10m and 6m Es and F2

EA8BVP (2986km) was spotting me a few times (presumably single hop F2) and there was also some Es around mid afternoon, on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1656z:  I see that DL1KAI (645km) was spotted on 6m WSPR about 30 minutes ago via Es. Otherwise just Gs on 6m WSPR.

UPDATE 1935z:  WSPR spots exchanged with OH7AZL (2000km) on 6m about a hour ago.

UPDATE 2000z:  Spotted by OH3LMN (1747km) a few minutes ago on 6m WSPR at a decent -17dB S/N.  Sadly no activity from Japan.

UPDATE 2140z:  EA8BVP (2986km) has spotted my 500mW 64 times already today on 10m WSPR.

DXing with crystal sets

Yes, it is possible to hear a long way on a crystal set. The equipment needed can be extremely simple too.  What is needed are a good pair of ears and sensitive headphones.   My ears are getting old and if I can hear this DX then younger ears certainly can. I have found a low cost very high impedance crystal earpiece worked well. You may have better headphones?

Copying amateurs, most of whom use SSB, is more difficult. Remember, a simple crystal set is only able to envelope detect, although in the USA 75m AM signals are regularly copied at great range. Some SSB signals on 10m Es should be strong enough to envelope detect. Based on my tests, if stronger than 500uV to 1mV the signals should be copyable. Quite a few signals can be this strong.

See  https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/crystalset .

Sunspots and 10m - June 12th 2015

Sunspot number has dropped marginally to 101 (K=1) and 10m propagation is again expected to be "fair". The main hope on 10m is some Es to liven things up a bit.

UPDATE 1007z:  So far just G spots on 10m WSPR.

6m magic

Until I went QRT last evening (thunderstorm risk) most spots were G stations.

Then, out of the blue, at 2120z last night a spot from 4X1RF (3519km) in Israel of my 1W ERP 6m WSPR signal. No Es around indicating multi-hop Es. In fact I am convinced this is not multi-hop Es. He has now spotted me on 3 different days this summer and many times last summer on 6m WSPR. No, if this is Es then it is some other mechanism. These spots occur often and there is no evidence of Es at closer (intermediate) range.

Lightning?

The weather forecast is for thunder and lightning moving up from France during tomorrow. This will mean disconnecting the 10m and 6m rigs. I'll do that in a minute.

G&S - NOT amateur radio

Nearly every year we go to a summer theatre held in a barn in a nearby village. They always do a Gilbert and Sullivan production. This year it was "The Gondoliers". As usual, for a totally amateur group, it was excellent. This has become part of our June landscape now. The Gondoliers was first produced in 1889.

Cranial osteopathy - stroke update

In Cambridge I had my second session today and almost fell asleep!

 

The osteopath is convinced that many of my issues are due to stress (my body has taken quite a beating these last 2 years) and she is teaching my body to relax. I have 3 more sessions booked, maybe more later. The next one is in 2 weeks time.  The session today was all massage and very relaxing. She massaged my head and body.  

 

Some would call cranial osteopathy a "snake oil" treatment. I remain open minded but I shall definitely continue as long as I think it is helping me.

Mizuho QRP SSB rigs

I don't think this company still exists.

At one time you could buy Mizuho single band SSB handhelds for many bands up to 2m including many HF bands.  I owned the 2m 200mW pep version (MX2) and managed to work some decent SSB DX with mine mostly with a 1/2wave whip on the rig. The main issue was the poor battery life, so I tended to use an external 9.6V battery.

My rig was used in the main with a homebrew 2m-10m transverter and I worked all over the world on 10m with just the tiny Mizuho rig on the desk.

If I remember right I covered the CW and main SSB parts of 10m by having a couple of crystals in the transverter. Somewhere I still have the transverter, although it has not been used for years.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/mx2 .

Good deal on 10m multi-mode rig

From Steve G1KQH (font or fount of all knowledge) comes news of a very good deal from Nevada:

http://www.nevadaradio.co.uk/amateur-radio/transceivers/mobile-transceivers/president-lincoln-ii

 

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

Sunspots and 10m - Thurs June 11th 2015

Sunspot number is virtually unchanged at 105 today (K=3). 10m is expected to be "fair" again, so with just Es to liven up 10m it is likely to be an uneventful day. Likewise, Es could add some interest on 6m as well.

So far no Es spotted here on either band on WSPR.