QRPme website

See www.qrpme.com .

http://www.qrpme.com/images/MeSquares.jpg

Always on the look out for interesting QRP projects, the QRPme website has lots of interesting and low cost projects. They also sell crystals for QRP frequencies and MePads and MeSquares, which are very useful. In all, a useful resource for keen QRP enthusiasts.

10m F2? WSPR

WG2Z (5600km) was the first USA station to spot my 500mW on 10m WSPR today at 1200z. In the other direcction, I spotted N1MGO (5293km) just minutes earlier. CX2ABP (11127km) was spotted here at 1158z.

Apart from the USA and the one South American, all stations have been in Europe or near Asia. I assume this is F-layer or F-layer back-scatter, but guess some nearer EU stations could have been Es?

UPDATE 1450z:  My 1444z 10m 500mW WSPR transmission was spotted by 11 stations, all of whom, apart from 1, were in the USA and Canada.

Sunspots - Dec 3rd 2014

Today's sunspot number has dropped quite a bit to 104. The forecast for 10m conditions remain "good" however.

UPDATE 1034z:  10m spots of my 500mW WSPR are being received around Europe only, but it is still very early.

UPDATE 2032z:   Sunspot number is increasing again and is currently 146.

10m WSPR - last USA spots today

W4HFZ (6819km) was the last to spot my 500mW WSPR in the USA today at 1756z. The last USA station I spotted on 10m WSPR was K3GEN (5883km) a few minutes later. Since then, earlier than yesterday, the 10m band has been closed here to the USA and Canada.

UPDATE 2130z:   G0LRD (25km) running 50mW has been copied 5 times since teatime and 48 times in the last 24 hours.

10m WSPR spots today

There have been 35 unique spots of my 500mW WSPR on 10m today, mostly USA stations, with best DX 8508km from WA7HL at -22dB S/N. These are just some of the reports today so far.  Note, no DX beyond the USA,well so far anyway.

 

ITU Plenipotentiary Meeting - Busan Korea 2014

I have not had a chance to wade through the report(s) from this ITU meeting in Korea ahead of WRC2015 to see if a contiguous 60m band amateur allocation is any more probable. The few bits I did read were talking about budgets! We certainly will need a contiguous 60m band in the quiet years ahead. A nice new worldwide amateur band there would be very welcome.

See http://www.itu.int/en/plenipotentiary/2014/Pages/default.aspx .

Sunspots and 10m conditions - Dec 2nd 2014

Sunspot number today is a respectable 160 and 10m daytime conditions are forecast to remain"good". Yet again, 10m is wide open to the USA. No DX reports from further afield (as yet) with my 500mW WSPR.

FT-991 from MLS - would you believe the PRICE??

Thanks to Steve G1KQH, I see that Martin Lynch is advertising the new FT-991 from Yaesu at an incredibly high price of £1299.95.  When first shown, a price of £999 was talked about and I thought that was high. £1299.95 is surely a joke MLS?

http://www.hamradio.co.uk/sysimages/origimages/FT991-1_pr5621_1.jpg

The image above resides on the MLS website and NOT on this blog. The image and link will be removed if a problem.

Maybe MLS is trying to pay the rent on their new premises or they want to look generous when discounting? Sorry, but you have just LOST one potential customer who is NOT prepared to be ripped off. A fairer price would be £799. When I bought my FT817ND from them earlier in the year I was impressed with them. Sorry, but this is exploitation.Why rip us off? What margins are you getting,especially with the excellent exchange rates to the Yen? Come on, we are NOT all stupid! It looks a nice radio at the right price.

See http://www.hamradio.co.uk/amateur-radio-main-equipment-base-station-radio-yaesu-base-station-radio/yaesu/yaesu-ft-991-hf-50mhz-vhf-uhf-base-station-transceiver-pd-5621.php.

The latest exchange rate was 186.373 Yen to £1 which is WAY better than 2 years ago when it was about 130 Yen to £1.   Dealers - PLEASE NOTE!!!!! Don't rip us off!!! Your customers ARE aware of the greatly improved exchange rates.Funny how prices don't seem to follow.

My poor voice (stroke)

For reasons I don't understand, my brain is unable (at present) to communicate properly to my (fully working) voice box. My voice box was checked with a camera (down my nose) a few months ago.

Although my speech sounds OK to me (clarity and loudness) apparently it is a whisper and hard to understand. All the time I feel breathless.I am told this is all a result of my brain bleed and it will, in the end, recover. I have to be patient! 

Although I can manage short speech periods on the air (VHF/UHF UKAC sessions, for 30-60 minutes and on our Monday 2m net for similar times) I find voice QSOs effortful, hence why I use WSPR and other digital modes a lot right now. Hopefully thing will improve in 2015.

10m WSPR 500mW, last USA spot

WG2Z (5600km) appears to be the last station to spot my 500mW on 10m WSPR today, at 1706z. At the moment I am still spotting USA stations as many are running 5W or more. The band will soon close to the USA and these stations will soon disappear too.

UPDATE 1755z:   W4BZW (using 10W) was last spotted at 1734z. The 10m band seems to have closed to the USA and Canada. So, going from 500mW (to an indifferent antenna) to 10W gained just under 30 minutes.

UPDATE 1850z:   I spoke too soon. W7CNK (7458km) running 5W was still being copied here at 1846z on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1920z:  KD4YDD (6717km) was still being spotted at 1918z. No-one is copying my 500mW apart from local G4IKZ (18km)!

UPDATE 2030z:  Well I was surprised.  W4HFZ (6819km) on the Florida/Georgia border spotted my 500mW WSPR at 1934z and I spotted him immediately before this time. 10m stayed open much later to the USA than I expected today.  I think the band is now closed but will continue to monitor and transmit.

UPDATE 2230z:  No other stateside spots since W4HFZ above.