28MHz (10m) beacons still romping in

Predicted 10m propagation at 1600UTC March

Had an interesting hour or so listening for 28 MHz beacons this afternoon.

Despite the VOACAP prediction suggesting that there would not be much propagation into the USA from the UK on 10m, there were plenty to be copied.

I think 10m propagation to the States will start to disappear as we move towards summer.

I even heard two from California.

I like beacons. They are usually low powered, use single element antennas and the beacon owners appreciate a quick e-mail to show that their efforts are worthwhile.

You can find G3USF's list of 28 MHz beacons at http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/28.htm

Anyway, here is what I heard, all with a dipole:

CALL	COMMENT	FREQ
N2PD/B	New York, 5W	28.285
WA4ROX/B	Florida	28.286
W3APL/B	Maryland, 8W	28.296
K5TLL/B	Mississippi, 25W	28.298
WI6J/B	California	28.287
K5AB	Texas, 20W	28.280
WF4HAM	Florida, 10W	28.273
EA7JN/B		28.258
W6WTG	California	28.287
WA2DVU	New Jersey	28.257
SV2AHT/B	KN10NO, Hortiatis	28.235
IQ8CZ/B	Catanzo, Italy	28.230
SV2MCG/B	Greece, KN10FC	28.222

International Marconi Day, Saturday 26th April 2014

Keith M0DZB operating at GB0CMS

Saturday 26th April 2014 is International Marconi Day (IMD) when stations around the world celebrate the birthday of Guglielmo Marconi.

It is also a good opportunity for you to gain a very nice certificate. All you have to do is work the requisite number of award stations and send in a log extract - you don't need QSL cards.

I gave a talk to a couple of clubs about the best way to win the award and you can download the presentation in PDF format (14Mb). It is aimed at UK operators.

I shall be helping to run GB0CMS again this year at Caister Lifeboat. There is short video that looks at the equipment the club used to make 165 contacts in 24 countries on Saturday 30 April 2011. And another for the 2012 event when we made more than 500 contacts.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUXzJcaHThs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8ZRW0q6SyI

You can also view my propagation predictions online.

You can find out more at: http://www.gb4imd.org.uk/