WSPR 28 MHz

[VK2KRR]

Hi All,

A few more stations surfaced on WSPR 10m to check the Sunday arvo proceedings.

Stations active today (16)-

VK2EMA
VK2FAK
VK2KRR
VK2XN
VK2ZMT
VK3SMC
VK3UN
VK3XPT
VK4CP
VK4LHD
VK4MIL
VK5AKK
VK5DC
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6JR
VK7AB

A few stations made some TEP paths to Japan this afternoon - 7L4IOU to VK2KRR, VK3XPT, VK5DC, VK5WR, VK5ZRL.
Getting out of the country in the EU direction - VK6JR, VK5AKK, VK2KRR mostly to - EW1LN, OZ7IT, R9SA, T61AA.
Overseas paths being quite difficult to come by at present.
Sporadic E paths in the afternoon also being virtually non existant.
No spots noted on 50 MHz WSPR.

[VK2KRR]

Good afternoon all

Well, what a week its been from the sun! Over the past week there has been something like 20 to 30 class C flares and two M flares! One which was a massive M9.3 at approx 0209 UTC today. The solar flux index has jumped up 20 points from last weekend. Was 92 and is now 112.

The stations active today on 28 WSPR (14)-

VK1UN/1(VK3)
VK2KRR
VK2XN
VK2ZMT
VK3XPT
VK4EK
VK4FIL
VK4MIL
VK4CZ
VK5AKK
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6JR
VK6ZRL

Great roll up today. Holding out hope for some exciting propagation today. The morning started off very slowly. Interestingly, Scott VK4CZ got the first wowser today grabbing a spot from VK6JR of 3677 Km, double Es which sparked some interest. A light spread of Es around the south east, but interestingly nothing from VK5 to VK6. Brian VK4EK I think was next to get a spot from Wayne VK6JR, then followed by Matt VK2ZMT. Gradually shortened up and Im hearing VK6JR here at the moment also, along with paths from VK6DZ and ZRY.
Ross T61AA in Afghanistan has also kindly set up on 28 WSPR today to try and get a few spots into VK for us.
Certainly all looking interesting, fingers crossed...

[VK2KRR]

Evening all.

Afternoon propagation slipped away to nothing unfortunately.

Stations active on 28 WSPR Saturday (18) -

VK1UN/1(VK3)
VK2BLS
VK2EMA
VK2FJRS
VK2KRR
VK2XN
VK2ZMT
VK3SMC
VK3XPT
VK4EK
VK4FIL
VK4MIL
VK4CZ
VK5AKK
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6JR
VK6ZRL

Unfortunatley the propagation dropped away on us this afternoon. The east west double Es turned into VK4 SE QLD Es to southern VK2 & 3 and Adelaide area.
I was able to hear Ross T61AA signal a handfull of times but was mostly very weak. Thanks to Ross for putting a signal up for us, hope he is on again tomorrow.
With the increased solar activity and flux levels Im sure most cant wait to see what tomorrow brings.

[VK2KRR]

G'day all,

Ive been out at the Riverina Hamfast this morning, so not really been across everything thats been happening so far on WSPR 28 MHz today.
The solar flux has risen today again from 112 to 113.

The stations active so far this Sunday are (17)-

VK2BLS
VK2EMA
VK2FJRS
VK2KRR
VK2XN
VK2ZMT
VK3XPT
VK4CZ
VK4EK
VK4MIL
VK5AKK
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6JR
VK6ZRY
EJTSWL (VK7)
ZL3PX

There has been some sporadic E activity this morning, some very short 300 Km range spots in central NSW and slightly further skips out to Adelaide and Sydney, Melbourne etc.
Brian VK4EK was the only station to get a double E across to VK6JR today.
A few stations have manages some spots into the USA today; Mark VK2EMA is usually being the band opener across to USA and today has had a number of spots with KC6KGE, KP4MD, K8TK, K9AN, N6RY. Darrell VK2BLS to N6GN. Matt VK2ZMT to K8TK, N6RY. Scott VK4CZ to K8TK, K9AN. And Rob VK5ZRL to K8TK.
Probably a bit more activity across to the USA than previous weeks.
Will wait now to see if the rest of the afternoon brings us anything from EU.

