10m FT8 QRP transceive

This morning at 0752z I went straight to 10m FT8 transceive. So far,  7 stations spotted on RX and 3 stations have already spotted my QRP FT8 TX. There is definitely Es around today. It feels quite different from early yesterday.

Bad Es day?

Unless things suddenly change for the better, today looks like being a very bad day for Es on both 10m and 8m. 

On 10m I have received just 2 spots of me (from the same station!) and on 8m FT8 I have been spotted by no-one and spotted no-one. 

Es can be like this: here one minute and gone the next. It is quite possible it will be very good tomorrow, or remain poor for days. Also a very small movement can make a lot of difference. Move just 20km and it could be completely different. Hence the name "sporadic-E".

Things might change, although I am not holding my breath!

Es (sporadic E)

July usually marks the end of the main Es season in the northern hemisphere, although Es can occur at any time. Usually the peak months are May, June and July. Some remarkable distances have been spanned on 6m, although I still believe many of these long paths are some sort of chordal E propagation, not involving multiple hops. These very long openings are too frequent for multiple hop Es to be probable. Yes, this may occur on occasions, but I am convinced there is some other mechanism. 

One thing I have learnt is experts are frequently wrong! Often they parrot myths that are just not true that they heard years ago. 

10m 500mW WSPR TX

My QRP beacon was turned on at 0909z and already there are 11 unique stations spotting me. A great day already.

UPDATE 1148z:  Already spotted by 28 stations on 10m WSPR today. Brilliant Es conditions.

UPDATE 1605z:  35 unique station spots of me today including 11 from John EI7GL.

Es selectivity

So far today, I have had just spots from Austria on 10m WSPR and nothing at all on 8m FT8. 

Es can be very selective. Sometimes a station a few kilometres away spots a lot, whereas at your QTH there is nothing. Also, the openings can be widespread or in just one direction.

Although I may be factually wrong, my impression is openings to more northerly directions are more common later in the Es season. Southern stations are there, but the feeeling I get is that more northern stations are more frequent.

Poor Es day?

Certainly here, today was a very poor Es day, with no spots of me at all on 10m WSPR or 8m FT8. 

As the season progresses, I guess we will get more poor Es days.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better, although with sporadic-E (Es) things are "sporadic". 

I have seen 6m Es QRP SSB as late as September. The main season is May, June and July.

10m QRP WSPR TX

Although I have had my 500mW beacon on most of the afternoon, nobody has yet spotted me. It almost feels as those long days of Es are coming to a close. Es will still be around, but we have to expect days when it will be absent.

In my experience, I have worked 6m SSB QRP DX as late as September.

Propagation mode?

Both yesterday and the day before, I had over 70 reports of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon. Today I have had just a few reports and these could be by F2. Es can be very localised with strong signals somewhere and nothing a few kilometres away.

On 8m I am frequently spotted by EI9KP (649km). This happens so often that I suspect some other form of propagation other than F2 or Es is involved such as random meteors or aircraft scatter. 

The period of FT8 makes me think random meteors or aircraft unlikely. It is far too far to EI9KP for tropo. 

Am I missing something? 

10m Es

For about an hour, I have been on 10m WSPR QRP TX with 500mW from my W5OLF beacon. Already, there have been 9 unique people spotting me. The Es season is underway!

UPDATE 1130z:   12 unique stations have spotted me so far. Definitely mostly, if not all,  Es.

10m Tenner transceiver

With the Es season just starting in the Northern Hemisphere, perhaps now is the time to think about rigs. Some years ago I designed and built the Tenner which is a 500mW CW transceiver for 10m.

During the Es season, you should have no trouble at all working stations 1500km away with it. In the past, it has got far further!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10m-tenner-qrp-cw .

Mid-winter Es - poor?

Maybe your experience is different, but  I am seeing very little mid-winter Es here. I have monitored mostly 10m FT8 and occasionally 6m FT8. As yet, very little spotted.

The Es (sporadic-E) season is NOT over!

With 17 stations already spotted on 6m FT8 and 2 stations already spotting my 10m WSPR this morning, I can only conclude that the Es season is not over! 

Yes, things may be more sporadic, but for those sticking with it, there is still Es activity around. Often lack of activity is mistaken for "dead" bands when actually there is propagation. Look how often 11m CB is busy when 10m seems quiet.

UPDATE 1208z:  30 stations spotted so far on 6m FT8 RX. 4 stations have spotted me on 10m WSPR TX.

Es - keep monitoring

We appear to have the best of the Es season behind us in the northern hemisphere. However, Es can occur at any time, so it is worth monitoring 10m FT8 and WSPR if you can. With lots of people active, it would not surprise if we see some Es propagation on 10m most days. Of course F2 openings will become more frequent as cycle 25 gathers pace.

10m FT8 (Sunday)

Apart from a very brief spell on TX with 2.5W (7 spots of my TX), I am RX only. I went on about 0635z. So far today (at 0845z) 231 stations spotted on RX. Most seem to be by Es. It looks like Es is good today.

