Nick G4IKZ monitoring 10m WSPR now

Local G4IKZ has been monitoring 6m most of the summer, but I notice he is looking on 10m today but so far is seeing just G0LRD and me.

I was wondering how efficient my antenna is on 10m compared with others. It is pleasing to see that Nick is not copying that much either. I think he uses a 10m Moxon beam, but no idea which way it is aiming today. He is getting me much weaker on 10m than on 6m. I believe my Par 3-band end-fed is somewhat down on an optimised 10m antenna, but not too badly.  Certainly not enough to worry about. I seem to be spotted quite widely if I run 2W.

I suppose a more efficient 10m antenna would (maybe) allow me to use 200mW instead, although in RX I copy most stations in all directions, quite well on 10m. The Par also does a decent job on 20m and even 40m, even though quite low and just strung to a tree in the garden.

For several weeks now 10m has been open to Europe at some time in the day. It was open to Spain and Israel this morning. Most days it has opened for F2 DX to places much further away.  So far, this afternoon is exceptionally quiet on 10m WSPR.

10m WSPR this morning

Luckily local G0LRD (25km) pointed out that I was showing the wrong ERP on 10m on WSPRnet. Although ERP is 5mW on 472kHz it is 2W on 10m. For some reason WSPRX did not save the 33dBm setting when I changed bands earlier.

4X1RF (3519km) as spotted me 4 times already and EB5DQ (1405km) has been seen here 3 times so far.

Sunspot count today is 166 (with blackouts) and 20-30Hz forecast is "fair".

472kHz overnight

Last night was a good one on 472kHz with some decent distances copied including IW4DXW (1190km) on a couple of occasions, albeit very weakly.

Unique 472kHz WSPR stations seen overnight

In the other direction, my 5mW ERP was copied by 7 unique stations.  I think G8LCO is an all-time new reporter, but I need to check. Unfortunately WSPRnet only goes back 2 weeks.

Unique 472kHz WSPR reports using 5mW ERP

472kHz activity

This evening, I am sticking on 10m in the hope of the band reopening for real DX or opening very early tomorrow morning.

By now, I usually QSY down to 472kHz, where there is a lot of activity this evening with 49 stations listed on WSPRnet a few minutes ago.

UPDATE 2230z:  Late change of plan. I have QSYed to 472kHz WSPR after all.

10m WSPR - is that it?

The last USA station was K4RCG (5995km) at 1932z. Unless the band opens again, I suspect that the worldwide openings may have ended for the day. With Australia, Reunion, Uruguay, Israel, the USA and great swathes of Europe in the log, it has been a good day on 10m WSPR.

FR1GZ WSPR

Just took a look at http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/spots for FR1GZ spots both given and received. It is amazing that he has so many real DX reports in the log. I guess this is partly because Reunion Is is very remote. Already he has been spotted here 14 times and he has spotted me 3 times so far today.  Many of his reports are greater than 16000km .

RSGB president request

Today I was asked if I could provide a photo of my 8.97kHz TX so the RSGB president could use it at a convention in Northern Ireland. I was happy to oblige.

If anyone else needs to use photos from my website at www.g3xbm.co.uk or this blog I am usually happy to say "yes" but it is polite to ask first.

"Poor" 20-30MHz conditions?

Sunspot count has fallen to 160 today and 20-30MHz conditions are supposed to be "poor" yet on 10m VK3KCX (16883km) has been spotted 6 times on 10m WSPR today, spots have been exchanged with FR1GZ (9724km) multiple times, CX2ABP (11127km) has spotted my 2W WSPR more than once and 4X1RF (3519m) has been spotting me multiple times and 10m is wide open to the USA! 10m really is a truly fascinating band.

There is no shortage of Europeans on 10m WSPR either. Not sure if they are being copied by F2 backscatter or Es.

VLF receivers

To detect VLF amateur signals it is pretty essential to use a good receiver (with frequency locking so extremely narrow bandwidths can be received for hours or days on end) and Spectrum Laboratory software. Spectrum Lab has options to lock to one of the powerful MSK signals near 20kHz and this transforms stability.

For reception of natural VLF emissions it is somewhat different as signals tend to be stronger and of much shorter duration. There are several VLF natural receivers on the net. See http://www.vlf.it/romero2/explorer-e202.html for a typical example.

10m WSPR - recent results

Good conditions continue on 10m with WSPR. These are recent results around teatime. There are plenty of USA spots both ways. Currently I use 2W ERP and a Par 3-band end-fed antenna. In recent days 10m has been open to the USA every day.

Recent 10m WSPR results at teatime today.

UPDATE 2000z:  Maybe  this is like last night and the USA have only disappeared for now to return later, but in the last hour G0LRD (25km), G0VQH (15km) and M0MJH (5km) are the only stations spotting me. It is as if "the big DX switch" has been turned off.

UPDATE 2140z:  Still no further DX this evening.I have just noted that 20-30MHz conditions are now described as "poor". Again, I'll leave WSPR running overnight to see what happens WRT Europeans in the early (before breakfast) hours.