70cm UKAC this evening

Although I have no suitable antennas, just my 2m halo which matches, tonight is the monthly 70cm leg of the UK activity contests organised by the RSGB.

As my voice is still very poor, I shall probably be on for much less than an hour.  It starts at 1900z and ends at 2130z. As usual I shall be QRP with 5W SSB. Even with my poor setup, I am often surprised by what I can work. Give it a go!

Stations worked on 70cm this evening - 5W and 2m halo

UPDATE 1950z: After 30 minutes I had to stop because of my poor voice. G4CLA (105km) was the best worked tonight - not bad with 5W and a 2m halo fed with lossy RG58 coax! One not shown was in our village.

Before radio

See http://www.newmarketlhs.org.uk/shuttertelegraph.htm . A reminder that even in the days before radio, messages could be sent a long way. My thanks to John Mullins for sending me this link. Fascinating.

This system was set up by the UK Admiralty in the early 1800s, presumably to give early warnings of a French attack.

If memory serves me right, Morse came on the scene in the early 1840s. By the late 1800s most of the world was connected by telegraph - the Victorian Internet. We were better connected than I thought before radio.

More Sputniks

From Oleg:

Dear Space Friends,
thanks  Jos  for Mag Loop "Sputnik" QSO report. All QSOs installed in
the  totals log. Also "astronaut" Pavel RA7RA/Vanguard informed about
new  QSO with M0AUW with 150 mW e pnp transistor P416 (old type of ex
USSR).  In  the photo gallery I install some pictures of R2DNN Ge pnp
TX-beacon  (beacon  mode  only)  120...250  mW.  Enjoy  photo  of his
home-made heat sink so called "a-la sputnik" concept-form :-)
BTW.  On  the  1's USSR Sputnik and US Vanguard really TX beacons was
installed (both). So it looks like we need to add "Beacon" category in
the Sputnik Activity Days in the future. Isn't it?
72! beep-beep-beep...
Deep Space Communications Center
operator on duty -
Oleg ("Mr. 72") RV3GM / KH6OB

6m JT65

G0LRD (25km) was the only station spotting me on 6m JT65 today.

I did spot EA4BAS (1340km) in Madrid this afternoon on 6m JT65. There is still life on 6m even in October, although you have to look for it!

UPDATE 1842z: There was an outside chance of catching some TEP on 6m JT65, but this has not materialised.

Good on 10m WSPR today

Quite a variety of Europeans and Israel, 4X1RF (3519km) spotting my 500mW on 10m WSPR today. I assume this was Es but it might have been F layer backscatter. As 10m WSPR was proving so productive, I decided to stick with 10m WSPR and 6m JT65 all day.

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday October 11th 2016

Solar flux is a respectable 102 and the sunspot number is 64 (quite good). This figure will probably exceed the next maximum in cycle 25. K=1. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor", although for several weeks there has been good 10m propagation N-S on 10m JT65.

6m JT65 and 10m WSPR

For a change, I have started on 10m WSPR and 6m JT65 this morning. No spots on 10m WSPR as yet and just G0LRD (25km) spotting me on 6m. I have spotted M0AAX (107km) in South London on 6m JT65, either by tropo or aircraft reflection.

TEP (Trans Equatorial Propagation)

For the last few weeks, I have spotted, and been spotted, by lots of stations deep in South America on 10m JT65. To me, this looks like TEP. According to the "experts" this sort of propagation goes across the equator and can occur at up to 70cm. I guess the MUF is lower as the solar activity drops off. Here in the UK I guess we need another propagation mode to reach the TEP region. TEP is more common further south.

See http://www.amateur-radio-wiki.net/index.php?title=Trans-Equatorial_Propagation .

More QRP, QRP Club and Sputniks

More from Oleg today:

Dear Space Friends,
thanks  to Peter PA0PJE for report of October 9. New 4 "Sputnik" QSOs
installed on the results page - club72.su
> ...make some more contacts on 30 meters. I worked 4 stns:
72! beep-beep-beep...
Deep Space Communications Center
operator on duty -
Oleg ("Mr. 72") RV3GM / KH6OB

No storms yet

See http://www.lightningmaps.org/?lang=en . So far the storms are far away, so I can remain on air for hours still. There is an outside chance of storms around early evening.

UPDATE 1220z:  The first lightning strikes have happened - in the North Sea just off East Lincolnshire.  I shall keep a close watch.

UPDATE 1445z: At the moment, the only storms are over the sea off eastern Kent.  Staying on the air for now.

UPDATE 1700z: The nearest storms are in France and Belgium. I think it unlikely I shall have to go QRT early tonight.