According to Spaceweather.com a ’sunspot is emerging’ although it has not yet been officially numbered. This looks like it might break the recent 12 day spotless streak. The sunspot number is currently 12.
If this is the start of a significant sunspot (and it doesn’t subside and amount to nothing) then I’m hoping it is the start of a little solar activity just in time for the CQ WW WPX Contest next weekend (29-30th May).
A little help from the sun would be nice and might just lead to some new ones being logged!
Dean Amateur Radio contest, CW, propagation, sunspots, WPX
In case you have ever wondered, as I have, just how long it takes for sunspots to affect shortwave conditions here on earth, this is currently the subject of a discussion thread in the DXing forum over at eHam.net. Interesting!
Dean Amateur Radio, Totally random DX, propagation, sunspots
I was first licensed in 1991, somewhere around the height of the sunspot activity in cycle 22, and I remember well how much fun I had at the time working the world (or at least most of it) on simple wire antennas. My first ‘proper’ ham antenna was a basic (fairly low) dipole cut for the 10m band that I managed to get working quite well on 15m and 20m. I didn’t much care how or why or how efficient it was because with this antenna I worked North and South America and Asia with ease. Little did I realise at the time just how spoiled I was and how different conditions would be at a solar minimum.
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Dean Amateur Radio antenna, propagation, Solar Cycle 24
Ok, not quite antenna meltdown but possibly not too far from that. You know, or at least have reason to suspect, that there’s something wrong with your antenna system if the SWR starts to vary during transmissions. I have noticed this in the past few weeks but thought little of it, other than to touch the ATU (SEM TranZmatch z-match) between transmissions to see if it was getting warm, which it wasn’t.
A few words by way of explaining my normal way of operating. Mindful of having a relatively weak signal I tend not to call CQ a lot unless I’m working PSK31. I find it more productive to work stations that I can hear, strong or weak, because I at least have some chance of a QSO if there is at least one way propagation.
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Dean Amateur Radio antenna, ATU, propagation, SEM TranZmatch, SWR, z-match
I have noticed a number of discussions on forums recently where radio amateurs are asking questions like:-
- Is it ok for me to work a contest station?
- Will I ‘muck up their logging’ if I’m not in the contest?
- Can I use a contest contact for DXCC purposes?
These are just a few of the questions asked - there are many more along similar lines. The simple answer to all of these questions is this - as long as you exchange the required information (according to the rules of the contest in question) and the contest station logs the exchange, it’s a contact the same as any other in your log. You don’t have to submit a contest entry for it to count.
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Dean Amateur Radio contest, DXCC, propagation
This weekend sees the annual 24 hour RSGB Commonwealth (BERU) contest on the air from 10:00 UTC Saturday the 13th of March to 10:00 UTC on Sunday the 14th of March 2010. This is a CW (Morse code) only contest for amateur radio stations located in member states of the British Commonwealth. This means it’s usually easier to work some nice DX because the DX isn’t working the whole world! Pile-ups (such as they occur) are considerably less intense.
Band conditions seem to have been pretty good with the sunspot number up at 32 as I write (Sunday 09:24 UTC). Solar cycle 24 certainly seems to be making a difference because I don’t remember hearing anything like the number of VK and ZL stations I’ve heard this year. Add to that the fact that I actually managed to work New Zealand on 20m for a new one, Australia on 20m and 40m and South Africa on 20m it was a lot of fun. An added bonus was picking up another new one on Saturday afternoon, 5H3EE (Tanzania) on 20m.
All in all it was a good weekend even if I was unable to spend as much time on the bands as I’d hoped. I worked stations in Australia, New Zealand, Tanzania, Cyprus, St Vincent, Montserrat, Canada and South Africa. Much improved from last year and certainly enough evidence to suggest that next years contest will be even better. See you in BERU 2011!
Dean Amateur Radio contest, CW, morse code, propagation, Solar Cycle 24
I’ve seen some reports recently from amateur radio operators around the world that band conditions are improving. Certainly on the higher frequency bands (20m and up) there seems to be some excitement as more DX is worked when this just wasn’t possible in 2009.
Spaceweather.com seems to bear this out. The calculated sunspot number is currently 40 which is as high as I’ve seen it in a long time. Bear in mind that this is about 15 times more than the number of actual visible sunspots (which today stands at three, sunspots 1051, 1052 and 1053). The data also shows that 2010 so far has only 3% spotless days versus 2009 which had over 70% of days with no sunspots.
It does very much look like propagation and band conditions are slowly climbing out of the doldrums as cycle 24 picks up.
Dean Amateur Radio, Totally random propagation, Solar Cycle 24, sunspots
A bit of a mixed bag really with no new ones, not even one, but some nice DX worked, especially on 40m on the Sunday evening. Overall I made 85 contacts (a result of more tuning & listening than transmitting) with 48 DXCC entities logged over the weekend in several sessions on 15/20/40m bands. Details on a separate page which is here - CQWW CW contest 2009 - summary - or linked from the Radio menu above.
the 48 countries logged - CQWW CW Nov 2009
On a less serious note I have to award my ‘biggest signal on the band’ award to G3WW who was booming into Lichfield at S9+60db at very least. I’d be interested to know just what antenna was in use to get such a big intra UK signal.
Dean Amateur Radio antenna, contest, CW, DXCC, morse code, propagation
I’ve seen a lot of mention recently of WSPR being used by amateur radio stations on various bands. Of particular interest is what seems to be increasing activity outside of the 30m band, the traditional ‘home’ of WSPR.
My rig was tuned to 30m last night so before venturing onto new bands I had a quick refresher course on 30m. I left things running for about 45 minutes, not long I know but this can often yield lots of spots and stations heard. Results last night were disappointing - despite a few moderate to strong traces seen I had no stations decoded at my RX and my signal wasn’t ’spotted’ by any stations (WSPR spots database).
Conditions weren’t great to be fair and sometimes it doesn’t take much differences in signal to noise ratio to make all the difference in the world when it comes to decoding very weak WSPR signals. I know the antenna works kind of OK on 30m though because I worked K5D on that band back in February.
I’ll try again in the next few days and then move on to 40m where I hope to conduct regular tests to gauge how well my antenna works on that band.
Dean Amateur Radio antenna, propagation, WSPR
The sun is showing signs of life. Over the weekend, sunspot 1029 emerged and it is crackling with B and C class solar flares.
The sunspot’s magnetic polarity identifies it as a member of new Solar Cycle 24. If it continues to grow at this rate, sunspot 1029 could soon become the biggest sunspot of 2009.
This and more at SpaceWeather.com.
Dean Amateur Radio, Totally random contest, propagation, Solar Cycle 24, sunspot