Smart Meters - NOT amateur radio

This amused me as my energy supplier contacted me to arrange an appointment to fit smart meters but failed to turn up! I asked for a human being to contact me, but months have passed and they don't do humans. It seems their computers don't communicate!

This came via Steve G1KQH:

"Why they really want you to have a SMART Meter:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-3322658/The-great-smart-meter-rip-UK-energy-giants-use-devices-DOUBLE-cost-power-need-most.html

A Smart meter is NOT compulsory:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34831046"

5MHz amateur band - it is now official

WRC-15 has ratified the first new HF amateur allocation since 1979. Although only 15kHz wide it was agreed internationally. I hope that CEPT allows a wider contiguous allocation. I am sure I cannot be alone in finding all these non-contiguous 5MHz allocations very confusing.

From the RSGB report on WRC-15:
"Z8 has now officially been agreed as the prefix for South Sudan and will be formally entered into the Radio Regulations. Meanwhile the revised Radio Regulations from WRC-15 will officially come into effect from the 1st January 2017. "

Another UK Rally

I've been notified of the following UK rally this weekend:

Saturday 21 NOVEMBER : ROCHDALE & DISTRICT ARS TRADITIONAL RADIO RALLY
St Vincent de Paul's, Caldershaw Rd, off Edenfield Rd (A680), Norden, Rochdale OL12 6BU. OT 10.15/10.30, £2.50 (concessions U12 & seniors), TI S22, C. Pitches £5. Dave, G0PUD, 0161 285 1600, dave.shaw1@sky.com. www.radars.me.uk.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Back on 10m and 6m WSPR

As the previous post showed, I am back on 10m and 6m WSPR. I went QRT on 630m (472kHz) around breakfast time. G8HUH (250km) was copied on 472kHz WSPR at 0830z a few minutes before closing. This path was in daylight.

Sunspots and 10m - Thurs Nov 19th 2015

Sunspot number is 36 today and K=2. Solar flux is 107 but the forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor".

UPDATE 1020z:  Just Russian and Sweden spotting me on 10m WSPR and no spots given or received yet on 6m.

Getting fun from amateur radio

My current operating is almost exclusively WSPR. I go on the 8pm East Cambs net on 144.575MHz FM on Mondays and Tuesday UKAC contests (especially on 2m)  but my voice struggles. I tend to go on MF WSPR at night and 10m and 6m WSPR during the day.

On all bands I do not use very good antennas. I quite like the way I operate: it is a "low intensity, low cost" way of enjoying the hobby. I miss my field work but I am just too wobbly still.

QSYed to 472kHz

I have now gone QRT on 10m and 6m and am active on 630m (472kHz) WSPR instead for the evening and overnight.  As for last night, I am on 472kHz WSPR TX 20% 5mW ERP and RX 80% without preamp. I am still using the earth-electrode "antenna".

Early evening 472kHz WSPR

So far G4KPX (14km) has spotted me several times, M0LMH (223km) has spotted me once, PA7EY (306km) has spotted me once but I have copied no-one yet. It is nice to be copied by 3 different stations before 1900z.

UPDATE 1855z:  DH5RAE (995km) has just been spotted.

10m USA WSPR spots

KK1D (5455km) was the first station in the USA to spot my 10m WSPR beacon at 1420z.

Australia (again) on 10m WSPR

As well as spots from Brazil and Russia there are spots from 2 different VKs this morning of my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon. As expected, today is another good 10m day, despite the 10m forecast being "poor".

472kHz - an analysis of EA5DOM with and without RX preamp

The night before last EA5DOM (1525km) was copied 45 times on 472kHz with the preamp in circuit, so the FT817 was at maximum sensitivity. My best report of him was -16dB S/N.

Last night he was copied again but without the preamp. Last night I copied him 35 times with a best sensitivity of -19dB S/N.

Although conditions may have been different, I think the 472kHz preamp is worth having. It allows signals too weak to copy to be successfully decoded. Incidentally, EA5DOM was copied as late as 0740z today at -26dB S/N without the preamp on 472kHz WSPR.