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| Unique station 10m WSPR reports today to 1450z. |
18 Nov 2014
Unique 10m WSPR spots to 1450z today
The little 500mW beacon has been on since last evening. LZ1OI (2153km) and 4X1RF (3519km) were both spotting me very early and there have been plenty of stations spotting me already. This is the list of unique stations spotting me so far:
In many cases, stations have copied me many times and this is not shown. 500mW seems quite enough to "blast a hole". More power might help at times, but if the path is open 500mW is very often plenty with WSPR.
Sunspots - Tuesday Nov 18th 2014
Sunspot number today is 95 and 10m propagation is expected to be "good". Although my little WSPR-AXE beacon is being copied widely, nothing out of the ordinary so far.
Antarctica on 10m WSPR (500mW)
See http://rt.com/news/russia-antarctic-stations-exploration-541/ .
17 Nov 2014
Sunspots today - Nov 17th 2014
Sunspot number has fallen to 91 yet 10m daytime propagation is supposed to be "good". Although 10m has yet again opened to the USA (weeks and weeks this has happened now) I would not describe conditions on 10m as particularly "good". I am still waiting for my first Australian report when using the little beacon for example. When the band is really "good" VK reports with the 500mW WSPR beacon should be no problem.
Dual band WSPRing
Since mid-afternoon I've been WSPRing on 2 bands at the same time. My little WSPR-AXE beacon (from W5OLF) puts out 27dBm on 10m and I used my FT817 to put out 30dBm ERP from my V2000 on 6m. Although 10m is resulting in plenty of reports, 6m is, yet again, DEAD with no stations received and no reports received. I'll leave both 6m and 10m WSPR running until after dark. Tomorrow I may try my earth-electrode antenna on MF (472kHz WSPR) at the same as 10m. As I use the Par antenna on 10m, I shall have to use the earth-electrode antenna on 472kHz.
UPDATE 1624z: 6m WSPR is still utterly DEAD. I keep plugging away on 6m to no avail. Not sure why I even bother! 10m, with half the power is far more productive: every day I get DX reports with the little WSPR-AXE 10m WSPR beacon at 500mW.
UPDATE 1925z: 6m WSPR again proved to be totally useless with not a single station copied here or copying me. Having tried so hard out of the Es season, I am now giving up on 6m until spring 2015.
UPDATE 1945z: Just gone QRT on 6m, but left the 10m WSPR-AXE 500mW beacon still running.
UPDATE 1950z: The last USA station appears to have been KB9AMG (6300km) at 1844z.
UPDATE 1624z: 6m WSPR is still utterly DEAD. I keep plugging away on 6m to no avail. Not sure why I even bother! 10m, with half the power is far more productive: every day I get DX reports with the little WSPR-AXE 10m WSPR beacon at 500mW.
UPDATE 1925z: 6m WSPR again proved to be totally useless with not a single station copied here or copying me. Having tried so hard out of the Es season, I am now giving up on 6m until spring 2015.
UPDATE 1945z: Just gone QRT on 6m, but left the 10m WSPR-AXE 500mW beacon still running.
UPDATE 1950z: The last USA station appears to have been KB9AMG (6300km) at 1844z.
16 Nov 2014
Last USA spot of the day?
It looks as if N2NOM (5581km) was the last USA spot of my little 500mW beacon today at 1812z. Since then, just local G4IKZ (18km) spotting me now.
UPDATE 2004z: N2NOM was the last spot from the USA this evening.
UPDATE 2046z: Now gone QRT - just G4IKZ now spotting me since 1812z.
UPDATE 2004z: N2NOM was the last spot from the USA this evening.
UPDATE 2046z: Now gone QRT - just G4IKZ now spotting me since 1812z.
146-147MHz allocated to UK full licencees under NoV - why?
My original post on this seems to have magically vanished. Don't know how this happened.
Basically, I totally fail to understand why OFCOM has allocated this band to some UK amateurs. It is only ad interim, by NoV to full licence holders, is only for a limited time, and only in a limited geographical area.
The 144-146MHz (2m band) is generally under-used in the UK and the rest of Europe and white noise is the most common thing to hear. Take a listen. It NEVER sounds busy here in Cambridgeshire, even in contests.
