South Sands - Salcombe (in danger)

See http://qss2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/salcombe-south-sands.html.

Not amateur radio, but a concern of mine. Salcombe, Devon is where I originally came from.  It is still dear to my heart as it is a seaside town in grave danger of being ruined by profiteering developers and rich playboys with far too much money and in many cases very little brains. Salcombe is losing its heart and soul. Prices are such that locals are being priced out by second home owners, with many homes empty much of the year.

The development linked above is just one such development. Planners are playing their hands very close to their chests, suggesting they may want to over-develop the site and ruin the sea end of a beautiful valley.

If you have an interest in ensuring the long-term well being of this pleasant seaside town please check the plans next week and use your democratic right to influence the plans.

Salcombe was the home of my mentor and CW instructor Les G4PJ.  I could copy him on 160m 4 miles away on a crystal set.

6m DX?

G4IKZ, G4KPX and G0LRD on 6m today so far. All locals. No Es seen so far today but it could all change very quickly,  so will leave the kit on. It would be nice to see some more EU stations appear by Es. It would be even better to see some North Americans by multi-hop Es but this is more probable later in the season and it depends on some N.American 6m WSPR activity!

Unique 6m spots today - all locals and no DX today.

GDX on 6m

During the day a few more G stations have been spotted on 6m WSPR as well as the great DX to CN8 and 4X.

As well as lots of spots from G4IPZ I have been spotted by G4KPX, G0LRD (all locals) and earlier this afternoon by G1IDZ in IO82tc at a distance of 183km. G1IDZ is real GDX at a great range. I would expect this station also had a vertical antenna?

Israel on 6m - 3519km with 1W ERP

After earlier success on 6m QRP WSPR (1W ERP) with CN8LI imagine my delight to be spotted seven times this afternoon on 6m by 4X1RF (3519km). If Es, this is multi-hop but there were no reports from nearer in Europe, so it could be single hop F layer? Again, the antenna is the V2000 vertical fed with quite lossy coax. 6m - magic band!

4X1RF 6m WSPR reports - 1W ERP 3519km!

G4IPX was also copying me at just 14km.

Morocco on 6m

Just when about to give up (for now) I see my 1W ERP on 6m WSPR has been spotted in Morocco by CN8LI at a remarkable +2dB S/N at 1252z.. Distance is 2113km. I shall leave the 6m gear running! Propagation will have been Es.  For Es, a V2000 vertical is an effective omni antenna. Mine is fed by a length of  RG58 cable, not exactly low loss too! The FT817 is on the "3 blobs" setting as on 10m which is about 2.5W into the feeder.

CN8LI's 6m spot of me today at 1252z

On 6m again this morning

Conditions (tropo) are up on 2m today with the Kent 2m beacon measuring strongly on the FT817ND's S-meter. Usually, the S-meter does not even move. I don't know if tropo has as great an impact on 6m (I think not) but so far today just the usual good reports from G4IKZ (18km). Later, I hope to catch some sporadic-E (Es) propagation or even some GDX by 6m tropo, or more distant "semi-locals".

G4IKZ's first report was at 0648z when I first turned the rig and PC on today.  Reports vary by about 6dB but this could be G4IKZ rotating his beam rather than propagation. I'd be surprised if propagation varied by 6dB over such a short path. The other explanation is my local noise floor is increasing as the day goes on and more local appliances are activated? Another explanation is aircraft reflections from small planes over Cambridge? Maybe there is more activity today. That could explain the Doppler on my signals too.

Otherwise all very quiet  here so far at 1000z. It is a bit early in the day for Es which usually peaks around lunch and teatime unless the band is really humming.

Currently, I am not monitoring 10m, but the sunspot count is 130 and 20-30MHz propagation forecast to be "good", so HF should be good.

6m update

I have been on 6m WSPR since lunch time and have received 52 reports from G4IKZ 18km west of here. So far, no GDX copied, no other spots by UK stations and no sign of Es reports. I'll leave the kit running for a short while but will then close until after breakfast tomorrow.  Maybe tomorrow will bring some more interesting reports?

The G4IKZ reports have been very useful -they prove I am getting out OK and on frequency - but it would be good to receive a few more stations and to be spotted a bit further afield.

Quadcopter drones controlled by wi-fi

On my other blog I mentioned the latest small drones produced by Parrot.

The prices don't seem to have fallen as I had expected. See http://www.pixmania.co.uk/high-tech-gadgets/parrot-ar-drone-2-0-elite-edition-sand/21869578-a.html?ectrans=1&ef_id=U2AUYQAABW1F-nsq%3A20140515154655%3As&gclid=CMvR8aajrr4CFckBwwod_CsA5A&merch=1&srcid=11270 as an example. Prices seem to be £230 upwards.

For me, this is still far too expensive to consider, even though being able to "drive" it from an iPad is fun, as are the on-board cameras which look forwards and downwards. It is like being a real pilot. I saw one in use at a BBQ a few years ago and it was great fun. Even that one got lodged in a tree as I recall.

At those sorts of prices, I'd be far too worried about it getting stuck on a roof or in a tree and that would ruin the fun. Also, apart from the very latest lightweight designs, you'd have to be very careful near people, pets and vehicles.

On the Argos website quadcopters are available for around £55, but I've got no idea about the functionality of these.

Lightning and solar activity

Dr Steve Collins of Sheffield University has pointed me to this fascinating link on the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27406358 .   It shows  how solar activity and lightning are linked, possibly allowing a means of predicting future lightning activity.

6m WSPR

As it is the Es season, I have moved up to 6m WSPR, but so far only G4IKZ is spotting me at 18km.  I think Nick uses a 6m horizontal Moxon antenna yet, despite cross polarisation (I am using a V2000 tri-band vertical) he is giving me +4 to +7dB S/N.  I am hopeful of some Es and GDX later. As of 1540z 20 spots from G4IKZ, but nothing else seen. I have spotted no-one, near or far.

With the same antenna and feeder I have worked all over Europe, N Africa and even into the USA with real 6m QRP SSB or CW. With 1W ERP WSPR I should be able to reach all of these areas and more given WSPR activity and good Es conditions.