UPDATE 0944z:  316 stations spotted (see map).

UPDATE 1512z:  814 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX so far in the last 12 hours.

End of the Es season?

Yesterday, I spotted far fewer stations across Europe on 6m FT8 RX and I had fewer stations spotting me on 10m WSPR TX. Now, this may just be a blip and there might be Es openings for some while to come. I have had 6m QRP SSB QSOs with Sweden in September.  Es openings can happen at any time, but are most common in late spring and early summer.

If this follows the usual pattern, we can expect fewer openings in the months ahead. When good, signals can be strong, but we can expect fewer openings. This is why WSPR and FT8 are so good: there are lots of people monitoring all day long and people are looking in a fairly narrow chunk of the band. 

In the peak months Es can transform 10m and 6m with the bands wide open for hours on end.

I suspect 10m and 6m openings by Es are far more common. Maybe with FT8 and WSPR will make such openings more obvious.

UPDATE 0750z:  Just 3 stations spotted so far today on 10m FT8 RX and only 1 outside the UK.

Sporadic E (Es) and wet string

 At this time of year we get Es in the northern hemisphere. What amazes me is how strong signal can be. This is not always the case, but it is not uncommon to get S9+ signals with low power, even on FM. Es can be particularly effective on 10m and 6m. Often the season goes on into September. Very simple antennas can be effective. Yesterday I was happily decoding FT8 signals with my antenna wire on the ground on 10m. A dipole made of wire is perfectly adequate.

6m super-DX

About now each year, we hear of DX openings between Europe and Japan on 6m VHF. I believe there have already been 6m openings from Western Europe to Australia. One has always to watch for pirates who are actually much closer! I very much hope these QSOs are confirmed as genuine.

The regular 6m Japanese openings (and to the Far East more generally) seem to be linked to mesospheric noctilucent clouds that form about now. I am sure this is E-layer, but not Es. I also wonder about some of the very long transatlantic 6m openings. Some may be multi-hop Es, but I suspect many are not. E layer - yes. Es - no.

They do not call 6m "the magic band" for nothing. Well equipped stations can work some amazing DX. Even very modest stations can have plenty of fun with QRP and simple antennas.

This why a future 8m allocation could be so informative to radio science: midway between 6m and 10m could be so interesting. We could all learn so much.  

I am convinced there is a great deal for us to find out about E layer propagation and this is one area in which radio amateurs can really contribute to radio science.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/super-dx .

10m Es

In the northern hemisphere we have the sporadic E (Es) season, which offers good QSOs on all modes on bands like 10m, 6m and 4m.  Occasionally, it is also good on 2m, but this is far rarer. Skip is usually 800-1500km.

As a child, I used to see what DXTV came through on Band 1 TV.  I well recall the lunchtime watching Midi-Pyrenees via Es on 819 lines. On a standard 405 line TV we got 2 images side by side with a black band in the middle. There is far less TV on Band 1 these days. I am not sure which countries still use it.

As is often the case, I am on 10m FT8 RX with the tiny indoor loop antenna. So far today, 5 stations spotted. 

UPDATE 1015z: 16 stations so far spotted today on 10m FT8 RX.  All Es I think. 

UPDATE 1450z:  87 stations spotted so far today on 10m FT8 RX. Furthermost is 5T5PA (3791km) in West Africa. Nothing yet seen from the Americas.

UPDATE 2016z:  116 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX with the furthermost CE2SV (11716km) in Chile.

10m FT8 RX on the tiny loop in the shack

For a change I am on 10m FT8 RX with the FT817ND and the tiny indoor loop (50cm diameter) antenna. 

Plenty of Europeans being spotted by Es.  After just a few minutes, 51 stations spotted with the furthermost being 5T5PA (3791km) in Mauritania, West Africa.

UPDATE 1246z:   150 stations spotted.

UPDATE 1515z:   281 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX today.

UPDATE 1815z:  465 stations spotted so far in 4 continents.

UPDATE 1913z:  524 stations spotted so far today.

UPDATE 2146z:  682 stations spotted today. Furthermost is PP5JD (10072km). I now have to go QRT and disconnect everything.

E layer openings

We are familiar with the spring and summer Es (sporadic E) openings, especially on bands like 10m and 6m. These are usually about 1500km. Occasionally multi-hop openings occur. Some of the long distance contacts may be multi-hop. 

However, I have long suspected that some very long paths are due to some other form of E layer propagation. Every June 6m opens up to Japan, which is a very long way. This regular propagation seems to be linked with mesospheric clouds that seem to form at this time of year. 

EI7GL reports on his blog that there have been at least 2 openings from Australia to Europe on 6m this spring. The probability of this being multi-hop Es seems extremely low. My theory (totally unproved) is this is due to some sort of chordal hop E layer propagation. This could also account for some of the transatlantic openings.

We have a lot to learn about E layer propagation. This is one reason 6m is called the "magic band".

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/50-mhz.html .