For the first time
G0OQK (98km) has been on TX so this was my chance to see if reception here was pure tropo or aircraft assisted.
Well, looking at his last traces here I can see 2 or 3 traces in each 2 minute burst suggesting reflection from planes. This is far cleaner than I've seen some stations. I guess it says something about the flight paths. WSPR seems to decode the transmission with little Doppler, but there is little doubt that Nick's 2W to a V2000 is helped by aircraft reflection. Of course, being in the Chilterns I wonder if it is reflections from gliders?
This suggests almost all (or all?) 6m GDX signals copied here are aided by aircraft reflection and few/none are traditional tropo. For more local stations most signals are tropo but even over 25km paths people frequently see Doppler from aircraft on my traces. I guess it depends whether the direct path, or aircraft reflected path, dominates? For locals, the direct (tropo) path usually dominates.
UPDATE 1510z: No 6m Es here so far today and just a couple of spots received of
G0OQK (98km). I noticed more traces of Nick than proper decodes, either Doppler wrong or MS pings too short.
UPDATE 1516z: My WSPR software decided to close on its own this afternoon (Win 8.1 issue with updates) so I have resync'd the internet clock and restarted the WSPR software. It is now working OK as
G4IKZ is spotting me at 1506z. Seeing 50Hz sidebands on the very strong reports from this Nick. Not sure if it is his issue or mine. Not really worried as it only appears, sometimes, on strong signals.
UPDATE 1532z: I spoke too soon as
CN8LI (2113km) spotted me at 1516z just after I spotted
G4FFC (45km). There
is Es about today.