10m 500mW WSPR (Tuesday)

 My beacon was turned on at about 0945z.

UPDATE 1312z:  7 stations have spotted me. These look like F2.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Monday)

 My beacon was turned on at about 1030z.

UPDATE 1541z:  5 stations spotting me with several "across the pond".

10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)

 My beacon was turned on at about 0700z.

UPDATE 0855z:  3 spots by YO3IVV (2078km).

UPDATE 2025z:  7 stations spotted me today. Now QRT.

10m 500mW WSPR (Thursday)

 My beacon was turned on at 1248z.

UPDATE 1318z: So far, no spots. 

UPDATE 1328z:  It helps if there is power connected. Being suspicious I noticed the power wire had become disconnected!

UPDATE 1353z:  Spots from the Canary Isles only.

UPDATE 1827z: 4 stations have spotted me including 2 in the USA. Now QRT.

10m 500mW WSPR (Wednesday)

My stand-alone W5OLF (SK) 10m WSPR beacon has been on since about 0930z.

UPDATE 1515z:  23 stations spotting me. See WSPR Rocks map.

10m 500mW WSPR (Tuesday)

My beacon was turned on at about 1052z.  

UPDATE 1411z:   Spotted by 15 stations. See table.

UPDATE 1518z: Spotted by 18 stations now.

Change of plan

 In the end I decided to go on 10m 500mW WSPR TX. 10 stations have spotted me 6 of which were in the USA.

UPDATE 2010z:  Spotted by 12 stations. Now QRT.

10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)

My beacon has been on since about 1115z.

UPDATE 1607z:  12 stations have spotted me. See table.

UPDATE 2138z: QRT

Sunday plans

 Probably 500mW 10m WSPR and 5W 6m FT8 later.

WSPR?

The impression I am getting is that WSPR is going down in popularity whereas FT8 is going up. I was considering buying a dedicated multi-band WSPR TX and WSPR RX.  I am having second thoughts.

WSPR needs less bandwidth (about 6Hz) than FT8 (about 50Hz) but WSPR is more sensitive by about 10dB. Maybe many cannot make use of this because of local noise. Also FT8 allows 2-way QSOs.

Last evening I tried 40m WSPR  and FT8. On WSPR I spotted nobody, whereas on FT8 I spotted 12 stations in a similar period.

ZachTek WSPR transmitter

These are handmade in Sweden, although there is a Chinese rip-off that is available for much less. I think if files are available on the internet there is always a danger of this happening. 

I am not sure what protection registering the design gives, but I guess it must offer some help.

As I understand things, the Chinese rip-off does NOT contain switchable low pass filters, so the harmonic output is unlikely to be very good.

See https://www.zachtek.com/product-page/wspr-desktop-transmitter 

10m 500mW WSPR (Thursday)

 My beacon was turned on just after breakfast.

UPDATE 1016z:  Just 2 stations in the Canary Isles spotting me so far.

10m 500mW WSPR (Wednesday)

My stand-alone beacon was turned on at about 1015z.

UPDATE 1333z: 19 stations spotting me.

10m 500mW WSPR (Tuesday)

My beacon has been on since about 0945z.

UPDATE 2100z: 15 spots. See table. Now QRT.

10m 500mW WSPR (Sunday)

 Briefly I went on 10m 500mW WSPR. No spots. Now QRT.

100mW 15m WSPR (Saturday)

For a complete change I am trying 15m 100mW WSPR.

UPDATE 1117z:  Just 6 spots from a station in Austria.  These days, although less sensitive,  there seems to be far more activity on FT8  than WSPR.

UPDATE 1212z:  Still just 6 spots of me from OE3GBB/Q (1233km). If I was starting out, I think you are more likely to have success with QRPP on FT8 rather than WSPR. QSYed to FT8.

10m 500mW WSPR (Friday)

 

My beacon was turned on at about 1425z.

UPDATE 1522z:  7 stations have spotted me so far. See map.

10m 500mW WSPR (Saturday)

My beacon was turned on at about 1008z. 

UPDATE 1932z: 14 stations so far spotting me. See table and map.

10m 500mW WSPR (Friday)

 

My beacon was turned on mid-afternoon.

UPDATE 2200z:  Spotted by 6 stations. Now QRT.

10m 500mW WSPR (Thursday)

My beacon was turned on at about 1300z.

UPDATE 1646z: 8 stations spotting me with several in the USA.