10m USA spots today

In summary, at least until now at 2030z, there have been no spots at all of my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon in the USA.  Yet again EA8BVP has been spotting me all day, in all 88 times today.

It looks like we can definitely not count on those daily 10m openings to the USA.  Yesterday the 10m band opened quite well, but not today.

UPDATE 2120z:  No sign of USA spots today. Now going QRT on 10m until the morning, but will remain on 6m overnight and check everything is synced to internet time.

6m overnight and first thing this morning.

No DX stations, but 3 different G stations spotting me G6AVK, G4FGJ and G8XWR last night and today. I am sticking on 6m now as the Es season approaches. I expect to spot some DX (outside G) soon.

Sunspots and 10m - April 9th 2015

Sunspot number is much the same at 40 (K=3) and 10m propagation remains "poor".  I left 10m on TX overnight and G4CUI (172km), in IO93fi, copied my 500mW beacon several times.  Drift was low, so this was probably pure tropo rather than aircraft reflections, although it could have been both.

UPDATE 1150z:  EA8BVP (2986km) has been consistently spotting me this morning. No Eastern Europeans and no Israel today again. EA1FAQ (1249km) spotted me once at 1118z. As this is quite short I wonder if this was Es?

Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

You may have noticed that I was late updating the blog today. The reason is we have 2 of our 4 grandchildren staying with us (on their own) and they take priority. This afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt in the garden. Lovely, but tiring!

6m - not a bad day again

I was again active on 6m WSPR running 1W ERP from a V2000 vertical. No European or further DX, but some decent GDX again (126 and 150km). I am definitely have more luck than when I last came on the band.

6m WSPR spots today (to 2036z)

Even lower cost Pixie kits!

Steve, G1KQH has pointed me to a link with 40m Pixie kits at incredible prices. At these prices there is no way the parts could be bought for less than the kit. The version I bought for $10 looks identical. All you need is a morse key, battery 40m antenna and walkman type headphones and you have a credible 40m CW transceiver. It really works.

Yoohoo Roger,

Now I back in front of the Pixie bargain game hunt, after finding the the best price!!!
http://www.banggood.com/DIY-Radio-40M-CW-Shortwave-Transmitter-Kit-Receiver-7_023-7_026MHz-p-973111.html
£2.89!!!!!!!
and if you buy more than 2 it gets cheaper!!

Not forgetting this includes free shipping. Unbelievable.

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.