Wednesday plans

 Later, I shall probably try 10m, 12m, and 15m 1W WSPR frequency hopping. Maybe some 10m QRP FT8 later.

WSPR frequency hopping

 Today I am on WSPR with 2W.  I am hopping  on 10m, 12m and 15m.

Stations spotting my 2W 10m WSPR this morning

UPDATE 1353z:  Plenty of spots on all bands. Australia has been spotted on 10m,12m  and 15m.

12m QRP FT8 with the tiny QDX (Friday)

You can tell that this band is far less busy than 10m. 

I have been on for about 30 minutes. Although I have copied stations as far away as China, it is far less busy than 10m. Just one local station has spotted me.

UPDATE 0910z: 4 spots of my QRP as far away as Asiatic Russia. Definitely a lack of activity and not propagation. 

UPDATE 1100z:  So far today 12 stations have spotted my QRP 12m FT8 and I have spotted 46. I am wondering if one of the factors is fewer people have beams on the WARC bands? On 10m, several people use low cost CB yagi antennas.

Stations spotted on 12m FT8 RX to 1310z

UPDATE 1310z:   28 stations have spotted my 12m QRP FT8 TX and I have spotted 99 stations on RX. So far, just one USA station has starting to appear (see map).

UPDATE 1848z:  216 stations have been spotted on RX and 71 stations have spotted my 12m QRP FT8 TX from the QDX with the furthermost YE6YE (10260km) on Java.

Stations spotting my 12m QRP FT8 today

UPDATE  2129z:   138 stations have spotted me on 12m QRP FT8 TX and 248 stations spotted here on the QDX.

12m FT8 yesterday

 In the end, I went QRT on 12m FT8 RX only at about 2100z. In all, 921 stations were spotted. The band was still wide open when I went QRT.

12m QRP FT8 (Sunday)

This is a band I rarely go on and as my QDX covers this and the antenna is still a good match, I am giving it a try.  After about 5 minutes, I am being spotted by 10 stations (3 in the USA) and I have spotted 47 stations including the west coast of the USA.

UPDATE 1747z: Spotted by 140 stations and I have spotted 428 stations on 12m FT8 with the QDX. Now RX only. Power on 12m is about 3.9W.

Stations spotted on 12m
FT8 with the QDX

UPDATE 1929z:  739 stations spotted on 12m FT8 RX.

12m FT8 RX

As 8m was drawing a blank, I went on 12m FT8 RX using the 8m (i.e. well off tune!) antenna. To my surprise, it was full of FT8 signals around 24.915 MHz. After probably less than 15 minutes, 126 unique stations spotted. I did try 15m briefly, but this was much the same.

UPDATE 1446z:  301 stations spotted from most parts of the world.

Albrect AE2990 Albrect12/11/10m Multimode handheld

Albrect AE2990 multimode

On G4ILO's blog I noticed a reference to Julian's Albrecht 10m/12m handheld transceiver. A quick search on the net and I see these on sale via eBay for £159. See eBay item number 181059871622. This is also sold as a Magnum 1012.

Although I have used the FT817 handheld lots of times on 15 and 10m and had some excellent contacts with it using a small base loaded whip (a counterpoise definitely helps), I have no experience of the Albrecht unit, which looks like an oversized VHF handie.

Has anyone here used one seriously for handheld DXing? If so, how did it perform?  The interesting thing is this unit can be programmed for 12m, CB or 10m use by changing some solder pad links under the PTT rubber.

I can imagine that this handheld could provide hours of fun during a summer sporadic-E opening, although I would expect results to be disappointing without a counterpoise if using it handheld with ether the supplied whip or a longer whip.

True handheld DXing can be quite a challenge, but great fun.  Actually being able to move  the handheld around to get the best angle can sometimes really help, especially on signals coming in at odd angles. Some time ago I was going to see how many countries I could work on handheld SSB, although I've not seriously tried this lately. I much enjoy handheld DXing when on holiday in Devon from clifftop sites overlooking the sea as in these locations many dB can be gained by chosing a nice location with a slope towards the sea. One of my best contacts was a YV station on SSB (8000km) from my late mother's back garden.

QRP AM TX for 12m or 10m (ON6MU)

Just spotted this little circuit on ON6MU's website: it's a small 100mW QRP AM transmitter for either 12m or 10m using a single stage modulated crystal oscillator. AM can be quite a lot of fun on 10m around 29-29.1MHz.

12m across the pond

Yesterday, Feb 15th, there was transatlantic DX to be heard on the 24MHz (12m) band. It was good to hear W stations again. It is only a matter of time now before the first decent F2 openings begin again on 10m. I have the feeling this will be in the next 4 weeks and we will not have to wait until the autumn. Occasionally there are E layer openings in the summer months but it is the REAL 10m and 6m F2 openings I'm looking forward to again: when 10m properly gets back into its stride there will be strong stations all the way from 28-29.7MHz and from most of the world at the right time of day. On favourable days in the autumn there will be openings to the USA and Canada from Europe on 6m too. Probably not this year, but there will be a good chance next (2011).