As the song goes, "what a difference a day makes"

Yesterday by this time, I had been spotted all over Europe and widely in South America on 10m JT65. Although I am spotting a little DX, today is nothing like yesterday. I know there is still time for things to  improve, but I have the feeling this is going to be a "bad hair day".  If we get any real DX, it had better happen soon! At least having 2W 10m JT65 running I am spotting, and being spotted, by some.  Even with 100W SSB I doubt these openings would have been noticed.

Loop on the ground antenna

See The Loop on Ground Antenna - the "LoG".

I was sent this link by a blog reader who has used it very successfully. It is primarily designed as a receive antenna.

Sunspots and 10m - Friday October 14th 2016

Solar flux is 96 today. Sunspot number is 41 and K=4. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor".

Rally

Sunday 16 OCTOBER : HOLSWORTHY RADIO RALLY
 
Holsworthy Community College, Victoria Hill, Holsworthy, Devon EX22 6JD. Doors open at 10am. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy and catering. The venue has disabled access. Details from Howard, M0MYB by email to M0OMC@yahoo.co.uk.

10m JT65 right from the start

Before breakfast I resynced the PC clock and went straight on to 10m JT65. As yet, no spots given or received on that band.

Yesterday was a very good 10m day considering where we are in the cycle with stations in North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Europe spotted despite my poor (and low) 10m antenna. My own QRP signal was spotted by several stations a long way away. Yes, a good 10m day.

I know others with better antennas will have done better. 10m is still in good shape, although you have to look!

UPDATE 1130z: DG0OPK (730km) spotted my 2W 10m JT65 QRP 2 hours ago. Probably Es, although backscatter and aircraft reflection are possible.

UPDATE 1145z: G4CUI (172km) has spotted me on 10m JT65. Tropo?

24 hours on 10m JT65 QRP

USA on 10m JT65 at last

K4RUM (7134km) in Florida was spotted earlier. At last a USA station this autumn on 10m JT65. It seems the opening on 10m are getting further north.

LU9XT (13473km) spotted right at the far end of Argentina on 10m JT65.

Best 10m day this autumn by far

10m JT65 today https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html

With stations from all over Europe, South America, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand and spots of my own 10m JT65 signal by 6 stations already in South America, this is by far the best day on 10m JT65 this autumn.

At this rate, the USA should be audible within 2 weeks.

Autumn HF conditions?

Although we are now well in to autumn, apart from South Americans by what I assume is TEP, I have not (yet) seen a great improvement in HF conditions.

We are fighting a downwards solar cycle trend and, as yet, I have still to get any USA spots on 10m JT65. Conditions may still improve. The next few months are likely to be the best we are going to see for a very long time on 10m and conditions this autumn are well down on the last few years.

Last chances? It is now unlikely I'll see great 10m conditions ever again in my lifetime. That is a sobering thought. There are many in my agegroup who remember great HF conditions in past solar peaks.

Autumn - NOT amateur radio

Suddenly we seem to have moved from summer into autumn. The nights are getting rapidly darker earlier, the temperature has dropped and it suddenly feels like autumn. I enjoy all the seasons, but they seem to come around sooner. Where was summer? Yesterday we planted primroses instead of the begonias which die in the first frosts. The picture shows the primroses under the windows at the front of our bungalow.

Active on 10m JT65

For just over an hour, I have been on 10m JT65 only. As yet, no spots given or received.

UPDATE 1012z: My 10m JT65 has been spotted in Austria and Poland. Es?

UPDATE 1050z: Now being spotted by 9A2WB (1430km) and I am spotting 10m JT65 stations from all over Europe.  Today looks good on 10m Es, well I assume this is Es. This is definitely a good case for JT65 running in the background. On SSB a quick CQ is unlikely to be successful on 10m.

10m JT65 at noon today - stations spotted this morning

See https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html

UPDATE 1106z:  Now being spotted in Germany on 10m JT65.

UPDATE 1148z:  PSK reporter map for me looks more like mid-summer!!  If 10m is wide open around Europe, I suspect 6m might be too.

Sunspots and 10m - Thursday October 13th 2016

Solar flux is 99 today and the sunspot number 40. K=5. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor".

New webpage on 10m JT65

My main website at www.g3xbm.co.uk has a new page on 10m JT65. It is a sub-page under the HF section. See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/10mjt65 to go directly there. Presently, the sidebar navigation to the sub-pages is broken and I need to fix this.

10m JT65 - another good day

https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html

My QRP station has been on 10m JT65 (2W) since breakfast time. With my signal spotted in Europe, Asia and South America, I cannot complain! I have still to spot, or be spotted, in North America this autumn. On the map where I have been spotted is shown in the boxes with hours. The smaller map points show stations I have copied in the last 12 hours (13 South Americans so far, which I think is the best yet this autumn).

