Today is "Lady Day" March 25th 2015. I remember, as a child, we moved to a new town and home on Lady Day 1959. I think Lady Day was linked to the old Liturgical Calendar and to legal matters.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Day .
Sunspot number is very good at 127 but 10m propagation is only forecast to be "fair". Already (since 0822z) my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon is being spotted in the Canary Is. by EA/LA3JJ (I think he should be signing EA8/LA3JJ) and by UR/SWL56 and by local G4IKZ.
UPDATE 1155z: I see I have now been spotted by EA8BVP (2986km). No other what I'd call "real" DX.
24 Mar 2015
10m USA spots
As mentioned in an earlier post, today has been good to the USA on 10m despite only "fair" predictions.
UPDATE 1942z: Still plenty of USA spots of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon coming in on 10m. This opening is still going on.
UPDATE 2022z: KB9AMG (6300km) still spotting me on 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 2204z: KT5W (6314km) was the last USA station to spot me on 10m WSPR at 2104z. At an hour ago, I think this will be the last USA spot today. Since then, just local G4IKZ (18km) spotting me.
UPDATE 1942z: Still plenty of USA spots of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon coming in on 10m. This opening is still going on.
UPDATE 2022z: KB9AMG (6300km) still spotting me on 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 2204z: KT5W (6314km) was the last USA station to spot me on 10m WSPR at 2104z. At an hour ago, I think this will be the last USA spot today. Since then, just local G4IKZ (18km) spotting me.
Internet time server and 472kHz WSPR
The program atomic.exe seems to be doing a decent job of keeping my PC to time. Currently it re-syncs to internet time every 5 minutes, which is probably far more often than is needed. I know that my timing drifted out after 12 hours, so once an hour is probably often enough. I shall have to alter settings and experiment.
No great surprises on the 472kHz WSPR band today with stations who have spotted me before, or that I have spotted before, in the log.
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| 472kHz WSPR spots today so far |
Sunspots and 10m propagation - March 24th 2015
Sunspot number has again risen strongly. Today, it stands at 119. 10m propagation is expected to be only "fair".
UPDATE 1334z: So far, a couple of USA stations have copied my 10m, 500mW WSPR beacon. The first were KT5W (6314km) at 1312z and WB8ELK/01 (6872km) at 1314z. At least 10m has opened to the USA today. I was beginning to think these openings had ended.
UPDATE 1340z: So far, 5 different USA stations have spotted me on 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 1430z: So far, 9 different USA stations have now spotted my 500mW on 10m WSPR. This opening is much better than I was expecting.
UPDATE 1708z: 15 unique USA stations spotting my 10m 500mW WSPR. A good 10m opening.
UPDATE 1334z: So far, a couple of USA stations have copied my 10m, 500mW WSPR beacon. The first were KT5W (6314km) at 1312z and WB8ELK/01 (6872km) at 1314z. At least 10m has opened to the USA today. I was beginning to think these openings had ended.
UPDATE 1340z: So far, 5 different USA stations have spotted me on 10m WSPR.
UPDATE 1430z: So far, 9 different USA stations have now spotted my 500mW on 10m WSPR. This opening is much better than I was expecting.
UPDATE 1708z: 15 unique USA stations spotting my 10m 500mW WSPR. A good 10m opening.
23 Mar 2015
Internet time servers
I noticed that, by default, my PC synced to internet time only once a week, far too long on an old PC. I have downloaded a package (atomic.exe) that allows you to program any chosen interval and hope now the PC clock will be very regularly updated to internet time. This is essential for WSPR. At the moment it is set to sync every 5 minutes, but once every few hours is probably frequent enough.
I used atomic.exe before on my previous PC for many years. It worked well. A virus scan showed no threats. For now I'll stick with this, although (see comments below) there may be better solutions when the internet may be down, but this is very rare. Virgin Media cable seems very reliable and very fast.