[VK2KRR]

G'day

Well, as seems to have been happening of late, the afternoon shift was a 'fizzer'. Not much happened.

Stations active this Sunday (18)-

VK2BLS
VK2EMA
VK2FJRS
VK2KRR
VK2XN
VK2ZMT
VK3XPT
VK4CZ
VK4EK
VK4MIL
VK5AKK
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6JR
VK6ZRY
EJTSWL (VK7)
ZL3PX

As mentioned, not much advancement from my previous comments. All that we had were one or two weak E skips between 2KRR, 2EMA, 2ZMT and 5AKK. Thats about it, cant comment much more than that.
Many of us now tucking in for a warm evening of 160m WSPR fun.
73 Till next weekend.

[VK2KRR]

G'day Folks,

Well a lot of questions were being asked of today due to the awaited CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) from the sun. Would ionospheric conditions be blacked out? would they flare up and be great ? A bit of both really so far.
Solar Flux rose to 125 during the week and has now dramatically dropped back to 106!! Last weekend it was 113.

Active stations on WSPR 10m today so far are (16)-

VK1UN/1 (VK3)
VK2BLS
VK2EMA
VK2KRR
VK2XN
VK3BDK
VK3MIR
VK3XPT
VK4CZ
VK4FIL
VK5AKK
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6ZRY
ZL2FT

I went outside this morning to make a new patch lead for my HF gear, things were quiet; when I got back the 10m band was going crazy!
The first station to capture a Pacific path to USA was Wayne VK2XN hearing N6GN -13dB @ 0038 UTC. This opened the doorway and then many stations as far as VK5 were spotting very good paths to the USA, and the good majority were to east coast USA also. During this time Sporadic E was also flaring up and many stations were hearing each other in VK, there was a 0 dB recored between VK2EMA and myself at only 340 Km for instance. The last of the good signals was about 0238 UTC with VK2KRR getting to K9AN & KP4MD being the door closer. So all up approx 2 hours.
Aside from this its been very quiet, but good to see an exciting flare up like that.

[VK2KRR]

Forgot to add the map image I took from this mornings USA opening.

USA path morning 06/08/11

10m WSPR is really firing up again now inter VK and toward EU. Current map -

Current map

[VK2KRR]

Evening Folks,

Bit of a quiet break after the USA pacific path opening in the morning, but mid afternoon paths to the middle east started opening up, as well as many local signal spots.

The active stations today on WSPR 28 are (21)-

VK1HW
VK1UN/1 (VK3)
VK2BLS
VK2EMA
VK2KRR
VK2XN
VK3BDK
VK3MIR
VK3XPT
VK4CZ
VK4EK
VK4FIL
VK4KSY
VK5AKK
VK5PJ
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6BN
VK6DZ
VK6ZRY
ZL2FT

We were all thinking we had lost the good conditions for the day, when at 0440 utc VK2KRR opened the door to a path into the Middle East area (EU direction), and was RXd by a SWL station A45SWL in Oman. A few mins later Ross T61AA in Afghanistan was RXd by myself and subsequently numerous others were able to RX or TX the two stations.
T61AA - Heard by - VK1HW, VK2EMA, VK2KRR, VK2XN, VK3MIR, VK4CZ, VK5AKK, VK6BN, VK6DZ, VK6ZRY. Hearing VK2KRR.
A45SWL - Hearing - VK1HW, VK2EMA, VK2KRR, VK3MIR, VK5AKK, VK5ZRL, VK6DZ, VK6ZRY.

All were hopeing to get the extention out to EU areas, but it didn't really happen. VK5AKK was able to get both ways to DF6MK; VK2KRR to DK6UG; I believe that was all. The last OS path was attained by VK6BN across to T61AA at 0818 which closed the VK DX door for the day.

