Tonight is Straight Key Night when many SKCC members will be on air particularly in the USA on 80m. I plan to listen out for them and see if I can bag rare 80m DX. I do have to get the 80m vertical loop fixed today so that will be a priority today. Unfortunately my 80m loop faces the wrong direction for USA but will give it a go anyway.
Here is a video from the US regarding SKN
Solar Update – Solar activity remains low but that could change should two new sunspot regions continue to grow. One of these regions is located in the northern hemisphere and is now the size of atleast 3 planet earths across. Another region is now rotating into view on the southeast limb. The sun currently has 5 visible sunspot groups. There is a chance for C-Class flares.
Yesterday it was great to see the 10m band open again. I got a new country- Cuba. I also made a few other contacts into USA and Mexico.
My PSK signal was recorded by PropNET
PropNET is a system for analyzing and recording HF and VHF circuit quality. It uses a
distributed network of PSK31 stations automatically transmitting and receiving messages
and reporting them to a central database, where real-time displays and statistical analyses
are generated. We’re interested in real-time propagation detection and long-term analysis
of circuit usability, and other interesting uses that the combination of radio and computers
can facilitate.
One area of interest to ham radio operators is aircraft enhanced DX on VHF and UHF. A great aid to this is a piece of software called PlanePlotter available from http://www.coaa.co.uk/planeplotter.htm.
I’ll attempt to provide some more info shortly, but for now have a good read of the website.
Regards
VK4MDX
I made a nice PSK31 QSO with OH4TI, a great example of greyline propagation
VK4MDX>> OH4TI in KP31IX on 21.0700 PSK 599 > QH30IO @ 13444.5km 332°
| Timestamp | Call | MHz | SNR | Drift | Grid | Pwr | Reporter | RGrid | km | az |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-01-05 18:54 | VK4MDX | 3.594096 | -25 | 0 | QH30io | 2 | LA3JJ | JO59bh | 14393 | 333 |
| 2010-01-05 17:50 | VK4MDX | 3.594099 | -19 | 0 | QH30io | 2 | JF3MKC | PM74xm | 6102 | 349 |
| 2010-01-05 17:08 | VK4MDX | 3.594066 | -23 | 0 | QH30io | 2 | DO1TP | JO31lc | 15042 | 325 |
| 2010-01-05 16:22 | VK4MDX | 3.594092 | -22 | -1 | QH30io | 2 | AL2F | BO49et | 10403 | 26 |
| 2010-01-05 15:20 | VK4MDX | 1.838096 | -26 | 0 | QH30io | 2 | JASWL | PM95tg | 6124 | 353 |
| 2010-01-05 14:48 | VK4MDX | 3.594101 | -27 | 0 | QH30io | 2 | W6SZ | DM14ed | 11706 | 59 |
| Timestamp | Call | MHz | SNR | Drift | Grid | Pwr | Reporter | RGrid | km | az |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-01-05 19:58 | DH5RAE | 3.594185 | -19 | 0 | JN68pv | 5 | VK4MDX | QH30io | 14741 | 68 |
| 2010-01-05 19:58 | DJ9PC | 3.594115 | -13 | 0 | JN59po | 501 | VK4MDX | QH30io | 14844 | 66 |
| 2010-01-05 19:52 | DJ0ABR | 3.594194 | -20 | 0 | JN68nt | 1 | VK4MDX | QH30io | 14755 | 68 |
| 2010-01-05 19:52 | OH8GKP | 3.594112 | -24 | 0 | KP24qt | 1 | VK4MDX | QH30io | 13412 | 69 |
| 2010-01-05 19:48 | DM3XRF | 3.594093 | -18 | -1 | JN39pi | 10 | VK4MDX | QH30io | 15116 | 62 |
| 2010-01-05 19:44 | DJ5SQ | 3.594049 | -23 | -1 | JN37tx | 10 | VK4MDX | QH30io | 15164 | 64 |
| 2010-01-05 18:00 | G8IHT | 3.594070 | -25 | 0 | IO94gi | 20 | VK4MDX | QH30io | 15286 | 47 |
| 2010-01-05 15:48 | OH5RM | 3.594047 | -21 | 0 | KP30jr | 20 | VK4MDX | QH30io | 13489 | 73 |
| 2010-01-05 15:24 | AL2F | 3.594118 | -26 | -1 | BO49et | 5 | VK4MDX | QH30io | 10403 | 236 |
| 2010-01-05 15:08 | UA0SNV | 3.594121 | -24 | -1 | OO17hx | 10 | VK4MDX | QH30io | 9512 | 139 |
Tropospheric ducting on 31/12/09 provided me with my first contacts on 144 MHz 2 meter band. 144 MHz is usually good for short distance almost line of site type contacts, but tropospheric ducting is one mechanism which can provide long distance communications on this band.
