Will 10m open long-path to Australia tonight?

I am carefully checking 10m WSPR this evening to see if the long-path to Australia (over the Pacific) opens, especially seeing how the band has been open to the USA and Canada for hours now.  My WSPR is running overnight, but if the band is to be open long-path I suspect it will be very soon. As I write this it is 2207z.

 UPDATE 2217z:   All quiet on 10m with my last USA spot at 2126z, nearly an hour ago. Being a band of surprises, anything can happen!

Optical article in June RadCom

June's RSGB RadCom carries my article, "Over the Horizon at 481THz" describing my non line-of-sight optical experiments last year. My poor health (stroke) has prevented me doing more with this in 2014. The article was written last year (2013) before my stroke.  Hopefully, a return to good health (by the autumn?) will allow me to continue this fascinating part of our hobby. At the moment I am just too clumsy.

Testing the optical RX

8.5km "over the horizon" NLOS by clear air scattering (in a cloudless night sky) was very straightforward with simple, low-cost optical gear that could be made for next to nothing.  Unlike microwaves, optical kit is very inexpensive and requires only very basic (audio frequency) test gear to set up. Optical alignment is critical and more stable tripods would have helped. 

What amazed me was that nothing was visible or audible at the RX yet the signal decoded and displayed perfectly with Spectran software on the PC.

If you get this magazine, I hope you enjoy the article.  Please let me have any feedback.

Malawi - 7QNL

See http://www.malawihf.org/

http://www.malawihf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Zomba-Plateau-300x148.jpg

A DXpedition to Malawi is planned for late May/early June. Frequencies are shown on the website above. This is a DXpedition combined with a holiday, so don't expect "high intensity" activity. The callsign is very odd - 7QNL. Malawi prefix is usually 7Q7.

CW, RTTY and SSB activity is planned from 80m - 6m.

10m - USA/Canadian DX

During this afternoon on 10m I have been spotted, and spotted myself, by several different stateside stations (3 and 4 call areas in the USA) with best DX 6505km so far.  Interestingly, I have spotted just one South American station PY2RN (9550km) around 1200z and later.  It is interesting to see such an opening to the USA as we approach summer conditions.

There must be a reasonably good chance of long path propagation to the Pacific Islands, New Zealand and Australia later this evening on 10m.

UPDATE 1720z:   Only European stations by Es on 10m in the last few hours.

UPDATE 1725z:     VE3PLE just spotted. First Canadian for a while on 10m.

UPDATE 1935z:    TI3/AB4AW (8752km) spotted twice in Central America (Costa Rica).

UPDATE 1955z:     In among all the DX, G7FYO copied at 162km with -4Hz Doppler, suggesting aircraft reflection.

UPDATE 2010z:    DX from the USA still very much in evidence on 10m. K3NAL spotted at -16dB S/N.

UPDATE 2126z:   K3NAL just spotted (again).

70cm contest results

Stations worked on 70cm from home with 5W/5el

Last evening I took part in the 70cm UKAC contest for the first 90 minutes, by which time my voice was well past it because of my stroke, so I stopped operating.

I was using 5W (FT817ND) to the little (lowish) 5 el yagi on the pole on the back of the bungalow at home (hand rotated). Conditions appeared flat with no lifts apparent.

Best DX was G8XVJ/P in the Peak District at 181km but I missed out on M0GHZ in IO81 square (he got part of my callsign but then lost me!) at 195km.  I was pleased to work M0CES/P in JO03AE (rare square) at 103km.

All QSOs were SSB.  I did hear PA and DL.  In all it was good fun. A pity my voice was so poor.

10m - early start today

Sunspot count is 138 and 20-30MHz conditions are forecast to be "good" today. 4X1RF was spotting me regularly from 0554z this morning (14 times so far to 1114z) and I even spotted OZ7IT as early as 02204z!  It certainly promises to be a good day on 10m. Let us see.

10m WSPR - no more DX seen (yet!)

Since mid-afternoon 10m seems to have fallen back and the DX (such as it was) has disappeared. 4X1RF and DK6UG have spotted me but no more South Americans, Central Americans or North Americans. Being 10m, everything can change in a few minutes!  If it does, you will find out here - I intend to remain WSPRing on 10m into the early evening, at least and whilst on 70cms.

UPDATE 1900z:  CX2ABP just spotted again, so 10m is still open to South America.

Critical Communications World (was TETRA World Congress) - Singapore May 20-22nd

Next week, 175 speakers will be in Singapore for Critical Communications World.

In my day, this was called the TETRA World Congress and it was a real chance for users to meet manufacturers and for manufacturers to showcase new products coming to market. These days I am rather out of touch and have little idea what is new in TETRA. Things don't seem to have developed dramatically since I stopped work 6 years ago.

70cm UKAC contest this evening

From 1900-2130z (from 8pm UK clock time) the 70cm UKAC contest is running.

Although I am not a great contest person, these are usually good sessions with plenty of activity, mostly SSB. It will be a good opportunity to try the little 5 element beam to see what I can work from home using it. Conditions should be close to "normal" which will be ideal.

So far I have only heard the PI7CIS 70cm beacon - no other stations or beacons. I missed the recent UHF contest at the weekend.  I was struggling with my voice in the 2m session last Tuesday, so may not stay on too long.  Let's hope I manage to work some reasonable distances.

10m quiet today - so far

10m WSPR is very quiet currently, with just 4X1RF (3519km) and 4X1DA (3597km) spotting me so far today. No South Americans  so far, even though the sunspot count is 164 and 20-30MHz propagation is forecast to be "good".  The band may well open up later to the Americas. It would be nice to see the 10m long path to Australia open up later (~20000km) as it did a few days ago. That was a total surprise.

UPDATE 1455z: Just  been spotted by EB3EPR (1248km) on 10pm WSPR. No great DX - another station probably via Es.

UPDATE 1500z: Just spotted WP4JT (6849km) in Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. He claims to be using 10mW and I gave him -12dB S/N report which is remarkable . I suspect this power level is an error and his actual power is much higher. Otherwise I'd expect to see many more stations from that general direction.  At 1536z he spotted my 2W at -6dB S/N.

UPDATE 1520z :  CX2ABP (11127km) was spotted, by me, nearly an hour ago. I missed that one. Classic 10m N-S propagation.

Things are warming up!