Best DX on 6m JT65 for some years

UN7TW (5214km) in southern Kazakhstan (MN52 square) was spotted on 6m JT65 earlier today. This is a very long way for a VHF band!  A reminder that I am just using a V2000 vertical omni antenna, so nothing special. It bodes well for transatlantic 6m reception. I assume this was some form of Es.

Early morning 6m JT65

It is now 0926z. Already I have had several G spots of my 1W ERP 6m JT65 beacon and I have spotted several G stations here. I assume these are either tropo or aircraft reflection. Best DX on 6m RX here is G0VUH (157km). Best DX on 6m JT65 TX is G1IDZ (182km). As yet, no Es seen here on 6m.

Early 10m Es

I did a resync of the 10m WSPR beacon before breakfast. There was early Es on 10m WSPR this morning with Danish stations spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon.

UPDATE 0954z:  Es spots from all over Europe now.

UPDATE 1028z: Some of the 10m spots are from Holland. If Es, this is very short skip suggesting Es possibly as high as 2m. It is possible these are tropo or aircraft reflections.  I think Es is more likely as aircraft reflections are usually accompanied by lots of Doppler and the aircraft have to be in the right place for quite a long time with WSPR.

Sunspots and 10m - Wed July 6th 2016

Solar flux is 77 today. Sunspot number is 23, not zero as it has been for quite a while.  K=1 but the forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor". Luckily there is 10m Es.

More from OFCOM

See http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/?utm_source=updates&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1st-Tues-June.  More exciting stuff from OFCOM.  Gosh, this is so exciting that I find it hard not to lose sleep.

10m Es WSPR

Today was not (so far) the best day on 10m for Es, although I have received 26 reports from across Europe. Looking at the reports the Es seemed to favour more northerly stations with nothing so far from southern Europe today.

10m WSPR spots received so far today

2m UKAC tonight

As this is the first Tuesday of the month, it is the 2m UK activity contest this evening. With VHF NFD last weekend I wonder what activity will be like? As usual, I shall go on for a while until I have to stop because of my poor voice. Usually I manage an hour or less in the AL section running 5W and an omni antenna.

UPDATE 2210z: 8 contacts made with best DX G5BBL/P at 221km. Conditions were up. Good turnout with GM, GW, F, ON and PA heard.

Stations worked (5W and omni antenna) on 2m SSB tonight

Grandchildren gone home - NOT amateur radio

We had the "London" grandchildren here last night and today as their school teachers were on strike. We had a picnic in the Abbey Gardens at Bury-St-Edmunds and played crazy golf.

6m JT65 today

At the moment, it looks like there were fewer Es openings on 6m today. Most of my spots  were from Gs although I was spotted in Poland this morning (1W ERP JT65) and I have spotted stations as far away as Eastern Ukraine  in the form of UR5MED (2692km).

Sunspots and 10m - Tues July 5th 2016

Solar flux is 73 today and again the sunspot number is zero (K=1). The 10m F2 propagation forecast is "poor" again.