You may (or may not!) remember that last September I was very ill and needed an operation on my brain for a bleed. I was discharged from hospital Jan 3rd 2014 and have been recovering at home, albeit slowly.
Today I had to attend a neuro clinic at Addenbrookes Hospital as an out-patient. They seem very pleased with my recovery, which is good news. I may be driving again in the next few months.
They are doing a further MRI scan June 30th to see if my remaining giddiness when walking/turning can be helped. In all, it was a good outcome - nothing dramatic to report. Giddiness should continue to improve given time - just be patient - as the brain learns to cope and rewires itself.
2 Jun 2014
1 Jun 2014
Transatlantic 6m?
According to Steve's blog http://ve7sl.blogspot.ca/ there was transatlantic propagation on 6m today but here at least I copied nothing of this on WSPR.
I may have been unlucky but it was probably just that there were no active WSPR stations where the propagation was reaching or my antenna is not good enough to catch weak, fleeting openings. I am leaving the kit running overnight just in case!
I may have been unlucky but it was probably just that there were no active WSPR stations where the propagation was reaching or my antenna is not good enough to catch weak, fleeting openings. I am leaving the kit running overnight just in case!
VE7SL's new blog
Take a look at this blog:
Hello Roger - just a note to let you know, and largely due to your inspirational postings over the past few years, I have also started a blog!
http://ve7sl.blogspot.ca/
I'm sure you can identify with today's post as well.
Hopefully I can keep up the publishing pace as you have over the years.... I can see it will be a challenge.
Hopefully you will enjoy mine at least half as much as I enjoy yours :-)
73 / Steve
WEB - "The VE7SL Radio Notebook": http://members.shaw.ca/ve7sl
PLEASE VISIT MY NEW BLOG - "Homebrewing and Operating Adventures From 2200m to Nanowaves": http://ve7sl.blogspot.ca/
Es on 6m at last - CN8LI
It was a long time coming today, but at 1648 CN8LI (2113km) spotted my 1W ERP 6m WSPR signal at -16dB S/N. This was the first Es report here in 2 days. It is teatime and Es tends to have a second peak at this time. Es is pretty reliable at this time of year, but the last 2 days have been unusually quiet. I see I am copying him now on 6m.
UPDATE 1950z: All quiet on the Es front here since 1702z. Just locals and G4VXE (136km) GDX. The locals are G4IKZ (18km) and G0LRD (25km) both of whom are using horizontal beams I think. Not sure what antenna Tim G4VXE is using.
UPDATE 2045z: G6AVK (78km) exchanging spots with me now. Signals around -24dB S/N with considerable Doppler, so probably aircraft assisted GDX.
UPDATE 2115z: I think the chances of more Es is receding. One drawback of WSPR is you can only copy the stations with WSPR capability. Sometimes there are few active WSPR equipped stations in a particular area. With CW/SSB stronger signals are needed but there are more active stations. It would be useful if there were more active WSPR stations on 6m in Africa and North and South America.
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| 6m unique WSPR spots so far today |
UPDATE 2045z: G6AVK (78km) exchanging spots with me now. Signals around -24dB S/N with considerable Doppler, so probably aircraft assisted GDX.
UPDATE 2115z: I think the chances of more Es is receding. One drawback of WSPR is you can only copy the stations with WSPR capability. Sometimes there are few active WSPR equipped stations in a particular area. With CW/SSB stronger signals are needed but there are more active stations. It would be useful if there were more active WSPR stations on 6m in Africa and North and South America.
Doppler on 6m with G4IKZ (18km)
There must be more local flying activity at Cambridge Airport on Sundays (private flying?). On my 6m 1624z transmission there was 3Hz Doppler noticeable at G4IKZ - quite a bit when usually I get none at all. For a WSPR signal to be heard, the direct signal has usually to be much stronger than the Doppler shifted signal otherwise WSPR will not usually decode properly. Usually aircraft directions in flight have to be such that no Doppler is apparent for aircraft refection to work as a "path enhancer". I have noticed this with G3WKW in Hampshire on 144MHz WSPR over what is quite a long path. Get just the right flight direction and decodes occur. Otherwise, strong signals and no decodes. Sometimes G3WKW has been there for hours before he decodes on 144MHz.
