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| 472kHz WSPR - unique spots in last 24 hours (5mW ERP) |
4 Apr 2015
472kHz update
Results on 472kHz WSPR (5mW ERP from earth-electrodes) is disappointing with no new reporters recently. Still getting some useful distances (607km) but it would be nice to be spotted by a few new reporters, rather than the same old folks! Soon be time to QSY to a new band. 6m was disappointing in the last Es season, but is perhaps the easiest to try and I could use my V2000 vertical.
Low sunspot number
Sunspot number today is 29 (K=2) and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair". Plenty of 10m WSPR spots from EA8BVP (2986km), a scatter from G4CUI (172km) and local G4KPX (14km), but no real 10m DX as yet.
UPDATE 1304z: Still no real DX on 10m today .
UPDATE 1304z: Still no real DX on 10m today .
3 Apr 2015
10m USA WSPR spots - plenty today
10m WSPR was in good shape today despite the relatively low sunspot number. First to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon in the USA was WN2FMM (7008km) at 1406z. Since then, plenty of other USA stations have been spotting me.
Despite the low sunspot number, it has been a good day on the band, despite the "fair" 10m forecast. This has been the case many times: often I get reports from the other side of the planet when I was expecting very little. My 10m antenna is far from optimised too.
UPDATE 1705z: The 10m USA opening is still in full swing.
UPDATE 1732z: I see that PY3OL (10412km) is spotting my 500mW again on 10m WSPR. 6 continents today on 10m is not at all bad.
UPDATE 2012z: USA 10m opening still going on. W3GXT (5840km) is the last USA station to spot me, but there still could be others.
Despite the low sunspot number, it has been a good day on the band, despite the "fair" 10m forecast. This has been the case many times: often I get reports from the other side of the planet when I was expecting very little. My 10m antenna is far from optimised too.
UPDATE 1705z: The 10m USA opening is still in full swing.
UPDATE 1732z: I see that PY3OL (10412km) is spotting my 500mW again on 10m WSPR. 6 continents today on 10m is not at all bad.
UPDATE 2012z: USA 10m opening still going on. W3GXT (5840km) is the last USA station to spot me, but there still could be others.
OFCOM again
Please don't misunderstand my views on OFCOM here in the UK. Generally, they have been supportive of the amateur community and I am grateful for this.
However, I am very critical that they seem loath to make real decisions about anything hard. Perhaps this is because they need real teeth and less government fiddling in the wings? I believe they need to be fully independent of government interference and be able to make common sense decisions without excuses. All the time they seem to hide behind the law as a safe-guard from doing anything very hard.
I have been critical of the FCC many times but in several ways they take a more pragmatic approach to spectrum management. All the time OFCOM employees seem to fear taking any hard decisions in case they break the law. Perhaps we need to employ people who actually understand radio and spectrum issues. Oh sorry, I forgot, these are a dying breed. We only have "yes boys" left.
However, I am very critical that they seem loath to make real decisions about anything hard. Perhaps this is because they need real teeth and less government fiddling in the wings? I believe they need to be fully independent of government interference and be able to make common sense decisions without excuses. All the time they seem to hide behind the law as a safe-guard from doing anything very hard.
I have been critical of the FCC many times but in several ways they take a more pragmatic approach to spectrum management. All the time OFCOM employees seem to fear taking any hard decisions in case they break the law. Perhaps we need to employ people who actually understand radio and spectrum issues. Oh sorry, I forgot, these are a dying breed. We only have "yes boys" left.
King's Cambridge - NOT amateur radio
See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .
King's College Chapel is probably the most famous building in Cambridge and it is known the world over. Yesterday my wife and I went there for a lunchtime concert (which was great) and I have updated the churches blog. The BBC had their Outside Broadcast van parked outside, probably for another concert over Easter.
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| A punt outside King's |
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| King's College Chapel from the River Cam |
Sunspots and 10m - Friday April 3rd 2015
Sunspot number today has fallen to 31 and 10m propagation is expected to remain "fair".
So far this morning it has been good on 10m with my little 500mW WSPR beacon being spotted all over the place with best DX being VK6POP (14465km). Based on results this morning I'd expect the 10m band to open to the USA, but being 10m who knows?
So far this morning it has been good on 10m with my little 500mW WSPR beacon being spotted all over the place with best DX being VK6POP (14465km). Based on results this morning I'd expect the 10m band to open to the USA, but being 10m who knows?
40MHz amateur band?
Well, I had a letter today from an amateur in South Africa who I hear have been allocated a small band at 40MHz. There are already a couple of EU beacons around 40MHz (OZ and G).
It would be so good if OFCOM here in the UK saw the real value in even a very small, shared band around 40MHz. Instead, we get given chunks (1MHz at 2m and 1MHz at 4m) which will hardly get touched by most. Surely a small 100kHz shared band at 40MHz that would really be of value to radio science has merit?
Of course, allocating ad interim chunks of unused spectrum to the amateur service is a "no-brainer" for dear old OFCOM. Fine doing this, but there would have been far better options, but these would have needed brain engagement, so out of the question? I hope that the RSGB and OFCOM talk some more and add new bits of spectrum soon.
It would be so good if OFCOM here in the UK saw the real value in even a very small, shared band around 40MHz. Instead, we get given chunks (1MHz at 2m and 1MHz at 4m) which will hardly get touched by most. Surely a small 100kHz shared band at 40MHz that would really be of value to radio science has merit?
