First of all Merry Christmas to you all. Christmas is the time you spend with your family. However technology evolves and we can now spend both time on the hobby and family. So I decided to hunt for new WSPR DXCC the last week of this year. Since I heard 40m was open and in good shape the first two days were spend on that band but no spectaculair spots were received or made, it mainly stayed in and around Europe. So I decided to switch to 20m. With the forecast of a magnetic storm at 23 december I didn't expect much. But surprisingly my 1W WSPR signal was heard in 3 new DXCC: KP3FT Puerto Rico, HZ1AM Saudi Arabia and V51PJ Namibia. It has been a year ago I could add some new DXCC to my list counting 85 now. Hopefully I can add some more before the end of the year. However with the populair WSPR kits and RaspberryPi projects there are more transmitters compared to receivers. This doesn't make it easy to get to my goal of 100 DXCC with 1W on WSPR.
If you use a smartphone you naturally check your WSPR reports now and then. For IPhone you can use WSPR watch and for Android WSPR World Watch. Of course you can check on a computer as well on WSPRnet.org. I use WSPR watch on my IPhone and when checking this morning I found out I was already spotted by only one station VE6JY from Alberta - Canada at 5:16 UTC in the morning. That's 4:16 local time and in the middle of the night. It was a consistent signal and the path did hold for about 45 minutes. I cannot proof anything as I don't have a directional antenna but this looks like a Long Path signal to me which is very rare for that part of the world at that time. Usually a short path is there at our early afternoon as you can see from the rest of the spots.
Hallo Bas, Kerst 2017 zijn bijna weer voorbij en je hebt de hobby met het gezinsleven goed kunnen combineren. WSPR blijft altijd interessant dat lees ik in je artikel. Sinds vanavond eindelijk tijd voor de radio hobby na de drukke kerstdagen en de verbouwingswerkzaamheden. En waarmee starten dus.... WSPR. Ik ga je weer volgen, 73 Hans, PE1BVQ.
There was some minor geomagnetic disturbance (just under Kp 5) at the time of your 'LP' spot. I doubt it was conventional long path, being too early. I expect it was geomagnetic-enhanced propagation. I've written on this, but can offer no detailed explanation of how it works, here:
Hallo Bas, nog een fijne kerst toegewenst. HZ had ik ook en India die ook niet dagelijks zie. WSPR blijft nog altijd leuk om te doen. 73 Paul PC4T
ReplyDeleteHoi Bas ,
ReplyDeleteNog een fijne Kerst toegewenst. 73 Gerard PA7GMU
Hallo Bas, Kerst 2017 zijn bijna weer voorbij en je hebt de hobby met het gezinsleven goed kunnen combineren. WSPR blijft altijd interessant dat lees ik in je artikel. Sinds vanavond eindelijk tijd voor de radio hobby na de drukke kerstdagen en de verbouwingswerkzaamheden. En waarmee starten dus.... WSPR. Ik ga je weer volgen, 73 Hans, PE1BVQ.
ReplyDeleteThere was some minor geomagnetic disturbance (just under Kp 5) at the time of your 'LP' spot. I doubt it was conventional long path, being too early. I expect it was geomagnetic-enhanced propagation. I've written on this, but can offer no detailed explanation of how it works, here:
ReplyDeletehttps://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/geomagnetic-propagation-enhancement.html
Since I cannot proof anything this is probabely what it is. Very interesting topic John. 73, Bas
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