Sunspots and 10m - Dec 24th 2015

Solar flux is 132 and sunspot number is 63 (K=3) today. The propagation forecast today is "fair". There were early winter Es spots from Italy and France on 10m, but this would not be related to solar conditions. As far as I know Es is not related to sunspots. The RA and LZ spots received on 10m are more likely to be single hop F2.

10m USA WSPR spots today

Several USA spots today on 10m WSPR. Not a bad day at all. The first at 1454z was K4BYN (6231km) with several since.

I am also active on 630m WSPR and DK7FC (669km) was the first to be spotted. I went QRT on 6m when I turned on 630m (472kHz) WSPR.

6m and 10m WSPR

G8VDQ (93km) has been spotted on 6m several times already, but no 10m WSPR spots of my signal apart from the stations spotting me earlier.

IC7300 and FT991 prices

Well, the IC7300 has not yet been sold in the UK (as far as I know) although the FT991 has. The price has still to drop in my view, but it looks like the dealers are trying to maximise their profits from early adopters. I have no idea when this price will finalise.  Easter or summer 2016?

630m (472kHz) WSPR

Overnight the same stations were spotted on RX and M0LMH (223km) and G0HWW (29km) spotted my 5mW ERP on TX.

Sunspots and 10m - Wed Dec 23rd 2015

Solar flux is respectable at 128 and the sunspot number is rising. Today SN is 68 (K=2) so 10m WSPR might be quite good. The 10m propagation forecast is "fair".

UPDATE 1104z:  I have just switched on 6m WSPR and reset the 10m WSPR beacon. I am now QRT on 630m (472kHz) WSPR.

UPDATE 1114z:  10m WSPR spots from FR1GZ (9724km) and RA3UDF (2693km) quite early today, which is encouraging.

Early USA WSPR spots on 10m

N2NOM (5581km) was spotting me on 10m WSPR very early today at 1354z. It was good to be spotted at all in the USA on 10m WSPR, but this early is encouraging for more spots later.

UPDATE 2130z:  K9AN (6505km) was also spotting my 10m WSPR beacon this afternoon. In the end the day saw spots from 4 unique stations in the USA.

10m and 6m WSPR this morning

G8VDQ (93km) has been spotted a couple of times on 6m WSPR and EA8/DL9XJ  (2981km) has been spotting my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon. It will be interesting to see if there are any WSPR spots on 6m and 10m by/from nearer Europeans by wintertime Es later.

DL-SWL reports last night on 630m (472kHz) WSPR

Last night DL-SWL (701km) spotted my 5mW ERP 472kHz WSPR from the earth-electrode "antenna" no less than 12 times, which was quite remarkable. He must have a good system as I was peaking at -25dB S/N at times, although very weak not surprisingly.

Sunspots and 10m - Tues Dec 22nd 2015

Sunspot number is falling and is 38 today (K=3) although solar flux is 122 and the 10m propagation forecast is "fair".  After a reasonable start, 10m WSPR was disappointing yesterday. Surprisingly (for me anyway) I am no longer getting spots most days from the USA on 10m WSPR. Maybe these will return in the late winter and spring? With generally falling solar activity, it is a battle between "normal" 10m conditions and the general fall-off in the solar cycle.