UPDATE 2124z: This is without doubt my best day this autumn on 10m JT65 with 26 South Americans spotted and a couple of stations on that continent spotting me, despite my 2W and poor antenna.

My main website - an apology

See www.g3xbm.co.uk .

Whilst trying to update my main website, I seem to have accidentally removed the navigation pane on the left. My apologies. I am trying to fix the issue.

Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday October 12th 2016

Solar flux is 100 today. Sunspot number is 56 band and K=1. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor".

Windows 10: am I alone? - NOT amateur radio

For about a week now my main PC has been unreliable. It was upgraded to Windows 10 without any issues months ago, but it has been problematic recently and says it is now missing a file and won't boot. I recently did a defrag. Although this is a well used machine, and this may be coincidence, I seem to have had issues since the BIG Windows 10 update which took 1.5 hours to install.

Am I alone? Is this my PC or a more general issue? Incidentally the PC in question is a Dell Inspiron  i5 with 1TB hard drive.

10m JT65

More in hope than expectation, I am now active on 10m JT65. Although there is quite a bit of activity, I have neither spotted or been spotted by anyone on 10m tonight. Soon I'll go QRT and come back on 10m JT65 after breakfast.

UPDATE 2030z:  Nothing spotted, so time to go QRT on 10m JT65.

UPDATE 2040z:  Now QRT on all bands.

UPDATE 2044z: From my logbook I see that 20 countries were spotted on 10m JT65 in the last week.

OFCOM updates

See http://ofcom.cmail19.com/t/ViewEmail/i/8CE39B7251DA2FC3/59D1BD3EA2F08127C67FD2F38AC4859C .

More news from OFCOM.

10m QRP to the USA

Still nothing spotted here from the USA on 10m. Tomorrow, I shall probably use 10m JT65 all day. If the band is going to open across the Atlantic this autumn, JT65 is probably my best chance.

There is some (a little!) hope this autumn, but this time next year USA openings on 10m are unlikely. We are now on the downward slope of cycle 24. Cycle 25 is unlikely to start until 2020 and the peak may be poor.

70cm UKAC this evening

Although I have no suitable antennas, just my 2m halo which matches, tonight is the monthly 70cm leg of the UK activity contests organised by the RSGB.

As my voice is still very poor, I shall probably be on for much less than an hour.  It starts at 1900z and ends at 2130z. As usual I shall be QRP with 5W SSB. Even with my poor setup, I am often surprised by what I can work. Give it a go!

Stations worked on 70cm this evening - 5W and 2m halo

UPDATE 1950z: After 30 minutes I had to stop because of my poor voice. G4CLA (105km) was the best worked tonight - not bad with 5W and a 2m halo fed with lossy RG58 coax! One not shown was in our village.

Before radio

See http://www.newmarketlhs.org.uk/shuttertelegraph.htm . A reminder that even in the days before radio, messages could be sent a long way. My thanks to John Mullins for sending me this link. Fascinating.

This system was set up by the UK Admiralty in the early 1800s, presumably to give early warnings of a French attack.

If memory serves me right, Morse came on the scene in the early 1840s. By the late 1800s most of the world was connected by telegraph - the Victorian Internet. We were better connected than I thought before radio.

More Sputniks

From Oleg:

Dear Space Friends,
thanks  Jos  for Mag Loop "Sputnik" QSO report. All QSOs installed in
the  totals log. Also "astronaut" Pavel RA7RA/Vanguard informed about
new  QSO with M0AUW with 150 mW e pnp transistor P416 (old type of ex
USSR).  In  the photo gallery I install some pictures of R2DNN Ge pnp
TX-beacon  (beacon  mode  only)  120...250  mW.  Enjoy  photo  of his
home-made heat sink so called "a-la sputnik" concept-form :-)
BTW.  On  the  1's USSR Sputnik and US Vanguard really TX beacons was
installed (both). So it looks like we need to add "Beacon" category in
the Sputnik Activity Days in the future. Isn't it?
72! beep-beep-beep...
Deep Space Communications Center
operator on duty -
Oleg ("Mr. 72") RV3GM / KH6OB

6m JT65

G0LRD (25km) was the only station spotting me on 6m JT65 today.

I did spot EA4BAS (1340km) in Madrid this afternoon on 6m JT65. There is still life on 6m even in October, although you have to look for it!

UPDATE 1842z: There was an outside chance of catching some TEP on 6m JT65, but this has not materialised.