Personally, I would have preferred OFCOM to have given us smaller bands (100kHz wide?) at 40MHz and maybe 60MHz, renewed access to the old 73kHz band and allowed free access to 0-8.3kHz. The RSGB thinks the new 146-147MHz band will be used for digital TV experiments - this is rubbish - it is hard enough to get any DATV experiments at 432MHz and 1296MHz where most amateur TV takes place. Maybe a few very dedicated individuals will try DATV 146-147MHz, but just a handful.
Personally, I think OFCOM lost credibility allocating 146-147MHz to amateurs. This was clearly a sop to make up for messing with microwave bands. Far more radio science would have been possible with new allocations in other parts of the spectrum. There are already some beacons at 40MHz and 60MHz,which bands would have been ideal for Es experiments. 40MHz is mid-way between the 10m and 6m bands. Surely 50-100kHz could have been made available?
I hope OFCOM supports a contiguous 5MHz (60m) amateur allocation worldwide at WRC2015 next year. We'll need this in the quiet years ahead.
Basically, I totally fail to understand why OFCOM has allocated this band to some UK amateurs. It is only ad interim, by NoV to full licence holders, is only for a limited time, and only in a limited geographical area.
The 144-146MHz (2m band) is generally under-used in the UK and the rest of Europe and white noise is the most common thing to hear. Take a listen. It NEVER sounds busy here in Cambridgeshire, even in contests.
Personally, I would have preferred OFCOM to have given us smaller bands (100kHz wide?) at 40MHz and maybe 60MHz, renewed access to the old 73kHz band and allowed free access to 0-8.3kHz. The RSGB thinks the new 146-147MHz band will be used for digital TV experiments - this is rubbish - it is hard enough to get any DATV experiments at 432MHz and 1296MHz where most amateur TV takes place. Maybe a few very dedicated individuals will try DATV 146-147MHz, but just a handful.
Personally, I think OFCOM lost credibility allocating 146-147MHz to amateurs. This was clearly a sop to make up for messing with microwave bands. Far more radio science would have been possible with new allocations in other parts of the spectrum. There are already some beacons at 40MHz and 60MHz,which bands would have been ideal for Es experiments. 40MHz is mid-way between the 10m and 6m bands. Surely 50-100kHz could have been made available?
I hope OFCOM supports a contiguous 5MHz (60m) amateur allocation worldwide at WRC2015 next year. We'll need this in the quiet years ahead.
73kHz again?
Well I, for one, would welcome the chance to experiment on the 73kHz band. I can, I believe, legally (even without a licence) do so with earth-mode but I'd like to see how effective earth-electrode antennas work as radiating structures on this band. With modem digital techniques there are so many experiments to do.
Sadly, like much of our spectrum, this is now managed by "the military" in the UK so it is very unlikely we'll get access to this band again. When originally available in the UK, I was not active on LF.
Sadly, like much of our spectrum, this is now managed by "the military" in the UK so it is very unlikely we'll get access to this band again. When originally available in the UK, I was not active on LF.
10m - stateside
The first spot of my 500mW 10m beacon was at 1248z today by WB1FIG (5304km). Since then, several USA stations have spotted me, although I have not been spotted outside of Europe and the USA so far today.
Conditions seem "OK" on 10m, but certainly not what I'd call brilliant. For example, no spots from Asia, Africa or South America yet. I am still waiting for a first first spot of my little beacon from Australia.
UPDATE 1500z: So far today reports of my little 500mW 10m beacon have been received from 28 different stations, so far. The majority of these are located in the USA and Canada. Lots of hours left still today too!
UPDATE 1540z: Best DX report today is still from K9AN (6505km).
UPDATE 1640z: Best DX report today is from WA5NGP (7878km). Still no reports today from further afield. Time is running out today.
Conditions seem "OK" on 10m, but certainly not what I'd call brilliant. For example, no spots from Asia, Africa or South America yet. I am still waiting for a first first spot of my little beacon from Australia.
UPDATE 1500z: So far today reports of my little 500mW 10m beacon have been received from 28 different stations, so far. The majority of these are located in the USA and Canada. Lots of hours left still today too!
UPDATE 1540z: Best DX report today is still from K9AN (6505km).
UPDATE 1640z: Best DX report today is from WA5NGP (7878km). Still no reports today from further afield. Time is running out today.
Sunspots - Sunday Nov 16th
Sunspot number today has declined to 100, but 10m daytime conditions are still forecast to be "good". The forecasts suggest decent 10m F2 propagation. We'll see.
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