Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday August 17th 2016

Solar flux is 85 today and the sunspot number 81. K=2. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor".

UPDATE 1440z:  The K index has dropped to 1.

Chile spotted on 10m JT65

CE3RR (11751km) has just been spotted on 10m JT65. He was one of 2 stations in Chile spotted tonight. I am still on, so slightly hopeful someone there will spot my QRP.

Feeding Ducks - NOT amateur radio

A few weeks ago we went to Bath. The photo shows one of my granddaughters feeding ducks in a park.

Paraguay om 10m JT65 already!

ZP4KFX (10277km) has already spotted me on 10m JT65. This is earlier than previous days and bodes well for further spots from South America later.

Widespread Es on 10m JT65

https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html

There was widespread Es on 10m JT65 today with lots of Europeans spotting me or being spotted quite early. Just off the map extract was a station in Finland that I spotted.

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday August 16th 2016

Solar flux is 88 today and the sunspot number 70. K=0. The 10m F2 propagation forecast is yet again "poor", although my 10m QRP JT65 was spotted in Paraguay again last evening. I presume this was F2.

Our rear garden in mid August - NOT amateur radio

The photo shows our garden in mid August. The rear garden always looks better in spring when there is lots of blossom. The rowan berries are out. The trees in the orchard next door are filled with apples and plums. Our sunflowers (in pots) have yet to flower. The windmill is just visible on the top RHS.

Paraguay (again) on 10m JT65

ZP4KFX (10277km) has again spotted my QRP JT65 on 10m 52 minutes ago. Every time I QSY to 10m he has copied me! PU2PWU (9572km) has been spotted here.

Now on 10m JT65

Earlier this afternoon I switched from 6m to 10m JT65. As expected, no G reports but a few Es spots from middle and southern Europe. I wonder if there will be any South Americans later? I think for now I have given up on WSPR as the WSPRRnet database seems so unreliable.

Expect me to be on 10m JT65 again tomorrow, although I may well stay on 10m JT65 overnight too.

10m WSPR and JT65

Yet again, it is the same stations spotting my 500mW on 10m WSPR - EA1FAQ, OZ7IT, OE6PWD and the WSPRnet database is still very slow. I think it is time for a more permanent move to 10m JT65. I shall change modes this afternoon. 10m WSPR has had its day.

Yes, I may try 10m WSPR again in the autumn. For now I shall be going QRT on 10m WSPR and giving JT65 a try. When not trying for 10m JT65 QSOs, I shall be sending "B G3XBM JO02".

The last time I went on 10m JT65 there were more people active than on WSPR but far fewer G spots than I got on 6m JT65. At least on 10m I am more likely to catch the fleeting F2 openings.

6m JT65 today

Although there is some Es about my best report today on 6m is EI7IX (678km) in the west of Eire. This is probably Es but it could be aircraft reflection.

Sunspots and 10m - Mon August 15th 2016

Solar flux is 87 today. Sunspot number is 61 (K=2) and the forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor".

As yet I have received no 6m JT65 Es spots but plenty from other G stations. I have spotted one IT9 by Es on 6m JT65. On 10m I see there is Es about but WSPRnet is very flaky yet again taking ages to load. Clearly this database needs help. I shall soon be moving to JT65 permanently on 10m in preference to WSPR.

Railways in Burwell - NOT amateur radio

Our local village museum has an exhibition about railways in and around Burwell. Passenger traffic ended in the early 1960s but freight traffic limped on for a few more years. They also had a video of the branch line to Mildenhall from Cambridge. If local, worth a visit.

6m JT65 and 10m JT65

Although I have spotted Asian stations at great range on 6m JT65 this summer,  I have failed to spot, or be spotted, by any North Americans on 6m. I shall stay on 6m JT65 for now, but may well move to 10m JT65 more. The trouble is I just know that there will be a huge 6m opening to the USA the moment I QSY! Sod's Law. Still I have been active on 6m JT65 most of the Es season, so it will soon be time to move.

I shall soon return to 630m (472kHz) WSPR.  Maybe I should try JT65 on MF?

