Sunspots and 10m - Sun Aug 9th 2015

Sunspot number is 93 today (K=3) and 10m propagation remains "fair". We are still in summertime conditions so 10m propagation will mainly be by Es around Europe.

Yaesu FT991

As I have said several times before, there is only one commercial rig that I fancy currently and that is the Yaesu FT991 that covers all of HF plus 6m, 2m and 70cm. However the UK price is still too high so I can wait and wait until the price drops. At £999 it will get serious consideration, but not at any higher price. The only other rig I fancy is an FT817 replacement, which may come later this year. Most of my operating is QRP and a 5-10W rig would suit my needs well.

So just how sporadic is sporadic E (Es)?

Time and again I have been struck by just how unsporadic Es is. OK, good days are random but there seems to be a pattern that more northerly and Scandinavian stations on 10m and 6m are better later in the day and later in the season. I actually wonder if these more northerly reports really are Es at all. There is every chance I am totally wrong, but I have noticed this over several summers and I question that Es is truly "sporadic". I'd be interested to hear the views of others on this.

One thing is certain: we still have a great deal to learn about E-layer DX propagation. Es is certainly a fact on many summertime EU QSOs on the higher HF bands and 6m, but I am sure the multi-hop explanation for some very long distance QSOs is not right.

Stroke after effects - NOT amateur radio

Even nearly 2 years after my brain bleed I am still discovering after effects. One of these is a slowness with written errors. It is rare for me to write an error-free blog post but I seem much slower at spotting the errors that I make. In the end, I usually get it right, but I apologise if you read the blogs before I have found and corrected the mistakes. At one time, typos or spelling mistakes were easy to spot, but I am finding these much harder to spot than I did. I am pretty sure this is a result of my stroke, although it could be old age!

UPDATE 2100z:  Of all my stroke symptoms my poor voice is the most disabling. Some people cannot hear what I say and I get very frustrated. Some treat me as simple, but really it is just that I find speech hard work. My intellect is still sharp and I still feel like my "old me". Many say how well I look. In many ways this is a bad thing as they expect me to be fine totally. No, in some ways life would be easier with a more visible disability. I just want to be better. Being less than fully human has gone on far too long now.

136kHz QRSS3 field test maybe?

If I can manage it (health worries) I want to try a test with my 136kHz QRSS3 beacon and earth-electrode antenna from my current QTH. Last time, several years ago, from the old QTH, I managed to copy my signals quite well on the far side of Cambridge using an E-field probe on the car roof. This time my aims are far more modest: I just want to see if I can copy the signal at all in my usual carpark test site about 1.8km away. If I can copy the signal, I might ask others to take a look. It is so long since I used this kit I have forgotten what is inside the box!

My biggest challenge will be reassembling the RX kit as I am still very wobbly. 15-20 minutes and I am normally "done in", especially if this involves physical or mental effort. I wish so much I was fit and well again.

I know I have to be patient, but at the same time I need to get the most from my body as it is now. Although I still get tired, I seem to regain a more normal  state more quickly than I did, which is hopeful.

Although I am hopeful of a full recovery, given more time, I am beginning to think I shall always have some level of disability. I need to know my absolute limits. If this is the end of field work it will be a very sad day.

6m rather than 630m WSPR

You may have noticed that I am back on 6m rather than 630m WSPR, for now. I am still using 1W ERP on 6m from my V2000 vertical omni antenna and I am on TX about 20% and RX for about 80% of the time.

As before, all spots of others are uploaded to WSPRnet. Of late, 10m and 6m WSPR seems to have livened up a bit so I'll stick around 6m WSPR a bit longer. The day after I leave 6m you can be sure of the biggest 6m openings in years. No doubt I'll then get loads of stations telling me then, "you should have stayed on 6m". Well, for now at least I am sticking around on 6m.

New versions K1JT weak signal digital modes

Bob, G3WKW, has passed on this information from Joe Taylor K1JT:

"Date: Fri, 07 Aug 2015 16:28:19 -0400

Several people have asked for an update on development of the "Fast modes" in WSJT and WSJT-X.  So here's a brief summary.