Of course, allocating ad interim chunks of unused spectrum to the amateur service is a "no-brainer" for dear old OFCOM. Fine doing this, but there would have been far better options, but these would have needed brain engagement, so out of the question? I hope that the RSGB and OFCOM talk some more and add new bits of spectrum soon.
2 Apr 2015
Sunspots and 10m - Thursday April 2nd 2015
Sunspot number is 69 today (K=3 so a bit more disturbed than yesterday) and 10m propagation yet again "fair".
So far today just local G4IKZ (18km) and EA8BVP (2986km) spotting me and not a single spot of my 500mW WSPR beacon on 10m from the USA. If there is to be a marginal opening later, I would expect this around teatime here i.e. soon.
I have been getting reports from G4IKZ that my WSPR dT (timing) is way out (3 seconds). I seem to have no issue getting lots of spots usually, but I wonder what errors in dT others might be seeing? My usual set-up is a stand-alone 10m 500mW WSPR-AXE-CW beacon which I manually reset to internet time after breakfast every day. I do this spot on an even minute but I could adjust this (earlier or later) if this resulted in a better dT error. Please let me know if you also see large errors as reported by G4KIZ. On 472kHz I use a PC/FT817/transverter. The PC is reset to internet time every 5 minutes using atomic.exe software.
UPDATE 1940z: Well, at the moment it looks like there will be no 10m WSPR spots of me from the USA today. It is still possible that the could be a very short opening, but this is now improbable.
UPDATE 2055z: No USA stations spotting me at all. A dire day on 10m WSPR. These were the unique stations in the last 24 hours. The USA stations shown here were yesterday.
So far today just local G4IKZ (18km) and EA8BVP (2986km) spotting me and not a single spot of my 500mW WSPR beacon on 10m from the USA. If there is to be a marginal opening later, I would expect this around teatime here i.e. soon.
I have been getting reports from G4IKZ that my WSPR dT (timing) is way out (3 seconds). I seem to have no issue getting lots of spots usually, but I wonder what errors in dT others might be seeing? My usual set-up is a stand-alone 10m 500mW WSPR-AXE-CW beacon which I manually reset to internet time after breakfast every day. I do this spot on an even minute but I could adjust this (earlier or later) if this resulted in a better dT error. Please let me know if you also see large errors as reported by G4KIZ. On 472kHz I use a PC/FT817/transverter. The PC is reset to internet time every 5 minutes using atomic.exe software.
UPDATE 1940z: Well, at the moment it looks like there will be no 10m WSPR spots of me from the USA today. It is still possible that the could be a very short opening, but this is now improbable.
UPDATE 2055z: No USA stations spotting me at all. A dire day on 10m WSPR. These were the unique stations in the last 24 hours. The USA stations shown here were yesterday.
Four Metre Band and OFCOM rubbish decisions?
There was an announcement on the RSGB and OFCOM sites advising some UK full licence holders that 70.5 to 71.5MHz is being made available for one year by special permission for further digital experiments, a bit like 146-147MHz here in the UK.
Sorry, but has OFCOM gone stark raving mad???
I can see no good justification for this 1MHz of spectrum. 2m was already under-used and the 146-147MHz allocation is probably being used by a tiny handful of people from time to time only. DATV tests could quite as easily happen at 70cms.
I can think of far better parts of the spectrum OFCOM could have allocated e.g 100kHz around 40MHz (for Es propagation experiments), 73kHz, below 8.3kHz and a contiguous 5MHz allocation. Oh no, these require a brain to be engaged by OFCOM people.
Maybe this is an April fool's wind-up, although I suspect it is true.
Surely if OFCOM wants to further real experimentation in radio science there are better ways of going about it? Yet again, I am totally unimpressed. Between OFCOM and the RSGB, I think this is, yet again, a stupid stupid decision. So we now have 2MHz of extra spectrum for 12 months that a very few might use. Big deal. OFCOM, engage brains, think radio science. If you want to help grow future engineers that we so badly need, these allocations will not help at all. Think again!
See http://www.rsgb.org/ .
See http://www.70mhz.org/ .
Sorry, but has OFCOM gone stark raving mad???
I can see no good justification for this 1MHz of spectrum. 2m was already under-used and the 146-147MHz allocation is probably being used by a tiny handful of people from time to time only. DATV tests could quite as easily happen at 70cms.
I can think of far better parts of the spectrum OFCOM could have allocated e.g 100kHz around 40MHz (for Es propagation experiments), 73kHz, below 8.3kHz and a contiguous 5MHz allocation. Oh no, these require a brain to be engaged by OFCOM people.
Maybe this is an April fool's wind-up, although I suspect it is true.
Surely if OFCOM wants to further real experimentation in radio science there are better ways of going about it? Yet again, I am totally unimpressed. Between OFCOM and the RSGB, I think this is, yet again, a stupid stupid decision. So we now have 2MHz of extra spectrum for 12 months that a very few might use. Big deal. OFCOM, engage brains, think radio science. If you want to help grow future engineers that we so badly need, these allocations will not help at all. Think again!
See http://www.rsgb.org/ .
See http://www.70mhz.org/ .
1 Apr 2015
472kHz WSPR - fewer stations now?
Although I've been on 472kHz WSPR using the earth-electrode "antenna" for some months now, it is some time since I was spotted by a new station. I think the last was EI0CF and that was weeks ago. I am beginning to think the time is coming to "pull the plug" until the autumn. By then I really should try to improve my antenna and my ERP in that band. Maybe as the Es season is fast approaching I should QSY to 50MHz (6m) WSPR.
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