Tunisia - NOT amateur radio

I feel sorry for this nation which is bound to be adversely affected by the killings yesterday. Tunisia is a peaceful country that just wanted to get on with life as usual. Sadly, this will not be so for some time to come: tourists are likely to choose alternative destinations and avoid Muslim nations.

Surely, in the end, this is counter-productive? Whatever your views on Islam are, people are likely to become fearful of these people, when the vast majority just want to live in peace and share kindness. Sadly there is evil in our world which must never defeat us.

CN8LI (2113km) on 6m WSPR

Although I have spotted this Moroccan station a couple of times on 6m this afternoon, at quite reasonable S/N, I am still waiting for him to spot me. I shall be on 10m acnnd 6m WSPR at least until late tonight assuming there is no thunder around.

UPDATE 1536z:  Still just the 2 spots of CN8LI on 6m WSPR but no spots by him of me so far today.

UPDATE 1632z:  Mostly Gs on 6m with a little bit of Es earlier this afternoon including spots exchanged with CT1PT (1685km).

Yaesu rebate (UK/ Europe)

I see MLS is offering rebates on Yaesu gear for the next few weeks. The rebate on the FT817 is £36, making the effective retail price around £413. As  far as I can see this is just a marketing ploy. A few years ago you could buy the FT817 for £349.

With the very good exchange rate currently I am surprised they don't just slash the price and clear the shelves ready for the replacement. All development costs for the FT817 were recovered years ago, so the true retail price should be below £400. Yet again we are being taken for a ride I think.

The prices are as they are because we, Joe Public, is prepared to buy at these prices. My heart bleeds for all the poor dealers.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat June 27th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen again and stands at 28 today (K=3) and 10m propagation is expected to be "poor".  F2 propagation on 10m today will be marginal at best, although Es is expected to liven up both 10m and 6m.

10m Es

I am still TXing on 10m WSPR but, so far, all the spots have been by either G stations or Europeans. I am still hopeful of some transatlantic Es but this has not been seen here yet this season.

Warmth - NOT amateur radio

At last we seem to be in high summer with high temperatures and high humidity. Although we have passed the longest day, evenings are still light for weeks to come.  The real change tends to come in September. It must be my age but it seems only 5 minutes since last Christmas! We'll blink and it will be Christmas 2015 and the nights will start to draw out again!

UPDATE June 27th 1538z: The forecast for next week is temperatures in the 30-34 deg C range.  This would be hot.

Africa (CN8LI again) on 6m WSPR

Spots on 6m have again been exchanged with CN8LI (2113km) in IM63nx square (Morocco, N.W. Africa). So far today, my 6m 1W ERP WSPR has been spotted in 3 continents (Europe, Asia and Africa).  I would very much like to spot, or be spotted, on 6m WSPR by stations on the other side of the Atlantic.

UPDATE 1233z:  Plenty of 6m Es about today.

UPDATE 1428z:   Funny how I get reports from a greater distance on 6m than 10m when there is Es around. OK I run a little more RF ERP on 6m (3dB more) but I think skip distance must be longer on 6m than 10m.

UPDATE 1441z:  CN8LI has just spotted my 6m WSPR at -5dB S/N. This implies he would still get me if I was using just 5mW ERP on 6m.  Magic band!

UPDATE 1548z:  So far today  CN8LI (2113km) has spotted my 1W ERP 6m WSPR 10 times. Strongest report was +4dB S/N. Incredible Es. He has been spotting me for almost 4 hours.

UPDATE 1748z:  6m unique WSPR spots, so far today. Plenty of decent Es around:

UPDATE 1825z:  I see from WSPRnet that 4X1RF has been spotting lots of stations all across Europe as well as CN8LI today.

Sunspots and 10m - June 26th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen further to 33 (K=3) and 10m propagation is expected to remain "poor" at least for F2 propagation. Both 10m and 6m have got off to a promising start on Es though. Maybe today we'll see some transatlantic DX on 10m and 6m by Es?

