Sunspots and 10m/6m - Tues July 21st 2015

Sunspot number has drifted lower and is 39 today (K=3). 10m is expected to remain "poor". With lowish sunspot number, somewhat disturbed conditions and summertime, I am not expecting much of 10m, although Es may liven up things a bit on 10m and 6m.

Apparently stations in South America were being worked on 6m at the weekend. There was zero "real DX" on 6m WSPR, probably due to the low level of activity on that mode. This is the last season I shall try WSPR on 6m. I shall either abandon the band (which would be a pity) or chose another mode. For the last two Es seasons I have been on 6m quite a lot with only 4X1RF (3519km), CN8LI (2113km) and EU Es to show for it. For the time spent, results on 6m have been disappointing.

All quiet here on 10m/6m Es

No signs here yet (1038z) today of any Es yet on 6m and 10m WSPR. This can well change, but this is a quieter start to the day than I can remember in some time. Is the main Es season drawing to a close already? Surely not. In 2013 there was plenty of European Es on 6m and 10m SSB right up until I was in hospital which was mid September.

Some life on 6m WSPR, but not much

CN8LI (2113km) and I exchanged WSPR spots earlier on 6m WSPR. At the moment there seems very little Es about on 6m and 10m WSPR.

East Anglian Churches: blog updated - NOT amateur radio

Today we visited Clare church in Suffolk and I have updated the East Anglian Churches blog. It is a light, airy and welcoming church. It was visited by Daniel Defoe who called it a "good church".


See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Sunspots and 10m - Mon July 20th 2015

Sunspot number is 46 today (K=1) and 10m propagation is expected to remain "poor". We should not expect great things of 10m today (summertime conditions) unless the band is livened up by Es. If recent days are typical, 6m will be the better band for Es.

Quiet start on 6m and 10m WSPR

So far, and things can well change later, only G spots on 6m and 10m WSPR. No Es evident yet. Very slowly, we are falling from the peak of the cycle, although I think we will have one more good autumn/winter season on 10m.

UPDATE 1045z:  G0MQW (123km) was the best overnight DX.   This was on 6m WSPR.  He spotted me at 0300z. Still no Es evident (yet today!) on 6m or 10m WSPR.

Trophy

Just received this letter from the RSGB. I was somewhat chuffed to be awarded this trophy! It was a total surprise.

Hello Roger,

Good to hear from you in which I hope is improved health.

You were awarded the Wortley-Talbot Trophy which is awarded, annually, for the most outstanding experimental work in amateur radio.  I enclose a photo.

It is, physically ,the largest trophy that we present and for this reason winners usually leave it in the custody of the Society!

Best Wishes  

Graham Coomber, G0NBI

General Manager

Radio Society of Great Britain

VLF amateur experiments

See https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/vlf-news-2015 .

In Germany there has been discussions about possible VLF amateur transmissions around 1.72kHz (tweek resonances) and even whistler mode with reception in the Southern Hemisphere.

As we move to "quiet sun" conditions maybe more people will be enticed to the VLF, LF and MF bands?

Linears in the UK

I think the RSGB must be getting short of articles for RadCom.

Last month they reviewed a linear that cannot be legally used in the UK because of its high power. There were a couple of critical letters about this in the August RadCom. Why did the RSGB print this review at all? We, in the UK, have a power level of 400W pep on most bands and we should encourage UK amateurs to keep to this. I have rarely used more than 5-10W pep and even 100W sounds like incredibly high power! No, let us have more articles in the spirit of amateur radio. Not everyone is interested in big, overpriced radios, linears, towers and huge HF beams. Just a few watts is enough to span the globe.

Anyone can work the world with 1000W and an HF beam on a tower. You can also video conference world wide for free with Skype!

QRP is a real challenge. High power rigs, big HF beam and linears are more about egos. Personally they do little for me.

All quiet on 6m and 10m WSPR, so far

On both 6m and 10m WSPR I am just being spotted only by G stations with no sign of Es as yet. Of course, things can change very quickly, although at this time yesterday I was being spotted, or had spotted, many Europeans by Es.

UPDATE 1025z:  I was spotted by F5UBP (661km) on 10m WSPR a few minutes back by Es.

UPDATE 1045z:  All quiet still on 6m with WSPR spots exchanged only with G0OQK (98km) so far this morning and no 6m Es seen yet.

UPDATE 1118z:   CN8LI (2113km) was just spotted on 6m WSPR. I think he may have just switched his rig on as there was quite a bit of drift on his signal. I see he has also spotted me on 6m WSPR a couple of times.

UPDATE 1622z:  Plenty of 6m WSPR spots being exchanged with CN8LI (2113km) now.

UPDATE 1912z:  Very very little Es evident on 10m WSPR with just EA1KV (1304km) spotting me (once) earlier.

UPDATE 1938z:  So far today, the better Es has been on 6m rather than 10m.

UPDATE 2100z:  CN8LI (2113km) has spotted me 13 times today so far on 6m WSPR. Not bad.