Sunspots and 10m

Sunspot number is almost unchanged at 77. The forecast for 10m remains "fair". I see  several Eastern Europeans are already spotting my 10m 500mW signal, which has just been turned on. More in hope than expectation, I shall again try 6m too.

70cm UKAC this evening

Even with my poor voice, I managed 7 QSOs on 70cms SSB with 5W and a 5 el beam this evening in the Dec 9th 70cms leg of the UKAC. I heard GI and GD but was unable to get heard by them with my QRP!

Stations worked with QRP from home on 70cms tonight.

Best DX was 154km to G8OHM who was very, very patient with my weak signal. Interesting that only 1 portable station was worked. I guess they stay at home on a cold, windy December night.

Last 10m USA WSPR spot today?

W3CSW (5886km) appears to be the last station in the USA to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon at 1810z. WSPRnet is (currently) working again.

Local G4IKZ (18km) has spotted me several times since.  It seems to depend where Nick beams if he copies me or not. Yesterday, Nick did not copy me for hours last night, even though he copied G0LRD running 50mW many times.

UPDATE 1930z:  G4IKZ only copying me now, so W3CSW was the last USA station copying me today.

Stroke update

My cerebellum brain bleed was in Sept 2013. My remaining problems still are (a) poor swallow of unthickened liquids, (b) poor speech and (c) giddiness when walking. Most foods (all by mouth) are OK now. My tiredness now seems far less of a problem than it was. I still get bad days when I feel totally exhausted but there are fewer of these than there once were.

Slowly, oh so slowly, I am mending. I am allowed to drive again now and this has been fine, although I tend to stick to local drives so far.  I still feel "not right".

I hope my voice, swallow and giddiness all improve in the months ahead. The experts tell me they will.

WSPRnet problems

WSPR signals propagate around the world and allow very weak signals to be correctly decoded. WSPR is some 12-14dB better than normal speed CW. If 10W gets through on CW less than 1W is quite enough with WSPR. My own 10m 500mW beacon, to a simple "nothing special" end-fed wire antenna has been copied on every continent in recent weeks, including Australasia and Antarctica.

The main bonus with WSPR is that all reports can be automatically sent to an internet database (WSPRnet), so anyone can see where signals are reaching and how well. Today though, the WSPRnet database has been in trouble, possibly due to being overloaded. It was not working the last time I checked but was working late this morning.

Sunspot number and 10m

Sunspot number today is 77 and 10m daytime propagation is forecast to be "fair". 10m opened yet again to the USA after lunchtime.

Back on 10m with WSPR-AXE-CW beacon

Every WSPR-AXE-CW transmission with 500mW WSPR on 10m (I resumed with this beacon today) seems to result in 7-9 reports (spots on WSPRnet)  during most 2 minute slots, and the vast majority are from the USA. This little "all in one" beacon by Jay W5OLF (single tiny board and no PC needed) really does work well. Once sync'd to internet time or other good reference on an even minute, it holds time stability for ages. Frequency is randomly moved within 100Hz every 2 minutes to minimise interference.

UPDATE 1738z:  KU4QI (6406km) is currently the last USA station to spot me at 1628z, which is quite early, but it is now over an hour since the last spot was received.

UPDATE 1912z:  I checked the WSPR-AXE-CW DT by listening on the FT817. I set the clock to internet time around 1500z.  Setting by hand (pressing the push button) it is easy to be 0.3 secs or so out at the start.  After about 3 hours it was -1.0 sec, which is still quite good. No further transatlantic DX seen and currently no locals yet monitoring. I hope G4IKZ comes on RX soon.  Even with no antenna on the FT817 RX and the attenuator in circuit, the WSPR-AXE-CW is 13 to 15dB S/N i.e. very strong. The WSPR-AXE-CW beacon uses a 2N7000 FET class E PA and is not even warm with a good 50 ohm load.

UPDATE 2140z:  G4IKZ is on 10m RX and is copying G0LRD's 50mW but not copying me. OK I am about twice as far away and my antenna is not as good at G0LRD's. I reset my WSPR-AXE-CW clock and the DT is only 0.2 secs out. I also reset the power. I can copy myself on an FT817 without antenna and it is fine. Maybe G4IKZ's antenna is directional (I think he uses a Moxon beam). I don't think the problem is at my end.

10m WSPR - USA and Canada

The first mainland stateside report of my 500mW 10m WSPR today was by WG2Z (5600km) at -15dB S/N (good signal) at 1222z. Since then, he has copied me several times. Yet again, it is mainly the faithful old same reporters on WSPR. We could do with more new reporters!

My first spot here on 10m stateside was W3CSW (5886km) who was first seen here at 1300z.

Caribbean on 10m WSPR

FG5LA (6689km) in FK96ef (Guadaloupe) was spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR at 1140z this morning. This bodes well for the USA and Canada later. I am pretty sure this is the first time I have been spotted in Guadaloupe.

Sunspots - Monday Dec 8th

Sunspot number has declined a little further to 58. 10m daytime propagation is forecast to be "fair" only. We'll see what the day brings. I am currently on 10m WSPR (20% TX) running 500mW.