TI3/AB4AW - 10m WSPR

This station TI3/AB4AW (8752km) in Costa Rica, Central America  was spotted on 10m WSPR several times this afternoon running 5W.   It remains to be seen if he copies my 500mW too.

10m WSPR - power dropped

In the last 30 minutes I have dropped my power on 10m WSPR to 500mW. I am still being spotted in the USA. At 2W it was far too easy.

10m is in excellent shape yet again

Yet again, 10m is excellent with plenty of DX about. Lots of USA stations being spotted and spotting me. Also spotting and being spotted on Reunion Is and in South America. Another good F2 day on the band with plenty of Europeans too.

Busy on 10m WSPR this afternoon

Sunspots today

The sunspot count today is 120 (very good, but with blackouts) and 20-30MHz propagation "excellent". 10m is certainly in good shape yet again.

472kHz ERPs

Something seems wrong to me in that the difference between reports I give and I get on 472kHz WSPR suggests either my ERP is higher than I think or the ERPs stated by some others is lower than they think.  I am pretty sure my ERP is about right give or take a few dB "experimental error".  I am able to measure antenna current, I know the actual antenna height and can calculate the effective height. If anything, I believe my ERP is over-stated as my losses are pretty high.  I suppose my reports of others may be a few dB down because of the poor-ish sensitivity of my FT817 at 472-479kHz?

UPDATE 1740z:  I have been on 472kHz WSPR for just over 1 hour now. Just the usual early evening reporters with some very decent reports from G3WCB (101km) and G8LCO (58km) amongst others.   As always, PA3ABK/2 (306km) is putting in a big signal again this evening from across the North Sea. 

UPDATE 1752z:  Just been spotted in Wales by GW0EZY (251km) at -25dB S/N.

Genesis Q5 1W QRP kit from Australia

http://genesisradio.com.au/Q5/q5_1.jpg

A trawl of the internet earlier found this kit, a 1W QRP transmitter for any band from 3.5MHz to 14MHz. It is available for S19.95 (US Dollars) + S9 (US Dollars) shipped anywhere worldwide. That seems pretty good value. Also on the website are SDR transceivers.

I last showed this particular kit on my blog 5 years ago.

See http://www.genesisradio.com.au/Q5/ for more details including how to order the various kits. Details on the page include parts lists, schematics and building details.

The are some pretty good SDR transceivers on this site.

Day off amateur radio operating

As I had my U3AC course on Human Evolution in Cambridge , I have decided not to be active on amateur radio today.  I may go on 472kHz WSPR this evening. 10m WSPR, even at 500mW, is becoming quite easy of late with good DX to be had with no real effort.  Even on 472kHz my genuine 5mW ERP has spanned over 1000km already.

I am beginning to feel like I need a whole new challenge,  but I just wish I felt better inside: my remaining stroke systems are getting me down.

Tuesday Sunspots

Sunspot count has climbed further to 93 (with blackouts) and 20-30MHz propagation is forecast to be "normal".  We should expect some decent F2 propagation on 10m today. Already, well before noon, Europeans were being spotted in the USA. FR4OZ was being spotted in GM before 0900z by F2.

10m 500mW success

Running 500mW to my end-fed PAR tri-band antenna, I have so far been spotted by 4 stations on 10m WSPR. Best DX is UA3ARC (2436km) and 4X1RF (3529km). The band has not yet opened to the USA yet at the time of writing. Yet again I am spotting Karen RA3APW's 100mW Moscow WSPR beacon strongly (-14dB S/N) at 2443km.

UPDATE 1345z:  USA stations are now spotting my 500mW and also being spotted by PY3FF (10440km) at a decent -19dB S/N.  500mW seems quite enough to be noticed around the world on 10m WSPR even with my less than ideal antenna.

UPDATE 1610z:  Dropping power to 500mW really seems to have made very little difference to the stations spotting me. I may be less strong, but that is all. Apart from quite a few stateside spots (best DX in that direction is KD6RF (7547km), my best DX spot is from PY3FF at 1250z.

UPDATE 1630z:  These are the unique stations reporting my 500mW so far today on 10m WSPR. Quite a decent selection.

10m WSPR unique reports today with 500mW TX

HF conditions and sunspots

Although the sunspot count is up to 86 (with blackouts), the 20-30MHz propagation forecast is only "fair".  Conditions on 10m are therefore hard to predict. With such a high sunspot count I would hope we'd see some decent F2 openings, but 10m is a fickle band and it can be hard to tell. As yet, I have not started up on 10m.

UPDATE 1012z:   Both PY3FF (10440km) and CX2ABP (11127km), plus several Europeans, coming through on 10m WSPR already.  Conditions on 10m are good!  So much for 10m propagation being just "fair".  Today I am running 500mW on 10m WSPR. So far just locals spotting me.

UPDATE 1036z:  No more South Americans seen since the earlier spots.