The joys of radio. Intercontinental, Es, aurora and just a bit of fun.

Radio horizons, good old fashioned radio, and a timely aurora.
 =================
When I get obsessed about things I do a lot of thinking on my walk. On my walk I noticed that the alpacas have been shorn again.

You would think they might be getting cold at this time of year, though I believe that they can get three fleeces off them, so there must be a late sheering every year. They must be capable of bearing a lot of cold, up in the Andes. Erm, time to think of working South America? You have to admit, my mind works in predictable ways.

Or not as the case may be.

===========================

Meanwhile I have been flapping about my radio horizon.

David, GM4JJJ, helpfully sent along a radio horizon for this QTH from Radio Scout. I still have my physical horizon from the HeyWhatsThat site - if you go to HeyWhatsThat site there are also tools you can your for line of site paths and so forth.

My horizon looks like this:-

The lower line is zero degrees elevation, and the higher one is one degree elevation. What it shows is what we knew, I have a hill in the way to the East and South. David's radio horizon showed me that I need 3.25 degrees elevation to get over the larger parts of it.

Which just confirms what evidence already shows, that I cannot get a tropo enhanced signal to the East and South, but I can get out that way during ducting, sporadic E and meteor scatter. In fact I can get out to distances which the calculations suggest require zero degree elevations, but not on tropo.

So I am sticking my my thesis, that I have done enough for tropo. I feel that raising the antennas or making them longer will tend to improve my shot at the hills, and weaken my shot over the hills, so I am not going to do it. And I am not going to try 70cms either.

All this looking at horizon charts confirms one thing in my mind - if I want to get out to the South and South East, especially during VHF contests, I need to go portable on top of the hills, rather than sitting here expecting the hills to vanish in front of my radio signal. We shall see if that happens or not.
=====================
When I get into a tizz about something like the horizon issue, I often think that just going and working some stations will help.

This has to be the basis of what I do. I still get a thrill from sending out a CQ and sitting waiting to see if anyone comes back. I still like collecting a new square in Guatemala on 12 metres (erm, that doesn't happen often I must say) or just yakking to someone about stuff. Stuff, the great subject for debate in amateur radio. Like why has Yaesu introduced a new microphone at £595?

I did a bit on 40m working WB8JUI and W3BI on 12 October.

I have been noticing that North South paths were good on 10m in the early afternoon, and on 11 October I worked this lot

A bit of DX is good for the soul. Not content with that I came back the next day ...

Now I know that the Solar Flux Index had risen to just over 100 for the first time in ages, and you cannot do that every day, but it shows what you can do if everything works out. Yes, the Solar Cycle is on the way down and likely to stay that way for years to come. But that does not mean that there are not pickings to be had, even on 10m. Into alpaca areas too.
====================
During this period, SolarHam had been predicting the arrival of a coronal mass ejection. "Weak" was how it was described, possibly making "a glancing blow" on the Earth. In due course it did this on 13th October:-

 I know that raised solar activity, as well as causing an Aurora, can cause enhanced Es. So I was ready for some life to arise from a different direction on 10m, which it duly did early 13th ...

Now you can never convince me that Es is not encouraged by solar activity, and that seems to be all the proof I need. But then we DID have an aurora, and associated Es before, and Auroral Es afterwards.

Bundling all the Es and aurora results together I had this outcome on 6m:-

Even lowly old 4 metres got a look in during the aurora:-

I did hear a couple of LAs and an EI on CW, but I was happy with 4 DXCC on SSB (though the GM3UAG QSO was me sending SSB and him replying on CW). All approaches welcome.

Now this is the joy of amateur radio for me. I can get a kick out of stalking Brazil and South Africa stations on 10m F layer, switch to Russia and Ukraine ones on Es, take in some aurora and auroral Es all around me.

I feel cheered up. So what if I am beaming at a hillside? This is the type of contest I want to win. (before you all say, I approve of contests, just not the ones where I am beaming into Ayton Hill).

And joy of joys, most of these people I worked on VHF I have encountered before. GI4DOH on 6m aurora. GM4JJJ also via the aurora. Both well known, but first time on the aurora for both. ON7EQ for yet another QSO on 4m, having now worked him on tropo ducting, meteor scatter and twice on aurora. Jean-Jacques is the proof that what is impossible on tropo can be done lots of other ways. Gerry, GI4OWA, is now a front runner for being the first aurora contact each time and therefore my new beacon in the West. I even managed to see, but not work, IU1DZZ on 10m Es. GD3YEO was a completely new one for me, though I have worked GD from here before, never on aurora until now.

It is a joy. And what a handy and timely relief from my gloom.

If in doubt, turn on the rig and work someone.

