North Devon on 10m

G3XKR (347km) spotted me on 10m WSPR this morning. No-one else has spotted me so far today - no other Gs and no DX.   This is an odd distance: probably tropo, but possibly with the assistance of aircraft? With quite a bit of drift, it suggests aircraft may well have been involved.  G3XKR is more commonly on MF. In the past I have worked all over the UK with QRP SSB on 10m. I am surprised that there is not more GDX on 10m. I guess low activity levels on 10m WSPR don't help.

UPDATE 1235z:   Local G4IKZ (18km) is spotting me too.

6m WSPR this morning

On 6m WSPR this morning I have only seen GDX spots and no sign, yet, of any Es propagation. It is early days and Es later is entirely possible.  Best DX so far is G0OQK at 98km. Some of this GDX may only be possible via aircraft reflections, evidenced by lots of Doppler traces on the received traces.

6m WSPR this morning so far (overnight spots not included)

6m Es

EA1KV (1304km) has spotted me twice, so far, on 6m by Es.  I am sure there many be other Es stations this lunchtime and teatime on 6m WSPR.   Apart from this Es opening, all spots (given and received) have been G stations - G3ZJO (79km), G8EPQ (77km) and G6IMT (65km).

UPDATE 1600z:  Teatime and the Es is back again on 6m.  EA1KV (1304km) is again spotting my 1W ERP on 6m WSPR.

UPDATE 2002z:   No further 6m Es WSPR spots seen here this evening.

No 10m WSPR GDX overnight

Although 10m WSPR was running through the night here, no GDX was copied suggesting F-layer back-scatter was probably the GDX mechanism yesterday. First real DX was at 0722z (LZ1OI).

10m WSPR GDX

Today, during the day, a couple of GDX stations have been copied around 170km range, but these are no longer being seen. To me, this suggests I am copying these stations on back-scatter as once good F-layer goes, so does the GDX. Of course, it could be that these stations are no longer on 10m as the DX seems to have now gone.

UPDATE 2212z:    Only real locals spotting me or spotted by me. No GDX seen this evening, supporting to F-layer back-scatter as the most probable means of the GDX spots earlier in the day. I'll leave 10m WSPR running overnight to see if any GDX is copied. This, of course, requires others to be active too and currently there are very few active UK stations.

UPDATE 2252z:  Just re-synced the PC clock to internet time, so the WSPR should be spot on overnight. However, I am not really expecting to see other than locals until breakfast time, but any DX or GDX in the night would be very good. TX is on about 20% and RX (looking for others) about 80%.  Running 500mW, on the FT817 currently, so I can both TX and RX.

10m WSPR - 2 stations from Reunion Is and also Cameroon

FR5ZX (9740km) and FR1GZ (9724km) were copied this morning several times on 10m WSPR. FR5ZX , TJ3TS (5478km) in Yaounde, Cameroon and 4X1RF (3519km) Israel were all copying me on 10m WSPR. These were all F2 propagation.  

ON7KS (295km) was probably via tropo, aircraft reflection, or backscatter as 295km is too close for Es. G8JNJ/A (184km) is tropo with aircraft reflection.

No Es yet today, but it is still early days.

Sunspot count is 157 (with blackouts) and 20-30MHz propagation "normal". 10m is in decent shape with decent F2 propagation about.

UPDATE 1235z:  LB9YE (1533km) spotted me via Es at 1226z and DK6UG (633km) at 1216z - yet another Es opening on 10m.  Also M6NNB (127km) spotted me by tropo. We do seem to be seeing Es at times outside the peak Es months and WSPR certainly helps find these brief openings. LB9YE running 500mW is also being spotted here.

Recent 10m WSPR spots

10m GDX - M6FOJ and G8JNJ/A

M6FOJ (103km) has been spotted several times this afternoon. It looks like pure tropo GDX with not a hint of aircraft reflections. G8JNJ/A (184km) has also been seen this afternoon.

