So exit polls suggest no clear winners, so no surprises then.
Coalition governments are a way of life in Israel and there will no
doubt be some tough bargaining in the coming weeks.
All
I hope is that whatever coalition is formed that it takes the peace
process very seriously. The Middle East has too many conflicts and a
good, solid peace deal with Israel's neighbours is way overdue.
I
am always amazed that the Israeli's seem to choose conflict and
violence to settle old scores. Let peace blossom. Israel, you know it
makes sense.
Yes, I know it takes at least 2 to forge peace, but frankly
Israel has not even been trying for as long as I can remember. I was
born in 1948. Peace, as a result of quiet talks, has worked in Northern Ireland (Ulster) and in South Africa. 30 years ago these would been thought impossible. Peace works.
Israel, sit down with your enemies and really negotiate a peace deal that is fair to you and to your historic enemies. Give peace a real chance, please.
.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel .
Did you realise that about one fifth of the population of Israel is composed of non-Jewish people? Neither did
UPDATE 18 March 2015: Peace has NO chance as the existing PM is likely to form the next government.
17 Mar 2015
10m and 6m - both hopeless this afternoon?
Since getting lots of WSPR spots from around the borders of Europe this morning, I have only been getting spots from local G4IKZ (18km) all afternoon. No signs of USA spots on 10m today.
I have been on 6m most of the day but not a single spot given or received - totally hopeless.
I shall stick around on both 10m and 6m for several more hours yet, ever hopeful.
UPDATE 1950z: I think today is only the second day since last September when I was spotted by not a single USA station on 10m WSPR. On the vast majority of days someone over there has spotted my 500mW WSPR beacon, but not today. I know conditions are badly disturbed today (a visual aurora is forecast down here, which is very rare) and conditions are starting to change. Only EA8/LA3JJ (2870km) has spotted me late this afternoon apart from local G4IKZ. EA8/LA3JJ is probably single hop F2 although the time of day and distance could possibly suggest Es? On 6m I have had no success at all on TX or RX. I shall now abandon 6m until the Es season starts.
I have been on 6m most of the day but not a single spot given or received - totally hopeless.
I shall stick around on both 10m and 6m for several more hours yet, ever hopeful.
UPDATE 1950z: I think today is only the second day since last September when I was spotted by not a single USA station on 10m WSPR. On the vast majority of days someone over there has spotted my 500mW WSPR beacon, but not today. I know conditions are badly disturbed today (a visual aurora is forecast down here, which is very rare) and conditions are starting to change. Only EA8/LA3JJ (2870km) has spotted me late this afternoon apart from local G4IKZ. EA8/LA3JJ is probably single hop F2 although the time of day and distance could possibly suggest Es? On 6m I have had no success at all on TX or RX. I shall now abandon 6m until the Es season starts.
6m WSPR
Not quite sure why I bother as I usually get no spots (TX or RX) but I am again WSPRing on 6m. TX 20% 30dBm ERP vertical and 80% RX on 50.293MHz USB dial setting.
At this time of the year, outside the Es season, the most likely propagation is tropo and aircraft assistance up to about 200km. I am not expecting Es or F2 propagation on 6m.
UPDATE 1654z: So far, not a single spot given or received all day on 6m. Outside the Es season 6m has proved useless here with 1W ERP from my V2000 vertical. I shall stick around longer today (ever hopeful!) but I probably won't bother with 6m again for several weeks.
At this time of the year, outside the Es season, the most likely propagation is tropo and aircraft assistance up to about 200km. I am not expecting Es or F2 propagation on 6m.
UPDATE 1654z: So far, not a single spot given or received all day on 6m. Outside the Es season 6m has proved useless here with 1W ERP from my V2000 vertical. I shall stick around longer today (ever hopeful!) but I probably won't bother with 6m again for several weeks.
Sunspots and 10m - Tues March 17th 2015
Sunspot number today is 57. 10m propagation is expected to be "poor" according to the forecasts I have just seen. So far 10m spots have only been received from local G4IKZ (18km), but it is still very early.
UPDATE 0925z: 4X1RF (3519km) has already spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon twice.
UPDATE 1052z: 4X1RF has spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon 17 times already today. So far, my 6m WSPR attempts (TX and RX) have again drawn a total blank so far.
