10m WSPR - still no spots

It is now 1542z and I have given and received not a single spot on 10m WSPR all day. Conditions seem to be dire here today. Not even a G station! I'll stick with 10m WSPR until dark, but think spots are unlikely on 10m WSPR today.

Probably I shall QSY to 630m this evening. Even my very low ERP on that band seems to get spots.

UPDATE 1806z:  Just a single spot all day on 10mWSPR - by OZ7IT (853km) at 1734z.

Historic Amateur Video

My thanks to Amateur Radio Weekly and Steve VE7SL for pointing me to this video made in the 1920s.  Although a lot of the video is of people messing around and just having fun, there are some shots of 1920s radio gear and early QSL cards. A fascinating video, copied from an old 16mm film. Amateur radio 90 years ago - well before the Wall St Crash and WW2. An age when everything was fun? Certainly radio was still new.

See http://www.qsl.net/sccara/SCCARA%20in%20the%201920's.mp4 .
This is on the SCCARA website.

Sunspots and 10m - Mon March 7th 2016

Solar flux is 95 today and the sunspot number 68 (K=5). 10m propagation is forecast to be "poor" again. There was a visible aurora over a lot of the UK last night.

UPDATE 0936z:  Although I've been on 10m WSPR since about 0700z, no spots given or received as yet. There were no 10m WSPR spots overnight. Conditions are considerably more disturbed than yesterday.

QRP Club

More from Oleg..

Dear Club 72 members and friends,
See weekly report of QRP Rendez-Vous on the page - http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/
Visitors of week: UR7VT, OH6NPV, RV3GM, UA1ADF, UA1CEX, HB9DAX, DK1AY, RV3UF,  HA7TF,  UR0ET,  F6ABG,  RD7K,  RK4NAR, UA1ASB, UA1CEG, OM6TC, SM2FIJ,  RN4NAA,  RA1M, G4HOM, DL5DAL, PA0PJE, DM5MU, OE6GWG, OK2BJR, RU3NJC,   UA0SBQ, SM7RYR,   DL2XL,  F5SJB,  HA7TF,  DL3XZ,  ON6KZ, 5B/UR4MCK/p, UA4NU, G3KJC, G3ASG, R2FAE, R1OA
G4HOM became Frequenters of QRP Rendez-Vous
Full "Visitors" and "Frequenters" lists see on the Club 72 web page - www.club72.su
See  you  ALL  on  the  QRP  round tables "Rendez-Vous" each Tuesday, Thursday,  Saturday  at 9.00 UTC on 14060 kHz (alternative 10116 kHz) +/- QRM, QRL, keep RIT to hear XTAL stations.
72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"

Tuning In - a history of radio

My thanks again to the Southgate News for finding this on the BBC.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nnw8t .

Shortage of biscuits? - NOT amateur radio

Sorry, but I had not even noticed that we are supposed to have a shortage of biscuits on the shelves of UK shops as a result of floods in Cumbria. Perhaps we don't buy that many.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-35696027 .

Greenland on 10m WSPR

XP3A (3206km) has recently been spotted on 10m WSPR. This bodes well for the USA and Canada shortly. Although I have worked Greenland with 2.5W SSB handheld on 15m in the past, I was pleased to see these 10m WSPR spots today. I think this was F2 propagation.

UPDATE 1410z:  I have recently been spotted on 10m WSPR strongly by KD0VWO (7412km) who is monitoring in Brazil. In this case 500mW would have been quite enough power.

UPDATE 1534z:  Plenty of USA spots given and received on 10m WSPR this afternoon. Best DX currently is a spot by WB2TQE (7097km) in EL96vh square. W1VR (6965km) has been incredibly strong at times.

UPDATE 2238z:  The last DX spot on 10m WSPR seems to have been OH1KK (1848km) at 1950z. No other spots since then. I shall stay on the 10m band overnight hoping to catch some DX in the early hours.

UPDATE 1735z:  Still plenty of 10m WSPR spots with best report (greatest DX) from KD6RF (7571km). It has been a good day on 10m today.

UPDATE 1915z:  At the moment W1VR (6965km) was the latest 10m spot here at 1904z. This is very late.

Calais migrants - NOT amateur radio

See https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/sophie-besse-bus?utm_campaign=20160229_66903&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ExactTarget .

The migrant crisis in Europe is a real headache. The only viable long-term solution is a fair and just peace in Syria plus fairness and peace in other countries. As I write, the ceasefire in Syria is largely holding.

In the meantime, some continue to try to make life bearable for these poor people, many of whom have left everything in their bid for peace. The link shows an example of practical help on the ground.

No, no-one chooses to uproot everything and live/walk in harsh and dangerous conditions unless there is little hope left. Most of these people are truly desperate people, true refugees in need of our help.

