40m,20m,10m WSPR, then back on 6m

Just for a brief change I fired up WSPR on these bands and got EU spots on each band around teatime. On 10m PY2RN (9550km) spotted me, so 10m is still opening N-S over the equator.
 
I have now returned to 6m WSPR and have spotted IK1WVQ (1084km) but only been spotted locally myself this evening.

6m - Sunday

Saturday we went to Canterbury on the train to see my son and family, so no amateur radio yesterday. Was going to listen for G4BAO's test 70cm beacon on my vertical, but John has turned it off I hear.

I have been on 6m WSPR (1W ERP) since just before lunchtime and  DL4MFC (916km) and DK1KW (914km) have spotted me by Es. Also spotting me are the usual locals. Just  been spotted by EA6ZL (1485km) at 1226z at a strong -5dB S/N.

I spotted OE9ICI (857km) at 1230z running QRO fifty watts! Why?? He would have been good copy at 5W or less. WSPR is a WEAK SIGNAL mode and running high power is just daft and a waste. I expect it was one of his first attempts! He will soon learn.

Lots of 6m EU Es evident. 6m seems to be open in most EU directions.

G4BAO - 70cm new beacon testing

John G4BAO (about 8km) has been testing beacon bits for the new 70cm UK beacon network, at 1mW level so far, to a vertically polarised antenna. Not knowing his polarisation, last evening I copied the 1mW signal on my 5 el horizontal 70cm beam at about 559 by ear. Signal is about the same level as the Kent beacon on 2m here.

I will look for his test beacon (G4JNT design,, GPS disciplined) on my V2000 vertical to avoid cross-polarisation losses, if still on the air. Frequency is/was temporarily 432.440MHz.  The beacon sends FSK and JT65.

It will be excellent when the UK 70cm beacon network is running again. At the moment, the only beacon I can copy frequently is in Holland! GB3BSL (Bristol 70cm beacon) used to be a decent signal here and was a good propagation indicator, sadly now QRT like most of the original 70cm UK beacon network.

New 5MHz amateur band soon?

Many countries have allocated small sections close to 5MHz for amateur use. In the UK, these sub-bands are available only by NoV.  At the WRC2015 it is possible a contiguous 5MHz band may be allocated worldwide to the amateur community. If this happens, it will be an interesting band but even if it happens it could be some years before it becomes widely available.

Up to now I have only been on 5MHz a couple of times with WSPR with an indifferent antenna with moderate success. I got an NoV over a year ago.

10m antenna

Homebase-10 10m halo antenna

My reports on 10m seem to be a bit down on those received by others. This may be due to the directionality of my end-fed PAR wire antenna that also covers 20m and 40m or just that the Par antenna is down on a better 10m antenna. I am wondering whether to erect a vertical for 10m (noisy on RX?) or my 10m Homebase-10 horizontal halo antenna which was featured some years ago in PW magazine and is described on my website.

The Homebase-10 antenna worked well and is nearly omni-directional. My problem is where should it go? Although quite a low visual impact antenna, it needs a mast to get it up in the air and in the clear. Something else would have to come down to make room and I like the antennas I have up at the moment.

G4IKZ weaker today

Nick, G4IKZ (18km) is weaker this morning, I assume because he has pointed his beam in a slightly different direction. Others copied today are G4KPX (14km) and CN8LI (2113km) yet again.

Sunspot count is down to 70 today but 20-30MHz conditions are "normal".  Maybe 10m will be less good today?  I shall stick with 6m Es searching.on WSPR.

UPDATE 1742z:  All afternoon it has been G4IKZ alone with 20+ spots since lunch.   Apart from CN8LI's spots several times before lunch no Es noticed on 6m today (well not yet).

UPDATE 2125z:  Still no sign of Es this evening.  Will be closing down soon.

SmartMic

See http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=3125 .

This could be a killer app for amateur radio: Digital Voice (DV) without the need for a PC. It consists of a board that goes between the mic and rig and the rig and LS.

DV in the end is a 1.25kHz wide 16QPSK signal able to work with very low S/N ratios and low power transmitters.

CN8LI - 6m

Reports from CN8LI have been coming in consistently all afternoon. I assume the propagation is Es but this very non-sporadic! I suppose it is just conceivably single hop F-layer, but I think Es is more probable. Now if only someone another 1000-2000km further south was on too so multi-hop Es into Africa was a possibility. Later in the Es season, multi-hop Es becomes more likely into S.America, the Caribbean and N.America.

At 1806z CN8LI is still spotting me well (-1dB S/N).

UPDATE 2125z: CN8LI's last 6m spot of me was at 1854z (+6dB S/N) and this appears to be the last today. Just G4IKZ spotting me now, lot of times!

UPDATE 2200z:  finally closed down at  2145z with just G4IKZ spotting me all evening.

Clearing the back of the (old) garage

As I was in hospital Sept-Jan because of my stroke, I was not around when my wife arranged for our old home to be rented out. We left a lot of my stuff locked away at the back of the garage and only cleared this today. Among the "goodies" were 2 QRP power meters, a DC PSU, a small rotator and several antennas. I had wondered where these all were! Now I know.

Very quiet start on 6m this morning - better later

This morning, it was very quiet start on 6m WSPR with just the usual strong spots from G4IKZ (18km).  I am actually very pleased with these reports of my 1W ERP signal as I am pretty sure Nick uses a horizontal beam so we are cross-polarised.

Sunspot count is 100 but 20-30MHz conditions are reported as being "good" so maybe 10m will be in decent shape for DX today. 6m will remain "sporadic" hopefully with some Es propagation later?

UPDATE 0940z:  Still just G4IKZ spots this morning so far.  Not sure if the few dB variation in reports is the noise floor increasing, path variations, or Nick moving the antenna a tad.

UPDATE 1445z: Well, there is 6m Es about.  Firstly OE1MSB (1220km) at 1114z then several spots from CN8LI (2113km) - 14 spots to 1444z - as well as G4FFC (45km) although at 45km hardly GDX. Wouldn't it be great to hook up to some TEP with Es to northern latitudes? Lots of Doppler on my spots from CN8LI - moving Es patches?

UPDATE 1530z:  Had to disconnect antennas because of local storms.

UPDATE 1635z:  Antennas back on around 1625z and CN8LI still spotting me and me him. He has been a remarkably consistent reporter all afternoon long. At teatime signals both ways are VERY strong (like he is down the road!).

UPDATE 1740z:   HB9PLH just spotted me on 6m WSPR. Still plenty of Es around.