UPDATE 1155z: Now being spotted in UR, CT, G, LZ, and 4X1. Nothing outside Europe and near Asia yet today. I think the non-G spots are F2 propagation?
UPDATE 1225z: 4X1RF has spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon 45 times so far today.
UPDATE 1700z: No USA spots received all day, well not so far. Yesterday, 10m did open to the USA very very late in the afternoon and my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon was copied only by 3 unique stations. Today, so far, looks dire on 10m to the USA. All HF bands have "poor" predictions so maybe it is a bad day, full stop.
UPDATE 0925z: 4X1RF (3519km) has already spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon twice.
UPDATE 1052z: 4X1RF has spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon 17 times already today. So far, my 6m WSPR attempts (TX and RX) have again drawn a total blank so far.
UPDATE 1155z: Now being spotted in UR, CT, G, LZ, and 4X1. Nothing outside Europe and near Asia yet today. I think the non-G spots are F2 propagation?
UPDATE 1225z: 4X1RF has spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon 45 times so far today.
UPDATE 1700z: No USA spots received all day, well not so far. Yesterday, 10m did open to the USA very very late in the afternoon and my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon was copied only by 3 unique stations. Today, so far, looks dire on 10m to the USA. All HF bands have "poor" predictions so maybe it is a bad day, full stop.
16 Mar 2015
10m USA spots - at last!!
KD6RF (7522km) has just spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon at 1738z. This is very very late indeed for a first USA spot. It will be interesting to see if any other stateside stations copy me today.
UPDATE 1746z: AA1UI (5256km) is now spotting me too on 10m WSPR. Very late.
UPDATE 1850z: AA1UI has now spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon 4 times this evening, with the latest at 1836z.
UPDATE 1945z: 3 unique USA stations spotting me, with the last at 1922z. I guess there is still a chance of later USA stations spotting me.
UPDATE 2034z: No more USA spots now for over an hour, so I think the USA opening has ended. Will go QRT on 10m soon.
EI0CF (602km) is spotting my 5mW ERP on 472kHz WSPR. I'll stay on MF overnight again.
UPDATE 1746z: AA1UI (5256km) is now spotting me too on 10m WSPR. Very late.
UPDATE 1850z: AA1UI has now spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon 4 times this evening, with the latest at 1836z.
UPDATE 1945z: 3 unique USA stations spotting me, with the last at 1922z. I guess there is still a chance of later USA stations spotting me.
UPDATE 2034z: No more USA spots now for over an hour, so I think the USA opening has ended. Will go QRT on 10m soon.
EI0CF (602km) is spotting my 5mW ERP on 472kHz WSPR. I'll stay on MF overnight again.
Changing propagation
If proof were needed that we are now on the way down to the next minimum then take a look at the sunspot number graphs at http://www.solen.info/solar/ .
Although conditions are sliding, do not abandon the higher HF bands like 10m. There is (usually) quite a lot of good DX around still. In the last solar minimum I was still able to work well into southern South America on 10m with QRP SSB. WSPR should be even more reliable when conditions are edgy.
I really do hope a strong core of WSPR operators stick with 10m as, in many ways, in the poorer times are when WSPR will be most valuable as a tool. I am hoping that when not on traditional modes like SSB or CW people will still WSPR so we can catch fleeting openings, which are probably far more common than people expect on 10m. Remember, the F2 or transequatorial propagation has only to go above 28.126MHz for 120 seconds and someone on WSPR may spot it!
Although conditions are sliding, do not abandon the higher HF bands like 10m. There is (usually) quite a lot of good DX around still. In the last solar minimum I was still able to work well into southern South America on 10m with QRP SSB. WSPR should be even more reliable when conditions are edgy.
I really do hope a strong core of WSPR operators stick with 10m as, in many ways, in the poorer times are when WSPR will be most valuable as a tool. I am hoping that when not on traditional modes like SSB or CW people will still WSPR so we can catch fleeting openings, which are probably far more common than people expect on 10m. Remember, the F2 or transequatorial propagation has only to go above 28.126MHz for 120 seconds and someone on WSPR may spot it!
10m - single hop F2 only? Es season coming.
