With the upcoming 10m ARRL this weekend I decided to check 10m from now on. I really have no idea how 10m is these days. But don't expect too much since we are at the sunspot cycle minimum. I've got a weakness for 10m since I'm actually a gilded CBer. So, this contest is my last one of 2018 and it is actually one of my favourites even without real good propagation. 10m has a surprise element, you don't know what to expect. It went reasonable good last year though I got some comments from stations that listened over the weekend and did only hear noise. I think it is just a difference between QRM in the city and my quiet rural location. Compared to last years multiband vertical the HF5B antenna is much higher and better. But whatever your antenna is....10m is all about propagation. Is it going to be a dramatic year for the 10m ARRL contest? Or will it be reasonable like last year?
For a few years ago WSPR was the mode to check propagation on 10. But these days the FT8 frequency could be a better choice. I left the radio on 10m WSPR today to see if there is any propagation anyway? The antenna is pointed south towards the highest point of the sun at this time of the year. Is it a best choice? It would be better to point the antenna to the sun automatically, but unfortenately I don't have that feature yet...
Results today:
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| RX, a few bogus reports... OH5XO was received at night, probabely airplane scatter |
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| TX with 1W, some surprises |
6 comments:
Good idea, Bas - I'm going to do the same and take turns operating both WSPR and FT8 on 10m for the next several days.
Good luck in the contest!
John
John, I hope propagation is better in your part of the world. Good luck 73, Bas
Hi Bas. I found that there are not enough users on WSPR to show if the band is really open. FT8 is much better just because there are more people using it.
There is still lots of random Sporadic-E openings so I would think that leaving your antenna to the SE in the morning and SW in the afternoon might be a good compromise.
You'll get a lot of suprise signals from close in (500kms) which are not Sp-E and are probably meteor scatter or aircraft scatter for the closer ones.
The number of DX openings has dropped since October/early November. N-S paths are the most likely with South America and South Africa.
That will interest me to listen! Certainly, there have been a few, fairly weak European signals on 10m here the past couple of days, typically just about workable from Wales, but probably much more possible from southern England. It's often the case on 12m and 10m that you can spend all day listening with no luck on WSPR, but work many stations on FT8. Good luck!
Hello John, last year surprised me with some interesting openings on 10m and even some ES. You never know what 10m does at the bottom of the cycle. I find this most interesting, even better as at the top were DX is easy. I'm right below a flightpath to Skandinavia and Asia so aircraft scatter is a good possebility. 73, Bas
Hello John, it's a pity WSPR is not that much used on 10m. On the other hand I can imagine that because it's no fun if you're monitoring the whole day and get only one or two spots. I'm WSPRing today but so far the only station spotting me and the only station heard is my neighbour PA0O. The next 2 days I plan to be on FT8. 73, Bas
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