6m  JT65 spots today

UPDATE 2015z: Today 6m has been more like 40m with plenty of Es right across Europe.

ISWL

For many years back in the 1960s I was an ISWL member. Years later I rejoined for a few years but left way before my stroke. I was saddened that no-one contacted me to persuade me to stay.  Although a friendly bunch, it was no longer for me.

At one time the ISWL had members from all over the world but when I left it was a shadow of its old self with not many members. I contributed to their magazine Monitor most months, but it had passed its "sell-by date". I am not sure how many members it now has but I'd be surprised if the number was much over 150.

See http://www.iswl.org.uk/ .

This is a warning to us all. As radio amateurs (on average) get older we can expect several magazines to go. 20 years from now we might lose pages (or worse) in SPRAT, QST, and RadCom amongst others. Some well known advertisers/dealers may go out of business, there will be less revenue from adverts and a dwindling market for new products. I have said this before, but I fear for the future of our hobby unless we can attract and keep a younger generation.

Old Shack

Old shack in 2009

Facebook throws up memories and today was no exception with a photo of my shack in the old house 7 years ago. In those days I had to share a bedroom, but nowadays I have a dedicated shack. I appreciate this.

Several rigs and the PC have changed.

The UK Pound - NOT amateur radio

At the moment, the UK pound seems to have stabilised since we voted to leave the EU. The value (about 10% lower) should work in favour of exporters, although less so if their raw materials are imported.

Imports become more expensive. Does this mean we will buy more UK food like UK bacon? Much of our food is imported. We could eat more UK grown food and this would help our balance of payments.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/currency/default.stm .

Slowly declining solar activity

Sunspot numbers (smoothed) are now about a third of their value at the last peak. Slowly, but surely, the solar activity is falling away. It will be some years to the next minimum (2019/2020?) and the next peak is expected to be poor or even non-existent. We wait and see.

Certainly the lower bands will become more important, although there is still propagation on the higher bands despite people going down the bands. I advocate WSPR or JT modes when the higher HF bands are quieter.

In years gone by I was surprised how useful 10m was with 10W SSB inter-G. In RSGB 10m contests at night I could always work stations on the south coast and Yorkshire despite just using a dipole. WSPR or JT modes should be far better.

See http://www.solen.info/solar/ .

6m JT65 and 10m WSPR

Well, it is now 1045z and I am still unable to access the WSPRnet database, so I have no idea what is happening on 10m WSPR.  Meanwhile, 6m JT65 continues apace with lots of spots from the UK and lots of Es from across Europe. I like JT65 but am disappointed with WSPRnet as every few weeks it just falls over.

The times I have tried JT65 on 10m I have reached South America every evening. Although it is not quite as good theoretically as WSPR, the higher levels of activity seems to more than make up for this. To be honest, I get better results with JT65 than WSPR.

UPDATE 1302z:  WSPRnet is still unavailable. This is hopeless.

UPDATE 1954z: WSPRnet came back briefly, but when I last looked it was still down.

HF digital audio and video

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEO9qcg3eyk

Southgate News reports on HF DV with video. Impressive.

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday August 14th 2016

Solar flux is 89 today (not too bad) and sunspot number a respectable 73. K=1. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor".

Although there is Es around early on 6m I have been unable to access the WSPRnet database to check on 10m WSPR. This database does seem prone to failure frequently. Like many who use it, I have offered some small financial help as it is run for free and needs some professional help I think. In contrast, PSKreporter has never failed in all the time I have used it. WSPRnet is so useful and I just wish the owner would get help. Without it WSPR is no good, in my view.

QRP and QRP Club

Another newsletter from Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,

QRP Rendez-Vous weekly report (August 8 to 14, 2016)
Visitors  of  the  week:  US5ERQ, HB9WG, UA1ASB, US3EN, DK3WX, DF9QV, UR5EFD, UA1CEG, OH6NPV, UR0ET, UA1ADF, SM2FIJ, UR7VT, HB9DAX, OK1FAO, IZ5GHG,  G4SSH,  Z35M/m,  F6ACV/p,  PD7CJT,  4O3RAB,  UY0IF,  RU3NJC, RA1M/mm, OE5HIL, DJ2MX/p, R2FAE, ON6KZ, F6FAI, R4NX, UA1CEX, UA4NU
op. Oleg R4NX became Honor Frequenter of the "rendezvous? round tables
See full Visitors and Frequenters lists on the Club 72 page -
www.club72.su
All weekly reports and Club 72 news on the blog page -
http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/
Thanks all for activity and comments!

