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| Spots of CX2ABP today on 10m WSPR |
11 Oct 2014
CX2ABP (11127km) - South America
CX2ABP (11127km) in Montevideo has been spotted here 27 times so far today on 10m WSPR until 1856z. He has been coming in most of the day and evening Although the band was open to North America too, I think conditions have been better. CX2ABP was peaking at -15dB S/N here. Since 1900z only locals have been spotted.
WSPR-X woes again
With exactly the correct settings, my WSPR-X running on a Win 7 machine refused to upload spots to the WSPRnet.org database today. When I realised it was not working I did 2 things: (a) I closed the program and restarted it, and (b) reset the PC clock to internet time.
Since doing these things, my "lost" spots successfully uploaded to the database. I have no idea why WSPR-X seems to be so temperamental.Otherwise I like it, especially the realtime,scrolling waterfall and support for WSPR-15, although I have only tried this slower mode once, on LF. Stability needs to be pretty good (over a 15 minute period) for WSPR15.
Since doing these things, my "lost" spots successfully uploaded to the database. I have no idea why WSPR-X seems to be so temperamental.Otherwise I like it, especially the realtime,scrolling waterfall and support for WSPR-15, although I have only tried this slower mode once, on LF. Stability needs to be pretty good (over a 15 minute period) for WSPR15.
QRP kits search on eBay
See http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=qrp+kit .
Occasionally I look on eBay to see what is on offer. Searching for "QRP kits" throws up quite an interesting selection of stuff, much of it only available by eBay and not otherwise advertised. Some of these items are good bargains.
Touch wood, I have never yet had a bad experience on eBay when buying or selling. Mind you, I would be very careful and not spend too much. Some dealers are good (the vast majority) but there are always a few "bad eggs".
Caveat emptor.
Occasionally I look on eBay to see what is on offer. Searching for "QRP kits" throws up quite an interesting selection of stuff, much of it only available by eBay and not otherwise advertised. Some of these items are good bargains.
Touch wood, I have never yet had a bad experience on eBay when buying or selling. Mind you, I would be very careful and not spend too much. Some dealers are good (the vast majority) but there are always a few "bad eggs".
Caveat emptor.
No 10m USA here yet
Although 10m WSPR is open here to South America with CX2ABP (11127km) spotted at -28dB S/N (weakly) at 1216z, there have been no North Americas seen here yet. This suggests conditions are not as good as they have been in recent weeks. To be fair, there are hours yet for the USA and Canada to appear. Even on bad days, the USA has appeared very briefly.
UPDATE 1252z: KZ8C (6290km) has just spotted my 2W 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 1330z: The 10m band does seem to be waking up to the USA now after a slow start.
See post about WSPR-X woes above.
UPDATE 1252z: KZ8C (6290km) has just spotted my 2W 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 1330z: The 10m band does seem to be waking up to the USA now after a slow start.
See post about WSPR-X woes above.
RA3APW's 100mW 10m WSPR pounding in again
Karen RA3APW's 100mW 10m WSPR to an indoor whip in Moscow (2443km) has been detected 10 times already this morning. He seems to put out a very decent signal. I assume this is single hop F2 propagation. Best DX on 10m WSPR RX today, so far, is South Africa.
Sunspots today
The sunspot count has slipped further to 54 (stable) yet 20-30MHz propagation remains "normal". Already on 10m WSPR I am seeing Europeans (SM and EA5) either on F2 backscatter or Es.
Later in the sunspot cycle, i.e when sunspot count is very low, it will be interesting to see how frequently Europeans are copied on 10m WSPR outside of the peak Es months. If stations stick with 10m, I suspect there will be Eu's copied most days, albeit just fleeting openings, ideally found using WSPR.
Later in the sunspot cycle, i.e when sunspot count is very low, it will be interesting to see how frequently Europeans are copied on 10m WSPR outside of the peak Es months. If stations stick with 10m, I suspect there will be Eu's copied most days, albeit just fleeting openings, ideally found using WSPR.
10 Oct 2014
G1KQH blog
See http://g1kqh.blogspot.co.uk/ .
Steve, G1KQH has just started his own blog. Steve has frequently supplied useful information to me. I usually post these gems to my blog. I wish him well with his new venture. Personally I find blogging compliments what I do in amateur radio, compliments my main website http://www.g3xbm.co.uk and acts as a diary for future reference. I find it fun to share my exploits with others. I hope my readers enjoy it too.
Steve, best of luck with your blog.
Steve, G1KQH has just started his own blog. Steve has frequently supplied useful information to me. I usually post these gems to my blog. I wish him well with his new venture. Personally I find blogging compliments what I do in amateur radio, compliments my main website http://www.g3xbm.co.uk and acts as a diary for future reference. I find it fun to share my exploits with others. I hope my readers enjoy it too.
Steve, best of luck with your blog.
10m JT65 and JT9-1
As my wife was having "girly" friends around I was banished to the shack. Usually, since my illness, I turn on WSPR in the shack and monitor progress in the lounge on another PC. WSPR beaconing usually suits my health as it requires minimal intervention.
As I was actually in the shack today, I took the opportunity to try JT65 and JT9-1 modes on 10m. On JT65 I worked the USA, Georgia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Russia and on JT9-1 I worked the USA. Time was limited and I am sure lots more could have been worked.
Since the guests went I QSYed down to 472kHz WSPR. As before, the same stations are being spotted and are spotting me, which is disappointing.
As I was actually in the shack today, I took the opportunity to try JT65 and JT9-1 modes on 10m. On JT65 I worked the USA, Georgia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Russia and on JT9-1 I worked the USA. Time was limited and I am sure lots more could have been worked.
Since the guests went I QSYed down to 472kHz WSPR. As before, the same stations are being spotted and are spotting me, which is disappointing.
Driving again after 13 months
For 13 months I have not been allowed to drive because of my brain bleed. I have had to rely on my wife totally.
Today, I drove to and from the local garden centres at Fordham. This is a round trip of nearly 10 miles. Both the neurosurgeon and my doctor said "yes" and DVLA agreed I could drive again. I informed the insurer too just in case. I would probably not want to drive too far for a while, but at least I can drive again locally. This is a major step for me. Just a little more independence.
With luck, I hope to be able to resume some amateur radio field experiments quite soon. I am still wobbly on my feet though. It would be good to try some earth-mode tests from this QTH.
Today, I drove to and from the local garden centres at Fordham. This is a round trip of nearly 10 miles. Both the neurosurgeon and my doctor said "yes" and DVLA agreed I could drive again. I informed the insurer too just in case. I would probably not want to drive too far for a while, but at least I can drive again locally. This is a major step for me. Just a little more independence.
With luck, I hope to be able to resume some amateur radio field experiments quite soon. I am still wobbly on my feet though. It would be good to try some earth-mode tests from this QTH.
10m to North and South America
10m is again wide open, with lots of stateside stations spotting my 2W or I am spotting them. In addition, CX2ABP (11127km) in Montevideo has already been spotted here 5 times so far.
RA3APW's 100mW to an indoor whip from Moscow is again blasting in here and Karen has been a good signal a lot of the day so far. In all, another good day on 10m WSPR.
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| 10m WSPR spots from a single 2 minute TX burst today |
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