QSYed to 10m

Well, 472kHz WSPR ran overnight with absolutely no new reporters, just the same faithful few, so I am giving up on that band for now. I shall return in a while.

In the meantime, I QSYed to 10m where I was greeted with immediate success. Even before changing the settings on the FT817 to 2W I was being spotted in Portugal even when running 500mW out. Since then, I have switched to 2W ERP and am being spotted by DK6UG (633km), CT1JTQ (1843km) and I am spotting EA5CYA and SI9AM.   Plenty of Es about.

Sunspot count today is 111 (decent and stable) and 20-30MHz propagation is "normal" so there is a decent chance of F2 DX as long as I don't have to go QRT because of storms. We are getting highish winds and driving miserable rain, which are the left-overs from Hurricane Bertha, having crossed the Atlantic. I don't think we are seeing the worst of the weather in the UK; other parts are getting hit far harder. At he moment, the worst of the storms are tracking well to the east of us.  See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en.

Today our son is driving from Dunkirk to Brittany. I hope the weather over there is a little better! His forecast is rain, but not as bad as here.

UPDATE 1122z:  I think I need a new challenge on WSPR - perhaps I should try a totally new band? 10m is fun but again I am seeing just the same stations.

10m WSPR this morning - plenty of Es