72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"

Plymouth Argyle - NOT amateur radio

As football goes you could not wish a worse start. Plymouth Argyle were in serious promotion contention last season but this season they have lost their first 2 games and they are the lowest placed professional team in the entire football league. A lot can, and must, happen if they are not to be out of the league next season. What usually happens is they start by sacking the manager. I certainly hope they have a major turn-around. It is early days.

Plymouth Argyle used to be my nearest club. Although not a football fan, I always look to see how they are doing.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/plymouth-argyle .

WSJT-X v1.7

There is a new version of WSJT-X available in pre-release. Quite a few stations are using it. It was announced on a Yahoo group a few days ago. I am still using V1.6, but may upgrade and give it a try. WSJT-X brings together WSPR with JT modes. V1.7 I believe is better still and adds some more modes I think.

10m WSPR - same old, same old?

There is a difference between 6m JT65 and 10m WSPR. On 10m WSPR I am often spotted by the same stations over and over again. On 6m JT65 there seems more activity and a greater variety of stations.

It is a pity there are not more users of WSPR on 10m. I guess people want it easy so go to lower bands when things get tougher? On 6m JT65, I expect activity will drop after the end of the Es season which is a pity.

WSPR and JT65 are good modes when conditions are marginal or variable as all stations are in a small part of the band and the station can run in the background. With JT65 you can have real 2-way QSOs too.

Rio Olympics - NOT amateur radio

It seems hard to believe that the London Olympics were 4 years ago. At the moment, the UK is 3rd in the medal tables, which is very good.

Preparing for the Olympics takes hours and hours of dedication and very hard work. To all Olympians from any country my thanks and best wishes. There is no place for cheats. For those who perform at their personal very best, my praise. Thank you.

We will blink and it will be time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Rally

Sunday 14 AUGUST : FLIGHT REFUELLING ARS HAMFEST

Cobham Sports and Social Club Ground, Merley, Nr Wimborne, Dorset BH21 3DA. The venue has car parking on site and camping is available (Saturday night only in adjacent field). Talk-in will be provided on S22. Gates open at 10am and admission is £3.50. There will be trade stands, a car boot sale and indoor and field pitches for traders. Lectures will take place during the day. A licensed bar and catering facilities are on site. More details from Tony Baker, G3PFM on 0774 347 5018 or by email to hamfest@frars.org.uk. www.frars.org.uk.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

My usual warning: contact the organisers to confirm arrangements before going any distance.

6m JT65 Es

On 6m JT65 there is again Es about with spots from Southern Europe already. I shall re-sync everything shortly and re-start up the 10m WSPR beacon, although there were plenty of Es spots this morning on 10m WSPR.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat Aug 13th 2016

Solar flux is 91 today. Sunspot  number is 86 (K=2) and the forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor".

Blickling Hall, North Norfolk - NOT amateur radio

Oriental Plane Tree?

This afternoon we drove to North Norfolk to the National Trust property at Blickling Hall. We'd been several times before and only went into the gardens. All the driving really tired me, so I sat on a bench in the shade whilst my wife took photos. I think this was an oriental plane that I sat under. It had seeds a bit like sweet chestnuts but the leaves were all wrong.

6m inter-G

It is interesting that so far this morning I have had 7 reports of my QRP JT65 6m signals from UK stations whereas when I tried the same mode on 10m a few days ago I got none.

There seems to be much more activity on 6m JT65 than 10m JT65. This is true of more distant stations too. I am sending "B G3XBM JO02" when not looking for 2-way QSOs. Spots get picked up and sent to PSKreporter which is where I check for spots of my signal and spots made by me of others. Of course, I check the shack regularly and look on the PC screen to check all is OK.

