Soon be spring - NOT amateur radio

As Storm Doris rages outside, there are signs that spring is not far away. Daffodils are at last coming out in our garden and in our road and last weekend there were plenty of snowdrops out. Aconites are also appearing. The first swallows (birds) should arrive here from Africa in about 6-7 weeks' time.

6m MSK144 RX yet again

Again, I am monitoring 6m MSK144 RX but I have only copied UK stations so far today, presumably by aircraft reflections.

I suspect the "experts"  know the best times and the best routes to catch aircraft reflections as the same stations seem to be copied at similar times each day. This is not the case with random MS.

UPDATE 1440z: SK0TM (1156km) again spotted.

Sunspots and 10m - Thursday February 23rd 2017

Solar flux is 84 today and sunspot number 17.  A=10 and K=2.

10m WSPR TX (500mW)

Since breakfast I have been on 10m WSPR TX 100% with randomised frequencies on each transmission. No spots as yet, but I shall be on all day I expect.

UPDATE 2200z:  No 10m spots all day.

More EbNaut VLF testing

Stefan DK7FC is doing another EbNaut test tonight:

Hi all,

Hereby i'm announcing the next EbNaut attempt for a longer night transmission, starting in a few hours:
f = 8270.100000 Hz
Start time: 22.Feb.2017   18:00:00 UTC
Symbol period: 30 s
Characters: 8
CRC bits: 16
Coding 16K21A
Duration: 11h, 12m, 0s
Antenna current: 700 mA

73, Stefan

QRP and QRP Club

More from Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,
Thanks all QRPers for activity in the game! See results on the Club 72
web page (Archives in the menu).

Winners in nominations:
R4NX - the lowest temperature in the field position (-13C in the garden)
UT3XT - the unusual original field position (in the forest)
UA1CEG - the original home brew radio in the field (DC TRX 3 W in the forest Wigwam)
RU3NJC - the lowest power in the field (Pixie 200 mW in the field)
OM6TC - the greatest number of QSOs in the field (52 QSOs on the summit 970 m ASL)
ON6WJ - the greatest number of QSOs with field operators in home (6 QSOs)

The memorable certificates has been sent to all participants.
See you all in the next Snowman QRP Game 2018!

72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"


This is a periodic Newsletter of the Club 72. Don't reply to Newsletter address! Send any requests or news to mr72@club72.su please.

6m MSK144 RX

As usual, I am monitoring 6m MSK144 RX in the background, So far only EI7BMB (462km) spotted in the last 12 hours. I assume this is aircraft reflection rather than random MS.

UPDATE 1712z: Spots of stations in G, GM and GD today so far, but nothing yet outside the British Isles.

Sunspots and 10m - Wednesday February 22nd 2017

Solar flux is 82 today and the sunspot number 19.  A=4 and K=3.

Given up on 10m?

It would appear that most have given up on 10m and migrated to lower frequencies where there are easier pickings. Understandable, but a shame as it means there are now far fewer people around to catch the openings that still do occur on 10m.

For a long time I have recommended digital modes like WSPR or JT65 running in the background. Only low power is needed.  WSPR creates its own beaconing format, but sending "B callsign locator" in JT65 appears on PSK Reporter Maps, so you can soon see where your JT65 signal is being copied. Yes, 10m DX is still there, but harder to find now than a few years ago.

But, are you man enough to take the 10m challenge?

I have said before, but if all you want to do is chat to friends around the world you can do this by video for nothing on the internet. Amateur radio is about learning and pushing the boundaries. For many years 10m will be that final HF frontier.

Care to join us?

Back on 10m WSPR

For about 15 minutes now I have been back on 10m WSPR TX (100%, randomised frequency, 500mW). It will be interesting to see if anyone spots me on 10m WSPR. As yet, no spots.