Unique 10m WSPR spots to 1420z

No stateside spots yet today. These are the unique station spots on 10m WSPR today.  Most were spotted many times.

Slow deep fading on 2m

As the PI7CIS beacon on 2m seems a good propagation indicator it was interesting to see what happened in the rain today around 1325z. Whereas the beacon seems to be nearly always copyable, but not moving the S-meter on the FT817, it was in a deep,slow fade around 5 minutes long just now  - still there, but maybe 6dB weaker. Looks like it is copyable most of the time but a bad fade would make it not readable.

10m WSPR - 0845z start today

An earlier 10m WSPR start today. Sunspot count 81 and 20-30MHz conditions "normal" so expect some Asians and South Americans and even a chance of N.America later in the day.

On 2m, the PI7CIS beacon (228km) is a consistent, if weak but fully readable, signal but the co-sited 70cm beacon cannot be detected at all.

By 0854z EX1UN and DL5ZBS had been spotted here and 4X1RF has spotted my 2W strongly twice. At 0907z FR1GZ (9724km) was spotted with a good signal. Everything as expected.

UPDATE 1120z: As well as a good crop of DX, there are plenty of EU stations in this morning's WSPR log including F, LA and DL These could well be by Es propagation.

10m WSPR this evening and (maybe) PI7CIS UHF?

Because of various non-radio factors I was " late on parade" getting on 10m WSPR today. I did not turn the rig on until 1750z. As yet, no spots given or received, but sunspot count is 80, and 20-30MHz conditions supposed to be "poor" with quite disturbed conditions.

UPDATE 1834z:  At 1832z just spotted CE3YP (Chile, 5W, FF46qn, 11742km) at -24dB S/N.

The other RX (70cms on the 5el beam), may have detected faint traces of the PI7CIS beacon on 70cms. Signals were well LF of the indicated beacon frequency (about 1kHz) and were too weak to copy the callsign. There was something there for about 5secs at RST229. Looks like this beacon will only be copied under lift conditions.

UPDATE 1915z:  At 1906z PY2RN (9550km) was spotted at -14dB S/N. A little later he was -9dB.

UPDATE 2030z:  No further reports in the last hour.  Unless there are very late surprises, like last night, this is probably it for tonight. I was surprised to spot Chile and Brazil on 10m WSPR!

UPDATE 2100z:  I have closed the station for the night.  A last look for PI7CIS (UHF beacon) was not successful.

VHF/UHF beacons PI7CIS Holland

Although I can copy the VHF beacon PI7CIS (144.416MHz) almost 100% of the time on my small 3el VHF beam (callsign clear but S-meter does not move on FT817) I have still to copy the co-sited UHF beacon with the same callsign.  On UHF (432.416MHz) I have the same low loss coax (Westflex) and a co-located 5el beam on the very same beam heading. I know this beacon is not GPS locked, so it may drift, but I am surprised not to have yet detected it at all, even allowing for the additional losses in the feeder (maybe a few dB?).

Indications are this 75W, coastally located (Scheveningen) beacon, is operational, unless anyone knows better? The antenna is reported to be a dipole aiming 90/270 degrees which would be poor in my direction.

Anyone know the PI7CIS UHF beacon's current status please?

The next solar cycle?

Many are suggesting the next solar cycle (cycle 25) will have a very small peak and that we may even be entering a period with very few sunspots, not unlike the Maunder Minimum of the late 1600s. Truth is no-one can be sure. If it happens, the best propagation on 10m will be summertime Es - no bad thing. We will have to use 10m mainly for local traffic - it is a big band and a good choice for this.

Beacon hunting

Maybe tomorrow evening I need to do a good search for 70cm beacons in range under (near) flat conditions. There is a distinct lack of UK 70cm beacons, with even the very good GB3BSL beacon near Bristol now QRT. This would have been copied, I feel sure, at this QTH.  Some of the nearer European ones may be  receivable.  PI7CIS (on 70cm) is probably my best hope. I can copy the co-sited 2m beacon.

10m WSPR - April 29th 2014

Nothing spectacular so far today. Sunspot count 79 with 20-30MHz forecast to be "normal" whatever that means. So far, since turning on at about 1020z, just a couple of spots from 4X1RF (3519km) in Israel.

10m WSPR this morning - very quiet so far.

I have doubts the 10m band will be open to the USA and Canada today, although openings to South America would not surprise me.

Bottom rig on 28.1246MHz WSPR, top one on 2m beacons

UPDATE 1250z:     CX2ABP (11127km), in GF15wc square, spotted my 2W WSPR at 1136z, so the band has opened to South America albeit briefly here.

UPDATE 1720z:  No stateside spots here,  given or received,  today. Others may have been luckier.

UPDATE 1836z:  Just about to switch to MF when I see I've just spotted the 5W from LU8ENU (11208km) in GF05rl square (Buenos Aires) on 10m WSPR. At 1840z he spotted my 2W.

UPDATE 2000z:    Stateside was being worked from GM, UA6 and EA5 but not from here.

UPDATE 2100z:  A few Europeans but little else (Es?).

UPDATE 2114z:  Well, well, stateside at last! AK4T (6733km), EM74vb square,was spotted running 500mW.   I was just about to turn everything off but will leave a bit longer now.  At 2122z his drift was -4Hz suggesting moving F layers.   I suspect spread-F and reflections from near the equator?

UPDATE 2135z:  A most interesting day on this fascinating band.  4 continents after all.  Time for bed!

Moonraker saga - the end?

Today I wrote to Moonraker telling them of my other issues (other end of 20m Westflex patch cable intermittent and one element on the antenna loose) and they were very apologetic, offering me a full refund if I returned the goods. When I explained I was returning nothing as my colleague had soldered good connectors on and glued the antenna it was as if they no longer wanted to know: no more apologies, nothing.

Correspondence just stopped.

Moonraker will never benefit from further business from me unless they can demonstrate their quality control has been smartened up. I was totally disappointed by the goods received and the poor follow-up response.

Sorry, but in my limited experience this is a company that deserves to fail: so little is needed to sort out their shortcomings - get on and fix the issues! In my opinion they showed me a perfect example of how not to conduct a business!

In the end, all my issues have been sorted despite Moonraker rather than by Moonraker. Sorry, but you come over as a greedy care less outfit who need to sharpen up fast.

Super simple FM TX - try on 2m?

See http://makezine.com/projects/super-simple-fm-transmitter/ .

This is a super simple TX for Band II FM using readily available parts.  With a smaller coil (1 turn less) and C4 smaller (and made tunable) I think it could be used experimentally on 2m FM, but stability is likely to be poor, so really only of use for short range and short durations.  From here, I'd expect this to be detectable at least 3km away (next village) even if the power is at uW or low mW levels. A few uW go a LONG way if connected to a reasonable antenna like my V2000 or 3el beam. There is no harmonic filtering either: a small low pass filter is advisable really.

With lower modulation levels (adjust) it should be fine with NBFM. The 2N3904 is a ubiquitous transistor available for just a few pence from many sources. The other parts are just pence.

Image at http://makezineblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/kogawa_simplest_transmitter.png?w=620&h=354

My thanks to Southgate Amateur Radio News for finding this before me.