Good Es tonight

Worked ZB2FK this evening at 2126z on 50.090MHz CW. I think this is a new country for me on the band. 10m was also in good shape with lots of very strong Es DX coming through from Europe and N.Africa.

Microvert antenna

Many people are looking for that magic antenna that takes very little space and performs very well on HF bands. Some examples of this claim include the cross-field antenna, the EH antenna and the Miracle Whip. Now all of these have their place. I have used a Miracle Whip and it behaves as one would expect i.e. several S points down on a full sized antenna, but it communicates. Even decent DX has been worked with one (11000kms on 5W SSB) during the high sunspot years.

This week my attention has been drawn to the Microvert Antenna (see picture of an example). Is this a more realistic attempt at an efficient, small sized HF antenna? This antenna was developed by DL7PE. The radiator for 7MHz is only 1.33 metres long and the counterpoise is 8.2 metres. the 28MHz version is very small indeed. Perhaps this is worth a try? See also the Microvert Yahoo Group.

Multi-hop Es or Es+F2?

Last night, around 2100z, 10m was open to South America by what I assume was multi-hop sporadic-E or possibly Es linked to F2 at lower latitudes. There was strong Es to Spain/Portugal at the time so the latter may be more probable. Stations heard but not worked included YP4DYP, YV5EAH and YV4DYJ all on SSB. Distance is around 8000kms - which is some distance for Es alone.

A QRPer's brain

Yesterday I went to get my brain MRI scanned as part of a Cambridge University research project on speech and language. The result is attached. I spent nearly 90 minutes being scanned whilst listening to various sentences.

Someone suggested the missing top part of the brain explains why I am a QRPer!

6m Es

A good opening on 6m his evening with lots of 59+ signals from southern Spain and Portugal coming through. There are supposed to be some CN8 and EA8 stations on too but not heard or worked any yet.

Some Es statistics (2008)

Check out http://www.vhfdx.net/states2008.html which has some fascinating data about the extent of Es openings in Europe in the 2008 season. At times, the MUF for Es reached 250MHz. The VHF.net has a great deal of other useful data and is well worth a regular visit.

Several stations worked by Es today - LA5AKA, SM4EXP, I0KNQ and YO2QC.

Increasing sunspot activity

Sunspot number running at 18 today, a value not seen in a LONG time and solar flux in the mid 70s. Even HF conditions shown as "fair" instead of "poor". Yet more signs we are, at last, coming out of the bottom of the cycle.

GMs on 10m (Es)

Two nice 10m QSOs today with 10W SSB and halo: GM8LFB and GM4JYB (in IO88HP). Usually I have to wait until later in the summer to work GMs on 10m. I was very happy when GM4JYB found me first in a minor pileup! At times the GMs were 59+20dB and would have been audible with 100mW, or even less, given a clear frequency.

DXing - realtime maps

This is a useful resource from VHFDX.net to track openings on 10m and upwards into the VHF bands. A mapping system that plots recently reported QSOs. Thanks to G4ILO for pointing this out to me.

See http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php

Poor Es so far?

Is it just me or is this Es season well below par so far? Very little heard on 6m so far and even on 10m the openings have been short and signal strengths not exceptional. Most stations I hear I can work, even with my wire halo and 5-10W, but there don't seem to be that many on! Tonight for example, 2 EAs and 1 CT1 heard and worked, but that's all. Later I worked SM3EAE with 5W CW.