At last - 10m WSPR spots from the USA

They were a long time coming, but starting at 1414z I have received 10m WSPR spots from the USA. K9AN (6505km) was the first followed by KB9AMG (6300km). I am sure we will now see openings to the USA regularly I think on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1736z:  Lots more spots from the USA. This is definitely the best day on 10m this autumn so far.

UPDATE 2104z:  It ended well with lots of USA spots as well as WSPR spots from Reunion Is and Brazil. A great day on 10m WSPR.

Uniques on 10m WSPR today

Autumnal garden - NOT amateur radio

Gradually, the gardens are taking on a more autumnal look. The sunflowers have passed, the apples are ripening next door, we have harvested our crab apples and taken in the sunshade for the winter ahead.  Every season has something good about it and this year the autumn colours are splendid. I hope to run an antenna down the garden for 472kHz. Not visible in this picture is my current 472kHz "antenna", which is a couple of earth rods separated about 12m apart! With an ERP of around 5mW this reached over 1000km last winter. The 472kHz wire or loop will only be in place over autumn and winter and be taken down next spring. Every season has something good about it here in the UK.

RadCom and the IC7300

My RadCom arrived by post today. Unlike in the recent edition of PW, the advertisers were publishing details of the new ICOM radio and were keen to take deposits. Perhaps they have got later data? I quite like the look of the new IC7300 radio, but feel the price will soon fall to £799 or less. I can wait. I may wait to see what the FT817 replacement looks like. A 5W (or maybe 10W) radio would suit my needs better.

The latest RadCom has a review of ICOMs latest flagship radio, the IC7851, selling for around £9000. Does anyone really spend this sort of money on amateur radio gear?  With PSU, tower, big beam and big rotator this implies over £10000 on amateur gear. I suppose some people must spend this sort of money. My FT817 has served me for over 14 years now. To me, this was an investment and I had to give it careful thought.  I wonder how many XYLs are happy for their husbands to spend over £10000 on a hobby?

Each to their own. If you really have that kind of disposable income how you spend it is your decision.

10m F2 DX

I see that KD0VWO (7412km) has been spotting my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon in Brazil today. I remain hopeful of some USA spots later today on 10m WSPR.

FR1GZ (9724km) has already spotted me too.

This looks like another good day on 10m WSPR, despite the "poor" forecast.

So far today nothing at all (given or received) on 6m WSPR.

Electric cars - NOT amateur radio

Electric cars have been on sale for years but today I saw my first electric car in use. This was a Nissan Leaf. To me the electric car is not the best solution. The range, even with new batteries, is quite low. Battery technology is still poor and huge batteries are needed to get quite modest ranges.

Although politically a "good idea", I feel we will see better solutions. Maybe this will be hydrogen fuel cells or power buried in the roads and paid for by the actual amount used? The latter would reduce the weight of batteries. Even with large subsidies, electric cars are expensive. We definitely need a clean, efficient alternative to petrol and diesel cars but I am not convinced by today's electric cars.

I watch the next few years with interest and wonder what motorists will be driving in 20-30 years' time.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat Oct 17th 2015

Sunspot number is a little better today at 68 (K=3) but 10m propagation is again expected to be "poor". What 10m WSPR will be like today is a guess! I shall be active on 10m and 6m WSPR all day. Yesterday was disappointing with just a few spots by G6AVK on 6m and only DX inter-G on 10m WSPR. G4CUI (172km) was the best report on 10m.

Shortwave interval signals

See http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15047843/SWintervalsigs.mp3

This was flagged by Facebook today as a memory I first posted there in 2011. I have no idea where I first found this. If, like me, you grew up with these then I very much hope you enjoy a little trip down memory lane. Memories of simple shortwave receivers and broadcast DXing. Simple pleasures long before the internet.

Even more Sputniks

More on Sputnik tests...

"Dear Oleg,

I have the same experience...
I used both my Vanguard 40 mW tx and the 1P24 Sputnik tx when I was at the fort but no QSO, no response.

Tomorrow and Sunday Ger, PA3GKX and I will be showing what CW can do on the Fort-Island Pampus using two Pixies to send and receive but only over a short distance for demostration to children that (I hope in large numbers) will visit us. Yesterday we arranged the tables, light etc in one of the rooms and put up a dipole. When time permits we will be QRV with an old army-radio AN/GRC9 on 40 or 30 metres as PA6FAP but I know that most of the time will be used to show how to "send" morse code to old DOS-computers that can decode what is sent with a straight key... A challenge that beats any tablet or iPhone, I can assure you.

On 20 October I will be giving a presentation about the "Sputnik days" in one of the local club meetings, showing all details I collected and of course the transmitters I have used so it seems more true than I expected: Get retired and find out that you have even less spare-time...

72/73 and keep beeping and VVV-ing.

Peter - PA0PJE"


"Dear Space Friends,
New Cosmonaut Alexander US5EVD informed: October 15 he repaired valve
TX  and called CQ on 3560 kHz. EW6FA called Alex but QSO not finished
because battery discharged, sorry. Alex going to try PSU today.
Only two days before Sputnik Days finish, I looking for any comments.

72! beep-beep-beep...
Deep Space Communications Center
operator on duty -
Oleg ("Mr. 72") RV3GM / KH6OB"

OFCOM - quango?

I'm not sure why I feel this, but I get the impression that OFCOM (and the FCC?) is filled with bureaucrats who really do not have a real grasp of radio. Certainly in the UK OFCOM has little real interest in amateur radio as it gains no revenue from the service. These days all that seems to matter is money sadly. OK we have gained a few new temporary allocations, but these are in parts of the spectrum where there are no real revenue generating opportunities yet. As soon as OFCOM sees ways of generating a revenue stream, these will go.

For the latest OFCOM pearls see: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/satellite-filings-15/statement/?utm_source=updates&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=satellite-filings-15-statement . Quango psycho-babble.

No sorry, I think OFCOM serves little real value here in the UK.

Sunspots and 10m - Fri Oct 16th 2015

Sunspot number is much the same at 49 (K=3) and 10m propagation is expected to remain "poor". Yesterday, despite the poor forecast, we saw some useful F2 DX on 10m WSPR, so I remain cautiously optimistic for today. I am active on both 10m and 6m WSPR during the day.  By now, I was expecting almost daily USA openings on 10m WSPR.