Thunderstorms

According to the Met Office (by the way, time you bought new seaweed as a piece of wet seaweed would be nearly as good as your super-computers I think) we are due to get thunderstorms in south east England on Friday.  Very useful maps for tracking thunderstorms are available at http://www.blitzortung.org/Webpages/index.php?lang=en&page=1 . Last year, I used these maps to help me with early warnings of thunderstorms in the UK that required me to safeguard rigs.

Poor Es season so far?

Maybe it is just a lack of activity on WSPR on 10m and 6m but so far this Es season has been poor. I am sure things were better last year. Up to now there has been very little Es activity on either band. So far, hardly anything outside Europe. I certainly hope things improve on both bands.

Field tests?

Although I still have several of my stroke-related symptoms, I do, on the whole, feel less tired than I did. I still get tired but seem to recover more quickly than I once did. I still feel very wobbly when doing anything on my feet (although I do not fall) and my thin liquid swallow and voice are still poor.

I am hopeful that field experiments can resume soon. My only field test was a VLF test a few months ago and that was a total failure in that what was a good location before was a "non-event" from the new QTH. I did do a quick at-home optical test bouncing a signal off our windmill, but that hardly counts. The signal was very strong and easy to find.

6m WSPR - only GDX so far today

Although I am spotting, and being spotted, by lots of G stations, I have seen no signs, yet anyway, of any Es on 6m WSPR today. Things could well change later, especially around teatime when Es often peaks.

UPDATE 1305z:  I see that I am now being spotted in Sweden on 10m WSPR.  Alas, only Gs still on 6m.

Eddystone EC10 receiver

When I was young (that is now a very long time ago!) I coveted the Eddystone EC10 all transistor receiver. When I first had my call I had one on loan from a local SWL. I used it on 160m AM and CW.  A few years later a friend at work managed to get me one from his dad who worked for Eddystone. This was a pre-production unit. I used it as a tunable IF for several years.

Looking back it was rubbish!  On 10m the whole band was about 0.5 inches on the dial. On MW and bands up to about 6MHz it was OK. It had a low IF and germanium transistors (OC171s). It was mechanically a nice radio, but almost all modern receivers are a lot better.

Prices on the second hand market for EC10s are very high. Even though a far from great radio they are still sought after receivers.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/ec10 .

Sunspots and 10m - June 2nd 2015

Sunspot number today is 38 (K=1) and 10m is again expected to be "poor". Breakfast time Es livened up 10m WSPR with spots from Germany and Italy, but otherwise very quiet on the band.

UPDATE 1600z:  SA0CAM (1352km) in Sweden has been spotting me lots of times this afternoon via Es. Still no F2 DX on the band. I guess we are now in summertime conditions although I was hoping for more N-S F2 DX on WSPR. Still not spotted, or being spotted, outside Europe via Es, on 10m or 6m, this summer. 4X1RF (3519km) spotted me on 6m a few weeks ago. This was probably Es although it was a long way, so just could have been F2.

UPDATE 1618z:  I see that DK6UG (633km) is now spotting me on 10m WSPR by Es.

UPDATE 2050z:   At 1938z and 1950z EA8BVP (2986km)  was yet again spotting me on 10m WSPR. As far as I can see this was just a short opening (just 2 spots) but yet again he has spotted me. Pretty sure this is single-hop F2 and not Es.

Coat hanger 70cm beam

Some years ago, I was in need of a 70cms antenna for portable use and had to improvise by raiding my XYL's wardrobe!  The result was a 2 el Moxon antenna made in about 30 minutes which worked some impressive QRP (2.5W) DX into France on 70cms. Gain is quite low but all you need is a wire coat hanger and a few bits for insulation and to attach the coax feed. Simplicity! It does not look pretty, but it works. The mast was made from a short length of PVC pipe.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/70cm_moxon .

Lawns - NOT amateur radio

Usually our lawns look pretty good and weed free. They ought to as we pay Green Thumb a decent amount each month to treat, scarify and tine.  The last time they treated the lawn they scarified and removed a fair bit of moss. I have removed the dead moss and reseeded in places, but there is a lot of course grass and there are brownish patches.

Reseeded patches

My wife is very cross and wants them back to fix the lawn, which looked far better last year. They are coming again on Friday and have promised to put things right. We shall see. If not, they will lose our business and I am pretty sure my XYL will "go viral" with her displeasure. They ought to have done a better job as lots of people have looked over the wall and asked, "what happened to your lovely lawn?". The front lawn is right next to the local windmill and should be a showcase for Green Thumb.

6m/10m Es

There was some 6m Es earlier on 6m WSPR.  At 1344z IV3APH (1162km) was spotting me on 6m.

On 10m WSPR, over lunchtime, I see my 500mW beacon was copied  in Spain and Germany. No great DX as yet on either 10m or 6m.

UPDATE 1800z:  CT1JTQ (1843km) was spotting me on 10m a few minutes ago by Es.

Sunspots and 10m - June 1st 2015

Sunspot number has climbed to 47 (K=1) and 10m propagation is expected to be "poor" again.