Back on 6m WSPR and spotted by 4X1RF yet again at incredible range

Around 0730z I QSYed from MF to 6m. I am expecting some decent Es on 6m today.

UPDATE 0856z:   Just been spotted on 6m WSPR by 4X1RF (3519km) in KM72ls square. Apart from this, just spots exchanged with G0OQK (98km). As I mentioned before, I am not at all convinced that these spots from Israel are multi-hop Es. Es (maybe)  but they occur so often!  I think this is the 4th day this season and he copied me last year too.

Overnight 10m Es

Although MF was quiet here overnight there was plenty of Es on 10m through the night with spots received from all over Europe. Even if there is little F2 on the band, Es should liven 10m (maybe 6m too).

I fancy some 472kHz WSPR!

It is ages since I was active on 472kHz, so I might fire up the FT817 and transverter to see if anyone can spot my 5mW ERP or I can spot others. I shall use the earth-electrode "antenna" and go QRT on 6m to free up the FT817.

It is summertime, so noise levels will be higher, making my weak signal harder to copy than in the winter. It will take me about 5 minutes to swap bands and reset everything. The FT817 has to be set to 500mW and split mode so I receive directly on the 472kHz band but TX on the 80m band into the transverter.

If you copy me on 472kHz WSPR please report it.

UPDATE 2009z:  Well, that was a good start! I just switched to MF and received 2 spots by G8HUH in IO81mg (250km) in daylight. I shall now leave 474.2kHz WSPR running overnight to see what else happens. With 5mW (maybe less) ERP I am quite happy with his -26/-27dB S/N reports.

UPDATE 2126z:  So far G8HUH (250km) has spotted me 10 times this evening. I have spotted no-one and no-one else has spotted me, as yet.

UK population now 64.6M - NOT amateur radio

I am NOT a racist and never shall be. In fact I believe the UK should welcome in genuine refugees from war-torn parts of the world. We should make these poor people very welcome. They have suffered too much already and all they want is peace.

However, we are a small island and the UK and not the EU should have the last word on deciding who can live and work here. I am all for the EU as a trading entity without trade barriers, but that is it, unless some individual member states want an ever closer political union. Let them go ahead but don't ask all to follow.  Last year our population grew by 500000. This is the equivalent of a major city.  Such growth is not sustainable thinking of food, water, jobs and housing.

No, enough is enough. We, the UK, should control our borders and we should run our affairs through our elected parliament. I wish David Cameron well in renegotiating our relationship with the EU, although he has a monumental task. What surprises me is why other nations don't share our concerns thinking of their own situations.  Moderate population growth? Yes. Explosive growth over which we have zero control ? No thanks. We need quotas and a points system. The current situation is out of control.

Here's to a new deal in the EU or the UK leaves! As one of the more successful economies, I think the EU needs us more than we need it! This is also why so many want to come here: we are a good meal ticket - good jobs, generous welfare etc..

Swifts - NOT amateur radio

This image is located on the RSPB site and NOT  on this blog. It will be removed if any issues are caused by its inclusion here.

One of the joys of an English summer is the sound of screaming swifts in the air. This is most common in May and June. The swifts are one of the first summer migrants to leave. It always seems a long time until they return again next spring. Usually the first ones arrive here by the end of April. Once, long ago, I found one on the ground. We kept it in a box overnight. The next morning it flew off as if nothing had happened. Swifts spend most of their time on the wing and if they do land on the ground it is not easy to take off again. I found this out much later. It was lovely to handle this scythe like bird.

See http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/s/swift/ .

10m/6m update

Well, so far 6m WSPR here has just been G stations out to just over 100km.

On 10m there was some Es in the form of DJ0ABR (983km). EA8BVP (2986km) has also been spotting me yet again. I am not sure if this is Es or single hop F2 propagation.

UPDATE 1905z:  6m WSPR came to life around teatime with a couple of spots of me by Es (I presume).  Plenty of G spots all day too.