Thanks everyone

73

Jim
GM4FVM

Some very nice October Es, plus the "lure of HF DX".

I find it hard to decide how to report Es this year.

Last year I rambled on at great length about how, despite the RSGB Propagation News predictions based on the meanderings of the Jet Stream, it was clear to me that solar activity was the main driver in pushing the Es layer into operation at this time of year. I took readings over one month and there was a very clear correlation between the Es events and what I call "solar activity short of an aurora".

I don't wish to keep going on about it. Let us just say that this past few days have shown it again. Whilst the RSGB predictions said nothing about Es, I noted the imminent arrival of two (positive polarity) coronal holes. Everybody knows by now that if there is no aurora then there is often Es. By this I mean normal Es and not just auroral Es, which is a different phenomenon which sometimes occurs immediately after an aurora.

I think that the Jet Stream stuff is a delusion, at least at this time of year.

Of course it all depends what I mean by "solar activity short of an aurora". Certainly I am not suggesting that this has much predictive value. You can see the general pattern, but cause and effect is hard to prove. Nevertheless, I was expecting Es after this event and it did happen. No doubt, looking back, the RSGB will find some swirl in the Jet Stream which explains all this, but that does not justify their pseudo-scientific predictions in my view.

So, anyway, it has been good for Es. There was several short spells of aurora, including me hearing LA6JO, GM4VVX and GB3NGI via aurora. But no contact from here anyway. The compensation of several days of Es was more than enough to make up for the lack of aurora.

For example, on 1 October I clocked up almost 200 WSPR spots from Europe on 10m. On the same day I worked DL, I, F, DL and OK on 10m Es using JT65, and PA3GEO on 6m. Best DX was IU1DZZ in JN45. On 2 October I worked SP, HB, and DL on 10m and EA5/G3XGS (IM98 1933km) on 6m. I think that Gianfranco IU1DZZ may have called me again, but I was having trouble with the computer at the time.

OK, so these Es openings are not much compared with summertime propagation. But for October they were pretty good. The K number was ranging from 5 to 6 between 30 September and 2 October. As I write it is has gone back down to 3. There may still be some more fun to be had before this is over. As I write 10m WSPR is back in action with 4 different Italian stations coming in and OZ1IT hearing me.

So what is to learn from all this? Well my experience, as far as it goes, is that positive polarity coronal holes can indeed cause a geomagnetic storm, in this case quite a big one. But in radio terms, they rarely seem to produce much of a chance for an aurora. As you might expect as negative polarity storms tend to provoke a greater reaction on Earth, those storms are generally better from our point of view. On the other hand, an autumn or winter Es session after a positive polarity event is very nice and well worth looking out for, especially if it affects 6m and above.
======================
I once had a long conversation with the then current RSGB President about licensing and amateur exams. He said that UK Foundation licensees should have full access to HF because it was the "lure of HF DX" which brought them into the hobby. Hmmm. He was an HF DXer himself. He may be right, but that is not a reason to give Foundation licensees full access to all bands in my book.

Anyway, I think I do know what he means about the "lure of HF DX". Am I lured by the prospect of HF DX?

I mentioned recently about working DX on 40m. I worked AK1P and LU1WI on 26 September. The recent Es openings on 10m allowed me to be around when the band opened into South America. It also means that stations were around there to work in their Spring Es. 1 October brought LU1FNR (FF98 11186km) and PP1WW (GG99 9248). Not bad for a 5/8th wave vertical dipole and a barefoot FT450 at my end.

WSPR filled in the bits I could not cover, with PU3WSF (GG40, 10607km) and FY5KE (GJ35 7177) turning up on 2 October between 17:00 and 20:00.

I may be a VHF operator at heart, but there is still real ham blood running through my veins.  I like a bit of dxing from time to time. It also shows that even in a period when the sunspot number is low, whatever ionisation there is in the F layer is strongest nearer the equator and therefore North-South paths may still be workable. I shall keep my eye out for that.

As for the licence debate - if a Foundation licence holder could work South America on 10m and 40m as I did, I think they would feel well chuffed. That sounds like a reason for NOT giving them access to 20m. Let them work for more privileges, just as I did. I say "Keep 20m access for a higher licence grade". Just my thoughts though ...
=======================
 No picture this time so what about a railway photo from Italy?

This was taken at Bari. Was it only two weeks ago I was in Milano Centrale station? Now there is a place worth a visit for anyone interested in architecture.

=======================
The weather chart shows some signs of increased barometric pressure over the next few days. It will be interesting to see if there is any tropospheric enhancement. This is often a good time of year for ducts to form across the North Sea between here and Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

I will be looking for that, and increased meteor scatter activity as the season progresses.

73

Jim
GM4FVM