Sunspots and 10m - Mon Dec 7th 2015

Solar flux is 103 today. Sunspot number is 38 (K=3).  10m propagation is expected to remain "poor" today. I do not expect great things on 10m today.

First 10m WSPR spots from the USA

With improved conditions, I was not surprised to see my little 500mW 10m WSPR beacon has been spotted in the USA this afternoon. KZ3X (5737km) was the first at 1508z. I expect there will be some more.

UPDATE 1545z:  We must be on the downward slope of the sunspot cycle now as 1508z was late for a first 10m WSPR spot from the USA. Still, we must be grateful.  This time next year, we'd be grateful if 10m opened E-W at all! Some of us can remember winter afternoons when 6m was wide open to the USA! I recall hearing lots of USA stations on 6m with just a fixed wire dipole. Never again in my lifetime, although I expect to hear the USA on 6m some summers via Es.

UPDATE 1600z:  PA3ABK/2 (306km) has been spotted a few times already on 472kHz WSPR late this afternoon.

UPDATE 1712z:  No further 10m WSPR spots from the USA. KZ3X may have been it for the day.

Storm Desmond - NOT amateur radio

As I write this, storm Desmond is dropping record quantities of rain over northern England and Scotland.  I can imagine little worse than having your home or business flooded out, especially at this time of the year.  My heart bleeds for those affected, who may be without homes for months and, even when they get back, there is the ongoing threat of it all happening again.  There is also the worry over insurance. No,  flooding is going to become a major issue in the years ahead.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35019021 .

Sunspots and 10m - Sun Dec 6th 2015

Solar flux is 110 today and sunspot number is 75 (K=2).  Although the forecast for 10m propagation remains "poor",  it would not surprise me if 10m WSPR was quite decent today.

UPDATE 1356z:  FR1GZ (9724km) spotted me once on 10m WSPR this morning.

UPDATE 1715z:  Did I read the wrong day? Solar flux is currently 100, sunspot number is 41 and K=5. Conditions are consistent with this.  MF is lively with lots of stations being copied.

SAQ VLF CW transmission

The next Grimeton SAQ transmission will be on Christmas Eve, December 24th 2015 at 8:00 UTC (9:00 CET). It will also be broadcast LIVE on their webpage.

See http://alexander.n.se/.
See http://alexander.n.se/the-radio-station-saq-grimeton/lyssna-pa-saq/?lang=en for ideas for suitable ways of receiving this 17.2kHz CW transmission.

QRP Club

From Oleg:

Dear Club 72 members and friends,
All reports and comments of Saturday's QRP Rendez-Vous here - http://qrp-club72.blogspot.ru/
Round table visitors today -
ON6KZ,  UR7VT, UR5EFD, UR5QCG, OH6NPV, IK6IJF, OH5UY, RZ4NWA, UA1ADF,
IW2HTH, G3ETD, G3UD, SM6NZA, M0MDL
Thanks for activity and comments! See "rendezvous" schedule here - www.club72.su
72! Oleg RV3GM / KH6OB "Mr. 72"
=== In QRP We Trust! ===

Winter - NOT amateur radio

The Met Office official "winter" is December, January and February.  To me, this makes a lot of sense. In just over 2 weeks time the evenings will start to get lighter again, although the mornings get darker still for a few more weeks. Once January has passed the nights are quite a bit lighter. By mid-February there are usually clear signs that spring is on its way. Mind you, snow is not unusual in January and February and the summer bird migrants don't usually arrive until April mainly.

10m WSPR today

10m is a band of surprises! I see that OH3NE (1737km) has spotted my 500mW WSPR several times today already. I assume this is single hop F2. I was expecting no spots today!

UPDATE 1558z:  So far today OH3NE has been the only 10m WSPR spot all day. I have the feeling the day will end up this way too.

472kHz WSPR - some more surprises

Over the last 2 weeks, I have been active on 472kHz WSPR most evenings, most nights and a few days. To my surprise I see that 21 unique stations spotted me and I spotted 21 unique stations in the same period. My best DX on TX (5mW ERP) was last night when LA3EQ (769km) spotted me for the first time this autumn. I am still using the earth-electrode "antenna". Not copied in the last 2 weeks was EA5DOM who is a good signal when he comes on 472kHz WSPR.

Giving 6m a miss today. I'm active on 630m (472kHz) WSPR and 10m WSPR all day.

472kHz WSPR stations that copied me in last 2 weeks

472kHz WSPR stations copied here in last 2 weeks

Sunspots and 10m - Sat Dec 5th 2015

Solar flux is 97. Sunspot number is 25 (K=4) and 10m propagation is again just expected to be "poor".  I am not expecting 10m to be much good today, but in the past I have been surprised. I was on 10m overnight, but no spots.