UPDATE 1912z: 10m WSPR is also lively with European stations via Es. EA8BVP has spotted my 10m WSPR beacon 37 times so far today. I think this is F2 propagation, but I am not sure.

Sunspots and 10m - June 25th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen again to just 39 (K=2) and 10m propagation is expected to be "poor" today, so decent long distance F2 propagation is very unlikely on 10m today.

Greece:not off the hook yet? - NOT amateur radio

The last time I checked, the international creditors were still unhappy with the Greek proposals to overcome their debt problems. All sides are working to resolve these issues, but Greece could well have to leave the Euro. Things in Greece are bad now but without the ECB's support Greek banks will run out of money and the situation in Greece will be dire. This is not a good time to be Greek.

10m WSPR - EA8BVP (2986km) spots me yet again!

Over teatime EA8BVP (2986km) was spotting me yet again.  He spots my 500mW 10m WSPR beacon most days and has done so for months now. Since 1808z just been spotted by local G4IKZ (18km) again. I presume this path to the Canary Is is F2 although the time suggests Es. He has spotted me 19 times today. No further DX was copied all day. Although there was at least one S.American active on 10m WSPR, clearly the propagation was not there, at least with my low ERP. Others may have been more successful.

Gardening - NOT amateur radio

This afternoon was fine and dry, so it was a chance to do a bit more gardening.  Because of my 2013 brain bleed, I soon get very exhausted and this was the case today. I managed a couple of plants and dug in some flower bed edging, by which time I was so tired. What has changed is that I soon recover. In the past I would be totally exhausted for hours but within 15 minutes I was out with the hose.

This last few weeks I do seem a little bit better.  Although I still get tired I don't seem to be "done in" totally. Although I still have to take just sips, I do seem to be able to drink more thin liquids. Progress is slow, but I think I can still see progress.

Still life on MF and LF

It is some time since I was active on 137kHz and 472kHz WSPR, but there are still stations active I see. I shall return to 472kHz WSPR in the autumn and may even try some tests from this QTH on 137kHz. I do need a better antenna and earth system though. My earth-electrode "antenna" is remarkable, but I know I should be able to increase my ERP considerably with a loop or loaded long-wire. I managed 250km on WSPR with a loop at the old QTH on 137kHz and a vertical loop with similar loop area should be possible I think. I shall probably need help from locals with erection though in my present state. I might change to a 2m big-wheel stack at the same time?

Weeks since decent F2 spots on 10m here

Although EA8BVP (2986km) seems to spot my 500mW 10m WSPR signal on most days, it is some weeks now since I have been spotted on the band at greater distance. I know my antenna is not brilliant on 10m, but I was expecting more 10m spots from S.Africa and S.Ameríca. I fear many have migrated to lower frequency bands now, which is a pity, or possibly other modes. At the last time I looked there were only 32 active 10m WSPR stations worldwide. A few months ago this was over 100.

Sunspots and 10m - June 24th 2015

Sunspot number has fallen to 61 (K=3) and 10m propagation is expected to be "poor".

UPDATE 1100z:  K index has worsened a little to 4.

Nighttime DX on 6m

Although I was not spotted by any DX on 10m, I spotted on 6m WSPR, in the middle of the night at 2000km, a station in Finland (OH7AZL). Magic band! The "common wisdom" is this is Es although with these very northern openings especially at these odd times might be due to noctilucent cloud reflection? I wonder if any better equipped European stations were copied in Japan on 6m?

6m Es I presume

It is getting quite late in the day now, but I am spotting 6m Europeans by Es I assume. LA3JJ (993km), SQ6IUS (1158km) near Warsaw. As yet, I have not been spotted by any Europeans on 6m WSPR, just Gs. I assume this is Es, but these are all northern Europeans, so I always wonder if noctilucent clouds are someway involved?  Probably not.