My contacts were all VK3 (Victoria)
VK3MY
VK3AMZ
VK3KH
VK3XPD
VK3AUU
VK3AMZ
VK3ZZF
VK3HJ
Mostly around the 2000 kilometer mark.
Heard Me
Timestamp Call MHz SNR Drift Grid Pwr Reporter RGrid km az
2009-12-29 18:12 VK4MDX 3.594097 -30 0 QH30io 5 G0KTN IO81ti 15554 330
2009-12-29 17:44 VK4MDX 3.594095 -23 0 QH30io 5 DH5RAE JN68pv 14741 320
2009-12-29 16:58 VK4MDX 3.594084 -19 0 QH30io 5 DL0TUH JO43xl 14735 326
2009-12-29 15:40 VK4MDX 3.594093 -17 0 QH30io 5 JA1XRH PM95tp 6166 353
2009-12-29 14:24 VK4MDX 3.594099 -23 0 QH30io 5 N7KJW DM43au 12211 60
2009-12-29 12:56 VK4MDX 3.594095 -24 0 QH30io 5 N8AYY EN72 14557 50
2009-12-29 12:34 VK4MDX 3.594099 -18 0 QH30io 5 JF3MKC PM74xm 6102 349
2009-12-29 12:34 VK4MDX 3.594094 -27 0 QH30io 5 VE6OG DO33fn 12368 39
2009-12-29 12:34 VK4MDX 3.594098 -22 0 QH30io 5 NN6RF CM87uw 11402 54
Heard By Me
Timestamp Call MHz SNR Drift Grid Pwr Reporter RGrid km az
2009-12-29 18:30 OH5RM 3.594192 -17 0 KP30jr 10 VK4MDX QH30io 13489 73
2009-12-29 17:50 DH5RAE 3.594186 -22 0 JN68pv 5 VK4MDX QH30io 14741 68
2009-12-29 14:06 VE6OG 3.594172 -24 0 DO33fn 10 VK4MDX QH30io 12368 266
We HF Radio aficionados wait, not so patiently, for the return of the small group of sunspots that indicated the beginning of sunspot cycle 24. The return of sunspots to our sun will mean improved HF propagation allowing long distance contacts particularly on higher frequencies such as 10 meter band.
>From Tad Cook, K7RA
Seattle, WA December 1, 2008
To all radio amateurs
SB PROP ARL ARLP050
ARLP050 Propagation de K7RA
The average sunspot number for the month of November was 6.8, up
from 5.2 for October. The three month sunspot number average ending
November 30 — centered on October was 4.5 — an increase from
August and September’s 1.1 and 2.5.
This image shows there are currently no sunspots, but beginning Dec 5, we should see the return of the small group observed previously.
And from spaceweather.com
Aurora Borealis
Last night in far-northern Nunavik, Quebec, the clouds parted to reveal a green and purple ribbon of light winding among the stars. Sylvain Serre grabbed his Canon 30D and snapped this picture:
Shack of VK2KMI 