Sunspots and 10m - Sun June 28th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen again to just 25 (K=3) and 10m propagation (F2) is expected to be "poor".  We should not expect much on 10m F2 today, although Es is already livening things up on 6m WSPR. I wonder if EA8BVP will spot me (as usual) on 10m WSPR.  This I suspect is single hop N-S F2 although this is certainly possible by Es. At the moment I have seen no 10m Es spots yet  for my little 5000mW beacon. Others may be more fortunate.

Early 6m Es today? - CN8LI again

CN8LI (2113km) was spotted at -13dB S/N at 0816z this morning on 6m WSPR. I assume this is Es. This is promising so early in the day.

His ERP is probably 10dB more than mine. Drift was high, which could be his rig stabilising, Es patches moving or even aircraft reflections at his end or mine.

I guess this could even be single hop F2?  2113km is F2 range.

CN8LI tends to be right at the bottom of the WSPR sub-band. I may miss some spots of him as he may be out of band (to me) sometimes?

UPDATE 1100z:  CN8LI has been spotted strongly (-10dB S/N) on 6m WSPR by 4X1RF (3860km). Multi-hop Es? It is a very long way across the Med.

10m DT way off - now reset

I had an anonymous comment to tell me that my 10m beacon's DT (timing error) was over 3 seconds out. I have had this before. The cure last time was a hard reset and I have done this again, removing all power for 10 minutes and resyncing to internet time. I was still getting decodes but you must reach a point when the receiver's software cannot cope and just gives up. Hopefully this will do the trick.

By using the FT817 and PC, I can check my 10m DT myself. This means going QRT on 6m for a few minutes. I'll do this now.

UPDATE 1618z:  10m DT checked after hard reset. Now DT = -0.3secs, which is good.

Tunisia - NOT amateur radio

I feel sorry for this nation which is bound to be adversely affected by the killings yesterday. Tunisia is a peaceful country that just wanted to get on with life as usual. Sadly, this will not be so for some time to come: tourists are likely to choose alternative destinations and avoid Muslim nations.

Surely, in the end, this is counter-productive? Whatever your views on Islam are, people are likely to become fearful of these people, when the vast majority just want to live in peace and share kindness. Sadly there is evil in our world which must never defeat us.

CN8LI (2113km) on 6m WSPR

Although I have spotted this Moroccan station a couple of times on 6m this afternoon, at quite reasonable S/N, I am still waiting for him to spot me. I shall be on 10m acnnd 6m WSPR at least until late tonight assuming there is no thunder around.

UPDATE 1536z:  Still just the 2 spots of CN8LI on 6m WSPR but no spots by him of me so far today.

UPDATE 1632z:  Mostly Gs on 6m with a little bit of Es earlier this afternoon including spots exchanged with CT1PT (1685km).

Yaesu rebate (UK/ Europe)

I see MLS is offering rebates on Yaesu gear for the next few weeks. The rebate on the FT817 is £36, making the effective retail price around £413. As  far as I can see this is just a marketing ploy. A few years ago you could buy the FT817 for £349.

With the very good exchange rate currently I am surprised they don't just slash the price and clear the shelves ready for the replacement. All development costs for the FT817 were recovered years ago, so the true retail price should be below £400. Yet again we are being taken for a ride I think.

The prices are as they are because we, Joe Public, is prepared to buy at these prices. My heart bleeds for all the poor dealers.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat June 27th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen again and stands at 28 today (K=3) and 10m propagation is expected to be "poor".  F2 propagation on 10m today will be marginal at best, although Es is expected to liven up both 10m and 6m.

10m Es

I am still TXing on 10m WSPR but, so far, all the spots have been by either G stations or Europeans. I am still hopeful of some transatlantic Es but this has not been seen here yet this season.

Warmth - NOT amateur radio

At last we seem to be in high summer with high temperatures and high humidity. Although we have passed the longest day, evenings are still light for weeks to come.  The real change tends to come in September. It must be my age but it seems only 5 minutes since last Christmas! We'll blink and it will be Christmas 2015 and the nights will start to draw out again!

UPDATE June 27th 1538z: The forecast for next week is temperatures in the 30-34 deg C range.  This would be hot.

Africa (CN8LI again) on 6m WSPR

Spots on 6m have again been exchanged with CN8LI (2113km) in IM63nx square (Morocco, N.W. Africa). So far today, my 6m 1W ERP WSPR has been spotted in 3 continents (Europe, Asia and Africa).  I would very much like to spot, or be spotted, on 6m WSPR by stations on the other side of the Atlantic.

UPDATE 1233z:  Plenty of 6m Es about today.

UPDATE 1428z:   Funny how I get reports from a greater distance on 6m than 10m when there is Es around. OK I run a little more RF ERP on 6m (3dB more) but I think skip distance must be longer on 6m than 10m.

UPDATE 1441z:  CN8LI has just spotted my 6m WSPR at -5dB S/N. This implies he would still get me if I was using just 5mW ERP on 6m.  Magic band!

UPDATE 1548z:  So far today  CN8LI (2113km) has spotted my 1W ERP 6m WSPR 10 times. Strongest report was +4dB S/N. Incredible Es. He has been spotting me for almost 4 hours.

UPDATE 1748z:  6m unique WSPR spots, so far today. Plenty of decent Es around:

UPDATE 1825z:  I see from WSPRnet that 4X1RF has been spotting lots of stations all across Europe as well as CN8LI today.