10m USA spots today

It has been a "bad hair day" on 10m today.

The first USA station to spot my 500mW beacon was at 1610z (very late) by WG2Z (5600km). This reminds me of the brief 6m F2 openings to the USA many years ago. To be honest, I was beginning to think that an opening to the USA would not happen at all today. In a few months we'll be on the look-out for multi-hop Es across the Atlantic in the Es season.

UPDATE 1808z:   Only 2 USA stations have spotted my 500mW beacon today with K9AN (6505km) at 1754z.  I suspect conditions are changing.

UPDATE 1940z:   It now seems that the 1902z spot by K9AN of my 500mW 10m beacon was the last today by a station in the USA.  Since then, just local UK spots.

UPDATE 2010z:   Now going QRT on 10m.  Still active on 160m WSPR where I have received 36 unique spots using my earth-electrode "antenna".

President Lincoln Mk 2 (V3)?

As the price has dropped to £199 (a drop of £50) from Nevada I am now very tempted to buy one of these as 10m is my favourite band of all.  It is just coming up to the Es season too. Power output is ideal (for me) and it does all modes. I owned the original Lincoln President transceiver and it served me well for many years.  It worked all over the place on SSB and even on 10m AM.

This is basically a CB radio with bells and whistles, although as delivered it is 10m amateur band only. It covers CB bands with a simple, illegal in UK, mod.

Anyone any views?

Sunspots and 10m - Feb 21st 2015

Sunspot number has dropped back a bit. Today the number is 53. 10m propagation is expected to be "poor".

UPDATE 1202z:   Best DX on WSPR with  my 500mW beacon this morning was just now with YV7DX (7294km) copying me at 1156z.  Several spots earlier from LZ, SV4, SV9 and 4X1. Conditions on 10m don't look "poor" to me!  I am also being spotted by local G stations.

My little W5OLF WSPR-AXE-CW 10m beacon is just brilliant! I love it. So small and perfect.

31 unique 160m reports received

Since trying my earth-electrode "antenna" on 160m, I have received WSPR spots from 31 unique stations so far in just a couple of days and nights at 2-2.5W from the FT817 rig. Results have certainly exceeded my own expectations. It says a lot about how effective WSPR is.

160m WSPR TX with earth-electrode "antenna"

More historic East Anglian churches

Isleham church

Today my wife and I  visited Isleham and Fordham churches. We have updated our other blog to include these. I am always amazed that there are so many fine churches in our region.  Many date back over 1000 years, when the population of England was just a few million.

Whether viewing these as historical buildings or places of worship, it is clear they were once of very great importance in their communities as so many people would have been involved in their construction. In East Anglia alone there are well over 1000 medieval churches!

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

What will solar cycle 25 look like?

We now seem to be, on average, on the downward slope to the next solar minimum. Some are predicting that the next peak will be almost a non-event with the sunspot number peak of just 7. Of course no-one really knows, but I think it is true that most experts now think cycle 25 will be very poor. Conditions on LF/MF are likely to improve but decent F2 propagation on 10m is likely to be rare, except perhaps with N-S paths over the equator.  What is certain is no-one is really sure. Summer Es could well be the dominant DX mode on the higher HF bands.

UPDATE 2048z:  I have now gone QRT (for the night) on 10m but I will be on 160m now and overnight. Back on 10m tomorrow morning after breakfast.

USA 10m WSPR spots today

K8WW (6043km) was the last to spot my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon this evening at  1904z. The earliest USA spot today was by K4RCG (5995km) at 1256z.

Although about to go QRT on 10m, I'll remain on 160m overnight again.

160m success with the earth-electrode "antenna"

Since yesterday I have been using my FT817 (2-2.5W) into my 12m spaced earth-electrode "antenna" on 160m. Matching was via my ATU feeding a small 42mm diameter 3C90 step-up transformer. In all, 22 unique people spotted me with best DX being EA1FBU (1297km) on TX.  Best reception was 2533km of a station in Russia. The earth-electrode antenna may not be the best 160m antenna but the results prove it certainly works! To be honest, the results of this test surprised me. The current meter was barely moving and ERP must have been in the milliwatt region.

Sunspots and 10m propagation - Feb 20th 2015

Sunspot number today is a healthy 86 yet 10m propagation is expected to be "poor".

UPDATE 1245z:   Despite the "poor" 10m forecast I see that my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon has been copied by in West Australia by VK6XT (14719km) several times this morning, as well as being copied in Russia and Israel. Odd how when 10m is expected to be in poor shape I often find my tiny little beacon is copied on the far side of the globe!

Multiple RX responses on 160m?

I am not aware of this on other bands but on several stations I am giving WSPR reports to the same station at the same time but at several frequencies separated by 50Hz or 100Hz from the main response. I am not aware of this being an issue on other bands or an issue on TX.

Most recently I saw the issue with ON7KB and with G4BOO earlier. The issue seems to be with my end and not a TX fault.   It is not as if signals are that strong, for example the strongest from ON7KB was -13dB S/N.  As I have not seen this before and as I am a "transient" 160m visitor I am not keen to start pulling things apart.

Anyone else seen this?  I use a SignaLink USB to interface the FT817 to the PC. Maybe I have some RF getting into the heavy duty linear PSU  I am using and this only happens on 160m?

For example, I have never seen the issue on 630m (472kHz) WSPR with the same FT817, same PC interface via the same SignaLink USB.  Tonight I am not on 472kHz as I am using the kit on 160m WSPR.

I intend to stay on 160m overnight using the earth-electrode "antenna".