A close call (storm) and 472kHz WSPRing again

The thunder and lightning just missed us today. We had heavy rain, hail and thunder but the lightning missed us by a few miles. It is now out over the North Sea.

About to reconnect rigs, antennas and PC. Think I'll give 472kHz WSPR another try.

UPDATE 1644z:  Now back on 472kHz WSPR and rewarded with spotting G3WCB immediately and being spotted by 3 stations on first transmission including M0LMH (223km) as a new reporter this season. Will stick on 472kHz until morning unless more storms stop play.

Initial WSPR spots this evening on 472kHz

UPDATE 1730z:  Currently reading "The Everything Store - Jeff Bazos and the age of Amazon" by Brad Stone, lent to me be a neighbour/friend. Fascinating read about the history of Amazon. Bazos sounds like the boss you would NOT want - a real taskmaster - a very "driven" man with real conviction.

5 miles and closing - QRT time!

With that storm just 5 miles away and hailstones now falling, I have decided to go QRT for now and disconnect everything radiowise. The storm may yet miss us though, but it is too close to be sure.

Only Es from Spain since FR1GZ at 1204z.

The storm epicentre does seem to be missing us. I may not be QRT for too long. Can hear distant thunder, but skies are clearing. Burwell is between Cambridge and Newmarket.

See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en

FR1GZ (F2 DX) and a storm coming?

1204z saw FR1GZ (9724km) in the log for my first F2 DX on 10m today.  I hope he spots me too although I am running less power (2W ERP) than his 5W. He was only -25dB S/N, not too strong.

Looking at the lightning map, there is a nasty storm currently coming our way. It is over Bedford as I write and moving ominously closer.  Much closer and I shall have to disconnect everything and go QRT until it has passed. Another 20 minutes should tell me if it is coming this way or will just miss us. There are other storms further south too. Today looks like our unlucky day. It is raining hard - not looking promising! Latest flash over St Neots. The storm coming our way from the Cotswolds may be tracking just NW of us and may miss us, again.

QSYed to 10m

Well, 472kHz WSPR ran overnight with absolutely no new reporters, just the same faithful few, so I am giving up on that band for now. I shall return in a while.

In the meantime, I QSYed to 10m where I was greeted with immediate success. Even before changing the settings on the FT817 to 2W I was being spotted in Portugal even when running 500mW out. Since then, I have switched to 2W ERP and am being spotted by DK6UG (633km), CT1JTQ (1843km) and I am spotting EA5CYA and SI9AM.   Plenty of Es about.

Sunspot count today is 111 (decent and stable) and 20-30MHz propagation is "normal" so there is a decent chance of F2 DX as long as I don't have to go QRT because of storms. We are getting highish winds and driving miserable rain, which are the left-overs from Hurricane Bertha, having crossed the Atlantic. I don't think we are seeing the worst of the weather in the UK; other parts are getting hit far harder. At he moment, the worst of the storms are tracking well to the east of us.  See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en.

Today our son is driving from Dunkirk to Brittany. I hope the weather over there is a little better! His forecast is rain, but not as bad as here.

UPDATE 1122z:  I think I need a new challenge on WSPR - perhaps I should try a totally new band? 10m is fun but again I am seeing just the same stations.

10m WSPR this morning - plenty of Es

WSPR disappointment (so far) on 472kHz

Results to date suggest my ERP is at least as good as in previous seasons yet (up to now at least) very few stations have spotted me. I think there are fewer WSPR stations active? My best DX so far, and my daylight range on TX, suggest many more reports should be possible. Where is everyone?

I hope 472kHz isn't going to disappoint as 6m WSPR did. On 6m WSPR there was a real lack of transatlantic stations.  On 472kHz WSPR there seem to be fewer WSPR stations full stop.

I shall leave the kit running again tonight and hope I get some nice surprises.  Of course, it could be the local noise floor is higher than it was for many stations and they've just given up on the band? At the moment I'm lucky: my sensitivity is rather low, but my noise floor is very low too. This may not last.

UPDATE 2110z:  Since returning to 472kHz WSPR I have spotted just 10 unique stations and been spotted by 8 unique stations. Some years ago on 500kHz I was spotted by nearly 100 unique stations. My setup is not that different. OK this was over several months and in the autumn/winter seasons, but there do seem to be fewer different stations active. I'll certainly stick with 472kHz WSPR to give it a fair chance though.

UPDATE 2134z:  Currently there are 32 stations shown as being active on 472kHz WSPR. 24 of these are European. This is a good number.

472kHz WSPR stations active in last 10 minutes

Obsolete, unsupported software

Steve G1KQH has been at it again, noticing that, as well as no longer supporting XP, Microsoft is also stopping support for older versions of it web browser,  IE.

Update your Web browser. I got rid of IE years ago and moved to Firefox. some still run IE6???

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08/07/microsoft_old_ie_end_of_support/

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

Incidentally, I am told Microsoft Security Essentials got a good review in a recent "Which".   I still use MSE on some machines and have never, yet, had any security issues, although I tend to be careful with dodgy attachments.
 

Back on 472kHz

Meadow at Ickworth

We returned from a walk at Ickworth just before lunch. I have switched on my 472kHz WSPR station, still with the strapped feeders to the Par antenna. I moved up one tap on the 3C90 matching transformer, to get a slightly better match. Initial daytime results are very encouraging with several spots from GM4SLV (896km) and others. No bad weather due before tomorrow.

WSPR reports on 472kHz QRPp today

"Normal service" later today.

After last night's thunder and lightning, I hope to resume "normal service" around lunchtime: we are otherwise busy until then. The weather today looks sunny and calm,before more storms on Sunday. Not sure what band I will use yet - probably 472kHz, but possibly 28MHz (10m).

Sunspot count today is 101 (pretty decent) and 20-30MHz propagation forecast to be "good" so a good day for N-S F2 propagation, as well as Es and GDX on 10m. On 6m only some Es and GDX likely.

Gone QRT - storms

As there is local thunder and lightning, I've had to abandon 472kHz operation. All antennas, rigs, PSU and the PC have been disconnected. Darn shame, but sometimes one has to be safer than sorry.

6m transatlantic - but NOT on WSPR

See http://hamspots.net/10-6/ .

I see on Hamspots that 6m has been open to N.America and the Caribbean this evening but there are NO suitably located stations active on WSPR.  It seems WSPR on 6m is mostly a total waste of time unless stations come on to make transatlantic WSPR tests meaningful. In previous seasons I have monitored SSB and CW and had success copying transatlantics for as long as I can recall.

I am not returning to 6m WSPR in a hurry. It's a great pity. Next Es DX season I think I shall try again on CW and SSB again.