Capturing the action

As my followers will know, I am very interested in propagation and how it changes according to various factors.

Thanks to sites like WSPRnet and PSKreporter, which have automatic updates every few minutes, it's potentially possible to capture a timelapse of the day (or days), allowing us to visualise how bands open and close.  

Whilst this sounds a bit cliche, anybody who's new to amateur radio, and even those who are not, can learn a lot about the bands by watching such time lapses.  After all, any traditional text about the hobby will always tend to have a section about the bands and their propagation effects.

But I had a lot of difficulty finding a suitable piece of software to make timelapses.  With renewed effort, I found Debut by NCH Software, which does a very good job and costs a very modest £25-£29 for a licence.  I have no affiliation whatsoever with this software company and have not been prompted or paid to promote it.

With PSKreporter updating every 5 minutes or so, quite rapid changes in propagation are clearly revealed (provided you take a capture at least this often!)

My first, brief test of reception here today at 21MHz produced the result below.  Over a much longer period, it will produce some very interesting results.