experiment.  It is an updated version of that originally written at the start of our access to the 5MHz channels, and information in it supersedes the earlier information and guidance.

All are encouraged where possible to submit logs to the 5MHz Experiment, even if they are participating in another experiment such as RAYNET trials or their own propagation experiment, etc.  For effective analysis of the data we will collect a large amount of data of a high standard of consistency.  This will help to average out the normal variation in reporting, aerial types, propagation, etc.

Beacons

Since mid-2004 we have had propagation studies beacons transmitting on 5.290MHz.  details of these can be seen from the navigation bar at the top of this page.  As is reported elsewhere Nick, G4IRX, has provided online support for this aspect of the 5MHz Experiment with his real-time comparison of a number of monitoring station's data, along with some propagation information.  This is an interesting website to monitor real-time 5MHz propagation and we need to extend our thanks to the participating stations: GM4SLV, G4IRX, G3WKL and G4ZFQ.

5MHz Analysis presentation at HFC2005

The following presentation on the analysis of the 5MHz data was given at the RSGB HF Convention, HFC2005, on 9th October 2005 by John Gould, G3WKL.  The talk gave an outline of various options for analysing the data as well as some early results at the sunrise and sunset transition. It is planned that the main parts of the presentation will be written up for publication in RadCom.  However, the slides are offered below for download, although they of course lack the presentation which accompanied them at the Convention. The file is 2MB in size, and saved in pdf format.  An Acrobat Reader (downloaded free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html) is needed to display the presentation:

HFC2005 5MHz Analysis presentation

5MHz Forum Presentations at HFC2006

John Gould, G3WKL, again chaired the 5MHz Forum at the annual HF Convention in October.   The emphasis on John's presentation, which can be downloaded below, was to outline the approach that is being taken to analyse the data from the 5MHz Experiment.  He stressed that this is a long-term task and that the current focus is on improving the quality of the data, with perhaps the worst area being the logging of QTH Locator information.  Whilst it was stressed that high-accuracy wasn't being sought for location, initial analysis of the data had shown large variation in reported QTH Locators for what is nominally the same location.  John mentioned that two initiatives were planned to improve the position, one to provide a computer logging program, see below, and the other would be an online resource to check/correct the entries in the database of one's QTH Locator. 

Whilst this and other data "clean-up" tasks were underway John stressed that people could do interesting analysis of their own.  Waiting for the 5MHzAG's output wasn't the only option.  To prove the point John showed some results of a quick analysis of SINPO reporting and the effectiveness of different aerial types.  These analyses were both done in about an hour using EXCEL and data from the experiment available from the web.  

Alan Messenger, G0TLK, presented a paper that outlined his work to produce a computer logging program that was specifically aimed at reducing logging errors at source.  Alan explained that most of the data was being verified as it was being entered into the logging program.  This verification code would later form the core of a data "clean-up" tool aimed at finding and correcting data-errors in the main 5MHz Experiment database.  Alan explained that the program was currently under development in its "alpha" phase; it was hoped that it would soon be released for "beta" testing.

HFC2006 HF Forum presentation (G3WKL)

5MHz Log - computer logging program development (G0TLK) - the programme was released in March 2007.

5MHz discussion at the HF Forum, HFC2007

The RSGB HF Manager, John Gould, G3WKL, outlined the current position on 5MHz, in particular IARU expectations for WRC-07, as a part of the overall discussion on HF Matters.  

He then invited Marcus Walden, G0IJZ, to make a brief presentation of his own analysis of the 5MHz beacon data. This was an interesting piece of analysis, that at the time was still underway. It looked at the correlation of loss of propagation and the F2fo and F2fx. A full paper on the work was published in March 2008 RadCom.

5MHz discussion at HFC2008

John Gould, G3WKL, HF Manager, introduced John Fenlon from the University of Warwick and Alan Messenger, G0TLK. 

Alan, G0TLK spoke about the program that he was writing to enable a manual check on QTH Locator data.  The aim of the work was to allow data that could be in error to be identified manually, which would then allow the data to be marked for checking by the stations involved.  The data in this category are squares that lie in the sea or the shoreline.  Alan demonstrated how the program worked linking with Google Maps to enable the operator to quickly decide whether a data point might be suspect.