UPDATE 2214z:  Sadly no Es DX appeared on 6m here after the LA3 and SQ6.  I have checked all is well on 10m and 6m WSPR, so will run the station through the night, hoping to catch some DX by Es either overnight or first thing in the morning.

10m Es (no Es seen yet on 6m)

I4ZTO (1185km) was spotting me lunchtime on 10m WSPR by Es. On 6m, just locals and G stations by tropo/aircraft reflection.

UPDATE 1805z:   Es on 10m from across Europe , but nothing like yesterday. 6m has only been G stations here all day so far.

Tidied the shack

I tend to use WSPR a lot at present because my voice is poor with 100% TX  on 10m and 20% TX on 6m.  I can be on both bands at the same time. Usually I monitor on a different PC in the lounge. If there is any problem I go to the shack to check and reset.

Although I have managed a little building, my fine motor skills are still far from good.  The shack was becoming untidy. This morning I decided to give the shack a tidy! Although really superficial, it does look better. It is now XYL acceptable, I think.

UPDATE 1817z:   My fine motor skills were put to the test today: my son managed to cut through the power cable of the hedge trimmer, so I had to mend it. I managed it OK and all was fine after I tested it.

Sunspots and 10m - June 23rd 2015

Sunspot number today is 77 with very disturbed conditions (K=8) and 10m - in fact all HF bands - expected to be "poor". Do not expect much on HF today.  Es may give us some EU and possibly further DX on 10m and 6m.

Overnight and this morning I am just being spotted on 10m by local G4IKZ (18km). Although very early, no signs of Es here on 10m yet.

Best DX on 6m overnight was G0OQK (98km) - spots both given and received - and a single spot received from G8DOR (103km). A reminder that I use 1W ERP on 6m (V2000 vertical) and 500mW on 10m (Par 10/20/40m end fed low wire).

UPDATE 1026z:  Conditions have improved a little with K=6 now. Still disturbed though.

New country (I think) on 6m WSPR

EA6GF (1428km) in JM19gm, has spotted me several times recently on 6m WSPR. This is the Balearic Is in the Med. Obviously Es.  I have worked this country on QRP SSB on 6m in previous summers.

UPDATE 1428z:  So far this summer, no sign of North African stations on 6m WSPR. In previous summer Es seasons CN8LI was a very regular reporter, but totally absent (for me) this summer.

UPDATE 1810z:  6m WSPR has been good all day with Es propagation. These are just the recent spots. As you can see, some of the signals are very strong.

Recent 6m WSPR spots

UPDATE 1855z:  Just exchanged  6m WSPR spots with CN8LI (2113km). Signals are strong too.  Funny!

Thunder?

So far the weather here in East Anglia has been good today.  I managed to cut both lawns this morning. It has just started to rain and there is a risk of thunder, although at the moment the storms are well east of this QTH. If the storm risk persists, I shall disconnect rigs and the PC.  The rain is, of course, Sod's Law as I just erected the hose to water the grass later!

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

UPDATE 1445z:  The sun is now shining again.

UPDATE 1706z:   Thunder and lightning appeared here at 1645z, so I have closed down on both 10m and 6m, disconnected the antennas and the PC. According to the thunder maps, the storm was about 2 miles or less to the west. I'll monitor the maps and return to 10m and 6m WSPR when the storm has passed.

UPDATE 1810z:  It looks like the storm has passed, so I have recommenced 10m and 6m WSPR.

EA8BVP - Es or F2 on 10m?

EA8BVP (2986km) is again spotting my 500mW WSPR on 10m.  He spotted me at 1228z and, so far by 1332z,  7 times already today.  This could be by F2 or Es as there is a lot of Es about on 10m today, including stations in northern Spain around the half way point.  Last week, when I was away from home on holiday, I missed this station: he has been a regular 10m WSPR spotter most days for months. It was good to see him in the logs today again. In the past, I am pretty sure he was copied by single-hop F2, but today may well have been Es.

