Well, that was a surprise - NOT amateur radio

With all the UK General Election results in we have a majority government with no coalitions needed.  All opposition has been crushed with leaderships up for grabs in all opposition parties apart from the SNP. Honestly this was a total surprise to most if, if not all, of us.

Sunspots and 10m - May 9th 2015

Sunspot number has climbed to 135 and for once 10m propagation is forecast to be "good" for the first time in weeks.

UK General Election - NOT amateur radio

Please, if you have not done so already and you are in the UK, get out and vote. We live in a free country and this is our democratic right. The MP we choose, irrespective of party politics, represents us. Although I have not voted for his party for over 40 years, our local MP and his team have always researched my questions and got back to me with a considered reply.

The result of the UK General Election is too close to call and I expect we will be ruled by another coalition government, although it could be some weeks before we know the mix and flavour.

Shortwave Interval Signals

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/interval  .

For a touch of pure nostalgia try the link above. Like many, my first experience with short wave was as an SWL, listening on a simple receiver to some of these broadcasters. Many were trying to indoctrinate me whereas all I was really interested in was a QSL card! I recall some great gifts from China! I heard some impressive DX back in the 1960s.

Of course radio amateur DXing came later and  radio amateurs ran considerably less power. These days I regularly copy stations running less than 5W from the other side of the planet, but I can still recall the thrill of hearing a 5kW broadcaster in the Windward Islands and copying Radio Australia on a crystal set - all the way from Australia too!

10m WSPR - such a poor day!

Apart from locals G4IKZ and G4KPX the only other station to spot my 10m WSPR today was LB9YE (1533km)in JP54pu (Norway), I presume by Es.  This is, so far at least, one of the worst 10m days that I can recall in recent years. Not even EA8BVP has been copying me, if indeed he has been active.

UPDATE 1635z:  EA8BVP (2986km) has just spotted me at -20dB S/N. Maybe I spoke too soon?

UPDATE 1820z:  No, with just a couple of spots by EA8BVP  and little else this is "a bad hair day" on 10m WSPR. Certainly the worst for a long time.

UPDATE 1915z:   Still no sign of DX stations. Just 2 spots by EA8BVP, one by LB9YE and spots by locals. Will give it a few more hours then QRT on both 10m and 6m. May watch the election results for the first hour or so.

6m WSPR - just Gs

So far today, quite a few spots given and received on 6m WSPR, but sadly they are all from UK stations. No signs of 6m Es so far today. These are the unique spots on 6m today. Most stations have been spotted many times.

6m WSPR uniques today so far.  No great DX!

6m WSPR this morning

As yet, there has been very little evidence of 6m Es on WSPR this Es season here. Perhaps a couple of stations spotting me or being spotted by me so far. Like last summer, results on WSPR have been disappointing so far. I shall stick with it most days just to see what happens.

New this morning, by aircraft reflection, was G8EPQ (77km) who has been spotted several times. Doppler has been quite high on occasions. Although this could be warm-up drift on a purely tropo path, I think that multiple aircraft reflections are more probable. There was 4Hz drift evident nearly an hour after first spotting him - aircraft surely?

Sunspots and 10m - May 7th 2015

Sunspot number is 85 - still quite high (K=1) and 10m propagation is expected to remain "fair" today.

UPDATE 0914z:  So far on 10m WSPR just spots from locals G4IKZ (18km) and G4KPX (14km). No DX spots yet on the band.

10m antennas

As you will have noticed by now, 10m is one of my favourite bands.  Although quiet at many times in the solar cycle it always comes to life with Es from late April until September. Alert 10m operators will sniff out Es at other times too, but there may be long periods of noise, as on 6m. WSPR is an ideal mode when the band may otherwise seem quiet.  It is good for local nattering at any time and F2 N-S DX  is often there even at solar minima.  Antennas for the band are small and easy to make such as the design on my website for a 10m halo. See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/ .

A video of K7AGE making a dipole for 10m is available at YouTube.  See https://youtu.be/84F4UgSWmQo.   In this video, Randy is making a dipole for the USA technician's band, so to cover the main SSB band (28.4 to 28.6MHz) you will need to make the wire slightly shorter.  In my experience if you cut the wires for the centre of the band it will still have a pretty low SWR at the band edges. Even a very simple ATU will bring the SWR down to 1:1, although  unless your rig has a problem with a mismatch of around 1.8:1, I would not bother, as the difference in radiated power is negligible (fraction of an S-point).

Because of the short wavelength, 10m antennas don't have to be that high to be effective. When the band is in good shape, worldwide DX can be had with simple wire antennas and low power. It is a rewarding band.  What is more, 10m multi-mode transceivers can be bought at low cost.  In summary, 10m is unique: low cost transceivers, simple antennas and good DX potential.

Es on 10m and 6m

EA1KV (1304km) was spotting my 500mW WSPR at lunchtime on 10m and DL1KAI (645km) was spotted very early this morning on 6m WSPR.  Both of these were Es I believe.

Still waiting for some Es outside of Europe on 6m WSPR.  Guess I have to be patient.

UPDATE 1325z:  M0YOU (116km) has been spotted strongly on 6m WSPR but with a lot of Doppler suggesting aircraft reflection. G3ZJO (79km)  has also been spotted on 6m WSPR.

UPDATE 2208z:  More 10m Es with I4ZTO (1185km) spotting me earlier, but no sign of spots by USA stations again.