630m WSPR continues to amaze me

Last night, I was again on 630m WSPR (10mW ERP, 20%). Yet again LA2XPA/2 (1310km) copied my signal twice. One report was -19dB S/N. Given a quiet noise floor this implies he could have copied me even if I was running less than 1mW ERP. And all this with my totally poor antenna!

On RX, all over western Europe copied again, including 2 EAs.

If you think 630m is hard, please, think again.

Visit by old work colleague

Today an old work colleague called in. He has been retired for about a year now.  It was good to see him. I think the last time we met was just around the time he retired. He was a very good "natural" engineer. I am sure he is greatly missed.

He is very much into tracking amateur balloons.

MSF closedown

This appeared on the RSGB LF reflector today:

"The MSF 60 kHz time and frequency signal broadcast from Anthorn
Radio Station will be shut down on Thursday 14 December from 10:00 to 14:00 UTC."

Coffee - NOT amateur radio

If time permits, I buy a coffee and bread roll at Pret a Manger in Cambridge on the way to my weekly lectures on Samuel Pepys. At £1.59 total this is excellent value.

I hate having to queue for coffee as it is being prepared. If you want this fine, but Pret always has low cost filter coffee on tap. The latter is fine for me.

Southgate News 10m Report

This confuses me.

Many of the reporters are in W, PY, VK etc so I have no idea from this report what is being worked or heard from the UK. As a simple list of DX on the band it is meaningless.

If this was a list of what was being heard or worked from the UK, it would be far more useful. I know my 10m setup is not the best, but reading this report, you might think there is more there than in reality. Certainly on 10m FT8 lately it has been dire. Most days I monitor 10m.

See http://southgatearc.org/bands/10metres/2017/december/dec-07.htm#.Wikilkx2v4g

OFCOM and fixed wireless spectrum

OFCOM today published a paper following its consultation.

See https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/108594/Fixed-Wireless-Spectrum-Strategy.pdf

630m WSPR last night and this morning

At the moment, I am still on 630m WSPR (10mW ERP, 20%). Last night I was spotted by 14 unique stations using my "compromise" vertical with LA2XPA/2 (1310km) as the best DX and I copied 14 uniques.

UPDATE 1352z: I decided to stay on 630m WSPR all day. At times, G0VQH has been getting me very strongly.

Sunspots - Thursday December 7th 2017

Solar flux is 68 today and the sunspot number 13.  A=16 and K=3.

472kHz WSPR last night

EA5DOM (1525km) was spotted 18 times last night using the earth-electrode antenna, even though the direction was not optimised. On TX, with less than 10mW ERP WSPR. I was spotted by 9 unique stations (all G). Overall, I think the compromise vertical is slightly better than the earth-electrode "antenna" on 472kHz, although the earth-electrode "antenna" is surprisingly effective.

On 472kHz it was hard to see a noise peak around breakfast time with the earth-electrode "antenna". I guess it is back to the compromise vertical on 472kHz tonight to see if this is the same. My theory is this is an E-field antenna, whereas the earth-electrode "antenna" is more like an H-field antenna.

A few years ago the external noise on 472kHz was very low (less than S2). Nowadays it is S7.

Car Tax - NOT amateur radio

Through the post today I received a car-tax reminder. I went online and completed the form. It was very easy. As my car is a recent clean diesel, 12 months cost me nothing! They even send you an email to confirm you've paid - in my case nothing at all!

The fuel averages 60 miles per gallon, even motoring locally. Diesels get a bad press, but recent ones are pretty good. These days I guess we do less than 8000 miles a year- probably 5000 miles a year?