It was interesting to note that during the afternoon opening, that numerous inter-VK signals were heard, down to very very short skip distances, and over a wide area. It was automatically pressumed that these were sporadic E contacts, but when dug into sligtly deeper in theory, these contacts were most probably caused by 'backscattered' signals from the middle eastern path. For example numerous times VK2KRR could hear VK1HW only 183 Km away while beaming the opposite direction. And likewise many of the VK stations were able to spot each other. For a signal via Sporadic E skip from KRR to HW to occur would take a rather high MUF E layer if that was the case, probably able to direct 2m signal back to ground for some stations, for example Melbourne to Brisbane 2m. But upon enquiring about 6m activty, there was none. So hence we pressume some of the signal was coming back from the F layer. And indeed some were quite strong.

There were also a few big hops from the east to SW VK6 at similar times, which probably would have been reflected via the same area of the first bounce we had out to the middle east in F layer, rather than double Es.

Here is an image of the paths.

Afternoon

And also a screen shot of the Cocos Island Ionosonde showing the rather high FoF2 or critical freq which would correlate to our good paths that direction.

cocos

[VK2KRR]

Guys,

Out of curiosity this mornings pacific path to USA. Which began on 28 WSPR at 0038 utc. Have a look at the 2 Norfolk Island ionosonde readings before and during the opening, u can clearly see the difference. Just thought it may interest you.

This one is just prior to the opening.

Norfolk prior

This ones about 20 mins into the opening.

Norfolk during

[VK2KRR]

G'day Folks,

Been quite a bit going on on 28 WSPR today! so Im a bit late writing this midday report.

The stations active on 28 WSPR so far today are (22) -

VK1HW
VK2BLS
VK2EMA
VK2MER
VK2KRR
VK2KWY
VK2XN
VK3MJC
VK3XPT
VK4CZ
VK4EK
VK4FIL
VK4MIL
VK4KSY
VK5AKK
VK5DC
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6JR
VK6ZRY
ZL3PX

Another interesting morning we had on 28 WSPR this morning! Im losing track of everything thats going on!

Backscatter paths: From 2318 utc while looking for Pacific paths, Wayne VK2XN heard VK4CZ, which again would be considered rather short skip at 431 Km. This was the opener and other stations began hearing each other around eastern VK. Wayne VK2XN was right onto this and asked me to beam around to some other stations which I was hearing, which I did, across Adelaide way, 2 very weak signals began to come in so I turned the yagi slowly toward north and they gradually increased in strength by probably 6 or 8 dB. The two stations were VK5AKK and VK4CZ. As I turned away from VK5AKK he got stronger so that was interesting to note. It looked like it was indeed a backscattering effect rather than any E skip.
Wayne and others checked for 6m Es paths but none were present, so it had to be a backscattered path from the NNW.
Other very short paths - 00:00 VK2EMA 28.126141 -14 0 QF37qs 10 VK2XN QF59ar 334 km
2011-08-07 00:42 VK2EMA 28.126104 -17 0 QF37qs 10 VK2KRR QF34mr 340 km
2011-08-07 00:48 VK2KRR 28.126164 -8 0 QF34mr 20 VK1HW QF44mm 183 km

As Wayne VK2XN was beaming Pacific as seen here -
2011-08-07 00:20 VK2KRR 28.126170 -16dB 0 QF34mr 20 VK2XN QF59ar 623 km
He decided to turn his antenna also to the northerly direction -
2011-08-07 00:40 VK2KRR 28.126170 -4dB 0 QF34mr 20 VK2XN QF59ar 623 km
Quite a big signal improvement.

Many signals were spotted in the east -

Sun morn backscatter map

We believe it must have had something to do with being scattered back from this highly charged area of the ionosphere well north of Darwin-

00 TEC

I was weakly heard by VK3XPT in Melbourne at about -26dB also, which was the most southern station to hear the back scattered signals.

As mentioned, this started at 2318 utc and finished at 0114 utc, so approx 2 hours, gradually fading away.

That caused quite a stir.

Then watching the TEC maps it looked like it would not be long until the middle east would be accessable. T61AA was not available, but A45SWL was there in Oman. I decided to try a high power hit and see what would happen across the well charged area, this is what happened -
2011-08-07 02:42 VK2KRR 28.126180 -19 0 QF34mr 100 A45SWL LL93 11323 km
2011-08-07 02:42 VK2KRR 28.126153 -14 0 QF34mr 100 G4SGX JO02pu 16702 km!!

