Sunspots and 10m - Friday December 2nd 2016

Solar flux is 84 today (not bad) and the sunspot number 49. A=3 and K=1.

Another UK Rally

Sunday 4 DECEMBER : BISHOP AUCKLAND RAC RALLY

Spennymoor Leisure Centre, 32 High St, Spennymoor, Durham DL16 6DB Venue has good car parking and disabled facilities. There will be the usual radio, computer and electronics as well as a Bring & Buy. Catering and bar will be available on site. Facilities. As you can imagine, there is a lot to do for all the family within the confines of the leisure centre for those of the family not interested in radio. Doors open at 10.30am with disabled visitors gaining access from 10.15am. Admission is £2 with under 14 free of charge with an adult. Talk in will be on S22. More details from John, G4LRG on 01388 606 396 or Brian, G7OCK 01388 762 678.

A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Cambridge Lights - NOT amateur radio

In the run-up to Christmas, Cambridge has its lights on for Christmas. To be fair, some shops have had Christmas displays since at least the start of October. This was the view on the way to the bus.

MLS Hog Roast

One of the major UK retailers, MLS, is holding a Hog Roast this weekend, Dec 3rd 2016.

See http://us13.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e333c5d40a2f50d7f47615328&id=1ef9d22431&e=e7d0ed0d96

472kHz (630m) WSPR

For the evening and overnight, I have moved to 472kHz WSPR with 5mW ERP from the earth-electrode "antenna" in the ground. Although mostly on RX (80%) my noise floor is S8 (noise from the PC's SMPSU that charges the laptop battery) I am only able to receive very strong stations. I see that Jenny G0VQH (15km), is spotting me, as well as others. No DX as yet this evening.

Rally

Saturday 3 DECEMBER : SOUTH LANCS WINTER RALLY

Bickershaw Labour Club, Bickershaw Lane, Bickershaw, Wigan WN2 5TE. The venue has disabled facilities and car parking on site. Doors open at 9am with traders gaining access from 7.30am. Admission is £2.50. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy and special interest groups. There is a licensed bar and catering on site. Details from Jason, G0IZR on 01942 735 828. www.slarc.co.uk/rally.
A list of rallies can be found at http://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/

Solar Activity

Just a reminder that http://www.solen.info/solar/ has lots of data on solar activity. Usually there is an update early in the month showing the sunspot activity. It is worth seeing the trends.

Winter - NOT amateur radio

Today is December 1st. How time flies. It seems no time since summer and the evenings (not the mornings) start to get lighter here from December 18th. The UK Met Office assumes winter starts today and it certainly feels like winter here!

Sunspots and 10m - Thursday December 1st 2016

Remember, the slow decline in solar activity is an average, but today the solar activity seems higher. Solar flux is 83 and sunspot number 75. A=3 and K=1. Today might be a "not too bad" day on 10m, assuming there are some people on the band!

10m JT65

At around 0940z, I returned to 10m JT65 having spent the evening and overnight on 630m WSPR where the best DX on 5mW ERP TX was DL-SWL (701km). As yet, no 10m spots given or received.

UPDATE 1120z: Still no spots on 10m JT65.

UPDATE 1938z: SQ7W (908km) in southern Sweden spotted me at teatime. Es? No South Americans, which surprised me.

UPDATE 2042z:  HC5K was spotted earlier but this was not uploaded to PSK reporter maps for some reason. So I did spot South America after all. I have now moved to 630m WSPR (5mW ERP).