Night time SAQ VLF transmission - Jan 4th 2011

There will be an extra transmission with the Alexanderson alternator on 17.2 kHz primarily for listeners in North America, the times shown below. QSL cards will be issued for correct reports. These can be sent via post, email or via the SM QSL bureau.

16:00 PST (Pacific Standard Time) in USA. Monday, Jan 3rd, 2011 

19:00 EST (Eastern Standard Time) in USA. Monday, Jan 3rd, 2011

00:00 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) Western Europe. Tuesday, Jan 4th, 2011

01:00 CET (Central European Time) and local time in Sweden. Tuesday, Jan 4th, 2011

Diurnal Variation in Dreamer's Band Noise

Over the next 24 hours I am doing a test to measure the change in VLF noise floor between 0-24kHz. DK7FC has let me have a suitable .usr file for Spectrum Lab to allow this to be recorded. You can see the results on the G3XBM VLF grabber which is updating the plot every 15 minutes.

Surprise late afternoon 10m opening to the USA

WSPR reports 10m on 28.12.10

Late this afternoon I was surprised to see that 10m opened up to the USA and that my QRP WSPR beacon was being received well at up to 6991km with reports at 5692km from K3ZV as late as 1800z with my reports of USA stations being the last ones to appear, meaning I was receiving stations when others were no longer doing so. Power was 5W and the antenna the Homebase-10 wire halo.

G3XIZ on 8.97kHz today

Chris, G3XIZ was testing on the Dreamer's Band again today and I was monitoring some 34km to the east. Unfortunately, this attempt was also unsuccessful with no copy here in East Cambridgeshire.

Iceland get big 500kHz allocation

493-510 kHz has been granted on a secondary basis to amateurs in Iceland with a power limit of 100W. In addition, 60m and 4m allocations have also been confirmed.

Dutch hams lose 500kHz (for now)

Stations in The Netherlands who were active on 500kHz will have to stop transmitting at the end of 2010 as their permits have yet to be renewed. It is expected that this will happen within 4-6 weeks.

Christmas WSPRs

Very quiet on 10m WSPR today, Christmas Day. Just G3JKV coming through from 123km to the south of me on tropo. WSPR is an ideal mode for Christmas day as one can set it running, go eat the turkey and trimmings and periodically check results.

Merry Christmas everyone

Whatever your circumstances I hope you have a peaceful and happy time this Christmas shared with the people you love.

G3XDV on 136kHz QRSS

Getting a very strong signal this evening from G3XDV on 136.177kHz QRSS60 receiving Mike on the earth electrodes fed straight into the deaf (at 136kHz) FT817. He is sending "XDV" preceded by G3XDV in normal speed CW.

160m QRP DX on WSPR

WSPR reports - 160m 5W QRP

Last night I used my 5m long vertical feeder to the 10m halo as a TX antenna on 160m WSPR, matching it with a few turns on a ferrite rod on the bedroom table and the Elecraft T1 auto-ATU. Results were very encouraging for 5W and an indifferent antenna with best DX reports from Norway and Spain. On RX the best DX was RA3LW at 2036km.