10m USA spots

On a day with 10m propagation was expected to be "poor" I was surprised to see my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon spotted in the USA as early as 1208z by K8AJX (6996km). In all honestly, I was not expecting 10m to open to the states today at all. As I said before, 10m is a band of surprises.

UPDATE 2004z:  So far today, 9 different USA stations spotting me on 10m WSPR.  Not bad for a day with "poor" 10m propagation forecast.

UPDATE 2034z:  The opening on 10m to the USA is still going on. This is a long opening already, and could continue for a while yet..

UPDATE 2114z:   Nothing since 2034z, so perhaps the USA opening has ended now?  Will leave 10m and 6m running overnight and will check internet time sync shortly.   Biggest danger is the PC (used for 6m only) turns off in the middle of the night to do updates. 10m is not effected as this is "stand-alone".  EA8BVP (2986km) has been spotting me lots of times during the day: 82 times since 0916z.

UPDATE 2126z:    When 10m dies on a given path (like to the USA) it just dies - it is like a plug has been pulled or a switch just turned off. I am sure if I was running 5w or 25W it would make very little difference. 500mW seems to be perfectly fine. I must say I have been very happy with my little WSPR-AXE-CW beacon, from W5OLF, which has served me well.

Sunspots and 10m - April 8th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen back to 39 today and 10m propagation is expected to be "poor". 10m is full of surprises (see next post!).

10m WSPR - USA surprises

In all honesty I was not expecting the 10m band to open to the USA today as the forecast was for "poor" 10m conditions and this morning was very low key.

As always, this band sprung a surprise when it actually opened to the USA early at 1330z with W1VR (6965km) spotting my 500mW WSPR beacon. Since then, several others in the USA have been spotting me.  EA8BVP (2986km) has been spotting me all day on 10m WSPR, yet again.

UPDATE 1830z:   6 unique USA WSPR stations spotting me so far today.

UPDATE 2017z:   At the moment WD4ELG (6287km) was the last USA station to spot me at 1726z.

UPDATE 2112z:   No further USA 10m spots so going QRT now.

6m - a quiet start this morning

So far just one spot of my 1W ERP signal today from G4FGJ (44km) at 0936z at -11dB S/N (strong).

UPDATE 1750z:  Spots have been exchanged with G4FGJ (44km) several times during the day, but no further DX.

Sunspots and 10m propagation - Tuesday April 7th 2015

Sunspot number has risen to 73 but 10m propagation is expected to be "poor". So far, it is quiet on 10m with just a spot from 4X4TAU (3464km) at 0700z. Otherwise nothing.

6m - quite a good start

Although I spotted, and was spotted, by no European or greater distance DX, I exchanged WSPR spots on 6m with quite a number of G stations. In all, quite a good start back on the 6m band. I am looking forward to the Es season, but happy with the results today. I am using an FT817 on 2.5W setting into a lossy (RG58) feeder to a V2000 vertical. ERP is about 1W.  I really should replace the feeder with lower loss cable.

I am still unsure about Doppler on 6m. Most stations seem to have more drift than I would expect. This could be (a) the other station settling, (b) my station settling, although I've been on all day, and (c) Doppler as a result of reflection from planes. I suspect all 3 are playing a part.

6m WSPR today - 1W ERP, V2000 vertical antenna

40MHz (8m band) allocation?

A few days ago I mentioned that South Africa has allocated a small amateur allocation for propagation studies around 40MHz. Their band is only 10kHz wide.

When I raised this on the RSGB's Yahoo technical group I was (politely) told to go elsewhere as it was "not technical". 

Although I begged to disagree, OK. Discussion closed.

10m USA spots

As of yet, not a single USA spot of my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon. The time is currently 1628z. It is still possible USA spots will occur later, but so far just EA8BVP (2986km) spotting me multiple times on 10m WSPR.  I was expecting to be spotted in the USA on 10m before now.

UPDATE 1840z:  Still no 10m USA spots today. Is that it?

UPDATE 1950z:   No sign of any stations in the USA spotting me. I think this will be another "no show" day. EA8BVP (2986km) has again been spotting me most of the day as well as a few G stations.

UPDATE 2010z:  Will be going QRT on 10m quite soon now, but will stay on 6m overnight.

UPDATE 2100z:   Now QRT on 10m WSPR.

6m luck?

Since my spot of G8XWR (150km) on 6m early this morning I have spotted absolutely nothing and no-one has spotted my 1W ERP from my V2000 vertical.  I suspect this will be typical of 6m in the months ahead? I think VK3OER's super-DX spots on 6m may have been errors: I think he was reporting the wrong band? Certainly I have seen no evidence of real DX on the band today. I think there genuinely was some TEP between JA and VK earlier.   I shall stick with 6m though as this band often brings real surprises. That is why they call 6m "the magic band".

Last Es season my results on 6m WSPR were disappointing, but I am hopeful a few more users will try WSPR.  CN8 (Morocco) was regular, but I got no super-DX spots and did not spot any super-DX myself. I know there were some days when European JT65 users were working some real DX on 6m well outside of Europe by multi-hop Es. I know of one W who spotted CN8 on 6m WSPR.

We need lots of 6m WSPR from far flung corners this coming Es season! We also need far more W's and VE's to catch those transatlantic openings on 6m.

UPDATE 1325z:  G8XWR (150km) spotted me at a decent -17dB S/N at 1234z. Otherwise nothing.

UPDATE 1636z:  No further 6m spots given or received.

Sunspots and 10m - April 6th 2015

Sunspot number is much the same as yesterday at 66. K index is 3. 10m propagation is forecast to be "fair". Conditions on 10m should be similar to yesterday, but this is 10m!

Already I have had a couple of spost of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon from Israel, which is promising.

UPDATE 1158z:  10m spots of my 500mW WSPR beacon from Israel and Canary Islands this morning. Average conditions.