Sunspots

The sunspot count is climbing again to  70 (stable) - I assume a more active region has rotated to face the Earth - and 20-30MHz propagation is "normal". I assume 10m will be good again today.

472kHz - F1AFJ JN06ht

My map showing stations I copied on 472kHz WSPR left off F1AFJ (607km) who is quite a long way down France in JN06ht square. He is running a decent ERP and this may explain why I copy him so well, even on the earth-electrode "antenna" aiming the wrong way.

1 million visits

A significant milestone on this blog was passed today with over 1 million visits!  I continue to be amazed that so many people read my blog and keep coming back.

Thank you all for your continuing support. I hope the mix of content meets with your approval and continues to do so in the months ahead.

My poor health has prevented me doing what I most enjoy, which is building simple circuits and carrying out experiments "in the field" locally. With time, I hope I get much fitter so these things can start again.  In the meantime, I experiment as best I can at home.

10m WSPR - not on today

As I was out for much of the morning, I decided not to go on 10m WSPR today. Checking WSPRnet logs the band was well open (again) from Europe to the USA, although I missed this.

Currently I am operating with 5mW ERP on 472kHz using the 12m baseline earth-electrode "antenna" across the garden.

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.