Garden in Spring - NOT amateur radio

This is a photo of our front garden yesterday. The windmill is in view on the right. Spring has nearly sprung: all the trees are now starting to look green or are in bud. Mind you, we still had a frost on Sunday morning.

Exclusive 24-hour Sale! Up to £18 off - NOT amateur radio

Alibris UK of course!  I'm sorry but this sort of marketing ploy does not impress me one bit. Every week there is an offer. It is stupid.

10m WSPR so far today

Just G stations being spotted and spotting me so far. G0VUH (157km) is a new one for me. G4CUI (172km) is best DX so far.

UPDATE 1140z:  HA9AL (1455km), OZ9QV (864km) and OZ7IT spotted me and I spotted OZ7IT (853km). It looks like we are now seeing Es on 10m WSPR.  It will soon be time to return to 6m WSPR.

UPDATE 1235z:  Now OK2SAM (1283km) has been spotted on 10m WSPR.  Lots of Es I think.

UPDATE 1615z:  HA9AL (1455km) is being spotted again. This is classic Es with a second peak around teatime. I may start 6m WSPR from tomorrow and revert to my 500mW 100% TX only beacon on 10m at the same time on a different antenna. 

481THz lightbeam experiment?

Our local windmill. Me seated. XYL on RHS.

It is getting close to the time when I fancy some field work! My first experiment will be to detect QRSS 481THz (red light) at some distance by reflection off our local windmill. It will need my XYL to accompany me as it will involve night driving but it will either work or not. This will be my first field test in a long long time.

This picture was taken in 2014 and the laurel hedge has grown quite a bit since. Look at a later post to see how it looks now.
Small steps...

Sunspots and 10m - Mon April 18th 2016

Solar flux is 103 today and the sunspot number 35 (K=1). The forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor". Yesterday there was some short-skip (Es?) on the band and we can expect more of this during the coming months.I have been on 10m WSPR since 0630z this morning.

Return to 472kHz WSPR

Well, as I think the opportunity for 10m DX has now gone for the day, I have again QSYed down to 472kHz WSPR. I hope WSPRnet is working this evening and overnight.

It will soon be time to fire up the 6m WSPR station as the Es season approaches. There have already been hints of Es on 10m and soon it will be 6m. In the last two Es seasons 4X1RF (3519km) has copied my 1W ERP 6m WSPR signal several times, although I dispute the conventional multi-hop theory. I personally think this is (maybe) some sort of E layer tilt without an intermediate hop on the ground. I may be wrong.

Back on 10m WSPR

WSPRnet seems to be working again. I have been on 10m WSPR for about 20 minutes so far but I am only being spotted by local Jenny G0VQH who is 15km south of me. No DX yet.

QRP station. Currently on 10m WSPR

UPDATE 1615z:  Apart from a single spot this afternoon by OZ9QV (864km) nobody else at any range has copied me on 10m WSPR today. I have copied Norway and Sweden on 10m WSPR today so there is short-skip (Es?) around.  I'll leave the rig running a bit longer on 10m WSPR in case there are any S.Americans. In the coming months you sometimes get mixed modes on 10m with Es joining with F2 further south and some remarkable distances are possible.   USA DX by multi-hop Es on 10m and 6m is usually later in the summer. In past Es seasons I have copied USA, Caribbean and S.Americans by Es on 6m. I have only worked the USA once on 6m CW QRP but that was by Es. At the time 6m sounded like 20m!

WSPRnet - still broken?

Several times I have tried to enter the WSPRnet database, but without success. It looks like it is broken again. Without WSPRnet WSPR is no good, in my view.

EU referendum - NOT amateur radio

There is a poor quality debate on this matter. We vote on whether or not to remain in the EU in less than 10 weeks but the quality of the arguments is very poor.

The UK has looked towards the EU as a common market and never with a view to a political union. Many in Europe see it as a way to keep peace in Europe. At the moment I am still inclined to vote "IN" but the politicians here are certainly not winning hearts and minds on either side.

The debate needs to be more positive! All I hear are fear and uncertainty.

Late spring? - NOT amateur radio

A few months ago everything seemed to be early. We have seen daffodils in flower right through from late November. Some places have loads of daffodils in flower and even some snowdrops still. Yet, if anything, spring is late here. It is now way in to April but I have yet to see a swallow in this area. My laurel hedge is hardly growing. The grass has only been cut a few times. Odd. Yes there buds coming out, but spring is definitely not early here.