G0LRD (25km) is just coming in on 6m at 1638z at a strong -8 dB S/N with -4Hz Doppler, so his signal is arriving off an aircraft currently.
G0LRD (25km) is just coming in on 6m at 1638z at a strong -8 dB S/N with -4Hz Doppler, so his signal is arriving off an aircraft currently.
6m - quiet oday
Very quiet, so far, on 6m with just G4IKZ (18km) and G4VXE (136km) spotting my 1W ERP WSPR today as yet. No Es yet.
G4VXE' signal here has variable amounts of Doppler (up to 4Hz) suggesting aircraft reflections are involved. I think other modes (than WSPR) might be better with so much Doppler. The signal is often there but multiple and/pr large Doppler shifts can ruin WSPR signals, whereas other modes might be fine.
I did,very briefly, try 10m WSPR early this morning but QSYed back to 6m instead.
Sunspot count is 55 and 20-30MHz conditions are "normal". Let's hope for lots of multi-hop Es on 6m.
UPDATE 1625z: No Es seen here yet still. This is the second day this season without any Es DX signals coming through. Just G4VXE 136km GDX and local G4IKZ 18km.
G4VXE' signal here has variable amounts of Doppler (up to 4Hz) suggesting aircraft reflections are involved. I think other modes (than WSPR) might be better with so much Doppler. The signal is often there but multiple and/pr large Doppler shifts can ruin WSPR signals, whereas other modes might be fine.
I did,very briefly, try 10m WSPR early this morning but QSYed back to 6m instead.
Sunspot count is 55 and 20-30MHz conditions are "normal". Let's hope for lots of multi-hop Es on 6m.
UPDATE 1625z: No Es seen here yet still. This is the second day this season without any Es DX signals coming through. Just G4VXE 136km GDX and local G4IKZ 18km.
31 May 2014
6m - no Es today
With just a few hours to go today it looks very likely this will be the first day in several weeks without any Es on 6m here. Others have been working some DX on CW so it may just be that the openings have been very location sensitive as can be the case with Es.
6m - G8JNJ/A (184km)
This evening at 2034z G8JNJ/A (184km) was copying my 1W ERP vertical signal at -23db S/N with very little Doppler. Is this tropo? Good GDX on 6m.
Still no Es here on 6m today.
Still no Es here on 6m today.
10m with simple antennas
There is little doubt that when 10m is in the doldrums a beam and QRO would probably be helpful. Every bit of power would help. An HF beam is unlikely to add more than 5-6dB gain (1 S point) so when
the band is in good shape this is very little., but when the band is
dead QRO and a beam might help winkle out DX.
But what about right now? In my experience, even a simple omni-directional antenna is fine, coupled with QRP. You might use a CB vertical or a Cushcraft AR10 vertical (both noisy on RX being vertical?) or the 10m halo on my website.
Even during solar minimums I have worked LUs with 10W SSB to simple indoor antennas. There are very few times when QRO really matters. It may help, but it is much more fun with QRP (rig and antenna). QRP CW can be great fun, especially with simple homemade gear.
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| Tenner QRP 10m CW rig described on my website |
Even during solar minimums I have worked LUs with 10W SSB to simple indoor antennas. There are very few times when QRO really matters. It may help, but it is much more fun with QRP (rig and antenna). QRP CW can be great fun, especially with simple homemade gear.
No 6m Es today?
Well, it is now 2010z and, so far today, not a single station copied here via Es today on 6m. Today must be a quiet day.
Luckily, GDX has been very good, making up for the lack of Es DX.
In my experience, if there are stations active on the band, either GDX or Es they will be heard, even with my indifferent V2000 vertical omni vertical antenna. As far as I know I am not missing much that is active. Even my 1W ERP is being widely reported - Israel best so far this year with 8 WSPR reports of my 1W ERP signal.
Luckily, GDX has been very good, making up for the lack of Es DX.
In my experience, if there are stations active on the band, either GDX or Es they will be heard, even with my indifferent V2000 vertical omni vertical antenna. As far as I know I am not missing much that is active. Even my 1W ERP is being widely reported - Israel best so far this year with 8 WSPR reports of my 1W ERP signal.
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