Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday May 9th 2017

What a difference a year makes on 10m! On this day last year I was exchanging WSPR spots with FR1GZ deep in the Indian Ocean and spotting Brazil on 10m WSPR.

Solar flux is 70 today and the sunspot number 11. A=6 and K=1. So far, the only spot on 10m WSPR was probably by tropo.

6m MSK144 RX

Yet again, I am on 6m MSK144 RX. So far 12 stations in 6 countries spotted with the best DX EA1SI (1069km) in Spain.

UPDATE 1124z:  Now 21 stations in 11 countries spotted on 6m MSK144 RX in the last 12 hours. Best DX is SM5KWU (1304km) in Sweden.

UPDATE 1325z:   27 stations in 12 countries so far in last 12 hours on 6m MSK144 RX.

UPDATE 2205z: Although I have now gone QRT on all bands, the total on 6m MSK144 RX was 30 stations in 12 countries in the last 12 hours.

10m WSPR

I have been on 10m WSPR TX overnight (500mW). Only one spot from PG0DX/1 (411km) during the overnight period. This was possibly tropo? I am still on 10m WSPR, ever hopeful.

Probing? - NOT amateur radio

Funny how one of my blogs had exceptional numbers yesterday and this blog exceptional numbers today. The fact these coincide with great interest from a certain Eastern European nation is purely coincidence?

Somehow I think someone is doing a regular probe to see if they are suitable sites to hack. Should my blogs suddenly disappear or behave oddly, you will know why. I try to avoid this, but some very famous sites have been affected in the past.

No internet - NOT amateur radio

Our broadband stopped working last night. I called the helpline and after an hour on the phone to India (where the call centre was located) it still refused to work. I was exhausted. After lunch my wife tried the call centre. A different person this time. Within 5 minutes everything was working. I don't know what she did but it worked.

Fewer swallows (birds)? - NOT amateur radio

It is the second week in May and I have seen no house martins, just one swift and very few swallows. I may be wrong, but there seem fewer around here this year.

Yesterday we went for a walk, taking about an hour, around part of the village and the skies were empty of these. In years past, the skies would have been filled with these migrants.

Each year that passes, there appear to be fewer and fewer. Just a few years ago (even last year) swifts were the most common bird in the summer sky. I have been looking and there are very few around, so far at least. Maybe they are late arriving, although I fear there are genuinely fewer about.

From the  RSPB website:

"Swallow numbers in the UK have fluctuated over the last 30 years with pronounced regional variation in trends."

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/s/swallow/ .
See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/s/swift/

PSK31 versus JT65

I was going to try PSK31 on 10m today, then I read this and decided against it! I shall try 10m JT65 (2W) again.

http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/what-can-jt65-do-that-psk31-cant-do-what-can-jt9-do-that-jt65-cant-do.540841/page-2

UPDATE 1648z: No JT65 spots on 10m here today, at least not yet.

Wideband verticals

There are several examples of wideband verticals. These are often designed to work without an ATU but performance is compromised. Martin, G8JNJ, has done some analysis of these. In some applications, these antennas serve a purpose, although the commercial versions are not low cost. If you can accept the compromises then take a look.

See http://www.g8jnj.net/cometcha250b.htm

Sunspots and 10m - Monday May 8th 2017

Solar flux is 70 today and sunspot number 23. A=8 and K=2. There seems to be more Es on 10m now although little real DX outside of Europe with my antenna. Others with better antennas and more power may be fairing better on 10m.

Muntjac Deer - NOT amateur radio

This small deer was introduced in the UK, but is now common. Last year we had some in our garden, and they nibbled our sweet peas! We saw one today in a nearby meadow. They are like a large dog in size.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntjac