The SLOW decline

Well, we are on the down slope of the current solar cycle.

The down part of the cycle is usually slower than the climb from the minimum to the next peak, so we may have a few more years of reasonable conditions.

At the present time, conditions, even on 10m, are quite good. This time next year I think we may be losing 10m (largely) as a DX band although N-S paths may still have some decent openings. I have mentioned before that I have worked LU on 10m SSB even with QRP right at the lowest part of the cycle.

It is a pity that more don't stick with WSPR on 10m as this is a good way to "smoke out" transient openings. Activity levels on 10m WSPR are way down on last year. Next year I suspect there will be even fewer stations on 10m WSPR.

Sunspots and 10m - Tues Sept 29th 2015

Sunspot number is 120 today, a little down on yesterday. K=3, so conditions are more disturbed than yesterday. K reduced to 2 later, so less disrurbed. The propagation forecast for 10m today is "fair" again, although I remain skeptical about 10m WSPR spots from North and South America.

In recent days the 10m band has been good with Africans and South Americans worked on CW.  On WSPR my 500mW beacon has only been spotted in North America on one day this season so far, which is disappointing. 10m, like 6m, is a magic band and one can never be quite sure how it will behave. Although I hope my tiny 10m beacon will be spotted in the Americas, only time will tell.

I shall be on 10m and 6m all day again. On 10m I am 100% TX with the beacon, but on 6m I am looking for others 80% of the time.

UPDATE 1112z:  Best DX on the 10m 500mW beacon today remains 4Z5ML (3572km). No Es seen here today on 10m WSPR and no F2 DX spots from Africa or the Americas. 6m WSPR remains dead here!

Good start on 10m WSPR this morning

As well as local G4IKZ (18km) I have already had spots from a couple of stations in Israel this morning early on 10m WSPR. I assume these are by F2.

On MF I spotted 9 unique stations last night. In all, I have spotted 15 unique stations spotted this season. Best DX on MF remains a German spotted at 995km.

472kHz RX

Using the RX preamp is allowing me to give stations I spot better reports, but my best DX stubbornly still stands at 995km to a German station. There are EA and SV stations active that I have not spotted yet this season. I shall leave the RX on overnight and hope they are active. I think both should be copyable, even with the earth-electrode "antenna". It would be good to copy one of the USA stations too at some point. I have managed to copy one before but never from this QTH on MF.

UPDATE 2148z:  I have now closed my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon until breakfast. Despite the early promise (lots of spots from Israel), not a single spot from North or South America today. With conditions looking good I really thought today would have been better on 10m. 6m was a dead loss yet again. I tend to go on 6m and 10m daytime. I am still active on 472kHz WSPR receive and will remain looking overnight until breakfast. The best nights so far have yielded spots from 12 unique stations on 472kHz WSPR.

Late swallows - NOT amateur radio

Eating lunch at the Maid's Head

Today we went for a walk around Wicken Fen and afterwards we ate at the "Maid's Head" in Wicken  village. In 1982 this thatched pub was badly damaged by fire but it was beautifully restored. Wicken is a lovely sleepy village with nice greens.

We went all around the boardwalk route at Wicken Fen and got back in the car when we saw 4 swallows overhead and quite close. This is, I think, the latest time I've seen swallows up here in East Anglia. I have seen them much later in Devon, but most have gone south by now. There are usually some late younger birds at Wimpole Hall but the latest I saw these was Sept 21st.

Swallow

As I get older, I wonder if this will be the last time I ever see a swallow in my lifetime? Hopefully I shall be around for their return next spring and for many springs to come, but there is something comforting in knowing this cycle will be going on long after I am just dust.

See  http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/s/swallow/  .

BBC Radio 4 on Longwave

From Steve G1KQH today:

"End of BBC on the LW?

Of course if they let this go, what will  the crystal set builder have to listen to?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/11892805/End-of-Shipping-Forecast-on-long-wave-radio-could-leave-sailors-high-and-dry.html

Build another Solid State transmitter that is the answer..

73 Steve
http://www.g1kqh.talktalk.net/"

Sunspots and 10m - Mon Sept 28th 2015

With a high sunspot number of 154 (K=0) 10m could be in decent shape today. The forecast remains "fair" for 10m today. Although WSPR spotted in Brazil again yesterday, I was surprised not to have been copied in North America by F2. The problem with 10m and 6m WSPR is activity is much lower than a year ago so often openings go unnoticed. This is a great pity as WSPR is an excellent very weak signal mode. With more activity, lots more openings would be spotted on both bands.

Had my mother lived she would have been 98 today. She died of a secondary cancer several years ago now.

UPDATE 1000z: There is already F2 about on 10m WSPR. 4X1DA (3597km) and 4X1RF (3519km) have already spotted my 500mW WSPR signal a few times. Thank you both. On 6m WSPR I am looking for others 80% of the time, but so far 6m is dead with no spots given or received.

Reboot of PC needed

Although I was spotting F5WK (364km) well again this evening on 472kHz WSPR, my spots of him were not being uploaded to the WSPRnet database. My PC was showing that the WiFi was connected but I had no internet connectivity, except that other machines were connecting perfectly well! So, I rebooted the Win 7 PC and now all seems to work - spots of F5WK on 472kHz WSPR are now being uploaded OK. Although the first uploaded spot of F5WK is 1812z, I was copying him well before then.

On 10m WSPR the beacon is stand alone and the PC is only needed to start the sync. I could use the radio pips. The 10m beacon then runs (at least) all day on its own on 10m. I use the PC and WSPR software on either 6m or 630m.

Brazil again on 10m WSPR

KD0VWO (7412km) monitoring in Brazil has spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon again. No signs yet of spots from North America today. Maybe later? Yesterday I was sure I'd be spotted in North America as conditions were better than the day before, but I was wrong. 10m can be fickle.

New blog from Denmark

Jan OZ9QV is back in Denmark and has started a new blog. In the past I have worked with Danes and I much like them. In many ways they are similar to English people, although I guess this is because, going back over 1000 years, we share the same genes!

I remember visiting AP Radio in Copenhagen many years ago and liking that at 3.30pm on a Friday they went to the lab fridge and got out the beers!  The Danish sense of humour is quite similar to that in the UK. I like the Danish people.  Denmark seems a nation at peace with itself.

See http://oz9qv.blogspot.com/  .