Good on 10m WSPR today

Quite a variety of Europeans and Israel, 4X1RF (3519km) spotting my 500mW on 10m WSPR today. I assume this was Es but it might have been F layer backscatter. As 10m WSPR was proving so productive, I decided to stick with 10m WSPR and 6m JT65 all day.

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday October 11th 2016

Solar flux is a respectable 102 and the sunspot number is 64 (quite good). This figure will probably exceed the next maximum in cycle 25. K=1. The forecast for 10m F2 propagation remains "poor", although for several weeks there has been good 10m propagation N-S on 10m JT65.

6m JT65 and 10m WSPR

For a change, I have started on 10m WSPR and 6m JT65 this morning. No spots on 10m WSPR as yet and just G0LRD (25km) spotting me on 6m. I have spotted M0AAX (107km) in South London on 6m JT65, either by tropo or aircraft reflection.

TEP (Trans Equatorial Propagation)

For the last few weeks, I have spotted, and been spotted, by lots of stations deep in South America on 10m JT65. To me, this looks like TEP. According to the "experts" this sort of propagation goes across the equator and can occur at up to 70cm. I guess the MUF is lower as the solar activity drops off. Here in the UK I guess we need another propagation mode to reach the TEP region. TEP is more common further south.

See http://www.amateur-radio-wiki.net/index.php?title=Trans-Equatorial_Propagation .

More QRP, QRP Club and Sputniks

More from Oleg today:

Dear Space Friends,
thanks  to Peter PA0PJE for report of October 9. New 4 "Sputnik" QSOs
installed on the results page - club72.su
> ...make some more contacts on 30 meters. I worked 4 stns:
72! beep-beep-beep...
Deep Space Communications Center
operator on duty -
Oleg ("Mr. 72") RV3GM / KH6OB

No storms yet

See http://www.lightningmaps.org/?lang=en . So far the storms are far away, so I can remain on air for hours still. There is an outside chance of storms around early evening.

UPDATE 1220z:  The first lightning strikes have happened - in the North Sea just off East Lincolnshire.  I shall keep a close watch.

UPDATE 1445z: At the moment, the only storms are over the sea off eastern Kent.  Staying on the air for now.

UPDATE 1700z: The nearest storms are in France and Belgium. I think it unlikely I shall have to go QRT early tonight.

10m JT65

Yet again, I gave 6m a miss and fired up on 10m JT65 this morning. As yet, no spots at all given o:r received on 10m JT65, but it is very early. JT65 is ideal as the solar activity slides on 10m.

As there are storms possible later, I may have to go QRT later in the day.

UPDATE 1015z: Not everyone gets uploaded to PSKreporter. I spotted a German at breakfast time and he is not showing on PSKreporter. Maybe there was a short glitch and I lost internet or PSKreporter was not reachable? More recently, I was spotted in Italy on 10m JT65 by IC8BNR (1646km). Es or backscatter?

UPDATE 1138z:  3B8CW (9751km) in Mauritius has again been spotted on 10m JT65. 4X1QQ (3551km) also spotted.

UPDATE 1452z: 4Z5ML (3571km) in Israel is the best DX on 10m JT65 TX.

UPDATE 1702z:  LU3VCC (12470km) is the best DX on 10m JT65 TX so far. I have also been spotted in Paraguay this evening.

UPDATE 1754z: 12 South Americans received on 10m JT65 RX so far this evening.

Sunspots and 10m - Monday October 10th 2016

Solar flux is 104 today and the sunspot number 58. K=3, Yet again the 10m F2 forecast remains "poor".

Conditions on 10m JT65 yesterday seemed far from poor though.

QRP, QRPclub and Sputniks

From Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,
QRP Rendez-Vous weekly report (October 3 to 9, 2016)
Visitors  of  the  week: OK2MSS, IK2RGV, DK1HW, HB9DAX, G3XJS, RV3GM, US3EN,  RU3NJC,  UA1CEG,  UA9MLY, UR0ET, RW3AA, CS7AFI, ON4MB, EA6BB, UA1CEX, OM6TC, UA1ASB, UR5EFD, OH6NPV, RN4W
Congrats!
ON4MB became Honor Frequenter
See full Frequenters and Visitors lists on the Club 72 page - www.club72.su
72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"

Dear Space Friends,
a  lot of busy with my house reconstruction now. Sorry for delay. All
QSOs and pictures installed on the results page. I wonder, is the QSO
between  ON6WJ  -  PA0PJE  (PA6FBE) the 1'st 2-way Sputnik QSO in the
World? Great!

