2m/70cm antenna

Today I unpacked my 3/5el beam for 2/70cm, the wall brackets and the coax leads. I am missing a small SMA female to SMA female connector  (just ordered from eBay) to join the 20m long Westflex coax to the small patch lead to the FT817.

As far as I can tell, I have everything I now need, when the SMA connector comes. I shall have to wait until Andrew G6ALB can come over to help with the wall brackets. At the moment my health is still too poor (too giddy/clumsy)  to do the erection on my own, sadly.

Better 10m conditions today

With a sunspot count of 168 and a forecast of "good" 20-30MHz propagation, 10m should be good, and it is. I can say with quiet confidence that 10m will be good to S.America very soon and to N.America this afternoon. The good times are very much still with us!

Already this morning I have spotted EX1UN (5423km) and VK8TH (13800km), twice now in Darwin N.Australia, and have been spotted (Es I assume) by IZ6QZB. All between 1016z and 1040z.

At 1038z CX2ABP (11127km) was spotted (Montevideo, S.America).

10m today

10m conditions today are best described as "mixed". On N-S paths at least the band has been open but nothing was copied here from the USA and Canada. Today was much more typical of conditions further down the cycle: NEVER write the band off, but openings are much more likely to be N-S (or S-N) than E-W. Tomorrow conditions could bounce right back or we could see poor conditions for many weeks. It  is only by holding faith with 10m that we will find out how it really behaves in the "quiet years" ahead. This is where WSPR beaconing will prove so very useful.

Just spotted PY2WG (9562km) on WSPR and this sort of path will be typical of the paths likely to be manageable with far lower solar activity. PY2ZX  spotted my 2W at 9555km at 1952z and 2004z..

2004z seems to be when the band died out for N-S DX, unless it was the Win 8.1 PC just going crazy again! I am monitoring WSPR.net on the lounge PC so I can watch TV at the same time. A quick shack visit is needed.

UPDATE 2145z:  WSPR software was working fine, no DX since 2004z, but I have gone QRT now.

RSGB Bennett Prize - G8PF

In the last few days I received my prize from the RSGB for my article last year on earth-electrode antennas for the 472kHz band. Because of my ill health I was unable to pick up my prize at the RSGB's AGM in Manchester. It was posted instead.

The prize was in 2 parts: (a) a certificate and (b) a lovely copy of The Times Atlas of the World.

The certificate

To say I was thrilled is an under-statement: I never thought that my article would merit such an award. I was both honoured and humbled.   RSGB, at times I criticize you, but  I am greatly indebted and thankful.

10m WSPR - local only so far Easter monday am

10m WSPR spots to 0940z today - all local

Only G0LRD (25km) - 13 spots so far -  is copying me this morning on 10m at 0952z.  No signs yet of Asian stations despite sunspot count of 192. The forecast for 20-30MHz is "poor" with disturbed conditions and blackouts.

By lunchtime, only  EA1KV and GM4WJA were vaguely DX stations spotting me. Condition so far today have been very poor indeed  on 10m.  David G0LRD, from Fowlmere, is testing a new 10/6m loft fan-dipole. There were about 24 decent spots from him by lunch, but little else of note. 4X1DA (3597km) was coming through at 1210z, which is very late indeed.

UPDATE 1800z: My Windows 8.1 PC still does odd things with the WSPR program, sometimes not uploading RX spots etc.  Since resettng the clock and program I am uploading my spot of V53ARC and I see I've been spotted in Brazil, S.America.

GM on 10m WSPR: back-scatter?

In the last 2 weeks my 2W WSPR signal has been spotted no less than 55 times by GM4WJA (624km) in IO87mn which is midway up Scotland, not too far from Elgin. Skip this short is not uncommon on 20m but rare on 10m in my experience. This seems too close for Es so maybe it is F layer back-scatter? It is also a bit early in the spring  for Es.  It is too regular too. It seems too far for tropo too or aircraft scatter.

Easter Sunday 10m WSPR

Early morning 10m unique WSPR spots today

A modest start this morning with a few Asians coming through. Sunspot count is 259 (high) but HF conditions are again disturbed so conditions are only shown as "fair" at present. I wonder if the band will open to the USA /Canada later?

UPDATE 1045z/1300z:  UA6AAK  has been a massive +3dB S/N signal here at 1038z.   Single hop F layer I presume. At 1300z he was +6dB S/N with 5W.

UPDATE 1255z:   First spots of my 2W 10m WSPR today from Brazil PU2BFG (8852km) at 1122z and my first spot of CX2ABP (11127km) at 1208z.

UPDATE 1910z: I notice several USA and Canadian stations in the WSPR log for late this afternoon. Most activity seems to have been N-S into S.America, but at least there was a stateside opening after all.

UPDATE 2210z: All the DX now seems to be South American.e..g. spots of my signal from PY2ZX (9555km).

MF WSPR again - 15m earth-electrode antenna

There are a few G's on this evening, so I have returned to 474.2kHz WSPR to see who spots me. So far G8ALS  (126km), G3XIZ (46km) and G6AVK (78km) have spotted my 5mW ERP signal.  G3XIZ is always a huge signal on MF and the difference between his report and mine is about correct for the difference in ERP.  Chris is always a good CW signal on Sunday mornings.

I shall leave the set-up running overnight in case any more distant stations spot me.

In the end just these 3 stations plus PA3ABK/2  copied me. Disappointing.

Wake Is (Pacific) again on 10m WSPR

WA2YUN /KH9 (11946 km) on Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean signing WA2YUN on WSPR has again been copied this morning on 10m WSPR along with an Israeli station 4X1DA. No Australians copied here. Solar activity looks good again (sunspot count 296), although HF conditions are  disturbed and the 20-30MHz forecast only "fair".   Nonetheless, I expect USA and Canadian stations will be coming through soon.

Wake Is was famous in WW2 and is, these days, a US pacific base. It is not that far west of Hawaii and a fair bit east of Japan. The direct path is quite close to the pole from the UK.

Signing without the right prefix or suffix is very confusing and it took the internet, and the QTH locator, to determine exact location last time.

I also notice that PY5EJ (9886km) has been spotted around late morning.

UPDATE 1530z:  so far the only USA/Canadian station copied is VE2PEP  at 5037km A very limited transatlantic opening.  PY5EJ (9886km) is a very good signal at -11dB S/N.

Powerline interference

This appeared on  Facebook today:

"Leaked: EN 50561-3 - the latest revision of the interference-disaster-in-waiting 
 

Our thanks goes to our spy in the camp who has kindly and anonymously leaked the latest revision of EN 50561 (EN 50561-3) - the highly dubious "Standard" which will allow a new generation of powerline networking devices to produce an extra ten thousand times more interference than the current generations do, exposing innumerable radio services to impossible levels of interference.

The EMC industry remains deeply concerned about the continuing progress of this laughable standard, which makes a mockery of the European EMC regime. We strongly recommend that all interested parties lodge protest with their national representatives for the appropriate service - and do so without delay.

Link:http://www.scribd.com/doc/215301704/Draf...EN-50561-3
Back-up link, should an attempt be made to pull this from the public domain: http://bit.ly/1e0OXvf 
We recommend you download this without delay."

If this spec is not changed before final release, we will be in trouble if interested in weak signal modes on  HF.