10m - closing down

After a distinctly average day (so far at least) I am closing the 10m station down shorty. A brief opening to South America (PY2RN, Brazil) was the only highlight.  Others included 4X1RF and 4X1DA, Europeans on Es and local Gs.

On 2m the GB3NGI Northern Ireland beacon was present before lunch but was inaudible this evening in wet and windy conditions. I think this beacon is marginal: sometimes it is above the noise and other times just below.

10m coming to life - late

After a pretty quiet day on the 10m band,  I have just exchanged strong WSPR reports with PY2RN (Brazil). It looks like the band has suddenly woken up. This is 10m and this sort of thing does happen. Judging by the drift I'd say TEP mode.

UPDATE 2050z:   Only decent DX has been PY2RN.  Several recent spots from GM4WJA (624km) in mid-Scotland, an odd distance really and I am still unsure of the mode as too close (?) for F layer and too regular for Es?

PY2RN WSPR analysis

Bert PA1B has analysed my recent reception on WSPR by PY2RN to see just how little power could have been used and still be successfully decoded in Brazil - the answer is very little for a lot of the time! Most times even 1mW should have been enough. This of course assumes local noise levels allow decoding to the lowest levels for WSPR at around -30dB S/N. In some cases this may not be possible because of local QRN/QRM.

Windows Updates and (late start) 10m WSPR

This morning , I assumed I was on 10m WSPR but instead I discovered the (new Windows 8.1) PC was doing a Windows update and was quietly waiting for me to restart the computer! This I did at around 1300z after which I was back on 10m WSPR.  Sunspot count is down to 83 with "disturbed conditions" today so I would expect 10m conditions at 2W to be more difficult.

PY2RN 10m WSPR spots early afternoon today

My first spot today at 1318z is of PY2RN (9550km) running 5W.  Excellent reports both given and received.

Interesting that even at 1822z, not a single spot exchanged with North America, well here at least. All 10m propagation, for me, is in the N-S direction so far today. More like quieter years. Others with better low angle antennas may have done better.

10m TEP?

PY2RN is putting in a COLOSSAL +9dB S/N signal on 10m WSPR at 1854z with 5W and I just wonder if this is perhaps TEP assisted? Chordal hop across the equator could account for the very low attenuation. Just a thought.

UPDATE 2206z:  WA6JRW in DM14he in California (8664km) was reporting my 2W WSPR at 2024z. The band is still open transatlantic here at this QTH at 2152z. W8QYT (5W 5807km) was a good +4dB S/N here at 2144z and he was spotting my 2W at -5dB S/N at 2138z.   I am still getting transatlantic spots at 2W as late as (at least) 2200z (4 transatlantic spots from the 2W 2200z TX burst).

One thing I have noticed  is signals on long 10m DX paths are often strongest just before the band dies out. This is often the most productive time with QRP power levels.

I stopped monitoring on the WSPR.net database at 2208z.