On 29 Oct 2009 at 10:44, Rik Strobbe wrote:

> Over the past days I monitored the G4JNT WSPR beacon 24/24.
> During daytime I have a weak but consistent copy of Andy's signal,
> average -24dB with ups and down of some dB. During nighttime the signal
> is -10dB on average, with the usual deep QSB (peaking -1dB, dips down to
> -20dB). But the most interesting observation is that in the afternoon
> the first peaks (from -24dB up to -8dB) occur as early as 15:45 UTC.
> This is almost 1 hour before sunset (16:37 UTC) and almost 1.5 hours
> before the D-layer (at mid point) goes into darkness.
> 
> 73, Rik  ON7YD - OR7T
> 
> 

This behaviour on 500kHz mirrors closely that which we get on 160m. 
Certainly in the winter months and to some extent in the autumn the 
nearer continentals are audible on top band throughout the day and from 
1-2 hours before sunset more distant stations such as OK and OH start 
coming through. As always the problem is lack of activity, and events 
such as CQ160 and the Stew Perry contest show how much before sunset 
and after sunrise there is propagation. ON and PA0 are not really that 
far from G4JNT in Portsmouth so I am not really surprised you are 
copying them in the daytime. Here in Bracknell, IO91PJ, G4JNT is s9+ on 
the meter at all times, both as the normal beacon and WSPR.

I think the only thing different on 500kHz is the very slow QSB, which 
does seem unique to that band.

73 Dave G3YMC

http://www.davesergeant.com