A 500kHz WSPR screenshot from Finland

Paul-Henrik, OH1LSQ has kindly send me his screenshot showing my WSPR signal as received in Finland. It shows a visible, if weak, trace on the screen.

The weak trace seen by OH1LSQ on 500kHz this evening

Conditions on LF appear to be excellent this evening and this is supported by the propagation forecast for this evening from G4ILO's website (see below) and on the RHS for the current conditions.

500kHz REAL DX with the new transverter

DX reports on 500kHz WSPR this evening using the new 10W transverter

My new 500kHz transverter has "done the business" with reception this evening of my WSPR signal (for the third autumn running) by OH1LSQ at a distance of 1736km. What I find incredible is that this is with low milliwatts ERP from an antenna that is tiny: the outer of the 6m vertical coax (the feed to my 10m halo) tuned against a ground formed by my central heating system copper and brought to resonance with a tapped coil on a ferrite rod sitting on the shack desktop.

500kHz WSPR reports map

The new 472kHz band is clearly going to be great fun for all, even without anything special in the way of antennas. However, my experience with small antennas on 136kHz is a different matter: on that band it is MUCH harder to get reports from any distance with QRP.

For details of my 472/500kHz transverter see https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp/Home/472khz-transverter

More 500kHz 2mW ERP DX reports this evening

This evening I switched back to 500kHz from 137kHz WSPR earlier in the day. Yet again good WSPR reports from GM4SLV and OH1LSQ (1733km) who received me as early as 1716z.

New DX record on 500kHz WSPR

This evening, quite unexpectedly, I got a string of reports on 500kHz from OH1LSQ in KP03sd at an astounding distance of 1733km. To me these are amazing reports pushing my best DX on the band with just a few milliwatts ERP to new levels.  What surprises me is how well a very simple wire loop works as a TX antenna: the wire is just 1mm diameter, with a loop area of around 70m square with part of the loop on the ground buried in wet grass. I now believe almost anything is possible!