Brother gone home - NOT amateur radio

My brother, who is 4 years older than me, has been very good especially since my stroke. He has travelled up to see me from Devon on many occasions. He has been staying for a few days, but left today. I shall miss him.

I want to get to Devon again before too long but the journey is too far by car at present. Maybe I'll go down by train? In the picture he is the one on the RHS with me on the LHS.

136kHz QRSS3

My big project for the week (this would have been trivial a few years ago) will be to rebuild my E-field probe for 136kHz and do a fairly local test with it on the car roof on QRSS3. I have the TX beacon, although it has not been used for over 2 years and never from this QTH. I think I have the RX bits somewhere but need to find these first!  For the TX antenna I am going to use my earth-electrodes which will need rematching for 136kHz.

10m and 6m Es

No 10m Es has been noticed since lunchtime when OZ7IT (843km) was spotting my 500mW WSPR. On 6m things were better with SM0FUS (1383km) spotted at 1416z and earlier. Both the 10m and 6m WSPR stations will be active this evening and maybe overnight.

UPDATE 1600z:   I see that CN8LI (2113km) just spotted me on 6m WSPR, so maybe Es is returning this teatime?

UPDATE 1604z:  M0EMM is being spotted on 6m, I presume by tropo and aircraft reflections

2m big wheel

Well, I have ordered one (yes I know I could have made one although not in my present state) so I hope this can be erected in the next few weeks, although I shall need help to do this as I am no good on ladders in my current poor state of health. It would be good if I could get a long wire erected at the same time for LF/MF use, although this could wait. At this time I am going for a single big-wheel rather than a stack.

I have decided against buying a 70cm big wheel at the same time as this would require a new length of low loss cable too. I also checked my existing low loss cable and this seems in good condition, so it will be reused. I may make my combined 2m/70cm antenna into a portable antenna when I have found out why the VSWR is poor.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/bigwheel .

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.