10m transatlantic - yet again

Surely, these 10m openings - there yet again today - must be F2 and not multi-hop Es? Already spotted are K3NAL (5930km) and KZ8C (6290km).

FR1GZ (9724km) on Reunion Is, Indian Ocean, has also been spotted here several times and TJ3TS (5478km) in Cameroon is spotting me too.

It seems to me we are experiencing decent F2 propagation on 10m, and it is only mid-September. Maybe it is WSPR being so sensitive that openings that would have been missed in the past are now being noticed?

UPDATE 1639z:  10m has been open to the USA all afternoon on WSPR. This must be F2 rather than Es as it is almost predictable.

UPDATE 1845z:  I went QRT on 10m just before teatime as I needed the PC for something else. When closing, the band was still wide open to the USA.

UPDATE 2210z:  I returned to 10m WSPR at 1912z. The last USA station to spot me was AF5ES at 2008z. CX2ABP (11127km) was spotted here at 1944z.

And again! N2OTO spotted on 10m last night

10m was open very briefly again last night transatlantic. Just single spots exchanged (each way) on WSPR with N2OTO (7088km) at around 2242z.  Local G0LRD (25km) also spotted him. This is now the 11th transatlantic 10m Es opening this summer by Es. WSPR certainly helps!

10m - transatlantic YET again today!

This lunchtime, 10m opened to the USA yet again with K9AN (6505km) and KC2GMM (5562km) being spotted here. I think this is the 10th time I have caught a 10m stateside opening this Es season. I am sure that WSPR is helping to discover these brief openings. 

I find it amazing that 10m gets to the USA so often. If this is multi-hop Es (I think it is) similar openings are likely any summer Es season, even right in the sunspot minima.  Some even think Es gets better as we approach the minima, although I am unsure if this is true.

UPDATE 1425z:  EA5CYA (1376km) has been spotted several times since lunchtime by Es. Otherwise mainly locals G4KPX (14km) and G0LRD (25km).

UPDATE 1920z:   GM4WJA (624km) has spotted me several times this evening by Es.  OK2SAM (1283km) has been spotted on Es here at 1906z.

UPDATE 2133z:   LZ1OI (2153km) spotted at -18dB S/N on WSPR by Es at 2018z. There has been Es throughout the day, but it has been absent far more than "there". I guess this is how it is going to be now as we enter the quieter Es months.

Yet more 10m Es transatlantic!

This morning around 1100z KZ8C (6290km) in EM88 square was spotted for the 8th time (I think) this Es season. I think this is the earliest time in the day I have copied 10m Es transatlantic. It means the USA station was on very early local time.

UPDATE 1611z:  CT1PT (1685km) was spotted on 10m WSPR at 1604z.

UPDATE 1613z:  PD0OHW (459km) was copied mid afternoon. I think this was by Es. All storms seem to be well away from the UK currently. See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en . Sadly I must go QRT early this evening because of guests, not because of storms.

10m unique WSPR spots so far today

USA yet again on 10m - multi-hop Es?

KZ8C (6290km) was spotted twice this evening from EM88pm around teatime. It seems WSPR is proving the summertime Es path to the USA on 10m is open far more than I previously thought.  I am losing count of how many times this season I have copied the USA on 10m, but it is a lot - on 6 days now I think.  I assume it is multi-hop Es but could be F2 backscatter? More WSPR stations would help. Remember, if this is Es the same may be possible any summer including right at the sunspot minimum in 5-6 summers from now. Now there's a thought.

UPDATE 1835z:  DK0SC (827km) copied me very strongly at +7/+8dB S/N at 1758z. Since then just wispy weak signals which are probably GDX stations not quite strong enough to decode. G8VDQ (93km) was decoded at 1730z.

UPDATE 1950z:  Worldwide just 13 stations on 10m WSPR and only 12 stations on 6m. This is pathetic. People are really missing out on an excellent mode for propagation studies and more. To be fair, the list does not show people on WSPR who have not spotted or been spotted in recent minutes, so there may be more people active than are shown on www.wsprnet.org .

UPDATE 2222z:  Three Es spots this evening of SI9AM (1503km) up in N.Sweden on 10m so far this evening. Will leave 10m WSPR kit running overnight.

More recent WSPR spots today


PS  Get Israel to makr peace, not war.

10m - transatlantic Es this afternoon

I switched to 2W WSPR on 10m around 1406z and was rewarded (in addition to reception of a Dutch station) by reception of K3NAL (5930km) and  KZ8C (6920km). Neither has copied me yet, if they are indeed monitoring on RX. Both are using 5W.

This must be multi-hop Es. It is certainly my best Es DX this season.  At this time of the year it is highly unlikely to be F-layer. Anyway, today F2 conditions today are very poor. K3NAL and KZ8C have been copied lots of times. K3NAL has been copied 10 times by 1608z!

10m Es WSPR - transatlantic today

It is a great pity there are not more stations in the USA on WSPR on 6m. Good to copy USA stations in the summertime on 10m.

UPDATE 1700z:   K3NAL has been copied 14 times already.  WG2Z (5600km) has now copied my 2W at 1626z.

UPDATE 1820z:   Lots of EU Es audible on WSPR but the transatlantics have stopped.

