10m WSPR - an excellent day

Well, 10m is full of surprises! Today was an excellent day, with loads of unique 10m USA WSPR stations spotting me. There were actually more reporters as W5OLF spotted me but was reporting the wrong band.

Unique 10m WSPR spots of my 500mW WSPR-AXE-CW beacon today

USA already today on 10m WSPR

KK4LNS (6724km) was spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR as early as 1256z today. I assume this is F2 but it could be a mix of F2, F2 backscatter and Es. He has copied me 3 times already and it is only 1310z. Reports are not too bad either at up to -20dB S/N.

UPDATE 1330z:   Several other USA stations now spotting my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon.  This is early and it was unexpected.

Unique 10m WSPR spots today

UPDATE 1335z:   Still no spots at all today on 6m WSPR.

Spanning the Atlantic on 160m - with 10mW!

K3KQV has been copied in France when running just 10mW on Top Band WSPR. OK signals were weak at -29dB S/N, but he made it. Distance was 6214km to F59706 in the early morning.  Not sure of their antennas. I'd be pleased with this on 10m, let alone on Top Band! Here, the main RX limitation is man-made noise. F59706 must have a quiet RX set up or a quiet rural location.

Yet again it shows how good WSPR can be.

Definite Es on 10m WSPR

Withe the reception of OK2RO (1282km) several times so far today, I can be pretty confident we are now in the 10m European Es season. Several spots in the last few days might have been Es, but I was not totally sure. It means we can be pretty confident of Es most days until September. Just occasionally this may give us paths further afield than Europe, but these will be much rarer.

So far, no Es yet seen on 6m WSPR.

UPDATE 1233z:  With the weekend and better 10m prospects I see there are more people active on 10m WSPR today.  Last time I looked there were 70 users on 10m WSPR according to WSPRnet.  By contrast there are only 19 WSPR users worldwide on 6m WSPR.

PCs at bargain prices

Steve G1KQH has done it yet again! This time he has found some bargain price PCs.

I think we should get one for a spare Roger, £169 after cash back..

http://www.ebuyer.com/669147-hp-255-g3-quad-core-laptop-k7h92es-abu

 

73 Steve
http://www.g1kqh.talktalk.net/

Good start on 10m today

As well as locals G4IKZ and G4KPX, I see that my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon was being spotted by EA8BVP (2986km) yet again, and by SA5, SM and CT1 stations today. This is probably F2 propagation, and some Es I guess.

UPDATE 1005z:  No Es on 6m, so far.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat April 25th 2015

Sunspot number has dropped back to 79 (K=0) and 10m propagation is expected to remain "fair".

UPDATE 0630z:  I notice that KZ8C also spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon last evening. So there were actually 2 USA 10m WSPR stations who spotted me, not 1 as I had previously thought.

10m USA WSPR spots - horrah!

K9AN (6505km) was the first 10m USA station to spot my 500mW WSPR beacon today at 1504z.  I guess the undisturbed conditions today really helped.
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UPDATE 1850z:    Certainly up to now, the 2 spots this afternoon by K9AN appear to be "it", with no further USA spots since then.

UPDATE 1906z:   EA8BVP (2986km) has spotted me several times again today.

UPDATE 2030z:   Late opening to Italy suggests Es.

UPDATE 2120z:    As late as 2116z K9AN (6505km) was still spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon. K9AN must have a very good station (low angle antenna?) but I am surprised only K9AN was copying me in the USA. I would have expected other spots from other USA stations once the band opened. I shall leave the gear running to see how late this opening lasts.

UPDATE 2204z:  Tbe last USA spot seems to have been by K9AN about 30 minutes ago. Only the one USA station spotting me lots of times - odd.

East Anglian Churches blog updated - NOT amateur radio

Today we visited Sutton, near Ely and I have updated the East Anglian Churches Blog.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

6m WSPR and aircraft

M0YOU (116km) has been spotted on 6m again this morning. He has also spotted me. On his signals are very clear signs of aircraft reflections with multiple traces visible. I think much of the GDX I am seeing on 10m upwards is due to aircraft. This mode seems good for at least 200km, but is transitory. Sometimes a badly Doppler shifted signal can be very strong but not decode. There are software programs to predict when aircraft will help. Many microwave DXers use such software.