630m QRP WSPR overnight

A better overnight session with 18 stations spotting my 10mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground.

Sunspots - Wednesday March 27th

 Solar flux is 178 and the SSN 149. A=11 and K=1.

630m QRP WSPR (Tuesday)

My 10mW ERP 630m WSPR is on. So far, 8 stations have spotted me. Yet again, the "antenna" is the earth-electrodes in the ground. At the moment the best DX is only EI.

Swallows - NOT amateur radio

The first swallows have arrived back in Devon from South Africa. The earliest I have seen them up here in East Anglia is on April 7th, but it is usually later in April.

I was hoping that I might hear a chiffchaff on our walk this morning but I was unlucky.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/swallow .

Spring - NOT amateur radio

This morning we went for a nice walk around the village. I was expecting this morning to be bright but chilly so I put a warm coat on. 

It was actually quite mild and no coat was needed. Today really felt like spring, after what has seemed a long, wet, dark winter

6m QRP FT8 (Tuesday)

 My 2.5W FT8  to the V2000 vertical omni antenna was turned on early this morning.

UPDATE 1555z: 16 stations have spotted me including IZ0GVZ (1357km).

10m 500uW WSPR beaconing

 As I was expecting today to be poor, I started beaconing at 500mW. Then I noticed that EA8FBK (2880km) was spotting me as strong as -2dB S/N, so I turned the beacon PA off at about 0945z and continued at just 500uW (0.5mW). At this tiny power he has spotted me twice by 1425z.

UPDATE 1920z:  EA8BFK has spotted me 21 times today when I was running just 500uW (0.5mW). It would seem EA8BFK is a single F2 hop, so he has the best chance. Please note that even though my WSPR beacon is pre-programmed to report 500mW as the power, it is actually 30dB lower (500uW) during these tests.

630m QRP WSPR getting worse

 Overnight I was spotted by just 8 stations which is the poorest this season. Not sure if this is conditions or whether increasing noise levels are making the detection of my 10mW ERP harder.

Sunspots - Tuesday March 26th

 Solar flux is 178 and the SSN 163. A=11 and K=2.

630m QRP WSPR (Monday)

My 10mW ERP WSPR from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground was turned on at about 2115z.  So far a few spots of me of which the best was by PA1LSB (326km). So far, no great DX.