This wasn’t quite a personal DX record for me, but it was close, and the first time I’ve heard South Africa in quite some time. I spotted ZS1LS twice this morning on 30m, from grid square JF96fd and a distance of 16477 kilometers. I had previously heard ZS6Y (16927 km) and ZS1TX (16492 km), and these three stations are now my most distant received stations via WSPR. Immediately below them are a smattering of VK6 stations (VK6ADF, VK6WS, VK6GOS, VK6RO, VK6BMW, VK6BN, VK6POP) interspersed with DP1POL, who was operating from grid IB59uh in Antartica.
Cool.
I haven’t been operating in transmit mode much lately, but if I look at stations that have heard me, I see the most distant station is VK6WS, at a distance of 14842 kilometers.
How much power are you running for WSPR?
I am not currently transmitting, but when I do, I use my FT-817 usually at the 5w setting, but often at the next lower setting, which is either 2 or 2.5 watts (can’t remember).
Eventually, I want to build a dedicated wspr transmitter, with an output power of around 1w.
Another 2 months and our Lightning storms would have passed.
then it will be time to play on WSPR mode. Unattended at night.
Run 5 watts into a G5RV full size with ATU.
See you then!
73’s Etienne
ZS6Y
Johannesburg South Africa