72! beep-beep-beep...
Deep Space Communications Center
operator on duty -
Oleg ("Mr. 72") RV3GM / KH6OB


And this from Peter:

Dear Friends,

Today I was at the Fort again as it was the last day to be open to general public. I did a lot of Radio-talk again but also found time to make some more contacts on 30 meters. I worked 4 stns:

UY6IO Vasily at 10:06 S579-R569 He used 100 watts in a loop antenna
DL1DTX Knut at 10:35 S589-R599 he used 70 watts
GM3MXN Tom S579-R579 corrected later to S599+10 QSB he used 5 watts to an end fed so a true QRP/QRP QSO.
OK1HB Ruda S579-R589 he used 100 Watts to a G5RV

Everybody liked my 1 Watt xtal-TX

40 meters was very busy so I stayed on 30 this time however some pilups were created by split-uppers ovrcrowding 10.116 MHz.

I did attempt to transmit on 21 MHz with my Sputnik TX because I heard some activity, even JA and PY so called CQ but only 1 RBN report from UD4FD SNR 10dB. The GP was only partly demolished by the sheep so repair of the radials was quickly done but alas no QSO.

72/73 and keep beeping!

Peter - PA0PJE (Sputnik: PA6FBE) 

300W Class D on 472kHz

www.g0mrf.com/630m.htm

G0MRF has produced a design and PCB for a 300W class D PA for the MF band. It needs a low level drive at twice frequency. For WSPR it needs the experimental software from K1JT that produces tones at twice frequency so they are right when driving this PA. Although kits of some parts are available, I do not think a complete kit is available. Using such a PA would increase my 630m ERP by several "S" points, even without antenna and ground changes.

See http://www.g0mrf.com/630m.htm

IC7300 and FT991 prices

The price of the FT991 from Yaesu has dropped below £1000, but the IC7300 is still £1049. At the moment Yaesu is working on an FT991A, having seen the real-time spectrum display in the IC7300. There is plenty of margin in the price of the IC7300 but I guess dealers are presently holding the current price and not reducing it, despite the weaker pound, because people are buying at the high price. At less than £1000 I might be tempted by the IC7300. There is no doubt it is a good radio but please get it below £1000. Note that the FT450D retails at £599. The IC7300 should be comparable - it has a simpler RX architecture. No, despite the weaker pound against the dollar and the yen, I am convinced the dealers can afford to drop the IC7300 price and still make good margins. In the meantime, I shall wait.

UPDATE 1616z:  I see ICOM has announced a firmware update for the IC7300. See http://www.icom.co.jp/world/support/download/firm . Each firmware update improves functionality or fixes bugs.

10m DX

With 6 South Americans and ZS5LEE spotted on 10m JT65 so far, it has been quite promising. My own signal has been spotted in Europe, but not outside Europe yet.

UPDATE 1435z:  More South Americans spotted (Uruguay and Northern Brazil) so 8 South Americans spotted so far. Canary Is, EA8CYL (2988km), is the best DX yet on 10m JT65 TX. I think the European spots may be Es.

UPDATE 1446z:  No signs of the USA on 10m JT65 as yet. It is about this time I'd expect this path to briefly open. Maybe later in the month?

UPDATE 1504z: Another South African spotted on 10m JT65. ZS1ALJ (9697km) around Cape Town spotted. BTW, Cape Town is a beautiful city. South Africa is a beautiful country, although we get more insects in our bedroom in 1 night than we saw in the whole of South Africa in several weeks!  Seeing "the big 5" animals wild in the Kruger National Park was splendid though. South Africa surprised us. It was far greener than we expected and the scenery was so different depending where you were: some places were like Scotland, other parts like the Med, and other parts wild open plains. It is not a place I'd like to live, but it is well worth a visit if you get a chance. We went a few years ago.

 https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html

UPDATE 1600z:  Now 3B8CW in Mauritius has been spotted on 10m JT65. This is the best day on 10m for a while. Many Europeans either spotting me or being spotted on 10m JT65.

UPDATE 1645z:  ZS1CM in Western Cape has also been spotted on 10m JT65. Currently 13 different South American stations spotted on 10m JT65.

10m JT65

So, I have now been on 10m JT65 for a few hours. So far just G0VUH (157km) spotted.

I am still awaiting North America on 10m JT65 this season. I have been unlucky so far, but with declining solar conditions this might be the last chance on F2 for several years on 10m, although summertime Es does bring North America in reach on 10m (even 6m) on a few days.

UPDATE 1112z:  No further reports on 10m JT65. Was G0VUH aircraft reflection?

