6m WSPR analysis by PA1B

Bert PA1B has done some analysis of my recent aircraft scatter WSPR spots on 6m.

As is usually the case, clicking the image will bring up a larger chart.

PA1B's analysis on my 6m WSPR spots

Hello Roger,
At the moment I am very busy with all sort of things.
I am making a new website in Wordpress, which is taking a lot of time.
We did some house improvement, for about two more weeks.
And today we went to the opening of the outdoor swimming pool with my grand children.
(great fun)
This evening I took some time to make an analysis of a number of spots on 6 meter.
I took the most interesting spots for airplane scatter.
I hope you like it and can place it in your blog.
I left in M0EMM to show the difference. hi
Positive drift means the path is becoming shorter.
It's my pleasure.

73, Bert PA1B

Hello Roger,

The spots of M0MVB shows spots where the path is becoming shorter (+3Hz per minute)
and spots where the path is becoming longer.   (-2 Hz per minute)

I just saw that the spots of M0YOU with scatter, are much stronger than the spot without scatter.  The lower the lowest possible power, the stronger the signal.  A lowest possible power of 1 mW is 17 dB stronger than 50 mW. hi.

I left in the spots of M0EMM, to show that there is no Doppler andthe signals are not that strong.

Good luck in further analysis,

73, Bert PA1B

Windmill - NOT amateur radio

We live right next door to this 200 year old windmill that has recently been fully restored. This photo was taken just after the rain. It has 4 sails although you cannot tell in this view.

At the moment, the sails are facing in the direction of our bungalow, although they change direction quite often with the wind. The sails have flaps that can be closed or open. The sails usually go around (flaps closed) on Thursdays and Sundays when the museum is open.

10m WSPR - USA yet again today!

So far just a single (very early) spot from the USA today: K9AN (6505km) at 1140z . No other 10m WSPR spots from the USA today.  Signal report was weak at -26dB S/N.

I just wonder if this was F2 or multi-hop Es?  I guess it could even have been F2 backscatter? Anyway, yet another day, quite late in the season, when a USA station has spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon. Will there be others later I wonder?

UPDATE 1735z:   At the moment, it looks like th(e single spot by K9AN this morning was a "one off".  Things could get better later?

UPDATE 1804z:    WB2TQE (7097km) has been spotting me a few times recently.

UPDATE 2004z:    The last USA spot was WB2TQE at 1828z. I am wondering if that is it for the USA  today (2 unique stations) or whether there will be surprises later.

Shack tidy-up: exhausted!

This afternoon I attempted to do, what in the past, would have been totally trivial: tidy up my shack a bit. After trying to sort just a couple of boxes I was totally exhausted. This is still an after-effect of my cerebellum brain bleed in September 2013.  Although, on the whole, I get less tired than I did, I still find that almost any burst of physical or mental activity leaves me exhausted.  I just have to relax, then I feel better. About 10-15 minutes and I am "done in". Oddly just walking or driving don't have the same effect. I have been able to walk about a mile OK for a year or more.

More aircraft reflections on 6m WSPR

M0YOU (116km) has been spotted again on 6m WSPR at a strong -9dB S/N. What is interesting is that all his recent signals have shown multiple reflections off planes (up to 5 at one time in the 2 minute TX window) but, so far, just one successful decode. Clearly these planes need to be flying in the right direction for a successful WSPR decode to take place. The reflected signals are strong but the WSPR TX burst is too long. A shorter TX burst would be better for this propagation mode.

M0YOU - catching reflections off planes in the Heathrow stack?

I suppose the Doppler would be less of an issue on 10m but far more of an issue on 2m. G3WKW (134km) and I managed to exchange 2-way WSPR on 2m last year, but it took a whole day to catch that right moment as I recall. Also as you go higher in frequency, rig drift becomes far more of an issue, so it can be more difficult again. For 70cms WSPR this becomes super-critical and an external reference frequency is all but essential so that you can know your frequency precisely.

G4FGJ (44km) has spotted me this afternoon but I think this was plain simple tropo as no Doppler was apparent. He was very strong with me at -2dB S/N.

6m WSPR

G3WKW (134km) was spotted yesterday on 6m WSPR.  I am pretty sure I can only get a path to Bob via aircraft reflections and I think it was aircraft approaching London Heathrow. Although I copied Bob's 5W I did not get spotted by him, although I am using a lower ERP and my signal was probably in the noise at his end, if indeed he was listening/looking.  Bob's 5W was around -24dB S/N with low Doppler. Of course, with aircraft, the WSPR software may not have decoded a stronger signal with more Doppler or more multi-path. It is not uncommon to see reflections from many aircraft in a single WSPR burst. Often decodes are impossible unless aircraft flight patterns result in low Doppler.

In this regard, WSPR may not be the best mode. Also WSPR TX bursts are nearly 2 minutes long and this is a long time with passing planes. Other digital modes with shorter TX bursts are probably better. In this regard, passing planes are more like MS bursts so modes well suited to MS would be better.

Sunspots and 10m - Wed April 29th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen yet again to just 36 (K=0) and 10m daytime propagation is expected to be "poor".  With quiet conditions, I am not ruling out a late, short USA 10m opening. Yesterday 10m did open to the USA but only a single station spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon and that was late in the evening.

UPDATE 1038z:   On 10m WSPR EA8BVP (2986km) was spotting me early again and IZ6QZB (1475km) has spotted me once.  I think this is a mix of single hop F2 (EA8) and Es (IZ6).

USA on 10m WSPR after all

Well I'll be damned! AC2EG (5610km) has spotted me several times on 10m WSPR in the last half an hour.   So, despite my dire expectations, 10m WSPR has opened to the USA for the fourth day running! This despite forecasts for 10m being "poor" today. Amazing.

6m WSPR - spots by G3ZJO

So far this afternoon, G3ZJO (79km) has spotted me lots of times on 6m WSPR this afternoon. No great DX but this looks like pure tropo. So far, I have not seen any Es on 6m.

No USA (yet) on 10m but some good N-S DX

As yet (1525z) no sign of spots from the USA but FR1GZ (9724km) has spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR several times this afternoon. If this is another "poor" day, then I am happy.

UPDATE 1934z:  Still no sign of any USA 10m WSPR spots of my 500mW WSPR beacon today. Plenty of spots from EA8BVP and FR1GZ but absolutely nothing from the USA. I think we were lucky having propagation across the North Atlantic for the last 3 days. I guess the band could still open to the USA but  this is pretty unlikely now.