I am still hopeful of far more distant 10m (and 6m) WSPR spots well outside Europe by Es. In past years North America has been reachable by Es as has the Caribbean or even South America. So far, at least on WSPR, it has been Europeans and Israel only for me, the latter on 6m!

When conditions are good, people tend to leave WSPR and go to 10m SSB or CW or even AM or FM. This is understandable, but a pity as WSPR is most useful "sniffing out"  fleeting openings. You are far more likely to see a short (2 mins or even less) opening with WSPR as signal levels needed are low and there are usually plenty of people monitoring via WSPRnet.

UPDATE 1310z:   Just got a 10m WSPR report from DK6UG of  +11dB S/N. This is classic Es with enormous signals, much stronger than reports from locals. Es can be like this some days: just hugely strong signals. The implication is he would still have copied me even if I was using much less than 1mW.

UPDATE 1340z:  Not seen any sign of 6m stations from Japan. Don't know if this path has been open for the better equipped stations, but this very long path seems to open nearly every year in early June, possibly as a result of reflections off noctilucent clouds in the mesosphere?

UPDATE 1434z: EA8BVP (2986km) has spotted me 23 times today so far.

UPDATE 2010z:    EA8BVP has spotted me 63 times so far today.  Could the recent spots be F2?

Greece and Europe - NOT amateur radio

Greece seems to be in a serious mess financially, although the EU seems desperate for the Euro to survive the current crisis. It would appear Greece became a member of the Euro club based on rather dubious figures. Tax avoidance and early retirement ages appear to be a way of life in Greece and this is anathema to countries like Germany.

If Greece doesn't get kicked out of the Euro, they certainly need to change. We will see what happens. I expect we'll see yet another EU fudge and somehow Greece will survive, although it is not clear for how long. I'm very glad not to be Greek right now. Life there must be very hard, especially if you have no work.

With the EU ministers minds very much fixed on Greece and the very survival of the Euro, I cannot see David Cameron's mission to forge a new deal with Europe getting a very serious or good audience.

Each nation should ultimately have the last word on those who live and work in their particular country and on it laws, unless they sign up for a United States of Europe. The UK will not want this for the UK.  We have always, I think been in favour of free trade, but not the USE. If others wish this then that is their choice.

Personally, I hope we remain a part of the EU, but it does need to change.

Castle trust bonds: avoid? - NOT amateur radio

The top of my Gmail seems to have regular ads for Castle Trust offering bonds with very good interest rates.

I read somewhere that these funds are "dodgy" and you could end up losing capital. I have no idea whether true or not, but personally I shall be avoiding them. I once read that if something appears to be too good to be true then it is and is best avoided.

Generally, interest rates are poor.

Sunspots and 10m - June 22nd 2015

Sunspot number is 79 today (K=4, quite disturbed) and 10m propagation is "fair" again.  I'll be lucky to catch any F2 spots on 10m today, although Es looks promising on both 10m and 6m WSPR with plentiful EU Es DX on both bands. Yet again, the greater distances are on 6m. I assume the optimum Es skip must be greater on 6m than 10m?

UPDATE 1054z:  All the 10m activity seems to be Es currently apart from the locals.  I have received no "outside Europe" spots on 10m since before my holiday last week.

Early start on 6m Es

Not long after 0400z I was spotted by OH1KK (1848km) on 6m WSPR. Yesterday my 6m best DX was nearly twice as far as the best DX on 10m, which was via Es.

UPDATE 1035z:  Lots of 6m (and 10m) Es around with spots from right across Europe. The Es season was late starting here with me, but certainly across Europe is now in full swing.

4X1RF (3519km) spotting me yet again on 6m WSPR

I truly believe this is too regular and too far for multi-hop Es.  I remain to be convinced. Yet again 4X1RF (3519km) has spotted my 1W ERP signal on 50MHz. So far, he has spotted me 4 times today on 6m WSPR. Amazing. Signal at the moment seem to be getting stronger.