I used atomic.exe before on my previous PC for many years. It worked well. A virus scan showed no threats. For now I'll stick with this, although (see comments below) there may be better solutions when the internet may be down, but this is very rare. Virgin Media cable seems very reliable and very fast.
Last USA spot today
On this rather lack lustre day on 10m WSPR it looks like W1VR (6965km) was the last to spot me at 1746z this evening. Only a couple of unique USA stations spotted me all afternoon.
472kHz WSPR
Spots received from 10 unique stations in the last 24 hours on 472kHz WSPR with best DX 306km. As far as I can see,these are stations that have spotted me before. I am still using the earth-electrode "antenna".
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| Unique 472kHz WSPR spots of my 5mW ERP in last 24 hours |
Sunspots and 10m - Monday March 23rd 2015
Sunspot number has risen to 88 and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair" today. The band did open to the USA after lunch with a couple of stations in the USA spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon. W1VR (6965km) at 1446z was the first. With just a couple of stations spotting me this hardly a big opening!
22 Mar 2015
China v. Japan
Up to now, the Japanese "big boys" such as Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu have pretty well dominated the amateur radio market, but the Chinese are on the march. Only last month I bought a 30W pep all mode rig for 10m: this was made in China. See also yesterday's post about 40m Pixie kits at ridiculously low prices.
Be in no doubt: within a few years we will see the amateur radio market flooded with quality products made in China with low prices. At this point, the traditional Japanese brands will die out or be made in China. By the next solar minimum in around 4-5 years time the dynamics of the commercial amateur radio market will be very different. The writing is already on the wall.
Up to now most Chinese amateur products have lacked the finesse of Japanese products but this is rapidly changing. We are fast approaching the time when Chinese made amateur products will be every bit as good as Japanese products, but at very much lower prices.
In the end competition is healthy but this is likely to result in the death nell for all manufacturers not in China. We could well see the death of Ten Tec and Elecraft unless they design in the USA and make in China. The volumes of loyal customers who would be willing to pay USA manufacturing prices would be far too low, sadly.
Of course, we have already seen this with most consumer products and white goods. In the end, China will become too expensive and we will look for slave labour rates elsewhere. Sadly we live in a very odd world. This cannot go on for ever, but we are all complicit. At the moment we are exporting most of our manufacture to China.
Life was, in a way, so much easier when things were made to last, they were made in the UK, we saved up to buy things we really needed, when things were altogether less consumption driven.
Be in no doubt: within a few years we will see the amateur radio market flooded with quality products made in China with low prices. At this point, the traditional Japanese brands will die out or be made in China. By the next solar minimum in around 4-5 years time the dynamics of the commercial amateur radio market will be very different. The writing is already on the wall.
Up to now most Chinese amateur products have lacked the finesse of Japanese products but this is rapidly changing. We are fast approaching the time when Chinese made amateur products will be every bit as good as Japanese products, but at very much lower prices.
In the end competition is healthy but this is likely to result in the death nell for all manufacturers not in China. We could well see the death of Ten Tec and Elecraft unless they design in the USA and make in China. The volumes of loyal customers who would be willing to pay USA manufacturing prices would be far too low, sadly.
Of course, we have already seen this with most consumer products and white goods. In the end, China will become too expensive and we will look for slave labour rates elsewhere. Sadly we live in a very odd world. This cannot go on for ever, but we are all complicit. At the moment we are exporting most of our manufacture to China.
Life was, in a way, so much easier when things were made to last, they were made in the UK, we saved up to buy things we really needed, when things were altogether less consumption driven.
10m WSPR - no USA again today?
It looks like a today will be another day with absolutely no 10m WSPR spots from the USA. As previously when the 10m propagation was "poor" I still seem to be copied (using my 500mW WSPR beacon) by active stations who are a single F2 hop away. It seems the E-W path to the USA suffers when propagation is poor.
UPDATE 1944z: No USA spots all day. Will go QRT on 10m WSPR soon.
UPDATE 1944z: No USA spots all day. Will go QRT on 10m WSPR soon.
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