472kHz WSPR - 5mW ERP

As well as TX beaconing on 10m, I have again been on MF (472kHz) but so far no great DX either spotting me or being spotted here using the short baseline earth-electrode "antenna".   Best DX, so far, in daylight, is PA3ABK/2 (306km) being copied here. Things may be better later?

Unique WSPR spots with the earth-electrode "antenna" and 5mW ERP on 472kHz 

UPDATE 1642z:   G3WCB (101km) is now spotting me (1618z) at -22dB S/N. Darkness has just fallen here.  It is a miserable day with lots of rain.

UPDATE 1720z:   DK7FC (669km) is now being spotted here.

UPDATE 1758z:   Several 472kHz DX stations now being spotted including LA3EQ (769km) and F1AFJ (607km).

10m spots of the WSPR-AXE 500mW beacon so far today

The tiny little W5OLF designed WSPR-AXE beacon continues to do a great job with lots of spots again today. Although things were a little slow towards the USA and Canada earlier, there are plenty of stations over there spotting me now. This is a list of the unique 10m spotters so far (to 1600z).  In most cases, stations have reported me multiple times.

Unique 10m WSPR spots with WSPR-AXE 500mW beacon so far today.

UPDATE 2022z:  The last USA station to spot me was AB4QS at 1736z.

MST SSB transceiver kits

See http://www.ozqrp.com/index.html .

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2o8mpYIgAAX6Pc.png:large

A nice line of SSB QRP transceivers for 80, 40 or 20m with power up to 5W.  These kits come from Australia and payment is by PayPal. I have no experience of these kits so have no idea how they perform when bands are busy as in Europe.

It looks like these are easy to build kits.

More 10m USA spots

As the afternoon has progressed. quite a few more USA stations have been spotting me.  As usual, it is the same old stations that have spotted me before like K9AN, W3CSW, KB9AMG plus others. WSPR tends to be like this with similar stations spotting one. I think there is more variety on JT65 and JT9-1 modes.

Sunspots and 10m conditions - Sunday Nov 23rd 2014

Sunspot number today is 64 (a further small fall) but 10m daytime conditions in the forecast remain "good". So far today, my 10m 500mW WSPR-AXE beacon has only been copied in Europe. I expect the band will open to the USA shortly.

UPDATE 1210z:   So far, no spots from the USA yet, although it is a little early still.

UPDATE 1232z:   The first USA station to spot me today was WG2Z (5600km) at 1228z at -21dB S/N. This station is frequently the first and last to spot me on 10m. He must have a good system and antenna.

UPDATE 1338z:   So far, there seem to be fewer USA spotters than recently, suggesting 10m conditions are not quite as good as they have been? Early days still. I'll tell you at 1800z.

Back on MF and 10m WSPR

For one night my shack was being used as a nursery bedroom, so I was unable to use it for radio work. As my son, his wife and their 2 little ones have now returned home, until the week before Christmas, I now have the shack back and have restarted WSPR on 472kHz (using the earth-electrode "antenna") and 28MHz (10m) using the 500mW WSPR-AXE beacon.  On 472kHz I am using WSPR4 software and 5mW ERP.

On 472kHz I am spotting G8VDQ, and G3ZJO.   G3XDV, G0LRD and G8LCO are spotting me so far.

UPDATE 1228z:   On 10m I am being spotted around Europe with best DX (so far) R2AEW (2439km). OH3LMN (1747km) is the person spotting the beacon most (12 times already).

More on the Rosetta mission

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Rosetta.jpg

John Mullins G0TEV has kindly sent me these links:

Hi Roger

I saw your comments on your blog regarding the Rosetta mission and the subsequent landing of Philae. Personally I thought that it was an amazing achievement. I just hope that the lander can be illuminated sufficiently to recharge it’s batteries and carry out further science.

The following URLs may be of interest.

http://new.livestream.com/esa/cometlanding

https://plus.google.com/events/c78o050l93ub7cm4kcoltjnt424

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_media_briefing_replay

http://news.discovery.com/space/philaes-batteries-have-drained-comet-lander-sleeps-141114.htm

All continents with the 500mW 10m WSPR-AXE beacon

In the last couple of weeks my TINY little WSPR beacon has now been copied on every continent including Antarctica. I am totally impressed as my antenna is not the best. I can probably gain 6-10dB with a properly optimised 10m antenna. Having been copied so well I will soon need a new challenge!

Sunspots and 10m conditions - Nov 22nd 2014

Sunspot number slipped to 68 today but 10m daytime conditions remained "good".  My best DX with the tiny 10m 500mW WSPR-AXE beacon was PY2FF (10440km) who spotted me just before lunch.   The 10m band was open to North America yet again today.

RSGB

I have been a member of the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) for 52 years now. When I first joined I was an SWL associate member - A3554 - as a young teenager.   In those days you had to be proposed and seconded. Joining is much easier today.  When I started there was just one licence. I took my RAE exam in 1966. It was on Friday 13th May as I recall.  I attended RAE classes at Plymouth Tech every Monday night, catching the bus to Plymouth after school. Long gone days!

Over the years I have not always agreed with the RSGB's decisions. In fact, quite recently, I did not like the decision worked up with OFCOM to allocate the 146-147MHz band to some UK amateurs by NoV.  I think the RSGB could have got a much better deal for UK amateurs, but that is my personal view.

Despite this, the RSGB is our national society and deserves our support. Over the years they have supported UK amateurs very well and have a much better relationship with OFCOM than the ARRL has with the FCC in the USA where bands we have had access to for years are still not available! The monthly RadCom magazine is a good read with a mix of technical and non-technical articles.

So, if you are not an RSGB member and you live in the UK, may I encourage you to join?

See www.rsgb.org .