Sunspots and 10m - Sun Oct 25th 2015

Sunspot number has dropped back a bit to 74. K=3 so conditions are a little more disturbed. 10m propagation is expected to remain "poor". With CQWW SSB contest in full swing expect plenty of 10m SSB activity this weekend. I am currently on 10m and 6m WSPR but may come try CQWW later, although these days I prefer WSPR - I never enter HF contests but may try them to work a new country, although I only use QRP.

CQWW Contest

Although I am not a great contest fan - although I do like the VHF and UHF RSGB UKAC contests on Tuesday evenings - I usually go on 10m SSB for the CQWW SSB contest. The SSB leg is this coming weekend. Last year I forgot it (doh!) and the year before I was in hospital. Although we have visitors for some of the time, I hope to be on Sunday PM and occasionally beforehand. It is a good chance to work lots of stations.

Even in quiet sunspot years CQWW usually brings out the stations.  It is a good contest although I have never used much power or actually submitted a score. See you there?

Next autumn will be very interesting: sunspot numbers will have fallen but I bet CQWW will prove 10m is open despite this. Often lack of activity on 10m makes a band seem "closed". All it needs is a bit of activity to prove this. This is where 10m WSPR should prove its worth.

See http://www.cqww.com/ .

A promising start on 10m WSPR

Very early today I was getting spotted on Reunion Is and in Brazil on 10m WSPR.  Conditions seem even better than yesterday, so I am very hopeful for more USA spots today on 10m.

Is it too much to hope for some TEP F2 on 6m WSPR? Yes, probably too much to hope!  So far, absolutely nothing on 6m WSPR, given or received.

CQWW SSB contest is next weekend, so I hope we see good conditions for this major contest. For the last 2 years I have missed it. Although we have visitors over the weekend I hope to get on.

UPDATE 1205z:  Several spots from LZ stations on 10m WSPR, which I assume are via F2. They could be Es, but this is less likely.

UPDATE 1254z:  Spots on 10m WSPR from DK6UG (633km) are harder to explain. I guess these could be some sort of back-scatter? Also getting spots from Greece.

UPDATE 1338z:   W1VR (6965km) was the first USA station to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR today. Looks like he is in Florida. I do find USA call areas SO confusing these days! I blame the FCC.

UPDATE 1530z:   More USA spots, another station spotting me on Reunion Island and EA8/LA3JJ  for the first time in months. Autumn has returned to 10m WSPR! Great conditions.

Unique 10m WSPR spots so far today

CQ WW SSB Contest last weekend - who forgot?

Darn it! Yet again I forgot this most excellent contest last weekend, although I would have been very restricted as we had our little grandchildren staying. They take priority. I must try next year. Last year I missed it as I was in Addenbrookes Hospital still very ill. The last time I caught it was 2012.

Although I do not much like contests, this one is always a good test and I often fill a few logbook pages with DX contacts. Exchanges are simple and quick. CQWW is usually a good way to increase the DXCC score. I always use real QRP power.

I dislike CW contests as they are too much like hard work. On SSB you can usually work stations, even with 2-5W QRP, especially later on when the big stations have already worked loads and are glad of extra points.

CQWW CW - guess who forgot!

Julian G4ILO has posted a piece on his excellent blog about the CQWW DX CW contest this weekend. Well, yesterday was my wife's birthday and we had family here and today I did my tax return. In the process I managed to miss this contest completely! For some reason I thought it was NEXT weekend. Never mind, there will be other occasions to work the DX.

More DX on 10m today

This must rank as one of the most fun CQWW DX contests I've taken part in. Plenty of DX could be worked with just 5W SSB from the FT817 and my small Homebase-10 halo today and yesterday. If anything conditions were better on 28MHz today than yesterday.

HK1NA (worked today) operating CQWW

 ...and in contrast G3XBM operating CQWW today!

Stations worked include LR3M, LP1H (Argentina), C5A (The Gambia), HK1NA (Colombia), CR2X, CR3A, CT3HF (Azores), CN3A (Morocco), ER3AU (Moldova), A65BB (UAE), 3V8BB (Tunisia), ZW5B, ZZ2T, PY1NX, PS2T (Brazil), EY8MM (Tajikistan) plus loads of US, Canadian and other stations. My ears are sore with SSB signals! I have now filled my third page of contacts in the logbook.

