Excellent Es on 10m

The Es on 10m was excellent this evening. G3WKW (Bob, an old work colleague) tells me that 6m was open to the USA yesterday. Just my luck to decide to be on 10m!  So, I shall definitely be on 6m JT65 tomorrow and 10m WSPR at the same time.

UPDATE 2006z:  Yet again, I was spotted in South America on 10m this time by ZP4KFX (10277km) by JT65. He is in Paraguay.

PW Datacard, and AM

My Sept 2016 edition of Practical Wireless arrived today in the post. In it, was a data-card showing the HF beacons and on the reverse the latest HF band plans. Although I do not blame PW who just reproduced the band plans for our convenience I am again appalled that AM gets no mention apart from 5MHz.

BTW, am I alone in finding the 5MHz channels totally confusing?

For as long as I can remember just above 29MHz has been the home of 10m AM. Most users use old AM rigs and they sound superb. FM, with wider bandwidths, gets a mention, but not poor old AM. On 10m there is plenty of space for all modes. Why, oh why, does AM get treated like a nasty disease?? As 10m becomes more like a VHF band for much of the year there is a place for AM. Even in the best years, there is space. For much of the next 10 years 10m will be seen by many as a wasteland.

As readers will know, I like narrow-band digital modes like WSPR, JT65 and JT9-1. I also like AM which takes less space than FM, but is treated badly today.

More success on the ULF 101km (2.97kHz) band

Today I heard that Stefan DK7FC's 100nW ERP signal on 2.97kHz VLF was received in a 212uHz bandwidth at 16.8km. He will soon be trying to receive this radiated signal at 30km. I wish him every success.

Hi ULF friends,
This is the summary of my portable RX experiment in 16.8 km distance to my transmit site. It is into the far field of the 101 km RF wave.
A 100 nW ERP signal was sent and recorded for nearly 2 days.
The recording was started on Saturday, 30th of July (14:58 UTC) and was finished on Monday, 01st of August (12:25 UTC). The transmission was a carrier sent on 2970.000 Hz, it was shifted by +2.5 mHz at 8 UTC on Sunday and again shifted by -5 mHz on Monday, 8 UTC.
In the post processing of nearly 30 GB wav files the signal was successfully detected.
Due to the exceptionally high QRN levels (even for the summer time), the SNR was lower than expected, however the traces and frequency shifts are clearly visible.
Spectrogram of the signal in 212 uHz FFT bin width: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19882028/ULF/17km212.jpg
Spectrogram of the signal in 47 uHz FFT bin width: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19882028/ULF/17km47.jpg
A wideband spectrogram giving an idea about the natural and man made noise conditions as well as the frequency response of the tuned loop antenna: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19882028/ULF/17kmwide.jpg
Wideband spectrogram zoomed to the spectrum of interest: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19882028/ULF/17kmwide3.jpg
The best SNR shown is 12 dB in 212 uHz and 17 dB in 47 uHz.
During the post-processing procedure it happened that SpecLab has plotted a few pixel twice. I don't know the reason.
It looks like i am now seeing the natural background noise on 2970 Hz even in quiet periods (the faint vertical traces). However the man made noise is still playing a role in this QTH.
Further informations can be found in the older emails below.
73, Stefan
PS: A next experiment is planned in a few weeks. The goal is 30 km distance. With lower QRN levels, a better tuned antenna and higher power (already running!) this should give even better results.

Tokyo Ham Fair

I wonder if we will see any new products at the Tokyo Ham Fair on August 20/21st? My ideal rig would be a QRP version of the IC7300 but available in Europe. I know they make versions with lower power for Japan only.

Rally

Friday 12 AUGUST : 23rd ANNUAL MINI-RALLY NIGHT
 
Community Centre, Main Hall, Port Seton, East Lothian EH32 0BQ.  Bring along your own 'junk' and sell it yourself. Tables on a first come first served basis. Entrance fee £2 for everyone. Refreshments will be available. Doors open from 6pm to 9pm. The venue has disabled access.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Remember to contact the organisers to check details if travelling far. I'm sorry but there was no phone number given.

Early 10m Es

At the moment I remain on 10m JT65 but may return to 10m WSPR and 6m JT65 tomorrow. This morning there was early Es on 10m with my signal spotted in Germany 4 hours ago.

UPDATE 1248z: No shortage of 10m Es spots today on JT65 with my QRP being widely copied across southern Europe.

GQRP SPRAT

As I have said many times before, if I had to give up every other amateur radio magazine I would leave GQRP SPRAT. At £6 for 4 issues a year it remains excellent. It is filled with constructional articles in every issue. If you are a member you can get all the back issues on a DVD at a very good price. It is almost worth joining GQRP just to buy this DVD. To non-members it is £12 plus postage. I can promise you will not be disappointed with GQRP Club membership.

See http://www.gqrp.com/sprat.htm .

Sunspots and 10m - Wed August 10th 2016

Solar flux is 94 today and sunspot number is 72. K=3. Yet again the 10m F2 propagation remains "poor".

70cm UKAC contest

Last Tuesday I was away so I was unable to enter the 2m UKAC activity contest as usual. Tonight was the 70cm leg so I went on for a few minutes using 5W to the 2m halo. I only worked one station G4FEV in IO92RG. A few more stations were heard but not worked.

Swifts going? - NOT amateur radio

In May they arrive and for a few months the swifts are screaming in the skies above us. Then, you realise they are there no longer. I think they start to move this month.

I am sure there are swifts still around but there are fewer than a few weeks ago. Just weeks ago there were more than 20 overhead. Let us hope I see their return in the spring. To me, the screaming swifts are the making of an English spring and summer.

This year there were fewer swallows and house martins, but I saw plenty of swifts.

See http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/s/swift/  .