10m WSPR - no USA again, well not so far today

EA8/LA3JJ (2870km) and 4X1RF (3519km) and a few Europeans, but no stateside stations today yet on 10m WSPR spotting my 500mW WSPR beacon. With 10m conditions expected tp be "poor", it would not surprise me if the band does not open to the USA today at all.

UPDATE 1528z:  Still no sign at all of any spots from stations in the USA. 4X1RF has been spotting me several times.

UPDATE 1825z:  No spots from the USA again today. I'll leave the beacon on for a few more hours just in case the band opens, but I fear this is just another bad day on 10m.

UPDATE 2057z:  With just local G4IKZ (18km) spotting me now for ages, it is time to go QRT for today on 10m WSPR. Now QRT on 10m. PC clock reset to internet time on 630m (472kHz): after almost 12 hours it is probably in need of being reset. On 10m the WSPR-AXE-CW beacon from W5OLF seems to need resetting far less often, although I reset this each morning to internet time to be sure. I think it would be accurate enough for weeks without doing this.

UPDATE 2120z:   Looking at WSPRnet, I see many USA WSPR stations being spotted in Australia and New Zealand at around 13000-15000km. Maybe we'll see better conditions tomorrow on 10m?

Will hydrogen be the future fuel?

No-one can really argue that carbon based fuels like petrol, diesel and gas are not good for the environment and a good proportion come from politically sensitive regions like the Middle East. Electric vehicles use expensive batteries and have poor ranges. Possibly efficient hydrogen fuel cells may be the future? Korean car manufacturers think they have now reached the point at which hydrogen fuel celled powered cars are commercially viable. Of course we need the infrastructure such as refueling stations. They claim ranges of 300-400 miles, which are fine. They claim refueling will only take a few minutes.

I remember fuel-cell makers trying to convince me that fuel cells were better than Li-Ion batteries for our TETRA radios. At the time it was hype. Things have moved on quite a lot since then. Of course, the oil industry needs to evolve. They should be heavily investing in technologies for the future.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31926995 .

472kHz WSPR

In the last 2 weeks I have been spotted by 27 unique stations on this band. G3YXM (148km) is, I think, a new reporter earlier today. I shall leave 472kHz running, but don't expect any real DX until this evening. Still, it was good to get a report from G3YXM. I think my 5mW ERP from the earth-electrodes is a good test for stations listening on the band. Generally, if you can copy me at any decent distance, it proves your receive system is probably good enough. I know my RX system is capable of further improvement. On RX my FT817 is a bit deaf on 472kHz and I really should add a decent, high dynamic range preamp. Another 3-4dB sensitivity is possible I think.

Solar eclipse non-event here

As there was quite thick cloud here, the partial solar eclipse was a bit of a non-event here, although it was better elsewhere in the UK. I did a walk at the best time. Although the clouds were dark and it looked like it was about to rain, the sun was not visible here sadly. This was a partial eclipse but at 95-98% in the UK still pretty full. I remember the full eclipse in 1999 as we were on holiday in Gloucestershire and got good views. The next chance is in 2026.

I have no idea of the impact of this on propagation, but I imagine the effect is marginal.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31965456 .

Sunspots and 10m - Friday March 20th 2015

Sunspot number has gone up to 71 today, but 10m conditions are still expected to remain "poor".

My 10m beacon is still stabilising:  it takes about 20 minutes for the PA to warm up and the box to reach equilibrium and only local G4IKZ (18km) is spotting me currently. I re-synced both the 10m beacon and the 472kHz kit to internet time shortly after breakfast.

UPDATE 1116z:  G4IKZ (18km) has been the only station spotting me so far today.

472kHz WSPR this evening

G8LCO tipped me off that my PC clock looked out of sync with internet time, so I reset it.  It was last synced before 0700z and it had clearly drifted.  I have just done another sync and will check again at bedtime before leaving things running overnight.

Best DX reception of my 5mW ERP from my earth-electrode "antenna" on 472kHz WSPR this evening is a spot by F1AFJ (607km) at 2014z.  I have been received much further (over 1000km) but not this evening so far.

Cameroon and Canaries - but no USA on 10m today

EA8/LA3JJ (2870km) and TJ3TS (5478km) have both been spotting my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon, the former many times, but, no USA spots so far again today. TJ3TS is Cameroon (Africa).  The band is obviously quite reasonable for  N-S paths, but E-W paths don't seem to be as good. Maybe it will open to the USA later?

As the solar conditions decline on the higher HF bands, this sort of pattern will become more common on 10m. Of course, well into Africa and the Americas is possible via Es propagation on some occasions. Best months are June/July. In June we sometimes get weak openings on 6m from western Europe to Japan. Some theories put this down to noctilucent clouds. I think we really don't know, but this is very consistent.  Signals are usually weak and best times are in the mornings in Europe.

UPDATE 1718z:  Still no USA stations spotting me today. I shall be on 10m for a few more hours, but I think there will be no spots from the USA today.  Since 0916z EA8/LA3JJ has spotted me 115 times.

UPDATE 2040z:  No USA spots at all today again on 10m WSPR, so now going QRT on that band. EA8/LA3JJ (2870km) has spotted me 130 times since breakfast time.

472kHz WSPR

Just the "usual suspects" being spotted and spotting my 5mW ERP this morning and overnight. Best spot of me in the last 12 hours was from PA3ABK/2 (306km) before breakfast time today. I hope being active will encourage others to come on to this wonderful band.

Sunspots and 10m - Thursday March 19th 2015

Sunspot number has dropped back to 44 today. 10m propagation is again expected to be "poor".

UPDATE 0833z:  So far just G4IKZ (18km) and G4CUI (172km) spotting  me on 10m WSPR .

UPDATE 1003z:    EA8/LA3JJ (2870km) has spotted me several times now.

Return to 472kHz WSPR

After an abortive couple of days (and overnight) on 6m WSPR I have abandoned 6m WSPR as a right off and returned to 472kHz WSPR this evening.

Within the first few minutes I have been spotted by 5 unique stations despite running only 5mW ERP from my earth-electrode "antenna". Certainly, 630m (472kHz) is far more productive than 6m at this time of year. No great DX, as yet, this evening, but at least there is activity!

Initial 472kHz WSPR results this evening