Antenna spotting

When away from home for a few days it is fun to spot signs of amateur activity. On Sunday I noticed an HF beam in the west of the island and today an HF beam and 6m beam on one mast and VHF/UHF antennas on a separate mast. The latter was in St Helier on Jersey.

6m Es - longest single hop?

As I have mentioned before I am extremely puzzled why 4X1RF manages to hear way over 3500km on 6m regularly yet there is no sign of stations at intermediate hops . I wonder what blog readers think is a typical distance for single hop Es at 6m?

Sunspots and 10m - June 16th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen back to 107 with more disturbed conditions (K=3) and 10m propagation is expected to remain "fair".

4X1RF spotting Germans on 6m WSPR

Yet again  4X1RF is spotting VERY long distances on 6m WSPR - this time over 2700km. It may be Es but I have real doubts this is multi-hop.

Who do you believe? - NOT amateur radio

With all wars it is hard to get real facts not propaganda. I am unsure what I believe. The BBC reported that a senior IS leader had been killed. Is this fact or are we being fed propaganda?

Sunspots and 10m - June 15th 2015

Sunspot number remains pretty good at 117 (K=2) and 10m is again expected to remain "fair".

Sunspots and 10m - Sun June 14th 2015

Sunspot number is 129 today (K=1) and 10m is "fair" again.

10m - my best band of all

10m has always been my best band. I have lost count of the DXCC totals with QRP SSB. Chasing countries has never been a real activity of mine, although I still get a "kick" from working a new country.

At sunspot peaks it supports world-wide DX with QRP and simple wire antennas. Even in the quiet solar years there is often some DX to be found and usually late April to September there is sporadic-E (Es) to be found with good signals over ranges up to around 1500km and sometimes further. These are for the northern hemisphere.  There tends to be a smaller Es peak around December/January.  It is the reverse in the southern hemisphere. It is quite normal to hear USA stations by Es in the summertime, but usually openings are not for long.

If 10m is quiet it is worth checking CB frequencies (11m) as a "band open" sign. Often CB can be busy when 10m is quiet due to lack of activity.  Thanks to Steve VE7SL for this good advice.

At night and in the quiet years it is an ideal band for local nets on FM or AM. At 1.7MHz wide it is big band so all modes can be supported.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/10m_op .

Sunspots and 10m - June 13th 2015

Sunspot number has dipped below 100 and currently stands at 96 (K=2). 10m propagation is expected to be "fair". I have disconnected the antennas and PC (6m and 10m) as there is a risk of storms. Pretty sure  I can hear distant thunder. Currently it is drizzling outside.  Es may liven things up on both 10m and 6m.

At the moment, this peak is slow to go and I am pretty sure conditions on the higher HF bands will still be pretty good this autumn and winter. Numbers have dropped a bit on average, but not too far yet.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/ .

Missing the bad storms tonight?

According to the latest BBC weather for our region, we should again miss the thunder and lightning here overnight with the storms tracking east of us and on into the North Sea. I will leave my 10m and 6m beacons running overnight but will probably go QRT at breakfast time.

See http://www.blitzortung.org/Webpages/index.php?lang=en&page_0=12 .