First 6m WSPR spot today

G8XWR (150km) was just spotted on 6m WSPR. This is an interesting distance and probably by a combination of tropo and aircraft reflection judging by the Doppler on the signal. Of course, the drift could be settling drift and not Doppler at all. Looking at later traces, there is little evidence of aircraft. A couple of strong traces did not decode showing strong QSB and disappearing for a good part of the slot.

UPDATE 1302z:  I spotted G8XWR (150km) again a few minutes ago. He was stronger and there was no sign of aircraft involvement with just a single trace with QSB. No 10m WSPR spots yet.

UPDATE 1340z:  G8XWR (150km) near Haslemere in IO91oc is getting stronger. If this was via aircraft I'd expect multiple reflections and Doppler but all I see is a single carrier with QSB.

UPDATE 1512z:  G8XWR has been spotted 7 times so far. Although there is no evidence of aircraft involvement, Heathrow and Gatwick stacks are nearby.

Sunspots and 10m - Tues March 1st 2016

March already and the first day of spring according to the Met Office calendar. I agree with their seasons.

Solar flux is 91 today and sunspot number 44 (K=2). The forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor".

UPDATE 1034z:  Still no WSPR spots on 6m or 10m today.

10m and 6m WSPR

Following an overnight spell on 40m WSPR (lots of spots again from the USA)  I am now on 10m WSPR (500mW, 100% TX, randomised frequency) and 6m WSPR (1W, 20% TX vertical, 80% RX). No spots as yet.

QSYed to 40m WSPR (from 10m WSPR)

I QSYed down to 40m WSPR around 2010z but only EU spots so far.

UPDATE 2238z:  The first USA 40m WSPR spot (of my 2W) was by N2NOM (5581km) at 2110z.

Kingsbridge, Devon passageways - NOT amateur radio

I spent about 10 years living in Kingsbridge, Devon. It has some famous "backways".  I see this paper, of interest to those who know this Devon town, was written by the local U3A (University of the Third Age) group.

See http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3ArQmow_WwQ5wJ%3Au3asites.org.uk%2Ffiles%2Fk%2Fkingsbridgeestuary%2Fdocs%2Fkingsbridgepassageways.pdf+&cd=25&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

USA on 10m WSPR again

Well, I was right. W1VR (6965km) was spotted here on 10m WSPR at 1450z. So, the band did open to the USA today. I was not too surprised. No spots of my signal, well not yet anyway. I am convinced that these brief openings would go unnoticed without WSPR.

UPDATE 1736z:  Still just the single spot of a USA station here today on 10m WSPR.

Morrisons via Amazon - NOT amateur radio

Morrisons is signing a deal to sell its food via Amazon in the UK. Does this spell the beginning of the end of the high street as we knew it?  I have to confess to buying quite a few things via Amazon, but never food.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35684829  .

Shortwave interval and announcement signals

Nostalgia time!

See https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15047843/SWintervalsigs.mp3 .

I first shared this some years ago, but I guarantee these sounds will bring a tear to some eyes.

I cannot recall where I found this recording and I hope the originator won't mind me sharing it here.

These are shortwave interval/announcement signals now long gone. For many of us I think these sounds will bring back happy memories. The communist broadcasters tried hard, but I was more interested in the interval signals than their propaganda. 

No, it is not the same these days.

Sunspots and 10m - Mon Feb 29th 2016

Don't forget this is a Leap Year!

Solar flux is 93 today and sunspot number 38 (K=0). Yet again the forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor".  Despite the forecast, I remain quietly hopeful that this will prove to be quite a decent day on 10m WSPR.

10m WSPR overnight

At some point my shack PC decided to close the WSPR programme, presumably to install updates, but I was pleased and surprised to see M0XDC (65km) was spotted in the early hours of the morning. Judging by the Doppler, I think this was aircraft reflection.  Although I'm unsure when the program stopped I turned the PC and WSPR program on again at around 0700z and checked time sync.