QRP Club 72

This came today from Oleg RV3GM:

"Dear Club 72 members and friends,
Visitors  of  this  week  rendezvouses:  UA1CEX, UR7VT, DL7MA, UA4NU,
UA1ADF,  UA1CEG, RV3GM, S51PL, SM5MEK, PD0HRS, OM6TC, DL8NBG, YL3GIE,
RU3NJC,  UA0SBQ,  OH6NPV,  YU7AE, DK6PD, UR0ET, RV9WMZ, UR5EFD, R1OA,
HA5AEK, OH8GLZ, RV3DSA/0, OK1KW, R9WY, SO3AK, EA2CAR, EA4AND, LY2BNL,
OH9XX, R2FAE
See comments and reports (soapbox) on the blog page - http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/
Thanks everyones for comments!
See you all on next week QRP Rendez-Vous (72 Net) at
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday at 9 UTC on 14060 +/- (alternative 10116 kHz)
Comments and reports appreciated to "mr72" e-mail, please.
72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"
=== In QRP We Trust! ==="

ICOM IC7300

The IC7300 from ICOM may be available mid-January 2016 according to YO8IRF's blog. I guess this means they have CE approval. YO9IRF also quotes a price.

See http://yo9irf.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/icom-ic-7300-available-in-january.html?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter.

No doubt dealers in most countries will be out to maximise their profits from early adopters who must have this radio. After these have sold, with early issues (?) expect the price to fall. The game is called "marketing". I call it ripping us all off.  Dealers, I for one will wait and wait and not join your silly games. Offer us the rig at a fair price. You need to make a fair margin, of course, but do not rip us off. Not everyone is a mug.

Winter 10m Es? Daytime on 472kHz.

With lots of closer Europeans spotting me on 10m, I suspect we are seeing wintertime Es on 10m WSPR today. Spots are coming in widely in the 459-1300km range. As yet, no great DX on the band.

UPDATE 1242z:   PA3ABK/2 is being spotted at 1216z on 472kHz WSPR.

UPDATE 1520z:  It looks like today will be another day without 10m DX WSPR  me on 47spots here. I guess if the band did open, my 500mW was not enough.  I really did expect to get spotted in the USA today. It could still happen I guess? There have been no 10m WSPR spots since lunchtime. A disappointing day on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1525z:  M0LMH (223km) spotted me on 472kHz WSPR at 1058z.  PA3ABK/2 has been spotted many times throughout the day on 472kHz WSPR. I guess he can be spotted at any time?

10m WSPR - a promising start?

LZ1UBO (2037km) has just spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon by what I assume is F2. This is a promising start on the band. At the moment I am on 10m and 630m WSPR. I may QSY from 630m to 6m later.

UPDATE 1522z:  In the end I stuck with 630m and 10m WSPR.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat Dec 12th 2015

With a solar flux 114 and a sunspot number of 77 (K=3) we could see some reasonable propagation on 10m today despite the 10m propagation forecast remaining "poor".

Doh! 472kHz WSPR overnight

I was wondering why I got not a single WSPR spot on TX overnight on 472kHz. EA5DOM (1525km) was spotted 50 times. Then I twigged! TX mute was somehow enabled so I was not transmitting at all! Even now PA3ABK/2 (306km) is still being spotted in broad daylight.

FT991 review

The Yaesu FT991 is reviewed in the latest edition of Practical Wireless. Apparently this rig is proving very popular in the UK. I think this is the first review of this rig in the UK.

Lunch - NOT amateur radio

This lunchtime we enjoyed lunch at a local gastro pub with old friends who live quite close to us. They came back to us for tea/coffee afterwards. The food was good as always.

Back to 472kHz WSPR

At about 1800z I went QRT on 10m and 6m WSPR and have returned to 630m (472kHz) WSPR for the evening and night. DK7FC (669km) has been spotted here already many times, although Stefan has one of the best signals on 472kHz WSPR and he is regularly spotted across the Atlantic.

UPDATE 2115z:  No-one has yet spotted me on 472kHz WSPR, but EA5DOM (1525km) is now coming in on MF together with more German and French stations.

UPDATE 2124z:   LA3EQ (769km) has now been spotted a couple of times.

10m and 6m WSPR. No MF last night.

Overnight I stayed on 10m and 6m WSPR and, for a change, I did not go on 630m (472kHz) WSPR. No spots on 10m overnight but G8VDQ (93km) was spotted a few times on 6m. There is definitely a path between us on 6m which is impacted by aircraft Doppler. Not all reception decodes.

At around 1000z I did a reset of my 10m WSPR beacon so if there are any 10m openings this morning I should catch them. At the moment all is quiet on that band.

UPDATE 1005z: I shall be on 10m WSPR and 6m WSPR all day.

UPDATE 1210z:  RZ6AOJ (2780km) has spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon twice so far.

UPDATE 1622z:    RZ6AOJ seems to be the only station spotting me on 10m WSPR. G8VDQ has been spotted on 6m WSPR a few times.  No 10m WSPR spots again.