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10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 21 October 2012

I have spent much of the last few days taking advantage of the fantastic conditions on 10 metres. But it is Olga’s birthday today so I stayed out of the shack leaving the K3 free for WSPR duty. That produced some rather impressive results as you can see from the map. (Note for newcomers to the blog, this was achieved with 2 watts to an attic dipole.)

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

This weekend it was my intention to get some DXCC's into the books and the weekend is not over yet and there is still time....but.....the bands were alive with the Worked all Germany contest. On Saturday morning and mid morning 10m was alive with DL calls. I have been reading over the past few weeks how great 10m  WSPRing has been. I wanted to give QRPp operations a shot and 10m seemed wide open to Europe. Below are the result from my Saturday and Sunday morning QRPp contacts.
1. HA3FTA ( I know it's Hungary not Germany) 200mWs          22,776 miles per watt.
2. DK9PY                                                          100mWs           39,565 mpw.
3. DJ1MM                                                          500mWs            8,405 mpw.
It was now time to start dropping the power lower.
4. DL2DX                                                              50mWs         82,857  mpw
Below was the best distance of the day for Saturday the conditions started to change on 10m and contacts were getting harder and harder to make. Besides it was time to get some things done around the house. 
5. DL1NUX                                                           40mws        101,702   mpw.

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Series Five Episode Twenty-Two of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• New IARU R3 Chairman
• FCC to allow additional emission types
• 14 year-old Indian ham gets Diamond DXCC
• ILLW draws attention to lighthouses
• Conway Reef DXpedition
• GB3NC back in service
• Spring VHF-UHF Field Day

Listener mailbag and Tom Samacicio (KB4HQA) from HQA Radio and Martin (M1MRB) reports from the RSGB convention.

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Series Five Episode Twenty-Two of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• New IARU R3 Chairman
• FCC to allow additional emission types
• 14 year-old Indian ham gets Diamond DXCC
• ILLW draws attention to lighthouses
• Conway Reef DXpedition
• GB3NC back in service
• Spring VHF-UHF Field Day
• Qatar to host Ham Radio Festival

Listener mailbag and Tom Samacicio (KB4HQA) from HQA Radio and Martin (M1MRB) reports from the RSGB convention.

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Michel F6FEO sent me a link to his website. Many projects of QRP interest will be found there. The site is in French but Michel has provided Translate links for each of the articles. Definitely worth a visit.

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Today was almost Indian summer. I hiked on Shute Hill and sat in the sun under a canopy of gold. I worked a dozen German stations in the Worked All Germany Contest.

I hiked up the Rufus Colby road and turned right into the woods. Not far ahead lay two small fields. It was grand to be in shirt sleeves at the edge of the field. I brought the ATS-4 and set up a half wave  wire for 15 meters in an oak tree. Bright orange, yellow and gold accentuated the deep blue sky.

In barely six minutes, I worked six German stations with my 3 watts and 22 foot wire. I tuned the wire with an Elecraft T-1. Then I extended the wire to 33 feet and set the ATS-4 for 20 meters.

In the next ten minutes I worked 3 more German stations and a Dutch special event station celebrating 75 years of Boy Scouting. All the QSOs
were quick contest exchanges. Here’s my log:

20 Oct-12 1843  21.018 DL5NDX  CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1844  21.019 DJ9DZ     CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1846  21.024 DK4WF   CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1847  21.028 DK5DQ   CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1848  21.030 DL0UM   CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1849  21.032 DL5JS     CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1900  14.016 DL3GA    CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1903  14.019 DJ9DZ     CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1904  14.020 PH75S/J CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1905  14.022 DL8QS     CW 599 599
20 Oct-12 1910  14.042 DL0UM   CW 599 599

I packed up and headed back through the 20 acre field at the top of Shute Hill. The field is surrounded by a wall of color. The air is so fragrant and warm, I wonder why Mother Nature didn’t make Fall last at least another month or so.

Jim Cluett, W1PID, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Hampshire, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

I decided that I would run 1W of 28MHz WSPR through the day today. Delighted that I did and conditions were interesting; reports from Australia and New Zealand as well as a nice opening into the US in the afternoon.

No sign of any signals from Africa or South America today.

Tim Kirby, G4VXE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Oxfordshire, England. Contact him at [email protected].