Some of the operating skills were amazing: PJ4X was working stations at a rate of one every 5 seconds. He spoke so crisply and quickly that by the time I'd called he'd already worked another station! 

Choice DX on 10m SSB today

The CQWW DX Contest continues to brighten up things on 28MHz SSB, although the competition is fierce for some of the rarer stations.

XV1X QSL card

Some DX is surprisingly easy to work though, responding after just a couple of calls with QRP.  My 5W QRP SSB got through to EY8MM and A65BB but failed (so far) to work XV1X (Vietnam) or JT1BV (Mongolia).

CQWW SSB DX contest 2012 (28MHz) - a recording

Well, Oct 27th 2012 and the CQWW DX contest is in full swing. 28MHz is filled with SSB stations all the way from about 28.25MHz right through to 29MHz, with even a few SSB stations on top of the AM users around 29.05MHz. Conditions appear to be excellent for the contest and they are likely to hold up for tomorrow too.  I was able to work 5 continents in 50 minutes this morning with 5W SSB and a halo.
 
In 5 years or so, this day will seem like a dream with 10m probably dead and devoid of activity. So, for posterity, I made a sound recording late this morning of the 10m band as I tuned across it and later this video at around 1630z.

Here is an earlier sound recording CQWW SSB DX contest 1125z October 27th 2012. Recorded near Cambridge, UK.  Feel free to share/use this recording and video. I only made them for posterity so I can remember, in years to come, what 10m was like at a sunspot peak.

CQWW DX SSB contest this weekend

Although not a serious HF contester - I have never submitted a log -  I do enjoy a fling in the CQWW DX SSB contest at the end of October each year, usually on 28MHz.

The most I can run is 5W pep but, if conditions hold up, there should be little problem in working stacks of US and Canadian stations as well as loads of others worldwide.  This year I have a speech processor which appears to make a good 1-2 S-points difference and makes working DX much easier.

Especially towards the end of the contest there are plenty of big contest stations looking for new contacts. If you want to work some good DX plus new US states and Canadian provinces, then this coming weekend will be your best chance.  In my experience running QRP SSB is no barrier at all to working LOTS of DX in this contest.

Some people love contests on HF and VHF and others hate them. Personally, I am happy to enjoy the DX opportunities they provide and tolerate the heavy band usage they bring, albeit for 48 hours in the case of the CQWW.

CQ zones map

Exchange is report and CQ zone. In the UK we are zone 14, so a typical report would be "5914"

Getting the shack back

Tomorrow evening my house grows about 200% in size. Actually my 2 delightful young grandchildren and their mums and dads go home meaning I can restore the shack to its main use! At the moment it is a bedroom for the two grandchildren, so amateur operation is impossible. One thing on the agenda is the CQWW SSB contest at the weekend. This is one of the contests I enjoy as it is a good way to work lots of US states and Canadian provinces, even with 5W QRP. Another task is to further optimise the XBM10-2 tiny transceiver, put it in a tiny case and work some more countries with it.

CQWW contest summary - 10m was great

With darkness falling now 10m is going quiet after an exciting 2 days. In the end, my 5W SSB and halo antenna worked 35 stations in 20 countries. DX from outside Europe was not workable this time but I was hearing CX, PY, ZS, 6W, etc so conditions were definitely not bad. Although there were a couple of stateside stations worked from Europe, I did not manage to hear them. The slight upturn in sunspot activity came just at the right time.

10m - CQWW SSB DX Contest

This BIG HF contest runs this weekend and is sure to make the bands sound busy. I shall be having a go with 5W SSB on 10m only and see what happens.

By 1600z Saturday I'd worked 24 stations in 16 European countries with 5W QRP SSB including C4I, P33W, 4L0A, US5D and TM1O. It is nice to hear 28.4-28.55MHz crowded with stations. Funny how "conditions" magically improve when there is a big contest! In the afternoon there was some decent DX about including LU1HF and PW5G but I did not work them.