6m today

These are the results today on 6m WSPR. No super-DX but spots exchanged with CN8LI yet again, presumably by Es.

China: should we worry? - NOT amateur radio

In a word yes.  China is changing. Many are getting richer and are expecting a better life. Exports have struggled more lately and soon China may become too expensive, just like Japan became many years ago.

Many of the investors in China are the Chinese people themselves. The Chinese government is trying to manipulate the market but the stock markets in China are in turmoil. If China catches a cold we will all know about it.

Yes, we should be worried, but I am not sure what we can do. It may not be too long before the words "Made in China" are a thing of the past. We have grown used to low cost products made in China, but for how much longer?

The Chinese have devalued their currency twice in 2 days to help exports, but are they fighting a losing battle?

Es today on 10m and 6m WSPR

There has been a decent quantity of Es on 10m WSPR today. However, on 6m WSPR I have only spotted, and been spotted, by G stations so far today.

I am definitely coming to the conclusion that WSPR is, sadly, not the best mode on 6m to spot fleeting openings as activity levels are far too low. Many transatlantic openings have happened on 6m this summer, but you would never guess from WSPR. This is a great pity. Next summer I think I shall stick to CW and SSB in the main on 6m.

Overnight JT6M RX on 6m

Disappointing. In the end I stayed on 50.230MHz overnight but copied only G stations. Last evening I copied a couple of EAs on JT6M, but I suspect these were Es rather than MS.

At the moment I am back on 6m WSPR (20% TX and 80% RX).

Sunspots and 10m - Wed Aug 12th 2015

Sunspot number is 87 today (K=3) and 10m propagation is expected to remain "poor".

6m JT6M

Since about an hour ago I have been looking on 50.230MHz JT6M. EA3LL was recently copied working an EI station. I think this was Es rather than a Perseid shower reflection as the signal was there at good strength for the whole 30sec TX period.

Most JT6M activity seems to be on 50.230MHz which is used as a calling frequency to arrange skeds on other frequencies. I've decided that I shall look through the night on 50.230MHz rather than try the newer JT6M frequency of 50.320MHz.

70cm UKAC tonight

I have just received a contest reminder from the RSGB contest committee:

This contest takes place on Tue 11-Aug-2015 19:00 UTC
The rules for the contest can be found here
http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/contest_rules.pl?contest=70cmsukac
Regards,
CC

As I really have no suitable horizontally polarised antennas now on 70cm, I shall try with my 2m halo and V2000 triband vertical. I am only expecting to hear and work locals on 70cm tonight. I shall not stop on too long. It will be interesting to see how these "compromise" antennas perform on 70cm.

UPDATE 1945z:  In the end I only stopped on 70cms for just over 30 minutes but worked 3 of the locals on the 2m halo, which matched well on 70cm SSB. My 2m halo and V2000 are fed with lossy RG58 coax. I decided I had enough with my poor voice and poor antennas. I have now returned to 6m JT6M RX only.

10m Es

So the kit was working after all. IU1DZZ (973km) has been spotting me over lunchtime quite well by Es. No other Es spots received yet on 10m WSPR.

On 10m WSPR I am 100% TX (frequency randomised every 2 mins) but on 6m WSPR I am looking 80% of the time on RX and sending all spots to WSPRnet.

UPDATE 1315z:   F1TZG (876km) is also spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon. 10m is livening up now. He was also spotted on 6m WSPR much earlier in the day.

UPDATE 2140z:   Well there has been 10m Es on WSPR just about all day. This must rank as one of the best days for 10m Es all summer.

CN8LI again on 6m WSPR

This lunchtime I have again been exchanging 6m WSPR spots with CN8LI (2113km) in Morocco.He must be the most consistent DX signal on 6m this summer and last. Still no Es seen on 10m WSPR. I will need to recheck the kit as I am surprised to get no 10m spots at all, but see later post.

UPDATE 1318z: I am now spotting IK1WVQ (1076km) on 6m WSPR very well. He is running 2W.

Google restructuring - NOT amateur radio

Google s doing a major restructuring according to the BBC. Apparently this was a surprise move creating a new parent company called Alphabet Inc..

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33857412 .