Sunspots and 10m - Mon Sept 28th 2015

With a high sunspot number of 154 (K=0) 10m could be in decent shape today. The forecast remains "fair" for 10m today. Although WSPR spotted in Brazil again yesterday, I was surprised not to have been copied in North America by F2. The problem with 10m and 6m WSPR is activity is much lower than a year ago so often openings go unnoticed. This is a great pity as WSPR is an excellent very weak signal mode. With more activity, lots more openings would be spotted on both bands.

Had my mother lived she would have been 98 today. She died of a secondary cancer several years ago now.

UPDATE 1000z: There is already F2 about on 10m WSPR. 4X1DA (3597km) and 4X1RF (3519km) have already spotted my 500mW WSPR signal a few times. Thank you both. On 6m WSPR I am looking for others 80% of the time, but so far 6m is dead with no spots given or received.

Reboot of PC needed

Although I was spotting F5WK (364km) well again this evening on 472kHz WSPR, my spots of him were not being uploaded to the WSPRnet database. My PC was showing that the WiFi was connected but I had no internet connectivity, except that other machines were connecting perfectly well! So, I rebooted the Win 7 PC and now all seems to work - spots of F5WK on 472kHz WSPR are now being uploaded OK. Although the first uploaded spot of F5WK is 1812z, I was copying him well before then.

On 10m WSPR the beacon is stand alone and the PC is only needed to start the sync. I could use the radio pips. The 10m beacon then runs (at least) all day on its own on 10m. I use the PC and WSPR software on either 6m or 630m.

Brazil again on 10m WSPR

KD0VWO (7412km) monitoring in Brazil has spotted my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon again. No signs yet of spots from North America today. Maybe later? Yesterday I was sure I'd be spotted in North America as conditions were better than the day before, but I was wrong. 10m can be fickle.

New blog from Denmark

Jan OZ9QV is back in Denmark and has started a new blog. In the past I have worked with Danes and I much like them. In many ways they are similar to English people, although I guess this is because, going back over 1000 years, we share the same genes!

I remember visiting AP Radio in Copenhagen many years ago and liking that at 3.30pm on a Friday they went to the lab fridge and got out the beers!  The Danish sense of humour is quite similar to that in the UK. I like the Danish people.  Denmark seems a nation at peace with itself.

See http://oz9qv.blogspot.com/  .

QRP Operation

There is a Wikipedia entry about QRP I see (that is where you will find this image). QRP appeals to a lot of people, although when times are hard more power can reach further. On modes like WSPR QRP powers are usually fine.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QRP_operation .

New EU directive?

Steve G1KQH has just sent me this:

"I thought that was the idea of the EU to break down the barriers, it appears not?:

http://simonthewizard.com/2015/09/27/eu-shipping-stops-end-of-september-2015/

All the link to the crazy directive are on the bottom of the Blog..

73 Steve
http://www.g1kqh.talktalk.net/" 

At one time the UK leaving the EU sounded a step too far. These days, even a European enthusiast like me wonders. The EU does seem to serve little purpose these days, never agrees a budget, is undemocratic and over-bureaucratic. Maybe it is time for a big overhaul? Perhaps the UK should leave?

No lightning in Northern Europe

Here in the UK, most of us are enjoying a decent spell of settled weather with a big high pressure system overhead.  Looking at the lightning map, it looks storm-free over lots of northern Europe. No doubt things will change towards the end of the week when low pressure systems roll in again. Still, it is nice whilst it lasts. Maybe conditions on 2m and 70cm will be good with some tropo later in the week?

Sunspots and 10m - Sun Sept 27th 2015

Sunspot number is still good at 138 (K=1) and 10m propagation remains "fair".  Although my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon got some F2 reports, I was disappointed not to have been spotted in North America yesterday. Maybe today? Who can tell.

UPDATE 0910z:  Just locals spotting me on 10m WSPR so far. No late Es, or F2, on 10m WSPR seen here as yet. 6m is dead so far today. Overnight 11 different stations spotted here on 630m WSPR with best DX again 995km.

UPDATE 0948z:  Still just local spots on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1338z:  Still just locals G4IKZ and G4KPX spotting me on 10m WSPR. No sign yet of any F2 or late Es on 10m WSPR.

No North America on 10m WSPR?

Well, unless things change very late, there will be no WSPR spots of my little 10m beacon from the USA or Canada today. This surprised me as I was definitely expecting an opening in that direction. There was some late Es in the form of DK0SC (827km).

Some life on 6m WSPR and return to MF RX

G4TZX (146km) has been spotted on 6m WSPR a few times. He is in JO01 square, so I suspect we are seeing some help from aircraft on the approaches to London, Heathrow. This is classic tropo/aircraft reflection distance.

MF preamp

It would be good to see some real DX on 6m, but feel this is unlikely as activity levels are low, F2 DX is very unlikely and we are no longer in the peak Es months.

UPDATE 1518z:  Now QRT on 6m WSPR and moved to 630m RX for tonight and overnight. Last night best DX copied on MF was 995km.