Sunspots and 10m - Friday August 12th 2016

Solar flux is 93 today and sunspot number 82. K=4. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor". Luckily there is Es about.

QST article

A couple of people who see QST magazine have told me that my article on a 472kHz transverter appeared in the September 2016 edition. I have not seen this as I don't get QST. Although I was sent a draft for corrections, I've not seen the final version. There was some doubt about it appearing as the ARRL were waiting and waiting for the band to be allocated in the USA.

The article was written years ago (2013?) before I was ill with my stroke. Anyway, I hope those who get QST will be inspired to have a go on this fascinating band. Although the transverter puts out 10-15W, my ERP on the band was in the low milliwatts. Despite this, I have been copied over 1000km on WSPR with just an earth-electrode antenna. With a "proper" antenna for the band and a decent ground it should be easily possible to exceed 2000km.

Early Es on 6m JT65 and 10m WSPR

I was active on 6m JT65 overnight and on 10m WSPR since just before 0700z. There are already lots of Es spots on 6m. 10m WSPR has spots from Germany and Denmark. A good start.

QRT on 10m, but still on 6m JT65

In the last hour I have gone QRT on 10m WSPR but I am still on 6m JT65. There is still a possibility of some 6m spots.  I also took the opportunity to re-sync the PC to internet time. This should happen automatically every 1000 seconds but I do it on occasions "just in case".

UPDATE 2148z:  Several G spots on 6m JT65 in recent minutes.

Bee (at Anglesey Abbey) - NOT amateur radio

We went to nearby Anglesey Abbey, expecting the dahlias to be well out. Sadly, they are not out in the usual dahlia bed in great numbers. They need a few more weeks.

We saw plenty of bees.

BREXIT - NOT amateur radio

It is still too early to tell how this is going to pan out.

The euro, yen and  dollar exchange rates have moved in favour of UK exporters and making imports from these nations more expensive.

I have the feeling that the euro will collapse in value in the next 18 months as the remaining EU nations wake up to Greek debt (there is no way they can repay this) and the likelihood of the Greeks defaulting and leaving the EU. This would really hit Germany.  In the end I think the UK will be fine. The UK was a net contributor to the EU and we voted to leave. This puts an even greater burden on the richer EU members.

It would not surprise me if we had a snap General Election here in the UK, especially if the Labour party commits self-imposed suicide and splits in two. Our current Prime Minister, Teresa May,  did not vote for Brexit and neither did any in my family. If a General Election was to be called then the Conservative Party is likely to get a huge majority.

I am currently reading a book on the history of Europe 1789-1989. I had little idea how the borders and alliances changed so much in the 1800s. Clearly Europe is still evolving.

Big Masts

Southgate News carries the story from Stroud of an amateur who has applied for planning permission to erect a 13.5m high mast. Some of the neighbours have lodged complaints.  Now, each to his own but I certainly would not like an antenna monster in next door's garden.

Having managed to span the globe with small wire antennas you can barely see and with QRP SSB I question whether such large structures are really needed. Each to their own and at least he has done the application through the formal channels.

All I am saying is this is not how I would want to enjoy our hobby. I appreciate this is a personal choice and each of us is different.

Basically I am not a great believer in "cheque book amateur radio". Some choose to spend £10k plus on rigs, linears, masts, beams and rotators. Not me. If one just wants to talk (and by video) around the world all one needs is a £180 laptop with Skype. I well recall the video conferences with my son on the other side of the planet - it was just like he was next door, and all for free with a PC.

Return to 6m JT65 and 10m WSPR

This morning, early, I reverted to 10m WSPR and 6m JT65. There was early Es on both bands. On 6m JT65 there is more G activity as I am getting spots on 6m whereas I was copied by no Gs on 10m JT65. Best DX spot so far on 6m JT65 is EA7HJ (1833km) in southern Spain who got my QRP very strongly.

Early 10m WSPR spots (500mW)

UPDATE 1538z:  Best DX on 6m JT65 RX is EA8AQV (2988km).

Sunspots and 10m - Thursday Aug 11th 2016

Solar flux is 93 today and the sunspot number 69. K=2. The 10m F2 propagation forecast remains "poor".