Monday, June 11, 2012

6m WSPR

On 10th June DX Sherlock showed that a big Sporadic E opening was in progress. The red lines showing contact paths stopped tantalizingly short of north-west Cumbria, unfortunately.

I listened on 10m but I didn't hear the S9+ signals such an opening would suggest so I thought I would do some WSPR on 10m, moving to 6m if the 10m signals suggested the skip would be short enough. They eventually did, as DX Sherlock indicated the lift was getting stronger. I moved to 6m, running 5W to the attic multi-band dipole, and eventually spotted or was spotted by stations as far afield as Austria, Spain and Morocco.

During the peak of the opening I broke off from WSPR to tune the bands and make a few contacts. On 10m I worked TM210VH - a special call commemorating 210 years since the birth of Victor Hugo. I made contacts into Italy, Switzerland and France on 6m as well.

Seeing some massively strong signals now on 10m WSPR so time to check out 6m I think!

3 comments:

Alex Hill said...

I managed to miss that one but happened to be in the right place at the right time on friday and was rewarded with a dozen qso's from Jay Mayern down to Slovenia. A very successful friday evening for me.

Shame I'm at work today but maybe I'll get something later.

Unknown said...

Yes it's not fair work interfering with your hobby. There is another good opening today. I think you need a portable rig you can use from the works car park. You've got an 817 haven't you?

Alex Hill said...

You're right it should be in the car although the car park at Westlakes might look a little odd with a yagi. I think the vertical would be a bit more stealthy. Or I could sneak up to dent when nobody is watching!

After having a wasted weekend for the contest I had to laugh. No sooner had I posted my disappointment I get rewarded with a big opening. I'll have to try that again.