First and last 10m WSPR spots today

My first 10m spot by a station in the USA was K3ZV (5692km) at 1446z.  He was also the last to spot me at an early 1626z. There may yet be other spots later, although I doubt it. There have been plenty of European spots, presumably winter Es or maybe F-layer backscatter?

Trying yet again on 6m WSPR

Yet again, I am WSPRing on 6m (1W ERP vertical 20% TX, 80% RX) but so far no success at all on RX or TX.  I am still on 10m (500mW) 100% TX.

Sunspots and 10m conditions - Jan 7th 2015

Sunspot number has climbed a little to 102, but 10m propagation is forecast to be "poor".

Best DX, so far this morning, on 10m WSPR with my 500mW WSPR-AXE-CW beacon (designed by Jay W5OLF) is EA8/DL9XJ (2981km). I wonder if there will be 10m propagation to the USA this afternoon?

UPDATE 1130z:  Best DX spot is now by 4X1RF (3519km).

UPDATE 1315z:   Plenty of 10m WSPR spots from around Europe and Israel ,but nothing further as yet.

2m UKAC this evening

Unfortunately I was unable to rotate my small (hand rotated) 2m beam this evening. I think one of the fixings has worked loose and it was dark so I did not fancy fixing it in the dark. I was active for around 70 minutes but only raised locals and then gave in to my poor voice and went QRT.  Working SSB VHF contests really does strain my voice. Usually I have had enough after an hour.

Next Tuesday is the first 70cm UKAC. I'll have a go in that, after fixing the beam supports!

6m - a dead loss today (again)

I spent most of the day on 6m WSPR (1W ERP vertical) 20% TX and 80% RX.  I was also on 10m WSPR (500mW) 100% TX.

Although 10m opened to the USA, 6m was a dead loss with no spots given or received all day long. 472kHz is much more productive even though my ERP on 472kHz is far lower than my ERP on 6m.

10m WSPR - USA spots today

My 500mW 10m WSPR-AXE-CW beacon was again being copied in the USA today by several stations. I think something odd was happening yesterday. K9AN (6505km) copied me first at 1406 and he was again the last to copy me at 1600z. The USA opening here was less than 2 hours.

UPDATE 1805z:  I spoke too soon!  At 1756z I was being copied by K4COD (6826km). The 10m band is still open to the USA.

UPDATE 1840z:  No further spots since 1756z. Often the longest distances occur just before the band closes.  K4COD gave me a report of -11dB S/N, which was very strong for 500mW.

DXCC chasing

I have never really been a DXCC chaser, or a serious contester, although I usually enter the low power section of the UKAC VHF/UHF contests on Tuesday evenings. I think this evening it is a 2m event starting at 2000z. I'll see if my voice lasts an hour! The UKAC events are 2.5 hours long but up to an hour is enough for my poor voice right now.

When I did a rough count of 10m QRP SSB DXCC countries worked over the years it was way over 100. I have worked around 50 DXCC on 6m all QRP SSB and CW.  I have never claimed any awards, but it was interesting to see just how many countries I had worked on 10m QRP SSB. Other HF bands, apart from 10m don't interest me as much.

Sunspots and 10m - Jan 6th 2015

Sunspot number has dropped back again, standing at 89. Overall, we are now on the downward slope although there will still be good days.

10m propagation is forecast to be "fair" today. Yesterday was diabolical here with no USA stations spotting my 500mW WSPR for the first time in months. Today has to be better surely?

UPDATE 1108z:  So far just Europeans spotting me on 10m WSPR.  Still, more stations than all of yesterday.

Jack Jones - the answer is NO!!!!

"Jack Jones" - pirate, please get the message: every comment you add to my blog will be deleted. I do NOT support pirate stations.

Please get a legal licence and join our great community instead.

No USA today on 10m?

For the first time in months, not a single USA station has spotted my 500mW WSPR beacon on 10m. It is now 1610z so time is running out fast!   Others may have been more successful, but it tells me conditions are changing for the worst on 10m.

UPDATE  1630z:   Still just spots earlier from LZ1OI (2153km) and not a single spot from the USA of my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon.

UPDATE 1735z:  Still no other spots than those earlier by LZ1OI. This looks like the first day since the summer not to have been spotted in the USA.

UPDATE 1755z:  Bas, from The Netherlands, wonders if 10m conditions were poor because of a recent aurora (see his comment below). If he is right conditions might get better over the coming days.