6m - a dead loss again

As I can now WSPR on 10m with my little WSPR-AXE-CW beacon without the PC and FT817, it means I can also WSPR on another band at the same time.

At night, I tend to use MF (472kHz) WSPR but I tried WSPR on 6m again today. Yet again, even with 30dBm ERP I was spotted by no-one and spotted no-one at all. 6m was a dead loss yet again. It seems 6m WSPR is largely ignored outside of the Es season.

I may try 6m again, but really it is a dead loss in the UK at this time of year. F2 openings are now very unlikely, especially with my modest set-up.

10m WSPR - last USA spot this evening

W3CSW (5886km) was the last to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon this evening at 1802z at -21dB S/N.  Since then, G4IKZ has been spotting me at between -16 to -22dB S/N.

WSPRnet anomalies?

There are a couple of things I do not like about WSPRnet:

1. It does not show stations active who have not been very recently spotted (i.e. stations who have not been seen for 10 minutes). This means it does not show stations who are actually active, but unsuccessful  e.g. me on 6m, who has been sending and looking most of the day (and on 6m on several days in the last few months), but without success.
2. It does not, as far as I can see, allow you to check your logs more than 2 weeks ago, so it is not possible, as far as I can see, to check "all time" records for my call on a given band.  There may be a way using Excel, but it is not easy and I have not found out how to do it!

South America on 10m (CX2ABP) and 6m yet again

CX2ABP (11127km) in Uruguay was spotting my 500mW WSPR signal just before noon today. There are plenty of USA stations spotting me today also.

Recent 10m spots of my 500mW WSPR beacon

I am also WSPRing with 30dBm ERP (to my vertical V2000) on 6m at 20% TX and 80% RX.  So far, no luck at all on 6m yet again. It would have been good to catch some wintertime Es on 6m or even some GDX.

I'll keep trying until after tea tonight on 6m on several different days and drawn a total blank so far. Nothing at all like the peak of the Es season in the summer.

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.