Largely non-radio day

Son and grandson outside their home.

Although I shall probably go on 472kHz WSPR shortly, today has been a day largely without radio: we went on a train day return to Canterbury to see our son Chris and family. We have done this now 3 times and get about 4 hours with them. It was good.

15th station seen on 472kHz WSPR

No new stations spotting me overnight but I did spot my 15th unique station this summer DJ0ABR (983km) which is a new distance record for me this summer.

472kHz WSPR - immediate success

Since QSYing down to 472kHz WSPR, the reports have been flooding in, even though ERP is less than 5mW.  These are the initial spots since going on to MF.  Note yet again the daylight spots from GM4SLV (896km) way up in Shetland. No totally new reporters yet, but maybe tonight?

UPDATE 1925z:   G8AGN has been spotted as the 14th unique station seen this summer at around -21/-22dB S/N.

14 unique 472kHz WSPR stations received this summer so far

UPDATE 2035z:   Currently 29 stations active on 472kHz WSPR. Hopeful of being spotted by new stations tonight.

10m WSPR - for a little longer still?

It has been very quiet now on 10m WSPR since 1328z when LA3ZA was last coming in here via Es. Apart from local G4KPX, the band has been very quiet on WSPR.  I even checked the gear was working as it seemed too quiet.

I shall stick with 10m until about 1830z, then QSY down to 472kHz again. Currently there are more active stations on 472kHz (22) than on 28MHz/10m (15). Of course these numbers can rapidly alter and http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/activity only shows stations spotting in the last 10 minutes, so if you hit a quiet patch, you appear to disappear.

F2 will be hard to see with WSPR as there are so few active stations where they need to be - just 2 in the USA and 1 in South America only. Without stations at F2 ranges on WSPR, WSPR rather loses its point. No F2 seen here on WSPR today, but that may be down to an absence of WSPR stations rather than conditions.

Why do so many stay on 30m (68 active) or 20m (104 active)?  Operating on these bands teaches us very little indeed. Operating on the higher HF bands and 6m teaches us a lot about fleeting openings and propagation. In recent days there has been evidence of MS on 10m WSPR. It tells us a lot about 10m/6m GDX too.

See http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/activity .

UPDATE 1606z:  The number of active 10m WSPR stations has now jumped to 22 with 7 in the USA.

UPDATE 1636z:  As it is so dead on 10m, I am going to QSY to 472kHz immediately.

UPDATE 1640z:  Now QSYed to 472kHz WSPR.

Hamspots - a useful resource

See http://hamspots.net/3bjt/ .

A little while back someone introduced me to Hamspots which is a sort of  filtered spotting system for digital modes. You can chose how many bands to monitor and the modes, Very useful to see JT65 and JT9-1 activity on, say, 20, 10 and 6m.

10m Es - GM4AOS

The latest station to be spotted on 10m WSPR is GM4OAS (653km) at -22dB S/N at 1314z using 5W. Apart from the GM, there has been nothing since SI9AM at 1212z. No Es and no F2. I am still on the lookout for real DX on 10m.

10m 200mW

Interestingly, both LA3ZA and SI9AM are using just 200mW on 10m yet they are both coming through fine here on 10m WSPR. SI9AM is a few dB stronger than LA3ZA, which I assume is propagation. I use 2W as my Par end-fed antenna seems to be somewhat of a compromise. I don't want to take it down as it get me on several other bands too.

UPDATE 1200z:  Still waiting for that elusive F2 propagation.  The ZS is not currently listed in the 23 active stations.

472kHz update and QSY to 10m

I QSYed up to 28MHz (10m) mid-morning. Overnight on 472kHz, the same reporters were spotting me, so still just 13 unique station reports on the band this summer so far. 13 is also the number of unique stations I have spotted, although in several cases I am spotting some different stations who maybe don't monitor the band with a low noise floor RX system?

On 10m WSPR SI9AM (1503km) is being spotted by Es and G4KPX (14km) is a local. These are mid-morning.

Sunspot count today is 119 with 20-30MHz propagation "excellent". As long as there are WSPR stations active in the right places, I'd expect to see some F2 propagation. FR1, ZS and LU are on 10m WSPR, so I'd expect to see these in the logs later. Being 10m though, you can never be quite sure! To my mind, there are two "magic bands" - 10m and 6m.

UPDATE 1016z: In the last few minutes LA3ZA (1051km) is being spotted here. Is this opening just towards Scandinavia?

472kHz early evening

The move to 472kHz was made at about 1914z. Spots have been plentiful in both directions (received and given) but so far, no new reporters. I check results on WSPRnet. The first 30 minutes or so are show here.

472kHz WSPR spots - so far this evening

This evening, there are more stations active on 472kHz WSPR than I can ever recall (42). There were even more a little later.

UPDATE 2155z:  G3XIZ (46km) has just spotted me at -15dB S/N for spotter number 13 this summer.

10m Es - Iberia all day

10m has been open by Es virtually all day long to the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal). 10m Es is far from ended this summer. I suspect that even 6m will have been good on Es today.

Somewhat surprisingly I have seen no evidence here (yet) of F2 propagation. I was expecting to copy FR1, ZS or V53 already but no signs. It may be just that there are no WSPR stations active in the right places? Maybe we'll see S.America later? LU7YW is active on 10m WSPR currently and could well be copyable if the 10m band opens in that direction. We'll see within the next few hours.

Later this evening, I shall be returning to 472kHz WSPR, hopeful of more spots and spotters. Probably not before dark.

UPDATE 1800z:   Germany too spotting me at around 1644z.  Still no signs of any F2 propagation on WSPR.

UPDATE 1920z:  27 10m WSPR spots by CT1JTQ today. I have now QSYed to 472kHz WSPR.