10m - Es season continues

When 10m is very good, with Es openings across Europe, it is all too easy to take this for granted. The Es season (in the Northern Hemisphere) is May, June, July but I think there will be openings most days through August and into September on 10m but less probable on 6m. I hope enough "stay faithful" to 10m WSPR to help us find out how many openings Es and F2 there are at other times of the year.

No transatlantic Es here today.

10m - decent EU Es today

Overnight and today, I have been on 10m WSPR. Es has again been decent with plenty of EU spots.

Unique 10m WSPR spots today so far

Sunspot count today is 55 and 20-30MHz propagation is described as "normal". I would expect some N-S F2 today.

Today, I have not looked on 6m. Yet again,there are pitifully few USA stations active, making the chances of stateside reception on 6m very slim only.

10m - real DX tonight

CX2ABP (11127km) has just been spotted by F2 propagation and K9AN (6505km) has also been spotted by multi-hop Es in EN50wc square which is Illinois. 10m has been good all day and this is the second time the band has opened to the USA today.

10m WSPR - excellent across Europe this afternoon

WG2Z (5600km) copied me just once at lunchtime - he may have copied me more times if I was operating on the correct frequency initially - but this afternoon 10m has been in excellent Es shape today with stations from across the continent copyable after lunch with a few G stations copied out to 184km by tropo or plane reflection.

10m WSPR unique reports since lunch today (repeats not shown)

6m then 10m WSPR - no Es here (right frequencies help!)

Overnight until 1115z, I was on 6m WSPR before QSYing down a band to 10m WSPR. Although locals G4IKZ and G0LRD were spotting me on 6m, no-one is currently spotting me on 10m. There appears to be no Es on either band at present. It is very quiet on 10m WSPR.

Sunspot count is 40 (creeping up again) and 20-30MHz conditions are described as "fair". We just might see some F2 DX on 10m today. if we are lucky.

UPDATE 1158z:  Just spotted that I had the wrong 10m frequency for 10m WSPR!  For some reason I was 3kHz  too high. No idea why. It remains to be seen now if this now results in 10m spots.

UPDATE 1205z:  First spot of my 2W on 10m was from WG2Z (5600km) just outside of New York by multi-hop Es (I assume).  Report was -22dB S/N, not too bad.  This is now the third time I have caught North American DX this summer on 10m.  WSPR is excellent for spotting such DX on the band. Sadly there is zero 6m WSPR activity from the Eastern USA at this time, so trying 6m WSPR is a waste of effort at the moment with regard to transatlantic DXing.

Back on 6m WSPR tonight

One of the great advantages of WSPR is it can be done silently and activity can be monitored in the lounge. Tonight I am WSPRing on 6m in the shack and watching progress in the lounge on WSPRnet whilst the grandchildren sleep, peacefully.

G6AVK has spotted me 5 times so far and local G4IKZ plenty of times, but no Es on 6m here since this morning. Tomorrow, I shall go back to 10m.

6m UKAC this evening

As my little grandson is asleep in the adjoining room, I was unable to stay on the 50MHz UK activity contest for more than a few minutes tonight.  In the short time I was on I heard plenty of QTH locator squares (JO02,JO03, IO81, IO82, and others). It would appear quite a number of stations must be vertically polarised like me. The next chance of being in this 50MHz UKAC is about a month away.  If I can, I'll come on 6m to see what can be worked. My voice is not good, so I'll have to limit talking to about 1 hour.

One way to see the windmill next door

There was a man dangling from a rope painting the cap of our local windmill. I felt like telling him there are easier ways of seeing the windmill! Rather him than me.

Someone suggested I string a long wire to the top of the mill from my bungalow next door. But what happens when the cap turns and the sails go around?

6m - GDX WSPR this evening

As well as lots of local spots from G4IKZ (18km), I see there are GDX spots from G8PMA (90km) this evening. As far as I recall these are the first spots from this station. They are at quite a low level (around -27/-28dB S/N). The was no Doppler, suggesting pure tropo?

UPDATE 1920z:  G6AVK (78km) is spotting me at -21/-26dB S/N.

6m WSPR

Since just after 1030z I have been on 6m WSPR. Apart from a couple of spots from OH7AI (2000km) early on, all spots have been by local G4IKZ (18km). I shall stay on 6m but really 10m is a much more productive band for Es and the occasional F2 DX.

Sunspot count today is just 16 and 20-30MHz conditions only "fair", so 10m F2 is unlikely.

UPDATE 1620z:  From 1054z up to now, the only 6m WSPR spots have been by G4IKZ (18km), all rather boring now on 6m. 

UPDATE 1640z:  Later tonight, if I can creep past my sleeping grandson in the adjoining bedroom, I may give the 50MHz UK Activity Contest a brief go this evening. Brief as it will strain my voice to stay on too long.  I am vertically polarised, so this will compromise my chances and I can only use 5W maximum.