Sunspots and 10m - Monday December 12th 2016

Solar flux is 71 today and the sunspot number 13. A=15 and K=1.

Although the 10m propagation forecast is "poor" I have been spotted well over 9000km away using 2W 10m JT65 QRP and a very average wire antenna.

Take over? - NOT amateur radio

The company I used to work for may be the subject of a take over bid from a rival Chinese company. Watching the share chat you realise that most stock brokers are simply gamblers in for a gain. And to think these parasites earn big bonuses! For what? Makes my blood boil.

See http://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChat.asp?ShareTicker=SEPU .

Cold Arctic

See http://www.spaceweather.com/ .

The Space Weather website has some great images of stratospheric polar clouds saying the Arctic Circle is getting very cold.

Mesospheric clouds (higher than the stratosphere) are often associated with 6m DX from Europe to Japan. I don't know if such propagation is possible at this time of year. These openings are usually in late June, I think.

I don't know if stratospheric clouds reflect radio waves as do mesospheric clouds.

See https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/atmosphere-layers2.html for details of atmospheric layers.

QRP and QRP Club

More from Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,

WQR Report (December 11, 2016 - Weekly QRP Rendez-Vous)
Visitors  of  the  week:  UA1CEX,  EA2LU, DK1HW, US5ERQ, RW3AA, RD2A,
RA7RA,  UR0ET,  US3EN,  UA1ADF,  EW1CY, UA1CEG, DL3VZL, UR5EFD, R1OA,
OH7QR, OH5LP, SM7RYR, DF4JH, OH6NPV, UR7VT, PG4I, DK2SC, R1CAF, DL3XZ,
RV3GM,  RA1M,  UR8QV,  G3XJS,  OM6TC,  UY1IF, OK1AQW, UA1AFT, PD7CJT,
RU3NJC,  G4MLW, EA6BB, UA0SBQ, RA3PKV, SM2BYW, G3WCY, UA1CEX, RN4NAA,
RD6MZ,  ON6KZ,  SV2BBK,  DL4IA,  UA9SFQ, RA4NEW, DL1HTW, R3TR, DJ6GI,
Z35M, UR5IFM
Congrats!
OH7QR,  UY1IF,  PD7CJT,  UR5IFM  became  Honor  Frequenters  (regular
visitors) - Thanks!
Comments........
See full "rendezvous" report - http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/

72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"

This is a periodic Newsletter of the Club 72. Don't reply to Newsletter address! Send any requests or news to mr72@club72.su please.

10m JT65 - DX spots

As well as a German spot in the middle of the night, FR1GZ (9724km) spotted me in the last hour. 10m DX.

UPDATE 1948z: As a later post indicates, the PC needed an update installing, so the lack of spots this afternoon and early evening may have been due to timing rather than propagation.

Geminids meteor shower

Peaking around December 13-14th is the Geminids meteor shower. This will help with MS communications as there will be more "pings" and longer ones. Look at the constellation Gemini to see early signs. MS using digital comms is popular on 2m.

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday December 11th 2016

There are no sunspots visible today so the sunspot number is zero. K=3 (quiet). See http://www.spaceweather.com/ . As you can see, I looked elsewhere for the data as it is already 1515z.

Stroke after-effects - NOT amateur radio

Even years after my stroke, I am still becoming aware of some of the after-effects. My short-term memory is poor and I seem unable to see quite obvious spelling and grammatical errors. Clearly my brain is not able to process things in quite the same way it once could. I try to correct mistakes as soon as I notice them, but if I miss things, you'll know why!

Yet again - no solar forecast, as yet

Yet again, the source of my solar data is still showing data for yesterday, so I cannot put up today's data yet. If this continues I shall have to look elsewhere. Please accept my apologies.

I'll update the data as soon as I get it.

10m JT65 overnight and Sunday

We have visitors and my shack involves walking through their room, so I remained on 10m JT65 overnight rather than moving to MF. It was interesting with LA9LOA (1414km) spotting my 2W QRP just after 0400z on 10m JT65. This is a very odd time.

UPDATE 1520z: G0LRD (25km) has also spotted my 2W QRP 10m JT65, but no DX as yet. Clearly David gets me better on 6m, as the antennas are somewhat better on that band.

UPDATE 1645z: G4CJC (73km) has been spotted on 10m JT65. As yet, no South Americans spotted on 10m JT65 here.

UPDATE 1944z: It looks like no DX on 10m JT65 here today. The chances of spotting South Americans, or being spotted myself, have probably gone for today. I'll stay on 10m overnight in case anything else pops up.