QRP, Linears and BIG stations

A great thing about our hobby are the various ways in which we can enjoy it. For some it is satellites, some microwaves, some balloons, some ATV, some VHF, some QRP, some just talking. I am not one to criticise  how others enjoy the hobby. How you choose to enjoy it is your decision. Also, how much you choose to spend will depend on your own circumstances.

In my own case, I prefer to run QRP (currently WSPR and JT65) and simple wire antennas. I appreciate this is not everyone's idea of fun. Someone once suggested I tie my hands behind my back too! However, try 5W or less occasionally - you may be surprised.

My first 15m QSO was with a station in Chicago who was on SSB. I was using a simple homebrew transceiver that cost me well below £20 to make (see https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/15m_pipit ), even if I had bought all parts new. I was using 800mW CW and I almost fell off the chair when he replied to my CW call. Many many QRP contacts later and I knew this was not a one-off.  By the way, the antenna was a low wire dipole.

My point is you do not need to spend a lot to enjoy amateur radio. Some choose to spend thousands and thousands on rigs, linears, rotators, towers and beams. If this is for you, then fine. All I am saying is you can spend very little and still have a ball. Second hand CB gear covering 10m can be bought cheaply. In the summer months this and a small wire antenna will work 1000 miles or more most days. Maybe you can build a kit instead? There are several inexpensive kits for 40m or 20m SSB.

Each to their own but you do not have to break the bank.

Sunspots and 10m - Sunday October 9th 2016

Solar flux is 103 (quite good) today and the sunspot number 62 (not bad seeing where we are in the solar cycle). K=1. Yet again, the 10m F2 forecast remains  "poor".

Panoramio - NOT amateur radio

From Google earlier:

As a born cynic, I do not like it when things are "retired". Usually what replaces it is less good.

Back in 2014, we announced our intention to retire Panoramio in order to invest our efforts into improving photo-sharing experiences directly inside Google Maps.  In response to your feedback, we postponed these plans and worked to add features to Maps that better support the level of engagement that you have enjoyed with Panoramio. Today, with photo upload tools in Google Maps and our Local Guides program, we are providing easy options for you to share your photos with an active and growing community. As such, we’ve decided to now close down Panoramio. To make this transition easier, we’ll provide several options to continue sharing photos through other services. If you choose, you can also export all your data and take it somewhere else.

Because you have linked your Panoramio profile with a Google account, all your Panoramio photos will be copied to the Google Album Archive at full resolution after Panoramio goes away. These copied photos will not use any of your Google storage quota.  However, unless you upgrade to a Google+ account, your Panoramio photos will stop appearing in Google Maps.  This is because Panoramio nicknames will no longer be supported, and all other photos in Maps are attributed to Google+ user names.

After November 4, 2016, you’ll continue to have access to your photos in Panoramio for a year, but you will no longer be able to add new photos, likes, or comments.  Below, we’ve included resources to help you manage or export your data.  You can visit your Panoramio profile to see what photos you've added.  If you have already linked your profile with a Google account, your Panoramio data will automatically be saved.

1) Keep your photos in Album Archive

Because you have a Google account linked with your Panoramio account, we will automatically copy your Panoramio photos to the Google Album Archive when Panoramio is retired in November 2017.

• Copied photos will not use any of your Google storage quota.
• If you activate Google+ on your account, then eligible images and your View Counts will be transferred into Google Maps and will be visible when you sign in to Maps and access the Contributions screen from the main menu.

2) Export your photos to a local zip file

Visit takeout.google.com and follow the instructions there.

3) Become a Local Guide to keep contributing 

To keep adding photos to Google Maps and engage with a growing community of photographers, join the Local Guides program. You can earn points and unlock rewards for photos submitted with a Google account when they are linked to a point of interest or business. Many of your Panoramio photos may already be counted.

If you prefer to no longer share your photos with Google Maps, you can delete your Panoramio photos or your entire account at any time.  

• You can delete your Panoramio account (and photos) immediately by logging in, opening "Settings", and clicking the "Delete your account" option.  You can also navigate to this page directly by using this link.
• If you delete any photos (or delete your entire account) before Panoramio is retired in November 2017, that content will not be automatically copied to the Google Album Archive and will stop appearing in Google Maps.

Please see our Help Center article for more information and the various options you have to save, transfer, or delete your content. We’ve appreciated your contributions over the years and hope you will continue to share amazing photos with the world.

Thank you,

The Panoramio team

Stamford - NOT amateur radio

As you may have noticed, I was away for a time, so the blog had no posts for a while. We visited Stamford, Lincs, UK and visited Burghley House where these deer were spotted.  The pictures are mine but my wife made the collage.

This was our hotel room. They gave us the bridal suite, despite being married for 45 years! We even had our own garden and 4 poster bed.