I thought I would get to A45SWL but never expected to see that my signal had reached G4SGX!! and I think it was 4.42 AM in England at that point!! very interesting indeed.
I believe VK6JR, VK5AKK and VK4EK were all able to get to A45SWL also using QRP.

There has been sporadic E paths to other locations, such as across the Bight from Perth to Adelaide and from Adelaide to Sydney, from Melbourne to Brisbane.
There is quite a lot of activity today for sure.!!
Some further info later.

[VK2KRR]

Evening all,

Quite an interesting afternoon had by all on 28 MHz WSPR. There was even a couple of 50MHz spots reported also.

Active stations on WSPR 28 today were (22)-

VK1HW
VK2BLS
VK2EMA
VK2MER
VK2KRR
VK2KWY
VK2XN
VK3MJC
VK3XPT
VK4CZ
VK4EK
VK4FIL
VK4MIL
VK4KSY
VK5AKK
VK5DC
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6JR
VK6ZRY
ZL3PX

A few stations were able to get to A45SWL periodically, VK6JR, 4EK, 5AKK and VK2KRR. With Brian VK4EK closing the door on that path at 0640 UTC.
Interesting to note today that NO VK5 stations were spotted by VK4's and the only VK4 to VK6 path was VK6DZ to VK4EK.
Scott VK4CZ did well today, with many spots and in particular, Scott was the only station to spot ZL3PX.
Many spots from the Adelaide area to the Sydney area were spotted, as well as Adelaide area to SW VK6. Virtually no VK2s got to VK6 except ONE time only where at 0650 VK6DZ heard VK2MER at -27dB, lucky one.
Brian VK4EK was into some short Es across the VK4 ranges to Brisbane for a while and also further south. And still the Brissy to Melbourne E paths also.
Phil VK5AKK and Myles VK6ZRY shut the door on the last E skip path for the evening at 0840 utc with Myles reporting Phil at -16dB across the Bight.
Good stuff from all involved today! and great to see a few new stations on air too!
Till next weekend 73.

[VK2KRR]

G'day folks

After an interesting few weeks, sunspot 1263 has rotated around to the rear of the sun, may be back with a vengence soon. During the week produced a X6.9 flare among others. The current solar flux level is 83.

Active operators so far today on 28 WSPR (14) -

VK2FJRS
VK2MER
VK2KRR
VK2KWY
VK2QW
VK2ZMT
VK3XPT
VK4EK
VK4KSY
VK5AKK
VK5DC
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6ZRY

Not feeling the best today, but just reporting that the band is reasonably quiet today, but the only lifesaver to bring up some activity has been JQ1HDR in Japan, who has been in listening mode for most of the day so that we can monitor the TEP paths to Japan on 10m. So far today the stations heard by JQ1HDR have been - VK2KRR, VK4EK, VK5AKK, VK5ZRL, VK6DZ, VK6ZRY. Very interesting to monitor the TEP.
Not much goin on besides this so far.

[VK2KRR]

Evening all,

A fairly uneventful afternoon on 28 WSPR.

Stations active today (16)-

VK2BLS
VK2FJRS
VK2MER
VK2KRR
VK2KWY
VK2QW
VK2ZMT
VK3XPT
VK4EK
VK4KSY
VK5AKK
VK5AYD
VK5DC
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6ZRY

Not much else to add to the report this evening. Nice to see David VK5AYD join in from Coober Pedy. There was a few more signals from Japan on TEP paths but nothing outstanding, although Myles VK6ZRY was able to be heard by JQ1HDR and Derek was spotted many times by him also so was good to see those paths in SW VK6. I noted that somehow Matt VK2ZMT on the coast was able to push a reasonable signal to VK5AKK and VK5ZRL at 0444 utc, and that was the only time. If that was sporadic E it was very sporadic.

Note here from Kazu JQ1HDR reads -
Hello Leigh san
Now I have shutdown my rig for 10m band. Unfortunately my rig could not catch you again.
I will try tomorrow again beaming N.A in the morning and your way in the afternoon.
Thank you very much for the nice WSPR with you today and hope to meet you again.
Kazu JQ1HDR

So we should look forward to JQ1HDR on air again tomorrow shall be a great asset.

