Quiet on 10m WSPR today

Apart from a spot by CT1JTQ (1843km) at 0850z and HA9AL (1455km) at 1208z it has been very quiet on 10m WSPR today.

Pye Telecom PF8 - NOT amateur radio

Some years ago I was professionally involved in the design of this innovative transceiver. I am sure I mentioned this on the blog not too long ago.

Some people managed to find rare examples on the secondhand market and converted them to 70cms use. They are hard to find as not that many were made.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/pf8 .

CCS - NOT amateur radio

One of my activities is running the website for the choir my wife sings in. They perform a major choral work with professional soloists and a professional orchestra usually in the spring in the Cambridge area. Sometimes it is in Kings College Chapel, sometimes elsewhere.

See https://sites.google.com/site/cambschoral/ .

Sunspots and 10m - Wed June 10th 2015

Sunspot number is 110 today (K=3) and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair" again. Spotted by 10m Es in Portugal early this morning, but otherwise no-one else spotting the 500mW 10m WSPR beacon.

On 6m, again lots of GDX, but no Es as yet seen.

Found it! Ferrite Rod

For the first time in nearly two years (because of my brain bleed) I managed to get into our loft space today. Quite by chance I came across the small ferrite rod that I used for my MF ATU/loading coil and ferrite TX antenna experiments. It means next autumn I can use a far smaller loading coil on 472kHz. I'd looked everywhere for this without success. Clearly I did not find it in my shack as my XYL had put it in the loft whilst I was in hospital for so long!

Lundy - NOT amateur radio

http://www.holidayhomehunter.co.uk/jpg/lundy_island.jpg

Maybe we all have a "special" island that we identify with. There is something about islands that make them special. Lundy is special to me, although I only visited once in 1961.  It is off the north coast of Devon, but it has been fiercely independent in the past. These days it is owned by the Landmark Trust and managed by the National Trust. There are a number of homes for hire for a few days or a week.  Demand is high. You may also camp on Lundy.

Occasionally radio amateurs mount IOTA activations from the island, but most visit it for a few hours on a day trip or for a few days to enjoy the peace, quiet and birds. There are no cars on Lundy.  There is a wintertime helicopter service from near Hartland Point in North Devon.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lundy .

VK3YE homebrew 7MHz SSB transceiver

Steve G1KQH (font, or is it fount (?) of all knowledge) sent me this link of the homebrew 7MHz SSB transceiver by VK3YE:

New Homebrew 7MHz QRP rig from VK3YE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMSL5KH42m4&feature=em-subs_digest

6m Es - report from Sweden

6m WSPR came to life at 0940z with a spot of my 1W ERP signal by SM67464 (999km). I am hopeful of more 6m Es spots later.
UPDATE 1110z:  I see I spotted  DK1KW (914km) on 6m WSPR at 1054z. Things seem to be livening up on 6m Es at last. Not before time too.

UPDATE 1230z:  Good to spot an old work colleague on 6m WSPR - G3WKW (134km) at 1152z. We have exchanged spots before on WSPR, even on 2m, usually with the help of aircraft.

UPDATE 1314z:  Yet again 4X1RF (3519km) has spotted my 6m 1W ERP WSPR at a decent -17dB S/N.  This is a LONG way for Es. This is far from unique on 6m as he spotted me a few weeks ago and he spotted me last summer too. Is this really multi-hop Es?

UPDATE 1840z:  Just the single "real DX" 6m WSPR spot today at 1308z by 4X1RF (3519km). I know he has spotted others too, probably with more ERP in his direction than me! Since then, and all day in fact, plenty of GDX spots of others and of me, in my case, out to 103km. Es was there on the band, but it was not plentiful.

UPDATE 2144z:  I have now gone QRT on 6m and 10m WSPR, but will be on again at breakfast time on both bands. I am convinced that the 6m spots by 4X1RF are not multi-hop Es. Looking at his logs, there are no spots of stations at intermediate"hops" at the right times. This may be Es, but I do not agree with the multi-hop hypothesis. Maybe there is some kind of chordal hop Es?

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday June 9th 2015

Sunspot count is 122 (K=3) and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair" again.  I have no idea what this will mean. So far this morning, apart from spots by local G4IKZ (18km) there have been spots from Italy and Germany by Es.  No F2 DX seen here on 10m yet.

UPDATE 1255z:  Lots of Es on 10m WSPR today, with my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon spotted all across Europe from Norway to Italy.

70cm UKAC is today, not yesterday!

Confession time.

Last night I checked my 5el 70cm beam would turn OK and I plugged in the antenna to the rig and tuned around the SSB part of 70cm. NOTHING heard at all. Very odd, as I was at least expecting to hear some of the locals. Then the penny dropped. It was a Monday evening and the UKAC sessions are on Tuesdays! For some reason I had it in my head that yesterday was Tuesday. Nor only that, but I was 35 minutes late for our regular Monday evening net on 144.575MHz. By the time I appeared all had gone.

All being well I shall be on the 70cm UKAC session tonight, Tuesday. Yes, double check, today is Tuesday, June 9th 2015.

Some times I feel such a fool.....

UPDATE 2200z:  In the end on the right night, I entered the 70cm June leg of the RSGB UKAC contest. In all 5 stations (only) worked.  Although I heard GW, I was unable to raise him.

70cm UKAC June 9th - stations worked tonight with 5W/5el