4X1RF's amazing spots on 6m JT65

Although I have yet to be spotted on 6m JT65 by 4X1RF (me being vertical probably does not help!) he does spot some amazing DX on the band regularly. Every time I look I see spots by him at great distance on 6m. He only uses a 3 element according to PSKreporter - nothing too grand.

I assume these long distance spots are Es, but some could be tropo across the Med, but unlikely.  I still wonder about chordal-Es as he seems to regularly spot stations a long way away. I have been spotted in Israel this summer (1W ERP) and I have spotted a station in Kazakhstan twice. Kazakhstan is a very long way!

6m JT65 but no 10m WSPR today

Although I am still on 6m JT65 (1W ERP), I gave 10m WSPR a miss today. I seem to get better results and far more reports on 6m JT65. There is far less Es about today compared with yesterday.

45 years - NOT amateur radio

45 years married!

45 years ago today my wife Lis and I got married. Since then so much has happened and we do not know where the years went.

Lis has been good to me and she has had a tough time coping with me in recent years. Although I don't say it enough she is still the same girl I met and loved all those years ago.

The picture,taken earlier today, shows the both of us outside our bungalow with the windmill just visible.

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday July 24th 2016

Solar flux is 84 today. Sunspot number is 34 (K=1). The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor".

QRP and QRPClub

More from Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,
QRP Rendez-Vous report (July 19 to 24, 2016)
Visitors  of  the week: UA1ADF, OH6NPV, RV3GM, G0HIO/p, UR7VT, ON6KZ, F/ON4EM/p, OM6TC, IT9QAU, IK2YYM, F6ABG, RU3NJC, OK/DL2DXA/p, UR5EFD,F5HTR/p, US3EN, UA1CEG, HB9DAX, G3XJS, DL4KCA/p, UR0ET, IZ1ASM, OZ7JZ, DJ5AA/p,  SM7DIE,  DL1RWG,  RW3AA,  UR3VZ,  RV3DSA/0,  I5LHY, UA1ASB, OE3VBU, UA1CEX, UA4NU, SM2FIJ, DH0DK, OK2PXJ, UT8NR
DH0DK became Honor Frequenter - congrats!
See full report with comments on the Club 72 blog page - http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/
Welcome all QRP operators on the next week "rendezvous", see schedule
on the Club 72 web page - www.club72.su
72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"

10m WSPR

On 10m WSPR I am still using 500mW. At the moment the Es seems to be favouring northern Europe and Scandinavia on 10m.

Recent 10m WSPR spots (500mW)

Israel on 6m VHF

4Z5ML (3571km) in Tel Aviv, Israel was spotted on 6m JT65 about 99 minutes ago. This was the furthermost on 6m today. Although there is plenty of Es about, I am not so sure of the conventional wisdom that this is multi-hop Es. I feel sure that one day the experts will discover "chordal hop Es" or similar. This could explain quite a few long distance Es paths. Of course, I could be totally wrong. It would not be the first time!

UPDATE 1430z: Plenty of Es today on 6m JT65. I see that I have been received in Israel. See https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html . It's funny how when there is a lot of 6m Es, it looks like 20m! I have still to spot, or be spotted, transatlantic on 6m this summer on 6m JT65.

6m Es today (JT65, 1W ERP vertical omni)

More hot sun and flying ants - NOT amateur radio

For about a week now we have had better summer weather in this part of the UK. Temperatures have been in the mid 20s to low 30s (deg C) all week. We had one big storm which dropped humidity, but yesterday and today are hot.

Australian flying ants - but UK ones look similar

It is also "flying ant season". Whilst I was out yesterday, we had hundreds of flying ants in our bedroom. I gather these larger, flying ants are queens. They come out on mass to mate. It is usually just one day, then they are gone. The hot weather has not helped.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuptial_flight

HF Propagation Predictions by G0KYA

See http://www.infotechcomms.net/propcharts .

Taking a peek at Steve's propagation forecasts for 10m this autumn does not look good for E-W propagation from the UK to North America. Even with a sunspot count averaging in the low 30s (possibly too high?) it looks like E-W SSB propagation with 100W is unlikely. With WSPR or JT modes much lower power is possible, but openings to the USA are likely to be much rarer than in seasons past.

Es aplenty on 10m and 6m

On 6m JT65 I have been spotted in Poland several times. On 6m JT65 RX my best DX so far is Crete SV9CVY (2729km). On 10m WSPR I have been widely spotted in Europe since the early hours of the night. This is all Es.  In my experience there is often Es at night. People wrongly assume this is  mainly a daytime propagation mode. On 10m, WSPR can help "smoke out" short night-time Es openings.

UPDATE 1135z:  A couple of spots recently from Finland of my 1W ERP 6m JT65 signals.