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WSPR Amateur Radio Software and the Missing flight MH370

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WSPR in useMissing flight MH370. Did anyone see the documentary (this week) investigating the disappearance of flight MH370 has reexamined the theory that Weak Signal Propagation Reporter (WSPR) radio signals could help to locate the missing aircraft in the Indian Ocean.
WSPR is part of the WSJT-X suite of programs and can be downloaded from here, https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx.html
On 8 March 2014, the flight with 239 passengers and crew onboard fell off air traffic control’s radar 40 minutes into its six-hour journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Ten years after the unsolved aviation mystery, ‘Why Planes Vanish: The Hunt for MH370’ looks at new evidence in the search for answers surrounding the Malaysia Airlines flight.
Sadly Amateur Radio did not get much of a mention, more details about Richard Godfrey and his work can be found here https://www.mh370search.com/
 
Would be happy to give a demo of WSPR at one of our meetings if anyone is interested, it is great for testing antennas.

WSPR (which is pronounced “whisper”) is an acronym for Weak Signal Propagation Reporter. It is a protocol, implemented in a PC program, and can be run on a raspberry pi. It is
used for weak signal radio comms between radio amateurs. The protocol was designed, and a program written, by Joe Taylor, K1JT, and is currently part of the WSJT-X program.

WSJT-X is now open source is developed by a small team, and is designed for sending and receiving low-power transmissions to test propagation paths on the HF bands.

WSPR implements a protocol designed for probing potential propagation paths with low-power transmissions.

The Transmissions carry a station’s Amateur Radio callsign, Maidenhead grid locator, and transmitter power in dBm. WSPR can decode signals with a signal-to-noise ratio as low as −28 dB in a 2500 Hz bandwidth.

WSPR map from IO93IIStations with internet access can automatically upload their reception reports to a central database called WSPRnet which can be seen at https://www.wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/map, which includes a mapping facility.

The map shows signals sent and received by Paul from his home QTH on 2024-03-09 on the 20m band using 5w into an End Feed Long Wire.

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