16 Aug 2014

10m WSPR - for a little longer still?

It has been very quiet now on 10m WSPR since 1328z when LA3ZA was last coming in here via Es. Apart from local G4KPX, the band has been very quiet on WSPR.  I even checked the gear was working as it seemed too quiet.

I shall stick with 10m until about 1830z, then QSY down to 472kHz again. Currently there are more active stations on 472kHz (22) than on 28MHz/10m (15). Of course these numbers can rapidly alter and http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/activity only shows stations spotting in the last 10 minutes, so if you hit a quiet patch, you appear to disappear.

F2 will be hard to see with WSPR as there are so few active stations where they need to be - just 2 in the USA and 1 in South America only. Without stations at F2 ranges on WSPR, WSPR rather loses its point. No F2 seen here on WSPR today, but that may be down to an absence of WSPR stations rather than conditions.

Why do so many stay on 30m (68 active) or 20m (104 active)?  Operating on these bands teaches us very little indeed. Operating on the higher HF bands and 6m teaches us a lot about fleeting openings and propagation. In recent days there has been evidence of MS on 10m WSPR. It tells us a lot about 10m/6m GDX too.

See http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/activity .

UPDATE 1606z:  The number of active 10m WSPR stations has now jumped to 22 with 7 in the USA.

UPDATE 1636z:  As it is so dead on 10m, I am going to QSY to 472kHz immediately.

UPDATE 1640z:  Now QSYed to 472kHz WSPR.

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