First, a review of some relevant terms and motivations.  It's convenient to think of the various WSJT protocols ("modes") in two groups:

*Slow modes* -- JT4, JT9, JT65, and WSPR.  These modes are designed for communication with extremely weak signals -- often too weak to be heard. Target propagation modes include EME and long-distance troposcatter on HF-and-up bands, and QRP Dxing on the LF, MF, and HF  bands.  Relevant signal amplitudes are approximately constant over a minute and more, aside from so-called "libration fading" for EME. Transmit/receive sequences are 1 minute for JT4, JT9, and JT65, and 2 minutes for WSPR.

*Fast modes* -- JTMS, FSK441, ISCAT, and JT6M -- and now also *FSK315* (implemented in WSJT) and *JT9E* through *JT9H* (implemented in WSJT-X. These modes are made for communication with rapidly varying signals:for example, meteor scatter, ionospheric scatter, airplane scatter, and scatter off the International Space Station.  The decoders are designed take advantage of short enhancements of signal strength.  T/R sequences are 30 seconds (or sometimes even shorter).

Bill, ND0B, has implemented a trial version of FSK315 in WSJT.  Think of this mode as FSK441 slowed down to 315 baud; the bandwidth is therefore narrow enough to make the mode legal in the "CW and data" portion of the 10 meter band.  Bill and a few others have been experimenting with FSK315 and also ISCAT-A on 10 meters, under dead-band conditions, using meteors and ionospheric scatter propagation.

I have implemented experimental submodes of the JT9 protocol in the program branch WSJT-X v1.6.1.  As with JT4 and JT65, letters following the "JT9" designator indicate increased spacings between the FSK tones. Traditional JT9 (now also called JT9A) has tone spacing 1.736 Hz, so the signals used at HF and below have total bandwidth 9*1.736 = 15.6 Hz.  The widest of the new submodes, JT9H, has tone spacing 200 Hz and therefore bandwidth 9*200 = 1800 Hz.

When used with the standard 1-minute periods, the wide JT9 submodes should be useful for the same purposes as the wide JT4 submodes: microwave EME, for example, where libration fading can cause Doppler spreading of 100 Hz or more.  Used in this way, all JT9 submodes are "slow" modes; they use 1-minute T/R periods and keying rate 1.736 baud, and they send the full 85-symbol message protocol in 85/1.736 = 48.96s.

Optionally, the wide JT9 submodes can now also use "fast" keying rates equal to their tone spacing.  "Fast JT9H", for example, uses keying rate 200 baud, so the full message protocol is transmitted in 85/200 = 0.425s.  The message is sent repeatedly for the full Tx period, in the same way as done for the other fast modes.

The fast JT9 submodes should be very effective for meteors and ionoscatter propagation, especially on the 6 meter band.  Sensitivity should be similar to ISCAT, or perhaps slightly better.  Because JT9 includes strong forward error correction, decoding results are like those for all the slow modes: you should see messages exactly as they were transmitted, or nothing at all.

Tests of the fast JT9 submodes are currently under way, with excellent results.

   -- 73, Joe, K1JT"

Good Es on 6m and 10m WSPR

Es is good today on both 10m and 6m WSPR with lots of spots both given and received. On 6m CT, EA and CN8 have all been spotted and my own signals have been spotted in Morocco and Portugal on 6m. Apart from CN8, no stations spotted or spotting me on 6m outside Europe.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat Aug 8th 2015

Things are looking slightly more promising on 10m. Sunspot number has risen to 95 (K=3) and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair" rather than "poor" as it has been for weeks. Whether we see any real DX on 10m WSPR remains to be seen.

4X1RF (3519km) again spotting me on 6m WSPR

Since lunchtime, 4X1RF (3519km) has again been spotting my 1W ERP WSPR signal on 6m. I am pretty convinced this is E layer, but remain skeptical this is multi-hop Es which is the conventional wisdom. 3519km is a long way for Es multi-hop. This path seems pretty regular so I wonder if some other E layer mechanism is going on? Possibly some E layer chordal hop?  Signal levels suggest even lower power would have been successful such as 250mW or even less. So far today he has spotted me 6 times already. He has spotted me on several days this season as well as last summer. There are a reasonable number of stations active on the 6m WSPR band.

UPDATE 1607z:  Yesterday was one of the worse days I can recall in recent months on 6m and 10m WSPR. Today has been one of the best with plenty of Es on both bands.  Both are "magic" bands and you can never be quite sure what the day will bring.