UPDATE 1526z: DL2ZQ has been spotted at 1512z at -21dB S/N. Yet more 10m Es today.

10m F2 this morning on WSPR

This morning has started promisingly on 10m WSPR with ZS1ANF (9720km) logged at 1034z by F2 and a few GDX stations out to 184km. All stations were using 5W or less.

Sunspot count today is 170 (good) but 20-30MHz propagation described as only "fair".

UPDATE 1326z:  ZS1ANF has already been spotted 5 times today. F2 seems pretty good N-S on 10m today.

10m Es? - this morning

This morning 4X1RF (3519km) has spotted me (strongly) 12 times already on WSPR. This could be F2 or multi-hop Es. The latter is more probable.  CT1JTQ (1843km) is definitely Es. In addition, local G0LRD (25km) was strong and M0EMM (192km) was copied pretty well by tropo and aircraft reflection.

I see VKs were coming into N.Europe by F2 on 10m around breakfast time, but there was no copy here sadly on 10m.Others with better antennas may have done better than me?

Sunspot count today is 92 (stable) and 20-30MHz propagation is "normal". I was expecting F2 on 10m here yesterday, but copied none. Maybe better luck today?

"Normal service" later today.

After last night's thunder and lightning, I hope to resume "normal service" around lunchtime: we are otherwise busy until then. The weather today looks sunny and calm,before more storms on Sunday. Not sure what band I will use yet - probably 472kHz, but possibly 28MHz (10m).

Sunspot count today is 101 (pretty decent) and 20-30MHz propagation forecast to be "good" so a good day for N-S F2 propagation, as well as Es and GDX on 10m. On 6m only some Es and GDX likely.

6m WSPR this morning

I QSYed back to 6m about 50 minutes ago and already been spotted by G4IKZ (18km), OH5RM (1860km) and have myself spotted G6AVK (78km) and OH5RM strongly. Looking quite promising on 6m Es so far today.

6m WSPR this morning (1W ERP)

Sunspot count today is 65 (creeping up again) and 20-30MHz forecast to be "normal". I expect some F2 on 10m today.

I may stick with 50MHz (6m) WSPR today, but want to give JT65 and JT9-1 a good go on 10m and 6m. I have had JT9-1  QSOs on 10m before but believe the rig stability is probably better with JT65. At 6m I suspect JT9-1 will be unsuitable.   JT9-1 is better suited to LF and MF use. I shall use JT9-1 on 630m again soon.

UPDATE 1235z:   Still very much a Scandinavian colour to the Es with OH7AI (2000km) a new call today at 1126z. He is also spotting me. G6AVK is also spotting me.

10m - early

Until 0930z I was on 10m WSPR. GDX overnight included G8JNJ/A (184km), M0ITC (164km), G8VDQ (93km) and M0XDC (65km). The was also Es from Scandinavia early on today (SM,LB). I have now QSYed to 6m WSPR.

6m - GDX WSPR this evening

As well as lots of local spots from G4IKZ (18km), I see there are GDX spots from G8PMA (90km) this evening. As far as I recall these are the first spots from this station. They are at quite a low level (around -27/-28dB S/N). The was no Doppler, suggesting pure tropo?

UPDATE 1920z:  G6AVK (78km) is spotting me at -21/-26dB S/N.

Staying on 10m WSPR overnight

As the lightning map looks very clear, I have decided to leave 10m WSPR running overnight.

Although it has quietened down in the last 30 minutes, I can still see lots of watery traces, probably GDX, coming through, but not decoding.  We'll see if any of these decode during the night. If the good Es conditions continue, I'd expect some EU decodes during the night.

Should there be any storms, I can be QRT very very quickly. 

UPDATE 2230z:  No decodes in last hour. Bedtime.

10m - evening Es

Quite out of the blue IK1WVQ (1084km) was spotted just now at -12dB S/N. Es just happens - sporadically. Also copied was G8JNJ/A (184km) by GDX. There have been watery, Doppler affected, signals visible for hours, without decodes.

