10m WSPR (500mW)

Once again I am giving 10m WSPR TX a go using the stand alone WSPR beacon and the indoor loop antenna. This leaves the PC free for 6m FT8.

Theoretically, WSPR should be about 10dB better with weak signals than FT8. However, it takes 120 seconds (nearly) for a transmission burst whereas FT8 is only 15 seconds (nearly). I am not sure how little of each is needed for a successful decode.

UPDATE 0930z:  Spotted twice by OZ7IT (853km).

UPDATE 1037z: Now spotted by HB9TMC (905km).

UPDATE 1300z: Now getting spots by OE9GHV (871km). I notice the HB9 is giving me up to -4dB S/N, which is massive for 500mW to the indoor loop. Also being spotted by OE9HLH and DL4TOM/RX. I am getting 10m WSPR spots from more stations than I expected.

Unique stations spotting my 
10m WSPR today. Quite a 
few have copied me multiple times.

UPDATE 1354z: So far today, my 500mW WSPR beacon on 10m to the tiny indoor loop in the shack has been spotted by 9 different stations. Definitely more 10m WSPR activity than I was expecting.

UPDATE 1436z: Just after 1400z OZ7IT was getting my 500mW at 0dB S/N. On a quiet band with no man-made noise, this suggests he might have copied me on the indoor loop if I was running 0.5uW!! (yes half a microwatt!).  Incredible.

6m FT8

Just after breakfast I turned on 6m FT8. So far, spots of my 10W from 14 stations with some Es. It is now 0800z.

UPDATE 1245z:  170 spots of me so far today.  Best DX is by EA8AKN (2985km). 2 QSOs so far this morning.

UPDATE 1510z:  254 stations have spotted me in the last 12 hours on 6m FT8. I have lost count of the number of QSOs!

UPDATE 1557z: 274 stations have spotted my 10W to the V2000 vertical omni antenna today so far. Nothing copied from the Americas or Caribbean here yet. Better equipped stations may have been more fortunate. I guess beams and height could be worth 10dB more. In the past though, real DX signals on SSB and CW have been quite good. If the path opens, I don't usually miss much.

UPDATE 1843z:  305 stations have spotted me so far today on 6m FT8 TX.

UPDATE 2140z:   No signs here of "real DX" so QRT.

Sunspots - Friday May 22nd 2020

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=5 and K=2.

QRT

At about 2045z I went QRT on all bands. Not bad on 6m FT8, but useless on 10m WSPR TX using 500mW to the tiny indoor loop antenna.

TUI - NOT amateur radio

In the past we have had some great holidays in Corfu with TUI (now part of Thompson).  Sadly, we had to cancel our latest planned trip as holidays to Greece were likely to be axed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. We were promised a 70% refund within 5 working days.

10 weeks later we are still waiting for our refund!

On the BBC TUI is consistently mentioned as being one of the worst companies in this crisis. We have emailed several times and these bounced. We waited for 2 hours on the phone to be given an email that immediately bounced. They seem to be hopeless at communicating with their customers.

Based on their recent performance, they have lost a valued customer.

ICOM IC-705 latest news

On the ICOM website they just say this has been delayed until "later in the year".  As reported some days ago MLS is saying July, but I think it will be much later.  They may be having technical issues and they have the Covid-19 pandemic to deal with.

Although the price is too high, it covers multiple bands and has some novel features such as Bluetooth and GPS.

For the latest news check the ICOM website or sign up for their newsletter.

See https://icomuk.co.uk/IC-705-HF-VHF-UHF-Mobile-Transceiver/3977/1338/14/

Amateur VLF experiments

One of the great things about our hobby is that it can be enjoyed in so many ways. Some get excited by amateur TV, some just enjoy a good chat, others like DXing, others EME and so on.

When I was fitter, I enjoyed experimenting with VLF. Several European amateurs were detected around 8kHz. My own thing was "earth-mode" VLF which involved injecting a signal at home (5W) then going out in the car to see where it could be detected. 6km was possible and far further was probably possible, but my stroke got in the way sadly.

To this day, I still host the Sub-9kHz Amateur Radio page and you may get some useful pointers from my old blogs. It would be great if someone carried this forwards as it is an area ripe for simple experiments.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vlf/8-97khz-earth-mode-transmitter

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vlf

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp/Home/earthmode. This is on my old website which is not maintained, so do not follow the links on the left that may not work!

10m WSPR

Just remembered that I could be on 10m WSPR TX 100%  (500mW) using my stand-alone WSPR beacon, whilst being on 6m FT8 transceive. Now, there is not as much WSPR activity as there was, as most people prefer FT8, but it is still worth having a go. I am on the indoor loop on 10m WSPR. Although the beacon is on 100% TX, frequency is changed randomly every 2 minute slot. As of 1400z (after about 10 minutes) nobody had spotted me on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1448z: The last time I checked the WSPRnet database it was very slow. I seem to recall this was an issue last year. Other pages seem OK, so I don't think it is my internet connection.

UPDATE 1818z: So far, not a single spot of my 10m 500mW WSPR. Either there are few people or not much Es. I suspect the former, but it might be both. On previous occasions local G4KPX (13km) has always spotted me so I know the loop works.  Even if it is a few dB down, with Es I'd expect to get some spots.

UPDATE 2008z:  No spots of my 10m WSPR. Looking on the WSPRnet database, there was not much Es activity in Europe. Either this means most WSPR users have moved to FT8 or this was just a bad day. I'll try again tomorrow.

6m FT8

A few moments ago, I went on 6m FT8.  Everything had been disconnected because there was a risk of thunder. Within a few minutes I was spotted by 12 stations including some in Portugal by Es.  After about 10 minutes I had been spotted by no less than 27 stations despite  just 10W to the V2000 vertical omni antenna. On RX just 2 stations spotted so far.

UPDATE 1251z:  So far today, 83 spots of me and plenty of 2-way QSOs via Es. On 6m FT8 RX 57 stations spotted so fa

UPDATE 1451z:  Now 122 spots of my 6m FT8 10W today so far.

Sunspots - Thursday May 21st 2020

Solar flux is 70 and the SSN 0. A=3 and K=0.