Moved to 6m WSPR

As the Es season seems to have started, I have QSYed to 6m WSPR (1W ERP) and put the 500mW 10m WSPR beacon on 10m (100% TX).

UPDATE 0942z: I see that OZ9QV (864km) has copied my 500mW 10m WSPR a couple of times.

UPDATE 1022z: Several 10m WSPR spots but nothing yet on 6m WSPR.

Auroras?

This was on Space Weather earlier:

"SOLAR WIND ENGULFS EARTH: A solar wind storm is underway around Earth as our planet enters a high-speed stream of gas flowing from a large hole in the sun's atmosphere."

Be on watch for auroral openings.

Sunspots and 10m - Monday April 24th 2017

Solar flux is 82 today and the sunspot number 43. A=41 and K=4.

As I said in an earlier post today, I think our Es season has started and we can look forward to several months of good propagation on 10m, 6m and 4m. Es openings are mainly up to about 1500km, but most seasons Es openings bring in the USA, Caribbean and South America even on 6m. The conventional wisdom is this is multi-hop Es, but I have some doubts over this preferring some kind of chordal hop involvement.

Althurium - NOT amateur radio

My wife has a way with orchids and those we have live for years.

I had to look this house-plant up as I did not know its name. It is not an orchid - well I don't think it is! As you can tell, I am no plant expert!

10m WSPR (2W) transceive

After success yesterday, I am on 10m WSPR today running 2W (20% TX) with the rest of the time on RX. Before I switched to 2W on the FT817 I was spotted on my 500mW beacon overnight in Italy and Germany on 10m WSPR. I think this is the start of the Es season.

UPDATE 0816z: Several spots of my 2W 10m WSPR by EW2ABC (1812km).

UPDATE 0833z:  DF4UE (758km) reporting me at +7dB S/N - has to be Es.

Tulips - NOT amateur radio

We have had a crazy few months. Daffodils were about 6 weeks late, but most things are now early! Today, we visited Ickworth, near Bury St Edmunds. Most tulips were past their best and another week and we'd probably see none still in flower! This one would be over within a week.

QRP and QRP Club report

This came in from Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,

Weekly QRP Rendez-Vous Report (April, 23, 2017)
Visitors  of the week: HB9DAX, RV3GM, UA1CEG/p, US5ERQ, DK1HW, UR7VT,
R1CAF,  R2FAE,  UY1IF,  R1OA,  G3XJS,  DL8MEL, PD7CJT, OK1KW, RU3NJC,
R1CAN, UA1ADF, UA1CEX, R2AJA, UR0ET, OH3GZ, F5OYS, Z35M
New Visitors - DL8MEL, F5OYS - you are welcome!
See full Visitors and Frequenters lists on the Club 72 page.
Some comments...
See full WQR Report including comments and pictures on the blog page -http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/
Thanks  ALL for activity and comments.
See all QRPers on the next QRP Rendez-Vous

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.

Dunnock - NOT amateur radio

We get fewer small birds in the garden these days. I did see a robin feeding a new born on the lawn earlier today. A robin was flirting with a nestbox in the garden yesterday. I think it is sitting on eggs. There was activity there this morning.

Our most common birds are pigeons and blackbirds. There are smaller birds around, but they are not as common as they used to be.

The bird shown is a dunnock or hedge sparrow. These birds tend to lurk, but we see quite a few on our lawns.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/d/dunnock/ .

Geosynchronous amateur satellite next year?

At the moment, 2018 seems the likely launch date of a Middle East satellite that includes a 250kHz wide linear amateur transponder. Now, it has to get into the right orbit and work. If successful, the 2.4GHz uplink and 10GHz downlink would enable very wide coverage around the world with small, fixed antennas. If it works, it could change amateur radio for ever. There are a lot of uncertainties.

See https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/geosynchronous/eshail-2/

6m MSK144 RX again

Yet again, I have chosen 6m MSK144 RX this morning as well as 10m WSPR TX again. This mode/band (MSK144/6m) never seems to fail unlike 10m WSPR that has been very poor of late with an absence of even locals.

Lack of activity, not conditions, seems to be the main reason why 10m seems "dead". If we don't use it, it may be allocated to CBers before the next peak. We have a wide allocation and could you really blame the FCC or OFCOM if they decided to reallocate? We'd only have ourselves to blame. As they say, " use it or lose it".  In this day and age, we deserve to lose it sadly.

UPDATE 0915z: On 6m already 22 stations spotted in 11 countries.

UPDATE 1035z: Surprise, surprise! Some 10m WSPR spots at last!

On 6m MSK144 RX the score is 25 stations in 12 countries spotted so far today.