6m - a good day

Today was the best day on the band this year here with some excellent spots of my 1W ERP.   So far, apart from 4X1RF, no spots yet received from outside Europe. Last Es season I was regularly seeing spots from CN8LI and others in North Africa.

For the first time this year I was copied further away on 6m than on 10m.

Unique 6m WSPR spots (arranged by distance) today.

Magnetic Loops on HF

10m band loop

A magnetic loop can be a very effective HF antenna, especially when the very sharp tuning is not an issue. They can be very efficient but there is a trade between bandwidth and efficiency. They are ideal for modes that do not need frequent retuning such as PSK31, JT65 or WSPR. Ideally the inductor should be made of copper pipe or thick coax and the capacitors need to be low loss and high voltage types. Tuning is usually very sharp. Having said all this. quite decent results have been obtained with loops made of quite thin wire.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/magloop .

6m WSPR - real VHF DX

4X1RF (3519km) has spotted my 1W ERP on 6m VHF WSPR already 6 times this morning by 0914z. This is my best DX so far on 6m this season. Probably Es?  There was plenty of European Es about on 6m WSPR very early, but this just possibly could be single hop F2? It is a long way for Es and 4X1RF often spotted me on 6m last summer. Multi-hop Es is the likely propagation although I am surprised no intermediate range stations were spotted.

6m VHF WSPR spots of my 1W ERP by 4X1RF early today

UPDATE 1148z:  As well as G stations this morning I see I have been spotted on 6m WSPR by OH1KK (1848km) and EA4ETR (1325km) both I assume via Es. Funny how both of these would be "real DX" but are nothing compared with the spots from Israel earlier.

10m conditions

Although still very early, I see my little 500mW 10m WSPR beacon is being spotted all over Europe by Es. It is soon easy to forget these summertime conditions. This autumn and winter I expect 10m F2 conditions will still remain quite good but things on 10m will be tougher later in the solar cycle which is when WSPR will be very useful indeed.

Unique 10m WSPR spots in last 12 hours - lots of Es

UPDATE 1635z:  EA8BVP (2986km) is again spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR (F2?) but no DX spots from further afield, so far today. Plenty of 10m Es about.

Sunspots and 10m - May 15th 2015

Sunspot number has dropped back to 126 (K=2) and 10m propagation expected to be "fair". With fairly undisturbed conditions anything is possible on 10m today especially if we get Es linking with F2 further south.

Elecraft K3S

See  www.elecraft.com .

I see Elecraft has launched a de luxe version of its K3 transceiver. The K3 was already a pretty good rig and the S version will be even better, but sadly far too expensive. I guess Elecraft is right that this will be many times less expensive than similarly spec'd transceivers, but to me this is still far too much for an amateur radio rig. Don't forget that lots of the features cost more - like the mic and 2m!

At half the price maybe, but certainly out of the question here in the UK when shipping, import duty and VAT have to be added. I am able to get lots of fun from our hobby spending just a small fraction of the cost. There will always be people who will pay these prices and buy a tower and a big beam.  Sorry, but this is not for me. I wish Elecraft well but feel they will need to slash prices soon to compete with the Chinese. An alternative is for Elecraft kits to be shipped from China. Sorry, but this may be the only way they will be able to compete in the future.

Plenty of 10m Es today

As well as 6m, 10m WSPR has been alive with Es today. Below are the unique 10m WSPR spots today. No real DX, but plenty from around Europe spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon.

Unique 10m WSPR spots by Es today so far

6m Es - at last a decent Es opening

This lunchtime there was a significant Es opening on 6m WSPR.  Although there have been minor openings before, this was the first decent 6m Es opening I have seen here.  So far, best DX was OH5XO (1943 km). Nothing outside Europe so far.

Unique 6m WSPR spots so far today.

UPDATE 1528z:   Best DX spot on 6m WSPR is now OH7AI at exactly 2000km.

UPDATE 1552z:  6m Es has been present most of the afternoon.

UPDATE 1844z:   HB9 and I stations have also spotted me on 6m WSPR.

E-field probes

A very successful antenna for VLF, LF and MF receive only is an E-field probe. Ideally these should be mounted outside the house with some experiments to find the quietest spot. Size is not important and these are much smaller than many antennas for much higher frequencies.  The picture shows an example EFP. This is the complete antenna - no wires or loops etc are needed in addition. They can be made by just about anyone, so there is nothing stopping you having fun on 136,472 or even VLF RX.   Some people have built these inside a short length of uPVC pipe. The important thing is they are very small and work well on the lower bands.

I have also used EFPs as mag mounts on the car when looking for my signal on 136kHz QRSS3. These are very compact antennas. PA0RDT has created a good design that many people are using.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/efp .

6m PC closed down for updates

The PC I use with the FT817 closed itself down overnight and I have only just restarted it, so 6m WSPR has been off until about 5 minutes ago. It is synced to internet time and the FT817 was still on, so it should soon be reporting any spots.  When the PC closes (usually around 0300z) the WSPR program, and everything else, has to be restarted. This usually happens once a week and I am aware I could choose to install updates manually if I wanted.

UPDATE 1030z:  So far on 6m, just exchanging spots with Eddie G3ZJO (79km).  No sign of 6mWSPR signals via Es today, well not yet.