See also http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35731325 .

Belgium 60m and 4m

Southgate News reports that Belgium has access to the 5MHz allocation and extended access to the 70MHz band. It is a pity they only allocated the 15kHz and not a wider allocation at 5MHz. I very much hope CEPT allocates a contiguous 100kHz band across Europe at 5MHz.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2016/march/belgium_gets_wrc15_5mhz_allocation_and_4m_extension.htm.

Our son turns 40 - NOT amateur radio

It is hard to believe our elder son is 40 this week. Our other son is 2 years younger. This weekend the whole family came up and we all enjoyed a meal out. The photo shows our elder son, with us, with all our little grandchildren about to share in a cake in our kitchen.

Mortality - NOT amateur radio

This has been mentioned here before.  As we get older, I guess we think of mortality more and more. With not having been well for 2.5 years I guess you think about this even more, knowing that it is likely you will die before too long. It could be next week or it could be in 30 years. Currently I am 67.

It comes to us all. No-one really knows what happens. Maybe it is just to dust that we turn, even though most religions talk of an afterlife. We knew nothing of before we were born so would nothingness matter?

I guess no good is done by worrying about this. It all depends on individual consciousness. Does anything exist after our bodies turn to dust? What is the nature of that thing we call the mind? One thing is certain, we have small brains and the mysteries of life are great and mostly beyond our understanding.

Life after death? Honestly, I think no-one knows.

10m WSPR to Australia yet again

Yet again there were early spots on 10m WSPR from Australia with VK2KRR (16789km) spotting me at 0810z. VK6XT (14719km) was spotted here at 0934z.

My old work colleague G3TFX in Cambridge worked a string of USA and Canadians on 40m SSB around breakfast with 30W.

UPDATE 1154z:  Mostly short skip on 10m WSPR with nearer Europeans, plus Gs. Spots exchanged with SV1DAR (2414km). No other real DX other than the Australians earlier.

Sunspots and 10m - Sun March 6th 2016

Solar flux is 96 today and sunspot number 68 (K=2). The forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor", although I had been spotted in Australia on 10m WSPR just after 0800z.

Not bad on 10m WSPR today

With spots both given and received today from the USA and Australia and received from South America with 2W, today must go down as a pretty good day on 10m WSPR. In a year from now these conditions will seem exceptional, so I am enjoying 10m whilst I still can. As I have said before, even with very low solar activity, 10m can still be decent on N-S paths. We now have a new tool: WSPR. I am convinced the band is "open" far more often than people realise and with low activity they leave the band. It is important that we stick around 10m WSPR even in the quiet times ahead. There is much to be learnt.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat March 5th 2016

Solar flux is 100 today and the sunspot number has shot up to a 95 (K=2). Although the 10m propagation forecast remains "poor", I have already been copied in Australia, so things can't be that bad.

Many times I have said that 10m is often better than many people think. Today is a case in point and where 10m WSPR is so useful at "smoking out" openings that might have been otherwise missed.

10m WSPR - early spots from Australia

Already this morning VK2KRR (16789km) has spotted me 5 times already on 10m WSPR. Definitely promising!

UPDATE 1116z:  Since the Australian 10m WSPR spots, G4KPX (14km) has spotted me and I have spotted M0XDC (65km), the latter with lots of Doppler, so probably involving aircraft reflections, although this could be him settling on frequency. No other DX spots, well not as yet. With the relatively undisturbed conditions, good solar flux and a high sunspot number, I am surprised not to have seen lots more on 10m WSPR.

Late 10m WSPR spot

G4CUI (172km) has been spotted not long ago. This is probably tropo with aircraft reflection. t this time of night I am pleased to spot anyone on 10m WSPR. The best I can hope for is tropo or aircraft reflections for G or the near continent. These were all the 10m WSPR spots today:

USA already on 10m WSPR

As early as 1302z W1VR (6965km) in EL98it square (Florida) was spotted on 10m WSPR. This is promising after a quiet start. I hope to get spotted in the USA later.

UPDATE 1620z:  A couple of spots of my signal from Brazil this afternoon. KD0VWO (7412km) monitoring in Brazil spotted me earlier. As yet, no spots of my signal on 10m WSPR from the USA.

UPDATE 1650z:  G4KPX (14km) and I have been exchanging strong 10m WSPR spots in the last 20 minutes.

UPDATE 2325z:  Sadly the day did not live up to expectations on 10m WSPR. See later post.

RSGB Board Meeting Minutes

Southgate News has a link to the minutes of RSGB Board meetings. I took a look but wished I'd not! If you are an RSGB board member I bet these meetings are deadly boring. The minutes look so dull. I read the minutes for the last 3 months, then got a life.

