Salcombe in December - NOT amateur radio

As a child I grew up in Salcombe in Devon. The photo shows the town in winter.  Most visitors have gone.

10m QRP WSPR TX (Friday)

As the 10m antenna is available, I am on TX with the 500mW W5OLF beacon. So far, at 1020z, 2 unique stations are spotting me. EA8BFK (2880km) gave an amazing +15dB S/N report just now!!

UPDATE 1417z: 3 unique stations have spotted me with the furthermost FY5KE (7110km).

UPDATE 2020z:  Still just 3 unique stations spotting me today. QRT soon.

6m FT8 QRP (Friday)

Once again, I was briefly on 6m FT8 using 2.5W TX to the V2000 vertical omni antenna. After the brief TX period (no spots!), I am RX only (no spots!). OK, it is early. Maybe things will get better.

UPDATE 1414z:  9 stations spotted on RX today. See map.

UPDATE 2040z:  Still just those 9 stations spotted. Now QRT.

160m FT8 RX overnight

Overnight I was on 160m FT8 RX with the active loop antenna on the shack window. In all 206 stations were spotted. 

Newmarket - NOT amateur radio

We do most of our food shopping in nearby Newmarket, which is the worldwide home of horseracing. 

Sunspots - Friday December 31st 2021

Solar flux is 102 and the SSN 77.  A=8 and K=1 

160m FT8 RX with the active antenna

As 6m and 10m seem to be dead now, I have QSYed to 160m FT8 RX. I shall probably leave it running overnight. At 2011z, 70 stations spotted.

UPDATE 2108z:  86 stations spotted on RX today. 

Rally

As far as I know the Sparkford Wireless Group rally near Yeovil is still on this Sunday January 2nd. Contact the organiser to confirm.

Baking time - NOT amateur radio

 

Our younger granddaughter making minced pies in the kitchen.

Super DX by E layer

Recently, there have been reports of DX contacts on 6m between New Zealand and South America. For as many late spring/early summers as I can remember there have been 6m VHF QSOs between western Europe and Japan.  All these QSOs appear to be via E layer, but I think these are too far for multi-hop Es.

My own theory is this is some sort of chordal hop E layer propagation. It always seems to be in late spring/early summer and is linked to noctilucent clouds which form in the mesosphere around this time (late June, early July in the northern hemisphere).

I get the impression that these modes may well work at far higher frequencies, possibly even microwaves.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/vhfuhfmicrowaves/super-dx . 

See also John's blog at https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/ .