Rally today

Milton Keynes Amateur Radio Society 2016 Rally 

Sunday 28th August 2016

The Irish Centre, Manor Fields, Watling Street, Bletchley, MK2 2HX(Opposite Dobbies Garden Centre - see map below)
ENTRANCE FEE £3.00 - FREE PARKING
The Milton Keynes Amateur Radio Society (MKARS) annual radio rally is to be held at this superb new location, which has excellent modern facilities together with free on site parking, indoor catering, a public bar and disabled facilities.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC FROM 10AM
The new venue is located on the edge of Fenny Stratford on Watling Street.
From M1 Junction 13 - 7 miles (approx. 16 mins)
From M1 Junction 14 - 6.4 miles (approx. 15 mins)
Follow MKARS signs from the A5 roundabout Fenny Stratford 
TALK IN ON 145.550MHZ (S22)
Indoor trade stalls, club stall, electronics components tools and accessories. Antenna and rigging hardware, computer and electronics surplus.
Disabled parking area

AFTERWARDS WHY NOT VISIT THE RSGB NATIONAL RADIO CENTRE AT NEARBY BLETCHLEY PARK

Return to 10m JT65

A short while ago, I QSYed back to 10m JT65 from 6m. There is more chance of  DX on 10m especially this afternoon and evening.

UPDATE 1246z: We had a little rain about 30 minutes ago, but the weather looks good for most of the week ahead. We have grandchildren here, which is good.

UPDATE 1304z: Since returning to 10m I have not been spotted, or spotted, anyone yet!

UPDATE 1500z:  All the 10m JT65 spots were Es at breakfast time, with nothing since, as yet.

Our garden - NOT amateur radio

Our garden is better in spring when the blossom is freshly out.

Our grass is going brown in places as we had quite a decent August after a poor start to summer. It always recovers after some rain.

The picture shows me next to one of our rowan trees in our garden with the windmill in the background. Richard G3TFX took the photo. He thinks I should string a long wire to the top of the mill! Of course the top and sails turn to face the wind. It moves several times in a week. Currently the sails are facing west. In this picture they are facing south.

5MHz

Southgate News reports that the SARL is trying to get a 100kHz slot at 5MHz. I think this is wise. A larger contiguous band would be so much more useful than the 15kHz worldwide allocation that was granted at WRC 2015. I hope CEPT countries try for a 100kHz wide 5MHz band. It could happen that quite a few countries allocate a 100kHz wide band on a secondary basis to the amateur service. In the coming quiet solar years this could become an important band.

New rig - not at the moment

I was going to invest in an IC7300, but, for the moment, I have decided not to bother. The FT817 serves me well and I am not that interested in running more power. If the price drops a lot I might think again.  The FT817 certainly serves my needs on 10m and 6m JT65 even on the middle power setting. I also have a transverter for 630m (see my design in the latest QST). I also have a stand-alone 500mW WSPR beacon for 10m.

Es - don't give up!

With another day with respectable Es on both 10m and 6m, the Es season is not yet over. OK there are probably fewer openings than a few months ago, but there are openings and when these bands are good for Es they are good. I recommend WSPR or JT65 as a way of detecting these openings. I find JT65 better on 6m as the levels of activity are greater. WSPR is theoretically able to work with even weaker signals. JT9-1 works on 10m and occupies far less bandwidth than JT65, which is already quite narrow and much better than CW.

UPDATE 1155z:  Quite a few Es spots from Europe on 6m JT65. I'll probably switch to 10m JT65 shortly.

UPDATE 1825z: 10m Es has returned. Just been spotted in Sweden.

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday August 28th 2016

Solar flux is a respectable 84 today and the sunspot number is 52. K=1. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor". With promising Es, all is not lost.

Early Es on 10m and 6m

I stayed on 10m JT65 overnight but switched to 6m JT65 around 0800z. There has been early Es on both bands, which is encouraging.

Chile - best DX tonight on 10m JT65

https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html

Quite late tonight at 2116z I copied CA3LMO (11745km) in Chile on 10m JT65. This was way after dark too.  The rig is still on, so further DX is still possible.

UPDATE 2145z:  Lots of European Es now. This was very late but it is as good as any day this season now.

Storm risk gone - 6m JT65 in the morning (probably)

The storm risk has moved away over the Wash and into the North Sea. There are still storms in north Norfolk but they are moving away NE. So, I shall remain on 10m JT65 this evening.  I could stay on overnight, but I shall probably go QRT later and come back tomorrow breakfast time on 6m JT65. There are fewer DX opportunities on 6m than 10m but more Gs on 6m than 10m JT65.