I appreciate the RSGB is our national society and works hard for the good of our hobby.

FTSE 100 UK share index - NOT amateur radio

After an early climb, the FTSE 100 share index has been pretty stable all morning. It is currently up 0.52% and been around this all morning.  Sentiment is wishing it higher whereas in the real world it should be much lower.

Sunspots and 10m - Fri March 4th 2016

Solar flux is 99 today and sunspot number 50 (K=0). The forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor". So far, it is now 1112z, there have been no spots given or received on 10m WSPR. I've been on since before breakfast.

Power on 10m WSPR

There seems to be an advantage on 10m WSPR with a little more power. VK2KRR was using 10W when I copied him earlier. VK5MR who copied me just once today at -24dB S/N when I was using 2W probably would not have copied me at 500mW. When conditions are good, more power does not make sense as 500mW is enough. When conditions are "just" there, it seems more power helps. So far today I have been spotted just once even at 2W TX. With 500mW I would probably not have been seen by anyone.

UPDATE 2052z:  After a promising start 10m WSPR was a disappointment today with just G spots since this morning.  It looked very promising early on.

FTSE 100 still climbing - NOT amateur radio

It is currently 1110z and the UK share index, the FTSE 100, is up by 0.39% on the day after a shaky start. It could still tumble later.  At its peak, early last year, it was over 7100.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/markets/europe/lse_ukx.

UPDATE 1310z:  It is now falling and is  -0.02% down on yesterday.

QRP Club

More from Oleg..

Dear Club 72 members and friends,

I have a great pleasure to inform you about new Club 72 member -
op. Vladimir RK8A aka RW9WR, certificate nr 83.
You are welcome Vladimir!
Who's next?

72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"

365 Project - NOT amateur radio

For some years now my wife and I have done a photo a day as a record of our daily lives. I stopped when I was ill and started again in Jan 2015. It is interesting to see what we did. Unlike some, who go for very "arty" pictures, mine is just a record of ordinary daily life.  If you pay $19 annually you can have more albums and private viewing.  It is great fun to look back and quite a good discipline. I enjoy doing it.

See http://365project.org/ .

10m WSPR - hopeful with Australia yet again

Australia yet again...

With solar flux and sunspot numbers up a bit and very early spots on 10m WSPR of VK2KRR (16789km) I am quietly optimistic today, although no further 10m spots, as yet, at 0952z.

UPDATE 1028z:  VK5MR (16144km) in PF96lh square was the first to spot me this morning on 10m WSPR at 1010z at -24dB S/N. Yet again, despite the "poor" forecast for 10m I am seeing some impressive DX. 10m is far from dead, as WSPR proves yet again.

UPDATE 1117z:  These the 10m WSPR spots so far today:

UPDATE 1320z:  Just the single spot so far on 10m WSPR.   As well the Australian spots G3JKV and G4CUI (172km) have been spotted.

Sunspots and 10m - Thurs March 3rd 2016

Solar flux is 99 today (up) and sunspot number 65 (K=3) which is also up. 10m propagation is expected to be "poor" yet again. I have been on 10m WSPR (TX and RX) since before breakfast.

UPDATE 0906z:  VK2KRR (16789km) was spotted a couple of times very early and very strongly on 10m WSPR.

FTSE 100 - NOT amateur radio

Yet again the FTSE 100 UK share index is up on yesterday at 6163.97. It rose sharply earlier, but has been falling for a while. I guess it could go negative later. With so much uncertainty I think it will fall sharply soon, although I am frequently wrong! In this case, I very much hope I am proved wrong. Looking at China and Greece I somehow think that emotion rather than reality is driving the markets at present. Sooner rather than later the world will wake up to several facts:

1. Growth cannot go on for ever with limited resources.
2. Oil will run out.
3. The population has yet to peak in the world.
4. All the world needs feeding
5. All the world deserves a decent standard of living.

 UPDATE 1142z:   The FTSE 100 is currently -0.33% on yesterday.

First 10m WSPR spots

UA6AAK (2780km) has been spotted 3 times so far this morning on 10m WSPR. I assume this is single hoop F2. He is strong.

UPDATE 1045z:  These are the 10m WSPR spots so far today. Not at all bad so far.

UPDATE 1908z:  After a promising start on 10m WSPR, the day was a bit of a disappointment. I have gone QRT on all bands now as there was threat of thunder. These were all the 10m WSPR spots today.

Sunspots and 10m - Wed March 2nd 2016

Solar flux is 96 today and sunspot number 39 (K=1). The forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor" today.

I have been on 10m WSPR since about 0715z (2W TX 20%, RX 80%) although no spots given or received on 10m WSPR so far today.

