2021-11-10

The 10m Band, Update.

 Last night I forgot to switch off my receiver for the International Beacon Project frequency on 28.200MHz. As a result, about 0815 local time, 0715 UTC the 4X6TU beacon popped up with a good signal.

With the FT8 monitoring (24/7), every day for the last month or more, the band has shown spots at my receiver from several continents, many days for 6 continents. North America is the most tricky, because it requires a higher solar flux than the others at my Northern latitude.

South America has not failed on any day, with PY being there daily, and often LU and CX. Some days also CE. and a few times YV, PZ and HC were spotted.

On 28.200 the 4X6Tu has essentially been heard every day, often peaking at S9. Other beacons heard fairly often are rhe ZS6DN and CS3B. A few times the RR9 and the VK6 have been heard. 

Sometimes I hear some signals with a long dash followed by a 2 or 3 letter ID in morse code. As far as I know these are buoys used by fishermen in the Mediterranean Sea. Not quite according to the rules, but a good propagation monitoring tool. One of those was spot on 28.200 one day.

The OTHR (over the horizon) radar systems are now active on 10m, and sometimes obliterating all other signals in a 30kHz or more wide band.

A week or so ago I worked a few North American stations with CW.

Oh, yes, 10m has woken up, and I will expect regular openings for the next few years during the solar maximum.

No comments: