DK0SC (827km) spotted my 2W at 1938z this evening. I wonder if there is correllation between lightning and Es? There is intense lightning over (close to) the mid path. I seem to recall that the link relates to sprites rising upwards from lightning clouds but forget the details.
Currently the storm centre appears to be tracking up the North Sea.
19 Jul 2014
10m GDX
The 10m Es seems to have stopped at around 1806z, for now. I am still copying GDX from G8VDQ (93km). I shall be disconnecting the rigs and antennas shortly if the storms get closer, although the nearest storms seem to be moving further away. It certainly feels very close and stormy here.
Storms - missing us again?
See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en .
Having just got back from my twice daily "constitutional" walk of 400m "around the block" (to help my balance post brain bleed), I noticed how close and thundery it feels this evening.
The nearest storms currently are about 70 miles west of here, but this could change. It certainly feels like we are in for a storm within hours, although there is no thunder audible locally at present. The lightning map is proving very useful and I have unplugged rigs, PSU and antennas when storms are on their way.
At present, the storms seem to be tracking well west of us. We'll see how the storms move in the next few hours.
Having just got back from my twice daily "constitutional" walk of 400m "around the block" (to help my balance post brain bleed), I noticed how close and thundery it feels this evening.
The nearest storms currently are about 70 miles west of here, but this could change. It certainly feels like we are in for a storm within hours, although there is no thunder audible locally at present. The lightning map is proving very useful and I have unplugged rigs, PSU and antennas when storms are on their way.
At present, the storms seem to be tracking well west of us. We'll see how the storms move in the next few hours.
10m WSPR unique reports today (so far)
Currently it is 1712z. These are the unique spots today, so far, on 10m. Repeat reports are not shown. It has been a decent day on 10m WSPR. I was late starting because of the risk of local storms this morning.
EA5CYA has been coming through for the last hour very well with good signals for 200mW.
Sunspot count is low today (29) and 20-30MHz propagation described only as "fair". No F2 DX seen here today as yet, and I am not expecting any.
UPDATE 1800z: The risk of storms locally seems to have subsided , at least for now. Overnight I'll still disconnect everything, just in case.
I wonder if there will be Es at some (low) level all year around on 10m? I suspect that if I leave WSPR running on 10m all year I'll find openings into Europe every week. At the moment, the "common wisdom" is Es is mainly a May, June July phenomenon in Europe with a smaller peak in January. This is probably correct as the peak months - the question is how common is it at other times of the year?
UPDATE 1810z: EA5CYA (1376km) has been spotted no less than 8 times since 1636z.
 |
| WSPR unique reports on 10m today, so far. |
Sunspot count is low today (29) and 20-30MHz propagation described only as "fair". No F2 DX seen here today as yet, and I am not expecting any.
UPDATE 1800z: The risk of storms locally seems to have subsided , at least for now. Overnight I'll still disconnect everything, just in case.
I wonder if there will be Es at some (low) level all year around on 10m? I suspect that if I leave WSPR running on 10m all year I'll find openings into Europe every week. At the moment, the "common wisdom" is Es is mainly a May, June July phenomenon in Europe with a smaller peak in January. This is probably correct as the peak months - the question is how common is it at other times of the year?
UPDATE 1810z: EA5CYA (1376km) has been spotted no less than 8 times since 1636z.
10m WSPR after a brief foray on 6m
After the storm risk had passed, I ventured on to 6m but was only spotted by usual local G4IKZ (18km) so QSYed down to 10m WSPR where there is more happening.
Spots seen of G4MLA (53km) and G0LRD (25km) with lots of airplane Doppler on G4MLA. Later Es seen from SM, OZ and EA5.
Storm risk passed?
See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en .
About 3 hours ago there was thunder and lightning less than a mile away and very heavy rain, but all is now quiet here. The nearest storm activity was at Wicken and Dullingham but these have subsided now. I suspect the main danger has now passed and I can safely reconnect rigs and antennas.
Will probably go on 6m WSPR later today.
About 3 hours ago there was thunder and lightning less than a mile away and very heavy rain, but all is now quiet here. The nearest storm activity was at Wicken and Dullingham but these have subsided now. I suspect the main danger has now passed and I can safely reconnect rigs and antennas.
Will probably go on 6m WSPR later today.
18 Jul 2014
Back to Par 3 band external antenna
Now the threat of storms has gone for the day I am going back on the external Par 10/20/40m end-fed wire antenna. This happened at 1515z.
Sunspot count today is zero (very low) with 20-30MHz propagation forecast to be just "fair". I shall be lucky to see F2 DX today on 10m. Es has been very good on the indoor loop.
UPDATE 1520z: First 10m WSPR spot back on the external Par antenna was from SM6WZI (1007km) at -1dB S/N for my 2W. This is a very good report. Again, the Es seems to be favouring more northern latitudes.
UPDATE 1727z: Still just the mix of EU Es stations since going back to the Par antenna.
UPDATE 1830z: Just G8JNJ/A (184km) being spotted currently. All Es seems to have disappeared.
UPDATE 1940z: Out of the blue pops OK2SAM (1283km) just detectable on 10m WSPR at -32dB S/N. So there is still ES about on 10m.
UPDATE 2140z: Plenty of 10m Es this evening including spots from 3VSWL in Tunisia and DK0SC . I spotted I and EA. As thunder storms may build overnight I shall be going QRT and disconnecting rig and antennas.
Sunspot count today is zero (very low) with 20-30MHz propagation forecast to be just "fair". I shall be lucky to see F2 DX today on 10m. Es has been very good on the indoor loop.
UPDATE 1520z: First 10m WSPR spot back on the external Par antenna was from SM6WZI (1007km) at -1dB S/N for my 2W. This is a very good report. Again, the Es seems to be favouring more northern latitudes.
 |
| 10m WSPR spots since going back to the Par wire antenna outdoors |
UPDATE 1830z: Just G8JNJ/A (184km) being spotted currently. All Es seems to have disappeared.
UPDATE 1940z: Out of the blue pops OK2SAM (1283km) just detectable on 10m WSPR at -32dB S/N. So there is still ES about on 10m.
UPDATE 2140z: Plenty of 10m Es this evening including spots from 3VSWL in Tunisia and DK0SC . I spotted I and EA. As thunder storms may build overnight I shall be going QRT and disconnecting rig and antennas.
10m WSPR with Wander Wand Compact Loop
Averaging all the signals over the day so far on the Wander Wand Compact Loop indoors on 10m and comparing with the external end-fed Par 10/20/40m wire antenna, I believe the loop is perhaps just 2 S-points down or less. With Es and widely varying signal levels, it is quite hard to do the comparison. Also, the loop was not rotated, and it is possible the difference is slightly less.
On lower frequencies I think the difference will be slightly greater. Overall, I am impressed with the indoor loop. Seeing how it is not positionally optimised (it just sits above the rigs and runs just over 2W), it does pretty well.
For future 10m WSPR use I think a 6mm or 10mm copper pipe (fixed tuned) loop will make a good external antenna. I suspect a thicker loop will be only be very little down on a 1/2 wave vertical or dipole at a similar height. The disadvantage of a loop, especially an efficient one, is the narrow bandwidth. This of course, helps on receive as the antenna rejects out of band interferers. Bandwidth should just about cover JT65/JT9-1, PSK and WSPR allocations 28.076-28.126kHz.
On lower frequencies I think the difference will be slightly greater. Overall, I am impressed with the indoor loop. Seeing how it is not positionally optimised (it just sits above the rigs and runs just over 2W), it does pretty well.
For future 10m WSPR use I think a 6mm or 10mm copper pipe (fixed tuned) loop will make a good external antenna. I suspect a thicker loop will be only be very little down on a 1/2 wave vertical or dipole at a similar height. The disadvantage of a loop, especially an efficient one, is the narrow bandwidth. This of course, helps on receive as the antenna rejects out of band interferers. Bandwidth should just about cover JT65/JT9-1, PSK and WSPR allocations 28.076-28.126kHz.
WSPR distances
LB9YE and I have exchanged WSPR spots several times today. When he spots me the distance is 1489km. When I spot him it is 1533km. I assume it is to do with where in the QTH square the measurement is taken from.
Storms to miss us?
According to the lightning map, it looks like the nasty thundery weather is tracking up west of us (Peterborough and Stamford area?) and could miss us altogether. We'll see. See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en . For now, I shall keep on the Wonder Wand Compact indoor loop to see how it performs.
UPDATE 1127z: Storms are dying out now. I think we'll miss them.
UPDATE 1127z: Storms are dying out now. I think we'll miss them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