At the moment, it looks like all my 10m reports are from 1-hop F2 propagation e.g. 4X1RF and EA8/LA3JJ. Next month onwards we should see the start of the Es season with plentiful short skip on 10m and 6m into Europe, and occasionally much further. In previous years I have heard (and even rarely worked) some really choice DX with real QRP on 6m. My best 6m DX ever was a W on 6m CW when my ERP was about 1W. This was back in 2007.
This spring and summer I intend to run WSPR on 6m whenever I cannot be on SSB or CW. Last summer, the 6m WSPR activity was low, so I hope this season will be better. JT65 and JT9 are more popular but really need me to be in the shack. With WSPR I can monitor on another PC in a different room, or even when in the garden.
This spring and summer I intend to run WSPR on 6m whenever I cannot be on SSB or CW. Last summer, the 6m WSPR activity was low, so I hope this season will be better. JT65 and JT9 are more popular but really need me to be in the shack. With WSPR I can monitor on another PC in a different room, or even when in the garden.
Local 2m FM net
Most Mondays, a group of us in Cambridge and East Cambridgeshire meet for a net on 144.575MHz FM. We started as an AM net on 144.55MHz but had to QSY as one net member had no AM.
Although my voice is still very poor, I try to come on most Mondays but I prefer to listen more than talk. The net is open and we welcome newcomers. Some Mondays there is no-one around, but that is the exception. Usually there are about 3-5 of us on. Note 144.575MHz FM, not 145.575MHz. 8pm local time Mondays.
UPDATE 2035z: Only 2 of us this evening G3KKD and G3XBM.
Although my voice is still very poor, I try to come on most Mondays but I prefer to listen more than talk. The net is open and we welcome newcomers. Some Mondays there is no-one around, but that is the exception. Usually there are about 3-5 of us on. Note 144.575MHz FM, not 145.575MHz. 8pm local time Mondays.
UPDATE 2035z: Only 2 of us this evening G3KKD and G3XBM.
EA8/LA3JJ on 10m WSPR and no USA spots?
EA8/LA3JJ (2870km) has been spotting my 500mW 10m beacon nearly all morning. This counts as Africa, so my little WSPR beacon has been copied in 4 continents this morning.
UPDATE 1350z: No USA spots, as yet, on 10m. It does seem as if the big, long USA 10m openings can no longer be guaranteed. It may open later - we'll see.
UPDATE 1355z: EA8/LA3JJ has spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon no less than 44 times today so far.
UPDATE 1500z: Still no sign of spots from the USA today on 10m. If there are going to be any, they will be very late, although I have the feeling that my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon will not be spotted in the USA today at all.
UPDATE 1615z: Still no spots at all from the USA but EA8/LA3JJ has spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon 95 times so far today.
UPDATE 1719z: Still not a single spot from the USA, so it is now most unlikely I'll get any. EA8/LA3JJ has now spotted me 120 times today! Propagation is fine in his direction.
UPDATE 1752z: 132 spots, so far, today from EA8/LA3JJ and very recently a couple of USA spots. Odd conditions?
UPDATE 2045z: In the end 167 spots received from EA8/LA3JJ today.
UPDATE 1350z: No USA spots, as yet, on 10m. It does seem as if the big, long USA 10m openings can no longer be guaranteed. It may open later - we'll see.
UPDATE 1355z: EA8/LA3JJ has spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon no less than 44 times today so far.
UPDATE 1500z: Still no sign of spots from the USA today on 10m. If there are going to be any, they will be very late, although I have the feeling that my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon will not be spotted in the USA today at all.
UPDATE 1615z: Still no spots at all from the USA but EA8/LA3JJ has spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon 95 times so far today.
UPDATE 1719z: Still not a single spot from the USA, so it is now most unlikely I'll get any. EA8/LA3JJ has now spotted me 120 times today! Propagation is fine in his direction.
UPDATE 1752z: 132 spots, so far, today from EA8/LA3JJ and very recently a couple of USA spots. Odd conditions?
UPDATE 2045z: In the end 167 spots received from EA8/LA3JJ today.
Sunspots and 10m - Monday March 16th 2015
Sunspot number today is 54 and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair". Already I am having my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon spotted on the edges of Europe and near Asia, but conditions don't, as yet, look to be anything other than ordinary - certainly no superb DX on offer.
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