QSYed from 630m to 6m WSPR

In the last few minutes I've QSYed to 6m WSPR from MF.   ERP on 6m is 1W (vertical) 20% TX and 80% RX.  I am still TXing on 10m WSPR 100% TX at 500mW.

Yesterday, 6m was just an exchange of spots with G6AVK. I am still hoping to catch some wintertime Es, but no luck as yet.

UPDATE 1545z:   Several 6m WSPR spots exchanged with G6AVK (78km) this afternoon, but nothing else. The large frequency shift (both ways) on exchanges with G6AVK suggest aircraft reflections were involved, not pure tropo.

472kHz WSPR

In the last 2 weeks, I have been spotted by 15 different stations when using 5mW (max) from my earth-electrode "antenna" on 472kHz WSPR. Some decent DX too.

Uniques on 472kHz WSPR this last 2 weeks on earth-electrodes with 5mW ERP

Sunspots and 10m - Dec 30th 2014

Sunspot number today is 113, but 10m propagation is only forecast to be "fair".  So far this morning my 500mW beacon is only being spotted in Europe, although I am sure stations in the USA will be spotting me after lunch. I hope there will also be spots from Africa and South America.

QRT on 10m. QSYed from 6m to 630m WSPR

At 2230z I went QRT on 10m WSPR.

I have now moved the FT817 and transverter (on the short baseline earth electrode "antenna" to 472kHz WSPR where my ERP is around 5mW (max.). G8LCO and G7NKS have already copied me on the first TX burst and I have copied G0LRD (25km) on the first RX slot. I'll remain on overnight on 472kHz WSPR.

First few minutes on 472kHz WSPR this evening.

Low cost quadcopter

Quadcopters are usually quite expensive but Banggood have one for sale that will not break the bank.

See http://www.banggood.com/JJRC-H8C-2_4G-4CH-6-Axis-RC-Quadcopter-With-2MP-Camera-RTF-p-950652.html .

My last USA 10m WSPR spot today?

It looks like W3CSW (5886km) was the last stateside station to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon today at 1654z. The stateside 10m openings are definitely shorter now. Since then, just locals G4IKZ and G0LRD have been spotting me. There could conceivably be further reports from North America, but this is unlikely today. It has been dark here for 2 hours. The time is 1820z as I write.

UPDATE 1936z:   No more WSPR spots from the USA since 1654z. This was the last USA WSPR spot today.

QRP SSB kits from Spain

EA3GCY sells a range of QRP kits including single band, single PCB, SSB transceivers for 20m or 40m.  These look easy to build and test and good value for money. Currently there is a 5% off offer running too.

See http://ea3gcy.blogspot.it/2013/03/iler-20-4-5w-qrp-ssb-monoband.html .
See http://ea3gcy.blogspot.it/2013/01/iler-40-4-5w-qrp-ssb-monoband.html .

He also does a CW kit and other accessories. Look out for the ILER range.

6m spots exchange

G6AVK (78km) and I swapped 6m WSPR spots about an hour ago. Otherwise, the band seems very very quiet. He is running a couple of watts.  I am running the FT817 at the 2.5W setting but through at least 1-2dB of lossy coax (TX and RX) to my vertical V2000 omni antenna, so I estimate my 6m ERP as about 1W.

10m USA WSPR spots

The first USA station to spot my 500mW WSPR beacon today was WG2Z (5600km) at 1252z. This is earlier than yesterday. As usual, plenty of USA stations are spotting me now. I expect this will continue until teatime.

6m continues to be blank - no spots given or received so far today.

Sunspots and 10m - Dec 29th 2014

Sunspot number today is 108 and 10m propagation expected to be "fair". On recent occasions when 10m was forecast to be "fair" my 500mW 10m WSPR has been copied right around the world!

Since turning on my 10m WSPR beacon, spots from local G4IKZ (18km) and LZ1OI (2153km) so far only.

I am also on 6m WSPR but no spots given or received yet on that band.

UPDATE 1232z:   So far on 10m, I am being spotted by European stations only (OH, LA, UR, LZ local G).  On 6m, no spots at all so far but I hear there is possibly some 6m Es?