472kHz - directionality of earth-electrode "antenna"

Last night and today, my 5mW ERP on 472kHz WSPR from the 12m baseline earth-electrode "antenna" was copied by 9 unique stations with best DX being F6GEX (590km) in IN97 square. In a crude attempt to plot the directionality of the "antenna" I have shown the QTH squares in which I was received as purple coloured squares marked with a cross. Other purple squares shows where I received stations from too.

5mW ERP 472kHz - crossed + coloured squares shows where spotted

This is crude, but the directionality is roughly E-W I think, which makes sense. The reception by F6GEX (590km) in IN97 is south of west, but not orthogonal to the loop. DK7FC is very strong and I would expect to copy Stefan off the side of the loop.

I shall leave 472kHz running with the earth-electrode antenna again tonight.

Sunspots

Sunspot count has increased to 41 and 20-30MHz propagation is "normal". Today should be a good day on 10m.

472kHz WSPR using earth-electrode antenna

As an experiment this afternoon and evening I am using the (short baseline) earth-electrode antenna. I am being copied by G0LRD (25km) and G3ZJO (79km) so far. It is now 1620z. Initial results suggest G0LRD is getting me very slightly better on the earth electrodes, whereas G3ZJO is getting me slightly weaker. This is comparing the earth-electrode "antenna" with the HF /VHF antennas with strapped feeders tuned against mains earth. In the latter case I resonate the antenna with a 110mm diameter coil with many taps.

One end of the earth-electrode is tied to mains earth. The "far" earth is a 1m long earth rod driven into the soil. The connection to the far electrode is 32 x 0.16mm PVC covered wire running along the fence at a height of about 2m. This wire dog-legs and is about 15m long. The spacing between the "far" electrode and mains ground in the shack is about 12m max. At the old QTH the baseline was more like 20m.

I think the earth-electrode antenna acts a bit like a loop so best results tend to be in the line of the loop. It also means there is not a huge difference between the two systems. You could say they are both equally bad, but the earth-electrode system needs no matching coil. I have optimised the resistive match using a 3C90 toroid (step up) between the transverter and earth-electrode antenna. At the old QTH it looked close to 50 ohms so the toroid was not needed.

When fitter, I'd like to try an earth-electrode system with a much bigger baseline.

There is no doubt that my 472kHz antennas can be much improved. The question is, "how seriously do I want to try?"

Para-saki all diode QRP transceiver

This looks like a design by Michael Rainey AA1TJ, but this one was on a German blog site of Peter DL3PB. I was very annoyed by the Facebook pop-up that kept appearing. I kept closing the pop-up but it is really annoying. Website owner - PLEASE get rid of it!

See http://streampowers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/para-saki-qrp-transceiver-fact-diodes.html .

The design makes extensive use of tunnel diodes, a Michael Rainey favourite.

Real 10m WSPR DX appears

TJ3TS (5478km) in Cameroon has just been spotted here on 10m WSPR.  This is the first "real" DX that has been seen so far. I suspect greater distances will be logged soon as the band "warms up". Pretty sure this is F2 propagation.

UPDATE 1100z:  CX2ABP (11127km) has just been spotted for the first time today on 10m. 4X1RF (3519km) has spotted me a few times already.#

UPDATE 1330z:  My first USA spot was at 1200z.  Plenty of stateside stations since then. The 10m band is well open to the USA.

Overnight on 472kHz WSPR

Another disappointing night on 472kHz. Spots exchanged with stations already logged. I really need to improve my system if I am to spot, and be spotted by, a lot more stations. My 5mW ERP is fun but I need a lot more to increase my coverage.

G4KPX who claims to use 1mW ERP is achieving far better results than me. I suspect he is using his meager power efficiently whereas I suspect my very poor antenna system warms up birds instead!

At the moment, all antenna work has to be on hold because of my poor health.

Lots on 10m WSPR

10m WSPR is off to a decent start this morning with plenty of European and Russian activity despite the falling sunspots. This is the WSPR log in recent minutes. As you can see, stations from from all over the place, although no "real" DX yet - just Europe and Russia so far.

Recent 10m WSPR spots this early morning

Sunspots today

Sunspot count has fallen even more today to 28 and 20-30MHz propagation is forecast to remain "normal".

Already, I an getting 10m WSPR spots from several Russians.

Karen, RA3APW is in the UK this week so his Moscow based 100mW 10m WSPR beacon will not be active whilst he is in the UK he tells me.

QSYed to 472kHz WSPR

Tonight, at the moment, there are no less than 60 stations active on 472kHz WSPR.  This is more than I can ever recall.

Since QSYing to 472kHz about an hour ago I am spotting, and being spotted by, the same stations as previously.  I guess I need to "up" my ERP to at least 100mW to start to reach new stations. That means antenna work, which is currently out of the question because of my health.

DK7FC (669km) is currently the best DX here on RX. Stefan puts out a potent signal on 472kHz and 137kHz WSPR. My best report (on TX with 5mW ERP) is G3WCB (101km).

Solar Cycle 25 Predictions

It has been notoriously hard to predict future solar cycles, but the science is improving all the time. Right now, the experts are predicting that solar cycle 25 will be very small indeed. Some think we are moving towards another Maunder Minimum when solar sunspots all but vanish for around 50 years. If so, most of us alive now will never experience "good" HF conditions ever again in our lifetimes. Experts can be wrong!

See http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/25/first-estimate-of-solar-cycle-25-amplitudesmallest-in-over-300-years/  .

On a positive note, poor solar activity often means the lower frequency bands are better. With some luck, we may have a new international contiguous band at 60m in a few years' time. This depends on WRC2015.

Regarding cycle 24, it looks like the peak was Feb 2014.
See http://www.solen.info/solar/  .