UPDATE 1726z: 4X1RF (3519km) has now spotted me 9 times on 6m WSPR so far today and the signal is getting stronger. The last report was -15dB S/N.
 
UPDATE 1821z: 4X1RF has now spotted my 6m WSPR signal 13 times today so far. There is other Es about too at much shorter range.

UPDATE 2005z: 4X1RF has now spotted my 1W ERP on 6m 22 times today.  Incredible almost.

UPDATE 2018z:   Plenty of 6m Es about with spots from HB9 and EA1. Spots from 4X1RF seem to have stopped now.

UKAC 70cm results so far this year

At the moment I am in 97th position out of 141 entries in the AL section of this, once a month, RSGB activity contest on 70cms. It takes place on a Tuesday evening between 8.00pm and 10.30pm UK clock time.

With a small 5 element hand-rotated beam and 5W and having missed one session in May, I don't consider this too bad. I usually am only able to operate for about 40% of the contest time because of my poor (stroke affected) voice.

The next 70cm session of the UKAC is on Tuesday, July 14th. All being well, I shall be active for this session, probably for an hour or thereabouts.

Using the RTL-SDR as a transmitter

OK, this is very low power but it shows you what can be done. A QRPP transmitter or signal generator anywhere between 500MHz and 1.5GHz.

Please note the image below is not on my blog (it is linked as shown) and will be immediately removed if this is a problem.

http://rtlsdrblog.rtlsdrblog.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/transmit_hack_rtlsdr-500x375.jpg

See http://www.rtl-sdr.com/using-the-rtl-sdr-as-a-transmitter/

See also http://www.steila.com/SDR/RFgenmod/index.html .

Good EU Es on 6m and 10m WSPR

Throughout the day, there was good Es on both 6m and 10m WSPR with plentiful EU exchanges of spots on both bands. So far, I have seen no evidence on WSPR of real Es DX outside Europe apart from spots by 4X1RF, although not today. See later post about 4X1RF spots.

Of course, I was not on last week.

Sunspots and 10m - June 21st 2015

Sunspot number is 84 today (K=1) and 10m is expected to remain "fair". Not that much F2 propagation, but with the prospect of Es to liven up both 10m and 6m.

Japanese goods should be cheaper!

The exchange rate (Sterling to Yen) has improved enormously in the last few years and was around 195 Yen to the UK Pound in recent days. Not long ago (2 years ago?) it was less than 130 Yen to the Pound. In real terms Japanese radios should be hugely less expensive based on the exchange rate alone becoming so much more favorable. These are not marginal changes they are huge.

Don't feel too sorry for the dealers. After all, they have to put fuel in their cars. If they struggled a few years ago they are not struggling any more! No, we the consumers are seen as easy fodder, to be milked. The dealers make big profits from early adopters who must have that shiny new radio whatever the cost. Once their greed has been satisfied, the price will drop to attract the rest of us.  I predict the Yaesu FT991 will soon drop in price. Just how much will depend on how much of the exchange rate change the dealers are prepared to pass on to us. One thing is certain, the UK dealers are doing well at the moment.

The FT817 is another story. All development costs were recovered in the first few years. As for LCD and other "supply issues" I just do not believe it. These radios have sold well worldwide for about 15 years and Yaesu has the buying power on anything. No, the true story is someone is making huge profits on this radio, and we the buying public are being taken for a ride.

When the Chinese take the amateur market seriously the Japanese suppliers and their dealers will have a rude awakening.

Jersey - NOT amateur radio

The plane we flew home in.

Well, I can recommend Jersey as a holiday destination. We had very good weather and a good hotel and room which helped. Staying in St Helier helped as the outstanding bus service was right on the doorstep. There was no need to hire a car as everywhere was accessible by the very regular bus service.

The island has small roads in the main, lovely villages, good beaches and a rugged coastline. The people were all kind and helpful. Currency is Sterling and English spoken. Most street names are French even though British since Norman times.