Overnight, I was on 40m WSPR with the last USA spots on 40m WSPR being around 0700z this morning. Despite the very poor, low, antenna on 40m,WSPR seems to work wonders.

QSYed to 40m WSPR

The 10m and 6m WSPR stations have been closed and I have moved to 40m WSPR for the evening and overnight. Tomorrow I shall return to 10m WSPR (2W TX 20%, RX 80%). On 10m WSPR I received no spots at all all day.

2m UKAC activity contest this evening

A reminder that as the first Tuesday of the month, tonight is the 2m leg of the RSGB actvity contest from 2000-2230z. I am about to have a go with 5W and my big-wheel horizontal omni antenna.

UPDATE 2130z:  Five stations worked in 4 QTH locator squares, although I also heard stations in France and Belgium that were not worked. I was active for less than an hour because of my poor voice.  I find working speech modes very hard these days. Best DX was 172km.  Most of the QSOs were at 2.5W,  although the best DX, on the south coast, was with 5W pep.  Antenna was my big-wheel horizontal omni.

Stations worked on 2m this evening with 5W or less to omni antenna

China, the hard truth - NOT amateur radio

This came to me via Steve G1KQH:-

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQNurSUNNs0 .
Any slowdown in China matters to the West.

OFCOM and amateur radio

See http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/radiocommunication-licences/amateur-radio/ .

I am trying to think up a good name for this quango we know in the UK as OFCOM.  Any suggestions?

• Office of Comical gents and ladies?
• Official Company of Morons?

As you can tell. I have not been impressed by them in the past. I wish they were able to make pragmatic decisions. Maybe I do them a great injustice, but in past dealings they have been hopeless. In all my years in business I know of you have to add value. What value do they really add? Every time I have contacted them the official has had to consult the law. They seem far removed from reality and pragmatic decisions. No doubt they will claim they can do no other. Sorry, I do not agree! OFCOM should be able to act with pragmatism or they deserve to be disbanded.

Raspberry Pi 3

This came in from Steve G1KQH:-

Note the bit at the bottom that will now sell even more and more!

http://www.biztekmojo.com/002142/raspberry-pi-3-computer-now-available-wi-fi-bluetooth-capabilities-only-35

73 Steve
http://www.g1kqh.talktalk.net/

The original Rasperry Pi was expected to sell in thousands but they sold millions.  Some have used them as "stand alone" WSPR beacons running very low power.

10m WSPR

As you know I have reverted to my 10m WSPR beacon today. This is 6dB less output powet than the FT817 and is TX only. The advantage is it is on all the time, so I have a better chance of being copied in brief openings, but the disadvantage is I cannot receive 80% of the time as I do with the FT817. Overall, I think using the FT817 is better.

FTSE 100 up? - NOT amateur radio

It is now 1245z and the FTSE 100 UK share index stands at 6143.29, which is up 0.76%. With all that is happening in China, I was half expecting a dramatic fall. It seems the stock market wants a recovery, whereas world events are pulling the other way. I reckon we will see dramatic falls before things start  to recover. The world will move away from China, much as they did with Japan. China will become too expensive.

"We ain't seen nothing yet", as the famous phrase went.

UPDATE 1738z:   The FTSE 100 index closed 0.89% higher on the day.

First 6m WSPR spot today

G8XWR (150km) was just spotted on 6m WSPR. This is an interesting distance and probably by a combination of tropo and aircraft reflection judging by the Doppler on the signal. Of course, the drift could be settling drift and not Doppler at all. Looking at later traces, there is little evidence of aircraft. A couple of strong traces did not decode showing strong QSB and disappearing for a good part of the slot.

UPDATE 1302z:  I spotted G8XWR (150km) again a few minutes ago. He was stronger and there was no sign of aircraft involvement with just a single trace with QSB. No 10m WSPR spots yet.

UPDATE 1340z:  G8XWR (150km) near Haslemere in IO91oc is getting stronger. If this was via aircraft I'd expect multiple reflections and Doppler but all I see is a single carrier with QSB.

UPDATE 1512z:  G8XWR has been spotted 7 times so far. Although there is no evidence of aircraft involvement, Heathrow and Gatwick stacks are nearby.

Sunspots and 10m - Tues March 1st 2016

March already and the first day of spring according to the Met Office calendar. I agree with their seasons.

Solar flux is 91 today and sunspot number 44 (K=2). The forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor".

UPDATE 1034z:  Still no WSPR spots on 6m or 10m today.

10m and 6m WSPR

Following an overnight spell on 40m WSPR (lots of spots again from the USA)  I am now on 10m WSPR (500mW, 100% TX, randomised frequency) and 6m WSPR (1W, 20% TX vertical, 80% RX). No spots as yet.