Sunspots and 10m - Sun March 20th 2016

Solar flux is 89 today and sunspot number is 26 (K=2). 10m propagation is forecast to be "poor" again, although I rarely find this is so!

Quy - NOT amateur radio

Quy, Near Cambridge

Every year they hold the Fenland Country Fair near here. At this time of the year it is very quiet. A few years ago I saw some kingfishers here. Today, a buzzard and a couple of little egrets flew over.

QSYed to 40m WSPR

I have now gone QRT on 10m WSPR and QSYed to 40m WSPR for the evening and overnight period. Plenty of reports (15) of my first transmission. No great DX, but plenty of reports.

Getting ready for summer? - NOT amateur radio

Burwell Cricket Team getting ready for summer?

As we walked past today, it looks like the Burwell cricket team was getting ready for the new season.

Tan House, Burwell, Cambs

The Tan House is the biggest house in the village and was once the home of Francis Pimm who was at one time Foreign Secretary in the government.

Sherwood tests

See http://www.sherweng.com/table.html .

When it comes to comparing radios, the best place to look is the Sherwood Engineering page. Here, the main parameters of each rig are measured so you can see how they compare. This is the page to look.

See also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbgHVwNF9W8&feature=youtu.be&list=PLRSwUN4qr1LpSG3CfFHy_L5z917EJYBKd .

So, 10m WSPR surprised me again!

Really, I was expecting very little on 10m today and I go and spot Australia (again) and get spotted many times in Israel. This seems to happen so often!  Even with low sunspot numbers, lowish solar flux and disturbed conditions, 10m, yet again, surprises. No wonder some also call 10m a "magic band" like 6m. This really is a case where WSPR still shows the band is good for real DX.

10m WSPR so far today

UPDATE 1322z:  LU8EX (11208km) has recently been spotted. So far today, 10m has been pretty good.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat March 19th 2016

Solar flux is 91 today. Sunspot number has dropped to 29 (K=4) and 10m propagation is again forecast to remain "poor".  Unless we get a surprise, 10m is not looking good today. Perhaps the best I should expect are Gs?

UPDATE 1022z:  Not surprisingly, no spots on 10m WSPR as yet.

Return to 10m WSPR

After an evening and night on 630m WSPR (no surprises) I returned to 10m WSPR a few minutes ago. As yet, no spots.

Moving to 472kHz WSPR

Well, what a disappointment 10m WSPR has been today.  Just 2 spots from G4CUI (172km) earlier and nothing else all day. I am about to QSY to 472kHz WSPR where even my 5mW ERP gets spotted and I always spot DX.

I shall stay on 472kHz WSPR overnight until breakfast time.

UPDATE 1705z:  I have now moved to 472kHz WSPR.

UPDATE 1840z:   G4FKK (106km) has spotted me many times so far tonight. As yet, I have not spotted others tonight.

OFCOM added value?

See http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/mobile-coverage-enhancers/statement/?utm_source=updates&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mobile-coverage-enhancers-statement.

OFCOM busy again. These people do so much. How do they find the time?