HF satellite transponder

Southgate News reports on an amateur satellite with an HF transponder. My one and only satellite QSO was one many years ago with a 10m downlink.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2016/november/hfsat-will-have-21-to-29-mhz-transponder.htm .

Gardening - NOT amateur radio

Although colder than of late, today was a bright and sunny day, so ideal to be in the garden. There are leaves everywhere at this time of year.  Our son came up this afternoon from London to help us "put the garden to bed" for the colder months ahead. We had no idea just how long the roots were on the shrub our other son dug up last week!  He turned over the ground and planted some bulbs with my wife. It will be fun seeing these appear in the winter and spring.

First frost - NOT amateur radio

Well, after a fairly mild summer and autumn, we had our first frost this autumn last night. Just a smattering, but frost nonetheless. It seems to have suddenly become autumn, although we have yet to have the winds and gales we normally get at this time of the year.: these suddenly make the trees bare. It is Nov 2nd and we still have sweet peas out in the garden.

OFCOM Newsletter

As usual, OFCOM has published its monthly newsletter.  They have to justify their existence.

10m JT65

At 0634z I went on 10m JT65 and checked the PC was synced to internet time.

UPDATE 1035z: Spots of my 10m JT65 (2W) from UR2MZ (2742km) and I have spotted several Europeans here. Promising.  Es, F2?

UPDATE 1235z: CT4RC (1814km) spotted my 10m JT65 (2W) nearly 2 hours ago. Nothing yet outside Europe on 10m JT65.

UPDATE 1420z:  Still waiting for the first spots today outside of Europe. It was close to this time yesterday that I got my first 10m JT65 spot from the USA. On the face of it, conditions today are a little better than yesterday. Oh, the anticipation! G0OYQ (177km) in IO93 was spotted. I think this will have been aircraft reflection.

UPDATE 1630z:  3 South Americans spotted on 10m JT65 so far. No-one outside of Europe has spotted my 10m JT65 (2W) today yet. No USA spots today.

UPDATE 1822z:  It looks like the 10m DX has ended for the day. Just in case, the rig will be on for several hours yet.

UPDATE 1906z:  Still no more 10m spots.

Sunspots and 10m Wednesday November 2nd 2016

Solar flux is 76 today and the sunspot number 12.  K=1. On the face of it, things look marginally better than yesterday when my 2W 10m JT65 was spotted in the USA for the first time this autumn.

2m UKAC tonight

If my voice allows, I hope to take part in the 2m November leg of the RSGB's UKAC contest this evening. As usual, I shall be running 5W SSB and my big-wheel omni. The contest starts at 2000z. If you have the stamina, it lasts for 2.5 hours. I usually manage 30-60 minutes.

UPDATE 2155z: In the end 12 QSOs in 50 minutes with best DX 181km.

10m JT65

A return to 10m JT65 was made around 0715z today and the PC sync to internet time checked.

UPDATE 1044z:   F1GTU (754km) spotted me 44 minutes ago on 10m JT65. Es?

UPDATE 1215z:  No further 10m JT65 spots as yet.

UPDATE 1840z:  AB1KW (3256 miles) in New England (FN43 square) was spotting me on 10m JT65 4 hours ago. This is my first spot in the USA on 10m this autumn. I did spot a couple of Florida stations some weeks ago. Interestingly, no South Americans as yet on 10m JT65. Last night, they were being copied here way after 2000z. I wonder if more USA stations will spot me on 10m JT65 this month? Conditions E-W seem very marginal now, unlike a few years ago when USA stations were very common on 10m.

Sunspots and 10m - Tuesday November 1st 2016

Solar flux is 77 today and the sunspot number 12. K=2.

QSYed to 10m JT65

At about 1715z I QSYed to 10m JT65 from 6m JT65. I may have left it too late as I have not had any spots on 10m yet. Maybe, there was no European propagation to link to the TEP area? Anyway, I'll leave things running for a few more hours.

UPDATE 1927z: IZ4RE (1138km) spotted me in the last ten minutes.

UPDATE 2200z:  I finally went QRT at around 2145z. In all, 5 South Americans were spotted on 10m JT65, all after dark here.  Best DX on 10m JT65 RX was Argentina. I was not expecting to spot any South Americans on 10m this late. Surprised again!