[VK2KRR]

G'day folks,

Today we have mostly had TEP paths to Japan & a couple of pacific paths to USA. Todays SFI is 82, so getting quite low. All main solar condx quite low with few sunspots.

Active stations on 28 MHz WSPR today have been (13)-

VK2BLS
VK2KRR
VK2KWY
VK2QW
VK2ZMT
VK3XPT
VK4EK
VK4MIL
VK5AYD
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
ZL2FT

AS mentioned, just the Transequatorial paths to Japan today, and we have been lucky to have Jim JG1KGS & Kazumi JQ1HDR available for us. TEP today has mainly been weak so far.
JG1KGS
Hearing: VK2KRR, VK4EK, VK5ZRL, VK6DZ
Heard by: VK2KRR, VK4EK, VK5AYD, VK5WR, VK5ZRL
JQ1HDR
Hearing: JG1KGS, VK2KRR, VK4EK, VK5ZRL, VK6DZ

Our main man Matt VK2ZMT has clocked up the only 2 USA stations today Heard by: N7GLS, N7KJW. Although ZL2FT also got to N7KJW. The Pacific path has been very poor over the last few weeks.

There has been a very small amount of weak backscattered signals today, but thats about it, its been rather uneventful, but you just never know when something will pick up out of the blue and suprise you.

[VK2KRR]

Good evening,

Pretty much more of the same activity late afternoon as there was earlier today, though brief high signal path to EU at one stage.

Stations active today on 28 WSPR were (15) -

VK2BLS
VK2FJRS
VK2KRR
VK2KWY
VK2QW
VK2XN
VK2ZMT
VK3XPT
VK4EK
VK4MIL
VK5AYD
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
ZL2FT

As mentioned, a lot of the same activity as in the previous post, TEP up to Japan mainly.
Derek VK6DZ only had 1 spot after 0224 UTC and that was at 0534 with JG1KGS.
At 0524 I decided to bump the TX power up to 100W from 20W as things were looking very poor. This seemed to get things rolling a little better, but still very poor path to JA today. Of note was, while beaming JA path most of the day, at 0608 JG1KGS was hearing me -19dB, then -18dB at 0620. THEN suddenly at 0626 suddenly JG1KGS posted up a -4dB signal for me! A big jump of 14dB!! For the same transmission, in the same direction, very suprisingly I got a return from OZ7IT of -26dB! not to mention a nice -17dB from Brian VK4EK.
Strange but this is a good example of WSPR discoving weak paths for you. Then the next transmission, same direction, OZ7IT was a -10dB. And Colin VK4MIL also heard me.
So it was very interesting to see sudden BIG increase in signal from JG1KGS corresponding to a path to EU.
At 0700 I turned the yagi toward EU to see what would happen and got a number of stations which, over the past few weeks has been virtually inacessable. These were RS9A, DL4MFC, EA1FAU, OE3VMS & DK6UG. Great suprise to see those returns indeed. After aprox 15mins the EU was gone again. This was approx 30 mins before grey line hit.
So thats about all the excitement for today. Thanks to everyone who participated this weekend. Have a good week.

[VK2KRR]

G'day Folks,

Almost forgot the report, been a lot going on this week on radio and 28 MHz WSPR.
The current solar flux level is - 99

The stations active so far today are (18)-

VK1HW
VK2MEV
VK2KRR
VK2QW
VK2XN
VK2ZMT
VK3SMC
VK3XPT
VK4CZ
VK4FIL
VK4FN
VK4MIL
VK5AKK
VK5AYD
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6JR

Today has been quite an active day, mainly on the TEP paths to Japan, both Jim JG1KGS and Kazu JQ1HDR providing reports.
JG1KGS - Hearing: VK2KRR, VK2ZMT, VK3SMC, VK4CZ, VK4MIL, VK5AKK, VK5ZRL, VK6DZ. Heard by: JQ1HDR, VK2KRR, VK2XN, VK2ZMT, VK4FIL, VK4MIL, VK5AKK, VK5AYD, VK6DZ.
JQ1HDR - Hearing: JG1KGS, VK2KRR, VK2ZMT, VK3SMC, VK4CZ, VK4MIL, VK5AKK, VK6DZ.

