Canary Is again - EA8BVP

EA8BVP (2986km) has been spotting me yet again on 10m WSPR. I think this is single hop F2, but it could be Es.  There has been a very little 6m WSPR evident today.

Back on 10m and 6m WSPR after the storms

Antennas,rigs and mains power reconnected at 0811z .  Now back operational on 10m and 6m WSPR.

Overnight storms

All rigs and antennas were disconnected last night. This was just as well as there was a nasty storm at about 0115z with thunder, lightning and lots of needed rain.

No storms here - yet

Well the weather is very hot for the UK and temperatures here are around 30 deg C again today. No sign of the promised thunderstorms, which are still a long way away.  According to the map, the nearest are in SE France and S Germany.

See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en.

It certainly feels like we are due a storm. The weather has all the signs, although there are no thunder clouds building yet. Give it a few hours maybe? If feels close and muggy as if the air needs to be cleared. For now, I shall leave rigs and antennas connected to the 10m and 6m WSPR kit, but I shall be watching those maps carefully.

UPDATE 1548z:  At the moment all the storms are missing us.

Morocco again on 6m WSPR

CN8LI (2171km) has spotted my 1W ERP 6m WSPR signal 3 times so far today (at 1438z).  I'd like to be spotted much further, but no luck yet today on 6m. Plenty of Es so far already on 6m WSPR, but it is really some transatlantic or Gulf states DX that would really be nice. I keep active, but no luck as yet.

Sunspots and 10m - Friday July 3rd 2015

Sunspot number has climbed back to 111 today (K=1) with settled conditions. 10m is again expected to remain "poor". We just could see some 10m F2 DX today, just maybe.

Overnight on 10m and 6m WSPR

Overnight I saw no evidence of Es until breakfast time this morning on 6m with station in Finland coming through. The common wisdom is Es but I still wonder if noctilucent clouds are responsible for some of these very northern openings. It requires someone to correlate 6m openings and the presence of these clouds. I  could well be totally wrong.

On 10m WSPR no Es DX  since last evening. Late breakfast time I see Norwegian and German stations are spotting my 500mW WSPR. EA8BVP (2986km) is spotting me this morning, although this could well be single hop F2.

UPDATE 0935z:   Widespread Es now on 10m WSPR.  Also decent Es on 6m WSPR this morning.

England and storms

It looks, for now, as if the worst of the storms have passed but I am continuing to monitor the storm risks. The worst of the storms seem to be over the North Sea. I shall go QRT (again) if the risk looks too high. According to the maps, there is a higher risk of more storms in S.W. England and in the north. Maybe we'll see more storms this way tomorrow?

See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en .

UPDATE 2210z:  10m Es evident until about an hour ago, since when just G4IKZ (18km) on that band. 6m has just been G stations so far.  Maybe I missed 6m Es earlier in the day?  At the moment, all the big thunderstorms seem to be missing the UK, according to this map.

Back home again - so back on 10m and 6m WSPR

With the XYL at a pub near Eyam

For a couple of nights we have been away at a sibling reunion at my brother-in-law's in Lichfield.  So my blogging activity has been very low.This was my longest drive since my brain bleed (about 110 miles each way).

I am now back on 10m and 6m WSPR.

Sunspots and 10m - July 2nd 2015

Sunspot number is 49 (K=1) and 10m propagation is "poor" again.