10m - early GDX G8VDQ

This morning, I turned on 10m WSPR early at around 0615z. All was quiet until G8VDQ (93km) was successfully decoded a couple of times in the last hour. He is in IO91um square. There were a few weak and badly Dopplered signals (multiple aircraft reflections) copyable, but these were not decoded. Of course, some of the shift is my rig warming, but multiple aircraft reflections are clear to spot. He is using 5W (antenna not known) whereas my ERP is just 1W meaning I am probably below his noise floor. I use the FT817 (2.5W setting) via a length of lossy RG58 to a V2000 vertical.

Although early still, no Es seen yet today on 10m.

Sunspot count is low at just 25 but 20-30MHz propagation is forecast to be "normal". We'll be lucky to see N-S F2 propagation today I think, but 10m is a fickle band and you never quite know.

10m WSPR spots at last

G8JNJ/A (184km) has been spotted 3 times now. I had a partial decode hours ago (just the QTH locator IO90hx). Spotted between 2114z  and 2118z. No Es seen since turning the rig on. Today has been a very quiet day on 10m here.

A quiet radio day

With physio this morning and gardening (as best I am currently able), the radio has only just been switched on to 10m. A few weak and watery signals are visible on the WSPR software with several Doppler shifted traces - obviously GDX - but none of it has yet decoded.

Sunspot count is 109 and 20-30MHz forecast is "normal" meaning some F2 DX may be possible. I see CX2ABP is being spotted over 8000km away in the USA.

No 10m Es seen here yet since I switched on about 1 hour ago. 

UPDATE 1745z:  Still no 10m WSPR decodes of anyone  - no locals no GDX, no Es and no F2. I was even wondering if the software had crashed, but it and the clock are spot-on. It's just a very quiet day on 10n here, so far.

10m - early morning GDX and Es

The 10m WSPR kit ran overnight. WSPR spots of G6NHU (78km), G7EOB (76km)  and G8JNJ/A (184km) and Es early this morning from IK1WVQ (1084km) , EA6GF (1428km) , EA5CYA (1376km) .  Spanish Es was being received at 0722z - very early.

Will be QSYing up to 6m shortly.

UPDATE 0950z:  10m WSPR is mainly from stations in southern Europe by Es now.

10m GDX and Es

My PC was doing odd things again earlier - said WSPR was TXing when it was not - but restarted WSPR software and all OK now.

G8JNJ/A (184km) GDX and EA5CYA (1376km) via Es (twice)  seen here in last hour.  The long F2 DX to South America seems to have gone now?  I love 10m -  a band of true variety and not hard in any way. My antenna is a 3 band Par end-fed 10/20/40m just strung to a nearby tree and not that high. On 10m I am currently using 2.5W from the FT817. The cable loss take this down to about 2W (max) at the antenna. This seems to get out fine. I am sure with a more efficient antenna just a few mW would be enough, although 5mW to this antenna has got spots from Israel and 100mW from the USA. Maybe it is somewhat directional?

At the moment my TX is only active 6% of the time on 10m. I am mostly on RX.

UPDATE 2030z:  Nothing further heard from CX2ABP in Montevideo since late afternoon.  He is using 10W, so if the 10m band is open, I would expect to copy him.  G8JNJ/A (184km GDX) has now been copied several times already this evening at up to -22dB S/N. Not strong, but there.

UPDATE 2112z:  G6NHU (78km 100mW) has been copied at -24dB S/N from JO01ou. Just a local and GDX currently.

UPDATE 2128z: Just when you think that is it for the evening up pops EA5CYA at 2118z at -21dB S/N and again at 2126z. So there is still Es around. even this late. I shall reset the software and clock and leave the kit running on 10m overnight.

UPDATE 2204z: G6NHU and EA5CYA are still being spotted.