16 Feb 2015

Transatlantic USA 10m WSPR spots today

 KB1YMI (5188km) was the first USA station to copy my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon today at 1212z.

I went QRT on 10m at around 1920z. At 1916z N2BJW (5262km) was the last station still spotting my 500mW 10mWSPR beacon.  As I have gone QRT, I shall never know if later spotters were possible.

15 Feb 2015

472kHz WSPR

I am on 472kHz WSPR this evening and overnight. As yet, just the usual stations spotting me and being spotted. Best DX spot of me was from G4JVF (151km) many times this evening.

Transatlantic 10m WSPR today

Despite the "poor" 10m forecasts, the band opened "across the pond" at 1222z when K3ZV (5692km) spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon.

During the morning I was spotted by TA2AEG (2547km) on several occasions. I have also been spotted by other Europeans.

I closed down on 10m WSPR at 1920z and KB1YMI (5188km) was still spotting me as I closed.

Dalham Walk

View from Dalham church
Today we walked from the delightful village of Dalham up to the village church. I have updated our East Anglian Churches blog to include this.  Dalham is a truly beautiful village not too far from Newmarket. It is in Suffolk.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday Feb 15th

Sunspot number today is 49 and 10m propagation "poor". This is the first "poor" forecast for a long while.

14 Feb 2015

Tenner 10m CW transceiver

Click for bigger image.
The Tenner is a very simple CW rig for 10m. It produces about 500mW output and has worked across the Atlantic on many occasions. Offset RX-TX seems to work out at about right, although no special circuitry is employed. This simple circuit just works. Although I used an "at hand" SBL1, any double balanced mixer is likely to be OK. Although I did not try it, a homebrew DBM would be fine. Google it.

472kHz WSPR

I shall be on 472kHz WSPR overnight but will go QRT on 28MHz (10m) shortly.

DK7FC remains my best spot this evening an RX and PA0RDT (243km) is currently the most distant station spotting my 5mW ERP to the earth-electrode "antenna".

Shack limited access this week

Busy birdwatching
We have different grandchildren staying this week depending on the days so I have limited access to my shack.  I should be able to do some WSPR for the first few days, but later in the week will be more difficult as there will be a cot in the shack!

Today we went birdwatching, counting the different species spotted on a 1 mile village walk. The elder grandson (aged 7) is into categorising and collecting. 12 species mostly seen (a couple heard).

Sunspots and 10m today - Sat Feb 14th 2015

Sunspot count is marginally higher at 59 today. 10m propagation is again predicted to be "fair". Although the 10m band has opened to the USA again, this morning on 10m was pretty flat with just the odd European station logging my 500mW beacon.

UPDATE 1310z:   GM4WJA (624km) has been spotting me on 10m.   This could be back-scatter or even winter Es. The distance is far too short for F2.

Stateside spots on 10m WSPR today - Sat Feb 14th 2015

During the morning the odd European was copying my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon.  No "astounding" DX from distant countries.

The first transatlantic spot today was at 1222z by K3ZV (5692km).

Last USA 10m spot of my 500mW beacon was K3EA (5657km) at 1854z.