Our local garden nursery - NOT amateur radio

 This was our local garden nursery earlier this week.

Sunspots - Saturday November 2nd

 Solar flux is 256 and the SSN 210. A=7 and K=1.

Money to burn?

The price of amateur gear surprises me. 

A major UK dealer is advertising a second hand receiver for £3299. 

I am not judging others who have a perfect right to spend their money as they see fit. 

Just count me out!

Grandchildren - NOT amateur radio

This image reminds me just how ephemeral childhood is. 

In a couple of years they will be grown up and "flown the nest".  

We think these days will last forever, but know they will not.

Website reminder

 A reminder that most of my projects are detailed on the G3XBM website. There are some videos on my YouTube channel.

Rallies this Sunday

The following rallies this Sunday have been notified to me. The usual caveats apply.

• Bushvalley ARC annual rally, Limavady, N.Ireland, BT49 0DF.
• Holsworthy Radio Rally, Holsworthy, EX22 6DN. Contact boltoncycles@gmail.com . 

10m QRP WSPR (Friday)

My stand-alone 500mW 10m WSPR beacon has been on since mid-morning and my QRP has been spotted by 52 stations at 1230z including North and South Americans.

UPDATE 1644z:   92 spots of my little 10m WSPR beacon today.

6m QRP FT8 (Friday)

 

Already my 6m QRP FT8 is being spotted in Asiatic Russia and Canada. In total, 58 stations have spotted me by 1227z.

UPDATE 1651z:  65 stations have spotted me today. I was expecting lots of USA and Canadian via F2, but nothing here apart from the station in Newfoundland. I guess this could have been F2 or even Es. I reckon my output is about 3W.

Sunspots - Friday November 1st

 Solar flux is 270 and the SSN 187. A= 9 and K=1.

Cambridge Art Gallery - NOT amateur radio

This was an art gallery in the Grand Arcade, Cambridge this morning. 

They always seem to have unusual paintings on display.

Village History - NOT amateur radio

Yesterday we walked to our village garden nursery to buy some plants. 

Opposite was a plaque to an old Jewish cemetery. It is called "Jerusalem Gardens".  I cannot imagine a Jewish community here centuries ago in the time of King Henry II.

UPDATE Nov 1st:  I did not realise King Henry II was in the 1100s AD.

10m 500mW WSPR TX (Thursday)

 After returning from Cambridge, I turned on my stand-alone 10m W5OLF WSPR TX beacon. Plenty of USA spots plus F61695 (9729km).

UPDATE 2042z:  In all today 74 stations have spotted me.

At last! 6m F2 "across the pond"

 When I returned from Cambridge after lunch, I turned on my QRP 6m FT8.

For the first time in many years this autumn, 6m was filled with USA and Canadian signals on 6m FT8. This looks like F2 propagation.  

Even my 6m FT8 QRP was reaching Canada and the USA. See map. On RX there are several USA stations active.

UPDATE 1550z: My QRP 6m FT8 spotted by 4 Canadian and 1 USA stations today. No QSOs sadly.

UPDATE 2045z:  Spotted by 76 stations so far.

Sunspots - Thursday October 31st

 Solar flux is 270 and the SSN 200. A=15 and K=1.

Village tree - NOT amateur radio

 

Yesterday we did a  nice walk to our local garden nursery to get some plants and passed this tree.

What happens when we die? - NOT amateur radio

It has been estimated that there are 10 billion stars in our galaxy alone. In the observable universe there are trillions of galaxies. The "average" star has at least one planet, meaning that there are a huge number of planets!

Somehow I cannot believe this life alone is "it".  Some estimate there are 10 to the power of 25 planets. This is a truly staggeringly large number.

Most religions are very "Earth centric". What is certain is we only can know very little with our small brains.

10m 500mW WSPR (Wednesday)

 My TX beacon has been on since lunchtime.

UPDATE 1646z: So far today, spotted by 50 stations with the furthermost F61695 (9729km) in the Indian Ocean. This is far fewer than yesterday.

6m QRP FT8 (Wednesday)

My  QMX+ has been on since lunchtime.

UPDATE 1519z: Furthermost is a spot of me by V51MA (8460km) in Namibia. 38 spots of my QRP, mostly in Europe. No sign here of any stations in North America.

UPDATE 1653z: 43 spots of my QRP 6m FT8 today. Although I shall be on for a few hours yet, I do not think I shall see any USA stations on 6m today.

What is DX?

DX means different things to different people. 

To some, it is working a new country in the Pacific. To others it may be being copied in the antipodes with a few milliwatts of WSPR.  To some it may just be working a few kilometres with ultra-simple gear. Thank goodness we are all different.

Just because we do not understand what "turns people on" we have no right whatsoever to judge others.

FT8 in the quiet years

It seems odd to be talking about the "quiet years" when solar conditions are so good. 

However, in about 5 years' time there will be few sunspots and many will (wrongly) assume the higher HF bands are dead.

In many cases this is not the case and a casual listen around 27MHz will prove this is due to a lack of activity and not poor conditions. 

Hopefully FT8 users will stick around on bands like 10m, 12m and 15m and prove the bands are open far more often than is assumed. I well remember working a surprised LU when I was running 10m SSB QRP when there were no sunspots at all at sunspot minimum some years ago. 

FT8 is well monitored and works with very weak signals. Who knows by then we may have an even better mode!

In my experience, N-S paths remain open for DX at all points in the solar cycle. I agree you have to be more patient, but that is half the fun.