As part of a challenge for 2024, I've decided to see how many QRSS signals I could capture on the 28 MHz band during the year. On the 5th of March, I got a screengrab of FR1GZ/B on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.
Yvon, FR1GZ has been making adjustments to the speed and spacing over the last few days above the QRSS band and just below the WSPR segment. On the 5th, he moved his transmitter down about 280 Hz to where the other QRSS signals on 28.1246 MHz are.
The full sequence can be seen above from Yvon and he is sending his beacon callsign FR1GZ/B as well as his locator / grid square LG79RC. As you can see, Yvon is using ON/OFF keying as opposed to Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) for his transmitter.
The signal in more detail can be seen below...
I took this screengrab at about 11:15 UTC and conditions at the time were quite poor. At the moment, we're near the peak of the sunspot cycle and I usually decode my first WSPR spots on 28 MHz at about 06:30 UTC which is about 35 minutes before my sunrise.
On the 5th of March, I didn't get me first decode until 09:38 UTC which is about two and a half hours after sunrise. The recent solar flares and aurora seem to be having an impact on conditions for the last two days at least.
The 28 MHz from my location on the south coast of Ireland to Reunion Island is about 10,170kms. The propagation mode is multiple F2 layer hops and the signal from FR1GZ/B should be pretty consistent in Europe considering the roughly north-south path.
In summary... That brings the QRSS tally so far for 2024 up to 18-callsigns & 10 DXCC.
2) 10th Jan 2024: VA1VM
3) 15th Jan 2024: G0MBA - DXCC #2
4) 15th Jan 2024: G0PKT
5) 15th Jan 2024: AE0V - DXCC #3
6) 16th Jan 2024: RD4HU - DXCC #4
7) 16th Jan 2024: W1BW
8) 17th Jan 2024: OH5KUY - DXCC #5
9) 18th Jan 2024: TF3HZ - DXCC #6
10) 6th Feb 2024: VA3RYV
11) 16th Feb 2024: IK2JET - DXCC #7
12) 16th Feb 2024: N8NJ
13) 21st Feb 2024: PY3FF - DXCC #8
14) 26th Feb 2024: VE6NGK
15) 27th Feb 2024: NM5ER
16) 28th Feb 2024: VK4BAP - DXCC #9
17) 2nd Mar 2024: WA1EDJ
18) 5th Mar 2024: FR1GZ/B - DXCC #10