Simon VK3SMC got one signal to N6RY while beaming JA. Leigh VK2KRR got a few signals to R9SA while beaming JA, as did Wayne VK6JR.

Other signals across VK have been mainly backscatter as far as I have been able to observe.

There was a good rise in signals early in the morning with many stations hearing each other, this tapered to a small increase after lunch time which has died off again now. We're waiting to see what happens towards sundown now.

[VK2KRR]

Hi All,

Fairly average kinda afternoon on 28 WSPR.

The stations active so far today are (18)-

VK1HW
VK2MEV
VK2KRR
VK2QW
VK2XN
VK2ZMT
VK3SMC
VK3XPT
VK4CZ
VK4FIL
VK4FN
VK4MIL
VK5AKK
VK5AYD
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6JR

Signals dropped to low levels to Japan this afternoon, there was no real late afternoon peak.
No sporadic E was noted.
Derek VK6DZ managed to get to Europe a few times with DK6UG, F6HTL.
I got an email after getting spots to and from an excited Vlad RX3DHR near Moscow. He sent me a screen shot of my signals which he had copied today. So that was nice to see.
Till tomorrow 73.

[VK2KRR]

G'day,

A reasonably active morning period leave to a fairly quiet afternoon for most on 28 WSPR today.

Stations active today were (18) -

VK2FJRS
VK2KRR
VK2QW
VK2XN
VK2ZMT
VK3SMC
VK3XPT
VK4CZ
VK4FIL
VK4FN
VK4MIL
VK5AKK
VK5AYD
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6ZRY
VK7AB

Most of the action took place this morning with VK4CZ and VK2KRR having first spots to USA and Japan respectively. VK4FR and VK2ZMT also getting across to the USA as well as Japan, though only a couple from USA could access the path.
Japan TEP was spread across most stations.
The Japan signals were never all that good today and mostly faded away after about 2pm.
Ross T61AA in Afghanistan made appearance also being heard by VK7AB, VK3SMC and VK2KRR.
Fairly quiet afternoon all told.

[VK2KRR]

Hi Folks,

Lots of stations on 10m WSPR today in VK! Plenty of signals all around the place, paths to west coast USA and Japan, with many inter VK signals too.
Current solar flux level - 105.

Stations active so far today (19)-

VK2CBL
VK2EMA
VK2FJRS
VK2KRR
VK2XN
VK3SMC
VK3XPT
VK4CZ
VK4EK
VK4MIL
VK4ZBV
VK5AKK
VK5BC
VK5PJ
VK5WR
VK5ZRL
VK6DZ
VK6JR
VK8AW

One interesting spot I've noted is that it would appear that Phil VK5AKK at 2332 was heard by EA1FAU in Spain, -29dB @ 17,041 Km. Not sure how that happened? long path possibly. In any case, good one Phil.
Many Australian stations have been spotted by JG1KGS and or JQ1HDR today.
JG1KGS Hearing: VK2KRR, VK4CZ, VK4EK, VK5AKK, VK5BC, VK5PJ, VK5ZRL, VK8AW
JQ1HDR Hearing: VK2EMA, VK2KRR, VK3SMC, VK4EK, VK5AKK, VK5BC, VK5PJ, VK5ZRL, VK6DZ, VK6JR
Jim JG1KGS moved to 6m fairly early on or else im sure even more would have gotten to him.
Numerous stations have gotten paths across to the USA west coast, just a quick example -
KC6KGE Hearing: VK3SMC, VK4CZ, VK4EK, VK5PJ, VK6DZ

So things are looking pretty good today and great to see so many switching the rigs on over the weekend and having some fun with the propagation.
Hope to see some Europe paths later.

[VK2KRR]

Morning all.

Sorry I got tied up last night trying to complete an antenna project and did not have a chance to write the end of day report last night.
Will be slightly harder to get the correct results with how many stations were on yesterday, so will leave that out.

From what I can see, there was more Japan TEP running, signals were very good.
Looks like Europe in the afternoon was a fizzer and didn't happen, which is a little weird considering the good signals to USA and Japan.

Will see what today brings.