UPDATE 1856z:    PD0OHW (459km) at +12dB S/N on WSPR - incredibly strong Es propagation.

VC1T copied in the UK on 2m

If you can access the ARRL pages see http://www.arrl.org/news/view/brendan-quest-team-s-2-meter-signal-copied-in-the-uk .

G4SWX copied the Canadian group VC1T for 4 hours, but was unable to complete a 2-way QSO. The Canadian's ERP was around 150kW from a beam 100 foot long.  The mode was FSK441 and this was on July 6th 2014. A 2m 2-way terrestrial QSO will happen across the Atlantic sometime, maybe this summer?

My thanks again to Steve G1KQH for this news. 

6m transatlantic

Looking on the internet, the better equipped stations measure the number of  transatlantic 6m QSOs each year in hundreds (to Spain). With my very modest 6m set-up I am still pleased to have worked just a single USA station on Es CW back in 2007.

I am still surprised not to have caught 6m Es transatlantic on WSPR as I've been monitoring 24/7 more or less (with occasional breaks) since late April. I know there have been transatlantic Es openings on other modes, so it may have been down to a lack of WSPR activity. I''ll continue monitoring and TXing through July, but will probably QSY to 10m after that. I am still hopeful.

Super DX on 6m WSPR - a lost cause?

Yet again, there are ZERO stations active on 6m WSPR in the north eastern USA and eastern Canada. There have been decent 6m transatlantic openings on 6m today but without participating WSPR stations WSPR is a dead loss!! I shall give 6m WSPR a few more days before I give it up in disgust.

6m WSPR should be the ideal mode to seek out such openings but only if stations bother to use the mode. Please, please give it a try if you are on the east coast of the USA and Canada.

Set to 50.293MHz USB dial.

6m - 4X1RF spots me yet again with 1W ERP (3519km)

At 1308z 4X1RF spotted my 1W ERP WSPR on 6m for the 9th time this season. I assume it is Es and not single hop F-layer. I am amazed that 4X1RF can copy me so often. There was no sign of  intermediate distance stations. On 10m Chris regularly copies me when I am using low milliwatts. He has very good ears and must have a quiet QTH.  3519km is a great distance on 6m and I am even more pleased as my antenna is just a V2000 triband vertical fed with lossy CB coax. My FT817 is on the mid-power setting only.

I am still hopeful of transatlantic multi-hop Es propagation with WSPR. Patience! I must stick with 6m and keep everything crossed. If, as I have, worked K1TOL on CW in the past on 6m (summer 2007), then WSPR should certainly be possible as long as there are stations active on WSPR in the USA.  K1TOL has a BIG antenna farm but with WSPR more modest antennas in the USA should be fine.

Transatlantic 6m?

According to Steve's blog http://ve7sl.blogspot.ca/ there was transatlantic propagation on 6m today but here at least I copied nothing of this on WSPR.

I may have been unlucky but it was probably just that  there were no active WSPR stations where the propagation was reaching or my antenna is not good enough to catch weak, fleeting openings. I am leaving the kit running overnight just in case!

After local midnight transatlantic on 10m

Well, 10m is full of surprises!

As late as 2318z  (after our local midnight) I was still spotting K3NAL on 10m WSPR. He was using just 5W and was a decent -17dB S/N suggesting he could still have been copied at 500mW on a clear noise-free frequency. This is very late for 10m and way after dark here.  I was surprised to see the band open to the USA at all. W4MO was also copied until quite late.

This morning, 4X1RF was spotting me on 10m as early as 0636z, so maybe conditions will be good again today? Sunspot count is 93 (a tad higher than yesterday) with 20-30MHz conditions shown as " normal" whatever normal means! The WSPR kit is running on 10m in readiness.

UPDATE 1000z:   Apart from 4X1RF, all reports so far have been Europeans, presumably by Es propagation. Nothing special as yet.

UPDATE 1615z:  DX into South America (PY2RN) in evidence, but no signs here of  North Americans.  Maybe the 10m band will open up to the USA and Canada much later this evening as it has done a few times this week?

UPDATE 1800z:  4X1RF has been pretty consistent on 10m all day. Several Europeans are coming through now, presumably by Es.

144MHz across the Atlantic?

A new beacon, GB3WGI in Ulster, has been approved by OFCOM. When turned on it will radiate at least 100W ERP (possibly much more) in the direction of the USA. It will be monitored in the USA and Canada for possible 144MHz openings across the Atlantic.

For many years people have speculated about the possibility of working across the Atlantic on 144MHz. On very rare occasions, this might be achieved by various propagation modes including multi-hop Es, auroral E, tropo or MS, or more probably a combination of these. There have been tantalising hints that this path has been open before now, but no objectively verifiable proof. With new weak signal modes it surely will happen sometime soon.

WSPR and 6m transatlantic testing

In a few months time 6m will start to open reliably for multi-hop sporadic-E propagation. This year, we have a new tool to help investigate really long distance openings across the Atlantic - WSPR. With enough WSPR stations both in UK and Europe and across the pond in W/VE and the Caribbean, we will have an excellent means of tracking transient openings at any time of the day or night. I for one plan to run my WSPR station almost 24/7 when not actually working live on 6m SSB and CW. I hope many others will join in the experiments.