Riverside walk - NOT amateur radio

This morning we did a walk from Mildenhall to the village of Barton Mills and back to Mildenhall along the River Lark.  It was classic kingfisher country, although we saw none. Instead lots of mute swans, mallards and Canada Geese. A delightful walk and probably my longest walk since my stroke a few years ago (4km).

Mildenhall is better known for its US airbase, which is closing. I am not sorry as I found this base very threatening. Mildenhall is actually a very pleasant Suffolk town with some fine buildings, church and museum. Barton Mills is a delightful village too.

10m WSPR DX

4X1RF (3519km) surprised me by spotting my 2W 10m WSPR many times today. G4CUI (172km) has also spotted me on 10m WSPR. Not too bad for a band many would choose to ignore as a dead loss.

Sunspots and 10m - Wed March 23rd 2016

Solar flux is 87 and sunspot number a very low 13 (K=4). The forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor" and I really am not expecting much on 10m WSPR today. I've been on 10m WSPR for about 15 minutes but no spots, well not yet anyway. 10m is always a band of surprises so who knows what the day will bring? I hopeful of some Gs, maybe some short-skip and just maybe some South Americans, but the latter are unlikely.

Packhorse Inn - NOT amateur radio

We ate lunch with our son (pity the other one wasn't there too) at the Packhorse Inn in Moulton near Newmarket. The food was very good and it was very busy, which is always a good sign. This is our third visit. This medieval packhorse bridge is just a few metres away.

QSYed to 630m (472kHz) WSPR

At about 1846z I moved from 10m down to 630m WSPR for the evening and night. It is getting a bit late in the season for new MF stations, but I remain ever hopeful. At some point I really must count all the spots with 5mW ERP on 472kHz WSPR this DX season. As you will recall, I am only using the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. I have managed to hear stations all over western Europe with this "antenna".  It has reached Norway and Germany on TX.

Before too long I shall  move to 6m WSPR as activity on MF will drop off and the Es season will  really be with us on 6m. In previous years I have got to Israel, 4X1RF (3519km), several times on 6m WSPR with just 1W ERP to an omni vertical antenna. Mind you, 6m is more of a daytime band, so I will have to think about a band at night - maybe 40m.

I may try an E-field probe on 136 and 472kHz next season. These are tiny, but effective, RX antennas if carefully positioned in the garden. I suppose I could even do several bands scanning on RX. My old work colleague Bob G3WKW has used a Raspberry-Pi as a 10mW WSPR TX beacon switching across several bands. He has achieved some remarkable results - all credit to him.

UPDATE 1918z:  G4GIR (53km) is a newcomer on 472kHz WSPR - well he's new to me, I think. We just exchanged spots. Also in the RX log already is LA8AV (1035km) in JO59cs. I do like 472kHz WSPR - even with my set-up I seem to get very decent results. It is a great pity more don't join in the fun. As I have said many many times, if I can get out OK then anyone can! My "antenna" proves you do NOT need lots of wire in the air and a ground the size of a football pitch. No, a very small system works. The transverter I use was homebrew and is shown in the latest edition of the RSGB book "LF Today". It is also on my website at http://www.g3xbm.co.uk . This is very simple and several versions have been built. No, before you ask, I do NOT do a PCB for this. It has an output of 10-15W although my measured ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" is very low. To a half decent antenna just think what you could achieve!

WSPR on 472kHz already this evening

10m short-skip

EA1FAQ (1249km) spotted me on 10m WSPR at lunchtime. A few hours later I noticed the shack PC had closed the WSPR program and shut down, presumably to install updates. I did a time resync and restarted the WSPR program about 1 hour ago. I have no idea when the PC shut down, but there have been no more 10m WSPR spots.

Our rear garden - NOT amateur radio

This was our rear garden taken this morning. In a few weeks time all the blossom will be out. In the distance, in our neighbour's garden, is an apple and plum orchard.

More on the IC7300

See http://yo9irf.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/icom-ic-7300-review.html?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter .

YO9IRF takes a look at the IC7300. MLS is offering this for sale but at a price over £1000, which may interest "early adopters", but is much higher than most are prepared to pay, I believe. Expect the price to drop soon. Even with  the dollar and yen exchange rates, I think a much lower price should be expected and demanded.

£799 would seem a fair price to me. Don't forget that early radios are often riddled with bugs that later get sorted. This is the first time the transceiver will have been mass produced so it is quite likely this will occur, although not inevitable. Personally, I can wait.

I found this via Amateur Radio Weekly at AmateurRadio.com. Always a good source of data.

Sunspots and 10m - Tues March 22nd 2016

Solar flux 89 today. Sunspot number is 25 (K=2) and the forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor" today. Yesterday, with similar conditions, my 2W 10m WSPR was spotted many times in Brazil and Israel. There was also some short-skip in the early morning on 10m.

UPDATE 1035z:  No spots on 10m WSPR here as yet.

That balloon again!

The Bristol balloon is now over North Africa, having been all around the globe.

See http://tracker.habhub.org/#!mt=roadmap&mz=0&qm=All&f=UBSEDS14&q=UBSEDS14